March 18th
On this day in history in ....
1985 - Ivan & Nikita Koloff defeat Dusty Rhodes & Manny Fernandez for the NWA World Tag Team Title in Fayetteville, North Carolina, marking Nikita's first major championship. Krusher Khrushchev would later join the Koloff's and they would be allowed to defend the title with any combination of the three.
1995 - 2 Cold Scorpio defeats Dean Malenko for the ECW World Television Title at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ending Malenko's first run with the title, and starting Scorpio's second. Here are the other results from that show:
- Mikey Whipwreck defeated Jason.
- Ron Simmons defeated Hack Myers.
- Tommy Dreamer defeated Tony Stetson, Johnny Hotbody and Stevie Richards in consecutive matches, but then lost to Raven.
- Axl Rotten defeated Ian Rotten in a Strap match.
- The Public Enemy defeated The Pitbulls.
- Sabu defeated Mikey Whipwreck.
- The Sandman & Terry Funk defeated Cactus Jack & Shane Douglas.
1998 - Nick Dinsmore & Rob Conway defeat Rip Rogers & Trailer Park Trash for the OVW Southern Heavyweight Tag Team Title.
2000 - At a ECW on TNN taping in Salem, New Hampshire, ECW Television Champion Super Crazy defeated Yoshihiro Tajiri in a "Death Match", ending their long running feud. They would only face each other in a singles match on one other occasion in ECW, in November 2000.
2001 - WCW hold what would be their final Pay-per-view ever, fittingly titled "Greed" at the Jacksonville Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida. A week after this show, the company would belong to Vince McMahon, ending the "wrestling war" between WCW and WWF forever. Here are the results:
- Jason Jett (EZ Money) defeated Kwee Wee with the "Crash Landing" suplex.
- Kid Romeo & Elix Skipper defeated Rey Mysterio Jr. & Billy Kidman in the finals of a tournament to crowd the first Cruiserweight Tag Team Champions when Romeo pinned Mysterio with a piledriver.
- Shawn Stasiak, with Stacy Keibler, defeated Bam Bam Bigelow with a neckbreaker after blinding him with hairspray.
- Mike Awesome & Lance Storm defeated Hugh Morrus & Konnan when Awesome pinned Morrus with an Awesome Bomb.
- Shane Helms defeated Chavo Guerrero Jr. with the Vertebreaker to win the WCW Cruiserweight Title.
- WCW World Tag Team Champions Chuck Palumbo & Sean O'Haire defeated Buff Bagwell & Lex Luger in under a minute. Following Seanton Bombs on both men. Luger and Bagwell then acted as if they were seriously hurt and took a long time getting up and leaving the ring.
- Ernest "The Cat" Miller, with Ms. Jones, defeated Kanyon after Ms. Jones hit him.
- Booker T defeated Rick Steiner with the Bookend to win the United States Title after Shane Douglas interfered and shoved Steiner off the ropes.
- Dusty & Dustin Rhodes defeated Ric Flair & Jeff Jarrett when Flair and Jarrett, while going for figure four leglocks, were kicked into each other, and Dustin rolled up Flair for the pin. There was a stipulation that the losers had to kiss the butts of the winners (I'm serious), so Dusty ended up giving Jarrett a stinkface in a corner.
- WCW World Champion Scott Steiner defeated Diamond Dallas Page with the Steiner Recliner after interference from Rick Steiner.
2006 - WWE held the first "Saturday Night's Main Event" in 14 years on NBC in prime time, doing a 3.1 rating. The show included the return of Jim Ross on commentary after a 5-month absence, calling the show with Jerry Lawler and Tazz. Angles were done throughout the show to set up Wrestlemania matches with Boogeyman-Booker T, Undertaker-Mark Henry and Edge-Mick Foley, as well as a beer drinking contest between Steve Austin and JBL. Here are the results of the matches on the program:
- WWE Champion John Cena & Triple H defeated World Champion Kurt Angle, Randy Orton & Rey Mysterio in a battle of Wrestlemania main events when Cena pinned Orton with a rollup. All the partners turned on each other during the match.
- Trish Stratus & Mickie James defeated Candice Michelle & Victoria. After the match, Mickie tried to hug Trish, and when Trish refused, Mickie kicked her and gave her the Stratusfaction bulldog.
- Shane McMahon defeated Shawn Michaels in a streetfight when Vince McMahon called for the bell to be rung as Shane had Michaels in a Sharpshooter in a recreation of the "Montreal screwjob".
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