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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: BIGELOW WINS THE ECW WORLD TITLE, DIBIASE BECOMES KING OF THE RING AND MORE

By Buck Woodward on 2008-10-16 08:00:00

October 16th

On this day in history in ....

1976 - A big NWA Mid-Atlantic event in Greensboro, North Carolina saw three title changes take place on one card. Tim Woods defeated Angelo Mosca to win the Television Title (ending Mosca's second reign), Ric Flair defeated Wahoo McDaniel for the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title (ending McDaniel's third reign and beginning Flair's third), and Paul Jones defeated Blackjack Mulligan to begin his second reign as United States Champion. 

1976 - Eric The Red defeats Carlos Colon for the WWC North American Heavyweight Title in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. On the same show, Higo Hamaguci & Gordon Nelson defeat Antonino Rocca & Miguel Perez for the WWC North American Tag Team Title.

1981 - Les Thorton defeats Jerry Brisco in Knoxville, Tennessee to become a three-time NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion.

1982 - Invader I defeats Dory Funk Jr. in San Juan, Puerto Rico to win his second WWC Puerto Rican Heavyweight Title. 

1987 - Nelson Royal is awarded the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title, making him a four time champion. The previous champion, LazerTron (Hector Guerrero) had left the company. 

1987 - The Sheepherders (Butch Miller & Luke Williams) defeat The Lightning Express (Brad Armstrong & Tim Horner) to win the UWF Tag Team Title in Kansas City, Missouri. The Sheepherders would be the last UWF tag champs, as the company was soon absorbed into Jim Crockett Promotions. 

1988 - Brad & Bart Batten defeated Chicky & Ron Starr to win the WWC World Tag Team Title in Caguas, Puerto Rico, ending the Starrs second title reign and beginning the second reign for the Battens.

1988 - WWF held their King Of The Ring tournament in Providence, Rhode Island at the Providence Civic Center. Here are the results: 
First Round:
- Ted DiBiase defeated Brutus Beefcake.
- Ken Patera defeated Nikolai Volkoff.
- Ron Bass defeated The Barbarian.
- Shawn Michaels defeated Danny Davis.
- Hercules Hernandez vs. Bad News Brown ended in a double DQ.
- Randy Savage defeated Virgil.
- Iron Mike Sharpe defeated Boris Zuhkov.
- Terry Taylor defeated Marty Jannetty.
Quarterfinals:
-Ted DiBiase defeated Ken Patera.
- Ron Bass defeated Shawn Michaels.
- Terry Taylor defeated Iron Mike Sharpe.
- Randy Savage received a bye.
Semifinals:
- Ted DiBiase defeated Ron Bass.
- Randy Savage defeated Terry Taylor.
Finals:
- Ted DiBiase defeated Randy Savage to win the King Of The Ring tournament. Savage's WWF World Title was not on the line. 

1995 - The Monday Night Wars continued, with WWF Monday Night Raw on USA Network earning a 2.6 rating, while WCW Monday Nitro on TNT did a 2.2. 

1997 - Bam Bam Bigelow defeats Shane Douglas for the ECW World Heavyweight Title in Queens, New York at the Elks Lodge, which was dubbed the "Madhouse Of Extreme". The storyline was that Rick Rude had been acting as an advisor to Douglas, and lining up opponents (like Al Snow and Phil LaFon) in order to make Douglas a better champion. However, Rude "f***ed with the Franchise" on this night by bringing out Bam Bam Bigelow, Douglas' stablemate in the Triple Threat. Bigelow, who punched out fellow Triple Threat member Chris Candido when he tried to stop Bigelow from having the match, defeated Shane Douglas with a powerbomb to win the title. 

1999 - Lobo defeats Justice Pain in Mantua, New Jersey to win the CZW Ironman Title, beginning his second reign with the belt. 

2000 - William Regal defeats Al Snow for the WWF European Heavyweight Title in Detroit, Michigan. 

2002 - NWA:TNA held their weekly Pay-per-view at the TNA Asylum in Nashville, Tennessee. A major draw for the show was NASCAR driver Hermie Sadler teaming with BG James to defeat Jeff Jarrett and Bruce. The rest of the show saw: Brian Lawler defeat David Young, Sonny Siaki defeat Jorge Estrada, Ace Steel defeat Derek Wylde, Ron Harris defeat Norman Smiley, NWA World Tag Team Champions America's Most Wanted defeated Chris & Rick Michaels, AJ Styles defeated X-Division Champion X-Pac via disqualification, and NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ron Killings defeated Curt Hennig. 

2003 - Izzy & Dixie of Special K defeat The Backseat Boyz (Trent Acid & Johnny Kashmere) in Glen Burnie, Maryland to win the Ring Of Honor Tag Team Championship.

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