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February 17th
On this day in history in ....
1964 - WWWF ran at Madison Square Garden in New York City with the following results:
- Sky Low Low & Billy The Kid defeated Sonny Boy Cassidy & Farmer Pete.
- Don McClarity defeated Magnificent Maurice.
- Bill Watts defeated Klondike Bill.
- Hans Morier defeated Gino Brito.
- Dr. Jerry Graham defeated Tony Marino.
- Bobo Brazil & Argentina Apollo defeated Killer Kowalski & Gorilla Monsoon via DQ.
- WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino defeated Giant Baba with a backbreaker.
1969 - WWWF ran at Madison Square Garden in New York City with the following results:
- Arnold Skaaland defeated Bob Harmon.
- Carlos Colon & Pete Sanchez defeated Tony Altimore & Lou Albano.
- John Sullivan defeated Johnny Rodz.
- Dominic DeNucci defeated Angelo Savoldi.
- Victor Rivera & Haystacks Calhoun defeated Gorilla Monsoon & Baron Mikel Scicluna.
- WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino vs. Killer Kowalski ended in a double DQ.
1975 - WWWF ran at Madison Square Garden in New York City with the following results:
- Manuel Soto & Pete Sanchez defeated Jack Evans & Johnny Rodz.
- Joe Nova defeated Bill White.
- Victor Rivera defeated Hans Schroeder.
- Tony Garea & Dean Ho defeated Killer Kowalski & Bobby Duncum via DQ.
- The Wolfman defeated El Olympico.
- Pedro Morales defeated Butcher Vachon.
- WWWF Tag Team Champions Johnny & Jimmy Valiant defeated Gorilla Monsoon & Chief Jay Strongbow.
- Spiros Arion defeated WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino via DQ.
1981 - El Canek defeats Tiger Jeet Singh in Mexico City, Mexico to win the UWA World Heavyweight Title, ending Singh's second reign as champion and starting Canek's second run with the belt.
1986 - The third straight Madison Square Garden match between Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage sold out the venue in New York City. Here are the full results of the show:
- Lanny Poffo defeated Rene Goulet.
- King Tonga (Haku/Meng) defeated Les Thornton.
- The Hart Foundation vs. The Killer Bees ended in a draw.
- King Kong Bundy defeated George Wells.
- Ricky Steamboat defeated The Magnificent Muraco in a Martial Arts match.
- Tony Atlas defeated Barry O.
- Adrian Adonis defeated George Steele via DQ.
- The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff defeated Corporal Kirschner & Dan Spivey.
- WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage in a Lumberjack match when George Steele tripped Savage as the lumberjacks were fighting on the floor, allowing Hogan to legdrop Savage for the win. Only the World Title was on the line.
1989 - Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden defeat Kevin & Kerry Von Erich in Dallas, Texas to win the World Class Tag Team Title, ending Kevin & Kerry's third reign as champions. Fuller & Golden won the match via disqualification, which under World Class rules meant the title changed hands.
1996 - Lex Luger defeats Johnny B. Badd (Marc Mero) for the WCW World Television Title in Baltimore, Maryland at a non-televised event, ending Badd's second reign. Badd would win it back the next day.
1996 - PG-13 defeat Jesse James Armstrong & Tracey Smothers for the USWA Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee, winning back the titles they had lost only three days earlier. This would mark the beginning of JC Ice & Wolfie D's eleventh run with the straps.
1996 - ECW ran their Cyberslam event (held in conjunction with a fan convention) at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Here are the results:
- Judge Dredd & Bad Crew defeated Dino Sendoff, Don E. Allen & Shark Attack Kid. The Sandman then ran out and caned all six men.
- Spiros Greco defeated El Puerto Ricano with a side slam.
- Taz defeated Joel Hartgood in under two minutes with the Tazmission. Following the match, Taz took down several other wrestlers, and fought with Mikey Whipwreck.
