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December 31st
On this day in history in ....
1891 - The first man to hold the American Greco-Roman Heavyweight Title, and one of, if not the first, wrestling champion in the United States, William Muldoon, retired from the ring. Muldoon had held the title for nearly 12 years.
1959 - Ilio DiPaolo and Whipper Billy Watson defeat Don Leo Jonathan and Gene Kiniski in Toronto, Ontario for the NWA Canadian Open Tag Team Title, beginning their second reign.
1974 - Ryan Sakoda is born in Tokyo, Japan.
1975 - Frank Goodish (later better known as Bruiser Brody) defeats Rocky Johnson for the Florida Heavyweight Title in Tampa, Florida.
1978 - Killer Tim Brooks and Roddy Piper defeat Jonathan Boyd and Dutch Savage for the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Title.
1983 - Rick Patterson and Randy Rich defeat Star Rider and Snake Williams for the vacant Vancouver version of the NWA Canadian Tag Team Title in Vancouver, British Columbia.
1984 - The Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee saw 9,000 fans come out for an New Year's Eve event. The results:
- Tojo Yamamoto defeated Jerry Bryant by countout.
- The Batten Twins (Brad and Mark Batten) defeated Stan Frazier in a handicap match.
- The Interns (Don Bass and Roger Smith) defeated The Dirty White Boys (Tony Anthony and Len Denton).
- Ken Wayne and Danny Davis defeated Steve Ashley and Tim Constance in a Loser Leaves Town match.
- Adrian Street pinned Johnny Wilhoit.
- Mike Sharpe defeated Jimmy Valiant.
- Jerry Lawler fought Eddie Gilbert to a no-contest.
1984 - Kevin, Kerry and Mike Von Erich win their third World Class Six-Man Tag Team Title, defeating Chris Adams, Gino Hernandez and Jake Roberts in Fort Worth, Texas.
1986 - In what is considered one of the best matches in AWA history, AWA World Champion Nick Bockwinkel and Curt Hennig wrestle to a 60-minute draw on ESPN. The match was taped in advance in Las Vegas, Nevada, but was given a special New Year's Eve timeslot by the sports network. The finish of the match saw Hennig lock Bockwinkel in a figure four leglock, and Bockwinkel screaming in pain as the time ran out.
1989 - New Japan Pro Wrestling run a card in the then-Soviet Union, holding an event in Moscow, Russia at Lenin Stadium. The show saw the participation of several Russian wrestlers and judo champions, many of whom would also end up working in Japan for the company. Here are the results:
- Kuniaki Kobayashi defeated Takayuki Iizuka.
- Jushin Liger defeated Black Tiger.
- Masahiro Chono defeated Chimur Zarasov.
- Shinya Hashimoto vs. Wahka Eveloev ended in a draw.
- Riki Choshu defeated Victor Zangiev.
- Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Vladimir Berkovich.
- Habieli Victachev defeated Hiroshi Hase.
- Salman Hashimikov defeated Manny Fernandez.
1994 - Brian Christopher defeats Tommy Rich for the USWA Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee. This ended Rich's third reign and began Christopher's 16th.
2000-2003 - Japanese Legend Antonio Inoki hold's a special "Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye" show on New Year's Eve for four consecutive years. The events see a mix of professional wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts, with Inoki himself coming out of retirement at times for special "exhibition" matches. Here are the results of the shows:
2000 - Held in the Osaka Dome in Osaka Japan, aired live on PPV.
- Yoshiaki Fujiwara defeated Justin McCully via submission.
- The Great Sasuke & Daijiro Matsui defeated Akira Shoji & Kaoru Uno when Sasuke pinned Uno.
- Bas Rutten & Alexander Otsuka defeated Naoki Sano & Ricco Rodriguez when Rutten forced Sano to submit.
- Shinya Hashimoto defeated Gary Goodridge via submission.
- Naoya Ogawa defeated Tadao Yasuda in under two minutes.
- Mark Coleman & Mark Kerr defeated Takashi Iizuka & Yuji Nagata when Coleman forced Nagata to submit.
- Kazushi Sakuraba defeated Kendo Ka Shin via submission.
- Nobuhiko Takada & Keiji Mutoh defeated Ken Shamrock & Don Frye when Takada pinned Frye.
- Antonio Inoki vs. Renzo Gracie in a special exhibition match ended in a three minute draw.
2001- Held in the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, shown live on PPV, with the top matches also aired live on television. Results from the top matches:
- Antonio Inoki & The Great Sasuke defeated Giant Silva & Masked Spirit Man when Inoki forced Masked Spirit Man to submit.
- Don Frye defeated Cyril Abidi via submission.
- Mirko Cro Cop defeated Yuji Nagata in twenty-one seconds. This was a legit shootfight, and hurt the career of Nagata, who was being pushed as the top star of New Japan and was scheduled to face Pro Wrestling Noah GHC Champion Jun Akiyama four days later in the main event of New Japan's Tokyo Dome show (which Nagata lost).
- Tadao Yasuda defeated Jerome Le Banner via submission.
2002 - Held in the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan and shown live on TV. Results from the top matches:
- Jan Nortje defeated Tadao Yasuda.
- Daniel Gracie defeated Shinsuke Nakamura.
- Mirko Cro Cop defeated Kazuyuki Fujita via unanimous decision after three rounds.
- Bob Sapp defeated Yoshihiro Takayama in under three minutes.
2003 - Held in Wing Stadium in Kobe, Japan. shown live on PPV, with the top matches also aired live on television. Results from the top matches:
- Josh Barnett defeated Semmy Schillt via submission.
- Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Antonio Inoki with a sleeper.
- Stefan Leko defeated Kazunari Murakami.
- Fedor Emelianenko defeated Yuji Nagata in 1:02.
- Kazuyuki Fujita defeated Imamu Mayfield via submission.
2006 - Natsuki*Taiyo defeats Fuuka to win the JDStar Princess of Pro Wrestling Title in Tokyo, Japan.
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