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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: VINCE MCMAHON BECOMES WORLD CHAMPION, RIC FLAIR RETURNS TO WCW AND MORE

September 14th On this day in history in .... 1970 - Bepo Mongol (aka Nikolai Volkoff) defeats WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino via countout at Madison Square Garden in New York City. They would have a rematch in October under Texas Death Match rules, with Bruno emerging victorious. 1974 - WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino defeats Killer Kowalski in a Stretcher Match in the Boston Garden in Massachusetts. 1985 - Junkyard Dog won a 21-man Battle Royal in Landover, Maryland that included the British Bulldogs, The Hart Foundation, Roddy Piper, Big John Studd, King Kong Bundy, Blackjack Mulligan, Bobby Heenan and others. 1996 - ECW ran at the ECW Arena in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with the following results: - ECW World Tag Team Champions The Gangstas defeated The FBI (JT Smith, Little Guido & Sal Bellomo), then JT Smith introduced "The Stamford Hillbillies" (Steve Richards, Blue Meanie, Super Nova & Miss Patricia, doing a Hillbilly Jim/Uncle Elmer gimmick), but the Gangstas beat them as well. - The Sandman defeated Devon Storm, with Bad Crew, with a DDT. - Axl Rotten defeated Bubba Ray Dudley after D-Von Dudley hit Bubba with a chair. During the post-match brawling, Big Dick Dudley brought out a large bag and opened it, pulling out Spike Dudley (in his ECW debut). Bubba would press slam Spike off the top balcony of the ECW Arena onto D-Von during the brawl. - D-Von Dudley defeated Hack Myers with a chairshot. Post-match, Axl & D-Von beat on Hack until Mikey Whipwreck made the save. - ECW World Television Champion Shane Douglas defeated Louie Spicolli with a belly-to-belly suplex. - ECW World Heavyweight Champion Raven defeated Pitbull #2 with a DDT in a match loaded with interference from Raven's Nest, Shane Douglas, Sandman, and the one and only appearance of a 350-pound trainee of JT Smith (who resembled the Headhunters) who came off the top rope and promptly broke his leg. He never appeared on a wrestling show again. - Sabu & Rob Van Dam vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat (Phil LaFon) went to a 30-minute draw. - Taz defeated Johnny Smith with the Tazmission. Post-match, Taz shook Smith's hand, saying he respected Smith. - The Eliminators & Brian Lee defeated Tommy Dreamer, Terry Gordy & Steve Williams when the Eliminators hit Terry Gordy with Total Elimination as he had Lee in the Asiatic Spike. 1997 - WCW held their Fall Brawl Pay-per-view in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Here are the results: - Eddie Guerrero defeated Chris Jericho to win the WCW Cruiserweight Title with a frog splash. - Rick & Scott Steiner defeated Harlem Heat when Rick pinned Stevie Ray after the Steiners gave him a lariat/German suplex combination. - WCW World Television Champion Alex Wright defeated Ultimo Dragon with a German suplex. - Jeff Jarrett defeated Dean Malenko via submission with a figure four leglock, earning a U.S. Title match with Steve McMichael at Halloween Havoc. - Wrath & Mortis defeated Meng & The Barbarian when Wrath pinned Meng after the Death Penalty. - The Giant defeated Scott Norton with a chokeslam. - Lex Luger & Diamond Dallas Page defeated Scott Hall & Randy Savage in a No Disqualification match when Luger pinned Hall with a rollup as substitute referee Larry Zbyszko made a fast count. - The NWO (Buff Bagwell, Kevin Nash, Syxx & Konnan) defeated The Four Horsemen (Chris Benoit, Steve McMichael, Ric Flair & Curt Hennig) in a WarGames match when Hennig (who pretended he was attacked by the NWO earlier, so he would enter the cage last for his team) turned on the Horsemen and joined the NWO. Benoit and McMichael were handcuffed to the cage, and the NWO slammed the cage door on Flair's head until McMichael submitted for his team to stop them from hurting Flair. 