COLUMNS!!!!

[nbpsfc]

September 13th

On this day in history in ....

1937 - John Pesek was awarded the NWA (National Wrestling Association) World Heavyweight Title when the NWA decided that a $1000 bond would have to be posted by the champion for the title belt. Everett Marshall had been the recognized champion until the meeting where this decision was made, however, when the NWA announced this decision, Pesek was the only contender willing to post the bond (Marshall refused), so he was made the champion! The NWA later reconsidered their decision, and awarded the title to Lou Thesz when he defeated Marshall for the Midwest Association Heavyweight Title three months later.

1977 - Peter Miavia (grandfather of The Rock) defeats WWWF World Champion Superstar Billy Graham via pinfall in a non-title match in Portland, Maine. The two would feud for several months, trading wins via countout, before Graham would pin Miavia in a title match in December in Bangor, Maine.

1980 - Andre The Giant defeated Hulk Hogan in Landover, Maryland when Hogan attempted to slam Andre and fell back with Andre landing on top of him for the pin. The same sequence would become a memorable moment in the opening seconds of their famous Wrestlemania 3 encounter (except in that case, the referee would rule that Hogan kicked out before the three count).

1986 - WWF tapes the seventh edition of Saturday Night's Main Event at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio. The show would air on NBC on October 4th, earning a 9.4 rating. Here are the results of the show:
Aired on SNME:
- World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Paul Orndorff via DQ when Adrian Adonis attacked Hogan. Roddy Piper, who had an injured leg, made the save, attacking Adonis with his crutch, then leaving the ring after a stare down with Hogan.
- Ricky Steamboat defeated Jake Roberts with a cradle. After the match, Jake Roberts went for his snake, but Steamboat pulled out a kimono dragon and scared off Roberts.
- Roddy Piper defeated The Iron Sheik with a small package in under a minute.
- World Tag Team Champions The British Bulldogs defeated Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine in a three falls match.
- Kamala defeated Lanny Poffo with a splash.
Matches not aired on television:
- Hercules Hernandez defeated Cousin Luke.
- Koko B. Ware defeated Mr. X.
- The Killer Bees defeated Jimmy Jack Funk & Jose Luis Rivera.
- Dick Slater defeated Steve Lombardi.

1991 - Steel cage matches were the order of the day at WWF shows, as Sid Justice defeated The Undertaker in a steel cage match in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, while The Big Bossman defeated The Mountie in a steel cage match in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

1991 - Chaz defeats The Lightning Kid (Sean Waltman) to win the Global Wrestling Federation Light Heavyweight Title in Dallas, Texas.

1993 - The Quebecers defeat the Steiner Brothers for the WWF Tag Team Title in New York City, ending the Steiners second, and final WWF Tag Title run, at a Monday Night Raw taping at the Manhattan Center. The match was held under "Providence Of Quebec Rules", which allowed the belt to change hands on a DQ. Other results from that show: Mr. Perfect pinned Tony DeVito, Razor Ramon pinned the Executioner, Doink (Matt Borne) pinned Rich Myers. In other matches held, with some airing the following week, Mr. Perfect pinned Mike Bell, PJ Walker (a rookie Justin Credible) pinned Irwin R. Shyster after Razor Ramon distracted IRS, Scott Steiner pinned Quebecer Pierre Oulette, Bret Hart & Randy Savage defeated WWF champion Yokozuna & Bam Bam Bigelow via DQ.

1993 - Tatanka defeats Jerry Lawler for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee, ending Lawler's 15th title reign. On the same show, Tommy Rich defeats Jeff Jarrett for the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title, ending Jarrett's ninth title reign, and The Dogcatchers defeated The Moondogs for the USWA Tag Team Title.

1993 - The Smoky Mountain Wrestling "Beat The Champ" Television Title changed hands twice on one television taping in Oakwood, Virginia as Robert Gibson defeats Jimmy Del Rey for the belt, only to lose it later that night to Tony Anthony.

1998 - WCW's Fall Brawl Pay-per-view was held in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Here are the results:
- Davey Boy Smith & Jim Neidhart defeated Disco Inferno & Alex Wright when Smith pinned Disco with a powerslam. During the match, Smith was slammed on a trap door in the ring (to be used for the Ultimate Warrior later in the show), suffering a back injury that would plague him for the rest of his career.
- WCW Television Champion Chris Jericho defeated a fake Goldberg with the Liontamer in under two minutes. Jericho then held the WCW TV title belt and the toy WCW World title belt that the imitator had brought to the ring with him over his head as if he had just won the real thing. This program was supposed to eventually lead to a match between Jericho and the real Goldberg, but Bill reportedly refused to work with Jericho.
- Ernest Miller defeated Norman Smiley with a spin kick.
- Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner ended in a no-contest. Buff Bagwell tried to interfere, and Rick shoved him from the ring. Bagwell acted like he had seriously injured his neck (Bagwell was legitimately injured months before by Rick in a match) and was taken to an ambulance, as the match was stopped. However, Scott and Buff, after entering an ambulance, popped back out to attack Rick and leave him laying in the parking lot.
- WCW Cruiserweight Champion Juventud Guerrera defeated Silver King with a 450 splash.
- Perry Saturn defeated Raven with a Death Valley Driver.
- Dean Malenko defeated Curt Hennig via disqualification when Rick Rude interfered. Arn Anderson tried to make the save, but Hennig & Rude left Anderson and Malenko laying.
- Konnan defeated Scott Hall with the Tequila Sunrise.
- Diamond Dallas Page won a War Games match in which it was every man for himself (as opposed to the usual team concept) by pinning Stevie Ray (past War Games were submission only) with a Diamond Cutter. The other participants were Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan Roddy Piper, Lex Luger, Kevin Nash, Sting, and The Ultimate Warrior.

1999 - Chris Benoit defeats Rick Steiner for the WCW Television Title, starting his third, and final, run with the belt.

1999 - During an edition of Raw from Anaheim, California, Luna Vachon defeats Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett via disqualification after Ivory hit Luna with Jarrett's guitar. After the match, Jarrett goes nuts over losing to a woman, and puts ring announcer Lilian Garcia in a figure-four leglock for announcing Luna as the victor.

2002 - Slyk Wagner Brown defeats Homicide in Bayonne, New Jersey to win the Jersey All-Pro Heavyweight Title, ending Homicide's fourth title reign

 

[nbpsfc]

September 19th
On this day in history in ...

1956 - The Great Malenko defeats Herb Welch in Mobile, Alabama for the NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Title, ending Welch's second reign.

1969 - Joe Scarpa (aka Chief Jay Strongbow) defeated Paul DeMarco in Atlanta, Georgia to win the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Title, ending DeMarco's second reign.

1977 - WWWF World Champion Superstar Graham defeated Chief Jay Strongbow in a steel cage match when Strongbow threw Graham against the cage near the door, allowing Graham to crawl out the door for the win at the Boston Garden in Masachusetts. On the undercard, Bruno Sammartino defeated Ken Patera in a Texas Death Match.

1980 - The Grappler defeats Ted DiBiase in Shreveport, Louisana for the Mid-South North American Heavyweight Title.

1981 - WWF World Champion Bob Backlund defeats George Steele in a Texas Death Match at the Capital Center in Landover, Maryland.

1982 - Jos LeDuc defeated Jimmy Valiant in Charlotte, North Carolina for the NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Title, ending Valiant's second reign.

1986 - Shiro Koshinaka defeats Nobuhiko Takada for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title in Fukuoka, Japan, starting his second title reign.

1986 - Ron Starr defeats Invader I in Ponce, Puerto Rico to become the first WWC Television champion.

1992 - Atsushi Onita defeats Tiger Jeet Singh for the WWA World Martial Arts Heavyweight Title (top FMW title) in Yokohama, Japan. This began Onita's third and final reign with the belt, as the title was soon retired.

1993 - WCW held their Fall Brawl Pay-per-view in Houston, Texas. Here are the results:
- In a dark match, Erik Watts defeated Bobby Eaton.
- Steven Regal defeated Ricky Steamboat for the WCW World Television Title with a suplex and bridge after Sir William (Bill Dundee) hit Steamboat with an umbrella.
- Charlie Norris defeated Big Sky with a kick.
- 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Bagwell defeated The Equalizer & Paul Orndorff when Scorpio pinned Equalizer with a 450 splash after Orndorff accidentally hit him.
- Ice Train defeated Shanghai Pierce with a powerslam.
- The Nasty Boys defeated Arn Anderson & Paul Roma to win the WCW World Tag Team Title when Sags pinned Roma with a top rope elbow. This result was hardly a surprise, as television tapings had already been held with the Nasties as tag champs, Missy Hyatt (who "debuted with them here) as their manager, and Roma & Anderson broken up.
- Cactus Jack defeated Yoshi Kwan with a double-arm DDT.
- Rick Rude defeated Ric Flair to win the WCW International World Heavyweight Title when Rude knocked out Flair with a foreign object as Flair had Rude in the figure four.
- Sting, Davey Boy Smith, Dustin Rhodes & The Shockmaster defeated Sid Vicious, Vader & Harlem Heat in a WarGames match when The Shockmaster forced Kole (Booker T) to submit to a bearhug.

1998 - ECW ran a show at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Here are the results:
- Mikey Whipwreck defeated Jerry Lynn.
- JT Smith, Chris Chetti & Tommy Rogers defeated The FBI (Tommy Rich, Tracey Smothers & Little Guido).
- The Blue Meanie & Super Nova defeated Danny Doring & Ulf Hermann.
- Chris Candido defeated Lance Storm.
- Masato Tanaka defeated D-Von Dudley.
- Balls Mahoney defeated Mike Awesome.
- New Jack, Tommy Dreamer & John Kronus defeated Justin Credible, Rod Price & Jack Victory.
- Sabu, Rob Van Dam & Masato Tanaka vs. The Triple Threat (Shane Douglas, Bam Bam Bigelow & Chris Candido) ended in a no-contest.

1999 - ECW held their Anarchy Rulz Pay-per-view in Villa Park, Illinois, drawing the largest live crowd in original ECW history, with over 6,000 fans in attendance. The show featured Taz losing the ECW World Title to Mike Awesome in a Three Way Dance with Masato Tanaka. Despite the way it is portrayed on WWE's "Rise And Fall Of ECW" DVD, this was not Taz' final ECW match, as he continued to wrestle for the company through November. Here is Tim Whitehead's original report on the show:

ECW followed up on their TNN debut by putting forth a strong PPV effort with Anarchy Rulz. The show drew over 6,000 fans, packing the Odeum in suburban Chicago for the largest live house in the promotion's history.

The highlight of the show was the creation of a new major star in Mike Awesome. Though Awesome is now a veteran wrestler, he's totally new to the vast majority of American fans and the apparent idea here is to create a Goldberg type charismatic newcomer. It's a formula that has worked in the past with the right type of wrestler, and at first glance Awesome has the right combo of looks and talent to carry the ball, though of course only time will tell on something like this.

There were a lot of good matches on the show. ECW's main advantage over the other two groups is workrate. No one ever dogs it out there. It creates an atmosphere at their shows, which is very different. The weak parts of the PPV were the "clusters" (I'll avoid the more descriptive version of that term) where one thing leads to another and then leads to another, etc. etc. etc. These things get over at ECW Arena but they come off looking confusing on PPV, and almost never work so I'm not sure why they keep pushing these things. The main event wasn't as hot as it could have been, and was overshadowed by the good lower card matches.

Commentary was good. Joey Styles and Cyrus argue a little too much but they do at least try to keep most of the arguing between the matches rather than during. Technically, this may have been the best ECW PPV ever. The only major screw-up was a video/sound timing problem in the opening video angle.

Overall, a darn good PPV for the promotion's first show of the TNN era.

They opened with a video angle where the sound got screwed up. Masato Tanaka arrived and was going to be interviewed by Steve Prazak but Jeff Jones stuck his nose in things and Tanaka walloped him.

LANCE STORM defeated JERRY LYNN in 16:36. They may now called Tammy Lynn Bytch by the name Dawn Marie, but that doesn't mean the fans will show similar restraint. A "Show Your Tits" chant erupted immediately upon her arrival. They did some good back and forth action early, including leapfrog spots. Lynn hit a spinning headscissors. They traded hard chops to a series of "whooos". Lynn dropkicked Storm to the floor. Lynn kept taking Storm down until Storm dropped Lynn's throat across the ropes. Storm dominated and got a series of twos working on Lynn's taped ribs. Lynn retaliated with a plancha and got two with a missile kick. A "she's a crack whore" chant started, but Cyrus claimed they were saying, "She's a great girl". Hilarious! They did an innovative low blow spot where Storm was on the receiving end. They began trading fast two counts to a lot of heat. Dawn tossed a chair in but Lynn DDT'd Storm on it. He would have gotten three but Dawn put Storm's boot on the rope. Lynn ducked to avoid a chair spot and hit the post, further "injuring" his ribs. Lynn blocked a DDT and hit a stunner on Storm for two, but was selling the ribs big time. Lynn hit a huracanrana but Storm out of nowhere grapevined the legs and rolled Lynn up for the pin. Real good opener.

Simon Diamond came down and did his "Simon Says" routine on Tom Marquez. He challenged anyone in the back to a fight. Jazz came out and he informed her that he didn't say "Simon Says" when issuing the challenge, and also noted that she was a female and said all they can do in wrestling is provide T & A, which drew a big babyface pop. He told her to get her "flat chested ghetto booty" out of the ring. She shoved him and Diamond then instructed Marquez to wrestle her.

JAZZ beat TOM MARQUEZ by DQ in 0:51. At least I think it was a DQ. Maybe it was a no-contest. It was never really announced what it was, as this was the beginning of the confusing "cluster" segment. Marquez bodyslammed Jazz but she grabbed him in the crotch and began squeezing (ouch!) but Diamond and Tony DeVito ran in at this point, followed by Chris Chetti and Nova to start the next match.....

CHRIS CHETTI & NOVA fought SIMON DIAMOND & TONY DEVITO to a no-contest in 3:53. This was pretty bad. Nova & Chetti started off well, hitting sentons and quebradas. But Chetti then wiped out his knee in a pescado spot. DeVito and Nova messed up a spot real bad and got booed out of the arena. Roadkill & Danny Doring ran in and attacked everyone, including Jazz. Miss Congeniality (formerly Angelica) got in the face of Jazz after she was laid out. Roadkill was going to splash Jazz but Rod Price, C.W. Anderson, Bill Wiles, Vito Lograsso, and Spanish Angel all charged the ring. I guess it gave the lower card a chance to be on PPV but it was still a mess. Finally, New Jack arrived to a massive pop with his cart full of weapons and destroyed everyone, including using a staple gun and a guitar on Price.

They showed the ecwwrestling.com crew at the internet broadcast booth. I think those guys should have had to pay to get in like everyone else.