- Brian Pillman makes his ECW debut, appearing in the ring to cut an obscenity laced promo against Eric Bischoff and WCW, claiming he had been fired by the company. Pillman would end up being carted off by security after threatening to urinate in the ring. As he was carted off, Pillman attacked a "fan" and stabbed him with a fork. This was part of Pillman's famous work/shoot with WCW, trying to convince fans he really was fired from WCW and was a "loose cannon". Pillman would later get WCW to actually give him his release (to make the angle "more believable" as they were trying to work everyone with it) and jump to the WWF.
- Buh-Buh Ray Dudley defeated Mr. Hughes with a splash off the top rope.
- The Gangstas were scheduled to wrestle The Headhunters, but New Jack was unable to appear. Mustafa fought the Headhunters alone, and lost. This led into the next match.
- The Bruise Brothers (Ron & Don Harris) defeated The Headhunters.
- An injured Tommy Dreamer confronted Raven, and the Bruise Brothers (who were there to back up Dreamer) turned on Dreamer, pulling him groin first into a ringpost.
- JT Smith defeated Axl Rotten after a chairshot.
- Francine & The Pitbulls defeated Stevie Richards & The Eliminators (John Kronus & Perry Saturn) in a Triple Dog Collar match when Francine pinned Richards after the Pitbulls gave him a powerbomb/neckbreaker combo.? After the match, the Eliminators gave the Pitbulls and Francine Total Elimination.
- ECW Television Champion 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Sabu went to a 30-minute draw.
- Shane Douglas defeated Cactus Jack. Mark Curtis was the special referee, and handed Douglas handcuffs during the match. With Foley cuffed, Douglas hit him with chairshots and put him in a figure four, with Cactus refusing to submit. Cactus called for Mikey Whipwreck to help him, and Mikey came in and blasted Cactus with a chairshot to give Douglas the win.
- ECW World Champion Raven defeated The Sandman with a DDT on a chair.
1997 - Psycho Sid (Vicious) defeats Bret Hart for the WWF World Heavyweight Title during a live edition of Raw from Nashville, Tennessee after Steve Austin interferes and hits Hart with a chair, allowing Sid to powerbomb Hart for the win. This ended Hart's fourth title reign after only one day as champion, having won the belt the previous night at the "Final Four" Pay-per-view event. It began Sid's second, and final, WWF Championship run. After the match the Undertaker, who had been named number one contender to the title for Wrestlemania, came out and stared at Sid.
1997 - During a live edition of Nitro from Tampa, Florida, Prince Iaukea defeats Steven (William) Regal for the WCW World Television Title, ending Regal's third run with the belt.
1998 - During an edition of Raw in Waco, Texas, The Headbangers (Mosh & Thrasher) defeat The Rock N' Roll Express to win the NWA World Tag Team Title. Prior to the match, Commissioner Slaughter replaced NWA referee Tommy Young with WWF referee Earl Hebner, who refereed the match under WWF rules (no over the top DQs). At the end of the match, Jim Cornette hit Thrasher with his tennis racquet, but Thrasher fell forward onto an unconscious Ricky Morton for the pin. Also on Raw, Goldust wrestles in full Dusty Rhodes WWF attire (yep, polka dots) and does an impersonation of his father during a losing effort to Bradshaw.
1998 - Randy "Macho Man" Savage receives Harvard Lampoon's "Real Man" of the Year Award.? The humor magazine gives out the award every year to "that male specimen of the human species who best exemplifies universal manliness." Past honorees include John Wayne, Aerosmith, John Candy, and others.
2000 - Flash Flanagan defeats Rico Constantino for the Ohio Valley Wrestling Heavyweight Title.
2001 - Steve Blackman defeats Raven to win the WWF Hardcore Title in Cedar Falls, Iowa. However, as Blackman is leaving the ring, Raven cradles him and scores a pin to take back the title due to the "24/7" rule.
