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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: VINCE MCMAHON GETS BLOWN UP AND IS 'PRESUMED DEAD' (AND IT DOESN'T LAST), BILL GOLDBERG TURNS HEEL (AND IT DOESN'T LAST) AND MORE

June 11th

On this day in history in ....

1879 - H.M. Dufur defeats James Owens in Boston, Massachusetts to win the American Collar-and-Elbow Title. Owens still claimed the championship despite losing to William Muldoon on February 6, 1877.

1954 - Ed Francis defeats Enrique Guzman for the NWA Texas Heavyweight Title in Houston, Texas. 

1955 - Doug Donovan & Ivan Kameroff defeat Luther Lindsay & George Dussette to win the Pacific Northwest Tag Team Title.

1959 - Terry "Magnum T.A." Allen is born in Chesapeake, Virginia.

1963 - Mike Enos is born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

1965 - Wilbur Snyder & Dick the Bruiser win the World Wrestling Association Tag Team Title for the third time, defeating The Assassins (Guy Mitchell & Joe Tomasso), ending their second reign. 

1971 - Another set of Assassins, this time Tom Renesto & Jody Hamilton, win their seventh NWA Georgia Tag Team Title, defeating Ray Gunkel & El Mongol in Atlanta, Georgia by reverse decision.

1973 - El Marquez defeats Karloff Lagarde for the Mexico National Welterweight Title in Mexico City, Mexico, ending Lagarde's fourth reign. 

1973 - Masked Lee & Sandy Parker defeat Jumbo Miyamoto & Mariko Akagi for the WWWA World Tag Team Title in Sasebo, Japan, ending Miyamoto and Akagi's fourth reign.

1975 - Gene & Ole Anderson defeat Wahoo McDaniel & Paul Jones to win the Mid-Atlantic version of the NWA World Tag Team Title in Raleigh, North Carolina, beginning their second reign. 

1976 - Great Kusatsu & Mighty Inoue defeat Rip Tyler & Eddie Sullivan to win the IWA Japan World Tag Team Title in Furukawa, Japan, beginning their third reign.

1980 - Alan Dennison defeats Jim Breaks for the British Welterweight Title in London, England, ending Breaks' fifth reign.

1981 - Takashi Ishikawa & Akio Sato defeat Kevin & David Von Erich to win the AJPW All Asia Tag Team Title in Tokyo, Japan. 

1983 - King Tonga & Gran Apolo defeat Buddy Landel & Terry Gibbs for the WWC North American Tag Team Title in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

1984 - Rick Rude defeats Jerry Lawler to win the AWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee, ending Lawler's 30th reign. 

1989 - The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) defeat The Southern Force (Black Bart and Tony Anthony) in Orlando, Florida, to win their third NWA Florida Tag Team Title.

1993 - Tracy Smothers defeats Tony Anthony to win the held up SMW Heavyweight Title in Knoxville, Tennessee. The title was held up on May 15 in Johnson City, Tennessee after a match between the two. This began Smothers' second reign. 

1993 - Saemi Numata defeats Kumiko Maekawa for the AJW Junior Title.

1998 - WCW holds the third-annual Ilio DiPaolo Memorial event at the Buffalo, New York War Memorial Auditorium, before a crowd of 15,395. The results: 
- Many wrestling legends were introduced to open the show. Those in attendance were Dick Beyer, Gino Brito, Willie Farkas, Billy Red Lyons, Tony Marino, Angelo Poffo, George Scott, Lou Thesz, Waldo Von Erich and Kurt Von Hess. 
- Dean Malenko defeated Scotty Riggs by submission to retain the WCW Cruiserweight Title.
- Juventud Guerrera pinned Billy Kidman.
- Booker T defeated Chris Benoit by disqualification.
- Konnan defeated Scott Putski by submission. 
- Saturn pinned Glacier.
- The Giant, The Disciple, Randy Savage and Lex Luger fought to no-contest in a four-way match.
- Goldberg pinned Konnan to retain the WCW United States Heavyweight Title.
- Kevin Nash and Lex Luger defeated WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart. 

