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December 5th
On this day in history in ....
1977 - Bill Dundee & Norvell Austin defeat Dennis Condrey & Phil Hickerson in Memphis, Tennessee to win the AWA Southern Tag Team Title. On the same show, Jerry Lawler defeats Jimmy Valiant for the AWA Southern Heavyweight Title, starting his third of an eventual 33 runs with the belt.
2004 - TNA held their "Turning Point" Pay-per-view in Orlando, Florida, featuring Randy Savage's final match and an incredible spot by Elix Skipper, who walked along the top of a steel cage like a tight rope before giving James Storm a rana off of it during the final match of the evening. Here are the results of the show:
- Eric Young & Bobby Roode defeated BG James & Ron Killings to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship.
- Hector Garza, Sonny Siaki, & Sonjay Dutt defeated Michael Shane, Frankie Kazarian, & Kid Kash when Garza pinned Kazarian.
- Monty Brown defeated Abyss in a "Serengeti survival" match when Abyss was slammed into thumbtacks.
- Johnny B. Badd & Pat Kenney defeated Glenn Gilberti & Johnny Swinger when Badd pinned Gilberti. Jacquelyn Moore was the special referee.
- Diamond Dallas Page defeated Raven.
- NWA X-Division Champion Petey Williams defeated Chris Sabin.
- Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles & Randy Savage defeated Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, & Jeff Jarrett when Savage pinned Jarrett.
- Chris Harris & James Storm defeated Elix Skipper & Christopher Daniels in a steel cage match when Storm pinned Daniels.
2006 - During an investors conference call, Linda McMahon explained the decision to stop ECW house shows, stating that WWE felt ECW running smaller venues for live events, while a "unique experience" for fans, was not going to help them in building the brand, and that is why they decided to cancel the ECW events and instead pair up ECW and Smackdown, with the idea that ECW will have their own shows again down the road in larger venues. Obviously, years have passed, and ECW does not have their own house shows.
An investor asked why WWE isn't running the three brands as separate companies, each with their own budget and management. The caller noted that he sees no difference in the three brands, and the crossovers make it seem like one large product, not three distinct brands. Linda said that they originally split the brands to create separate touring groups. She said that WWE having separate brands has resulted in them creating more stars and has also resulted in licensing growth. Linda said (and boy, was this one a stretch) that WWE has created distinct brands, and that the crossovers enable them to have more interesting storylines and create a greater sense of competition between the brands. She didn't acknowledge the part of the question that brought up the idea of the brands being run independently of each other.
2009 - TNA announced they would be going head-to-head with WWE on January 4, 2010 with a live three-hour Impact special going against WWE Raw. TNA would later move Impact to Monday nights on Spike TV for several weeks, before being moved back to Thursdays. TNA issued the following announcement:
HULKAMANIA IS COMING BACK TO MONDAY NIGHT ON “TNA iMPACT!” LIVE JANUARY 4 ON SPIKE TV
Hulk Hogan’s First Live Appearance On Spike TV’s “TNA iMPACT” Will Be In A Special 3-Hour Live Episode Monday, January 4 At 8:00 PM ET/PT
The biggest name in professional wrestling history, Hulk Hogan, will make his first live appearance on Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling’s “TNA iMPACT!” in a live 3-hour special on Spike TV Monday, January 4, 2010 at 8:00PM ET/PT. Hogan and TNA President Dixie Carter attended “The Ultimate Fighter Heavyweights” Finale in Las Vegas where Hogan made the announcement in an interview with Joe Rogan.
“TNA iMPACT!” will be going against “WWE Monday Raw” on USA Network, the first time two wrestling companies have broadcast live head-to-head since the “Monday Night Wars” in the late 1990’s between WWE and WCW. This “iMPACT!” special will broadcast live from the TNA iMPACT! Zone at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fl.
Hogan’s first appearance inside the six-sided ring of TNA Wrestling will follow weeks of speculation after Hogan and Carter announced their partnership on October 27 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Hogan has hinted in various media interviews that he’ll have multiple surprises in store for TNA Wrestling fans.
“I knew when I signed with TNA, that it would be important to make a statement with the first episode. Going head-to-head on January 4th, makes the statement loud and clear: Game on!” Hogan said.
“TNA is kicking off 2010 in the biggest way possible with the biggest name in the history of our sport. Hulk Hogan is a pop culture icon, and his arrival will change not only TNA, but the entire professional wrestling landscape. We’re firing that first shot,” Carter said.
Joining Hogan for the three-hour live “iMPACT!” will be TNA World Heavyweight Champion “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles, Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle, Mick Foley, Kevin Nash, “The Samoan Submission Machine” Samoa Joe, “The Boss” Bobby Lashley and “The Blueprint” Matt Morgan.
“TNA iMPACT!” will resume its normal timeslot on Thursday, January 7th at 9:00 PM ET/PT with an encore viewing of the live “iMPACT!” special.
2010 - King Curtis Iaukea passed away at his home at the age of 73. During his long career, Iaukea worked for a number of different territories, including the WWWF, Australia, the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, San Francisco, All Star Pro Wrestling in Britain and Championship Wrestling from Florida. A tall, girthy man with a loud bellowing voice, he made a tremendous heel and held titles in just about every promotion he worked for, including for IWA World titles in Australia, the WWWF Tag Team belts with Baron Mikel Scicluna, the Florida Heavyweight championship and more. Iaukea also appeared in a Three Stooges film as a villain, pre-dating just about every wrestler who ever made a crossover to film by years. Iaukeas' final appearances on a national basis were as Kamala's original WWF manager "The Wizard" before slowly being phased out in favor of Mr. Fuji. He later made appearances in WCW vignettes for the Dungeon of Doom group that feuded with Hulk Hogan in the mid-1990s. Iaukea had been ill for some time, according to his son, Rocky Iaukea.
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