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February 26th
On this day in history in ....
1944 - Ed "Strangler" Lewis defeats Rolland Kirchmeyer in Tampa, Florida to win the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title.
1957 - Joe & Guy Brunetti defeat Ivan & Karol Kalimikoff in Minneapolis, Minnesota to win the AWA World Tag Team Title.
1967 - Verne Gagne defeats Mad Dog Vachon in St. Paul, Minnesota to win his seventh AWA World Heavyweight Title. Vachon was the only wrestler to ever win the title from Gagne and lose it to someone else (Crusher) and win it back before returning the title to Gagne. This was also, at this point, the longest amount of time Gagne had gone without the title, over two years.
1978 - Dick Murdoch defeats Ted DiBiase for the Missouri State Title in St. Louis, ending DiBiase's first major singles title reign after only 14 days.
1984 - Dos Caras defeats Enrique Vera to win the UWA World Heavyweight Title in Mexico City, Mexico. Dos Caras, a good worker in his own right, is the brother of Mexican legend Mil Mascaras.
1988 - Terry Taylor defeats Matt Borne in Dallas, Texas to win the World Class Championship Wrestling Texas Heavyweight Title.
1990 - Jimmy Valiant defeats Jerry Lawler for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning a series of four title changes between the two over the next several months.
1995 - Smoky Mountain Wrestling held their Sunday Bloody Sunday II event in Knoxville, Tennessee at the Civic Coliseum. Results of the show saw:
- Bobby Blaze defeated Brian Logan.
- The Gangstas defeated Scott Armstrong & Tracey Smothers when New Jack pinned Armstrong.
- SMW Tag Team Champions The Rock N' Roll Express defeated Al Snow & Unabom (Kane) via DQ.
- Boo Bradley (Balls Mahoney) defeated Chris Candido in a Loser Leaves Town Dog Collar match.
- Bobby Blaze defeated Jerry Lawler to win the Smoky Mountain Wrestling Heavyweight Title.
- SMW Heavyweight Champion Bobby Blaze defeated Buddy Landell.
- The Heavenly Bodies (Jimmy Del Rey & Tom Pritchard) & Jim Cornette defeated The Gangstas & D'Lo Brown when Del Rey pinned New Jack. Bob Armstrong was the special referee.
1997 - Davey Boy Smith becomes the first WWF European Champion by defeating tag team partner and brother-in-law Owen Hart in Berlin, Germany in a tournament final. Ironically, this would be one of only three times that the title was actually decided in matches occurring in Europe.
1999 - Stone Cold Steve Austin makes a guest star appearance on the CBS series Nash Bridges. Austin's appearance, which was heavily advertised, helps the show beat out 20/20 and the second hour of the Soap Opera awards for the night. There is a lot of talk that Austin may be offered his own series based off his character on the show, but it never occurs.
2002 - During an edition of Raw from Boston, Massachusetts, Goldust loses to Hardcore Champion Maven. Later, as Maven was backstage being checked by the trainers, Goldust attacked him and pinned him, winning the title due to the 24/7 rule.
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