2000 - WCW held their Great American Bash Pay-per-view in Baltimore, Maryland, highlighted by the heel turn of Bill Goldberg (a storyline that was quickly aborted).  This would be the last Great American Bash Pay-per-view held by WCW.  Here is Tim Whitehead's original report on the show, which did a .19 buyrate:

WCW's Great American Bash from the Baltimore Arena came off as something of a dud. From a mostly weak and heatless lower card, the show moved on the two retirement matches. Neither of the wrestlers who had vowed to retire if they lost actually ended up losing, which was just as well since retirement stips are never kept anyway. Both matches were passable entertainment but mostly featured a lot of props and "sports entertainment". The main event World Title match was a mess and featured the big surprise, which was a Goldberg heel turn, which was exactly what they shouldn't have done, and which the lukewarm crowd didn't like. The inferno match between Sting and Vampiro was just a backdrop for a "shocking" stunt that no one's gonna swallow. Oh, and Kanyon turned as well. Still one more turn that makes no sense and means nothing since about 30 wrestlers turn every month.

LT. LOCO beat DISCO INFERNO in 4:56 to retain the Cruiserweight Title. Loco (Chavo Guerrero Jr.) came out with his Misfits allies and had a toy grenade and everyone freaked out over it. Disco had the Filthy Animals with him. Some fast moves early by Loco until he got dropped on the ropes. Disco bumped out and the Misfits beat him up, allowing Loco to score some twos. The Animals then stomped Loco and Disco got some near falls. Capt. Rection's father or grandfather or whatever arrived but Konnan got in his face and he had a "heart attack". Juventud Guerrera went in and tried for a People's Elbow (really) but missed. Disco hit the Last Dance on Loco but Cpl. Cajun nailed Disco in full view of the ref with a legsweep and put Loco on top for the pin. Afterward, Major Gunns revived the old man with mouth to mouth and he then tried to molest her. Silly match.

Some cops assured Eric Bischoff that Bill Goldberg would not be able to get in the building. That guaranteed something.

KRONIC beat THE MAMALUKES to become top contenders to the tag titles in 9:19. Both Mamalukes theoretically hold the Hardcore Title now but Big Vito was wearing it, even when in the ring, and acting like he was sole champ. Not much good here. Kronic used power moves but also got doubled on a little in the Mamaluke corner. Johnny the Bull screwed up his springboard move. Brian Adams did a scary looking DDT type move on Vito. Vito was more concerned with the Hardcore belt that the match and left the ring to polish it, which was ridiculous, leaving Johnny to be pinned after High Times.

MIKE AWESOME beat DALLAS PAGE in the Ambulance Match in 9:30. Page brought out Kanyon in a wheelchair and wearing the halo. He sat there looking sad. This match was an okay brawl. The ref got bumped immediately and they brawled around on the floor and used some chairs, though there were no killer chairshots. Awesome put Page through a table and the medics tried to stretcher him out but he came back. Awesome put Page down again and hit two frog splashes but missed a third and landed on a chair. Kimberly arrived and hit Page with a pipe. Miss Hancock dragged Kim off by the hair. Page revived quickly and hit the Diamond Cutter on Awesome out of nowhere. Awesome was being stretchered when Eric Bischoff came out and acted like he would hit the helpless Kanyon with a chair. Page went after Bischoff but Kanyon got up (Mark Madden was screaming "He can walk! It's a miracle!") and turned on Page, giving him a Diamond Cutter which sent him bumping off the ramp. Awesome recovered and Page was the one hauled off in the meat wagon. They later showed Page leaving the ambulance against the wishes of the medics. Kanyon later "explained" that Bischoff had visited him secretly in the hospital and made him an offer to be a star if he would turn on Page.

G.I. BRO beat SEAN STASIAK in the Boot Camp match in 13:54. Way too long. Bro (the former Booker T) repelled into the ring on a cable, military style. Stasiak also wore military fatigues and had camouflage face paint. Mostly they brawled around with Bro hitting occasional kicks. The ref did several 10 count attempts but they got up in time. Stasiak got a small hardway cut and Tony Schiavone noted the strict Maryland rules on juice during matches. Stasiak hooked a sleeper but Bro made a big babyface comeback and was destroying Stasiak with kicks (to no heat) when Chuck Palumbo ran in and went after Bro with the flexer. This was in plain view of the ref but he did nothing due to the supposedly relaxed rules. That's all well and good to not have so many DQ's and count-outs but it also makes no sense for outside interference to be legal. Bro scissor kicked Palumbo. Stasiak got the flexer and used it on Bro but he came back again and put both foes down with the flexer for the 10 count.

