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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: AWA, NWA AND WORLD CLASS COMBINE FOR SUPERCLASH, STEVE AUSTIN INTRODUCES THE ZAMBONI TO WRESTLING, THE FIRST HOGAN-SAVAGE MATCH

By Buck Woodward on 2007-09-28 08:00:00

September 28th 

On this day in history in ....

1964 - Don Leo Jonathan & Roy McClarty defeat The Fabulous Kangaroos (Al Costello & Roy Heffernan) for the NWA Canadian Tag Team Title in Montreal.

1972 - Tim Woods defeats Jack Brisco in a tournament final in Tampa, Florida by default to win the NWA Florida Television Title.

1979 - Mike George & Bob Sweetan become the first ever Mid-South Tag Team Champions in unique fashion. A battle royal was held in Shreveport, Louisiana, with it coming down to George and Buck Robley. George and Robley then wrestled a singles match, with George winning, and getting the belts for his team. If Robley had won, he and Bill Watts would have been the champions. 

1980 - The Sheepherders (Butch Miller & Luke Williams) defeat Matt Borne & Buzz Sawyer to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Title in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

1981 - Tommy Rich defeats the Masked Superstar in August, Georgia for the NWA National Heavyweight Title. Less than a month before (August 29th), Superstar had defeated Rich in Atlanta to unify the National Title with Rich's Georgia Heavyweight Title. 

1985 - The AWA holds their first ever "SuperClash" event at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois. With participation from the NWA, All Japan, and World Class (this was during the "Pro Wrestling USA" era, when the promotions were working together to combat WWF's national expansion), the show drew over 21,000 fans, and the 13-match card saw nine different title matches. Here are the results of the show: 
- AWA America's Champion Sgt. Slaughter defeated Boris Zuhkov via disqualification.
- IWA Champion Mil Mascaras defeated Freebird Buddy Roberts.
- Giant Baba, Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu defeated Harley Race, Bill & Scott Irwin.
- Sherri Martel defeated Candi Devine to win the AWA Women's Title.
- World Class Texas Champion Kerry Von Erich defeated Jimmy Garvin. 
- AWA World Tag Team Champions The Road Warriors defeated The Freebirds (Terry Gordy & Michael Hayes) via disqualification. Hayes & Gordy won the match via pinfall, but instant replay showed Hayes had used brass knuckles to get the win, so the decision was reversed. 
- NWA Midget Champion Little Tokyo defeated Little Mr. T (Haiti Kid).
- Jerry Blackwell defeated Kamala in a Bodyslam match. 
- AWA Junior Heavyweight Champion Steve Regal defeated Brad Rheingans. 
- Greg Gagne, Curt Hennig & Scott Hall defeated Nick Bockwinkel, Ray Stevens & Larry Zbyszko.
- NWA World Six Man Tag Team Champions Krusher Khruschev, Ivan & Nikita Koloff defeated Dick The Bruiser, Crusher, & Baron Von Raschke. 
- NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair defeated Magnum T.A. 
- AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel vs. Stan Hansen ended in a double countout. 

1985 - The first Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage match takes place at the Philadelphia Spectrum in Pennsylvania, with Hogan getting the pin after Savage missed a top rope elbowdrop. After the match, Savage threw the referee out of the ring, hit Hogan with the WWF Title belt, and then came off the top rope and hit Hogan with the belt on the floor. 

1986 - Jim Crockett Promotions crowned their first ever NWA United States Tag Team Champions in a tournament in Atlanta, Georgia. This title (not to be confused with the NWA Florida U.S. Tag belts) was basically a replacement for the old National Tag Team Title, which had been discontinued. Here are the results of the tournament, which for some reason had five first round matches (no explanation as to what they would have done if there were five winners going into the semifinals):
First Round:
- Ivan Koloff & Krusher Kruschev defeated Nelson Royal & Tim Horner.
- Magnum T.A. & Dusty Rhodes defeated Baron Von Raschke & Shaska Watley.
- Dutch Mantel & Bobby Jaggers defeated Buddy Landell & Bill Dundee.
- Tully Blanchard & Jimmy Garvin defeated Jimmy Valiant & Manny Fernandez.
- Dick Murdoch & Ronnie Garvin vs. The Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey & Bobby Eaton) ended in a double DQ. 
Semifinals:
- Ivan Koloff & Krusher Kruschev defeated Magnum T.A. & Dusty Rhodes.
- Dutch Mantel & Bobby Jaggers defeated Tully Blanchard & Jimmy Garvin.
Finals:
- Ivan Koloff & Krusher Kruschev defeated Dutch Mantell & Bobby Jaggers. 

1986 - Buddy Roberts defeats Terry Taylor in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for the UWF Television Title. 

1994 - During a taping of WWE's new show, Action Zone in White Plains, New York, WWF World Champion Bret Hart defeats Owen Hart following interference by Jim Neidhart (on behalf of Owen) and Davey Boy Smith (on behalf of Bret). This was promoted as Owen's final WWF title opportunity, although it didn't end their feud. WWF actually did not have another Owen vs. Bret singles match until 1995.

1997 - Masato Tanaka defeats Mike Awesome in Kawasaki, Japan, to win the FMW World Brass Knuckles and the FMW World Independent Heavyweight Titles. The show, which was held at Kawasaki Stadium in Japan, drew over 50,000 fans to see a card that also included Shark Tsuchiya defeat Aja Kong for the vacant FMW Women's Title, Terry Funk defeat Ricky Fuyuki in a "loser leaves FMW" match, and All Japan's Kenta Kobashi & Manukea Mossman (Taiyo Kea) defeat Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki. Vader defeated Ken Shamrock in an "Ultimate Rules" match when Shamrock, who was injured going into the match, legitimately started spitting up blood. The main event of the show saw Atsushi Onita defeat Wing Kanemura in a no ropes, barbed wire, exploding cage match. After the bout, Onita teased that he would retire (again).

1998 - In one of the more memorable Raw moments, Steve Austin drove a Zamboni (used to clean the ice at hockey games) out to the ring in Detroit, Michigan in order to burst past security and dive into the ring onto Vince McMahon. McMahon had been gloating over possessing Austin's "smoking skull" WWF Title belt, since Kane & The Undertaker had pinned Austin for it the night before. The site of Austin driving the Zamboni backstage (accidentally knocking down lighting fixtures) and to the ring would be replayed countless times on WWE programming.

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