By late 1973 the promotions in Pittsburgh as well as Buffalo and Cleveland were in trouble.  Years of little talent change over in Pittsburgh had made things stale.  In Cleveland and Buffalo, a series of bad business deals as well as Pedro Martinez tiring of the promotion, had led to decreases in houses show attendance.  Pittsburgh suffered from its main TV station Channel 11 shifting the show in time frames earlier and earlier on Saturday evening and now into Saturday afternoon.  They had to deal with getting preempted by NBC Saturday afternoon Baseball game of the week.  The usual 90-minute show would often be an hour, sometimes even 30 minutes. 

Sometime in 1974 Channel 11 pulled the plug on Studio Wrestling, a show that it aired since the 1950’s, one that many of us in the Pittsburgh area grew up with.  After Pedro Martinez could not make Pittsburgh work for him, Bruno Sammartino eased back in.  First with the help of Dick the Bruiser and his WWA stars he pumped some new blood in.  In December 1973 when Bruno regained the WWWF title from Stan Stasiak, Bruno would have little time to spend on his local promotion. Promoters Ace Freeman and Gene Dargen took over the core of the promoting. 

The TV show moved from the NBC affiliate Channel 11 to UHF channel 53.  Its long time commentator Bill Cardille moved with it.  The show long shown live from the Channel 11 studio (sometimes with lots of cardboard people in the back to make it look fuller, was moved to the Erie County Field House in Erie, PA.  The show was taped for the first time.  Instead of Studio Wrestling the show was now called Super Pro Wrestling.  

In April 1974, after Pedro Martinez closed up his NWF in Buffalo (Johnny Powers continued to run Cleveland under the NWF banner).  Super Pro Wrestling began to run shows in the Buffalo area.  Pittsburgh had run Rochester, NY from time to time in the past.  Suddenly Buffalo fans used to seeing Johnny Powers, Ernie Ladd, The Sheik, Lil Abner and Abdullah the Butcher, were treated to Bruno Sammartino, Johnny DeFazio, George Steele, Killer Kowalski and other Pittsburgh regulars.  However many of the Pittsburgh stars had long been doing double duty in both Pittsburgh and Buffalo, so guys like Eric the Red, Tony Parisi, The Executioner, Johnny Fargo, Dominic DeNucci, Baron Scicluna and Waldo von Erich were still very familiar names to the Buffalo fans.  

The North American Title, long recognized by the NWF was still around and its last champ Dom DeNucci lost it in 1974 to a Pittsburgh and WWWF regular Stan “The Man” Stasiak.  The DeNucci vs. Stasiak feud was a dominant feud in the Super Pro era.  Another big feud that emerged in 1974 was between former tag partner Johnny Fargo and The Executioner.  Both long time heels, The Executioner would emerge as a fan favorite.  

New to the Pittsburgh area but a face long remembered from the glory days of the 1960’s in Buffalo, Billy “Red” Lyons would arrive in Super Pro Wrestling and quickly become not only a fan favorite but another top rival to Stan Stasiak and the North American Title.  The TV match up in which Red Lyons had Stasiak trapped in the sleeper hold as time expired is one of the better TV matches in the history of the territory.  

Gino Brito would return as Louie Cerdan and work as a heel in the area.  Often teaming with Baron Scicluna, they had several exciting matches with Pete Sanchez and Manuel Soto.  Other newcomers brought in included Chris Tolos, Terry Yorkston and Steve Bolos, a veteran from Canada who would challenge Stasiak as well.  

Pittsburgh was always a stop off for newly arriving or wrestlers leaving the WWWF continued to see an influx of wrestlers like Otto von Heller and Mr. Fuji (managed by Captain Lou Albano).  By summer of 1974 Von Heller would leave only to return in the fall with a new tag partner very familiar to Buffalo fans in Kurt von Hess.  

Cards used to be monthly in Pittsburgh and places like Johnstown and Altoona.  Gene Dargen began running Johnstown every other week.  This made from renewable feuds and matches that the Johnstown and Altoona fans were not used to getting.  More...