SHANE DOUGLAS beat WALL in the tables match in 7:58. Douglas announced that the match would be a best of five tables match. He also ran down Ric Flair, calling him "Dick" Flair as he used to do in those shoot challenge promos in ECW. The match was what you would expect, namely, not good. Wall bumped on a table early but didn't go through it. Perhaps he was supposed to given what happened later. Wall put Douglas through one table, and then another. Douglas lured Wall to the back where there was a ladder set up next to two tables (one stacked on the other). Douglas went up the ladder and Wall, genius that he is, went up the other side, which was the table side. Duh! So he naturally got knocked off the ladder when Shane used brass knux and went through both tables. It looked like he legit hurt his shoulder on the bump. Anyway, this tied them up at two tables each but for whatever reason it was claimed that Wall went through three tables and Shane won. Wall put the ref through a table afterward.

SCOTT STEINER beat TANK ABBOTT & RICK STEINER in a handicap match in the asylum cage to retain the U.S. Title in 3:45. Pretty bad. They announced at the beginning that Rick had been added to the match to "level the playing field". More booking like this and they'll level the promotion. Rick and Tank doubled on Scott. Tank was about to use a chain but Rick had a sudden attack of sympathy for his brother and asked Tank not to use it. He ignored Rick, so Rick shoved Scott clear of the blow and ended up taking it himself. Scott got the chain, flattened Tank and hooked the recliner with Tank submitting immediately. Scott celebrated with his bimbos afterward.

HULK HOGAN beat BILLY KIDMAN in 11:39. Hogan would have had to retire (ahem) if he had lost. Horace Hogan was special ref and called it down the middle, reuniting with Hulk afterward with the commentators noting that he may have been with Hulk all along and had only turned to set up the New Blood. Hulk pounded Kidman and beat him with the weight belt. Kidman dropkicked a chair into Hulk's face and hit him with a chair to score a two count. Hogan used a chair on Kidman. Kidman DDT's Hogan on a chair for another near fall. Kidman hit a crossbody. Hulk put Kidman through the announcers' desk. Torrie Wilson slipped brass knux to Hogan. Kidman got them and bumped Torrie to the floor. But Kidman only got two on Superman Hulk with the knux. Torrie low blowed Kidman and Hulk got the knux and flattened Kidman for the pin. A so-so match.

RIC FLAIR beat DAVID FLAIR in 10:15. And yes, Ric would have had to "retire" if he had lost. Beth, Reid, and daughters Ashley and Megan were in the audience. Ric wore regular wrestling tights and no shirt. David actually opened up on Ric until Ric retaliated with the chops. Ric bumped out and Vince Russo hit him with a bat and handcuffed him. Reid went over the rail and hit Russo in the balls, got the key and unhooked Ric. Ashley then cuffed Russo, which I guess was her first ever direct involvement in wrestling. Ric destroyed David and put him in the figure four for the win. Afterward, Flair stripped Russo's shirt off and chopped the hell out of him. The Flair family gave Russo crotch chops. Russo vowed to forcibly retire Flair on Nitro. Entertaining match.

VAMPIRO defeated STING in the Inferno Match in 7:11. To win, you had to set your opponent on fire. Sting appeared on top of the giant screen superstructure and challenged Vampiro to come up. He didn't, so Sting repelled down and they started brawling. Vampiro managed to pour "gasoline" on Sting. Vampiro then began climbing the giant screen structure. Sting went after him and took a minor bump off before climbing back up again. There were burning torches up there, so Sting showed "brilliance" in going up there soaked in "gasoline". Anyway, they brawled up there with thunder and lightning special effects with the lights going off and on. During one of the "offs", a stunt man replaced Sting. Vampiro ignited "Sting" with one of the torches, engulfing him in flames. He jumped/fell off the structure and crashed, still burning, on a platform below. The commentators freaked out like Sting was dead and were talking about how he's a husband and father as if he had left them widowed and orphaned. Crew members with fire extinguishers put out the fire and "Sting" was stretchered out. They replayed the fall several times from different camera angles and on one of them you could clearly see the platform was soft and cushioned. I guess the angle was okay for what it was but these killer bumps are pretty ridiculous if you like believable angles.

