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3/6 THIS DAY IN HISTORY: TWO HOODIES WIN THE GOLD, HERCULES HERNANDEZ, DON CURTIS AND BAD NEWS BROWN PASS AWAY, TAZ WINS FIRST ECW TV TITLE, CZW OVERDRIVER AND MUCH MORE

March 6th

On this day in history in ....

1939 - Jesse James defeats Danny McShain by disqualification in the third of three falls in Hollywood, California to become recognized as World Light Heavyweight Champion by the California State Athletic Commission, however the National Wrestling Association retained its recognition of McShain. This ended McShain's second reign in California.

1945 - Pierre Labelle defeats Frankie Talaber to win the Midwest Wrestling Association World Junior Heavyweight Title in Dayton, Ohio, ending Talaber's fourth reign.

1951 - Al Mills defeats Sky-Hi Lee in Edmonton, Alberta for the Calgary NWA Canadian Heavyweight Title, beginning his second reign.

1952 - Sonny Myers defeats Enrique Torres to win the NWA Heart of America Heavyweight Title in Kansas City, Kansas, beginning his second reign.

1953 - Bull Curry defeats Danny McShain to become the first NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Champion in Houston, Texas.

1959 - Angelo Savoldi defeats Ivan the Terrible for the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, beginning his third reign.

1961 - Guy and Joe Brunetti defeat The Outlaw (Dory Funk, Sr.) and Pancho Pico to win the Vancouver NWA Pacific Coast Tag Team Title in Vancouver, British Columbia.

1962 - Taro Sakuro and Yoshinosato are named the first Mid-America NWA United States Tag Team Champions.

1962 - Art and Stan Neilson defeat Johnny Barend and Magnificent Maurice for the American Wrestling Alliance Tag Team Title, beginning the Neilson's second reign.

1970 - Fred Blassie wins his third NWA Americas Heavyweight Title in Los Angeles, California, defeating Rocky Johnson.

1970 - Bobby and Jerry Christy defeat Bill Dromo and Gil Hayes to win the Stampede International Tag Team Title in Calgary, Alberta, beginning their third reign.

1971 - Jimmy Golden and Dennis Hall defeats Bobby Hart and Lorenzo Parente for the Mid-America NWA World Tag Team Title in Chattanooga, Tennessee, ending Hart and Parente's second reign.

1971 - Irma Asebedo and Masked Killer defeat Miyoko Hoshino and Jumbo Miyamoto to win the American Girls' Wrestling Association International Tag Team Title in Tokyo, Japan, ending Hoshino and Miyamoto's second reign.

1973 - Kintaro Ohki and Umanosuke Ueda defeat Killer Karl Krupp and Johnny Valentine for the NWA International Tag Team Title in Nagoya, Japan.

1974 - Santino Marella (real name Anthony Carelli) is born in Mississauga, Ontario.

1974 - Karl and Kurt Von Brauner defeat Rocky Johnson and Pat Patterson to win the San Francisco NWA World Tag Team Title in Sacramento, California, ending Johnson and Patterson's third reign.

1974 - Jumbo Miyamoto defeats Jane O'Brien to win the WWWA World Singles Title in Maehashi, Japan, to begin her second reign. The title was vacated days before when Bambi Ball was injured.

1974 - Eddie Sullivan defeats John Quinn for the Superstar Championship Wrestling Western States Heavyweight Title in Yakima, Washington.

1975 - Chris Colt defeats Bob Kelly for the NWA Mississippi Heavyweight Title in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, ending Kelly's 13th reign.

1976 - Mr. Kennedy (real name Ken Anderson) is born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

1979 - The Valiant Brothers (Jerry and Johnny) defeat Tony Garea and Larry Zbyszko to win the WWWF World Tag Team Title at a Championship Wrestling taping in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The match aired on March 24.

