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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: ROB VAN DAM'S ECW TELEVISION TITLE REIGN COMES TO AN END

March 4th

On this day in history in ....

1943 - Jules Larance wins the Midwest Wrestling Association World Junior Heavyweight Title for the seventh time, defeating Billy Thom in Columbus, Ohio, ending his second reign.

1949 - Gorgeous George defeats Walter Palmer to win the Illinois version of the World Heavyweight Title in Chicago, Illinois, ending Palmer's third reign.

1954 - Emil and Ernie Dusek defeat Al and Tiny Mills for the NWA Canadian Open Tag Team Title in Toronto, Ontario, ending the Mills' third reign.

1957 - Danny McShain defeats Luis Martinez to win the NWA Texas Junior Heavyweight Title in Fort Worth, Texas.

1958 - Frenchy Champagne and George Eakin defeat John DePaulo and Bobby Jones for the Madison Wrestling Club Tag Team Title in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

1962 - Don Leo Jonathan defeats Killer Kowalski in a tournament final to become the first American Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Champion in Denver, Colorado.

1964 - Don Steadman defeats Ray Hunter to win the British Empire Heavyweight Title in London, England.

1970 - Bing Ki Lee and Pedro Morales defeat Johnny Barend and Ripper Collins for the NWA Hawaii Tag Team Title in Honolulu, Hawaii, ending Barend and Collins' third reign.

1971 - Bill Miller defeats Thunder Sugiyama to win the International Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Title in Kokura, Japan.

1974 - The WWWF held an event at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The results:
- Donna Christianello a The Fabulous Moolah defeated Dardi Dahl and Peggy Patterson.
- Mr. Fuji defeated Johnny Rodz.
- Prof. Tanaka defeated Jose Gonzalez.
- Chief Jay Strongbow defeated Lou Albano by disqualification.
- WWWF World Tag Team Champions Tony Garea and Dean Ho defeated Larry Hennig and Stan Stasiak.
- Pedro Morales defeated Otto Von Heller.
- After 53 minutes in the ring, WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino and Nikolai Volkoff fought to MSG's 11pm curfew draw. Sammartino retained the title.

1975 - Ken Lucas wins the NWA Gulf Coast Heavyweight Title for the seventh time, defeating Duke Myers in Mobile, Alabama.

1977 - Daniel and Michel Martel defeat The Medics to win the WWC North American Tag Team Title in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

1977 - The Islanders (Afa and Sika) defeat Bobby and Ricky Fields for the NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Title in Dothan, Alabama.

1978 - Dominic DeNucci and Wilbur Snyder defeat The Valiant Brothers (Jimmy and Johnny) for the World Wrestling Association World Tag Team Title in Indianapolis, Indiana, ending the Valiants' third reign.

1984 - The WWF held an event at Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. The results were:
- René Goulet defeated Eddie Gilbert.
- B. Brian Blair defeated Steve Lombardi (subbing for Tiger Chung Lee)
- André the Giant and WWF Tag Team Champions Tony Atlas and Rocky Johnson defeated Sgt. Slaughter and The Wild Samoans (Afa and Sika) in a two-out-of-three falls match.
- Salvatore Bellomo defeated Tiger Chung Lee (subbing for Mr. Fuji).
- Roddy Piper and David Schultz defeated Tony Garea and Ivan Putski.
- WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana and Paul Orndorff fought to a no-contest.
- WWF Champion Hulk Hogan defeated The Iron Sheik by disqualification.

1984 - Wahoo McDaniel and Mark Youngblood defeat Don Kernodle and Bob Orton, Jr. to win the NWA World Tag Team Title in Charlotte, North Carolina.

1984 - The Sheepherders (Butch Miller and Luke Williams) defeat The Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn and Stan Lane) for the Southwest Championship Wrestling World Tag Team Title in San Antonio, Texas. They were the last champions, as the title was retired in September.

1985 - Austin Idol defeats Lord Humongous (Jeff Van Kemp) for the NWA Alabama Heavyweight Title, ending Humongous' second reign.

1986 - Tully Blanchard defeats Dusty Rhodes to win the NWA National Heavyweight Title in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

1986 - Gran Hamada wins his second UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Title in Querétaro, Mexico, defeating El Cobarde II.

