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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: ECW VS. WWE, SABLE SUES THE WWF, DREAMER FINALLY BEATS RAVEN AND MORE

June 7th

On this day in history in ....

1924 - Ed "The Sheik" Farhat, WWE Hall of Famer, uncle of ECW and WWE alumnus Sabu, and trainer of Rob Van Dam, is born in Lansing, Michigan.

1956 - Dizzy Davs and Sonny Myers defeat Art Nelson and Rip Rogers in Amarillo, Texas for the NWA Southwest Tag Team Title, ending Nelson and Rogers' second reign.

1957 - Ring announcer Howard Finkel is born in Newark, New Jersey.

1960 - Rikidozan and Toyonobori defeat Dan Miller and Frank Valois to win the JWA All Asia Tag Team Title in Osaka, Japan.

1962 - Dory Funk, Sr. wins his 10th NWA North American Heavyweight Title (Amarillo version), defeating Fritz Von Erich in Amarillo, Texas.

1962 - Joe Lanza defeats Taro Sakuro for the NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Title in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

1965 - Three-time WWF/E World Champion Mick Foley is born in Bloomington, Indiana.

1966 - Edouard Carpentier defeats Hans Schmidt in Quebec City, Quebec to win the International Wrestling Association International Heavyweight Title, beginning Carpentier's third reign and also ending Schmidt's third.

1969 - Jose Lothario defeats Johnny Valentine to win the WCCW Texas Heavyweight Title in San Antonio, Texas, ending Valentine's third reign.

1969 - Ray Stevens defeats King Curtis Iaukea for the San Francisco version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Title in San Francisco, California. This began Stevens' eighth reign and ending Iaukea's second.

1972 - Gorgeous George, Jr. defeats Bob Kelly to win the NWA Gulf Coast Heavyweight Title in Mobile, Alabama, ending Kelly's seventh reign.

1976 - Rip Tyler and Eddie Sullivan defeat The Great Kusatsu and Mighty Inoue to win the International Wrestling Enterprise (International Wrestling Alliance) World Tag Team Title in Fukuyama, Japan, ending Kusatsu and Inoue's second reign.

1978 - Paul Jones defeats Baron Von Raschke in Raleigh, North Carolina for the NWA Television Title, beginning his third reign and ending Von Raschke's second.

1979 - Antonio Inoki pinned Stan Hansen in the finals of the second New Japan MSG League.

1980 - Ed Wiskoski defeats George Wells for the San Francisco version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Title in San Francisco, California.

1981 - Terry Taylor defeats Les Thornton for the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title in Roanoke, Virginia, ending Thornton's second reign.

1981 - Bob Sweetan defeats Buzz Tyler to win his fourth NWA Central States Heavyweight Title.

1982 - Sgt. Slaughter defeats Wahoo McDaniel to win the NWA United States Heavyweight Title in Greenville, South Carolina, beginning his second reign and ending McDaniel's second, because an injured McDaniel was unable to compete.  Wahoo would win it back two months later. 

1983 - Marty Jones defeats Dave Finlay in Croydon, England for his second World Mid-Heavyweight Title.

1984 - The Medics defeat Invader III and Toru Tanaka for the vacant WWC North American Tag Team Title in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, beginning their third reign. The title had been vacated when Gran Apolo, who held the title with King Tonga, retired on April 9.

1987 - Mike Rotunda defeats Dory Funk, Jr. to win the held up NWA Florida Heavyweight Title in Orlando, Florida, beginning his third reign. The title had been held up a week earlier in Daytona after a match between the two.

1990 - El Hijo del Santo defeats Fuerza Guerrera for the World Wrestling Association World Welterweight Title in Tokyo, Japan, ending Guerrera's second reign.

1991 - Tom Prichard defeats Bill Dundee to win the WCWA Texas Heavyweight Title in Dallas, Texas, ending Dundee's third reign.

1993 - Bobby Blaze defeats Tony Anthony for the vacant SMW Television Title in Cumberland, Kentucky.

1994 - Tracy Smothers defeats Kendo the Samurai to win the SMW Television Title in Loudon, Tennessee, beginning his third reign.

1996 - Hiromichi Fuyuki, Gedo and Jado win their fifth WAR World Six-Man Tag Team Title in Sapporo, Japan, defeating Youji Anjoh, Yoshihiro Takayama and Kenichi Yamamoto.

