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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: THE UNDERTAKER DEBUTS, THE FINAL WCW WORLD WAR III, RIKIDOZAN BEGINS EIGHT-YEAR TITLE REIGN AND MORE

November 22nd

On this day in history in ....

1922 - Billy Meeske defeats Joe Bailey in a tournament final to win the vacant Australian Heavyweight Title in Melbourne, Australia. The title had been vacant since 1915 when champion Clarence Weber retired.

1950 - Baron Michele Leone defeats Enrique Torres in Los Angeles, California to become recognized World Heavyweight Champion in Los Angeles and the Pacific Northwest, ending Torres' second and first respective reigns.

1954 - Lord James Blears & Joe Pazanadak defeat Gene Kiniski and John Tolos for the NWA International Television Tag Team Title in Los Angeles, California.

1955 - Rikidozan defeats King Kong in a tournament final to become the first All Asia Heavyweight Champion in Tokyo, Japan. He would hold the title until his death on December 8, 1963.

1960 - George Eakin wins the Madison Wrestling Club Heavyweight Title from Bob Brown in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, ending Brown's second reign and beginning his third.

1961 - Lord James Blears & Neff Maivia win their second NWA Hawaii Tag Team Title by defeating Shoulders Newman and Ted Travis, ending their second reign, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

1962 - The Fabulous Kangaroos(Al Costello & Roy Heffernan) defeat Tony Baillargeon & Maurice Lapoine for the Florida version of the NWA World Tag TEam Title in Jacksonville, Florida.

1963 - Billy Hines defeats Mickey Sharpe to win the NWA Gulf Coast Heavyweight Title in Mobile, Alabama.

1968 - The Assassins (Tom Renesto & Jody Hamilton) defeat Ramon & Alberto Torres for the NWA Georgia Tag Team Title in Atlanta, Georgia, ending the Torres' third reign.

1968 - Rocket & Flash Monroe defeat Don Carson & Dick Dunn to win the NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Title in Dothan, Alabama.

1969 - Joe Scarpa (Chief Jay Strongbow) defeats Assassin #2 (Tom Renesto) in a tournament final in Atlanta, Georgia to become the first NWA Georgia Television Champion.

1972 - Bob Kelly begins his 10th reign as NWA Gulf Coast Heavyweight Champion, ending the fifth reign of The Wrestling Pro in Mobile, Alabama.

1972 - Rocket & Flash Monroe defeat Rip Tyler & Eddie Sullivan to win the Gulf Coast version of the NWA United States Tag Team Title in Mobile, Alabama, ending Tyler and Sullivan's third reign.

1974 - Pampero Firpo defeats John Tolos for the NWA Americas Heavyweight Title in Los Angeles, California. This began Firpo's third reign and ended Tolos' seventh.

1976 - "Superstar" Billy Graham defeats Dusty Rhodes for the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title in West Palm Beach, Florida, ending Rhodes' third reign.

1978 - Mando Guerrero defeats Larry Sharpe for the NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Title in Honolulu, Hawaii.

1979 - Tojo Yamamoto, Bobby Eaton & Secret Weapon defeat George Gulas, Ken Lucas & Joey Rossi for the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Title in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

1979 - The Avenger defeats The Turk to win the NWA Central States Heavyweight Title in Kansas City, Kansas.

1980 - Judy Martin defeats Princess Little Heart for the NWA United States Women's Title in Atlanta, Georgia.

1982 - Kevin Sullivan defeats Dusty Rhodes for the Florida version of the NWA Southern Heavyweight Title in West Palm Beach, Florida, ending Rhodes' seventh reign.

1984 - Jimmy Golden defeats Austin Idol for the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Title in Birmingham, Alabama, beginning his sixth reign.

1984 - Invaders I & III win the vacant WWC Tag Team Title by defeating Super Medico I & Black Gordman in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. The titles had been vacated on October 8 when Super Medico III lost his mask.

1987 - The Midnight Rockers (Marty Janetty & Shawn Michaels) defeat The Rock 'n' Roll RPMs (Mike Davis & Tommy Lane) to win their second AWA Southern Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee, ending The RPMs fifth reign.

1989 - Big Van Vader defeats Canek for the Universal Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title in Mexico City, Mexico, ending Canek's ninth reign.

1989 - Jim Breaks defeats Kid McCoy in Ipswich, England to win the European Lightweight Title, his 15th.