1987 - The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers) defeat Brian Adias and Al Madril to win the WCWA World Tag Team Title in in Lubbock, Texas.

1988 - Perro Aguayo defeats Canek for the UWA World Heavyweight Title in Mexico City, Mexico, ending Canek's eighth reign.

1989 - The Batten Twins (Bart and Brad) defeat Dan Kroffat and Tama for the WWC World Tag Team Title in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, beginning their third reign. At the same event, TNT (Savio Vega) wins his third WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Title from Jason the Terrible, and Chris and Mark Youngblood win their third WWC Caribbean Tag Team Title from The Ninja Express (Kensuke Sasaki and Mr. Pogo).

1989 - Gary Young wins the World Class Texas Heavyweight Title by forfeit from Brickhouse Brown in San Antonio, Texas.

1989 - The Crush Gals (Lioness Asuka and Chigusa Nagayo) defeat The Calgary Typhoons (Mika Komatsu and Yumi Ogura) to win the WWWA World Tag Team Title in Tokyo, Japan, beginning their fourth reign. At the same show, Reibun Amada and Miori Kamiya defeat The Honey Wings (Kaoru Maeda and Mika Takahashi) for the AJW Tag Team Title.

1990 - Invader I defeats Harley Race for the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Title in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, to begin his fourth reign.

1991 - Tatsumi Fujinami defeats Big Van Vader to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Title in Hiroshima, Japan. This began Fujinami's fourth reign and ended Vader's third.

1991 - E.Z. Ryder defeats Pampero El Felipo (Scotty Lightfoot) for the West Four Wrestling Alliance Canadian Heavyweight Title in Winnipeg, Manitoba, beginning his second reign.

1992 - Akira Taue and Jumbo Tsuruta defeat Terry Gordy and Steve Williams for the AJPW Unified World Tag Team Title in Tokyo, Japan, ending Gordy and Williams' fourth reign.

1995 - Stan Hansen wins his fourth AJPW Triple Crown Title from Toshiaki Kawada in Tokyo, Japan.

1996 - Jerry Lawler defeats Mabel in a tournament final for the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee. The title was vacated on March 2 due to champion Jeff Jarrett being injured. This began Lawler's 22nd reign.

1998 - Shadow W*INGer and Shadow WX defeat Yoshihiro Tajiri and Ryuji Yamakawa to win the BJW Tag Team Title in Shimizu, Japan.

2000 - ECW held an event at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event featured Rob Van Dam's forfeiture of the ECW World Television Title, after holding the title for 23 months, due to a broken ankle. RVD's reign was the longest for any title in ECW history.  A tournament would be held to fill the vacancy, and began that night. The results were:
- The Impact Players (Justin Credible and Lance Storm) defeated Gedo and Jado.
- Little Guido defeated Kid Kash by submission.
- Danny Doring and Roadkill defeated The Pitbulls (#1 and #2).
- Rhino defeated Spike Dudley in an ECW World Television Title Tournament first round match. This match aired on the March 10 edition of ECW on TNN.
- Super Crazy defeated C.W. Anderson.
- Balls Mahoney, Chris Chetti and Nova defeated Da Baldies (Angel, DeVito and Vic Grimes).
- Raven and ECW World Heavyweight Champion Mike Awesome defeated ECW World Tag Team Champions Tommy Dreamer and Masato Tanaka to win the title. This match aired on the March 10 edition of ECW on TNN.
- The Sandman defeated Yoshihiro Tajiri.

2000 - Triple xXx (Drake Dawson and Curtis Thompson) defeat Team Extreme (Kit Carson and Khris Germany) for the NWA World Tag Team Title in Cornelia, Georgia, ending Team Extreme's second reign.

2000 - IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Champion 2 Tuff Tony defeats Mad Man Pondo and IWA Mid-South Hardcore Champion Delilah Starr in a three-way match in Charlestown, Indiana, to unify both titles. At the same show, Hy-Zya defeats Mike Sensation to win the IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Title, and then lost the title to The American Kickboxer, beginning his 10th reign.

2004 - Kid Thrilla and Kory Williams win their second NWA Mid-America Tag Team Title in Springfield, Tennessee, defeating Dante and Mephisto II.

2005 - Wataru Inoue and Koji Kanemoto defeat Gedo and Jado for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title in Tokyo, Japan, ending their third reign.

