Pedro Morales

Pedro Antonio Morales was a Puerto Rican professional wrestler He is best known for his appearances in the United States with Worldwide Wrestling Associates WWA and the World Wide Wrestling Federation WWWF Debuting in 1959 Morales originally came to prominence with WWA in the 1960s where he held the World Heavyweight Championship and World Tag Team Championship In 1970 he joined the WWWF winning its World Heavyweight Championship and United States Championship In a second run with the bythen World Wrestling Federation WWF in the 1980s he won the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship and Tag Team Championship establishing himself as the promotions first Triple Crown Champion He retired from professional wrestling in 1987 A popular champion Morales had particular appeal to his native Puerto Ricans and the wider Latino audience The first Latino to hold a world heavyweight championship his combined reign as WWWF Heavyweight Champion remains among the longest in history He also holds the record for most days as Intercontinental Champion He was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1995 the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in 2015 and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2017