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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: PIPER SAVES HOGAN, INOKI VS. GOTCH, SLAUGHTER WINS U.S. TITLE AND MORE

By Buck Woodward on 2008-10-04 08:00:00

October 4th

On this day in history in ....

1960 - Hard Boiled Haggerty & Len Montana defeated Murder Inc. (Tiny Mills & Stan Kowalski) to win the AWA World Tag Team Title in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This ended Murder Inc.'s second run with the belt.

1972 - Antonio Inoki defeats Karl Gotch for the New Japan Real World Heavyweight Title in Tokyo, Japan. This would be one of two title changes (Gotch wins the belt back later in the month) for the belt, which pretty much existed solely for the purpose of the Gotch-Inoki matches. 

1975 - Tosh Togo defeats Jose Miguel Perez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, to wint he WWC Puerto Rican Heavyweight Title, and ending Perez' third reign with the title.

1979 - Tatsumi Fujinami ends Ryuma Go's two-day reign as WWF Junior Heavyweight Champion by defeating him in Tokyo, Japan and regaining the title. Fujinami's second reign with the gold would end when he vacates the title and moves into the heavyweight division.

1981 - The NWA held a tournament to determine a new United States Champion. The previous champion, Wahoo McDaniel, was forced to vacate the title after being injured by Abdullah The Butcher. The tournament was held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Here are the results: 
First Round:
- Pat Patterson defeated Mike David.
- Ricky Steamboat defeated Nikolai Volkoff.
- Leroy Brown defeated Super Destroyer.
- Ivan Koloff defeated Ron Bass.
- Sgt. Slaughter defeated Johnny Weaver.
- Jay Youngblood defeated Steve Muslin.
- Jacques Goulet defeated Dusty Rhodes.
- Ole Anderson defeated Ron Ritchie.
Quarterfinals:
- Ricky Steamboat defeated Pat Patterson.
- Leroy Brown defeated Ivan Koloff.
- Sgt. Slaughter defeated Jay Youngblood.
- Jacques Goulet vs. Ole Anderson went to a double countout.
Semifinals:
- Ricky Steamboat defeated Leroy Brown.
- Sgt. Slaughter received a bye.
Finals:
- Sgt. Slaughter defeated Ricky Steamboat.

1986 - The seventh edition of WWF's "Saturday Night's Main Event" aired on NBC, earning a 9.4 broadcast rating. The show featured five matches that were taped in Richfield, Ohio on September 13, 1986, including a highly anticipated Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff match. Here are the results:
- WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Paul Orndorff via disqualification. Bobby Heenan was sent to the back early in the match after interfering several times. Adrian Adonis ran in from the crowd, causing the DQ. Roddy Piper, using a crutch due to a knee injury suffered at the hands of Adonis, came in and saved long-time rival Hogan. Piper hit Adonis with the crutch, giving him a legitimate separated shoulder. Piper and Hogan then had an uneasy staredown, with Hogan almost hitting Piper before Piper left the ring. 
- Ricky Steamboat defeated Jake Roberts with a small package. After the match, Roberts went to put his snake on Steamboat, but Steamboat ran him off with his komodo dragon. 
- Roddy Piper defeated The Iron Sheik. Due to Piper's injury, Pedro Morales was going to substitute for Piper, but Piper threatened to hit him with his crutch if Morales didn't get out of the ring. Morales left, and Sheik attacked Piper. Sheik went for a suplex, and Piper reversed it into a small package and held the tights for the pin in less than a minute.
- WWF World Tag Team Champions The British Bulldogs defeated Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine in a three falls match. 
* Valentine forced Dynamite Kid to submit to a figure four in the first fall.
* Dynamite pinned Valentine with a diving headbutt off of the back of Beefcake, who was being held in a fireman's carry by Davey Boy Smith, in the second fall.
* Smith pinned Beefcake with a cradle suplex in the third fall.
- Kamala defeated Lanny Poffo with a splash. 

1991 - Eddie Gilbert defeats The Handsome Stranger (Marcus Bagwell) in a tournament final to win the Global Wrestling Federation Television Title in Dallas, Texas. The belt has been vacated in August when The Patriot won the Global North American Title, and was not allowed to hold both championships.

1983 - El Canek defeats Dos Caras to retain the UWA World Heavyweight Title in the main event of a show in Mexico City that draws over 28,000 fans.

1993 - Marcus Alexander Bagwell & 2 Cold Scorpio defeat The Nasty Boys to win the WCW World Tag Team Title in Columbus, Georgia.

1993 - Tim Horner defeats Juicy Johnny for the SMW "Beat The Champ" Television Title in Jellico, Tennessee, starting his second reign. The rules for the "Beat The Champ" title were that, after five successful title defenses, the belt would be vacated. On the same show, Chris Candido defeats Bobby Blaze for the SMW U.S. Junior Heavyweight Title.

1993 - A battle royal was held on Monday Night Raw to fill the vacant WWF Intercontinental Title (champion Shawn Michaels temporarily split with WWF over a contract dispute) with the rules being that the final two participants would meet in a singles match the following week for the title. Razor Ramon and Rick Martel were the co-winners, and would meet the following week, with Ramon winning the belt.

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