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December 1st
On this day in history in ....
1906 - Fred Beel defeats Frank Gotch in New Orleans, Louisiana to win the American Heavyweight Title, two falls to one. The match is considered a huge upset at the time, as Gotch was considered a far superior wrestler (and a much bigger attraction) than Beel.
1938 - In Columbus, Ohio, Mildred Burke wins her third World Women's
Title, defeating Betty Nichols.
1941 - Billy Varga defeats Wild Red Berry in Hollywood, California to win
the World Light Heavyweight Title, ending Berry's third reign.
1949 - Tom Marshall defeats Dave Levin to win the Jack Pfieffer-promoted
World Heavyweight Title in Toledo, Ohio, ending Levin's fourth reign.
1952 - Gory Guerrero & Cyclone Ayala win a tournament for the NWA Texas Tag Team Title in Fort Worth, Texas.
1958 - Pepper Gomez & Rito Romero defeat The Fabulous Kangaroos
(Al Costello & Roy Heffernan) for the Texas version of the NWA World Tag
Team Title in Fort Worth, Texas.
1960 - Herb Freeman & Nick Kozak win their second NWA Pacific
Northwest Tag Team Title, ending the second reign of Tony Borne and Shag Thomas.
1961 - Fritz Von Erich defeats Dick the Bruiser in Detroit, Michigan to
win the Chicago/Detroit version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Title,
ending his fourth reign.
1961 - Billy White Wolf defeat Nikoli Volkoff for the NWA Pacific
Northwest Heavyweight Title.
1961 - The Assassins defeat Don McIntyre & Ray Gunkel for the Georgia
version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Title in Atlanta, Georgia.
1961 - Magnificent Maurice defeats Leon Graham to win the Ohio
Heavyweight Title in Columbus, Ohio.
1961 - Jack Dalton (Donnie Fargo) defeats Pepe Gonzales for the NWA Texas
Heavyweight Title in Houston, Texas.
1965 - Ken Lucas wins his third NWA Gulf Coast Heavyweight Title,
defeating Danny McShain in Mobile, Alabama.
1970 - Dusty Rhodes defeats Jose Lothario in Tampa, Florida to win the
NWA Florida Brass Knuckles Title, ending Lothario's third reign.
1971 - Donnie Fargo defeats The Wrestling Pro in Mobile, Alabama to win
the NWA Gulf Coast Heavyweight Title, ending The Pro's third reign and beginning
Fargo's second.
1972 - Victor Rivera defeats Ernie Ladd in Los Angeles, California to win
the NWA Americas Heavyweight Title.
1972 - Bobo Brazil defeats Kintaro Oki for the vacant NWA International Heavyweight Title in Yokohama, Japan, starting his second reign as champion. The belt had been vacated on September 2nd, when champion Giant Baba left the Japan Wrestling Association to start his own company, All Japan Pro Wrestling. Ironically, the International belt is now part of All Japan's Triple Crown championship.
1973 - Stan Stasiak defeats Pedro Morales in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to win the WWWF World Heavyweight Title, although many fans didn't realize they had seen a title change. Morales had given Stasiak a back suplex, and both men appeared to have their shoulders on the mat as the referee counted three. The ring announcer never announced Stasiak as the new champion, and instead said "Let's hear it for a great champion, Pedro Morales", supposedly because of fear of a riot from the crowd. The title change was revealed that weekend on television. Stasiak would hold the title for nine days, losing it to Bruno Sammartino in New York City.
1977 - Mike George & Scott Casey defeat Crusher Blackwell &
Buck Robley in Kansas City, Kansas for the Central States version of the NWA
World Tag Team Title.
1978 - George Gulas, Bobby Eaton & Arvil Hutto win a tournament for
the vacant NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Title in Huntsville, Alabama.
1978 - Ken Lucas & Kevin Sullivan defeat Dennis Condrey & Phil
Hickerson to win the NWA Southeastern Tag Team Title in Knoxville, Tennessee,
ending Condrey and Hickerson's third reign.
1978 - Big Daddy Ritter (better known as the Junkyard Dog) defeats Alo Leilani in Calgary, Alberta, Canada to win the Stampede North American Heavyweight Title.
1979 - Sterling Golden (Hulk Hogan) defeat Dick Slater to win the NWA
Southeastern Heavyweight Title in Knoxville, Tennessee, ending Slater's third
reign.
1983 - Terry Taylor defeats Buddy Landel for the NWA Mid-America
Heavyweight Title in Lexington, Kentucky, ending Landel's second reign.
1983 - Bobby Fulton defeats Roger Kirby to win the NWA Central States
Television Title in Kansas City, Kansas, ending Kirby's second reign.
1984 - Sonny Myers defeats Al Tomko for the Vancouver version of the NWA
Canadian Heavyweight Title, ending Tomko's fourth reign.