2002 - WWE held their No Way Out Pay-per-view in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, highlighted by the entrance of the New World Order into the WWF (and Hulk Hogan's first appearance on a WWF show in almost a decade). Here is Tim Whitehead's original report on the show:
WWF's No Way Out was one of the weaker WWF PPV's in a long time. Having said that, it wasn't really a bad show per se. It just didn't reach the level of most recent shows. It was just kind of so-so. Part of the problem was a cold Milwaukee crowd, which was dead for most of the undercard and also died for much of the main event. When they did pop, it was huge, but they really didn't pop all that much. The three top matches were all good, but not great. This is just my opinion, but they're already ruining the NWO angle. When Jerry Lawler, on commentary, began siding with the NWO, while Jim Ross ran them down, it signaled that they're going to be just another heel group. That cancels the entire previous hype, which was that they were an extraordinarily virulent poison who were going to run the WWF out of business. If that were the case, everybody in the WWF, heel or babyface, should oppose them. Bringing them in wasn't the smartest move to begin with, but once that decision was made, at the very least they should be depicted as legit threats to promotional survival. From what I saw on this show, they come off as three older guys who are kind of funny on the mic, and will attack the top babyfaces while the heels cheer them on. Their only threat to promotional survival will be when the main event match quality deteriorates when they start taking top spots on future PPV's. There is an inherent problem built into the angle. The things Hogan & Co. did to help kill WCW can't be shown on TV. How do you build TV and PPV off of backstage maneuvering? Do they plan to show Kevin Nash encouraging Austin not to sell for Jericho? Or are they gonna send Hogan on some talk show to claim that Kurt Angle can't work, or to insist that no Olympic wrestler ever drew money? And if they did, how would THAT draw money?
Other aspects of the show were handled well. They did a better job than usual of portraying Chris Jericho as the equal of the established upper tier. They handled the Triple H vs. Kurt Angle deal very well, with Stephanie's role being well booked.
The show opened with Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall coming out to their old NWO music. JR went off on how they did more to destroy WCW than anyone else. Lawler said it's Ric Flair who's to blame for them coming in. There was a moderate crowd pop, but no one seemed to know how to react. Nash spoke first about how much heat they have backstage with the boys, and talked about how they've been called poison, cancer, and even "company killing bastards". He said that hurts their feelings and all they want is a chance to start with a clean slate. Hall got the mic and earned a pop for saying, "Hey-Yo". He said the NWO aren't bad guys, but are just "marks" and fans like everyone else. He said they just want a chance to work with the WWF superstars, hang out with them, take photos, and drink beer with the boys. Nash and Hogan both reacted to the beer comment and Hall then joked that maybe the beer part wasn't a good idea. That would be funny, I suppose, to the miniscule portion of the audience who are aware of Hall's record in that area, including recent activity since signing with the WWF. Hogan, who looked about 65 years old, said he's just like all the fans except for being rich and famous, and asked everyone to give them a chance. He said, "God bless Vince McMahon" for giving them a chance. He also gave "God blesses" to the fans and to America. During this segment, Lawler did a 180 and by the end was siding with the NWO and saying they've changed and deserve a chance. JR said he didn't believe a word they said.
THE A.P.A. won a six team "Tag Team Turmoil" match to earn a tag title shot at Wrestlemania at the 16:36 mark. Two teams chosen at "random" started off. When one team lost, another came in. They started with Scotty 2 Hotty & Albert vs. Christian & Lance Storm. Albert did the power moves. Scotty took a high bump out to the floor. Scotty tried for the worm but ended up pinned by Christian with the unprettier at 2:56. The Hardys came in and the pace picked up. Christian got pinned at 6:11 after Matt hit the twist of fate and Jeff did a swanton. The Dudleys arrived. They got heat on Jeff. Stacy Keibler went in but Lita tackled her. Lita sent Bubba Ray out with a Litacanrana, with Jeff then doing a somersault plancha on him. Meanwhile, Matt pinned D-Von with a simple roll-up at 10:50. The Dudleys did a 3D on Jeff on the floor before leaving. Billy & Chuck came out (no pun intended). With those little blond braids, Chuck looks like either Heidi or the girl on the Swiss Miss cocoa package. Lawler said JR needs to get braids like that to go with his cowboy hat. With Jeff KO'ed on the floor, they doubled on Matt and Billy got the pin with the famouser at 12:20. The APA arrived as the final team. They brawled with Billy taking a hard bump from Faarooq. Billy got pinned after spin bumping off Bradshaw's lariat from hell. A solid opener.
