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January 15th
On this day in history in ....
1979 - Austin Idol defeats Ron Fuller in Memphis, Tennessee to win the AWA Southern Heavyweight Title.
1989 - WWF holds the first Royal Rumble on Pay-per-view (the first Royal Rumble match didn't air on PPV, it aired on USA Network as competition to the NWA Bunkhouse Stampede PPV) at The Summit in Houston, Texas. Here are the results from the show:
Dark matches:
- Jim Powers defeated Barry Horowitz.
- Sam Houston defeated Steve Lombardi.
PPV matches:
- The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart) & Hacksaw Duggan defeated Dino Bravo & The Rougeau Brothers (Jacques & Raymond) in a three falls match. Jacques pinned Hart in the first fall after Le Bomb De Rougeau. Duggan pinned Jacques in the second fall with an elbowdrop after slingshotted Neidhart on top of him. Hart pinned Bravo in the third fall after Duggan hit him with the 2x4.
- WWF Women's Champion Rockin' Robin defeated Judy Martin with a flying bodypress.
- Ultimate Warrior defeated Rick Rude in a posedown competition. Rude attacked Warrior at the end of the posedown.
- Haku defeated Harley Race with a thrustkick to win the unofficial title of "King Of Wrestling". Bobby Heenan had made Haku the "new" King when Race was out injured, and this match was to settle the dispute.
- Big John Stud won the Royal Rumble, last eliminating Akeem and Ted DiBiase. Other participants in the match were: Arn Anderson, Andre the Giant, The Barbarian, Ron Bass, Brutus Beefcake, Big Boss Man, Tully Blanchard, Bad News Brown, Demolition Ax, Demolition Smash, Ronnie Garvin, Mr. Perfect, Hercules, Hulk Hogan, Honky Tonk Man, Marty Jannetty, Rick Martel, Shawn Michaels, Butch Miller, Jake Roberts, Terry Taylor, Tito Santana, Randy Savage, Greg Valentine, Koko B. Ware, Warlord & Luke Williams.
1992 - Big Titan (better known to WWF fans as the "fake" Razor Ramon) defeats Atsushi Onita to win the WWA World Martial Arts Title in Kobe, Japan.
1995 - John Hawk (now known as John Bradshaw Layfield) defeats Kevin Von Erich to win the NWA North American Heavyweight Title in Dallas, Texas.
1997 - Miss Texas (aka Jacqueline) wins her seventh USWA Women's Heavyweight Title, defeating Lady Satan (Debbie Combs) in Memphis, Tennessee.
2000 - ECW runs at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The main event sees ECW World Champion Mike Awesome vs. Sabu & Rob Van Dam in a handicap match end in a no-contest when Sabu turns on Van Dam. Awesome would go on to successfully defend the title against Spike Dudley in a singles match. However, the real highlight of the show was a Mexican Death Match, in which Super Crazy defeated Yoshihiro Tajiri.
2003 - Believe it or not, The Brooklyn Brawler won a title. Steve Lombardi defeats Johnny Swinger in Oldcastle, Ontario, Canada to win the Border City Wrestling Can-Am Heavyweight Title. However, before the night was over, he was stripped of the title for illegal tactics and the belt was returned to Swinger.
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