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Apologies in advance for the amount of 1970s WWWF programs I am about to scan and post. First up: September 30, 1972 at Shea Stadium
November 18, 1972 at The Boston Garden
February 26, 1973 at The Boston Garden
August 3, 1974 at The Philadelphia Spectrum
March 4, 1974 at Madison Square Garden
November 17, 1975 at Madison Square Garden
September 20, 1975 at The Philadelphia Spectrum
August 14, 1976 in Johnstown, PA
December 15, 1975 at Madison Square Garden. The Sammartino vs Koloff cage match from this evening was the first cage match ever held in Madison Square Garden.
March 1, 1976 at Madison Square Garden. This night was Ric Flair’s first appearance at MSG.
March 29, 1976 at Madison Square Garden
May 17, 1976 at Madison Square Garden
September 18, 1976 at The Philadelphia Spectrum
November 22, 1976 at Madison Square Garden
November 27, 1976 at The Philadelphia Spectrum
December 20, 1976 at Madison Square Garden
January 17, 1977 at Madison Square Garden. Howard Finkel, Pat Patterson, and Ken Patera all made their first MSG appearances on this night.
February 7, 1977 at Madison Square Garden
March 7, 1977 at Madison Square Garden
May 15, 1977 at The Boston Garden. Although originally scheduled for Saturday the 14th as indicated on the program, this was pushed back a night due to the Stanley Cup finals.
March 18, 1977 at The Pittsburgh Civic Arena
March 28, 1977 at Madison Square Garden
April 25, 1977 at Madison Square Garden. This was Bob Backlund’s MSG debut.
August 1, 1977 at Madison Square Garden
August 20, 1977 at The Philadelphia Spectrum
August 29, 1977 at Madison Square Garden
September 9, 1977 at The Pittsburgh Civic Arena
September 26, 1977 at Madison Square Garden
October 24, 1977 at Madison Square Garden. WWWF Champion Superstar Billy Graham battled Dusty Rhodes in a Texas Death Match for tonight’s main event, but neither of those gentlemen grace the cover of this evening’s program.
November 21, 1977 at Madison Square Garden
December 19, 1977 at Madison Square Garden. At separate points during tonight’s broadcast, Vince interviews Andy Kaufman and Debbie Harry and Chris Stein.
January 23, 1978 at Madison Square Garden
February 20, 1978 at Madison Square Garden: Bob Backlund defeats Superstar Billy Graham for the WWWF World Championship, children under 14 are allowed to watch wrestling for the first time at the modern MSG, and John Arezzi shares the pages with President Jimmy Carter.
March 20, 1978 at Madison Square Garden. Some interesting names on a rather underwhelming card: Dick Slater vs Scicluna, Fujinami vs Gypsy Rodriguez, Keirn & Mike Graham in a tag, Dusty, Andre, & Mil Mascaras in a six man 2/3 falls match, and a return SBG vs Backlund match.
April 24, 1978 at Madison Square Garden. One of the more interesting results of this evening is Spiros Arion and Dusty Rhodes going to a a 20 minute time-limit draw.
May 22, 1978 at Madison Square Garden
July 24, 1978 at Madison Square Garden. On the undercard, Jack Brisco takes on Stan Stasiak in a match billed as a “Battle of the Former Heavyweight Champions”.
August 28, 1978 at Madison Square Garden. Damn good match between Backlund and Koloff if I recall correctly. Also on this card was the Dusty/Superstar bullrope match that went all 6 minutes.
September 25, 1978 at Madison Square Garden. A Backlund/Koloff return match for the main event.
October 23, 1978 at Madison Square Garden. Backlund takes on Ernie Ladd in the main event. Backlund getting Ladd all the way up for an atomic drop (Backlund’s finisher at the time) was a sight to behold.
November 29, 1978 at Madison Square Garden
December 18, 1978 at Madison Square Garden: Harley Race makes a Garden appearance, taking on....Tony Garea.
January 22, 1979 at Madison Square Garden. An untelevised card this evening, with Roddy Piper making his MSG debut against Frankie WIlliams in a brilliant piece of long-term booking.
The transition from WWWF to WWF seems like a nice place to end this thread. I hope you’ve enjoyed scrolling through and looking at these programs and much as I’ve enjoyed scanning them. Goodnight Willie Gilzenberg, wherever you are.
