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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: OWEN BECOMES 'KING OF HARTS', MONGO BECOMES A HORSEMAN AND MORE

June 16th

On this day in history in ....

1937 - Bronko Nagurski defeats Dean Detton in Minneapolis, Minnesota to become World Heavyweight Champion, as recognized by The Ring magazine.

1959 - Jim "The Ultimate Warrior" Hellwig, now known as simply (and legally) Warrior, is born in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

1959 - The Zebra Kid defeats The Golden Giant for the NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Title in Dallas, Texas.

1961 - Pepper Gomez and Dory Dixon defeat Duke Keomuka and Tony Martin to win the vacant Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Title in Houston, Texas. The title had been held up a week earlier after a match between the two teams. This began Gomez and Dixon's second reign.

1967 - Ron Etchison and Sonny Myers defeat Bob Geigel and Bob Brown for the Central States version of the NWA North American Tag Team Title in St. Joseph, Missouri, ending Geigel and Brown's second reign.

1967 - El Mongol defeats Buddy Fuller in Atlanta, Georgia to win the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Title for the third time, ending Fuller's third reign.

1969 - Tojo Yamamoto and Johnny Long defeats Johnny Walker and Sundown Kid for the Mid-America version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning their third reign.

1970 - Hiro Matsuda defeats Dale Lewis to begin his second reign as NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight Champion in Tampa, Florida.

1971 - Suni War Cloud and Steven Little Bear defeat Ripper Collins and Mad Dog Mayne to win the NWA Hawaii Tag Team Title in Honolulu, Hawaii.

1973 - J.B. Psycho defeats Johnny Powers in Buffalo, New York for the National Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Title, ending Powers' sixth reign.

1975 - Guy Mitchell and Ricky Hunter defeats Gene Kiniski and Dale Lewis for the Vancouver version of the NWA Canadian Tag Team Title in Vancouver, British Columbia.

1975 - Karl Von Steiger and Otto Von Heller defeat Tojo Yamamoto and Jimmy Golden to win the Mid-America version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee.

1977 - Great Kojika and Motoshi Okuma defeat Akihisa Takachiho and Samson Kutsuwada for the AJPW All Asia Tag Team Title in Tokyo, Japan, beginning their second reign.

1980 - The Assassins defeat Ole and Lars Anderson for the NWA Georgia Tag Team Title in Augusta, Georgia, ending Ole and Lars' second reign, which lasted only eight days.

1984 - Maso Ito defeats Austin Idol in Memphis, Tennessee to win the AWA International Heavyweight Title, ending Idol's fourth reign.

1984 - Terry Taylor defeats Krusher Khrushchev for the Mid-South Wrestling Television Title in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1986 - Dutch Mantel defeats Rip Rogers to win the NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning his 14th reign.

1986 - Buzz Sawyer defeats Chris Adams for the World Class Television Title in Fort Worth, Texas.

1992 - WCW holds the 19th Clash of the Champions at Charleston, South Carolina's McAllister Fieldhouse, with a 2.8 rating. The show featured all first-round and one second-round matches in the tournament to crown new NWA World Tag Team Champions. The title had been vacant since early 1991 when WCW began referring to the NWA title as the WCW title, during the reign of Doom (Butch Reed and Ron Simmons). The tournament was held to fill the vacancy. The results of the 19th Clash:
In first round matches:
- Ricky Steamboat and Nikita Koloff defeated Joe and Dean Malenko, when Koloff pinned Dean.
- Rick Rude and Steve Austin defeated Marcus Bagwell and Tom Zenk, when Rude pinned Bagwell.
- Terry Gordy and Steve Williams defeated Larry and Jeff O'Day, when Williams pinned Larry.
- Rick and Scott Steiner defeated Miguel Perez, Jr. and Ricky Santana by forfeit.
- Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes defeated Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton, when Rhodes pinned Eaton.
- The Fabulous Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes) defeated The Cowboys (El Texano and Silver King).
- Jushin Liger and Brian Pillman defeated Chris Benoit and Beef Wellington, when Liger pinned Wellington.
- Akira Nogami and Hiroshi Hase defeated The Headhunters (Arn Anderson and Bob Cook).
- In the first second round tournament match, Terry Gordy and Steve Williams defeated Rick and Scott Steiner, when Williams pinned Scott.

1993 - WCW holds the 23rd Clash of the Champions, at the Scope in Norfolk, Virginia, with a 2.6 rating. The results:
- Jim Niedhart pinned Shanghai Pierce in a dark match.
- Ron Simmons pinned Dick Slater.
- Steven Regal pinned Marcus Bagwell.
- Maxx Payne defeated Johnny B. Badd by forfeit.
- Barry Windham pinned 2 Cold Scorpio to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Title.
- Big Van Vader, Sid Vicious and Rick Rude defeated Dustin Rhodes, Sting and Davey Boy Smith, when Rude pinned Rhodes.
- The Horsemen (Ric Flair and Arn Anderson) defeated The Hollywood Blondes (Brian Pillman and Steve Austin) in two straight falls in a two-out-of-three falls match for the NWA and WCW World Tag Team Titles. However, the second fall win was by disqualification, so the Blondes retained the titles.

1993 - Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster), who had just lost the titles two days earlier in Columbus, Ohio, defeat The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott Steiner) in Rockford, Illinois for the WWF Tag Team Title, beginning their third reign.

1993 - Scott Putski defeats Dynamite Dixon in Laredo, Texas, to win the United States Wrestling Federation Texas Heavyweight Title.