JEFF JARRETT defeated KEVIN NASH in 17:19 to retain the WCW World Title. To fully stack the deck here, Ernest Miller was special ringside referee, Konnan was bell ringer, Rey Mysterio Jr. was timekeeper, Disco Inferno was keeper of the title belt, and Juventud Guerrera was ring announcer, even though Michael Buffer did the actual introductions. Nash started off with power moves and sent Jarrett out. They brawled through the crowd. Nash used a chair on Jarrett but Mysterio clocked Nash in his bad knee with a chair. Jarrett used more chairs to the knee and continued working on the knee for what seemed like forever. Jarrett hooked the figure four but Nash made the ropes. Konnan hit Nash with a weak bell shot and Jarrett only got two. Jarrett got the title belt but Nash took it from him and hit him with it. Disco KO'ed the ref to stop him from counting. Juventud used a chair on Nash and Miller went in as ref but Jarrett only got a two. Nash was destroying all the Filthy Animals when Jarrett caught him with a sloppy looking stroke move but still only got two. Jarrett missed a swing with a guitar and Nash chokeslammed him, but Miller faked an "eye injury" to keep from counting three. Nash powerbombed Miller and Jarrett. Rick Steiner ran in, followed by Scott Steiner and Tank Abbott and they ended up brawling. That was pointless. The Filthy Animals all jumped Nash and beat him down. The Goldberg truck arrived. It had to drive very slowly due to the crowd and all the rails and other props, which kind of killed the effect. Anyway, Goldberg emerged and teased going after Jarrett but instead speared Nash and Jarrett pinned him. The crowd hated the Goldberg turn. Goldberg then hugged Bischoff and Russo. A weak main event.

2003 - TNA holds its 48th weekly pay-per-view event in Nashville, Tennessee at the TNA Asylum. The results:
- D'Lo Brown pinned Julio Dinero.
- Konnan and Ron Killings defeated The Harris Brothers (Ron and Don Harris), when Killings pinned Ron Harris. 
- Chris Sabin pinned Shark Boy to retain TNA X Division Title.
- Kid Kash defeated Goldylocks and Trinity in a Handicap match, when Kash pinned Trinity.
- The Sandman defeated Devon Storm, 11 to 7, in the final Hard 10 Tournament first round match. 
- America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) defeated David Young and Traci in the finals of the NWA Asylum Tag Team Tournament.
- A.J. Styles defeated champion Jeff Jarrett and Raven in a three-way match, by pinning Jarrett, to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title. 

2004 - Joey Luciano defeats Seth Cyrus for the NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Title in Humboldt, Tennessee, ending Cyrus' second reign.

2004 - Billy Black defeats Ebony Blade, Jason Blade and Jose Perez for the vacant Premier Wrestling Federation Northeast Heavyweight Title in Webster, Massachusetts. The title had been stripped from Johnny Curtis on May 7 due to a no-show. 

2005 - Steve Corino defeats Takao Omori to win the AWA World Heavyweight Title in Bay City, Michigan.

2005 - Chicano defeats Glamour Boy Shane for the held up IWA World Heavyweight Title in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, beginning his second reign. The title had been held up two weeks earlier in Levittown, Puerto Rico due to a controversy in a match between the two. For the rematch, the title was literally held up... on a 15-foot pole. 

2005 - David Young defeats Sonny Siaki in Columbus, Georgia to win the NWA GCW Heavyweight Title.

2005 - The second and final night of the third-annual Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup is held at Brandon All-Stars in Brandon, Florida. The results: 
- Jay Fury defeated Jerrelle Clark, Chasyn Rance and Aaron Epic in four-way match.
- SCW Heavyweight Champion Vordell Walker defeated Matt Sydal in a tournament quarterfinal.
- Jimmy Rave defeated Petey Williams in a quarterfinal. 
- Antonio Banks defeated Rod Steel.
- Chris Sabin defeated NWA Florida X Division Champion Mikey Batts in a quarterfinal.
- Sonjay Dutt defeated Ricky Reyes in a quarterfinal.
- Frankie Capone & Marcus Dillon defeated The Vandalz (Tommy & Johnny), The Market Crashers (Murphy & Machete) and The Heartbreak Express (Sean & Phil Davis) in a four-way match to retain the NWA Florida Tag Team Title. 
- Chris Sabin defeated Vordell Walker in a tournament semifinal.
- Sonjay Dutt defeated Jimmy Rave in the other semifinal.
- Bruce Steele defeated Roderick Strong to retain the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title.
- Chris Sabin defeated Sonjay Dutt to win the Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup.

2005 - Kafu defeats Nate Rulez for the APW Universal Heavyweight Title in Hayward, California.

2005 - Scott Venom defeats Tyrone Evans by disqualifiction to win the NWA East Brass Knuckles Title in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. 