1990 - The WWF held the fourth annual Survivor Series pay-per-view at the Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut. The event saw the debut of The Undertaker, as well as the infamous debut of the Gobbledygooker, played by Hector Guerrero. The results were:
- The Ulitmate Warriors (The Ultimate Warrior, The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal), and The Texas Tornado) defeated The Perfect Team (Mr. Perfect and Demolition (Ax, Smash, and Crush)). The Ultimate Warrior was the sole survivor.
- The Million Dollar Team (Ted DiBiase, The Undertaker, The Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine) (w/Virgil and Brother Love) defeated The Dream Team (Dusty Rhodes, Koko B. Ware and The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart)). Ted DiBiase was the sole survivor. This was the debut of the Undertaker, using the name "Kane The Undertaker". In the weeks leading up to the show, he was teased as being a "mystery partner" of the Million Dollar Team.
- The Visionaries (Rick Martel, The Warlord, Power and Glory (Hercules and Paul Roma)) defeated The Vipers (Jake Roberts, Jimmy Snuka and The Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty)). The entire Visionaries team survived.
- The Hulkamaniacs (Hulk Hogan, Jim Duggan, The Big Boss Man and Tugboat) defeated The Natural Disasters (Earthquake, Haku, Dino Bravo and The Barbarian). Hulk Hogan was the sole survivor.
- The Alliance (Nikolai Volkoff, Tito Santana and The Bushwackers (Luke Williams and Butch Miller) defeated The Mercenaries (Sgt. Slaughter, Boris Zhukov and The Orient Express (Sato and Tanaka)). Tito Santana was the sole survivor.
- Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior and Tito Santana defeated Ted DiBiase, Rick Martel, Warlord, Hercules and Paul Roma. This was a match featuring the survivors from the preceding matches. Hogan and Warrior survived.

1991 - Los Infernales (Pirata Morgan, Satanico & MS 1) defeat Los Brazos (El Brazo, Brazo de Plata & Brazo de Oro) in a tournament final to become the first CMLL World Trios Champions in Mexico City, Mexico.

1991 - John Tatum & Rod Price defeat Steve Simpson in a handicap match to win the Global Wrestling Federation Tag Team Title in Dallas, Texas.

1992 - Ultimo Dragon defeats El Samurai for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title in Tokyo, Japan. On the same card, Scott Norton & Tony Halme (later known as Ludvig Borga in the WWF) defeat The Steiner Brothers to win the the IWGP World Tag Team Title.

1992 - A.J. Freeley defeats Bruno Bekkar for the New Zealand Heavyweight Title, ending Bekkar's third reign.

1992 - Jeff Jarrett won a Battle Royal for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee, pinning Jerry Lawler to win the belt for the first time in his career. The belt had been vacated by Randy Savage when WWF broke off their working relationship with the USWA.

1993 - Buddy Landell defeated Jeff Jarrett for the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee, ending Jarrett's tenth reign with the belt.

1995 - Tex Slazenger defeats Brian Christopher for the vacant USWA Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee. The title had been held up nine days earlier due to outside interference in a match between the two. Christopher had previously been champion, his 19th reign.

1997 - Quinn Magnum defeats T. Rantula for the NWA Pro Wrestling eXpress Heavyweight Title in North Versailles, Pennsylvania. On the same show, Bubba the Bulldog wins the NWA PWX Television Title by forfeit from Vince Kaplack and The Wrong Crowd (Brian Anthony & Paul Atlas) defeat Gator & Colonel Payne for the NWA PWX Tag Team Title.

1997 - Robert Thompson and Chris Cole defeat Vic and Dic Grimes for the All Pro Wrestling Tag Team Title in Hayward, California.