Michael Cole interviewed Ric Flair, who didn't buy the NWO's crap. Undertaker walked up and shoved Cole into a wall, making some intimidating threats toward Flair. I guess we'll see them fight soon, probably at Wrestlemania.
ROB VAN DAM beat GOLDUST in 11:05. Goldust attacked early but then bailed out. RVD did some of his usual spots, but this time the crowd wasn't into it. The whole thing seemed to have too slow of a pace for an RVD match. JR and Lawler started talking about other things, such as recent movies, which is their tactic when a match isn't very interesting. They did some rest spots. RVD missed a five star frog splash, but after a little more brawling and some kicks, he hit a second five star and got the pin.
The NWO encountered Steve Austin in a hallway. They sort of sarcastically called him the toughest S.O.B. in the WWF. Hall, of all people, offered him a six pack of beer. Austin said he wasn't thirsty. Hall told him he could save it for later. Austin tossed the six pack down and walked off.
SPIKE DUDLEY & TAZZ beat BOOKER T & TEST to retain the WWF World Tag Titles in 7:16. Not all that good, and no heat, either. As usual, the heels doubled on little Spike. Test tried to use the ropes to get a pin on Tazz. The ref wouldn't count, so Test shoved him. The ref shoved back and Tazz caught Test in the Tazzmission for the tap out.
Rock did a promo vowing to kick Undertaker's candy ass. It was nothing special for a Rock promo.
WILLIAM REGAL defeated EDGE in a Brass Knux on a Pole match in 10:26. Slow paced with no heat. Edge attacked Regal as the ref was searching him, which later proved to be a mistake on Edge's part. They just sort of brawled around in the ring and on the floor, with occasional attempts to climb the pole. Regal gave Edge a powerbomb on the floor. Edge juiced from the mouth to sell his "internal injuries". They've tried to heat this feud up but it just doesn't click with the fans. Regal took a bump to the floor when Edge blocked an attempted powerbomb off the apron. Regal got the knux but Edge attacked him and the knux ended up on the floor. Edge retrieved them and began cursing at Regal, but Regal surprised him with a blow from a second set of knux he had hidden in his tights. Edge was pinned once again.
Kurt Angle told Lilian Garcia that Stephanie will be an unbiased ref. He said it's a good thing she isn't pregnant because HHH would be a terrible father. Of course, Angle was confident of victory in his upcoming match.
ROCK beat UNDERTAKER in 17:23. They paced this well and it was a decent match which got some heat. Rock attacked immediately but UT came back with fists and stomps. They went to the floor and brawled out through the crowd. Back in the ring, they stayed active for a while and traded some two counts before UT went to a long bearhug. Rock fought back and laid UT out for the People's Elbow but UT caught him by the throat. Rock gave UT a low blow to escape. UT still chokeslammed Rock but was slow to make the cover and only got a two count. UT went out and got on his motorcycle like he was going to leave. He laid the ref out when he tried to stop him. He then retrieved a pipe he had hidden on the bike. Ric Flair ran down and chopped UT, who no-sold and beat Flair up. UT swung the pipe at Rock, but Rock ducked and managed to put the sharpshooter on UT. Vince McMahon ran out and got on the apron. Rock released the sharpshooter to beat Vince up. UT nailed Rock from behind and got him up for a tombstone piledriver but Flair laid UT out with the pipe. The ref revived and Rock got the pin. Good closing sequence which did draw a big pop.
Mr. Perfect appeared at WWF New York. He ran down the fans as not being up to his level of perfection. He said even the rats there are ugly, and I don't think he meant rodents with long tails.