2006 - The second ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view was held at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, New York before a very rowdy sell-out crowd of 2,460. The results:
- Tazz defeated Jerry Lawler when Lawler passed out from the Tazzmission. 
- Kurt Angle defeated Randy Orton by Ankle Lock submission.
- The F.B.I. (Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke) defeated Tajiri and Super Crazy when Guido pinned Tajiri after a Double Fisherman's Brainbuster. ECW's newest addition, The Big Show, came to the ring after the match and took everyone out. 
- World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio and Sabu fought to a no contest when WWE physician Ferdinand Rios called off the match after Sabu hit Mysterio with a Triple Jump DDT through a table on to the floor, rendering both men unconscious. Mysterio retained the title. 
- Edge, Mick Foley, and Lita defeated Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer and Beulah McGillicutty when Edge pinned McGillicutty after a Spear.
- Balls Mahoney pinned Masato Tanaka after hitting him with a steel chair.
- Rob Van Dam defeated John Cena to win the WWE Championship, when Van Dam pinned Cena after a Five-Star Frog Splash following a Spear through a table from Edge. Paul Heyman made the three-count after two referees were knocked out. 

2006 - Alex Koslov defeats champion Karl Anderson and Mikey Nicholls in a three-way match in Santa Monica, California to win the NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Title.

Thanks to Ryan Martinez for his help with the above.

2007 - During a live edition of Raw, WWE held their draft lottery between the Raw, Smackdown and ECW brands, with the concept that inter-brand matches would be held, with the winning brand getting a "random, computer generated selection" from the other brands. Here are the results: 

- Edge (Smackdown) defeated John Cena (Raw) via countout, giving Smackdown the first "random, computer generated" selection. The Great Khali was drafted to Smackdown.
- CM Punk (ECW) defeated Carlito (Raw), giving ECW the second "random, computer generated" selection.  The Boogeyman was drafted to ECW.
- Umaga (Raw) defeated Balls Mahoney (ECW), giving Raw the third "random, computer generated" selection.  King Booker was drafted to RAW.  
- Bobby Lashley (ECW) defeated Chris Benoit (Smackdown), giving ECW the fourth "random, computer generated" selection.  Chris Benoit was drafted to ECW.
- MVP (Smackdown) defeated Santino Marella (Raw), giving Smackdown the fifth "random, computer generated" selection. Torrie Wilson was drafted to Smackdown.
- Snitsky (ECW) defeated The Miz (Smackdown), but was then disqualified after the match for continuing to beat on Miz.  As a result, Miz won via reverse decision, and Smackdown was given the sixth "random, computer generated" selection.  Chris Masters was drafted to Smackdown.
- Candice Michelle (Raw) defeated Kristal (Smackdown), giving Raw the seventh "random, computer generated" selection.  Bobby Lashley was drafted to Raw.
- Batista (Smackdown) defeated Jeff Hardy (Raw) and Elijah Burke (ECW), giving Smackdown the eighth "random, computer generated" selection. Ric Flair was drafted to Smackdown.
- Randy Orton (Raw) won a 15-man battle royale to win the ninth and tenth "random, computer generated" selections.  Snitsky and Ken Kennedy were drafted to Raw.

The show also featured a "Vince McMahon Appreciation Night" theme, which resulted in McMahon being blasted by various people throughout the show, leading to a very bizarre angle.  Here is Richard Trionfo's report from the closing segment of Raw:

There is NO CHANCE that Vince McMahon would not come out on his own night and he comes to the ring. Vince stands in the center of the ring and he has a mic. Vince holds the mic but he is unable to speak for a few seconds. He thanks everyone before he drops the mic and leaves the ring very gingerly. Vince walks up the Rawest Ramp in Sports Entertainment before he stops and turns around. Vince walks to the back and the crowd applauds Vince's departure.

We go to the back where Vince walks past all of the wrestlers. Jonathan Coachman stops Vince and he tells Vince that his limo is the other way. Vince takes a look back at the wrestlers before walking out of the building.

We go outside the building and Vince appears to have a smile on his face. Vince gets into his limo and it explodes as we go to credits with the limo still on fire.

Following the conclusion of Monday Night Raw featuring Vince McMahon's limo exploding, the official WWE website was reporting that McMahon is "presumed dead."

The angle would create a great deal of buzz in the mainstream media (one radio station actually reported that McMahon died, before later rescinding the story), but the storyline would be dropped following the Chris Benoit tragedy, and Vince McMahon would later return to television with the explanation that he faked his death to "test" his family.

The three-hour Raw, which was heavily advertised due to the draft, did a 3.8 rating with a 6.3 share, with hours of 3.0, 4.0 and 4.3.

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