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On this day in history in ...
1956 - The Great Malenko defeats Herb Welch in Mobile, Alabama for the NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Title, ending Welch's second reign.
1969 - Joe Scarpa (aka Chief Jay Strongbow) defeated Paul DeMarco in Atlanta, Georgia to win the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Title, ending DeMarco's second reign.
1977 - WWWF World Champion Superstar Graham defeated Chief Jay Strongbow in a steel cage match when Strongbow threw Graham against the cage near the door, allowing Graham to crawl out the door for the win at the Boston Garden in Masachusetts. On the undercard, Bruno Sammartino defeated Ken Patera in a Texas Death Match.
1980 - The Grappler defeats Ted DiBiase in Shreveport, Louisana for the Mid-South North American Heavyweight Title.
1981 - WWF World Champion Bob Backlund defeats George Steele in a Texas Death Match at the Capital Center in Landover, Maryland.
1982 - Jos LeDuc defeated Jimmy Valiant in Charlotte, North Carolina for the NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Title, ending Valiant's second reign.
1986 - Shiro Koshinaka defeats Nobuhiko Takada for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title in Fukuoka, Japan, starting his second title reign.
1986 - Ron Starr defeats Invader I in Ponce, Puerto Rico to become the first WWC Television champion.
1992 - Atsushi Onita defeats Tiger Jeet Singh for the WWA World Martial Arts Heavyweight Title (top FMW title) in Yokohama, Japan. This began Onita's third and final reign with the belt, as the title was soon retired.
1993 - WCW held their Fall Brawl Pay-per-view in Houston, Texas. Here are the results:
- In a dark match, Erik Watts defeated Bobby Eaton.
- Steven Regal defeated Ricky Steamboat for the WCW World Television Title with a suplex and bridge after Sir William (Bill Dundee) hit Steamboat with an umbrella.
- Charlie Norris defeated Big Sky with a kick.
- 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Bagwell defeated The Equalizer & Paul Orndorff when Scorpio pinned Equalizer with a 450 splash after Orndorff accidentally hit him.
- Ice Train defeated Shanghai Pierce with a powerslam.
- The Nasty Boys defeated Arn Anderson & Paul Roma to win the WCW World Tag Team Title when Sags pinned Roma with a top rope elbow. This result was hardly a surprise, as television tapings had already been held with the Nasties as tag champs, Missy Hyatt (who "debuted with them here) as their manager, and Roma & Anderson broken up.
- Cactus Jack defeated Yoshi Kwan with a double-arm DDT.
- Rick Rude defeated Ric Flair to win the WCW International World Heavyweight Title when Rude knocked out Flair with a foreign object as Flair had Rude in the figure four.
- Sting, Davey Boy Smith, Dustin Rhodes & The Shockmaster defeated Sid Vicious, Vader & Harlem Heat in a WarGames match when The Shockmaster forced Kole (Booker T) to submit to a bearhug.
1998 - ECW ran a show at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Here are the results:
- Mikey Whipwreck defeated Jerry Lynn.
- JT Smith, Chris Chetti & Tommy Rogers defeated The FBI (Tommy Rich, Tracey Smothers & Little Guido).
- The Blue Meanie & Super Nova defeated Danny Doring & Ulf Hermann.
- Chris Candido defeated Lance Storm.
- Masato Tanaka defeated D-Von Dudley.
- Balls Mahoney defeated Mike Awesome.
- New Jack, Tommy Dreamer & John Kronus defeated Justin Credible, Rod Price & Jack Victory.
- Sabu, Rob Van Dam & Masato Tanaka vs. The Triple Threat (Shane Douglas, Bam Bam Bigelow & Chris Candido) ended in a no-contest.
1999 - ECW held their Anarchy Rulz Pay-per-view in Villa Park, Illinois, drawing the largest live crowd in original ECW history, with over 6,000 fans in attendance. The show featured Taz losing the ECW World Title to Mike Awesome in a Three Way Dance with Masato Tanaka. Despite the way it is portrayed on WWE's "Rise And Fall Of ECW" DVD, this was not Taz' final ECW match, as he continued to wrestle for the company through November. Here is Tim Whitehead's original report on the show:
ECW followed up on their TNN debut by putting forth a strong PPV effort with Anarchy Rulz. The show drew over 6,000 fans, packing the Odeum in suburban Chicago for the largest live house in the promotion's history.