1986 - Al Madril & Brian Adidas defeat Lance Von Erich & The Dingo (Ultimate) Warrior in Fort Worth, Texas for the World Class Championship Wrestling World Tag Team Title. On the same show, Tony Atlas defeats Crusher Yurkof (Bam Bam Bigelow) to win the World Class Television Title. Atlas won the match via DQ, but in World Class, titles could change hands on a disqualification. Atlas would be the last television champion, as the title would be abandoned in 1987 when Atlas left the company.
1989 - Robert Fuller & Brian Lee defeat Jeff Jarrett & Matt Borne in a tournament final to win the USWA World Tag Team Title in Dallas, Texas. The belts had been vacated when Borne had lost a loser leaves town match in September, and he and Jarrett could not defend the belts. However, Borne was back in the company in time to compete in the tournament.
1992 - In Tokyo, Japan, Dynamite Kansai defeats Cutie Suzuki in a tournament final to become the first JWP Project Openweight Champion.
1993 - Bret Hart defeats Shawn Michaels in a steel cage match in Utica, New York when Hart escapes over the top of the cage as Michaels was caught upside down with his legs hooked in the bars of the cage. The match was featured on the Bret Hitman Hart home video release, now out of print.
1995 - El Samurai defeats Sabu to win the UWA World Junior Light-Heavyweight Title in Niigata, Japan.
1995 - Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling sees three titles change
hands in Reading, Pennsylvania. Akita Kaos defeats Crash the Terminator to win
the PCW Heavyweight Title, Chris Candido defeats Ray Odyssey to win the PCW
Americas Heavyweight Title, and Reckless Youth defeats Ubas for the PCW
Commonwealth Title.
1995 - Negro Casas defeats El Hijo del Santo in a tournament final in
Mexico City, Mexico to win the vacant NWA World Welterweight Title. The title
had been vacant since May when champion Misterioso left CMLL.
1995 - Beau James and Dan Cooley defeat Frank Parker and Roger Anderson
in Fall Branch, Tennessee to win the Southern States Wrestling Tag Team Title.
1996 - Jimmy Cicero defeats Boo Bradley to win the Mid-Eastern
Wrestling Federation Mid-Atlantic Title.
1997 - The Monday Night Wars continued, WWF RAW is WAR posted a 3.0
rating, while WCW Monday Nitro won the night with a 3.8 rating. The respective
main events were: Triple H defeating Jim Neidhart and Diamond Dallas Page
defeating WCW United States Champion Curt Hennig by disqualification.
1998 - During a Raw taping in New Haven, Connecticut, Steve Austin & Mankind defeated The Rock & The Undertaker via disqualification when Ken Shamrock & Big Bossman interfered. After the match, Mankind was handcuffed to the ring ropes, while Austin was tied to a giant replica of the Undertaker's "UT" symbol and raised above the entrance ramp, crucifix style.
1999 - Mr. Gannosuke & H (Hayabusa) defeat Tetsuhiro Kuroda &
Hisakatsu Oya for the World Entertainment Wrestling Tag Team Title in Osaka,
Japan.
2000 - The American Dragon (Bryan Danielson) and Spanky (Brian Kendrick)
defeat The Triad (Seven (Kevin Fertig) and Thrash) to win the Memphis
Championship Wrestling Southern Tag Team Title in Manila, Arkansas.
2000 - Hotstuff Hernandez defeats Al Jackson to win the NWA Texas
Heavyweight Title in North Richland Hills, Texas.
2000 - The Masked Maniac defeats Chris Michaels to win the United States
Extreme Wrestling United States Heavyweight Title.
2001 - Carly Colon defeats Ray Gonzalez for the WWC Universal Heavyweight
Title in Caguas, Puerto Rico, ending Gonzalez's 13th reign and beginning Colon's
Colon.
2001 - Chance Beckett defeats Dr. Luther to win the NWA Pacific Northwest
Heavyweight Title in Vancouver, Washington.
2001 - The Power Company (Dave & Dean Power) defeat The Holy Rollers
(Rich Myers & Earl the Pearl) for the NWA New Jersey Tag Team Title in
Rahway, New Jersey.
2003 - During an edition of Raw from Arco Arena in Sacramento,
California, Jerry Lawler defeated Jonathan Coachman in less than a minute with a
fistdrop. As a result, Coachman was fired from Raw as an announcer.
If Coach had won, he and Al Snow would have taken over the announcing on Raw.
Coach's exile from WWE didn't last long.
2004 - Chad Toland defeats Chris Cage in Louisville, Kentucky to win the
OVW Heavyweight Title.
2005 - In McDonough, Georgia, Mike Mizanin defeats Mike Knox in a
tournament final to become the first Deep South Wrestling Heavyweight Champion.
2006 - TNA sends a film crew, along with Vince Russo, Jeremy Borash and the Voodoo Kin Mafia (Kip & BG James) to a WWE house show in Knoxville, Tennessee at the Knoxville Civic Center. The crew films vignettes with VKM outside the arena that are later shown on TNA Impact. BG and Kip James would later enter the building during a Triple H-Randy Orton match and take seats in the upper level of the building (they did have tickets), prompting some scattered "TNA" chants. There was no acknowledgement by HHH, Orton or any other WWE performer that the TNA stars were in the building.
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