YOSHIHIRO TAJIRI beat SUPER CRAZY and LITTLE GUIDO in a three-way match in 14:37. Tajiri started off with dropkicks, and hurled Guido out to the ramp. He did a tilt-a-whirl headscissors on Crazy. Crazy came back with a springboard missile kick. They did a variation on an AJW spot. Guido put Crazy in a camel clutch and Tajiri kicked him, but then he kicked Guido. Tajiri did a baseball slide, which sent Crazy over the rail. He then did an Asai moonsault. Big Sal Graziano interfered and nailed both Tajiri and Crazy. Guido did a Rocker Dropper off the top. They all traded some two counts and went back to the floor where Crazy did an Asai moonsault. Crazy also kicked Big Sal off the apron and he went through a table. Tajiri put the tarantula hold on Crazy. Guido dropkicked Crazy while he was locked in the hold. Crazy and Guido cooperated long enough to hook a double Sicilian Crab on Tajiri. Guido did a Tomikaze on Crazy. Guido got hung upside down in the corner and kicked by Tajiri. Crazy then pinned Guido with a moonsault to eliminate him at 9:17. Tajiri and Crazy continued at a fast pace, hitting moonsaults and Tornado DDT's for two counts. Crazy went for another moonsault but landed on Tajiri's knees. Tajiri kicked the hell out of him and pinned him with a brainbuster. Real good match!

They showed Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins in the crowd.

They buried Insane Clown Posse, who teased coming to ECW last week only to decide to stay with WCW. Steve Corino said he had been planning to bring ICP in to take the tag titles but they backed out because they knew they couldn't beat Raven & Tommy Dreamer. Styles then added that he hoped Bill Busch would have enough respect for his new position not to take ICP back after they tried to humiliate WCW by jumping in the first place.

JUSTIN CREDIBLE defeated SABU in 14:04. The storyline here was that Sabu has been reinstated (even though he's been wrestling on house shows all along) from his suspension. Credible came out and had a restraining order against the reinstatement. Referee Jim Molineaux said it was a legal restraining order but since Anarchy Rules in ECW the law is irrelevant. When Bob Artese refused to declare Credible the winner by forfeit, Credible caned him. The lights went out and Sabu appeared to start the match. Sabu used a chair on Credible but Credible responded by putting Sabu through a table on the ramp. Sabu did a somersault plancha to the floor. Credible ended up on a table but escaped before Sabu could put him through it. Sabu worked Credible over some more and put him on a table, which was propped against the rail and legdropped him from the top. The table didn't break so he did it again. This time it broke and a metal shard slashed Credible above the eye and he juiced like crazy. Another sharp edge cut Sabu's mid-section and he juiced from there. Very dangerous! They slowed things down a little after this and traded camel clutches. Sabu legdropped Jason. Credible used a cane on Sabu but only got two since Sabu got his boot on the rope. They did a few chair spots and traded twos. Credible bulldogged Sabu through table but took the brunt of the blow himself. Sabu did a moonsault as they picked back up with the highspots. Bill Alfonso kicked Credible. Sabu kicked out at two after receiving That's Incredible, but the second time Credible scored the pin. Styles pushed Credible's win as a major deal. The match was good but the ending looked a little weak.

MIKE AWESOME defeated TAZ and MASATO TANAKA in 13:46 to capture the ECW World Title. This was supposed to be a one-on-one defense by Taz against Tanaka but Awesome arrived and he and Taz got into an argument, leading Paul E. Dangerously to make it a three way. They were chanting "you sold out" at Taz (he's WWF bound) but they handled this so well that he was given a babyface pop after it was all over. Tanaka hit a plancha. Taz suplexed both opponents but Tanaka nailed him with a roaring elbow and Awesome pinned him with a frog splash in 2:00. They treated it like a big deal that Taz lost so quickly, and sold it big by having the lower card wrestlers all come out and watch from the ramp, making this come off as a major event. Awesome hit a tope suicida and a powerbomb. Tanaka did a running chairshot on the ramp. He followed up with a series of Tornado DDT's for near falls. They traded chair spots. Tanaka was Awesome Bombed from the ring through a table. Awesome hit the frog splash but only got two, which put Tanaka over in a major way since Taz was pinned earlier with that move. Awesome pulverized Tanaka with chairshots. Tanaka went for the roaring elbow but Awesome moved clear. Awesome hit a German suplex and a spear. Awesome hit a chairshot off the top and used a chair, somewhat weakly, on Tanaka on a table. Awesome finally powerbombed Tanaka through a table for the pin. Real hot match! Taz returned and kissed the belt before handing it over to Awesome and shaking his hand. Paul E. and the other wrestlers hugged Taz as he left. A great way to handle this situation!

RAVEN & TOMMY DREAMER defeated STEVE CORINO & RHINO in 3:23 in an "unscheduled" match to retain the ECW World Tag Titles. Tommy came out and cut a babyface promo, including mentioning Sammy Sosa. Francine was there, looking too much like Karen Carpenter to be healthy. Corino arrived and instructed Rhino to attack Dreamer. Tommy fought back, including dumping Jack Victory from his wheelchair. Dreamer did some moves like neckbreakers but kept selling his back. Corino brought in a ladder. Rhino powerslammed Francine. Raven then ran in and it became the tag title match somehow, with Raven & Tommy scoring double pins on Corino & Rhino with DDT's. Another "cluster" so it came off poorly. Chicago radio personality Mancow came out with two overweight indie guys named Toad & Al Roper Jr. to congratulate Raven & Dreamer.

Axl Rotten got on the mic and said he wanted a World Title shot and called Awesome out. He never arrived (which kind of looked bad) but the Impact Players did and they tripled on Axl until Spike Dudley & Balls Mahoney made the save. Spike did the Acid Drop on Dawn Marie. Somewhere in here Balls hit Johnny Smith was a standard chairshot, but they sold it as being so devastating it knocked Smith out of the main event. Balls ended up substituted into the match instead.

ROB VAN DAM beat BALLS MAHONEY in 19:36 to retain the ECW TV Title. I think Smith could have had a better match here but I guess the idea was that he was too new to most fans to be in the main event. The first half of the match was actually slow, with no heat. Mostly they bawled, both in the ring and on the floor, to very little crowd response. Van Dam finally popped the crowd with an amazingly high somersault plancha from the top. Balls juiced after a Van Daminator. Balls came back and got a series of twos as the crowd began to get into it as the pace was picking up. Bill Alfonso gave Van Dam a chair and he kicked it into Balls' face. They traded a bunch of spots where each landed on a chair, leading to near falls. Balls hit Van Dam with a sick chairshot. Alfonso broke up the pin at two. Alfonso hit Balls with a chair but he no-sold. Balls was stalking Alfonso when Van Dam recovered and hit the Van Daminator for two. Finally, Van Dam hit the frog splash for the pin, though it looked like it also hurt him. They shook hands afterward. The last half of the match was okay. But the hot lower card bouts made the show.

1999 - Glamour Boy Shane defeats Gangsta Mustafa Saed in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico to win the WWC Television Title.

2000 - Mike Rapada (Colorado Kid) won the NWA World Heavyweight Title in a tournament in Tampa, Florida, defeating Hector Guerrero in the first round and Jerry Flynn in the finals.

2003 - Sonjay Dutt became the first (and as it turns out, only) MLW Junior Heavyweight Champion by defeating Tony Mamaluke, Eddie Colon and Christopher Daniels to win the J-Cup USA tournament in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. On the same card, Terry Funk, The Sandman, Steve Williams, Sabu & Bill Alfonso defeated The Extreme Horsemen (Steve Corino, Simon Diamond, CW Anderson, PJ Walker & Barry Windham) in a WarGames match. Originally, Jerry Lawler was supposed to participate, but a week before the show, WWE forced Lawler to back out, since they felt MLW's television exposure on the Sunshine Network made them more than just an "independent company" (Lawler is allowed to work indy shows).

 

[nbpsfc]

September 20th
On this day in history in ....

1957 - Ivan The Terrible & Nikita Zolotoff defeat Pepper Gomez & El Medico in Houston, Texas for the NWA Texas Tag Team Title.

1968 - Ramon & Alberto Torres defeat Butcher Vachon & Stan Vachon for the NWA Georgia Tag Team Title in Atlanta, Georgia.

1975 - WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino defeats George Steele in a stretcher match at the Philadelphia Spectrum in Pennsylvania. Andre The Giant was the special referee.

1975 - Jose Miguel Perez defeats The Spoiler II in Caguas, Puerto Rico to win the WWC Puerto Rican Heavyweight Title for the third time. Perez had been stripped of the title following a no-contest with Spoiler II on August 30th. On the same show, Carlos Colon defeats The Spoiler I in to win the WWC North American Heavyweight Title for the fourth time.

1975 - Ric Flair defeats Wahoo McDaniel in Hampton, Virginia to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title.

1978 - Jose Lothario defeats Assassin #1 in Monroe, Louisiana to win the Mid-South Wrestling Association Heavyweight Title.

1980 - Andre The Giant defeats Hulk Hogan in Springfield, Massachusetts.

1981 - Big John Studd defeats Angelo Mosca in Toronto, Ontario to win the NWA Canadian Heavyweight Title, ending Mosca's third reign as champion.

1985 - Captain Lou Albano defeats Fred Blassie in a steel cage match at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, New York. The two had wrestled to a disqualification finish on a show at Nassau Coliseum the previous month, and this rematch between the 67-year-old Blassie and the 52-year-old Albano marked the last match in the legendary career of Fred Blassie.

1986 - During a WWF event at the Philadelphia Spectrum in Pennsylvania, Pedro Morales outsmarted Jake Roberts. Prior to the match, Morales took Roberts' snake bag and brought it to the dressing room while Roberts argued with ringside fans. Shortly after the bell rang to start the match, Roberts realized the bag was gone, and left the ring to go find it. Roberts was counted out, and Morales won the match. Incensed, Roberts returned to the ring and tried to DDT Morales, but was backdropped out of the ring.

1987 - Hurricane Castillo Jr. defeats Gran Mendoza in San Juan, Puerto Rico for the WWC World Junior Heavyweight Title. On the same show, Carlos Colon defeats Hercules Ayala to win his sixth WWC Universal Heavyweight Title.

1993 - Shinya Hashimoto defeats The Great Muta in Nagoya, Japan to win the IWGP Heavyweight Title for the first time.

1997 - WWF held their "One Night Only" Pay-per-view, exclusively for the United Kingdom, at the NEC in Birmingham, England. The main event of the show saw Shawn Michaels defeat Davey Boy Smith for the European Heavyweight Title. This match saw the formation of D-Generation X, with Michaels, Triple H, Chyna and Rick Rude. Here are the full results from the show:
- Triple H defeated Dude Love with a Pedigree.
- Tiger Ali Singh defeated Leif Cassidy with a top rope bulldog.
- WWF World Tag Team Champions The Headbangers defeated Los Boricuas (Savio Vega & Miguel Perez, Jr.) when Mosh pinned Perez with a top rope sitdown splash.
- The Patriot defeated Flash Funk with a full nelson slam.
- The Legion Of Doom defeated The Godwinns after the Doomsday Device on Phineas.
- Vader defeated Owen Hart with a powerslam as Owen tried a flying bodypress.
- WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart defeated The Undertaker via disqualification when Taker refused to stop hitting Hart as he was tied in the ropes.
- Shawn Michaels defeated Davey Boy Smith to win the WWF European Title when Smith passed out while in a figure four leglock after interference by Rick Rude, Chyna and Triple H, including a Pedigree on the floor.

1997 - ECW held an event at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which was later released on home video as "As Good As It Gets". Here are the results:
- The FBI (Little Guido & Tracey Smothers) defeated Balls Mahoney & Axl Rotten.
- Justin Credible defeated Jerry Lynn.
- Chris Candido defeated Lance Storm.
- Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Spike Dudley.
- ECW World Champion Shane Douglas defeated Phil Lafon.
- ECW Television Champion Taz defeated Pitbull #2.
- Sabu vs. The Sandman went to a no-contest when Sabu threw fire at Sandman.
- Beulah & Tommy Dreamer defeated Bill Alfonso & Rob Van Dam. In actuality, RVD and Dreamer were taken out early, and it was Beulah vs. Alfonso, one-on-one, with Alfonso bleeding buckets before losing the match after a rana by Beulah. This match is available on the Blood Sport ECW: The Most Violent Matches DVD.
- New Jack & John Kronus defeated The Dudley Boys to win the ECW World Tag Team Title.

1997 - Sugar Sato defeated Yoshiko Tamura to win the WCW Women's World Cruiserweight Title in Kawasaki, Japan. The belt was created in April of 1997, and quickly became forgotten by WCW, finally being abandoned shortly after this match.

2002 - Homicide defeats Slyk Wagner Brown in Bayonne, New Jersey to win the Jersey All Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Title for the fifth time.

2003 - WWE Champion Brock Lesnar defeated The Undertaker in a steel cage match in the main event of a WWE event at Madison Square Garden in New York City when Vince McMahon interfered and prevented Taker from leaving the cage while Lesnar climbed over the top for the win.

2003 - The Backseat Boyz (Trent Acid & Johnny Kashmere) defeat Special K (Izzy & Dixie) in a Tag Team Gauntlet match in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to win the Ring Of Honor Tag Team Championship. The belts had been vacated by former champions AJ Styles & Amazing Red due to Red suffering a knee injury. Results from the Gauntlet saw:
- The Briscoes defeated Special K (Hydro & Deranged).
- The Briscoes defeated The Ring Crew Express.
- Special K (Izzy & Dixie) defeated The Briscoes.
- The Backseat Boyz defeated Special K (Izzy & Dixie).

2004 - Raw was held in Tucson, Arizona, with the announcement that Kane and Lita had lost the child they were expecting as a result of the previous week when Lita was knocked down following a Kane-Gene Snitsky match. Snitsky then did a promo stating that it "wasn't his fault", which would become his catchphrase.

2005 - Smackdown was taped in Lubbock, Texas featuring the television debut of Bobby Lashley, who defeated Simon Dean in under three minutes. However, that wasn't the fastest match of the night, as U.S. Champion Chris Benoit defeated Orlando Jordan with the Crippler Crossface in 49.8 seconds.

 

[nbpsfc]

September 21st

On this day in history in ....

1964 - Fred Blassie and Bobo Brazil took their famous feud to Madison Square Garden in New York City, where the two battled to a draw. In the main event, WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino defeated Waldo Von Erich via countout.

1986 - Carlos Colon defeats Terry Funk in a tournament final for the WWC Universal Heavyweight Title in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The belt had been vacated on April 30th when Colon was injured. This began Colon's fifth reign with the belt. On the same card, The Rock N' Roll RPM's (Mike Davia & Tommy Lane) defeatThe Pastores (Luke Williams & Butch Miller) to win the WWC World Tag Team Title, starting their second reign.

1981 - WWF World Champion Bob Backlund defeats Intercontinental Champion Don Muraco in a Texas Death Match at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

1987 - Ted DiBiase made his return to Madison Square Garden after almost eight years after his last Garden match (where he lost to a debuting Hulk Hogan). In his Million Dollar Man persona, DiBiase offered Junkyard Dog $500 to not wrestle him. JYD instead headbutted DiBiase, then gave out the money to the crowd.