KURT ANGLE beat HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY in 14:39 to win HHH's Wrestlemania World Title shot. Special (as in, VERY special) referee Stephanie came out wearing a designer ref outfit which nicely displayed her assets. When Howard Finkel introduced her as Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, she corrected him, noting she's no longer a Helmsley. She applauded Angle when he came out. She also made a point of reminding HHH who the ref is. Angle started with some matwork and scored a quick two count. He stomped HHH, but HHH brawled back with fists and lariats. Angle rebounded off the ropes, going for a lariat but HHH ducked and Steph took the blow, crashing all the way out to the floor. That got a pop, probably the biggest of the show. HHH smiled as Steph had to be helped to the back. Tim White took over as ref. That was good because Steph really couldn't have worked the entire match. Angle went on big time offense and scored twos with some great suplexes. HHH came back and scored twos with spinebusters and powerbombs. Angle "accidentally" laid the ref out. He gave HHH a low blow and hit the Olympic Slam. Steph ran in, holding her neck in pain, but HHH kicked out at two. HHH sent Angle crashing into Steph and she took another bump. HHH hit a DDT but there was no ref. He helped White up but Angle attacked and White took a bump to the floor. Angle swung a chair but missed, and HHH then nailed him with the Pedigree, White revived and started counting but Steph dropped an elbow on him. HHH was about to Pedigree Steph but Angle hit him with two hard chairshots and an Olympic slam, with Steph counting one-two-three. Angle and Steph left up the aisle together, both jubilant, as HHH sold the beating in the ring. Angle didn't wait around for HHH to revive. He lef very quickly, still in his tights as he went out into the cold Milwaukee winter night air to drive off fast in his car.
The NWO encountered Rock. They acted friendly toward him. Hogan said Rock's his son's favorite wrestler and asked for a picture with him. Rock posed with Hulk as Hall took a photo. Hogan then sneeringly said "so much for the people's taste". Rock told all three of them they can shove the camera up their candy asses.
CHRIS JERICHO beat STEVE AUSTIN to retain the Undisputed World Title in 21:33. They chopped the hell out of each other in this match. Literally, they must have seen a circa 1986 tape of Flair vs. Ron Garvin, because they never missed an opportunity to chop each other. They did a spot where Austin rammed Jericho into the turnbuckles a zillion times, with the crowd shouting "what" each time rather than counting. The first few minutes had heat but the crowd was dead after that, except for the finishing sequence. They brawled up the aisle and took shots into parked trucks and other objects. They did a creditable job of presenting Jericho as Austin's equal. Austin did three superplexes on Jericho. They traded some two counts. Austin blocked a chairshot attempt. They teased going through the announcers' desk, but didn't. Jericho hit two lionsaults but had to stretch to do it as Austin was way across the ring. Jericho hooked the walls but Austin made the ropes. Jericho got the belt but Austin ended up giving him a spinebuster on it for a near fall. Jericho gave Austin a breakdown on the belt for a two count. There was a big ref bump. Austin put the walls on Jericho, who tapped, but there was no ref. They really didn't need to do that spot after making Jericho look so good up to that point. Austin gave Jericho a stunner, and in ran the NWO. Austin briefly fought them but they overpowered him and Hall gave him a stunner. The ref revived and Jericho got the pin. After Jericho left with his belt, the NWO continued pounding Austin, including a second stunner from Hall. The show ended with Hogan spray painting the NWO tag on Austin's back.
2002 - Pro Wrestling Noah ran a show at Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan, drawing a sellout crowd of 16,500 fans to see New Japan's Yuji Nagata team with Jun Akiyama to defeat Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi when Akiyama pinned Kobashi.
2003 - During an edition of Raw from Columbus, Ohio, Eric Bischoff (with the help of a cinderblock and Sean Morley) defeats Jim Ross in a no disqualification match, despite attempts by Jerry Lawler to make the save.
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