The highlight of the show was the creation of a new major star in Mike Awesome. Though Awesome is now a veteran wrestler, he's totally new to the vast majority of American fans and the apparent idea here is to create a Goldberg type charismatic newcomer. It's a formula that has worked in the past with the right type of wrestler, and at first glance Awesome has the right combo of looks and talent to carry the ball, though of course only time will tell on something like this.
There were a lot of good matches on the show. ECW's main advantage over the other two groups is workrate. No one ever dogs it out there. It creates an atmosphere at their shows, which is very different. The weak parts of the PPV were the "clusters" (I'll avoid the more descriptive version of that term) where one thing leads to another and then leads to another, etc. etc. etc. These things get over at ECW Arena but they come off looking confusing on PPV, and almost never work so I'm not sure why they keep pushing these things. The main event wasn't as hot as it could have been, and was overshadowed by the good lower card matches.
Commentary was good. Joey Styles and Cyrus argue a little too much but they do at least try to keep most of the arguing between the matches rather than during. Technically, this may have been the best ECW PPV ever. The only major screw-up was a video/sound timing problem in the opening video angle.
Overall, a darn good PPV for the promotion's first show of the TNN era.
They opened with a video angle where the sound got screwed up. Masato Tanaka arrived and was going to be interviewed by Steve Prazak but Jeff Jones stuck his nose in things and Tanaka walloped him.
LANCE STORM defeated JERRY LYNN in 16:36. They may now called Tammy Lynn Bytch by the name Dawn Marie, but that doesn't mean the fans will show similar restraint. A "Show Your Tits" chant erupted immediately upon her arrival. They did some good back and forth action early, including leapfrog spots. Lynn hit a spinning headscissors. They traded hard chops to a series of "whooos". Lynn dropkicked Storm to the floor. Lynn kept taking Storm down until Storm dropped Lynn's throat across the ropes. Storm dominated and got a series of twos working on Lynn's taped ribs. Lynn retaliated with a plancha and got two with a missile kick. A "she's a crack whore" chant started, but Cyrus claimed they were saying, "She's a great girl". Hilarious! They did an innovative low blow spot where Storm was on the receiving end. They began trading fast two counts to a lot of heat. Dawn tossed a chair in but Lynn DDT'd Storm on it. He would have gotten three but Dawn put Storm's boot on the rope. Lynn ducked to avoid a chair spot and hit the post, further "injuring" his ribs. Lynn blocked a DDT and hit a stunner on Storm for two, but was selling the ribs big time. Lynn hit a huracanrana but Storm out of nowhere grapevined the legs and rolled Lynn up for the pin. Real good opener.
Simon Diamond came down and did his "Simon Says" routine on Tom Marquez. He challenged anyone in the back to a fight. Jazz came out and he informed her that he didn't say "Simon Says" when issuing the challenge, and also noted that she was a female and said all they can do in wrestling is provide T & A, which drew a big babyface pop. He told her to get her "flat chested ghetto booty" out of the ring. She shoved him and Diamond then instructed Marquez to wrestle her.
JAZZ beat TOM MARQUEZ by DQ in 0:51. At least I think it was a DQ. Maybe it was a no-contest. It was never really announced what it was, as this was the beginning of the confusing "cluster" segment. Marquez bodyslammed Jazz but she grabbed him in the crotch and began squeezing (ouch!) but Diamond and Tony DeVito ran in at this point, followed by Chris Chetti and Nova to start the next match.....
CHRIS CHETTI & NOVA fought SIMON DIAMOND & TONY DEVITO to a no-contest in 3:53. This was pretty bad. Nova & Chetti started off well, hitting sentons and quebradas. But Chetti then wiped out his knee in a pescado spot. DeVito and Nova messed up a spot real bad and got booed out of the arena. Roadkill & Danny Doring ran in and attacked everyone, including Jazz. Miss Congeniality (formerly Angelica) got in the face of Jazz after she was laid out. Roadkill was going to splash Jazz but Rod Price, C.W. Anderson, Bill Wiles, Vito Lograsso, and Spanish Angel all charged the ring. I guess it gave the lower card a chance to be on PPV but it was still a mess. Finally, New Jack arrived to a massive pop with his cart full of weapons and destroyed everyone, including using a staple gun and a guitar on Price.