1989 - WWE taped Saturday Night's Main Event at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, Ohio. Here are the results, which aired on October 14, 1989 on NBC:
- Randy Savage defeated Jimmy Snuka with a rollup after hitting him with Sensational Sherri's loaded purse.
- WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Ted DiBiase with a small package. After the match, DiBiase and Zeus attacked Hogan, but Jake Roberts made the save, using Damien to run them off.
- Roddy Piper defeated Haku with a belly to belly suplex.
- Tito Santana vs. Rick Martel ended in a double disqualification when their upcoming Survivor Series partners (Dusty Rhodes, Red Rooster, Brutus Beefcake, Big Bossman, Akeem, Honky Tonk Man) all interfered and a huge brawl broke out.
- The Buskwackers defeated The Rougeau Brothers when Butch Miller pinned Jacques after a double gutbuster.

1990 - Dustin Rhodes made his Madison Square Garden debut, defeating Paul Diamond with an elbowdrop.

1992 - Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes defeat Terry Gordy & Steve Williams to win the WCW & NWA World Tag Team Championship in Atlanta, Georgia.

1992 - Brian Christopher defeats Reno Riggins in Memphis, Tennessee to win the vacant USWA Southern Heavyweight Title. The belt had been vacated after a match between then-champion Riggins and Christopher on September 14th. With this win, Christopher became the champion for the fifth time. On the same card, Junkyard Dog defeated Eddie Gilbert for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title, ending Gilbert's second reign, and Moondog Fifi defeated Miss Texas for the USWA Women's Title.

1994 - After just over three years of operations, the Global Wrestling Federation closed down. The group, which had a television show on ESPN, had attempted to fill the wrestling void left when Fritz Von Erich left the business and Jerry Jarrett stopped promoting in Texas. This would pretty much mark the end of any Dallas-based company as a national force on the wrestling scene. The company is credited for helping to launch the careers of The Patriot, Jerry Lynn, and Lightning Kid (Sean Waltman).

1994 - WWF ran Sayreville High School in Sayreville, NJ with the following results: Nikolai Volkoff pinned PJ Walker (ECW's Justin Credible), WWF Ladies champion Alundra Blayze (Madusa) pinned Bull Nakano, Kwang (Savio Vega under a mask) pinned Jim Powers, Doink (Ray Apollo) pinned Jeff Jarrett, Thurman "Sparky" Plugg (Bob Holly) pinned Abe"Knuckleball" Schwartz (Brooklyn Brawler Steve Lombardi), The Heavenly Bodies defeated Well Dunn, Mabel pinned Bam Bam Bigelow.

1998 - Masahiro Chono vacates the IWGP Heavyweight Title due to a severe neck injury.

1999 - During a Smackdown taping in Dallas, Texas, Triple H wrestles five times in order to earn a spot in the Six-Pack Challenge at Unforgiven. He loses to Big Show in a Chokeslam match, defeats Kane in an Inferno match, loses to Mideon & Viscera in a Casket Match, defeats Mankind in a Boiler Room Brawl, and defeats the Rock in a Brahma Bullrope Match. Also on the show, Road Dogg & Billy Gunn defeat The Rock & Mankind to win the WWF Tag Team Championship and Ken Shamrock wrestles his final WWF match, losing to Chris Jericho in a First Blood match when Jericho hits Shamrock with a hockey stick and Shamrock "spits up" blood.

2002 - Xavier defeats Low Ki in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to become the second ever Ring Of Honor champion.

2003 - WWE held their Unforgiven Pay-per-view in Hershey, Pennsylvania at the Giant Center, headlined by Bill Goldberg defeating Triple H for the World Heavyweight Title. This would be the final championship, to date, that Goldberg would win. Here is Tim Whitehead's original report on the show:

WWE's Unforgiven, a RAW brand PPV, aired live from Hershey, PA. I'm giving the show a thumbs up, mainly for HHH finally dropping the world title and the fact that everyone worked hard. Overall it was a somewhat mixed show, hot in spots, cold in others.

THE DUDLEYS defeated LA RESISTANCE & ROB CONWAY in a handicap tables match to capture the RAW World Tag Titles in 10:17. Earlier on HEAT it was announced that Spike Dudley couldn't compete due to injury. Eric Bischoff made the match into a handicap bout (it was originally a six man). Steve Austin then upped the ante and declared that La Resistance's tag belts would be on the line. D-Von got doubled on early. He fought back, and joined Bubba Ray in destroying Conway. Bubba cleared the ring of all three heels to a good pop. D-Von tagged back in and cleared the ring again with a ton of flying lariats. Bubba called for the tables after a wazzup spot, and before you know it several tables materialized in and around the ring. D-Von got sent through a table first (the rules were that to win you had to put all of the opposing team through a table). Bubba pounded Sylvan Grenier and put him through a table. D-Von moved a table to keep Bubba from being smashed through it. The Dudleys then powerbombed Conway from the ring through a table on the floor, and his head hit a second table next to it in a manner similar to what happened to Spike two weeks ago. Finally they 3D'ed Rene Dupre through a table for the win. Decent opener, and the crowd was into it.

TEST defeated SCOTT STEINER in 6:56. Jim Ross kept talking about how sweet Stacy Keibler is, how she has a nice personality, etc., leading Jerry Lawler to say JR probably goes to Hooter's and orders carry-out. Stacy kissed Steiner, infuriating Test. Steiner hit a suplex, some chops, and an elbow. Test tried to use Stacy as a shield and she slapped him. Test sent Steiner into the stairs and then full nelson slammed him. Test came off the top but got caught and suplexed. Test got powerbombed but didn't seem to go up right for it. Test tried to use the ropes for a pin after a low blow on Steiner, but Stacy broke the pin up. Test reached over the ropes to grab her, but she snapped his neck on the ropes and Steiner almost scored the pin. Test hit the pump handle slam, but got distracted by Stacy and chased her rather than going for the pin. There was a badly mistimed spot where Stacy accidentally bumped into Steiner, leading to Test booting him in the face. Test got a chair. Stacy took it from him and swung it at him, but Test ducked and Steiner took the blow. Stacy looked like she was about to cry. Steiner staggered back up, but caught the boot to the face and was pinned. This was the usual cluster-type match we've been seeing on RAW. Test dragged Stacy to the back afterward, as it was reported that Steiner, by losing, now becomes Test's "property". We'll see the results of this tonight on RAW.

RANDY ORTON defeated SHAWN MICHAELS in 19:20. Ric Flair came out with Orton. Heartbreak Kid outwrestled Orton on the mat. Orton tried to match HBK move for move but HBK kept outwitting him. Orton looked frustrated. HBK hurled Orton over but he skinned the cat and nailed HBK with a dropkick. Orton put the boots to HBK. Orton came off the top but caught a knee to the groin. HBK lariated Orton over and skinned the cat himself. HBK nailed Orton on the floor with a flying crossbody off the top. HBK dominated for a while, scoring some twos after standard suplex and sunset flip moves. They traded fists and chops. HBK charged at Orton, and ended up hitting the post when Orton sidestepped. Flair posted the wounded HBK and gave him a low blow. Orton began working on HBK's shoulder, which was sold as injured from the post shot. Orton scored several two counts here. HBK came back with fists and chops, hitting a flying forearm. HBK did a kip-up to show he was still in the game. He backdropped Orton and slugged Flair off the apron. HBK hurled Orton over the top and sent him into the ring barrier. Back in the ring, Orton recoverd and sent HBK crashing upside down into the corner. Orton blocked the sweet chin music and hit the RKO, but only scored a two. Orton came off the top with a crossbody. HBK sidestepped and Orton crashed to the mat. HBK slugged Flair again. He hit an elbow off the top on Orton, but hurt his own shoulder (still sore from the earlier posting) and couldn't follow up with a pin. He kipped-up again. HBK hit the chin music and Orton went down and was pinned, but Flair put Orton's foot on the rope right after the three count. The ref saw it there and assumed it had been there during the count, so he voided his count and the match continued. Flair got back on the apron, and HBK nailed him with the chin music, but this gave Orton the opening to pull out some brass knux. He KO'ed HBK with them and scored the pin. Very good match, easily the best on the show.

Chris Jericho visited La Resistance & Conway. All three were nursing their wounds from the tables match. Jericho said they were the latest victims of Austin's abuses of power as general manager. He noted that their match wasn't supposed to be for the tag titles but that Austin changed the rules just minutes before the match. He vowed that he would stand up and fight Austin's tyranny.

TRISH STRATUS & LITA defeated MOLLY HOLLY & GAIL KIM in 6:45. Trish & Lita cleaned house early. Lita nailed Gail with armdrags, backdrops, and suplexes. Trish chopped the hell out of Gail. Molly enabled Gail to gain command but Trish fought back and escaped Gail's choke-type hold. Trish got trapped in the heel corner and beaten down. She escaped and tagged but the ref didn't see it and disallowed it. As Gail stomped Trish, Molly caused Lita to bump off the apron. It looked like Lita hit pretty hard and she split her lip open. Lita was a little rusty here from being out of action for a year. Lita finally hot tagged and threw lariats and fists like crazy. She hit a spinning headscissors on Molly and Litabombed Gail. Trish gave Molly a huracanrana and Lita then hit her with a twist of fate and moonsault for the pin. All action, and a solid match.

KANE defeated SHANE McMAHON in the Last Man Standing match in 19:52. Shane hit Kane with a chair from behind during the intros. He nailed Kane with several chairshots, including some to the knee. He wrapped Kane's knee around the ringpost. He rammed Kane into the stairs. Kane juiced from the back, apparently from a chairshot. Shane came off the ring barrier but Kane caught him and slammed him on the floor. The ref counted but Shane got back up. Kane beat Shane down and hit him with the stairs. Shane made it back up at the count of eight. In the ring, Kane chokeslammed Shane, but Shane again got back up before the ten count. The ref got bumped. Kane went for a tombstone piledriver, but decided to do it on the stairs, so he dropped Shane and brought the stairs into the ring. Shane recovered and bulldogged Kane on the stairs. Shane did a Van Terminator, kicking the stairs into Kane's face. The ref was still out, and in fact he was out for a ridiculously long time with no substitute ref coming in. He finally revived just as both Kane and Shane went down after some brawling with the stairs. Both beat the ten count. They left the ring and brawled up the aisle, with Shane holding his own as he slugged it out with the alleged monster. Kane rammed Shane over and over into the steel Unforgiven sign. Kane smashed Shane into the Spanish announcers' desk, which was on an elevated platform, and then tried to turn the desk over on Shane, but Shane rolled clear. Shane hit Kane with a piece of metal and a boom camera (breaking the camera lens). Kane got back up at the nine count. Shane used a cable to choke Kane and to drag him up on a platform. He beat Kane down with a monitor and gave him a DDT. Shane then went to the top of the big Unforgiven sign and came off, attempting to give Kane an elbow smash. But Kane rolled clear and Shane crashed through the wooden platform in a daredevil spot. JR & Lawler sold it like Shane was destroyed and likely broke his neck. Shane stayed down and was ten counted, with Kane winning. Shane did a full neck brace and stretcher job, and it was later reported that he was hospitalized. I have mixed feelings about this match. On the one hand, it's totally bizarre to push Shane as competitive with a guy they're trying to promote as an unstoppable monster. On the other hand, they were both good here and the crowd seemed to love it, and Shane clearly got over doing that daredevil spot.

Jericho confronted Austin backstage. He blamed him for making Kane into a monster and for screwing La Resistance out of their tag belts. Austin dared him to take his best shot. But Jericho said he was too smart for that, and would force Austin to crack by getting to him psychologically and avoiding any physical provocation.

CHRISTIAN defeated CHRIS JERICHO and ROB VAN DAM in a three way match to retain the IC Title in 19:02. The crowd was dead here after the Last Man Standing spectacle and the earlier HBK vs. Orton bout. In addition, most of the match didn't click. I've never been a fan of three way matches, which always have too many broken up pin attempts. Most of the match was Jericho & Christian doubling on RVD, but then being unable to pin him because neither wanted the other to win. RVD rallied a few times but obviously couldn't score the pin either. A lot of this was really sloppy and they seemed to not be on the same page. Some early highlights were RVD moonsaulting both foes on the floor, RVD hitting a somersault plancha on Christian, and Jericho hitting a springboard dropkick on RVD. Jericho blocked an RVD huracanrana attempt and hooked the walls hold, but Christian broke it up. Jericho and Christian went at it for a while. RVD started a comeback and the crowd finally got into the match the last four minutes or so. They did one great spot where RVD was setting Jericho up for a move off the top, but Christian got underneath both and superplexed them. RVD hit a frog splash on both foes at the same time. Christian brought the title belt in. RVD sent Jericho from the ring and laid Christian out. He went up for the frog splash but Christian got his knees up, with the title belt on his knees, and RVD landed on the belt. Christian pinned RVD to retain the title. JR said the match wasn't pretty, which was his way of saying it was disappointing, which it was. But the last four minutes or so were good.

Triple H did a promo comparing Goldberg to a dragon-slaying knight in a fairy tale who suddenly finds himself in the real world and gets his ass kicked. HHH said he doesn't believe the hype.

AL SNOW & JONATHAN COACHMAN defeated JIM ROSS & JERRY LAWLER in 8:16. No one did commentary here, since apparently no one realized it was necessary. Actually, it wasn't. JR wore an Oklahoma jersey. Lawler and Snow started off, doing some routine brawling and occasional pin attempts. Snow backdropped Lawler. Coach, from the ring apron, told Snow to do another backdrop, but this time Lawler blocked it and gave Snow a piledriver. Snow draped his leg across the ropes to break the three count. Snow rallied and beat Lawler down. Coach tagged himself in, against Snow's wishes. Coach stomped Lawler and went for the bronco ride but got crotched when Lawler moved. Lawler bodyslammed Coach as the crowd chanted for tables. Lawler hit Coach with a fistdrop. Snow broke up Lawler's attempted pin. JR tagged in to a big pop. Snow confronted him like a bully, and JR kicked him in the balls. JR then put the boots to Coach as if he were nothing but a government mule. JR was pounding the hell out of Coach, and seemed primed for victory. But, out of sight of the ref, Jericho ran in, dropkicked JR, and rolled Coach on top of him. Lawler tried for the save but Snow held him. JR was pinned. Jericho did a promo from ringside boasting that this was the first stage in his plan to mentally break Austin, namely by costing his boy JR his job, since the stips were that Snow & Coach would replace JR & Lawler on RAW if victorious. The match itself was about what you'd expect, but JR was great during the post-match, looking heartbroken at the loss, and telling Lawler he let him down. He did a nice promo talking about how he'd wanted to be in the wrestling business since he was a kid and said Lawler was like a brother to him. He and Lawler vowed to go out on top like professionals and to call their final match together (the main event) doing the best job of the careers.

