He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation from 1981 to 1988, where he held the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship on two occasions and was crowned the inaugural winner of the King of the Ring tournament in 1985.

He spent the first year of his career learning the ropes in Vancouver, Portland, Florida and Los Angeles before getting his first big break, for Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA).

[6] Wrestling as a face, he often tag teamed with Jimmy Snuka, against wrestlers such as Larry Hennig, Ivan Koloff and Dusty Rhodes.

[8] After brief stints in Texas and Georgia, Muraco returned to California in 1975 and won his first singles title, the NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship.

Snuka lost the match, but afterward dragged Muraco back into the ring and hit his finisher, the Superfly Splash, from the top of the 15-foot cage.

[15][16] In the crowd at the Garden for this match was future WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley, the Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, and Bubba Ray Dudley.

He portrayed an arrogant villain who angrily demanded respect, while engaging in disrespectful behavior himself; in one match, he brought a submarine sandwich to the ring and ate it while dominating his outmatched opponent.

On March 29, 1987, they lost to the Can-Am Connection (Tom Zenk and Rick Martel) in the opening match of Wrestlemania III in front of a reported 93,173 fans at the Pontiac Silverdome.

Muraco replaced Graham on the team led by his former rival Hulk Hogan at the first Survivor Series,[21] and had a good showing at the first Royal Rumble, where he eliminated three wrestlers (tied for second most with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan) and was one of the final four competitors.

Muraco made his first appearance in Stampede on December 3, 1988, defeating Vokhan Singh (Gary Albright) at a television taping in Calgary.

[25] He was immediately thrust into the North American title picture, and after two unsuccessful attempts in the coming days he defeated Makhan Singh to win the championship on December 9, 1988.

For the remainder of the month he successfully defended the title, and while champion then traveled to the American Wrestling Association where he defeated Colonel Debeers on December 26 in Manitoba.

[26] He opened 1989 by traveling to All Japan, and in his first match on January 2 in Korakuen Hall in Tokyo was placed in a battle royal with Davey Boy Smith, John Tenta, Dynamite Kid, Giant Baba, and others.

[29] On June 9, 1990, he appeared in the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance's TWA Summer Sizzler event, where he was defeated by his old partner, "Cowboy" Bob Orton.

[30] On December 6, 1990, he made his debut for Herb Abram's growing Universal Wrestling Federation, defeating Terry Cooley on the UWF Fury Hour.

Muraco successfully defended the ECW championship against Nikolai Volkoff, as well as Snuka in a rematch, while at the same time also venturing that November into the Universal Wrestling Superstars promotion in New York City.

[33] He returned to Eastern Championship Wrestling a month later, joining then-booker Eddie Gilbert's Hot Stuff International and forming a tag-team with former rival Jimmy Snuka.

While still ECW Champion, Muraco made an appearance at World Championship Wrestling on May 23, 1993, where he teamed with Dick Murdoch and Jimmy Snuka against Wahoo McDaniel, Jim Brunzell and Blackjack Mulligan at Slamboree 1993: A Legends' Reunion.

Muraco had thirteen matches with the promotion, culminating in a tag loss (with Ai Oni) to Animal Hamaguchi and Ryuma Go on December 4, at WAR Mega Power in Sumo Hall.