In December 1969 in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), Rivera teamed with Tony Marino at Madison Square Garden to win the WWWF International Tag Team Championship in two straight falls from Professor Toru Tanaka and Mitsu Arakawa. Rivera and Marino defended the belts successfully against teams like Killer Kowalski and Waldo Von Erich, as well as Kowalski and Krippler Karl Kovacs. They lost the championships against another undefeated team, The Mongols (Bepo and Geto Mongol) on June 15, 1970, two falls to one at Madison Square Garden. On May 13, 1975, Rivera and Dominic DeNucci won the WWWF World Tag Team Championship from The Valiant Brothers.
In 1978, Rivera returned to the WWWF as a heel under manager "Classy" Freddie Blassie, and challenged Bob Backlund for the WWWF Title. Rivera left the WWWF again in 1979.