GOLDBERG defeated TRIPLE H to capture the RAW World Title in 14:57. The rules were that the title could change hands on a DQ or count-out, and that Goldberg would have to retire if he lost. The crowd was hot at first but soon cooled, though they popped at the finish. Goldberg press slammed HHH early and HHH bailed out. They slugged it out, followed by a backdrop from Goldberg, and HHH bailed again. HHH snapped Goldberg's throat on the ropes. HHH got back in the ring, but Goldberg caught him with a suplex. Goldberg went for a spear. However, HHH nailed Goldberg with a knee to the head, so the spear move backfired. HHH lariated Goldberg out and posted him. HHH hit a chop block and wrapped Goldberg's leg around the post. He kept working over Goldberg's leg, including hooking the figure four. Goldberg reversed it, but HHH escaped. HHH hit a knee drop. He went for another one but Goldberg blocked it and hit a powerslam. HHH bumped out, where Goldberg rammed him into the stairs. HHH juiced. Back in the ring, there was the mandatory ref bump. HHH hit Goldberg with a low blow and a DDT. Goldberg shook it off and backdropped HHH from the ring. HHH got the sledgehammer he always has hidden under the ring (why don't they search for it earlier?) and hit Goldberg with it. Goldberg went down, but this time came back up like Superman, or more likely Hulk Hogan, and speared the shocked HHH. Goldberg jackhammered HHH for the pin as the ref revived. The match was only average, and to get Goldberg's win over it needed to be quick and lighting-like, which wasn't going to be allowed for political reasons. But Goldberg is now the champ and we'll see how they handle it.

2004 - At a Smackdown taping in Phoenix, Arizona, The Fabulous Moolah & Mae Young (combined age of 162) defeat Torrie Wilson & Dawn Marie (combined age 62) when Moolah rolled up Dawn for the pin in under four minutes.

 

[nbpsfc]

September 29th
On this day in history in ....

1979 - WWF Intercontinental Champion Pat Patterson defeats WWF World Champion Bob Backlund via disqualification in Baltimore, Maryland. Patterson hit Backlund with brass knucks, unseen by the referee, and Patterson was about to score the pin when Arnold Skaaland ran in and broke up the cover, getting Backlund disqualified.

1985 - The longest tag team title reign in the career of the Road Warriors comes to an end. After over a year as AWA World Tag Team Champions, Hawk & Animal lost the title to Jim Garvin & Steve Regal in St. Paul, Minnesota when Freebird Michael Hayes interfered, costing the Warriors the match.

1988 - The Junkyard Dog made his final appearance at Madison Square Garden, defeating King Haku by disqualification when Bobby Heenan interfered.

1989 - The Blackhearts (Tom Nash & Dave "Gangrel" Heath) defeat Kensuke Sasaki & Sumo Hara for the Stampede International Tag Team Title in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Blackhearts would be the final champions, as the promotion would shut down in December of 1989.

1989 - WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Randy Savage in a steel cage match in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

1989 - Jeff Jarrett & Matt Borne defeat Sheik Braddock & Mark Starr for the held-up USWA World Tag Team Title in Dallas, Texas. The belts had been held up on September 22, 1999 following a match between champions Braddock & Starr and Jarrett & Borne. With this win, Jarrett and Borne started their second reign as champion.

1993 - One of the most beloved teams in the history of the NWA, the Rock N' Roll Express, make their WWF television debut at a taping in Portland, Maine. Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson, at the time Smoky Mountain Wrestling tag team champions, lose to Well Dunn after interference by Jim Cornette and the Heavenly Bodies. This was the result of a talent agreement between SMW and WWF.

1998 - D'Lo Brown defeats X-Pac in the very European locale of East Lansing, Michigan to win the WWF European Heavyweight Title for the second time with the help of Mark Henry, who rammed X-Pac into the ringpost to set up Brown's top rope splash for the pin.

2001 - Pain defeated Nuevo Gran Apolo in Bayamon, Puerto Rico for the IWA World Heavyweight Title

 

[nbpsfc]

October 4th

On this day in history in ....

1960 - Hard Boiled Haggerty & Len Montana defeated Murder Inc. (Tiny Mills & Stan Kowalski) to win the AWA World Tag Team Title in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This ended Murder Inc.'s second run with the belt.

1972 - Antonio Inoki defeats Karl Gotch for the New Japan Real World Heavyweight Title in Tokyo, Japan. This would be one of two title changes (Gotch wins the belt back later in the month) for the belt, which pretty much existed solely for the purpose of the Gotch-Inoki matches.

1975 - Tosh Togo defeats Jose Miguel Perez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, to wint he WWC Puerto Rican Heavyweight Title, and ending Perez' third reign with the title.

1979 - Tatsumi Fujinami ends Ryuma Go's two-day reign as WWF Junior Heavyweight Champion by defeating him in Tokyo, Japan and regaining the title. Fujinami's second reign with the gold would end when he vacates the title and moves into the heavyweight division.

1981 - The NWA held a tournament to determine a new United States Champion. The previous champion, Wahoo McDaniel, was forced to vacate the title after being injured by Abdullah The Butcher. The tournament was held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Here are the results:
First Round:
- Pat Patterson defeated Mike David.
- Ricky Steamboat defeated Nikolai Volkoff.
- Leroy Brown defeated Super Destroyer.
- Ivan Koloff defeated Ron Bass.
- Sgt. Slaughter defeated Johnny Weaver.
- Jay Youngblood defeated Steve Muslin.
- Jacques Goulet defeated Dusty Rhodes.
- Ole Anderson defeated Ron Ritchie.
Quarterfinals:
- Ricky Steamboat defeated Pat Patterson.
- Leroy Brown defeated Ivan Koloff.
- Sgt. Slaughter defeated Jay Youngblood.
- Jacques Goulet vs. Ole Anderson went to a double countout.
Semifinals:
- Ricky Steamboat defeated Leroy Brown.
- Sgt. Slaughter received a bye.
Finals:
- Sgt. Slaughter defeated Ricky Steamboat.

1986 - The seventh edition of WWF's "Saturday Night's Main Event" aired on NBC, earning a 9.4 broadcast rating. The show featured five matches that were taped in Richfield, Ohio on September 13, 1986, including a highly anticipated Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff match. Here are the results:
- WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Paul Orndorff via disqualification. Bobby Heenan was sent to the back early in the match after interfering several times. Adrian Adonis ran in from the crowd, causing the DQ. Roddy Piper, using a crutch due to a knee injury suffered at the hands of Adonis, came in and saved long-time rival Hogan. Piper hit Adonis with the crutch, giving him a legitimate separated shoulder. Piper and Hogan then had an uneasy staredown, with Hogan almost hitting Piper before Piper left the ring.
- Ricky Steamboat defeated Jake Roberts with a small package. After the match, Roberts went to put his snake on Steamboat, but Steamboat ran him off with his komodo dragon.
- Roddy Piper defeated The Iron Sheik. Due to Piper's injury, Pedro Morales was going to substitute for Piper, but Piper threatened to hit him with his crutch if Morales didn't get out of the ring. Morales left, and Sheik attacked Piper. Sheik went for a suplex, and Piper reversed it into a small package and held the tights for the pin in less than a minute.
- WWF World Tag Team Champions The British Bulldogs defeated Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine in a three falls match.
* Valentine forced Dynamite Kid to submit to a figure four in the first fall.
* Dynamite pinned Valentine with a diving headbutt off of the back of Beefcake, who was being held in a fireman's carry by Davey Boy Smith, in the second fall.
* Smith pinned Beefcake with a cradle suplex in the third fall.
- Kamala defeated Lanny Poffo with a splash.

1991 - Eddie Gilbert defeats The Handsome Stranger (Marcus Bagwell) in a tournament final to win the Global Wrestling Federation Television Title in Dallas, Texas. The belt has been vacated in August when The Patriot won the Global North American Title, and was not allowed to hold both championships.

1983 - El Canek defeats Dos Caras to retain the UWA World Heavyweight Title in the main event of a show in Mexico City that draws over 28,000 fans.

1993 - Marcus Alexander Bagwell & 2 Cold Scorpio defeat The Nasty Boys to win the WCW World Tag Team Title in Columbus, Georgia.

1993 - Tim Horner defeats Juicy Johnny for the SMW "Beat The Champ" Television Title in Jellico, Tennessee, starting his second reign. The rules for the "Beat The Champ" title were that, after five successful title defenses, the belt would be vacated. On the same show, Chris Candido defeats Bobby Blaze for the SMW U.S. Junior Heavyweight Title.

1993 - A battle royal was held on Monday Night Raw to fill the vacant WWF Intercontinental Title (champion Shawn Michaels temporarily split with WWF over a contract dispute) with the rules being that the final two participants would meet in a singles match the following week for the title. Razor Ramon and Rick Martel were the co-winners, and would meet the following week, with Ramon winning the belt.

 

[nbpsfc]

October 12th

On this day in ....

1992 - Bret "Hitman" Hart defeats Ric Flair for the WWF World Heavyweight Title in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Flair submitted clean to the Sharpshooter, beginning Hart's first run with the World Title and ending Flair's second reign with the WWF belt. For a complete look at this historic match, go to Page 2!

1992 - Butch Reed defeats Junkyard Dog for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee.

1998 - Ken Shamrock defeats X-Pac in a tournament final for the WWF Intercontinental Title at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island. The belt had been vacated when current champion Triple H suffered a knee injury. Here are full results from the tournament:
First Round:
- Ken Shamrock defeated Steve Blackman.
- Val Venis defeated Marc Mero.
- X-Pac defeated Jeff Jarrett.
- Mankind defeated Mark Henry (Thanks to Mike Johnson for reminding me that this match saw the debut of the "Mr. Socko Mandible Claw").
Semifinals:
- Ken Shamrock defeated Val Venis.
- X-Pac defeated Mankind.
Finals:
- Ken Shamrock defeated X-Pac.

1999 - Mankind & the Rock defeat The New Age Outlaws for the WWF World Tag Team Title in Birmingham, Alabama, starting their third tag title reign, and ending the fourth reign for Billy Gunn & Road Dogg. On the same show, Big Bossman won the WWF Hardcore Title by defeating champion Al Snow and The Big Show in a three way match. This began the fourth and final Hardcore title reign for the Bossman.

 

[nbpsfc]

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: BRET HART DEFEATS RIC FLAIR FOR THE WWF WORLD TITLE
by Buck Woodward @ 8:00:00 AM on 10/12/2006

Today we go back to one of the biggest matches of Bret Hart's career, the night he defeated Ric Flair for the WWF World Heavyweight Title. In his book, Ric Flair says the match is "awful" and that it never aired on television. While the Nature Boy is certainly entitled to his opinion, the match DID air on television. It was shown on an edition of Prime Time Wrestling, and was later put out on a WWF Coliseum Home Video release.

Mat Classic: WWF World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs. Bret Hart
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada - October 12, 1992

The History

The WWF was in a period of transition. Vince McMahon was still handling the steroid and sex scandals, and had made the decision away from muscular monsters like Ultimate Warrior and Davey Boy Smith, and instead push smaller, more athletic wrestlers like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. Ric Flair, the WWF World Champion, had won the title from Randy Savage only six weeks earlier in Hershey, Pennsylvania. No one was expecting this title change, as Hart was seen as an "Intercontinental Title-level" worker at the time.

The Match

They circled each other, then locked up, with Flair backing Hart into a corner, and Earl Hebner getting a clean break out of the two. Flair let out a pair of "Whoo's" before moving back in to lock up. Flair grabbed a side headlock, trapping Hart's left arm as well, and took him to the mat. Hart got to his feet, ducked out of the hold, and and the two exchanged hammerlocks. Hart grinded in his, pulling up on the arm, and Flair made the ropes. Hart broke, and Flair slumped to the mat, clutching his arm. They locked up again, and Hart stood on the bottom rope in a corner, grabbing an armtwist. Flair kept Bret in the corner, and broke up the hold. Flair grabbed a wristlock and kicked Bret in the leg. Flair, then whipped Hart hard in the corner. Flair went for a vertical suplex, but Bret blocked the attempt twice, then hit his own vertical suplex for the first two count of the match. Bret Hart hit a headbutt, and then backdropped Flair. Bret stomped Flair in the gut, after teasing a Sharpshooter first. Flair rolled to the floor for a breather.

Ric Flair walked around ringside, shaking things off then reentered the squared circle. Hart placed Flair in a side headlock, but Flair turned it into a top wristlock, bending Hart backwards towards the mat. Hart bridged back, forcing Flair down and applying an armbar. Hart again stood on the bottom rope, gaining more leverage on the arm, as Flair tried to maneuver them into the corner. Hart went back to the arm after a break, using an armdrag to bring Flair down, then went into an armbar. Hart pounded the arm, twisted it, and yanked down on it. Flair rolled into a front facelock, but Hart reversed into a hammerlock and drove his knee into Flair's arm.

Hart maintained the hammerlock, as flair got to his feet. Hart went into an armbar, and Flair forced Hart into a corner for a break. Flair tried to grab an armtwist on the break, but Hart reversed and flipped Flair to the mat with an arm twist. Hart legdropped the arm, but Flair hit a kick to the midsection and sent Hart over the top rope and to the floor. Hart jumped onto the apron and shoulderblocked Flair through the ropes, then went for a slingshot sunset flip. However, Flair got his balance and punched Hart in the head to break up the hold. Hart rolled out of the ring and to the floor. Flair regained his confidence and let out a "Whoo" before moving towards Hart, who was now on the apron. Hart did the shoulderblock and sunset flip combo again, this time pulling Flair's trunks down and taking the Nature Boy over for a two count. Hart hit a reverse atomic drop and a pair of clotheslines to an ovation from the Canadian crowd. Flair rolled to the floor and flopped onto his face.

Back in the ring, a headbutt sent Flair down again, but the "dirtiest player in the game" thumbed Hart in the eyes. Flair whipped Hart into the corner, and the challenger slammed into the buckles chest first. Flair whipped him in again, and then backed up and kicked Hart in the left knee. Flair hit a shinbuster, then punched Hart in the face twice in a corner before kicking at the leg again. Flair delivered a chop, then another punch to the face. Flair snapmared Hart, then dropped a knee, but Hart rolled out of the way. Hart went for a spinning toe hold, but Flair kicked him off. Flair applied a side headlock, but Bret escaped it with a shinbuster, then dropped a trio of elbows to the right leg. He applied a leglace briefly before grabbing a Figure Four Leglock. Flair struggled in the hold, his shoulders going down on the mat for two counts on two occasions. Flair finally made the bottom rope to break the hold.

