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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JERICHO SIGNS WITH WWF, BASH TOUR KICKS OFF AND MORE

July 1st

On this day in history in ....

1949 - Cavernario Galindo defeats Tarzan Lopez for the Mexico National Light Heavyweight Title in Mexico City, Mexico, ending Lopez's second reign.

1950 - Leo Wallick defeats Bob Cummings to win the Pacific Coast Wrestling Junior Heavyweight Title.

1958 - Fritz Von Erich and Hans Hermann defeat Doc and Mike Gallagher in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the Minneapolis version of the NWA World Tag Team Title, ending the Gallaghers' second reign.

1961 - Steve Stanlee defeats Frankie Talaber to win the Ohio Heavyweight Title in Reynoldsburg, Ohio.

1962 - Rikidozan and Toyonobori defeat Mike Sharpe and Buddy Austin to win the JWA All Asia Tag Team Title in Osaka, Japan, beginning their third reign.

1963 - Arthur Riccaldo defeats Norman Walsh, when Walsh was injured during their match, to win the European Heavyweight Title in Beaumont, England.

1966 - Michiaki Yoshimura and Giant Baba defeat Killer Karl Kox and Eddie Graham in Hiroshima, Japan, for the JWA All Asia Tag Team Title.

1966 - Mark Lewin and Dominic DeNucci defeat Larry Hennig and Harley Race to win the International Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title in Sydney, Australia.

1966 - Rene Guajardo defeats Jerry London to win the NWA World Middleweight Title in Monterrey, Mexico, beginning his fourth reign.

1967 - Tamaya Soto and Great Yamaha (Kantaro Hoshino) defeat Billy and Jimmy Hines for the Mid-America version of the NWA World Tag Team Title in Chattanooga, Tennessee, ending the Hines' second reign.

1968 - Abdullah the Butcher and Armand Hussein defeat Don Leo Jonathan and Haystacks Calhoun to win the Vancouver version of the NWA Canadian Tag Team Title in Vancouver, British Columbia.

1970 - Billy Robinson and Johnny Barend defeat Pedro Morales and Bing Ki Lee for the NWA Hawaii Tag Team Title in Honolulu, Hawaii.

1970 - The Mysterious Medic defeats Bob Kelly to win the NWA Gulf Coast Heavyweight Title in Mobile, Alabama.

1970 - Bull Ramos defeats Terry Funk for the NWA Western States Heavyweight Title in Lubbock, Texas.

1971 - Patty O'Hara and Texas Red defeat Jumbo Miyamoto and Aiko Kyo for the WWWA World Tag Team Title in Tokyo, Japan. Miyamoto and Kyo had been awarded the title as first champions on the previous day, but they gave the title up, following dissatisfaction with a match against O'Hara and Red.

1971 - Sputnik Monroe defeats Len Rossi to win the NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Title.

1971 - Bobby Duncum defeats Bob Roop for the NWA Florida Brass Knuckles Title in Jacksonville, Florida.

1972 - Len Rossi and Bearcat Brown defeat Don and Al Greene for the NWA Mid-America Tag Team Title in Chattanooga, Tennessee. At that same event, Sputnik Monroe and Tommy Gilbert defeat Ron and Don Wright to win the NWA Tennessee Tag Team Title, ending the Wrights' fourth reign.

1972 - Sarah Lee defeas Aiko Kyo to win the WWWA World Singles Title in Tokyo, Japan, ending Kyo's third reign.

1977 - Texas Red (Red Bastien) defeats Mando Guerrero for the NWA Americas Heavyweight Title in Los Angeles, California.

1978 - Invader I defeats Dick Steinborn to win the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Title in Caguas, Puerto Rico, beginning his third reign. The title had been held up after a match between the two one week earlier in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

1978 - El Nazi defeat Raul Mata for the Mexico National Heavyweight Title in Monterrey, Mexico.

1980 - Mr. Hito and Mr. Sakurada defeat Kevin and Kerry Von Erich to win the vacant World Class American Tag Team Title in Amarillo, Texas, beginning their third reign. The title had been held up after a match between the two teams one week earlier in Amarillo.

1984 - Ron Garvin defeats Jake Roberts for the NWA World Television Title in Atlanta, Georgia, beginning his second reign and ending Roberts' second. At the same show, The Spoiler defeats Brad Armstrong to win his second NWA National Heavyweight Title, ending Armstrong's second reign.

1984 - Killer Brooks defeats Bobby Jaggers to win the Southwest Championship Wrestling Southwest Heavyweight Title in San Antonio, Texas, beginning his second reign.

1986 - The Great American Bash tour kicked off in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at Veterans Stadium, with Dusty Rhodes & Road Warrior Animal defeated Ole & Arn Anderson in a cage match in the main event.  Ric Flair successfully defended the NWA World Heavyweight Title against Road Warrior Hawk. Flair would defend the title at every Bash show that summer, losing to Dusty Rhodes at the next to last Bash event.

1988 - Kevin and Kerry Von Erich defeat Iceman Parsons and Terry Taylor for the World Class Tag Team Title in Dallas, Texas, beginning their third reign.

1989 - Joe Malenko wins his second AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title, defeating Mitsuo Momota in Omiya, Japan.

1991 - NWA and WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair signs a contract with the World Wrestling Federation and is fired by World Championship Wrestling. As a result, the WCW title is stripped from Flair. The NWA title would also be stripped two months later, when Flair debuted on WWF television with the NWA title belt.

1994 - George "Crybaby" Cannon dies of cancer at age 62.