1986 - The Long Riders (Bill and Scott Irwin) defeat Alofa (Rikishi) and Dan Kroffat for the International Wrestling International Tag Team Title in Sudbury, Ontario. The title had been vacated in January when then-champions Jacques and Raymond Rougeau left for the WWF.

1987 - Mike Miller and Rip Oliver defeat Coco Samoa and Ricky Santana for the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Title in Portland, Oregon.

1988 - Kerry Von Erich defeats Al Perez to win the World Class Heavyweight Title in Dallas, Texas.

1990 - Terry Gordy and Steve Williams win their first of five AJPW Unified World Tag Team Titles from Stan Hansen and Genichiro Tenryu in Tokyo, Japan, ending their third reign.

1991 - Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki win their second IWGP World Tag Team Title in Nagasaki, Japan, by defeating Hiro Saito and Super Strong Machine.

1993 - Three Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation titles are decided in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Bob Starr defeats C.C. Danger to become the first MEWF Mid-Atlantic Champion, The Lightning Kid (Sean Waltman) defeats Jimmy Jannetty for the MEWF Light Heavyweight Title, and Ricki Lane and Quinn Nash defeat Ricky Blues and Nick Tarentino to win the MEWF Tag Team Title.

1993 - Chi Chi Cruz defeats Gene Swan for the West Four Wrestling Alliance Canadian Heavyweight Title in Winnipeg, Manitoba, beginning his second reign.

1994 - At a television taping at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, there were three title changes. The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock) defeated Kevin Sullivan and The Tazmaniac to win the ECW Tag Team Title, ending Sullivan and Tazmaniac's second reign. This would be the first of four reigns for The Public Enemy. The Tazmaniac defeated Sabu for the ECW Television Title, but lost it later in the event to J.T. Smith.

1994 - Danny Collins defeats Mal Sanders for the European Middleweight Title in Hove, England, ending Sanders' eighth reign.

1994 - Shu el Guerrero defeats Gran Hamada to win the UWF Super Middleweight Title in Hiratsuka, Japan, beginning his second reign.

1995 - The SMW Television Title changes hands twice at a television taping in Council, Virginia. Boo Bradley (Balls Mahoney) defeats Killer Kyle for the vacant title, then lost it to Kyle later.

1996 - WCW taped the March 9 episode of WCW Saturday Night in Macon, Georgia, with the following results:
- In a dark match, Chris Kanyon defeated Kid Flash.
- Lex Luger defeated WCW World Television Champion Johnny B. Badd (with Kimberly) to win the title after Diamond Dallas Page interfered. This began Luger's second reign and ended Badd's third and final reign. Badd would leave WCW and debut in the WWF a month later, and wrestle under his given name, Marc Mero. The win made Luger a double-champion as he was already one-half of the WCW World Tag Team Champions with Sting.
- The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk) defeated The Faces of Fear (The Barbarian and Meng).
- Alex Wright defeated Bobby Walker.
- The Blue Bloods (Earl Robert Eaton and Squire David Taylor (with Lord Steven Regal)) defeated Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock) by disqualification.
- Eddie Guerrero defeated Chris Benoit.
- Pat Tanaka defeated Disco Inferno.
- V.K. Wallstreet defeated Joey Maggs.
- Arn Anderson, WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair and Kevin Sullivan defeated The American Males (Mark Bagwell and Scott Riggs) and Sgt. Craig Pittman.

1997 - Kid Dynamo (Shannon Moore) defeats Will O' the Wisp (Jeff Hardy) to win the National Championship Wrestling Light Heavyweight Title in Asheville, North Carolina. NCW merged with NWA Georgia in 1998 to create NWA Wildside.

1997 - The American Kickboxer defeats Tarek the Great for the IWA Mid-South Lightweight Title in Louisville, Kentucky. This ended Tarek's fifth reign and began the Kickboxer's fifth.

1998 - Steve Corino wins his second Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation Light Heavyweight Title in Baltimore, Maryland, defeating Flexx Wheeler for the vacant title.

