Editing Pedro Morales (section)

=== Worldwide Wrestling Associates (1965–1968) ===
Morales opened 1965 by moving to [[Worldwide Wrestling Associates]] (WWA) in California, an organization that had been created as a mirror to the [[National Wrestling Alliance]] (NWA), where he engaged in multiple concurrent feuds, defeating "The Executioner" in his first match, before going on to defeat several wrestlers with similar characters by winning against "The Axeman" twice, "El Verdugo" and "The Hangman" on several occasions during the first three months of the year.<ref name="page14"/> Morales also experienced success in matches outside storyline, besting Jesse Rose, Charlie Kalani, Ruffy Colden, Billy Red Lyons, Kenny Yates, Don Savage, Luke Graham, Hard Boiled Haggerty, some of them more than two consecutive times. In March, he was involved in a program with Karl Von Stroheim, winning a series of matches against him and teaming with Mr. Moto and Luis Hernandez to win tag team matches that also included Kurt Von Stroheim.<ref name="page15">{{cite book|title=Pedro Morales: 70 años del pionero Latinoamericano|author=Alexander Trujillo|publisher=El Diario Culebrense|language=es|chapter=Reportaje Especial|date=October 24, 2012|page=15}}</ref>

On March 12, 1965, Morales defeated "The Destroyer" [[Dick Beyer]] to win the [[WWA World Heavyweight Championship (Los Angeles)|WWA World Heavyweight Championship]] in a three-fall match.<ref name=ring>{{cite web|url=http://www.wrestlingmuseum.com/pages/bios/halloffame/moralesbio.html|title=Hall of Fame: Pedro Morales|author= Steven Slagle|publisher=The Ring Chronicle|access-date=March 11, 2013|year=2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526141203/http://www.wrestlingmuseum.com/pages/bios/halloffame/moralesbio.html|archive-date=May 26, 2011}}</ref> He continued earning singles victories over Horst Wessel, Kurt Von Stroheim, Al Marshall, Broadway Venus, Bill Cody and in a rematch against The Destroyer, while teaming along Hernandez to wrestle multiple combinations. He became involved in a feud against The Assassins and The Butcher, steadily gaining the upper hands both individually and in tag matches.<ref name="page15"/> Morales moved on from these angles and defeated Rod Orell, Billy Klutzer and The Mummy, before dropping the championship to Luke Graham on July 23, 1965.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wrestler Profiles: Luke Graham|work=Online World of Wrestling|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/l/luke-graham.html|access-date=October 1, 2007}}</ref> Morales responded by defeating Graham in a three-fall chain match less than a month later, in the process winning a Brass Knuckles Championship. Meanwhile, his team with Hernandez won three consecutive matches against The Assassins by disqualification. Subsequently, a revival of his previous feuds with The Butcher and The Assassins became intertwined with the current involving Graham, leading to a series of matches featuring different combinations during the following months.<ref name="page15"/> Hernandez was eventually replaced by Adalberto Torres as Morales's tag team partner, along whom he also 
faced [[Gorilla Monsoon]] and a variety of partners. On October 17, 1965, he defeated Graham to regain the WWA World Heavyweight Championship.<ref name="page15"/> Morales went on to defeat Graham in two more rematches, scoring victories over Ox Anderson, Bandito Lopez and Jack Allen as well. Following a short series against El Mongol, he continued this pattern in matches involving Swede Karlsen, Baron Leone, Killer Karlson, The Golden Terror, Mark Lewin, [[Killer Karl Kox]] and Clyde Steeves.<ref name="page15"/> Morales also won a battle royale held in Fort Worth, Texas and brought closure to his feud with El Mongol by besting him on February 13, 1966. During this stage, he also changed tag team partners frequently, teaming with Better Boucher, Ramon Torres and Billy Red Lyons among others, gathering mixed results.<ref name="page16">{{cite book|title=Pedro Morales: 70 años del pionero Latinoamericano|author=Alexander Trujillo|publisher=El Diario Culebrense|language=es|chapter=Reportaje Especial|date=October 24, 2012|page=16}}</ref>

In the final months before making a tour to Japan, Morales defeated Mark Lewin and Indio Joe, but also lost to Lyons and Mark Lewin. At his first show in Tokyo, he had a draw against Don Lewin.<ref name="page16"/> Morales continued this run by defeating Michiaki Yoshimura, [[Yoshino Sato]], [[Tor Kamata|Mr. Moto]], Mitsu Hirai, [[Umanosuke Ueda]], tying against [[Kintarō Ōki|Kim Il]] in all of their encounters and losing only to [[Giant Baba]] by countout in singles.<ref name="page16"/> During this run, he teamed with Arman Hussein, Lewin, Wilbur Snyder, Lonnie Mayne & Billy Two, among others, with the results being divided inequitable manner between wins, losses and draws. On May 27, 1966, Morales returned to California and went on another winning streak over Ray Shields, Jack Lanza, El Mongol, Stan Neilson, Baby Destroyer and [[Fritz Von Goering]], before entering a series against [[Buddy Austin]], losing the first three encounters and dropping the WWA World Heavyweight Championship to him on August 5, 1966, before winning the fourth match.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wrestler Profiles: Buddy Austin|work=Online World of Wrestling|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/b/buddy-austin.html|access-date=October 1, 2007}}</ref> He also reformed his tag team with Luis Hernandez, finding success in this division as well by winning the WWA World Tag Team Championship on June 24, 1966, being a dual champion for over a month.<ref name="page16"/> After a win over Art Mahalik, Morales wrestled Hernandez to a three-fall draw. This was followed by victories over Austin and in a second battle royale. Despite gathering singles wins over the likes of El Mongol, Austin, Magnificent Maurice, Joe Flores and Frank Marconi, during the following months, Morales focused on the tag team division, earning eleven wins, seven draws and only one loss before dropping the titles to Hard Boiled Haggerty and El Shereef on October 28, 1966.<ref name="page16"/> He subsequently split results against Shereef, also besting Rip Miller and Austin on several occasions during November. To close the year, Morales joined Mark Lewin to recapture the WWA World Tag Team Championship on December 10, 1966.<ref name="page17">{{cite book|title=Pedro Morales: 70 años del pionero Latinoamericano|author=Alexander Trujillo|publisher=El Diario Culebrense|language=es|chapter=Reportaje Especial|date=October 24, 2012|page=17}}</ref>