They showed the ecwwrestling.com crew at the internet broadcast booth. I think those guys should have had to pay to get in like everyone else.
YOSHIHIRO TAJIRI beat SUPER CRAZY and LITTLE GUIDO in a three-way match in 14:37. Tajiri started off with dropkicks, and hurled Guido out to the ramp. He did a tilt-a-whirl headscissors on Crazy. Crazy came back with a springboard missile kick. They did a variation on an AJW spot. Guido put Crazy in a camel clutch and Tajiri kicked him, but then he kicked Guido. Tajiri did a baseball slide, which sent Crazy over the rail. He then did an Asai moonsault. Big Sal Graziano interfered and nailed both Tajiri and Crazy. Guido did a Rocker Dropper off the top. They all traded some two counts and went back to the floor where Crazy did an Asai moonsault. Crazy also kicked Big Sal off the apron and he went through a table. Tajiri put the tarantula hold on Crazy. Guido dropkicked Crazy while he was locked in the hold. Crazy and Guido cooperated long enough to hook a double Sicilian Crab on Tajiri. Guido did a Tomikaze on Crazy. Guido got hung upside down in the corner and kicked by Tajiri. Crazy then pinned Guido with a moonsault to eliminate him at 9:17. Tajiri and Crazy continued at a fast pace, hitting moonsaults and Tornado DDT's for two counts. Crazy went for another moonsault but landed on Tajiri's knees. Tajiri kicked the hell out of him and pinned him with a brainbuster. Real good match!
They showed Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins in the crowd.
They buried Insane Clown Posse, who teased coming to ECW last week only to decide to stay with WCW. Steve Corino said he had been planning to bring ICP in to take the tag titles but they backed out because they knew they couldn't beat Raven & Tommy Dreamer. Styles then added that he hoped Bill Busch would have enough respect for his new position not to take ICP back after they tried to humiliate WCW by jumping in the first place.
JUSTIN CREDIBLE defeated SABU in 14:04. The storyline here was that Sabu has been reinstated (even though he's been wrestling on house shows all along) from his suspension. Credible came out and had a restraining order against the reinstatement. Referee Jim Molineaux said it was a legal restraining order but since Anarchy Rules in ECW the law is irrelevant. When Bob Artese refused to declare Credible the winner by forfeit, Credible caned him. The lights went out and Sabu appeared to start the match. Sabu used a chair on Credible but Credible responded by putting Sabu through a table on the ramp. Sabu did a somersault plancha to the floor. Credible ended up on a table but escaped before Sabu could put him through it. Sabu worked Credible over some more and put him on a table, which was propped against the rail and legdropped him from the top. The table didn't break so he did it again. This time it broke and a metal shard slashed Credible above the eye and he juiced like crazy. Another sharp edge cut Sabu's mid-section and he juiced from there. Very dangerous! They slowed things down a little after this and traded camel clutches. Sabu legdropped Jason. Credible used a cane on Sabu but only got two since Sabu got his boot on the rope. They did a few chair spots and traded twos. Credible bulldogged Sabu through table but took the brunt of the blow himself. Sabu did a moonsault as they picked back up with the highspots. Bill Alfonso kicked Credible. Sabu kicked out at two after receiving That's Incredible, but the second time Credible scored the pin. Styles pushed Credible's win as a major deal. The match was good but the ending looked a little weak.