1999 - Vader defeats Akira Taue to win the AJPW Triple Crown Title in Tokyo, Japan. The title had been vacated by Toshiaki Kawada on January 29 after he suffered a broken arm during his January 22 title win over Mitsuharu Misawa.

1999 - Inferno Kid defeats Kevin Knight for the NWA New Jersey Junior Heavyweight Title in Ocean County, New Jersey.

2000 - The Monday Night War continued, and WWF RAW is WAR won the night over WCW Monday Nitro, 6.4 to 2.7 in the ratings.

The 233rd WCW Monday Nitro was live from the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The results:
- Kaz Hayashi defeated Psychosis (with Juventud Guerrera).
- Big Ron (with Heavy D) defeated Big Vito (with Disco Inferno and Johnny the Bull).
- David Flair (with Daffney) defeated The Wall by disqualification.
- The Dog (with Fit Finlay and Brian Knobbs) defeated Evan Karagias (with Shane Helms and Shannon Moore).
- Curt Hennig defeated Ric Flair.
- Norman Smiley defeated Lenny Lane (with Lodi).
- Stevie Ray (with J. Biggs) defeated Billy Kidman (with Torrie Wilson).
- Jeff Jarrett and The Wall defeated Vampiro and Sid Vicious.

The 354th edition of WWF RAW is WAR was also live, at the Civic Center in Springfield, Massachussetts. The results were:
Jakked:
- The Godfather defeated Mideon.
- Tazz and Test vs. Prince Albert and The Big Bossman ended in a double countout.
- WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Essa Rios (with Lita) defeated D'Lo Brown.
- Funaki defeated Thrasher (with Mosh).
RAW is WAR:
- Big Show (with Shane McMahon) defeated Kane (with Paul Bearer) by disqualification after The Rock interfered.
- Mark Henry (with Mae Young) defeated WWF Tag Team Champion D-Von Dudley (with WWF Tag Team Champion Bubba Ray Dudley). After the match, Mae was superbombed through a table.
- Road Dogg and X-Pac (with Tori) defeated Too Cool (Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty) by disqualification.
- Chris Jericho defeated WWF European and Intercontinental Champion Kurt Angle by disqualification after Bob Backlund interfered. Angle retained his Intercontinental Title.
- Rikishi defeated WWF Champion Triple H (with Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) by disqualification.
- Steve Blackman (with Al Snow) defeated Matt Hardy (with Jeff Hardy).
- Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn (with Eddie Guerrero) defeated Edge and Christian.
- WWF Hardcore Champion Crash Holly defeated Viscera to retain the title, after Faarooq hit Viscera with his chair because the match broke up the A.P.A.'s poker game.
- The Rock defeated Chris Benoit in a Steel Cage match.

2000 - Tarzan Boy defeats Black Warrior to win the NWA World Light Heavyweight Title in Puebla, Mexico, ending Black Warrior's second reign.

2001 - Jushin Liger and El Samurai defeat Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title in Tokyo, Japan.

2003 - Chris Sabin defeats Frankie Kazarian and Jerry Lynn in a three-way match to win the vacant Border City Wrestling Television Title in Oldcastle, Ontario. At the same show, D'Lo Brown defeats Johnny Swinger for the BCW Can-Am Heavyweight Title, ending Swinger's second reign.

2003 - Azumi Hyuga defeats Kyoko Inoue to win the NWA Pacific Women's Title in Tokyo, Japan, ending Inoue's second reign.

2004 - Ray Fernandez, better known as Hercules Hernandez, dies in his sleep at his home in Tampa, Florida due to heart disease. Fernandez made his debut in the early 1980s in Florida and Texas before moving to Central States and later to Jim Crockett Promotions, where he was known as The Masked Assassin II. After this, he moved to Mid-South Wrestling where he was the first of many to be known as Mr. Wrestling III, before moving back to Florida. He got his first national exposure in 1985 when Hercules dropped his last name in the WWF, where he was until 1992. Fernandez was 46 years old.