Hart went for an elbowdrop, but Flair rolled out of the way. Flair went for a beckbreaker, but Bret turned it into a backslide for two. Flair hit a punch to the gut, then decked Hart with a right hand. Hart reversed a whip and grabbed a sleeperhold, but Flair got out with a back suplex. As both men got up, Flair grabbed a small package for a two count. Flair delivered a double underhook suplex for a two count, then hooked the leg for a second two count. Flair, limping, went for the knee drop, this time hitting it, but obviously caused himself some pain as well. Flair whipped Hart hard into the corner, then covered Bret twice for two counts. Flair complained to Henber about the count, allowing Bret to roll him up from behind for a two count with a school boy.

Hart delivered a punch and grabbed a headlock, but Flair hit a shinbuster and applied the Figure Four. Hart strained in the hold, which was applied in the center of the ring. Bret's shoulders went down for a two count, but then he managed to turn the hold. Flair turned it back over, and they reached the ropes. Flair got to his feet first, put Hart in the corner and kicked at Hart's leg. Flair threw a chop, then kicked Bret in the back of the left leg. Flair stomped the leg twice in the corner. Flair yanked on the leg, and said "Now we go to school" then went for the figure four, but Bret turned it into a small package for two.

Bret and Flair traded punches in a corner. Bret started to mount a comeback with punches, but ran into a Flair boot after a whip into the corner. Flair went to the top rope, but Hart grabbed him and slammed Flair hard into the mat. Bret slugged Flair, then whipped him into the corner and backdropped him. Hart drove an elbow into Flair's chest and covered him for two, then hit a Russian legsweep for another two. Flair begged off, and Hart hit a side backbreaker. Hart hit a second rope elbow and hooked the leg for two, but Perfect yanked Flair's leg to assist with the kickout.

Hart gave Flair a vertical suplex for two. Flair begged off, as Hart yelled at him to get up and the crowd cheered Bret on. Flair chopped Hart in a corner, but Hart pulled down his straps, daring him to to it again. Hart absorbed the second chop and hit a series of punches, then delivered a superplex off the second rope. Hart applied the Sharpshooter, and Perfect tried to interfere, but the referee was standing between him and the wrestlers, and ordered him off the apron. Perfect had no sooner gotten down from the apron than the referee turned and Flair submitted. In twenty eight minutes, Bret Hart had won the World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Title from Ric Flair, Flair's first submission loss in the WWF.

The Aftermath

Hart and Flair would have several rematches on house shows, including an incredible Ironman match in Boston in January of 1993, right before Flair left the company to return to WCW. They wouldn't meet up again until Hart went to WCW in 1997. They wrestled several times in WCW, most notably at Souled Out '98.

Today, Ric Flair has a best selling DVD Collection and recently released autobiography. He still wrestles for WWE on the Raw brand, as part of the Evolution group with Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista. Bret Hart, who has been ordered by doctors not to wrestle again, is reportedly working on a three volume autobiography and has been approached by WWE to help put together a DVD set of his best matches.

Availability: The match was released on the WWF/Coliseum Video "Smack'em, Whack'em", currently out of print.

 

[nbpsfc]

PPV ELEVATOR: WWE NO MERCY
by Buck Woodward @ 2:09:00 PM on 10/10/2006


Welcome to the latest edition of my "PPV Elevator" (or, as I affectionately call it, Idea #194). In it, we take the wrestlers that appeared on Pay-per-view and decide whether they are going up, going down, or "staying on the same floor". This is simply one person's opinion on whether the wrestler helped themselves or hurt themselves (or did neither) on the Pay-per-view.

Onto this edition.

WWE NO MERCY

King Booker T - The King did a good job playing his role in the main event, constantly going for covers, which he should have been doing. After all, he was trying to get a win in a match where the champion only has a 25% chance of winning. Booker taking advantage of the situation at the end was a good finish, and now we have a situation where not only Batista and Lashley are targeting his title, but Finlay and William Regal are as well. With Chris Benoit waiting in the wings, there are plenty of potential challengers for Booker. The question is, which one will be next (once we get past CyberSunday, that is)? Elevator: Up a floor.

Fit Finlay - Finlay was the one who had to take the pin in the Fatal Four Way, but he was also the glue that held the match together. In particular, the segment where he went from working on Batista's arm (including not breaking when Batista hit the Samoan Drop) to grabbing Lashley in a single leg crab was just beautiful wrestling. It's not just about winning "Comeback Of The Year" anymore, now Finlay is working towards Wrestler Of The Year. If WWE gives him a title push (and hey, Vince McMahon says he likes him), he could pull it off. Elevator: Up a floor.

Batista - For the first time since his return from injury, Batista's performance was worthy of the pops the crowd gives him. Easily his best effort, the match was built to make him look strong, especially the closing moments where he unleashed a series of spinebusters. I still don't see his matches equaling his status, but it is always hard to have a standout performance in a Four Way match. While he hasn't been given back the strap, Batista has been given the ball, and it is up to him if he wants to run with it, or just rest on his past (and his crowd pops). Elevator: On the same floor.

Bobby Lashley - Going into No Mercy, it had to be a big of an ego blow for Bobby Lashley. The whole reason the match was made into a Fatal Four Way is because WWE didn't believe Lashley was being seen as a credible main eventer. In truth, he was being pushed into the main event too soon, but to announce he is going to headline and then make him share the title shot with two others is a slight on him. Hopefully, the fans won't see it that way, and instead focus on the hard work he put in during the bout. Lashley's glaring at Batista could be the first seed to an interesting feud, should WWE capitalize on it. Elevator: On the same floor.

Chris Benoit - Welcome back. Benoit returned from his sabbatical and picked up right where he left off. A great match, Benoit didn't show a hint of ring rust as he and William Regal had what was arguably the match of the night. With no real issue between them, it was simply a wrestling match between two opponents who always deliver when they are in the ring together (as former Velocity watchers know). Benoit is a much needed boost to Smackdown, and I'm looking forward to seeing him wrestle Regal, Finlay, Booker and Chavo in the coming weeks. Elevator: Up two floors.

William Regal - He spent most of the night being made the butt of jokes (yeah, bad pun), and just when you wondered whether the Boogeyman was going to come out to wrestle Regal, Chris Benoit entered the picture and Regal was allowed to be a wrestler again. A fantastic match, Regal may be seen as a comedy act to some, but to fans of great mat wrestling, he's one of the best on the brand. Regal was even allowed to get back some pride by decking King Booker T after the match. Regal's elevator was like an amusement park ride, plummeting to the ground before bouncing back up. Elevator: Up a floor.

Rey Mysterio - Rey Mysterio is at his best flying around the ring, or selling to a larger opponent as an underdog. Brawling in the crowd is not his forte, and probably never will be. That said, Rey and Chavo did a good job coming up with some cool spots, and the crowd was into their match. However, with the announcers overselling it as being some sort of violent epic, it came off as less than fulfilling at the end. Of course, the fact that the storyline behind it is very distasteful might be clouding my opinion of it. Or it could just be that I'd rather watch them in a ring doing what they do best. Elevator: On the same floor.

Chavo Guerrero - Regardless of what you think about how he got his push (and yes, it is hard to separate it when fans are still chanting "Eddie"), Chavo has done a lot better as a heel than he has at any point since, well, since the days of Los Guerreros. He is working hard, and does a great job inciting the crowd. Unfortunately, he has been booked as being inferior to Rey Mysterio, and the clean loss in the Falls Count Anywhere match isn't going to do much to change that perception. Unfortunately, the "it's not over" attitude means things will be remaining this way. Elevator: On the same floor.

Ken Kennedy - I suppose the point of the match was to show that Ken Kennedy could "hang" with the Undertaker. Instead, it came off like "We want to make this feud last longer, so here's a long match with a lame finish". Kennedy tried, and the action was decent, but it just wasn't memorable. No one was talking about the match the next day, and that isn't where you want to be when climbing the ladder. At this point, Kennedy is coming off as being a notch below the upper card wrestlers on the brand. Time and continued hard work can change that, but there was no movement for the U.S. Champion here. Elevator: On the same floor.

The Undertaker - The Dead Man always delivers on Pay-per-view, but that might just be because he hardly wrestles on non-PPV events anymore. You'll always get the effort from the Undertaker, but there's only so much he can do. If you're going to work hard (as we've seen this year with Angle, Big Show, Cena), he'll help you get the crowd excited and into the match. If you're not able to take your game up to the next level, the only pops you are going to hear are going to be for Taker's usual big spots. That was the case here. The finish of the match was just poor, and while you can understand WWE wanting to stretch the feud, this just came across as filler with al ame ending. Elevator: On the same floor.

MVP - So, is the gimmick supposed to be that he is a high-priced talent that doesn't deliver? Because that is what MVP came across as during the Pay-per-view. If that is indeed the plan, then it just makes Smackdown look bad for "signing him" and giving him all the hype. MVP should have destroyed Marty Garner, and instead there were probably a few viewers thinking they would rather see Garner again than MVP. His mic work, which was strong at the start of his push, has already become dull and sleep inducing. Elevator: Can you go down from the ground floor?

Marty Garner - Jimmy Wang Yang, Sylvan, Tatanka, Sylvester Terkay, Elijah Burke, Jamie Noble, Jillian Hall, Kristal Marshall. They all watched the PPV on a monitor in the back. Marty Garner got to wrestle. Sure, he was a "glorified enhancement talent", but he made it onto a WWE PPV, something many wrestlers dream of (but never accomplish). Elevator: Up a floor.

The Miz - At least we didn't have to watch him wrestle. Elevator: No elevator could go up with Big Dick Johnson sitting on his lap. There are weight limits on these things.

Layla - So, is Layla a bigger star because she strips on PPV, while the others have to do it on Sci-Fi this week? Elevator: On the same floor.

Paul London & Brian Kendrick - It's so depressing to look at the tag team division on Smackdown. Here you have Paul London & Brian Kendrick, a talented duo that has worked hard to create an exciting style, and WWE can never be bothered to have but one or two potential challengers to their belts. Still, London & Kendrick at least got a chance to show what they can do on the PPV, and very nearly stole the show. They took a crowd that didn't care about their challengers, and got them excited about the match. That is a huge accomplishment. Elevator: Up a floor.

KC James & Idol Stevens - After being less than impressive during their Smackdown TV appearances, James & Stevens had their backs against the wall going into the PPV. Given time, facing a very good tag team in London & Kendrick, if James & Stevens didn't deliver, it is hard to imagine the Smackdown fans caring about them beyond the fact that Michelle McCool accompanies them. While I'm not about to christen them as the next coming of the Midnight Express, the simple fact is that James & Stevens held up their end of the match, and far exceeded expectations going in. I wouldn't mind seeing a rematch (which we will get, since there's only two tag teams on the brand!). Elevator: Up a floor.

Matt Hardy - Another PPV, another Matt Hardy match, another good bout. Hardy is easily one of the most consistent performers on the Smackdown brand. Unfortunately, the powers that be seem to have no desire to put him on the level of the main eventers, even though he has to be amongst the most popular wrestlers on the show. So, Hardy gets another match against Gregory Helms, and has another good match. I'm sure he'll have another good match next month, and so it goes, and so it goes. Elevator: On the same floor, seems like something is blocking it from going up.

Gregory Helms - Did you know that Gregory Helms was the Cruiserweight Champion? That's what the belt is that he wears to the ring, although he never seems to defend it. I don't blame Helms for the Cruiserweight division being pushed as it isn't his fault. He just does what he is told, and the series of matches between him and Matt Hardy have been very good, the match at No Mercy being no exception. However, how many times can the Cruiserweight champion be pinned? If Helms isn't going to be wrestling title matches (and losing bouts), then put the title on Jamie Noble, Jimmy Yang or someone else. Being a champion that loses isn't something you want to be known for. Elevator: On the same floor, but the down button has been pressed

 

[nbpsfc]

October 13th

On this day in history in ....

1967 - Professor Toru Tanaka defeats WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when the match is stopped due to Sammartino's excessive bleeding. However, Tanaka was not awarded the title, since the champion was not pinned or forced to submit.

1975 - WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino defended his title against Ivan Koloff, the man who ended his first title reign in 1971, at the building where the loss took place, Madison Square Garden in New York City. The match ended in a draw after a 20-minute brawl when the referee ruled that both men were bleeding too heavily to continue. A slew of wrestlers had to come out to separate the two. This was the first of three straight MSG shows headlined by the two, culminating a few months later in the first steel cage match ever held at Madison Square Garden.

1981 - Mr. Fuji & Mr. Saito defeat Tony Garea & Rick Martel for the WWWF World Tag Team Title in Allentown, Pennsylvania, when Martel had salt thrown in his eyes as he went for a flying bodypress. This ended Garea & Martel's second title reign.

1985 - Ivan & Nikita Koloff defeat The Rock N' Roll Express (Rick Morton & Robert Gibson) for the NWA World Tag Team Title in Charlotte, North Carolina. This began the second reign for the Koloffs, who actually lose the belts to Morton & Gibson three months earlier when Ivan & Krusher Khrushchev defended (and lost) the belts.

1990 - WWF airs their 28th Saturday Night's Main Event special on NBC, earning a 7 broadcast rating. The show featured five matches taped on September 18th in Toledo, Ohio. Here are the results of the matches on the show:
- The Legion Of Doom & The Ultimate Warrior defeated Demolition (Ax, Smash & Crush) when Ultimate Warrior pinned Smash with a splash.
- Randy Savage defeated Dusty Rhodes via countout.
- Hulk Hogan & Tugboat defeated Greg Valentine & The Honky Tonk Man via DQ after Honky hit Tugboat with his guitar.
- Sgt. Slaughter defeated Koko B. Ware via submission with the camel clutch.
- Intercontinental Champion Kerry Von Erich defeated Haku with a discus punch.

1992 - Money, Inc. (Ted DiBiase & IRS) defeat The Natural Disasters (Typhoon & Earthquake) for the WWF Tag Team Title in Regina, Saskatchewan to begin their second title reign.

1997 - The Monday Night Wars continued, and this time the spotlight focused on tag teams, as both shows featured World Tag Team Title changes. WCW Monday Nitro on TNT scored the win over WWF Monday Night Raw on USA, 3.8 to 2.3

WCW Nitro, from Tampa, Florida saw Rick & Scott Steiner become five time WCW World Tag Team Champions, defeating Scott Hall & Syxx (subbing for Kevin Nash) when Larry Zbyszko came in as a substitute referee and counted Rick's pin of Hall after a bulldog. ... Other results from the show saw: Cruiserweight Champion Eddie Guerrero defeat Psicosis. ... Steve McMichael defeated Steven Regal. ... Yuji Nagata defeated Chris Jericho. ... Bill Goldberg defeated Scotty Riggs. ... Dean Malenko defeated Rey Mysterio, Jr. ... Scott Norton defeated Ray Traylor. ... Television Champion Disco Inferno defeated Alex Wright. ... U.S. Champion Curt Hennig vs. Dallas Page ended in a no-contest after interference from Ric Flair, Roddy Piper and the NWO.

