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May 10th
On this day in history in ....
1946 - Buddy Rogers defeats Lou Thesz in Houston, Texas to win the NWA Texas Heavyweight Title for the fourth time, ending Thesz' reign only one week after he had won the belt from Rogers.
1968 - The Big O (Johnny Valentine under a mask) defeats Mr. Wrestling in Atlanta, Georgia to win the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Title.
1980 - Rick Steamboat & Jay Youngblood defeat Ray Stevens & Greg Valentine for the NWA World Tag Team Title in Greensboro, North Carolina, starting their second title reign.
1981 - Verne Gagne announced he was retiring as AWA World Heavyweight Champion. Verne vacated the title (it was his 9th or 10th reign, depending on what records you use), and it would later be awarded to number-one contender Nick Bockwinkel, who Gagne had defeated for the belt on July 18, 1980.
1985 - The very first WWF Saturday Night's Main Event was taped at the
Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. The matches would be shown the next
night on NBC in the spot usually occupied by Saturday Night Live, earning an 8.8
rating.
Here are the matches that aired on the show:
- Barry Windham, Mike Rotundo & Ricky Steamboat defeated The Iron Sheik,
Nikolai Volkoff & George "The Animal" Steele when Windham pinned
Steele. After the match, Sheik and Volkoff turned on Steele, leading to a
face turn for the "Animal" who was befriended by Captain Lou Albano.
- WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Cowboy Bob Orton via DQ
when Roddy Piper interfered.
- WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter defeated The Fabulous Moolah with a small
package.
- Junkyard Dog defeated Pete Dougherty with a powerslam.
- Also on the show was an edition of Piper's Pit where Roddy Piper blamed Paul
Orndorff for the Wrestlemania I loss, leading to Piper and Orton beating down
Orndorff and Mr. T making the save. They also filmed a "Mother's Day
Party" backstage, hosted by Cyndi Lauper in one of her last WWF
appearances.
The following matches were not shown on the special:
- Moondog Spot defeated Steve Lombardi.
- Jose Luis Rivera defeated Charlie Fulton.
- Big John Studd defeated Tony Garea.
- Les Thornton defeated Rick McGraw.
- Salvatore Bellono defeated Johnny Rodz.
1997 - ECW ran at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, the first event held in ECW's home base following the Barely Legal
Pay-per-view. Here are the results of the event, nicknamed "Chapter
2":
- Shane Douglas & Bam Bam Bigelow defeated The Pitbulls when Douglas pushed
back into a pinning position as Pitbull I was applying a full nelson.
During the match, Rick Rude came out and carried Francine to the back.
- Axl Rotten defeated Chris Chetti.
- The FBI (Little Guido & Tracy Smothers) defeated Spike Dudley & Balls
Mahoney (subbing for an injured Mikey Whipwreck).
- ECW World Tag Team Champions The Eliminators defeated PG-13 with Total
Elimination.
- Tommy Dreamer defeated Louie Spicolli with a DDT. After the match,
Spicolli attacked Dreamer and gave Beulah a Death Valley Driver.
- Big Dick & D-Von Dudley defeated The Gangstas. Bubba Ray Dudley, his foot
in a cast, helped the Dudleys win.
- Taz & Chris Candido defeated Sabu & Rob Van Dam when Candido pinned
Van Dam with a German suplex after Sabu accidentally hit him with a chair.
- ECW World Champion Terry Funk defeated Raven, The Sandman, and Stevie Richards
in a Four Way Dance.
1999 - Debra defeated Sable for the WWF Women's Title in a very unusual manner. Nicole Bass subbed for Sable in an evening gown match in Orlando, Florida, and easily ripped off Debra's gown to get the victory. However, then-WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels came to the ring and said that, in his opinion, the winner of the evening gown match should be the woman who loses her clothing first, so he gave the win, and the title, to Debra.
2001 - Vince McMahon officially announces the end of the XFL. Although Vince had been telling potential advertisers that he was speaking with the WB about airing XFL, and that UPN was in the running to carry games, it was obvious he had been posturing. Variety reported that a WB spokesman said, "The WB is not interested in getting the rights to the XFL and neither are any of our affiliates." McMahon, even with his posturing, admitted that if they didn't get a weekly timeslot for the league to replace NBC (which had pulled out at the conclusion of the first season), they would have to shut it down, and it came to pass. Here's the press release marking the biggest financial failure ever for Vince McMahon:
Thursday May 10, 6:12 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. WWF Entertainment and NBC to Discontinue XFL
STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 2001--World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:WWF) in conjunction with its joint venture partner, NBC, today announced that it will discontinue its professional football league, the XFL.
The decision was made after determining that the additional investment required to further develop the XFL was not commensurate with the potential return and the risk inherent in pursuing the venture.
``While we believe that it is an extraordinary accomplishment to have created a new professional football league in what amounts to less than a year's time, we feel that it is in the best interests of our shareholders and our partners to discontinue the XFL,'' said Vince McMahon, WWFE Chairman. ``I would personally like to thank the employees of the XFL and WWFE, the XFL fans, our partner NBC and especially Dick Ebersol and his team for their perseverance, support and enthusiasm that did not waiver throughout the season. We are all proud of the creative innovations that we introduced in the production of the game as well as in the rule changes that were implemented to increase the excitement and enjoyment of the game and provide a fan-friendly brand of football.''
Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Sports and Olympics, commented, ``Launching a new football league in such a short period of time was a daunting and exciting challenge, but we gave it our best shot in what clearly is a difficult and challenging sports marketplace. I especially want to salute our partners at the WWF, the fans, players and coaches who created a fun and entertaining XFL in-stadium experience.''
WWFE will report the operations and related costs of discontinuance of the XFL as discontinued operations in its fourth quarter results for the period ended April 30, 2001. The company anticipates that its share of the after-tax cash losses will be approximately $35 million.
2004 - During an edition of Raw from San Jose, California, Eugene made his in-ring WWE TV debut, defeating Rob Conway with a rollup. The story of the match was that William Regal tripped Eugene during the match, following orders from Eric Bischoff that his nephew was to lose so he would stop bothering them about wrestling. However, Eugene won anyway, and thanked Regal for his help during the match.
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