Morales began 1967 by also teaming with Ricky Romero, Mr. Moto and Pepper Gomez, gathering victories along all of them. In singles, he remained in the top of the card, defeating Paul Diamond, El Shereef, Killer Karl Kox, K.O. Murphy and Johnny Vander, while wrestling Haggerty and The Mad Russian to draws.<ref name="page17"/> After winning two more matches along Lewin, their team ceased to exist, costing them the titles. Morales was then joined by Romero as his partner, once again winning the WWA World Tag Team Championship along with him on February 10, 1967. The team went on to win almost a dozen matches, while he won contests against The Mighty Atlas, The Preacher and Mike DiBiase during the following months. Morales also ran a parallel team with Pepper Gomez, winning the American Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship along with him after winning their two previous matches.<ref name="page17"/> He made his first appearance in Hawaiian territory along Gomez on April 26, 1967.<ref name="page17"/> After returning to California the following month, Morales entered a series against his former partner Mark Lewin, but lost both encounters. He then continued to team with Gomez and Romero, recording a successful run until they became part-time partners in July 1967, when he joined fellow Puerto Rican [[Los Conquistadores|José Luis Rivera]], immediately entering a long feud against [[Michael DiBiase|Mike DiBiase]], who teamed with a variety of wrestlers, but most frequently wrestled along Karl Gotch.<ref name="page17"/> While individually, Morales entered a brief period where he recorded more draws and losses than wins, his team with Rivera won their first five encounters, which also featured him besting DiBiase and Gotch in singles.<ref name="page17"/> Concurrent to this, his team with Romero began experiencing more losses, while the one along Gomez remained consistently successful. While DiBiase and Gotch won in two consecutive events, the feud began to produce several draws.<ref name="page18">{{cite book|title=Pedro Morales: 70 años del pionero Latinoamericano|author=Alexander Trujillo|publisher=El Diario Culebrense|language=es|chapter=Reportaje Especial|date=October 24, 2012|page=18}}</ref> Morales and Rivera won the last encounter on August 16, 1967, then migrating to another rivalry against [[Freddie Blassie]] & Buddy Austin. Despite earning wins over several other teams, they were unable to best Blassie and Austin during this feud, only recording a single win. Individually, Morales gained victories over Tony Nero and Tony Altomare, both of whom eventually teamed and lost to the Puerto Rican team.<ref name="page18"/>

He challenged and defeated Blassie by himself, but lost in a rematch. Morales wrestled [[Pat Patterson (wrestler)|Pat Patterson]] in two tag matches, losing along Rivera but winning with Gomez.<ref name="page18"/> The team with Rivera dissolved afterwards, with another teammate emerging in the figure of Antonio Pugliese. Both of Morales' teams managed to record a successful run against an assortment of teams that included different combinations of opponents such as Stan Stasiak, Tom Andrews, Blassie, Austin, Patterson and Ray Stevens among others.<ref name="page18"/> Meanwhile, in one-on-one competition he bested Ron Romano, Baron Mikel Scicluna, Rick Renaldo, The Rebel and won an eight-man battle royale. Morales closed the year by rejoining Gomez as a full-time partner, defeating the team of Blassie and The Great Malenko.<ref name="page18"/> To open 1968, he defeated The Preacher, The Rebel and Blassie, briefly rejoining Romero in a draw. Individually, Morales then entered a streak of draws, before rebounding with wins over Rick Renaldo, Rocky Montero, The Alaskan, Lou Anthony, Rocky Montero and The Masked Invader.<ref name="page19">{{cite book|title=Pedro Morales: 70 años del pionero Latinoamericano|author=Alexander Trujillo|publisher=El Diario Culebrense|language=es|chapter=Reportaje Especial|date=October 24, 2012|page=19}}</ref> Antonio Pugliese reappeared on May 4, 1968, only to drop the WWA World Tag Team Championship to The Medics. A week later, Morales and Gomez also lost the AWA World Tag Team Championship to Kinji Shibuya & [[Masa Saito]], but regained them on June 8, 1968.<ref name="page19"/> [[Mil Máscaras]] became a new member of the team, whom he joined in winning a series against Jim Osborne and losing another to Blassie and Austin. Morales made a one-night appearance in Hawaii during the summer, besting Pat Patterson. Both of Morales teams began having mixed results, which brought in another winning streak as a singles wrestler which included names such as Fritz Von Goering, Texas, Osborne, Lou Anthony, Rick Renaldo, Thunderbolt Patterson, Tony Romano, Rocky Montaro and The Masked Invader before being snapped by Blassie via disqualification.<ref name="page19"/> On November 7, 1968, Morales challenged [[Gene Kiniski]] for the [[NWA World Heavyweight Championship]], but failed to win the match. He won his next match by defeating George Cannon, forming a brief partnership with Hahn Lee that only lasted for a month. In his final matches for the WWA, Morales defeated The Raider and El Mongol twice.<ref name="page20">{{cite book|title=Pedro Morales: 70 años del pionero Latinoamericano|author=Alexander Trujillo|publisher=El Diario Culebrense|language=es|chapter=Reportaje Especial|date=October 24, 2012|page=20}}</ref>