1997 - ECW held their "Wrestlepalooza" card at the ECW Arena in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Here are the results: 
- ECW World Television Champion Shane Douglas defeated Chris Chetti when Chetti missed a moonsault and landed on his feet, but was caught in a Douglas belly-to-belly suplex.
- The Pitbulls defeated The FBI (Little Guido & Tracey Smothers, with Tommy Rich) when Pitbull #2 pinned Guido with a Superbomb. 
- The Dudleys (D-Von & Bubba Ray) defeated The Sandman & Balls Mahoney when The Dudleys gave Balls 3D into a chair.  As a result, the Dudleys earned a tag team title match with the Eliminators later that night. 
- ECW World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk defeated Chris Candido with the Oklahoma Roll.  Candido was a substitute for Stevie Richards, who had legitimately injured his neck and was unable to wrestle. 
- Tommy Dreamer defeated Raven with a DDT into a road sign, ending the storyline that Dreamer could never beat Raven (although there was a ECW house show two years earlier where Dreamer won, it was quickly forgotten as the storyline hadn't really begun at that point).  This would be the last ECW match for Raven until 1999, as he was heading to WCW.  After the match, the lights went out and Rob Van Dam appeared, and attacked Dreamer.  The lights went out a second time, and Sabu appeared, joining in on the attack on Dreamer. Dreamer managed a double DDT on Sabu & RVD, when the lights went out a third time.  This time, Jerry "The King" Lawler appeared.  Most of the ECW locker room came out to fight Lawler, RVD and Sabu, but all were beaten away, until Taz came out.  Lawler and RVD left without confronting Taz, and Sabu had his scheduled match with Taz. 
- Sabu defeated Taz in their "Barely Legal" rematch.  Taz had the Tazzmission applied to Sabu, but Sabu flipped over Taz into a pinning position on the mat, getting the win. 
- After the previous match, Taz and Shane Douglas got into a verbal confrontation (Douglas had been watching all of the events unfold from the stage since the Dreamer-Raven match).   The confrontation resulted in a challenge where if Taz did not defeat Shane Douglas in three minutes, he would leave ECW for sixty days. 
- Taz defeated Shane Douglas with the Tazmission to win the ECW Television Title with ten seconds remaining in the three minute time limit. 
- ECW World Tag Team Champions The Eliminators defeated The Dudleys.  Perry Saturn had a legitimate broken leg, and his leg was in a full cast, so John Kronus wrestled most of the match alone, with Saturn (cast and all) hitting a top rope elbowdrop on D-Von for the pin.

1998 - Perro Aguayo, Sr. and Perro Aguayo, Jr. defeat Fuerza Guerrera and Mosco de la Merced for the Mexico National Tag Team Title in Chihuahua, Mexico.

1999 - Sable (Rena Mero) filed a $110 million lawsuit against the WWF claiming sexual harassment.  Her claim was that WWF tried to intimidate her into performing "obscene" acts, including having her breasts exposed on television and taking part in a lesbian storyline.  She also sought rights to the "Sable" name.  She ultimately settled with WWF out of court, and did not get the rights to her name.  She returned to the company in April of 2003.

2003 - WWE holds the fourth, and ultimately final, Insurrextion pay-per-view event at Telewest Arena in Newcastle, England. Insurrextion 2003 would also be the final United Kingdom-exclusive pay-per-view event. The results were:
In dark matches:
- Maven pinned Christian Eckstein after a Missile Dropkick.
- The Hurricane pinned Lance Storm after a Shining Wizard.
In pay-per-view matches:
- Jazz pinned Trish Stratus to retain the WWE Women's Title, when Theodore Long rammed Trish shoulder-first into the ring post while the referee was distracted by Victoria.
- Christian pinned Booker T to retain the WWE Intercontinental Title, after reversing a roll-up and using the ropes for leverage.
- Rob Van Dam and Kane defeated La Resistance (Sylvain Grenier and Rene Dupree), when Van Dam pinned Grenier after a Five-Star Frog Splash, to retain the World Tag Team Title.
- The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray, D-Von, and Spike) defeated Rodney Mack, Christopher Nowinski and Theodore Long when Spike pinned Long after Mack accidentally clotheslined him.
- Scott Steiner pinned Test after a Steiner Flatliner. Val Venis was the guest referee.
- Triple H pinned Kevin Nash, after hitting him with a sledgehammer, to retain the World Heavyweight Title.