Raw, which was taped in Topeka, Kansas on October 7th, saw The Legion Of Doom (Road Warriors) defeat The Godwinns to become two-time WWF World Tag Team Champions. The rest of the show saw: Intercontinental Champion Owen Hart vs. Faarooq wrestle to a double countout. ... Max Mini & Nova defeat Tarantula & Mosaic. ... Shawn Michaels defeated Flash Funk. ... The DOA defeated The Truth Commission. ... Brian Christopher defeated Yoshihiro Tajiri. ... Goldust defeated Savio Vega. ... Ahmed Johnson vs. Triple H ended in a no contest.

2001 - The NWA World Heavyweight Title was held up when Steve Corino was unable to continue during a title defense against Shinya Hashimoto in St. Petersburg, Florida.

2003 - WWE broadcast Raw from the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with Bill Goldberg & Shawn Michaels defeating Ric Flair, Randy Orton & Mark Henry in a handicap match when Goldberg pinned Henry with a Jackhammer. After the match, Michaels superkicked Goldberg as payback for Goldberg spearing him the week before. However, the show is better remembered for Steve Austin running off Scott Steiner as he was threatening Stacy Keibler. Then, during his customary beer bash, Austin gave Stacy a stunner when she refused to drink beer.

 

[nbpsfc]

October 17th

On this day in history in ....

1961 - Jackie Fargo & Lester Welch defeat Great Mephisto & Dante to win the Southern Tag Team Title in Nashville, Tennessee.

1961 - Mr. M defeats Hard Boiled Haggerty in Minneapolis, Minnesota to win the AWA United States Heavyweight Title. He would be the final champion, as the title was abandoned a few months later.

1982 - Bret Hart defeats Bad News Allen (later Bad News Brown in WWF) to win the Stampede North American Heavyweight Title for the fifth time in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

1982 - Jimmy Valiant defeated Ivan Koloff in Toronto, Canada to win the NWA Television Title.

1985 - Sherri Martel defeats Candi Devine in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to win the AWA Women's World Title for the second time.

1988 - Forbes Magazine reports that the World Wrestling Federation (then a privately owned company) was worth $100 million. At the same time, word begins to circulate that Ted Turner would be purchasing Jim Crockett Promotions, a purchase that will be completed the following month, when Turner purchases the company and renames it World Championship Wrestling.

1991 - Tatsumi Fujinami & Big Van Vader defeat Riki Choshu & Masa Saito to win the Super Grade Tag League tournament in Tokyo, Japan.

1992 - Todd Champion defeats Butch Reed for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title in Cleveland, Ohio.

1999 - WWF held their No Mercy Pay-per-view at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Here are the results:
- The Godfather defeated Mideon after hitting the Ho Train.
- The Fabulous Moolah defeated Ivory to win the WWF Women's Title and become a seven time Women's Champion.
- Hardcore & Crash Holly defeated The New Age Outlaws via disqualification.
- Chyna defeated Jeff Jarrett in a Good Housekeeping match to win the Intercontinental Title. The rules of the match stated that household objects could be used in the match. Jarrett beat Chyna after hitting her with the Intercontinental Title belt, but the match was ordered to continue, since the belt was not considered a household object. The match was restarted, and Chyna defeated Jarrett after hitting him with a guitar. This was Jarrett's final WWF match, as his contract had already expired, and he was heading to WCW. WWF and Jarrett came to an agreement for him to make this final appearance and drop the title. WWF's side of the story was that Jarrett "held them up" for money, while Jarrett's version was that he simply wanted PPV bonuses he was due for past shows up front.
- The Rock defeated Davey Boy Smith with a Rock Bottom and People's Elbow.
- Matt & Jeff Hardy defeated Edge & Christian in a Ladder match, winning $100,000 and the managerial services of Terri Runnels.
- The Rock issued a challenge to the winner of the main event, then was attacked by Triple H.
- Val Venis defeated Mankind with a testicular claw.
- X-Pac defeated Faarooq, Kane and Bradshaw in a Four Corners match. Kane eliminated Bradshaw with a chokeslam, X-Pac eliminated Kane with a spin kick off the top rope, and X-Pac pinned Faarooq with an X-Factor to win the match.
- WWF World Heavyweight Champion Triple H defeated Steve Austin in an Anything Goes match, when Rock, while going after Triple H, accidentally caused Austin to be hit with a sledgehammer.

2000 - BJ Payne & Flash Flanagan defeat the Disciples Of Synn (Slash & Damian) to win the OVW Tag Team Title in Louisville, Kentucky.

2005 - During an edition of Raw from the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California, Stone Cold Steven Austin appeared and demanded that Vince McMahon come to the ring to address the firing of Jim Ross as the play-by-play announcer on Raw. Stephanie McMahon came out instead, and told Austin that if he defeated Ross' replacement, Jonathan Coachman, at Taboo Tuesday, Ross would get his job back. The match would never happen, as Austin would (again) walk out on WWE when he didn't like the planned storyline for the match.

 

[nbpsfc]

October 19th

On this day in history in ....

1956 - Fred Blassie defeats Wild Bull Curry to win the NWA Southern Heavyweight Title for the fourth time.

1972 - Johnny Valentine defeats Abdullah The Butcher to win the National Wrestling Federation World Heavyweight Title in Cleveland, Ohio.

1972 - Bobby Shane defeats Tim Woods in Tampa, Florida to win the NWA Florida Television Title for the second time.

1985 - Carlos Colon defeats Abdullah The Butcher in San Juan, Puerto Rico to win the WWC Universal Heavyweight Title for the fourth time. The belt had been held up following a September 21st match between the two.

1987 - Hector Guerrero & Dr. D defeat Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee for the AWA World Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee.

1997 - Keiji Mutoh & Masahiro Chono defeat Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki to win the IWGP Tag Team Title in Kobe, Japan.

1997 - Atsushi Onita & Kintaro Kanemura defeat Hisakatsu Oya & Mr. Gannosuke to win the FMW World Brass Knuckles Tag Team Title in Sendai, Japan.

2001 - Vader & 2 Cold Scorpio become the first Pro Wrestling Noah Global Honored Crown Tag Team Champions by defeating Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito in the finals of a tournament in Yokohama, Japan. On the same card, Tatsuhito Takaiwa defeats Yoshinobu Kanemaru to win the Pro Wrestling Noah Global Honored Crown Junior Heavyweight Title.

2001 - Road Dogg (BG James) defeats Jeff Jarrett to become the first World Wrestling All-Stars World Heavyweight Champion in Perth, Australia.

2001 - Black Warrior defeats Negro Casas to win CMLL's Legend Of The Silver Mask tournament.

2002 - Sabu defeats Pitbull Gary Wolfe in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in a tables match to become the 3PW Heavyweight Champion.

 

[nbpsfc]

October 24th

On this day in history in ....

1956 - Mitsuo Surugaumi defeats Michiaki Yoshimura in a tournament final to become the first Japanese Junior Heavyweight Champion in Tokyo, Japan.

1967 - Paul DeMarco and Lorenzo Parente defeat Kurt and Skull Von Stroheim to win the Florida version of the NWA World Tag Team Title in Tampa, Florida.

1970 - Moondog Mayne defeats Mr. Fuji to win his 11th NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title.

1974 - Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens defeat Crusher & Billy Robinson in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to win the AWA World Tag Team Title for their third and final time.

1976 - Alfonso Dantes wins his second NWA World Light Heavyweight Title in Guadalajara, Mexico, defeating Carlos Plata.

1979 - Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood win the Mid-Atlantic version of the NWA World Tag Team Title in Raleigh, North Carolina, ending the second reign of Paul Jones and Baron Von Raschke.

1979 - Bobby Eaton wins his second NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Title, ending the fifth reign of Dutch Mantel in Nashville, Tennessee.

1980 - Tiger Jeet Singh scores the biggest win over his career, defeating Antonio Inoki in Okinawa, Japan for the UWA World Heavyweight Title.

1980 - Tony Atlas defeats Dennis Condrey to win the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Title in Atlanta, Georgia.

1981 - "Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal defeats "Playboy" Buddy Rose for the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title, ending Rose's seventh reign and beginning his second.

1982 - Jumbo Tsuruta defeats Harley Race to win the NWA United National Heavyweight Title for the fifth time in Kitami, Japan.

1983 - Jimmy Garvin defeats Chris Adams for the WCCW Television Title in Fort Worth, Texas.

1993 - WCW held their Halloween Havoc Pay-per-view in New Orleans, Louisiana at the Lakefront Arean. Here are the results:
- Ice Train, Charlie Norris & The Shockmaster defeated Harlem Heat & The Equalizer when Shockmaster pinned Kole (Booker T) after giving him a bearhug.
- Paul Orndorff defeated Ricky Steamboat via countout after the Assassin, seconding Orndorff at ringside, headbutted Steamboat with a foreign object.
- WCW Television Champion Steven Regal vs. Davey Boy Smith ended in a time-limit draw just as Smith was covering Regal for the pin after a piledriver.
- United States Champion Dustin Rhodes defeated Steve Austin. Austin pinned Rhodes with his feet on the ropes, but the referee restarted the match, and Rhodes rolled up Austin from behind for the pin as he argued with the referee.
- The Nasty Boys defeated Marcus Bagwell & 2 Cold Scorpio to win the WCW World Tag Team Title when Knobbs pinned Scorpio after Saggs hit him with his boot.
- Sting defeated Sid Vicious when Col. Robert Parker accidentally hit Sid.
- WCW International World Champion Rick Rude defeated Ric Flair via DQ. After both the original referee and second referee Terry Taylor were knocked out, Rude pulled out a foreign object, but Flair got control of it and knocked out Rude. Flair covered Rude, and Taylor counted the pin, but the original referee disqualified Flair for using the foreign object.
- Vader defeated Cactus Jack in a Texas Death match. This was a "Spin The Wheel, Make The Deal" match, where Cactus spun a wheel with various match stipulations to determine what type of match this would be. The finish saw Cactus hit Vader with a DDT after losing a fall, but manager Harley Race zapped Cactus with a taser. When the rest period after the fall ended, Cactus couldn't answer the ten count and Vader was declared the winner.

1994 - The Moondogs (Spot & Rex) defeat the Phantoms for the USWA Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee, starting their second reign.

1998 - A card held in Cherry Hill, New Jersey sees three championships decided. Doug Gilbert wins the NWA National Heavyweight Title from Stevie Richards in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, starting his second reign. Christopher Daniels and Kevin Quinn defeat Danny Dominion and Ace Steel to become the first NWA Midwest Tag Team Champions, and E.Z. Ryder defeats Paul Atlas to win the revived NWA Canadian Heavyweight Title.

1998 - The Dudley Boys defeat Rob Van Dam & Sabu in Cleveland, Ohio to win their fourth ECW World Tag Team Title.

1999 - WCW held their Halloween Havoc Pay-per-view at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was the first WCW PPV since the arrival of writers Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara from the WWF. Here are the results:
- Cruiserweight Champion Disco Inferno defeated Lash LeRoux with the Last Dance (stunner). After the match, LeRoux powerbombed Disco on the title belt.
- Harlem Heat defeated Konnan & Billy Kidman (subbing for Rey Mysterio) and Brian Knobbs & Hugh Morrus in a Falls Count Anywhere, Streetfight, Triangle Match to win the WCW World Tag Team Title. Harlem Heat pinned Knobbs at the same time Kidman pinned Morrus, but the referee ruled that Harlem Heat's pin came first, so they got the belts.
- Eddie Guerrero defeated Perry Saturn via DQ when Ric Flair ran in and hit Guerrero with a crowbar. Flair also hit Billy Kidman with a crowbar, and kissed Torrie Wilson, before leaving.
- A backstage brawl saw Bill Goldberg bloody Sid Vicious.
- Jeff Jarrett vs. Buff Bagwell never takes place as Lex Luger tried to hit Jarrett with a guitar, but instead hits Bagwell, knocking him out.
- Brad Armstrong defeated Berlyn when he blocked a neckbreaker by holding onto the top rope and got the pin.
- Rick Steiner defeated Chris Benoit to win the WCW Television Title when Dean Malenko turned on Benoit and hit him with a chair.
- Lex Luger defeated Bret Hart via submission with a single leg Boston crab on Hart's previously injured leg.
- WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sting defeated Hulk Hogan in three seconds. Hogan walked to the ring, said something to Sting, then laid down on the mat and let Sting pin him before leaving.
- Bill Goldberg defeated Sid Vicious when the referee stopped the match due to Sid's bleeding. Sid kept wanting to continue, and finally Rick Steiner convinced him to return to the locker room after the referee ended the match.
- Diamond Dallas Page defeated Ric Flair in a Strap match with a Diamond Cutter. After the match, The Filthy Animals attack Flair and drive off with him in an ambulance.
- Bill Goldberg defeated Sting in three minutes to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title in an impromptu match with a spear and jackhammer. The next night, the title was held up due to this being an unsanctioned match, and due to Sting hitting the referee during the bout.

1999 - Bombero Infernal defeats Mr. Niebla to win the IWRG Intercontinental Middleweight Title in Naucalpan, Mexico.

 

[nbpsfc]

November 2nd
On this day in history in ....

1992 - Jerry Lawler defeats Todd Champion in Memphis, Tennessee for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title, starting Lawler's 13th reign with the belt.

1998 - In Houston, Texas, Vince McMahon creates the WWF "Hardcore Championship" and awards it to Mankind (Mick Foley). Ironically, Mankind would hold the title for less than a month, and never win it back. Despite this, the Hardcore Title is often associated with Foley.

1999 - Mankind & Al Snow defeat Hardcore & Crash Holly for the WWF World Tag Team Title in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

2000 - The WWF released the following regarding the Owen Hart lawsuit:

World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. Announces Settlement in Owen Hart Case

STAMFORD, Conn.--Nov. 2, 2000--World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWF) announced today that it has agreed to a settlement in a previously disclosed lawsuit filed by the members of the family of Owen Hart, a professional wrestler, whose accidental death occurred while performing under contract with the Company. Under the terms of the agreement, the WWFE will receive a full release from any further liability in the case.

`It has always been our intention to settle this case and we tried to do what we felt was in the best interest for all those involved, particularly for the family of Owen Hart,'' said Linda McMahon, CEO.

As a result of the settlement, the WWFE will take a charge of $7 million which is net of its insurance recoveries and will retain the right to pursue contribution and indemnity from the companies that manufactured and sold the equipment involved in the accident. The charge will be recorded in selling, general and administrative expenses for the quarter ended October 27, 2000.

That was the ending to one of the most tragic stories in the history of wrestling. Kansas City Circuit Judge Douglas Long. Jr. approved the settlement, and the family of Owen Hart received $18 million dollars for the loss of Owen Hart on May 23, 1999 when his harness at the Kemper Arena malfunctioned and he fell to his death during the Over The Edge pay-per-view. The WWF told stockholders that they would pay $7million of the payment, and they wanted the rigging and harness companies to pay the other half. One of the companies, Amspec, Inc., filed for bankruptcy right before the judgment, possibly in anticipation of the payment.