2004 - CZW held "Overdrive" at Viking Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The results:
- DJ Hyde vs. Gutter vs. Merc ended in a no-contest.
- Jon Dahmer defeated GQ and Jude in a three-way Ladder match.
- Rockin' Rebel defeated Rob Hartog in an Arm Wrestling match.
- All Money is Legal (K-Kash & K-Murder) defeated CKNY (Cory Kastle & Niles Young) and Nick Berk & Z-Barr in a three-way match to earn an immediate Tag Team Title match.
- CZW World Tag Team Champions The Rebel's Army (Greg Matthews and Rockin' Rebel) defeated All Money is Legal (K-Kash and K-Murder) to retain the title.
- Gran Akuma, Icarus and Mike Quackenbush defeated Hallowicked and The Wild Cards (Eddie Kingston and Jack Marciano).
- The BLKOUT (Joker, Ruckus and Sabian) defeated Chris Ca$h, CZW Junior Heavyweight Champion Sonjay Dutt and Jimmy Jacobs in a Tables match.
- Nick Gage defeated Roderick Strong in a CZW Xtreme Strong Style Tournament match.
- Jack Evans and Petey Williams defeated Teddy Hart in a three-way match.
- B-Boy defeated Adam Flash.
- The Messiah defeated CZW World Heavyweight Champion John Zandig in a Taipei Bed of Nails Deathmatch to win the title. This began Messiah's third reign and ended Zandig's sixth.

2004 - Bill Dundee defeats Jerry Lawler in a tournament final for the vacant Memphis Wrestling Southern Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee.

2004 - The Shaolin Wrecking Crew (Magic and Suba) defeat Slyck Wagner Brown and April Hunter for the Jersey All-Pro Wrestling Tag Team Title in South Plainfield, New Jersey.

2004 - C.B. Kool wins his third NWA Florida Junior Heavyweight Title in Ocoee, Florida, ending Kevin Rhodes' second reign. At the same event, Rouge defeats Magnum Steele for the NWA Mid-Florida Heavyweight Title.

2004 - The Natural Born Blondes (Atlas and Kruz) defeat Big 'n Tasty (Brodie Lee and Freddie Midnight) to win the Rochester Pro Wrestling (now NWA Upstate) Tag Team Title in Rochester, New York.

2005 - Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi and Ryo Saito defeat interim Dragon Gate Open the Triangle Gate Champions CIMA, Naruki Doi and Shingo Takagi to become undisputed champions in Sapporo, Japan. CIMA, Doi and Takagi became interim champs by defeating Kenichiro Arai, Masaaki Mochizuki and Toru Yokosuka on February 23, due to Milano Collection A.T., who held the title along with Anthony W. Mori and YOSSINO, being injured.

2005 - Josh Daniels defeats Mike Tobin to win the NWA Cyberspace Internet Title in Wayne, New Jersey.

2005 - GAINA and Jinsei Shinzaki defeat Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kensuke Sasaki for the Michinoku Pro Wrestling Tohuku Tag Team Title in Tokushima, Japan.

2005 - KAZMA and Kengo Mashimo defeat Ryota Chikuzen and Taka Michinoku to win the UWA/UWF Intercontinental Tag Team Title in Chiba, Japan. The title was then unified with KAZMA and Mashimo's Strongest-K Tag Team Title and abandoned.

2007 - Allen Coage, better known to fans as Bad News Allen and Bad News Brown, dies at Rockyview Hospital in Calgary, Alberta of a heart attack. Coage was 63 years old. He was trained by two of the all-time greats, Antonio Inoki and Stu Hart, and wrestled for many years in Hart's Stampede Wrestling before moving on to the WWF in 1988, where he remained until 1990. After leaving the WWF, Coage worked in many independent promotions, as well as in Nobuhiko Takada's UWF International until his 1998 retirement. Prior to his pro wrestling days, Coage was an accomplished heavyweight judoka, winning gold medals in the 1967 and 1975 Pan-American Games, as well as a bronze in the 1976 Olympics, and is the only American heavyweight, and one of only eight Americans overall to earn an Olympic judo medal since it became an Olympic sport in 1964.