1998 - On a live edition of Nitro from Greenville, South Carolina, Billy Kidman defeats Juventud Guerrera for the WCW Cruiserweight Title. However, the real story that night was the return of Ric Flair to WCW. The previous Spring, Flair asked to miss a Thunder taping so he could watch his son compete in a wrestling tournament. WCW President Eric Bischoff refused to give him the night off, so Flair took it off anyway, and Bischoff suspended him. The real life situation was incorporated into a storyline, and led to what many feel is the most memorable moment in the history of Nitro. J.J. Dillon introduced Arn Anderson, and Anderson proceeded to "bring back" the Four Horsemen (Steve McMichael, Chris Benoit, and new member Dean Malenko). Anderson was concluding his promo, then said he "forgot" the Fourth Horseman, and introduced Ric Flair. Flair, clad in a tuxedo (as were all the Horsemen) came to the ring and delivered the following promo: Flair, practically in tears from the ovation, began by saying, "My God, thank you. Thank you very much. I'm almost embarrassed by the response, but when I see this, I know that the twenty five years that I've spent trying to make you happy every night of your life was worth every damn minute of it." Composing himself, Flair then stated, "Now, somebody told me that the Horsemen were having a party tonight in Greenville! Could that be true that the most elite group, that Eric Bischoff said was dead, is alive and well? Bischoff, this might be my only shot, and I've got to tell you, I'm going to make it my best." Still referring to Bischoff, Flair continued, "Is this what you call a great moment in TV? That's wrong, because this is REAL! This is not bought and paid for! It's a real life situation! Just like the night in Columbia, South Carolina (when Arn Anderson retired), when you looked at me, tears in my eyes, and said "God, that's good TV", it was real! Arn Anderson passed the torch, it was real, damn it! You think Sting was crying in the dressing room like I was on TV, if it wasn't real? This guy, my best friend, is one of the greatest performers who ever lived, and you, you squashed him, in one night. Then you get on the phone and tell me, 'disband the Horsemen, they're dead.' Disband the Horsemen, me? You know what, I looked at myself in the mirror the next day and I saw a pathetic figure that gave up and quit! And for that, I owe you, the wrestling fans, I owe these guys an apology. Because it won't happen again!" Eric Bischoff started walking down the aisle, saying "You're finished Flair!" Flair responded, "Bischoff, whatever you think...no, you're an overbearing ass****! That's right! You're obnoxious, you're an obnoxious, overbearing ass! Abuse of power! You! Abuse of power! Cut me off! Come on! It's called abuse of power! (Flair threw down his jacket) You suck! You, I hate your guts. I hate your guts. You are a liar, you're a cheat, you're a scam, you are a no good son of a (bitch, which was muted on the broadcast). Fire me? I'm already fired! Fire me! I'm already fired!" The show then went to commercial with the fans in a frenzy. 1999 - At a taping of Smackdown in Las Vegas, Nevada, Vince McMahon defeats Triple H for the WWF World Heavyweight Title with the help of Steve Austin, who hits the ring and gives Triple H a stunner, allowing a bloodied Vince McMahon to cover him for the pin. McMahon would vacate the title the following Monday on Raw. Also on the show, The Undertaker won a five-man Royal Rumble by outlasting The Rock, Big Show, Kane and Mankind. 2001 - Smackdown takes place live from the Compaq Center in Houston, Texas. The show was originally supposed to be taped on September 11th, but was postponed due to the terrorist attacks. It was the first live televised event to feature a large gathering of people in the U.S. following the attacks, and Vince McMahon addressed the crowd before the show began. The show did not air in many Northeast markets, due to continuing news coverage of events in New York City. In the main event of the show (which featured matches, but no storylines), Kurt Angle defeated Rhyno. 2003 - Shane Douglas defeats D'Lo Brown in Belleville, Michigan to win the Border City Wrestling Can-Am Title. 2004 - Smackdown was taped in Spokane, Washington, featuring John Cena defeating U.S. Champion Booker T to even up their Best Of Five series, 2-2.

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