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On this day in history in ....
1967 - Johnny Valentine defeats Joe Scarpa (who would go onto fame as Chief Jay Strongbow) to win the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title for the second time in Tampa, Florida.
1968 - Dale Lewis defeats The Professional (Doug Gilbert) in Atlanta, Georgia for the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Title.
1986 - Hacksaw Duggan & Terry Taylor defeat Bill Irwin & Leroy Brown to win the UWF World Tag Team Title in Ft. Worth, Texas.
1987 - Greg Gagne defeats Adrian Adonis in a tournament final to become the first AWA International Television Champion in Las Vegas, Nevada. On the same card, Madusa Miceli defeats Candi Devine to win the AWA World Women's Title, which had been vacant since July 1987 when champion Sherri Martel jumped to the WWF.
1987 - One of the most memorable debuts in the history of wrestling takes place at New Japan's "Inoki Toukon Live III" event at Sumo Hall in Tokyo. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito defeated Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura in one of the feature matches of the evening. Following the bout, Antonio Inoki defeated Choshu in an anti-climactic main event, winning via disqualification in six minutes. Big Van Vader then entered Sumo Hall and obliterated Inoki, knocking him out and pinning the Japanese legend with a powerslam in a match that didn't even last three minutes. The crowd rioted, resulting in New Japan being banned from running events at Sumo Hall for over a year. Vader immediately skyrocketed to the top of New Japan, as it had been years since Inoki had lost a match via clean pinfall.
The man behind the Vader mask, Leon White, had previously wrestled as "Baby Bull" Leon White in the AWA, and as Bull Power in Germany. He was actually scheduled to debut for All Japan Pro Wrestling, but New Japan worked out a deal with their promotional rival to sign him away for the Big Van Vader gimmick. Interesting to note, the first two choices New Japan had for the Vader gimmick were Sid Vicious and The Ultimate Warrior. Vader's debut in Sumo Hall is one of the most memorable, and controversial, events in New Japan history.
Earlier in the show, Hiroshi Hase makes his debut, defeating Kuniaki Kobayashi for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title.
1989 - WWF airs "No Holds Barred: The Match/The Movie" on Pay-per-view. The broadcast featured an airing of the film No Holds Barred, starring Hulk Hogan, followed by a steel cage match (taped on December 12th in Nashville, Tennessee) where Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake defeated Randy Savage & Zeus. The PPV also featured interviews with wrestlers to hype the Royal Rumble PPV the following month.
1991 - Bill Irwin & Black Bart defeat John Tatum & Rod Price to win the Global Wrestling Federation Tag Team Title in Dallas, Texas.
1993 - Starrcade '93 takes place in Charlotte, North Carolina at Independence Arena. Here are the results:
- In a dark match, Terry Taylor defeated The Equalizer.
- Paul Orndorff & Paul Roma defeated Marcus Bagwell & 2 Cold Scorpio when Orndorff pinned Scorpio.
- The Shockmaster defeated King Kong.
- WCW Television Champion Steven Regal vs. Ricky Steamboat ended in a fifteen minute draw.
- Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne defeated Tex Slashinger & Shanghai Pierce when Cactus pinned Slashinger.
- WCW International World Champion Rick Rude defeated The Boss (Big Bossman).
- Steve Austin defeated Dustin Rhodes in two straight falls to win the WCW United States Title. Rhodes was disqualified in the first fall, and Austin pinned Rhodes in the second fall.
- Sting & Road Warrior Hawk defeated WCW World Tag Team Champion The Nasty Boys via disqualification.
- Ric Flair defeated Vader to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title, ending Vader's third (and final) WCW World Title reign.
1994 - Starrcade '94 was held in Nashville, Tennessee at the Municipal Auditorium. Here are the results:
- Vader defeated Hacksaw Duggan to win the WCW United States Title when Harley Race hit Duggan with his own 2x4.
- Alex Wright defeated Jean Paul Levesque (Triple H) with a rollup.
- WCW Television Champion Johnny B. Badd defeated Arn Anderson with a rollup as Anderson argued with the referee.
- The Nasty Boys defeated Harlem Heat via DQ when Sherri Martel interfered.
- Mr. T defeated Kevin Sullivan after Dave Sullivan, dressed as Santa Claus, interfered.
- Sting defeated Avalanche via DQ when Kevin Sullivan interfered. Hulk Hogan made the save.
- WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan defeated The Butcher (Brutus Beefcake) with a legdrop. After the match, the Faces Of Fear attacked Hogan, but Randy Savage made the save.
1995 - Starrcade '95 was held in Nashville, Tennessee at the Municipal Auditorium. Here are the results:
- In a match that aired on TBS before the PPV, Diamond Dallas Page defeated Dave Sullivan.
- In a match that aired on TBS before the PPV, Marcus Bagwell & Scotty Riggs defeated Bobby Eaton & Steven Regal.
- In the "World Cup Of Wrestling" between WCW and New Japan Pro Wrestling:
* Jushin Liger defeated Chris Benoit after Kevin Sullivan distracted Benoit.
* Koji Kanemoto defeated Alex Wright after dropping him face first on the top turnbuckle.
* Lex Luger defeated Masahiro Chono with the backbreaker.
* Johnny B. Badd defeated Masa Saito via DQ when Saito threw Badd over the top rope.
* Shinjiro Ohtani defeated Eddie Guerrero after a series of pinfall reversals.
* Randy Savage defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan with a top rope elbowsmash.
* Sting defeated Kensuke Sasaki with a Scorpion Deathlock to win the World Cup Of Wrestling for WCW, 4-3.
- Ric Flair defeated Lex Luger and Sting via countout in a three way match to earn a shot at the WCW World Title.
- Ric Flair defeated Randy Savage to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title after Arn Anderson knocked out Savage with brass knuckles.
- After the PPV broadcast had ended, One Man Gang wrestled Kensuke Sasaki. In the version that later aired on WCW television, OMG pinned Sasaki, winning the U.S. Heavyweight Title. However, at the arena, the pin wasn't counted, and the match continued with Sasaki pinning OMG.
1998 - Starrcade '98 is held in Washington, DC at the MCI Center, and saw the end of Bill Goldberg's huge storyline winning streak of 170+ matches. Here are the results:
- WCW Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman defeated Rey Mysterio and Juventud Guerrera in a three way match.
- WCW Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman defeated Eddie Guerrero.
- Norman Smiley defeated Prince Iaukea.
- Perry Saturn defeated Ernest Miller.
- Brian Adams & Scott Norton defeated Fit Finlay & Jerry Flynn when Norton pinned Flynn.
- WCW Television Champion Konnan defeated Chris Jericho via submission.
- Eric Bischoff defeated Ric Flair.
- Diamond Dallas Page defeated The Giant.
- Kevin Nash defeated Bill Goldberg to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title when Scott Hall shocked Goldberg with a tazer and Nash powerbombed him for the win.
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