1998 - WCW's fourth, and final, World War 3 Pay-per-view (it would be replaced by Mayhem the following year) was held at The Palace, Auburn Hills, Michigan. Here are the results:
- Wrath defeated Glacier with the Meltdown.
- Stevie Ray defeated Konnan via DQ when Konnan hit the referee. Following the match, Konnan beat on Stevie Ray until Booker T made the save. Afterwards, Stevie Ray (a member of NWO Black & White) walked away from Booker T, wanting nothing to do with him.
- Ernest Miller & Sonny Onno defeated Perry Saturn & Kaz Hayashi when Onno pinned Saturn after Miller kicked Saturn in the head.
- Billy Kidman defeated Juventud Guerrera to win the WCW Cruiserweight Title when Rey Mysterio blocked Guerrera from doing a top rope rana, and Kidman hit a Shooting Star Press for the win. After the match, Eddie Guerrero and the Latino World Order confronted Mysterio about joining them, and Mysterio threw an LWO shirt at them and ran off.
- Scott Steiner vs. Rick Steiner is a no-contest, as the NWO Black & White beat up Rick, and Bill Goldberg makes the save.
- Scott Hall vs. Kevin Nash is a no-contest. Before the match, Eric Bischoff has the NWO Black & White turn on Hall, beating him up. Kevin Nash ran in and cleared house, but refused to shake hands with Hall, and walked off.
- WCW Television Champion Chris Jericho defeated Bobby Duncum, Jr. with a belt shot to the head after Ralphus hooked Duncum's leg while attempting a suplex, distracting Duncum and the referee.
- Kevin Nash won the three ring, 60-man, World War 3 Battle Royal, as a result he earned a WCW World Title match with Bill Goldberg at Starrcade. The finish of the match saw Lex Luger put Scott Hall in a Torture Rack, and Nash knock both men over the top rope to the floor to win. Here is the order of elimination for the entire battle royal: Norman Smiley, Super Calo, Lodi, Lizmark, Scott Putski, Tokyo Magnum, Lenny Lane, Johnny Swinger, Kenny Kaos, Silver King, El Dandy, Mike Enos, Van Hammer, Psychosis, Chris Kanyon, Kaz Hayashi, The Disciple, Horace Hogan, Juventud Guerrera, Rey Mysterio Jr., Perry Saturn, Ernest Miller, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Alex Wright, Eddie Guerrero, Disco Inferno, Billy Kidman, Stevie Ray, Scott Norton, Steve McMichael, Wrath, Scott Steiner, Booker T, Konnan, The Giant, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Scott Hall, Lex Luger.
- WCW United States Champion Diamond Dallas Page defeated Bret Hart with a Diamond Cutter. Earlier in the match, an NWO referee (not recognized by WCW) had given Bret the win via submission with the sharpshooter in a thinly veiled reference to the Montreal Screwjob when the original referee was knocked out.

1999 - The Monday Night Wars waged on, with WCW Monday Nitro scoring a 3.4 rating on a show from Auburn Hills, Michigan which featured Creative Control (Patrick & Gerald [The Harris Brothers]) defeating The Filthy Animals (Konnan and Billy Kidman) to win the WCW World Tag Team Title. WWF RAW is WAR posted a 5.5 rating with a show from Syracuse, New York, featuring WWF Champion Big Show defeating Kane and Triple H facing The Acolytes in a no holds barred handicap match.

1999 - Villano III defeats Atlantis to win the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Title in Tampico, Mexico, ending Atlantis' second reign.

2002 - United States Extreme Wrestling saw title changes galore in Queens, New York. Sabu defeats Bam Bam Bigelow for the Heavyweight Title. Sabu also defeated The Sandman for the USXW United States Heavyweight Title prior to winning the Heavyweight Title. Upon Sabu's Heavyweight Title win, the title was vacated, and The Amazing Red defeats Quiet Storm, Deranged and Grim Reefer for the title. Homicide also defeats Xavier for the USXW Xtreme Heavyweight Title and defeats Amazing Red for the U.S. Title, and Wayne and The Trekkie defeat The Boogie Knights for the USXW Tag Team Title.

2002 - Al Katrazz defeats Primetime Peterson for the World Class Wrestling Alliance Heavyweight Title in Lemon Grove, California.

2003 - Raven defeats Justin Credible for the 3PW Heavyweight Title in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

2003 - Steve Madison defeats Scoot Andrews to win the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title in St. Petersburg, Florida.

2003 - Vinnie Viagra & Billy Maverick defeat The Redneck Express (Chris Vega & The Rebel) for the NWA Bluegrass Tag Team Title in Salyersville, Kentucky.

2003 - Parental Advisory (Joey Grunge & Kid USA) defeat The S.A.T. (Jose and Joel Maximo) to win the NWA Midwest Tag Team Title in Topeka, Kansas. Also on the same show, Griz wins a gauntlet match, last eliminating Mark Sterling to win the vacant NWA Kansas Heavyweight Title.

2003 - Brandon Young defeats Shawn Donovan for the Independent Wrestling Federation American Title in West Paterson, New Jersey.

2005 - Pomp & Circumstance (Ace Rockwell & Shaun Tempers) defeat Tank & Iceberg to win the NWA Georgia Tag Team Title in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, beginning their second reign and ending Tank and Iceberg's second reign.

Thanks to Ryan Martinez for his help with the above.

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