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May 24th
On this day in history in ....
1973 - Harley Race defeats Dory Funk, Jr. for the NWA World Heavyweight Title in Kansas City, Missouri. Race scored the pin in the third fall with a vertical suplex, to win the title for the first time in his career. Race would go on to become an eight-time NWA World Champion.
1976 - Ric Flair defeats Wahoo McDaniel for the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title in Charlotte, North Carolina. If Flair had lost, he would have had his head shaved.
1984 - Ric Flair defeats Kerry Von Erich for the NWA World Heavyweight Wrestling Title, ending Von Erich's reign after only 18 days. Flair pinned Von Erich by reversing a rollup for the pin in Yokosuka, Japan in the third fall of their title match on an All Japan Pro Wrestling show. Fritz Von Erich would later appear on World Class television and claim that his son was ripped off by a "sumo referee" that didn't understand pro wrestling rules. The referee for the match was All Japan's Joe Higuchi, who was never a sumo referee.
2001 - Triple H underwent surgery with Dr. James Andrews to repair his torn quadriceps, which was injured in a tag team match with Steve Austin against Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho three days earlier. The surgery would be successful, and after a long period of rehab, Triple H returned to the ring ten months later. He would suffer a similar injury again in 2006.
2001 - The Parents Television Council, which had aggressively promoted against the WWF, and Smackdown in particular, for what they felt was inappropriate programming, was pushed one step closer towards having to apologize for their actions. The WWF brought a lawsuit against the company and a U.S. District Court Judge rejected an attempt to dismiss the case by the PTC. The WWF would go on to win the case, and the PTC would be forced to issue a public apology to the wrestling organization. The following is the press release from the WWF from 2001:
Judge Rejects Parents Television Council Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit
STAMFORD, Conn., May 24, 2001 : A federal judge today rejected a motion by the Parents Television Council to dismiss a lawsuit brought against the PTC and others by World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWF).
U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin in New York concluded that there was a sound legal basis for the WWFE suit and that it should go forward. "Assuming, as I must, that the allegations of the Amended Complaint are true for purposes of this motion, I conclude that WWFE has stated claims upon which relief can be granted," wrote Judge Chin. WWFE sued the PTC in November 2000, charging PTC founder L. Brent Bozell III and others with, among other things, defamation, tortious interference with business relations and copyright infringement. As part of these activities, the PTC claimed that "WWF Smackdown!" could be linked to the deaths of four children, and that more than 30 to 40 advertisers had withdrawn their advertising from WWF SmackDown! The suit says the defendants made such false claims to WWFE advertisers in order to damage the company and, at the same time, raise money for themselves and promote their organization.
Judge Chin wrote that the PTC and the other defendants may not make false and defamatory statements under cover of the First Amendment. "The First Amendment does not protect statements that are false and defamatory, even if they are made in the context of a public debate about issues of general concern," he wrote. Judge Chin's ruling on the motion is available through the court and WWFE's corporate website, wwfecorpbiz.com.
World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. is an integrated media and entertainment company headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with sales offices in New York City, Chicago and Toronto. Additional information on the company can be found at wwf.com and wwfecorpbiz.com.
2007 - The Condemned, WWE Film's heavily-hyped movie starring Steve Austin, ended it's major release run in North America after four weekends, the shortest run of any WWE Films project. See No Evil, starring Kane, ran for seven weekends in theatres, while The Marine starring John Cena ran for 12 weekends. At the time of it being pulled from North American theatres (except some secondary markets), the film had grossed $7,364,342 domestically, and $121,316 in foreign markets for a total of $7,485,658. In the end, the film would pull in $7,371,706 in North America, and $1,015,149 in foreign markets for a total of $8,386,855, a major disappointment.
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