MIKE AWESOME defeated TAZ and MASATO TANAKA in 13:46 to capture the ECW World Title. This was supposed to be a one-on-one defense by Taz against Tanaka but Awesome arrived and he and Taz got into an argument, leading Paul E. Dangerously to make it a three way. They were chanting "you sold out" at Taz (he's WWF bound) but they handled this so well that he was given a babyface pop after it was all over. Tanaka hit a plancha. Taz suplexed both opponents but Tanaka nailed him with a roaring elbow and Awesome pinned him with a frog splash in 2:00. They treated it like a big deal that Taz lost so quickly, and sold it big by having the lower card wrestlers all come out and watch from the ramp, making this come off as a major event. Awesome hit a tope suicida and a powerbomb. Tanaka did a running chairshot on the ramp. He followed up with a series of Tornado DDT's for near falls. They traded chair spots. Tanaka was Awesome Bombed from the ring through a table. Awesome hit the frog splash but only got two, which put Tanaka over in a major way since Taz was pinned earlier with that move. Awesome pulverized Tanaka with chairshots. Tanaka went for the roaring elbow but Awesome moved clear. Awesome hit a German suplex and a spear. Awesome hit a chairshot off the top and used a chair, somewhat weakly, on Tanaka on a table. Awesome finally powerbombed Tanaka through a table for the pin. Real hot match! Taz returned and kissed the belt before handing it over to Awesome and shaking his hand. Paul E. and the other wrestlers hugged Taz as he left. A great way to handle this situation!
RAVEN & TOMMY DREAMER defeated STEVE CORINO & RHINO in 3:23 in an "unscheduled" match to retain the ECW World Tag Titles. Tommy came out and cut a babyface promo, including mentioning Sammy Sosa. Francine was there, looking too much like Karen Carpenter to be healthy. Corino arrived and instructed Rhino to attack Dreamer. Tommy fought back, including dumping Jack Victory from his wheelchair. Dreamer did some moves like neckbreakers but kept selling his back. Corino brought in a ladder. Rhino powerslammed Francine. Raven then ran in and it became the tag title match somehow, with Raven & Tommy scoring double pins on Corino & Rhino with DDT's. Another "cluster" so it came off poorly. Chicago radio personality Mancow came out with two overweight indie guys named Toad & Al Roper Jr. to congratulate Raven & Dreamer.
Axl Rotten got on the mic and said he wanted a World Title shot and called Awesome out. He never arrived (which kind of looked bad) but the Impact Players did and they tripled on Axl until Spike Dudley & Balls Mahoney made the save. Spike did the Acid Drop on Dawn Marie. Somewhere in here Balls hit Johnny Smith was a standard chairshot, but they sold it as being so devastating it knocked Smith out of the main event. Balls ended up substituted into the match instead.
ROB VAN DAM beat BALLS MAHONEY in 19:36 to retain the ECW TV Title. I think Smith could have had a better match here but I guess the idea was that he was too new to most fans to be in the main event. The first half of the match was actually slow, with no heat. Mostly they bawled, both in the ring and on the floor, to very little crowd response. Van Dam finally popped the crowd with an amazingly high somersault plancha from the top. Balls juiced after a Van Daminator. Balls came back and got a series of twos as the crowd began to get into it as the pace was picking up. Bill Alfonso gave Van Dam a chair and he kicked it into Balls' face. They traded a bunch of spots where each landed on a chair, leading to near falls. Balls hit Van Dam with a sick chairshot. Alfonso broke up the pin at two. Alfonso hit Balls with a chair but he no-sold. Balls was stalking Alfonso when Van Dam recovered and hit the Van Daminator for two. Finally, Van Dam hit the frog splash for the pin, though it looked like it also hurt him. They shook hands afterward. The last half of the match was okay. But the hot lower card bouts made the show.
1999 - Glamour Boy Shane defeats Gangsta Mustafa Saed in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico to win the WWC Television Title.
2000 - Mike Rapada (Colorado Kid) won the NWA World Heavyweight Title in a tournament in Tampa, Florida, defeating Hector Guerrero in the first round and Jerry Flynn in the finals.
2003 - Sonjay Dutt became the first (and as it turns out, only) MLW Junior Heavyweight Champion by defeating Tony Mamaluke, Eddie Colon and Christopher Daniels to win the J-Cup USA tournament in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. On the same card, Terry Funk, The Sandman, Steve Williams, Sabu & Bill Alfonso defeated The Extreme Horsemen (Steve Corino, Simon Diamond, CW Anderson, PJ Walker & Barry Windham) in a WarGames match. Originally, Jerry Lawler was supposed to participate, but a week before the show, WWE forced Lawler to back out, since they felt MLW's television exposure on the Sunshine Network made them more than just an "independent company" (Lawler is allowed to work indy shows).
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