2005 - Karachi Vice (Tiger Raj Singh and Gama Singh, Jr.) defeat Duke Durrango and Karnage for the Stampede International Tag Team Title in Calgary, Alberta.

2006 - The Ultimate Fighting Championship held UFC 58: USA vs. Canada at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Every fight on the card featured American fighters against Canadian fighters. The results:
Dark bouts:
- Tom Murphy (USA) defeated Icho Larenas (Canada) by TKO at 1:59 of round three in a Heavyweight bout.
- Jason Lambert (USA) defeats Rob MacDonald (Canada) by submission (kimura) at 1:54 of round one in a Light Heavyweight bout.
- Sam Stout (Canada) defeated Spencer Fisher (USA) by split decision in a Lightweight bout.
Pay-per-view bouts:
- Mark Hominick (Canada) defeated Yves Edwards (USA) by submission (triangle armbar) at 1:52 of round two in a Lightweight bout.
- Nate Marquardt (USA) defeated Joe Doerksen (Canada) by unanimous decision in a Middleweight bout.
- Georges St. Pierre (Canada) defeated B.J. Penn (USA) by split decision to become #1 contender to Matt Hughes' UFC Welterweight Title.
- Mike Swick (USA) defeated Steve Vigneault by submission (guillotine choke) at 2:09 of round one in a Middleweight bout.
- UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin (USA) defeated David Loiseau by unanimous decision (50-42, 50-42, 50-43) to retain the title.
- The final "score" for the night was USA 5, Canada 3.

2006 - One Pro Wrestling held its first event, All Or Nothing: Night One, at the Doncaster Dome in Doncaster, England, featuring a tournament to crown the first 1PW World Heavyweight Champion. The results were:
- Abyss defeated Darren Burridge in a 1PW World Heavyweight Title Tournament first round match.
- Christopher Daniels defeated Jerry Lynn in a 1PW World Heavyweight Title Tournament first round match.
- Southern Comfort (Chris Hamrick & Tracy Smothers) defeated Colt Cabana & Spud, Jody Fleisch & Jonny Storm and The Rottweilers (Homicide & Rocky Romero) in a four-way match.
- Samoa Joe defeated Austin Aries in a 1PW World Heavyweight Title Tournament first round match.
- A.J. Styles defeated Sterling James Keenan in a 1PW World Heavyweight Title Tournament first round match.
- Abyss defeated Christopher Daniels in a 1PW World Heavyweight Title Tournament semifinal match.
- A.J. Styles defeated Samoa Joe in a 1PW World Heavyweight Title Tournament semifinal match.
- Christian Cage defeated Rhino.
- Abyss defeated A.J. Styles in the tournament final to become the first 1PW World Heavyweight Champion.

2006 - Toryumon Mexico held the 2006 Yamaha Cup, a four-team tournament, in Mexico City, Mexico. The results were:
Semifinals:
- Chuck Palumbo and Johnny Stamboli defeated Hiromi Horiguchi and Kazuchika Okada.
- Dos Caras, Jr. and Lizmark, Jr. defeated Arkangel and Okumura.
Finals:
- Chuck Palumbo and Johnny Stamboli defeated Dos Caras, Jr. and Lizmark, Jr. to win the tournament.

2006 - Chris Stevens defeats Damien Steele to win the Great Championship Wrestling Television Title in Columbus, Georgia. This began Stevens' second reign and ended Steele's second.

2006 - Joe Kane defeats Steve Anthony to win the NWA New South Cruiserweight Title in Greenville, Mississippi. At the same event, The Infamous K.I.D. defeats Bunchy Brown for the NWA New South X Division Title, after Erik Rowland gave up the belt due to injury.

2007 - Hirooki Goto defeats Shocker in a tournament final in Mexico City, Mexico for the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title, which was newly revived by CMLL.

2007 - Justin Bred and Danny Butler defeat Adam Abz and Phil Boyd to win the NWA Ireland Tag Team Title in Dublin, Ireland, ending their second reign.

2007 - Hawaiian Blood (Kaimana and Kaniela) defeat The Suicide Kings (Matt Farmer and Chris del Sol) to win the vacant Hawai'i Championship Wrestling Kekaulike Heritage Tag Team Title in North Hollywood, California.

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