2003 - Rocky Reynolds defeats Brother Love to win the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title in Parkersburg, West Virginia, beginning his fourth reign.

2003 - In Cayey, Puerto Rico, Chris Candido defeats Fidel Sierra to win the WWC Television Title. Dominican Boy defeats Eddie Colon for the WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Title, and Broncos II and III win their second WWC World Tag Team Title, ending the ninth reign of Thunder and Lightning.

2005 - During an edition of Smackdown taped in Kansas City, Missouri, it was announced that Chris Benoit was the first wrestler to be drafted to Smackdown from Raw in the 2005 Draft.  It was also announced that since WWE Champion John Cena had been drafted to Raw, that Smackdown no longer had a champion, and a decision would be made regarding that at the end of the month when all draft picks had finished (Smackdown would end up with World Champion Batista as their last pick).  Also on the show, Kurt Angle attacked Tazz when Tazz refused to join Angle's anti-ECW team.  Later in the night, during a match between Chris Benoit and JBL, Angle attacked Benoit, bringing out Paul Heyman, The Dudleys, Tommy Dreamer, Rhyno, Sandman, Balls Mahoney, Axl Rotten and Tazz to face off with Angle, JBL, Orlando Jordan, the Bashams, Carlito and Matt Morgan, with the ECW contingent clearing the ring.

2005 - Drew McDonald defeats Robbie Brookside for the British Heavyweight Title in Croydon, England, beginning his second reign and ending Brookside's third.

2005 - Deuce Shade defeats Ken Doane in a tournament final in Louisville, Kentucky to win the vacant OVW Television Title.

2005 - Rob Matrix defeats Tack in Cincinnati, Ohio to win the HWA Television Title, ending Tack's third reign.

2006 - John Tenta, better known as Earthquake in the WWF, dies at age 42 after a long battle with bladder cancer.

2006 - WWE vs. ECW Head to Head, a special Wednesday night event, used to hype the upcoming One Night Stand pay-per-view and the impending debut of ECW as WWE's third brand six days later on June 13, was held at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. The results:
In dark matches:
- Intercontinental Champion Shelton Benjamin pinned Carlito in a match where Benjamin stipulated before the match if he could not defeated Carlito in 15 minutes, he would lose the title. Benjamin won by pinfall with six seconds remaining.
- Matt Hardy pinned Jon Bolen.
- Jimmy Yang, in his non-televised debut in his cowboy gimmick which would become Jimmy Wang Yang, pinned Tatanka.
In televised matches:
- Rob Van Dam pinned World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio in non-title match after Mysterio missed a springboard legdrop and fell onto a steel chair, RVD then hit the Five-Star Frog Splash for the win.
- Women's Champion Mickie James pinned Jazz in a non-title match with a Tornado DDT.
- A 20-man WWE vs. ECW battle royal was held, featuring 10 men representing RAW and SmackDown! squaring off against 10 representing ECW. The WWE team was comprised of, from RAW: Big Show, Randy Orton, Intercontinental Champion Shelton Benjamin, Carlito and Edge. From SmackDown!: Mark Henry, Tatanka, Matt Hardy, Finlay and United States Champion Bobby Lashley. The ECW team was formed by Kurt Angle, Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer, The Sandman, Little Guido, Tony Mamaluke, Balls Mahoney, Justin Credible, Al Snow and Stevie Richards. Prior to the match, backstage, Big Show stated that "ECW has no idea what it's gonna get." Truer words were never spoken, as Show, after Randy Orton eliminated Kurt Angle to seemingly give Team WWE the victory, tore off his RAW t-shirt, revealing an ECW shirt underneath, Orton, in shock, was chokeslammed and thrown over by Show, ECW won, and got a whole lot "bigger".
- Edge pinned Tommy Dreamer after a spear as Dreamer attempted to powerbomb an interfering Lita, while Foley and Terry Funk battled outside the ring.
- WWE Champion John Cena defeated Sabu via disqualification in an Extreme Rules match (DQ in Extreme Rules, which should have told us where the ECW brand would be heading when the Big Show interfered and attacked the champion as Sabu was caught in the STFU. Following the match, the locker room cleared and everyone was engaged in an old-fashioned "Pier 6 brawl" as the show went off the air.

Thanks to Ryan Martinez for his help with the above.

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