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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: BRET HART QUITS WWF, SIGNS WITH WCW

By Buck Woodward on 2007-11-01 08:00:00

November 1st

On this day in history in ....

1949 - NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) World Heavyweight Champion Orville Brown is injured in an automobile accident, forcing him to retire. He is stripped of the title, and it is awarded to National Wrestling Association Champion Lou Thesz, who Brown was scheduled to wrestle in a unification match later that month.

1980 - Roddy Piper defeats Paul Jones in a tournament final for the Mid-Atlantic Title in Richmond, Virginia.

1981 - Ted DiBiase defeats Paul Orndorff in Louisiana to win the Mid-South North American Heavyweight Title for the second time.

1981 - Dory Funk Jr. defeats Bruiser Brody in Tokyo, Japan to win the NWA International Heavyweight Title for the third time.

1985 - WWF wrestler Rick McGraw passed away of a heart attack at the age of 30. There were rumors of steroid abuse being the cause of the heart attack, but it was never confirmed. There was also a ridiculous rumor that McGraw died of injuries suffered in a match with Roddy Piper that was televised the weekend of his death.

1986 - During a WWF event at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, Don Muraco came to the ring for his match wearing a kilt and with Roddy Piper's music playing.  Piper then hit the ring, and went on to defeat Muraco with a rollup after Muraco accidentally collided with his manager, Mr. Fuji.

1990 - At Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan, Jushin Liger defeats Pegasus Kid (Chris Benoit) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title for the third time. Also on the show, IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Riki Choshu defeats Shinya Hashimoto, Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki defeat Keiji Mutoh & Masahiro Chono, and Shiro Koshinaka defeated Seiji Aoyagi in a "wrestler vs. karate" match.

1997 - WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart gives his notice to the World Wrestling Federation and signs a contract with World Championship Wrestling. A confidentiality agreement is made to keep word of Hart's decision a secret until after the Survivor Series Pay-per-view on November 10th in Montreal.

1998 - ECW held their November To Remember Pay-per-view in New Orleans, Louisiana at the Lakefront Arena. Here are the results:
- Terry Funk came out at the start of the show, upset that Tommy Dreamer did not come to him when he needed a tag team partner for the show.
- The Blue Meanie & Super Nova defeated Danny Doring & Roadkill when Meanie pinned Doring after the Blue Light Special (DDT/powerbomb combo). Terry Funk interfered during and after the match, and had to be dragged off be security.
- Tommy Rogers defeated Tracey Smothers with a Tomikaze. This match saw interference from Tommy Rich & Little Guido (on Smothers' behalf) and Chris Chetti (on Rogers' behalf) and resulted in Ulf Hermann and Mabel (as new members of the FBI) interfering as well. Spike Dudley then entered, and defeated Ulf and Mabel with an Acid Drop in an impromptu match.
- Lance Storm defeated Jerry Lynn. Mikey Whipwreck and Tammy Lynn Sytch were the special referees. The finish of the match (which also saw interference from Tammy Lynn Bytch aka Dawn Marie) was that Lynn had hit Mikey earlier in the bout, so when Lynn had Storm pinned with a small package, Mikey turned them over and counted the pin for Storm.
- Masato Tanaka & Balls Mahoney defeated D-Von & Buh Buh Ray Dudley to win the ECW World Tag Team Title when Balls pinned D-Von and Tanaka pinned Buh Buh after Sabu & Rob Van Dam had interfered, putting the Dudleys through tables.
- Jake Roberts & Tommy Dreamer defeated Justin Credible & Jack Victory when Dreamer and Roberts pinned Credible after a DDT on a ladder. The match saw interference from Rod Price, Nicole Bass and Jason, who more or less substituted for Victory when he was hurt early in the match. After the match, Terry Funk came out to confront Dreamer, and when Dreamer wouldn't fight him, Funk beat him up. Unfortunately, Funk would contract Hepatitis a short time later, and the Funk-Dreamer storyline would never reach a climax.
- Sabu, Rob Van Dam & Taz defeated Bam Bam Bigelow, Chris Candido & Shane Douglas when Sabu pinned Douglas. The finish of the match saw Taz holding Shane in the Tazmission, but Sabu came off the top rope with a chairshot so that he could get the pin on Douglas.

1998 - WWF taped the first episode of their short-lived lucha libre show, Super Astros, at the Frank Irwin Center in Austin, Texas.  Matches saw Armando Fernandez defeat Scott (Scotty 2 Hotty) Taylor, El Merenguero defeat Christopher Martinez, and El Hijo Del Santo defeat Super Loco.

2003 - Jay & Mark Briscoe defeat Special K (Izzy & Dixie) in Elizabeth, New Jersey to win the Ring Of Honor Tag Team Championship.

2005 - WWE held their Taboo Tuesday Pay-per-view, headlined by John Cena vs. Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels (who was selected for the match over Big Show and Kane) and Ric Flair vs. Triple H in a steel cage match.  The original coverage of the event is on Page 2!

2006 - WWE officially releases Psicosis, who had not wrestled on WWE shows for several months, and had recently made headlines for allegedly stealing a car in Mexico.


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