Owen's wife, Martha, received $10 million. Their children, Oje, 8, and Athena, 5, received $3 million each. Stu and Helen Hart, Owen's parents, each received $1 million. After the hearing, Martha took her children to the Kemper Arena to see where Owen died. Martha announced that she was using $2 million of the money to start the Owen Hart Foundation to help the less fortunate.

Perhaps the saddest part of the story is how the Hart family, once thought to be a very tight kunit, was now in shambles. Bret and Keith Hart sided with Martha, Stu and Helen, while sisters Diana and Ellie did not. Of course, their respective husbands, Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart signed contracts with the WWF after the incident. Martha had some stinging comments about the situation after the settlement in the Calgary Sun.

"This is not a close-knit family and I'm not part of it anymore -- we carry the same last name but that's as far as it goes. They betrayed Owen by working against me and his children and I will never consider myself, or my children, a part of that family anymore. I will respect Owen's parents and I will stay in touch with a select few of them but people need to know that Owen was a white sheep in a black family."

2004 - At the Smackdown taping in St. Louis, Missouri, Kurt Angle made a challenge to the current crop of WWE Tough Enough contestants, one that nearly ended in disaster. Here is the original report from that show:

We then went to the ring, where Al Snow had all the contestants assembled. Kurt Angle was then brought to the ring. Angle went down the line, asking each contestant their name, then insulting them while getting into their face. When he got in the face of Nick, he asked him to turn his eyes away, and when he wouldn't, he shoved him. Angle seemed to take great pleasure in ripping into Dan R. (the smartass) and Dan P. (the MMA fighter). Some of the contestants cracked smiles and laughed during the segment, and Angle would yell at them and shove them to shut them up. Angle talked about what it takes to succeed in wrestling, and told the contestants that he hated them, since they were getting a chance to win a million dollars. Angle (who was wearing his amateur wrestling shoes) did some squat thrusts (squat into pushup and back to standing position). Angle then told the group they would be doing squat thrusts, and whoever did the most without messing up would win a special prize. While Angle berated the group, last week's segment with the Big Show was recapped. After the recap, Angle brought two referees to watch the group and eliminate whoever messed up. Ryan appeared to be able to do them much faster than the rest. Justice was eliminated first, then one by one they gave out, including Ryan. The last two were Daniel Puder and Chris Nawrocki, with Nawrocki winning. Nawrocki was then told his special prize was his first match ever ... right now with Kurt Angle. Apparently, this was shoot-style wrestling, using "professional wrestling rules".

Kurt Angle vs. Chris Nawrocki. Angle took Nawrocki down with a front facelock, but Nawrocki grabbed the ropes. Angle then reapplied the hold, and easily took Nawrocki down for a pin. Winner: Kurt Angle.

Angle then asked the other contestants if anyone else wanted to take him on. Daniel Puder volunteered.

Kurt Angle vs. Daniel Puder. They grappled, and Puder went for an arm, but Angle backed him into the ropes. As they came off, Angle grabbed a front facelock, but Puder got away. The crowd was chanting "UFC" for Puder. They locked up again, and went to the mat. Angle was on top, and Puder went for a keylock, but his shoulders were down, so he was pinned (although it appeared his shoulder was up). Winner: Kurt Angle.

Puder reached out for a handshake, but Angle got in his face, and the two were talking nose to nose. You couldn't make out what they said, other than Angle saying "Now get out of my face" at the end. Tazz said Angle was telling him that you have to stay off you back in a wrestling contest. Angle then told all the contestants that as far as he was concerned, none of them were Tough Enough.

In truth, replays of the "match" showed that Puder had Angle locked up and was probably moments away from submitting Angle when referee Earl Hebner counted a fast pin on Puder, who obviously didn't have his shoulders down. Angle was embarrassed, Puder gained a measure of popularity (that he still plays off of to this day), and many experts wondered what the hell WWE was thinking when they came up with the idea for the segment.


[B[/B]

 

[nbpsfc]

LOOKING AT WRESTLING'S FUTURE MANAGERS
by Eric Jenkins @ 12:07:00 PM on 11/2/2006

Umaga is over as a monster in WWE, not so much because of his skills, which are very basic, but because of the microphone abilities of Armando Alejandro Estrada. Armanda’s promo skills combined with Umaga being booked as an indestructible force is what has elevated the career of the former member of 3 Minute Warning. Armando is not the only one who has elevated struggling stars. Shane Douglas has used his mic skills to help get The Naturals noticed in TNA, even though they will have to overcome the inconsistency with TNA’s booking practices, and Daivari has used his abilities to make stars out of both Mark Henry & the Great Khali.
With the re-emergence of managers in professional wrestling, it seems apparent that there needs to be more managers to help to elevate some wrestlers who seem to have trouble elevating themselves because of limited mic skills. I am not referring to obvious choices like Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Ted DiBiase or Dusty Rhodes because though these are some of the greatest promo men in the history of the business, they are also some of wrestling’s biggest stars and the fans would be more interested in the manager than they would the wrestler and that is not what a good wrestling manager should do. The manager should use his skills to draw attention to the wrestler who he or she is promoting while the wrestler does the work in the ring. This is not a list of the best promo men currently in the business because not all promos would translate into getting someone else over instead of the person who is talking. This is a list of people who I feel would have the ability to promote someone else. With that said, these are some of the people who I think would make great wrestling managers:

Stevie (Steven) Richards – Stevie Richards was the voice behind the Blue World Order in ECW and he took what was supposed to be a parody gimmick designed to entertain Raven and turned it into a phenomenon all its own, complete with their own merchandise and their own fan base. Richards was also the voice behind Right to Censor and the only thing compelling about that group (because the story line itself was horrible) was the fact that the group was made up of some of the best mic skills in the WWF at that time. The Godfather, Val Venis and Ivory were all talented on the mic, but Richards was the best. Richards has the ability to make the fans hate him, pity him, or think that he is an absolute joke. Whatever the wrestler was being booked as, Richards could deliver the goods with his promos.

Muhammad Hassan – As good as Daivari has been as the manager of Mark Henry and Khali, when he was with Hassan, he only spoke in Farsi and Hassan would do the mic work that would stir the crowd against his character. Hassan, as Mark Copani, could do the same in the manager’s role for someone else, and his character would not overshadow his wrestler.

Raven – Raven is a borderline choice here because he is a career big fish in small ponds. In the wrong situation, his character would overshadow his wrestler, but with the right wrestler, who was booked perfectly by the federation or who was a natural in the business, Raven could be the extra ingredient that would push a person over the top. Raven is one of the smartest men in the business and his ability to generate interesting concepts in his interviews is similar to that of Dusty Rhodes when he was at his peak in the late 1970’s in the NWA with Jim Crockett Promotions.

Buh Buh Ray Dudley, BBR will never be a bigger star than he is because he will never be pushed as a world title contender. He will always be thought of as a tag team specialist and he will never get too huge that his presence will detract from another wrestler. BBR has the ability to stir a crowd into a violent frenzy with his words as well as being able to generate love and adoration from the fans with those same words. BBR has been the spokesman for the Dudleys their entire time in WWE and TNA and he has been the one who has made the fans love or hate his team and kept those feelings until the federations decided to turn the duo. He could do the same as a manager.

D-Von Dudley – Fans of the Dudleys fro their WWE days know Buh Buh Ray as the primary spokesperson of the team, but fans of the original ECW remember that BBR was stuck with the gimmick of stuttering fool while D-Von was the true spokesperson of the team. Over time, BBR was transformed into a normal person and his true mic skills came to the front, but lest we forget D-Von and the work that he did for the team in its infancy.

Joel Gertner – Joel Gertner’s whole purpose was originally to stir the crowd with his introductions of the Dudleys, and then his purpose became to stir the crowd with his introductions of himself. Either way, he could stir the crowd, and that is what a good manager does for his client. He could get the crowd to hate his man by getting them to hate Joel and then having the wrestler to fight the battles that Joel ignites with his words, like a modern day Bobby Heenan.

Christian – Christian was never the guy in WWE. Christian was Edge’s little brother then one of Kurt Angle’s protégé’s and then he was Chris Jericho’s buddy. Once he broke away from all of the, he started to established himself as a performer, then he was allowed to leave WWE for TNA. In TNA, the fans have been able to see the true talent of Christian as a performer. Christian holds the crowd in the palm of his hand with every word, face or heel. The fans want to hear what he has to say so that they can be sure if they love or hate him.

Christian’s stable of “peeps” would be put together and bred for excellence and Christian would accept nothing less, which means that he would constantly be changing his roster but they would always be a viable unit with Christian running the show with his words. His stable would switch between face & heel several times, but they would still be a unit worth caring about.

There are many more names that I could add to this list, and I am sure that the fans will agree with some, disagree with others, and have their own suggestions. In other sports, there are plenty of players who experts can immediately see will be good coaches when their playing days come to an end. That is what I have done here, and I welcome your comments.

Send comments, complaints or questions to me @ [email protected]

 

[nbpsfc]

November 6th

On this day in history in ....

1989 - Jerry Lawler defeats The Soultaker (Papa Shango/Kama/Godfather) for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee to begin his third reign (of an eventual 27) as champion.

1994 - AAA hold their one (and to date only) North American Pay-per-view event, "When Worlds Collide". The show was held in conjunction with the IWC promotion, and was advertised on WCW broadcasts in the weeks leading to the event. Hosted in English by Mike Tenay & Chris Cruise (there was also a Spanish language version available), it allowed Lucha Libre it's first chance to impress a wider audience in the U.S. To date, some feel that this is the best PPV, bout for bout, ever. The event was held in Los Angeles, California at the Sports Arena, drawing a live crowd of 13,000. Here are the results:
- Mascarita Sagrada & Octagoncito defeated Espectrito & Jerrito Estrada when Sagrada pinned Espectrito with a moonsault.
- Fuerza Guerrera, Madonna's Boyfriend (Louie Spicolli), & Psicosis defeated Rey Misterio Jr., Heavy Metal, & Latin Lover when Guerrera forced Metal to submit to a reverse hammerlock.
- Pegasus Kid (Chris Benoit), 2 Cold Scorpio & Tito Santana defeated Jerry Estrada, La Parka & Blue Panther when Pegasus pinned Panther with a rana.
- Octagon & El Hijo del Santo defeated Love Machine (Art Barr) & Eddy Guerrero in three falls in a Mask vs. Hair match. The rules of the match (which were pretty much unheard of on U.S. shows) was that each fall was an elimination match, not ending until both member of a team had been eliminated.
* In the first fall, Guerrero pinned Santo at the 3:38 mark with a rana, and Love Machine pinned Octagon with a frog splash at the 4:04 mark.
* In the second fall, Guerrero pinned Santo with a top rope rana, Octagon pinned Guerrero with a rana at the 8:49 mark, and Octagon forced Machine to submit with a Octopus at the 8:58 mark.
* In the final fall, Love Machine pinned Octagon at the 14:16 mark with a tombstone piledriver, Santo pinned Machine at the 16:53 mark after Blue Panther ran in and gave Barr a tombstone piledriver, and Santo pinned Guerrero at the 19:20 mark by reversing a dragon suplex attempt into a forward rollup to win the match. As a result, Love Machine and Guerrero had their heads shaved. Sadly, this would be Art Barr's last match, as he passed away a short time later. Many feel, to this day, that this is the best match in the history of PPV.
- Perro Aguayo defeated Konnan in a Steel Cage match by escaping the cage after a double footstomp. The match saw interference from Guerrero, Madonna's Boyfriend (for Konnan) and The Dynamite Brothers (for Aguayo).

1995 - Ahmed Johnson defeats Jerry Lawler for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee to end Lawler's 21st reign with the belt.

1998 - The Dudley Boyz (Buh Buh & D-Von) defeat Masato Tanaka & Balls Mahoney for the ECW World Tag Team Title in New York, starting their fifth title reign, and breaking the record for most ECW Tag Title reigns (Public Enemy had four).

2000 - Bull Buchanan & The Goodfather defeatTthe Hardy Boyz for the WWF Tag Team Title in Houston, Texas, ending their third title reign.

2000 - Crowbar defeats Reno for the WCW Hardcore Title in Chicago, Illinois.

2002 - Jerry Lynn defeats AJ Styles for the NWA:TNA X Division Title in Nashville, Tennessee, ending Styles' second reign and starting Lynn's second run with the title.

2005 - Joey Styles makes his debut as Raw Play-by-play announcer during an edition of the show from Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Unfortunately, he and color commentators Jonathan Coachman and Jerry Lawler, kept referring to the upcoming Survivor Series as the 21st annual event, when in truth it was going to be the 19th edition of the PPV.

 

[nbpsfc]

November 9th

On this day in history in ....

1933 - Otis Clingman defeats Thor Jenson for the Pacific Coast Middleweight Title in Eugene, Oregon.

1937 - Earl McCready defeats George Walker in Wellington, New Zealand to become undisputed New Zealand Wrestling Union British Empire Heavyweight Champion.

1937 - Billy Weidner defeats The Great Mephisto in Dayton, Ohio to win his second Midwest Wrestling Association Light Heavyweight Title, this also ended the second reign for Mephisto.

1949 - Bobby Managoff defeats Jack Claybourne for the Hawaii Heavyweight Title in Honolulu, Hawaii.

1950 - Billy Goelz defeats Gypsy Joe to win the Wisconsin Junior Heavyweight Title in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

1952 - Lucky Simunovich and Gino Garibaldi defeat Bob Langevin and Rom Rice for the vacant Hawaii Tag Team Title in Honolulu, Hawaii.

1956 - Lou Thesz defeats Whipper Billy Watson to win his second NWA World Heavyweight Title as well as, to this day, the final totally Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship in St. Louis, Missouri.

1957 - Ivan Bornov and The Great Malenko defeat Frankie Talaber and Leon Graham for the MWA Ohio Tag Team Title in Columbus, Ohio, ending Talaber and Graham's second reign.

1961 - Lord James Blears and Neff Maivia defeat Shoulders Newman and Ted Travis for the NWA Hawaii Tag Team Title in Honolulu, Hawaii, then lose the belts right back to Newman and Travis.

1962 - Fred Blassie begins his second reign as the recognized World Heavyweight Champion in the state of Georgia, defeating Jake Smith in Atlanta in a rematch from their meeting two weeks earlier for the title, also in Atlanta, the title had been immediately held up following the prior match.

1964 - Terry Garvin and Chin Lee are awarded the Gulf Coast version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Title, when the previous champions, The Corsicans (Joe and Jean) leave the territory two weeks earlier.

1968 - Kintaro Ohki defeats Buddy Austin for the vacant All-Asia Heavyweight Title in Seoul, South Korea. The title had been vacant since late 1963, following the death of then-champion Rikidozan.

1970 - Don Leo Jonathan and Steven Little Bear defeat Chati Yokouchi and Yasu Fuji in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for the Vancouver version of the NWA Canadian Tag Team Title.

1973 - Wahoo McDaniel defeats Strong Kobayashi for the IWA (Japan) World Heavyweight Title in Wakayama, Japan.

