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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: STING INJURED, TED DIBIASE'S ONE DAY AS WWF CHAMPION, FUNK'S TITLE REIGN COMES TO AN END AND MORE

February 6th

On this day in history in .... 

1877 - William Muldoon defeats Christol for the Greco-Roman Championship in two straight falls.

1976 - Antonio Inoki defeats judo star Willem Ruska via knockout in a "wrestling vs. judo" match at New Japan Pro Wrestling's first ever Budokan Hall show in Tokyo, Japan.

1977 - Harley Race defeats Terry Funk for the NWA Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, ending Funk's only reign at just under 14 months. This was the second of an eventual eight reigns for Race, who had last held the title in 1973 when he lost it to Jack Brisco.

1986 - Shiro Koshinaka defeats The Cobra in the finals of a tournament to become the first International Wrestling Grand Prix World Junior Heavyweight Champion in Tokyo, Japan. Cobra had vacated the NWA and WWF Junior Heavyweight Titles prior to the tournament. Other participants in the tournament included Keichi Yamada (the future Jushin Liger) and Black Tiger (the future Rocco Rock).

1988 - Super Black Ninja (aka Keiji Muto, the Great Muta) defeats Invader I for the WWC Television Title in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, ending Invader's third reign with the belt. On the same card, Bobby Jaggers & Dan Kroffat (Phil Lafon) defeat Mark & Chris Youngblood for the WWC Caribbean Tag Team Title.

1988 - At a pair of WWF events (an afternoon card in Boston and an evening show in Philadelphia), Ted DiBiase comes to the ring for a tag team match with Andre The Giant against Hulk Hogan & Bam Bam Bigelow wearing the WWF World Title and is introduced as the champion. This was due to WWF President Jack Tunney's announcement that the title had been vacated not being aired on television yet following the controversy on The Main Event special on NBC.       

1990 - Clash of the Champions X was held in Corpus Christi, Texas at the Memorial Coliseum, and aired live on TBS, earning a 4.5 rating. The show was notable as a major turning point in the NWA, and not a good one. During the show, the Four Horsemen Ric Flair, Ole Anderson and Arn Anderson told fellow Horseman Sting during an in-ring interview that he needed to back out of his scheduled NWA World Title Match with Flair. Sting refused, and was beaten down. Later that night, Sting attempted to climb the side of a steel cage to get to Flair, but seriously injured his knee, putting him on the shelf for five months, and ruining the planned series of matches between the two. Also, The Great Muta, not happy with the direction his career was taking in the company, left to return to New Japan Pro Wrestling. Results from the show saw: 
- Steve Williams defeated the Samoan Savage.
- Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk defeated The MOD Squad.
- Mil Mascaras defeated Cactus Jack (Mick Foley has a must read passage in his first book about having to work with the difficult Mascaras).
- Norman The Lunatic defeated Kevin Sullivan in a Falls Count Anywhere match. 
- The Skyscrapers (Mark Callous & Danny Spivey) defeated The Road Warriors by disqualification. 
- NWA World Tag Team Champions the Steiner Brothers defeated Doom, forcing them to unmask to reveal they were Butch Reed and Ron Simmons. 
- Ric Flair, Arn Anderson & Ole Anderson (subbing for Sting) defeated Buzz Sawyer, The Dragon Master and The Great Muta in a steel cage match that only lasted six minutes when Arn pinned The Dragon Master. 

1990 - Robert Fuller & Brian Lee defeats Rex King & Steve Doll for the USWA Tag Team Title in Louisville, Kentucky, only three days after losing them to King & Doll. 

1994 - At a WWF show in Dortmund, Germany, Diesel defeats Marty Jannetty.  Despite there being more shows on the overseas tour in Israel, Jannetty is sent home by WWF and released due to undisclosed reasons.  Jannetty would not return to WWF for over a year.

1995 - Hideki Hosaka defeats Ricky Fuji in Okazaki, Japan to win the FMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight Title.

1995 - Jerry Lawler defeats Sid Vicious for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee, starting Lawler's 20th reign with the belt.

1998 - The Sickness defeat The Blood Angels for the Jersey All Pro Tag Team Titles. 

2001 - At a Smackdown taping in Charleston, South Carolina, Hardcore Holly defeats Raven to win the WWF Hardcore Title, only to lose it right back to Raven after a masked woman entered the ring and broke a 2x4 across Holly's back. 

2002 - Doug Basham & The Damaja (Danny Basham) defeat Nick Dinsmore (Eugene) & Rob Conway for the Ohio Valley Southern Heavyweight Tag Title

2006 - During an edition of Raw from Atlanta, Georgia, WWE began an 8-man tournament to determine the challenger for WWE Champion John Cena at Wrestlemania.  In first round action, Chris Masters defeated Kane, Triple H defeated Ric Flair, Big Show defeated Shelton Benjamin, and Rob Van Dam defeated Carlito.

 

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