1994 - Chris Adams defeats Rod Price in Dallas, Texas to win the GWF North American Heavyweight Title, beginning his second reign and ending Price's third.

1995 - ECW holds "Hardcore Heaven" at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The results:
- The Dudley Boyz (Buh-Buh Ray and D-Von) defeated The Pitbulls.
- Dino Sendoff and Don E. Allen and Chad Austin and Broad Street Bully fought to a no contest.
- Hack Meyers pinned Big Malley.
- 2 Cold Scorpio pinned Taz.
- Raven and Stevie Richards defeated Tommy Dreamer and Luna Vachon, when Richards pinned Vachon, to retain the ECW World Tag Team Title.
- Axl Rotten pinned Ian Rotten in a Taipei Death match.
- The Sandman pinned Cactus Jack to retain the ECW World Heavyweight Title.
- The Public Enemy (Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge) defeated The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustapha Saed), when Rock pinned New Jack.

1996 - WCW Monday Nitro wins the Monday Night War for this week, defeating WWF Monday Night RAW, 3.3 to 2.6, in the ratings. Nitro, which aired live from Landover, Maryland, featured an eight-man tag team main event, with The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Chris Benoit and Steve McMichael) defeating The Rock 'n Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson), The Renegade and Joe Gomez. RAW, taped one week earlier in Green Bay, Wisconsin, featured WWF World Champion Shawn Michaels defeating his former partner Marty Jannetty. Nitro also featured a post-broadcast dark match officiated by Bruno Sammartino. Randy Savage defeated Ric Flair in that match.

1996 - Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee defeat Flex Kavana (The Rock) and Bart Sawyer to win the USWA Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning their second reign.

1997 - Big E. Sleeze defeats Slickyboy for the House of Pain Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Title in Hagerstown, Maryland.

1998 - Jebediah Blackhawk and Cousin Otter defeat Dave the Rave and Juan Hurtado for the NWA Ohio Valley Southern Tag Team Title in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

1999 - Chris Jericho signs a a multi-year deal with WWF, turning down a lucrative offer to stay with WCW.  Jericho's existing WCW contract would keep him from being able to appear on WWF television for another month, prompting WWF to do an angle where they were "Counting Down To The New Millennium" with the ending date being the night of Jericho's debut.

2000 - The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) defeat Rudy Boy Gonzalez and Bonecrusher to win the Texas Wrestling Alliance Tag Team Title in San Antonio, Texas.

2000 - The W*INGer defeats Trent Acid at a Big Japan Pro Wrestling event in Tokyo, Japan, to win the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Title.

2000 - Team Hardcore (Hardkore Kidd and Justin Sane) defeat The Ballard Brothers (Shane and Shannon Ballard) to win their second UPW Tag Team Title in Huntington Beach, California, ending The Ballards' third reign.

2000 - Rollin' Hard wins his third IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Title, defeating Ian Rotten in Charlestown, Indiana, ending his seventh reign.

2000 - The Outlaws (Ricky James and Bobby Lee) defeat The Canadian Imperial Alliance (Chris Vanity and Tommy Wonder) to win the NWA Michigan Tag Team Title for the third time, in Cass City, Michigan. At the same event, NWA Michigan Junior Heavyweight Champion Amazing N8 Mattson defeats Tri-State Championship Wrestling Junior Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez to unify the titles.

2001 - Magnum Tokyo defeats Masaaki Mochizuki for the Michinoku Pro British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Title in Kobe, Japan at Toryumon's third-anniversary event.

2002 - Former WCW World champion Big Van Vader (Leon White) is arrested in Boulder, Colorado on a number of charges, the most serious of which was DUI. According to a report in the Daily Camera newspaper, police officers responded to a call regarding a sports utility vehicle that had crashed into a bush. Vader, who suffered a cut in the crash, left the scene of the accident and returned to his home a block away, according to witnesses. When contacted by the police, Vader said he crashed on his way home after looking for bullfrogs and catfish in a local pond. Vader was "severely intoxicated" according to the officers, and when they questioned his level of inebriation, became upset and challenged the officers to a fight, including threatening several police dogs. The police eventually calmed him and placed him under arrest. Vader was charged with a number of offenses, including "suspicion of spitting and threatening officers with rocks, resisting arrest, drinking and driving, careless driving and leaving the scene of an accident," according to the Daily Camera report.

2003 - At a SmackDown! taping in Rochester, New York, Team Angle (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas) defeat Eddie Guerrero and Tajiri to win the WWE Tag Team Title, beginning Team Angle's second reign.

2004 - Shane Matthews defeats Guido Barzinnii for the NWA Mid-America X Division Title in Springfield, Tennessee, beginning his second reign.

2004 - Sanshiro Takagi and Ryuji Ito defeat Takashi Sasaki and Gentaro to win the DDT KO-D Tag Team Title in Tokyo, Japan, ending Sasaka and Gentaro's second reign. At the same event, Kenshin defeats Danshoku Dino to win the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Title, ending Dino's 10th reign.

2005 - Atlantis and La Mascara defeat Dr. Wagner, Jr. and Misterioso II in the finals of CMLL's annual Torneo Gran Alternativa in Mexico City, Mexico.

2005 - Kerry Brown and Adrian Walls defeat J.T. Thorn and Squiggy McGoo (subbing for C.K. Sexx) for the NWA Canadian Wrestling Federation Tag Team Title.

2006 - Superstar Romeo defeats Brent Dail for the WWC World Junior Heavyweight Title in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, beginning Romeo's second reign and ending Dail's seventh.

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