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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: RIC FLAIR IS A FREEBIRD FOR A NIGHT, THE NWA WORLD TITLE RETURNS TO JAPAN AND MORE

By Buck Woodward on 2010-12-02 08:00:00
December 2nd

On this day in history in ....

1969 - NWA World Champion Dory Funk Jr. vs. Antonio Inoki ends in a 60-minute draw, the first NWA World Title match to be held in Japan in 12 years.

1974 - Blackjack Lanza defeats Fritz Von Erich in Dallas, Texas to win the NWA American Heavyweight Title, ending Von Erich's 11th reign as champion.

1974 - Giant Baba defeats Jack Brisco in Kagoshima, Japan to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title for the first time in his career.  He would lose it back to Brisco a week later. 

1979 - The Assassins defeat Steve Regal & Hector Guerrero for the AWA Southern Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee. 

1983 - The Von Erichs (David, Kevin & Kerry) defeat The Fabulous Freebirds for the World Class Six-Man Championship in Dallas, Texas, starting the second reign as champions for the Von Erich brothers.  However, Michaels Hayes had lost a "loser leaves town" match to Kerry on November 24th, so he was not able to defend the six-man title with Buddy Roberts & Terry Gordy.  Instead, David, Kevin & Kerry defeated Roberts, Gordy, and NWA World Champion Ric Flair, who substituted for Hayes in the title match (and loss). 

1991 - Tom Prichard defeats Eric Embry in Memphis, Tennessee to win the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title, ending Embry's third reign and starting his own third run with the belt.  On the same show, Jerry Lawler defeats Kamala to start his eleventh run as USWA Unified World Champion. 

 2001 - John Zandig defeats Mitsuhiro Matsunaga in Yokohama, Japan to win the Big Japan Pro Wrestling Death Match Heavyweight Title, starting his third reign as champion. On the same show, Ruckus defeats Trent Acid and The Winger in a three way dance to claim the CZW and Big Japan Junior Heavyweight Championships.  The belts had been held up when Acid, the CZW champ, and Ruckus, the Big Japan champ, had a title vs. title match end in a double pin.

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