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February 16th
On this day in history in ....
1971 - Jack & Jerry Brisco defeat The Infernos in Tampa, Florida to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Title.
1981 - WWF ran at Madison Square Garden in New York City with the following results:
- Killer Khan defeated Dominic DeNucci.
- The Great Yatsu defeated Johnny Rodz.
- Hulk Hogan defeated Rick McGraw.
- The Hangman defeated Frank Savage.
- S.D. Jones defeated Baron Mikel Scicluna.
- Intercontinental Champion Pedro Morales defeated Sgt. Slaughter via DQ when the referee caught Slaughter using a pair of brass knuckles.
- WWF World Champion Bob Backlund vs. Stan Hansen was ruled a draw when the referee decided that both men were bleeding too heavily to continue. They kept brawling anyway, until security separated them.
- Rick Martel, Tony Garea & Pat Patterson defeated The Moondogs & Captain Lou Albano in a three falls match.
1985 - Bruno Sammartino ended his retirement, which had lasted for over three years, at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, teaming with his son David to defeat Paul Orndorff & Bobby Heenan when Orndroff hit Sammartino with a chair as Bruno had Heenan in a bearhug.
1987 - At a WWF television taping in New Haven, Connecticut, Rick Martel, Tom Zenk & Lanny Poffo defeated Adrian Adonis, Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine. Adonis, who had been cutting locks of his opponents hair in building towards his Wrestlemania III Hair Vs. Hair match with Roddy Piper, went to cut Martel's hair as he was worked over in the corner by Beefcake. However, as Adonis reached for his scissors, Martel grabbed Beefcake and reversed positions with him. Adonis turned, and not realizing the switch, cut off some of Beefcake's hair. Adonis soon realized his mistake, and as he and Beefcake argued, Martel rolled up Beefcake for the pin. This was the first step towards the creation of Beefcake's "Barber" persona.
1989 - During a television taping in Hershey, Pennsylvania, WWF taped Saturday Night's Main Event, which would air on March 11th on NBC, earning a 10.0 rating and helping to set up Wrestlemania V. One of the big angles coming out of the show was the announcement that Miss Elizabeth would not be in the corner of Randy Savage or Hulk Hogan for the main event of Wrestlemania, and that she would instead be in a "neutral" corner for the match. Here are the results from the show:
- Brutus Beefcake defeated Rick Rude via DQ when Andre The Giant interfered. This led to a brawl with Jake Roberts getting involved, going after Andre. Big John Studd came out and had a staredown with Andre, allowing Roberts to use his snake, Damien, to scare off Andre.
- Hulk Hogan, with Miss Elizabeth in his corner, defeated Bad News Brown with a legdrop.
- Ted DiBiase made the first defense of his Million Dollar Belt, defeating The Blue Blazer (Owen Hart) with a powerslam as Blazer attempted a flying bodypress.
- Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty vs. Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson ended in a double countout.
- Red Rooster defeated The Brooklyn Brawler with a small package.
1997 - WWF held their "Final Four" Pay-per-view in Chattanooga, Tennessee at the UTC Arena. This show took on new meaning three days earlier, when Shawn Michaels vacated the WWF World Heavyweight Title due to a knee injury and "losing his smile". As a result, the main event became a "Final Four" match to determine a new WWF World Heavyweight Champion. Here are results from the show:
- The Godwinns defeated The Headbangers. This match aired on the "Free-For-All" pre-show.
- Marc Mero defeated Leif Cassidy (Al Snow) with the Wild Thing (Shooting Star Press).
- Faarooq, Crush & Savio Vega defeated Bart Gunn, Flash Funk & Goldust when Bart was pinned after a legdrop by Crush.
- Intercontinental Champion Rocky Maivia defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley with a German suplex after Goldust distracted HHH.
- Doug Furnas & Phil Lafon defeated World Tag Team Champions Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith via disqualification when Owen hit LaFon with his Slammy award.
- Bret Hart defeated Steve Austin, Vader and The Undertaker to win the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Title in a "Final Four" elimination match. This marked the beginning of Hart's fourth (and as it turns out, shortest, since he would lose it the next night to Sid Vicious) title reign.
* Hart eliminated Austin by throwing him over the top rope to the floor.
* Undertaker eliminated Vader by throwing him over the top rope to the floor.
* Hart eliminated Undertaker by throwing him over the top rope to the floor.
1999 - During an edition of Raw from Chattanooga, Tennessee, The Undertaker defeated Kane in an Inferno match when Kane's boot caught on fire. After the match, Undertaker burned a toy bear in front of Vince McMahon, and McMahon broke down in tears. The storyline was that it was Stephanie McMahon's childhood toy, and proved to Vince that Undertaker had been in McMahon's home (start of what would become the "Higher Power" storyline, where it would eventually be revealed that McMahon was the Higher Power and had given the bear to Undertaker). Also on this show, The Public Enemy made their WWF television debut, defeating Edge & Gangrel via DQ, then becoming the victims of a Brood "bloodbath".
2002 - The Bruiser defeats Orlando Jordan in Harrington, Delaware to win the Maryland Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Title for the fifth and final time.
2002 - Tadao Yasuda defeats Yuji Nagata to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Title in a tournament final. The belt had been vacated in December 2001 when champion Kazuyuki Fujita was injured.
2004 - At an edition of Raw from Bakersfield, California, Booker T & Rob Van Dam defeated Ric Flair & Batista to win the World Tag Team Title when Booker pinned Flair after Van Dam gave Flair the Five Star Frog Splash while Flair had Booker in the Figure Four. Batista and Randy Orton (at ringside with Flair & Batista) were brawling with Mick Foley on the floor during the finish. Also on this show, Steve Austin, the "Sheriff" of the company, settled the Wrestlemania XX World Title controversy by announcing that Triple H would defend the title against Chris Benoit and Shawn Michaels in a Triple Threat match at the PPV.
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