1973 - Chris Colt and Bobby Mayne (Bobby Jaggers) defeat Tito Montez and Kurt Von Steiger to win the NWA Western States Tag Team Title in Phoenix, Arizona.

1975 - Terry Funk defeats Paul Jones in a tournament final for the vacant NWA United States Heavyweight Title in Greensboro, North Carolina. The title was vacated due to champion Johnny Valentine suffering career-ending injuries in a plane crash on October 4th also involving Ric Flair, Tim Woods and Bob Bruggers.

1976 - The Spoiler defeats Bill Watts for the Mid-South version of the NWA North American Heavyweight Title in Shreveport, Louisiana, ending Watts' fourth reign and starting Spoiler's second.

1981 - Yukari Ohmori and Mimi Hagiwara defeat Nancy Kumi and Ayumi Hori to win the World Women's Wrestling Association Tag Team Title in Obuyama, Japan.

1985 - Dutch Mantel defeats Phil Hickerson for the Continental Wrestling Association International Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee. This ended Hickerson's third reign and began Mantel's second.

1985 - Bobby Jaggers defeats Ricky Vaughn (Lance Von Erich) for the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title in Portland, Oregon, his third title win.

1986 - On a card promoted by Bill Watts' Universal Wrestling Federation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, two titles change hands. Bill Irwin and Leroy Brown defeat John Tatum and Jack Victory to win the UWF Tag Team Title, and Savannah Jack defeats Buddy Roberts for the UWF Television Title.

1986 - Invader III wins the WWC Junior Heavyweight Title for the sixth time, defeating Don Kent in Caguas, Puerto Rico.

1987 - Jeff Jarrett defeats Jimmy Jack Funk to win the NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning Jarrett's fifth reign.

1991 - Eric Embry defeats Tom Prichard for the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee, starting his third run with the belt and ending Prichard's second reign.

1996 - Lance Storm and Yuji Yasuraoka win their second WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title from Jushin Liger and El Samurai in Tokyo, Japan.

1996 - The Bruise Brothers defeat Brian Christopher & Wolfie D for the USWA Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee to start their fifth reign with the belts.

1997 - Arguably the most talked about match in the history of professional wrestling takes place at the WWF Survivor Series Pay-per-view in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart, who had already signed with WCW, was double-crossed in the finish of his main event match with Shawn Michaels.

Bret Hart had signed a lucrative 20-year contract with the WWF the year before, but Vince McMahon later told him he would be unable to fulfill the terms of the deal, and for Bret to negotiate a contract with WCW. Bret did, and gave notice to WWF. As part of the agreement, WCW would not mention Hart's signing until after the Survivor Series PPV, as Hart did not want his highly anticipated match with Shawn Michaels ruined. Still, word leaked out leading into the event.

During a meeting on the afternoon of November 9th, McMahon and Hart met to discuss a finish for the Survivor Series match. McMahon wanted the belt off of Hart, fearing WCW would announce the next night on Nitro that they had signed away the WWF Champion. Hart did not want to do the job to Michaels in Montreal for a number of reasons (including personal animosity and Michaels unwillingness to do a job for Bret following Wrestlemania 12, amongst others). Hart was open to losing the belt the next night on Raw, or at Madison Square Garden later that week. McMahon and Hart agreed to a DQ finish, and that Hart would come out on Raw the next night and surrender the title, giving a farewell speech to his WWF fans and putting over the company on his way out.

Hart and Michaels put together their match with Pat Patterson. The planned finish (suggested by Patterson) was for referee Earl Hebner to be knocked out. Michaels would put Hart in a Sharpshooter, but Hart would then reverse it. Michaels would tap out, but the referee would be down and not see it. Hart would release the hold to check on the ref, then Michaels would hit him with Sweet Chin Music. A second referee would come down to count, but Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart would run down and pull the second referee from the ring, eventually leading to a disqualification finish.

Bret Hart was actually warned by Vader prior to the match to watch for a double cross, and not allow himself to be placed in submission holds or positions where he couldn't get his shoulders off the mat. Hart, who personally made sure close friend Earl Hebner was the assigned referee for the match, was not worried about a double cross.

During the match, Hebner was bumped, and Michaels placed Hart in the Sharpshooter. However, Hebner got up, instead of staying "knocked out". Hebner called for the bell, with Vince McMahon (who was at ringside due to a planned earlier portion of the match where McMahon and agents were trying to get the action back into the ring during a brawl on the floor), screamed at the timekeeper to ring the bell. Hart was reversing the hold at the time this happened, and he and Michaels crumbled to the mat, with Michaels (who later admitted to being in on it) acting angry.

Earl Hebner immediately exited the ring, and ran out of the building into a waiting car. He would fly home immediately, and not appear at Raw the next night. Hart spat right in Vince McMahon's face. McMahon screamed at Michaels to take the belt and leave. Michaels, with Gerald Brisco ushering him out, took the belt, and held it up as he left (presumably under orders from Brisco). The PPV went off the air at that point. McMahon, with Pat Patterson and security surrounding him, left ringside. Bret Hart smashed several TV monitors, and Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart (who never got their cue to come in for the finish) came to the ring and calmed him down. Hart then spelled out "WCW" with his fingers to the fans before leaving the ring.

Backstage, McMahon locked himself in his office. Hart confronted Michaels, who insisted he knew nothing about it, and that he wasn't going to keep the belt. Hart gave Michaels the benefit of a doubt, and said Michaels would have his chance to prove himself by not bringing the belt out on Raw the next night. The rest of the locker room was angry, feeling McMahon lied and screwed with someone who had been with the company for over a decade, and did a lot for the WWF.

McMahon would not open his door for anyone, until The Undertaker, after putting together what had happened, pounded on his door and demanded that McMahon speak to him. Reportedly, Undertaker, the recognized leader of the locker room, told McMahon, very adamantly, that he needed to apologize to Bret Hart right then and there. McMahon went to Hart's dressing room with Sgt. Slaughter, Gerald Brisco and several others. Vince attempted to apologize, justifying his actions by saying that he couldn't take the chance of Eric Bischoff announcing the next night that WCW had signed the WWF Champion. Hart said he was going to shower, and if Vince was still there when he got dressed he would "knock him out". Hart called McMahon a liar, and when McMahon said this was the first time he lied to him, Hart rattled off a list of lies from McMahon. After Hart got dressed, he told McMahon twice more to leave, and when he didn't, a scuffle broke out and Hart knocked McMahon to the ground with a punch. Shane McMahon tried to attack Bret, and ended up in a scuffle with Davey Boy Smith, who pulled Shane off of Bret's back. As McMahon was dragged out of the dressing room, Sgt. Slaughter reportedly accidentally stepped on Vince's ankle.

Most in WWE management insisted they knew nothing about a screwjob. Many wrestlers stated they would not go to Raw the next night because of the screwjob, but with the exception of Hart's relatives (Owen, Smith, Neidhart), Mick Foley was the only wrestler to carry through on his protest. The next night on WCW Nitro, the NWO came to the ring waving Canadian flags, and sang "Oh, Canada". Michaels, despite his promise to Bret not to, came to the ring with the WWF Title belt and poked fun at Hart.

Here are the results from the rest of the PPV:
- Billy Gunn, Road Dogg, Henry Godwin, & Phineas Godwin defeated The Headbangers & The New Blackjacks in an elimination match. Gunn & Road Dogg were the survivors.
- The Truth Commission defeated DOA in an elimination match. The Interrogator was the sole survivor.
- Davey Boy Smith, Jim Neidhart, Doug Furnas & Phil Lafon defeated Vader, Steve Blackman, Goldust & Marc Mero in an elimination match. Smith was the sole survivor.
- Kane defeated Mankind with a tombstone. This was Kane's first televised match.
- Ken Shamrock, Ahmed Johnson & The Legion Of Doom defeated the Nation of Domination in an elimination match. Shamrock was the sole survivor.
- Steve Austin defeated Owen Hart with a stunner to win the WWF Intercontinental Title.

2001 - 2-Dope defeats Marcus Jordan for the Maryland Championship Wrestling RAGE Television Title in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania.

2002 - Apolo defeats Rey Fenix to win the IWA (Puerto Rico) Heavyweight Title in Cayey, Puerto Rico, beginning his sixth reign with the belt.

2002 - Chet Jablonski defeats Matt Stryker for the HWA Heavyweight Title in Batavia, Ohio.

2002 - Whiplash defeats Justin Valentine, Zero-X and Benin to become the first Alabama Pro Wrestling (later NWA Xtreme) Junior Heavyweigth Champion in Childersburg, Alabama.

2002 - C.J. Sensation defeats Lance Dayton in McKeesport, Pennsylvania to win the NWA East X Division Title.

2003 - Momoe Nakanishi defeats Mariko Yoshida in a tournament final in Tokyo, Japan to become the first AtoZ World Champion.

2005 - CM Punk defeats Ken Doane for the OVW Television Title in Louisville, Kentucky.

 

[nbpsfc]

CAN CM PUNK SURVIVE HIS WWE PPV DEBUT, THE SURVIVOR SERIES?
by Jonathan Deiner @ 4:05:00 PM on 11/13/2006


Can CM Punk Survive The Survivor Series?

On November 26, WWE will celebrate the 20th edition of The Survivor Series. Upon reviewing the previous editions of WWE’s 2nd oldest annual pay-per-view event, I reflected on what it was really all about. Other than an additional outlet to create revenue, what was the reasoning for creating such a stylized event? It was created for one reason: to immediately put people over. Each winner of the elimination matches took giant strides in moving up the ladder in both popularity and importance.

An elimination match mixes up a variety of wrestlers and storylines, opening up many new possibilities. An altercation could arise that fans really take to. It’s an experiment, of sorts. Where else would Hulk Hogan be in the same ring as Paul Roma? Triple H and Maven? It’s an opportunity where someone can really step up to the plate. This year there will be an opportunity to create a new star.

CM Punk is a hot topic of discussion. This year, he’s been paired with two veterans who have dominated much of this years screen time: Triple H & Shawn Michaels. Much of the RAW mid-card has been laid to waste by these two and many fear that they will take credit for anything that gets over in this match. Many are concerned that these two will try and rob the spotlight from CM Punk and take credit for anything significant that may happen or any reaction the team gets from the crowd.

While they have a good point, there is just as good of a chance that the opposite will happen. Many view CM Punk as one of the representatives of the future of this business. He has the talent and charisma that has really gotten over with the fans. His matches in ROH and OVW have been spectacular and his tenure in WWECW thus far has been excellent. He’s has a nice, slow build, had several well-cut promos, and has not been pushed every single week of WWECW TV.

Triple H is a smart man. He knows he will not be wrestling forever, and neither will Michaels. With Michaels again lightening his schedule and Triple H working more and more behind the scenes, they need to get over a new superstar. They have tried (and continue to try) with John Cena and Batista. The WWE marketing machine has had to work overtime to get John Cena past the fans intense dissatisfaction with him, which is an ongoing issue. Batista was a natural with the fans, but his in-ring work has not held up (again, credit to Triple H for getting him over in the first place). The WWE is just not giving the fans much reason to get emotionally behind the newer stars.

Triple H and Shawn Michaels need to help CM Punk. He’s over with WWECW fans, but has not yet appeared on RAW. This match is an opportunity to showcase his talent to the widest audience yet available to him. Both men have, in the past, made the decision whether or not to jumpstart another star’s career. Thanks to Triple H, Batista was made a star, but Randy Orton, Goldberg, Chris Jericho, and Rob Van Dam all were shoved back down the card. Regardless of talent, these men were not viewed as being in the A league with Triple H. Rob Van Dam, in particular, was in an extremely similar position to the present one CM Punk faces. Triple H must let Punk share a piece of the pie for the sake of wrestling’s future.

Since Michaels’ return, he’s done nothing but attempt to put over the stars of the future, that is, until this year. He’s worked with men with less than half his talent and tried very hard to get the crowd to see them as true stars. In cases like Edge’s it worked well, but for Chris Masters it did not. This year he’s joined with Triple H in decimating the RAW midcard: The Spirit Squad, The Highlanders, etc.

CM Punk is poised for success. Being put in the same match with these two, he needs their help creating an opening for him to take the next step up the ladder.

Punk is making his PPV debut at this event, joining several other stars that have been in a similar position: The Undertaker, Ric Flair, and The Rock. All three of these men made their WWF PPV debuts at the November event and have used it to propel themselves to stardom.

The Undertaker, formerly “Mean” Mark Callous, debuted his new character in 1990. People immediately took to this character because he was something very new and different. It was rare to see such a huge athlete able to wrestle the style The Undertaker did. It didn’t hurt that he quickly dispatched half of his opposing team in the match. This event began a path to his first World Title reign, beginning the following Survivor Series.

In 1991, Ric Flair was the sole survivor for his team. As if it needed any reinforcing, he proved to be a major player, leading directly towards a World Title win at the next year’s Royal Rumble. The legend showed he was still the man and was hungry to move up the ranks in his new home.

The Rock debuted at the Survivor Series in 1996 to an underwhelming reaction. However, if not for this initial disapproval, there wouldn’t be The Rock. The WWF tried to get the fans to buy him as a happy-go-lucky-hero but they had had enough of those kinds of stars. It was the fans negative reaction to Rocky Maivia that gave birth to the megastar known as The Rock.

Randy Orton eliminated Shawn Michaels to win his 2003 Survivor Series match. He went straight from this event to the Intercontinental Title, keeping the belt for the next 7 months. The main reason Orton lost that belt was so he would be free to take the top prize, the RAW Title, during the summer of 2004.

Those are some pretty big names to live up to, but CM Punk can do it. If his participation in this match is carefully laid out, he can truly propel himself to stardom. He’s already booked for the main event for ECW’s December To Dismember PPV. While that may be a bit early to give him the ECW belt, strong performances in both events would make a 2007 title reign very believable.

Paul Heyman seems to be a strong advocate for CM Punk to be a success story. He’s a natural. Unlike previous up-and-comers, like Brock Lesnar and many of the products of the developmental system, Punk has spent years building his reputation on the indy level. So far, those fans have continued to support him in WWECW. Why, you ask? It’s simple, really: they’ve left his character alone. He’s remained basically the same character that plied his trade in ROH and OVW.

It’s up to Triple H and Shawn Michaels to make sure he continues on the path that seems to be laid before him. They are established, they are veterans, and they are legends. They don’t need the crowd’s approval anymore. It’s their responsibility to build the stars of the future.

The sport (as far as WWE is concerned) is in a very tenuous position. Once the already established stars fade away, what will the fans be left with? They need new stars to get behind. They have Cena. Batista has proven injury-prone and is already much older than the current lineup. Maybe Bobby Lashley or Carlito will make it. Maybe not. CM Punk is someone Creative doesn’t need to work overtime to get over with the fans. He’s over. Just don’t job him out or let Triple H & Shawn Michaels eclipse him. The fears of those two men should not stop the evolution of the entire industry.