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September 7th
On this day in history in ....
1945 - Buddy Rogers defeats Ted Cox in Houston, Texas to win the NWA Texas Heavyweight Title for the second time.
1956 - Pepper Gomez defeats Gene Kelly (better known as Gene Kiniski) to win the NWA Texas Heavyweight Title in Houston, Texas.
1972 - Seiji Sakaguchi defeats The Sheik in Osaka, Japan to win back the NWA United National Heavyweight Title, which he had lost to The Sheik the night before.
1988 - Clash of the Champions III was held in Albany, Georgia at the Civic Center, and aired live on TBS. Here are the results of the show, nicknamed "Fall Brawl":
- NWA Television Champion Mike Rotundo vs. Brad Armstrong went to a twenty minute draw.
- Steve Williams & Nikita Koloff defeated The Sheepherders.
- Dusty Rhodes defeated Kevin Sullivan when Rhodes pinned manager Gary Hart who interfered, and the referee counted the pin.
- Ricky Morton defeated Ivan Koloff in a Russian Chain match.
- Sting defeated United States Champion Barry Windham via disqualification.
1991 - WWF held their 1991 King Of The Ring tournament at the Civic Center in Providence, Rhodes Island. This would be the final King Of The Ring tournament until 1993, when WWF would bring it back as a PPV event. Outside of local advertising, this tournament wasn't mentioned on WWF television. Interesting to note, this was a matinee event, and all of the wrestlers would work again that night at a house show in Springfield, Massachusetts, so IRS (who lost to Hart in the finals) ended up wrestling five matches that day. Here are the results from the show:
First Round:
- Jerry Saggs defeated Road Warrior Hawk via DQ.
- Ricky Steamboat vs. Ted DiBiase ended in a 15-minute draw.
- Hacksaw Duggan defeated Brian Knobbs.
- IRS defeated The Bezerker via countout.
- Bret Hart defeated Pete Dougherty (subbing for Kerry Von Erich).
- Skinner defeated Virgil.
- Sid Justice defeated The Warlord.
- The Undertaker defeated Road Warrior Animal.
Quarterfinals:
- Jerry Saggs received a bye.
- IRS defeated Hacksaw Duggan.
- Bret Hart defeated Skinner.
- Undertaker vs. Sid Justice ended in a double-DQ.
Semifinals
- Bret Hart received a bye.
- IRS defeated Jerry Saggs.
Finals:
- Bret Hart defeated IRS to become the 1991 King Of The Ring.
Non-tournament match:
- The Beverly Brothers defeated The Bushwhackers.
1994 - Atsushi Onita defeats Mr. Pogo in Sapporo, Japan to win the FMW World Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Title for the third time.
1996 - Reckless Youth defeats Derek Domino to win the NWA North American Heavyweight Title in Yardville, New Jersey when champion Tommy Cairo no-shows his scheduled title defense.
1997 - WWF held their "Ground Zero" Pay-per-view at the Louisville Gardens in Louisville, Kentucky. This was the first "In Your House" event to be presented as a three-hour, rather than discounted two hour, PPV. Here are the results:
- Brian Pillman defeated Goldust to win Marlena for 30 days. If Goldust had won, Pillman would have had to retire. Marlena tried to hit Pillman with her loaded purse, but Pillman blocked it and hit Goldust with the purse to set up the pin. This would be Brian Pillman's final PPV match.
- Brian Christopher defeated Scott Putski via countout. A few minutes into the match, Christopher tossed Putski to the floor and hit a plancha. Putski's leg twisted as he fell down, and he suffered a knee injury. Putski could not get up, so the referee counted him out while Jerry Lawler, at ringside doing commentary, improvised by insulting the injured Putski on the house microphone. Putski would return to the ring, but WWF would never give him a push again.
- Savio Vega defeated Crush and Faarooq in a triangle match. Crush hit Faarooq with a heart punch, but Savio immediately hit Crush with a spin kick and pinned him.
- Max Mini defeated El Torito.
- The Headbangers defeated The Legion of Doom, The Godwinns, and Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith in a Fatal Four Way to win the vacant WWF World Tag Team Title. The Legion Of Doom were disqualified for using the Godwinn's slop bucket, and The Headbangers defeated The Godwinns, leaving the Headbangers and Hart & Smith as the final two teams. Towards the end, Smith and Thrasher were fighting on the floor, distracting the referee, while Owen was putting Mosh in a Sharpshooter in the ring. Steve Austin ran in, gave Owen a stunner, and Mosh got the pin to win the match and the belts.
- WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart defeated The Patriot via submission with the Sharpshooter following interference from Davey Boy Smith and Vader.
- Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker ended in a no contest when both men were disqualified for brawling all over the arena. Post-match, as most of the locker room came out and started to brawl, Undertaker did a no-hands dive over the top rope and down the aisle, landing on the pile of wrestlers.
1999 - Two title changes took place at the Smackdown taping in Albany, New York. Davey Boy Smith, making his return to the WWF after several years, defeats Big Bossman for the WWF Hardcore Title, ending his third title reign. After the match, Smith gives the title to Al Snow, starting his third reign, and infuriating Bossman, who was feuding with Snow at the time. In the main event of the show, The Undertaker & Big Show defeat Mankind & The Rock to win the WWF World Tag Team Title in a Buried Alive match when Mankind was buried in the grave.
2004 - At a Smackdown taping in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Rene Dupree & Kenzo Suzuki defeat Paul London & Billy Kidman to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. Here's my original report on the match: London started off with Dupree, hitting a rana and tagging in Kidman for a slingshot legdrop. Suzuki ran in, and was given a double dropkick. Kidman went at it with Dupree, but Dupree caught him in a Kenzo-assisted Hot Shot. Suzuki tagged in and applied an armbar. Kidman came back with a bulldog off the second rope, but Hiroko and Dupree distracted the referee so he wouldn't see Kidman make the tag. London ran in anyway, but Dupree targeted his injured shoulder. Kidman backdropped Dupree to the floor. London hit Suzuki with an enzugiri and Kidman followed with a dropkick. London went to the floor to go after Dupree, and Kidman went for a Shooting Star Press on Suzuki. Kidman got cold feet before doing the move (he had injured Chavo Guerrero with it previously), and climbed down from the top rope. Kidman tagged London, and walked halfway up the aisle. London hit Suzuki with a dropsault, and called for Kidman to come back. Kidman started to head towards the ring, then turned around and walked out of the arena as they went to break. Back from commercial, London was wrestling alone, and Dupree was working on his injured arm (which had been hurt by Heidenreich the previous week after Kidman had walked out of a match). London rallied with a superkick, but Kenzo broke up the cover at two. London gave Suzuki a jawbreaker and kicked him from the ring. Dupree reversed a whip, and Suzuki pulled down the top rope so London would fall to the floor. Suzuki mauled his shoulder, ramming it into the steel ringpost. Dupree hit a Michinoku Driver on London and tagged in Suzuki. Kenzo hit the claw/legsweep combo and got the pin at the ten minute mark.
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