1994 - The WWF holds the second-annual King of the Ring pay-per-view at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. The show earned a 0.85 buyrate. The results were:
- In a dark match, Sparky Plugg pinned Kwang.
- Razor Ramon pinned Bam Bam Bigelow in a King of the Ring tournament first-round match.
- Irwin R. Schyster pinned Mabel in a first round match.
- Owen Hart pinned Tatanka in a first round match.
- The 1-2-3 Kid pinned Jeff Jarrett in a first round match.
- WWF Intercontinental Champion Diesel defeated WWF World Champion Bret Hart by disqualification, when Jim Neidhart, who accompanied Hart to the ring, attacked Diesel.
- Razor Ramon pinned Irwin R. Schyster in a semifinals match.
- Owen Hart defeated The 1-2-3 Kid by submission with the Sharpshooter.
- The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu) defeated Crush and Yokozuna to retain the WWF Tag Team Title, when Fatu pinned Crush.
- Owen Hart pinned Razor Ramon, after outside interference from Jim Neidhart, to win the 1994 King of the Ring tournament. At his coronation, Owen dubbed himself the "King of Harts".
- Roddy Piper pinned Jerry Lawler.

1996 - WCW holds the 10th-annual Great American Bash in Baltimore, Maryland. The show scored a 0.48 buyrate. The results:
In matches airing on WCW Main Event:
- Rocco Rock pinned Jerry Sags.
- Michael Wallstreet pinned Jim Powers.
- Jim Duggan pinned Disco Inferno.
In pay-per-view matches:
- The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) defeated Fire and Ice (Scott Norton and Ice Train), when Scott pinned Norton after a Frankensteiner.
- Konnan pinned El Gato (Pat Tanaka), after a Flapjack Spinebuster into a Jackknife Pin, to retain the WCW United States Heavyweight Title.
- Diamond Dallas Page pinned Marcus Bagwell after a Diamond Cutter.
- Dean Malenko pinned Rey Misterio, Jr., after a Powerbomb and using the ropes, to retain the WCW Cruiserweight Title.
- John Tenta pinned Big Bubba Rogers after a Powerslam. After the match, Tenta shaved Rogers' goatee off.
- Chris Benoit defeated Kevin Sullivan in a Falls Count Anywhere match. After the match, Arn Anderson came to the ring and helped Benoit attack Sullivan.
- Sting defeated Lord Steven Regal by submission with a Scorpion Deathlock.
- Ric Flair and Arn Anderson defeated Kevin Greene and Steve McMichael, when Flair pinned Greene after McMichael turned on Greene and hit him with a steel briefcase. After the match, Chris Benoit came out and helped attack Greene. McMichael became the fourth in the new Four Horsemen along with Flair, Anderson and Benoit.
- The Giant pinned Lex Luger after a Chokeslam to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Title.

2000 - Nueva Generación (Ricky Banderas and Apolo) defeat champions Club WWF (Andy Anderson and Steve Bradley), The Starr Corporation (Chicky Starr and Victor The Bodyguard) and Sexy and Sensual (Shan Hill and Andres Borges) in a four-way match for the IWA World Tag Team Title in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico. This began Nueva Generación's second reign.

2000 - Eric Love and Luscious Lucas defeat Dennis Gregory and Frankie Corleone in Monessen, Pennsylvania to win the Championship Wrestling Federation Tag Team Title.

2001 - Ian Rotten defeats Hardcore Craig for the Mid-American Wrestling Heavyweight Title in Big Bend, Wisconsin, beginning Rotten's fifth reign and ending Craig's second.

2001 - Joey Abs defeats Steve Bradley in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match to win his second Memphis Championship Wrestling Southern Heavyweight Title.

2001 - Pat McGroin defeats Mike Shane to win the Independent Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Title in St. Petersburg, Florida.

2001 - Flex Fenom defeats Chuckie Manson in Hagerstown, Maryland for the National Wrestling League Cruiserweight Title, beginning his second reign.

2002 - Mr. Niebla, Black Warrior and Atlantis defeat Blue Panther, Dr. Wagner, Jr. and Fuerza Guerrera to win the CMLL World Trios Title in Mexico City, Mexico.

2002 - American Dragon defeats Super Dragon to win the All Pro Wrestling Internet Title in Hayward, California.

2002 - Shu last eliminates Takashi Tachibana in an 11-man battle royal to win his second Osaka Pro Wrestling Battle Royal Title in Osaka, Japan.

2005 - El Veneno defeats Black Dragon to win the IWRG Intercontinental Middleweight Title in Naucalpan, Mexico, beginning his second reign and ending Dragon's second.

2006 - The fourth-annual Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup tournament kicks off in Sanford, Florida. The results:
In first round tournament matches:
- Ruckus defeated T.J. Mack.
- Canadian Cougar defeated Jake Manningin.
- PWG World Champion Joey Ryan defeated El Generico.
- Rod Steel defeated Davey Richards.
- AWA World Light Heavyweight Champion Kirby Mack defeated T.J. Wilson.
- Delirious defeated The Human Tornado.
- Tom Carter defeated Chasyn Rance.
- Milano Collection A.T. defeated Arik Cannon.
In non-tournament matches:
- Jerrelle Clark defeated Dagon and Ryan Drago in a three-way match.
- Frankie Ciatso defeated Erick Stevens.
- Billy Kidman defeated Naphtali.
- Christopher Daniels defeated Roderick Strong.

Thanks to Ryan Martinez for his help with the above.

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