2008 - TNA announced that Judas Mesias would be leaving the company once he finished his booking commitments.

2008 - Ken "Mr. Kennedy" Anderson booked a lead role in the WWE Studios film "Behind Enemy Lines - Colombia", which was released direct to DVD.

2008 - "The Buffalo Bomber" Don Curtis (real name Don Beitelman, although he later legally changed his last name to Curtis), best known for his work in Championship Wrestling from Florida, passed away.

Curtis suffered a massive stroke on 2/26 and was transported to a hospice facility at the Mayo Clinic in Florida several days later. Curtis was found by his wife Dot face down in their bedroom and an MRI confirmed the stroke was caused by a blood clot breaking loose and striking the left side of his brain.

Before entering professional wrestling, Curtis served the United States during World War II doing submarine service. After his service, he went on the the University of Buffalo, where he was considered a legendary athlete, having been inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1980 for both football and amateur wrestling. While in Buffalo, Curtis was discovered and trained by the legendary Lou Thesz.

After debuting, Curtis soon settled into Florida, where he eventually relocated and remained. In the Sunshine State, Curtis is probably best known for his legendary heel tag team with Mark Lewin. The duo feuded with the likes of Eddie and Jerry Graham and the Fabulous Kangaroos in Florida.

The tandem held the predecessor to the WWE Tag Team championships, the WWWF United States Tag Team titles in 1958, losing them a year later to the Grahams. They also held the NWA World Tag Team belts in November 1963.

Beyond his aforementioned team with Lewis, Curtis also briefly held the NWA belts with both Joe Scarpa (who would go on to be best known as Chief Jay Strongbow) and Abe Jacobs. Curtis also captured the NWA Southern Tag Team championships with Jose Lothario, who is best known to today's fans as Shawn Michaels' trainer.

After retiring, Curtis promoted locally in Jacksonville, Florida for Eddie Graham. He also worked as City Manager for Jacksonville and at one point was the Chief of the Gator Bowl complex.

Curtis was survived by his wife Dottie, their three children and seven grandchildren.

In announcing Don's stroke on 2/28, Dottie wrote, "Please know that Don is in no pain, and would want nothing more that to end the life that he presently lives in. If anyone could say, "I've done it all!", it would be Don. A wonderful husband, father, grandfather and friend no one could have asked any more from."

2008 - Matt Morgan signed a deal to bring him into NBC's American Gladiators playing a character known as "The Beast."

Former WWE Women's champion Trish Stratus signed a deal to star and host a travel series titled ‘Stratusphere’. The series featured Stratus traveling to cultures outside of North America and learning about them, airing for one season in Canada.

2009 - Entertainment Weekly broke word that that Survivor: Amazon winner and former Playboy cover girl Jenna Morasca would debut for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Morasca would be with the company for some time as a regular, including a bout against Sharmell that would be considered one of the worst of the year.

WWE ran Albany, GA, Ryan Ortiz filed the following results:

*Melina and Kelly Kelly beat Maryse and Beth Phoenix. Rosa Mendes was at ringside but there was no sign of Santino Marella.

*Ted DiBiase beat Goldust.

*The Miz and John Morrison beat Cryme Tyme.

*Finlay, with Hornswoggle, beat Tyson Kidd, with Natalya.

*Jack Swagger beat Christian to retain the ECW Title.

*Kofi Kingston beat William Regal.

*In the main event, John Cena and Rey Mysterio beat Chris Jericho and Edge.

2011 - Colt Cabana defeated Adam Pearce to win the NWA championship for the first time at a NWA Championship from Wrestling TV Taping in Hollywood, CA.

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