Ivan Koloff Defeats Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF Title

by Mark Long

In front of a stunned crowd of approximately 22,000 fans in Madison Square Garden, the Russian Bear, Ivan Koloff defeated WWWF Heavyweight champion Bruno Sammartino for the title belt. Sammartino had held the belt since 1963, for  2,803 days.

Koloff pinned Sammartino clean fr the victory after a knee drop from the top robe. The crowd stood in silent disbelief, so quiet that Sammartino though he had damaged his ears because he couldn’t hear anything. Newspaper showed photographs of fans with tears streaming down their cheeks.