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January 14th
On this day in history in ....
1983 - Leo Burke defeats Bret Hart in Calgary, Alberta, Canada to win the Stampede North American Heavyweight Title for the eighth time. This ended Bret's fifth and final run with the belt.
1989 - The Ninja Express (Kensuke Sasaki & Mr. Pogo) defeat Hurricane Castillo Jr. & Miguelito Perez for the WWC Caribbean Tag Team Title in Caguas, Puerto Rico.
1991 - Jeff Jarrett won a tournament to become a two-time USWA Southern Heavyweight Champion in Memphis, Tennessee, defeating Brian Lee in the finals. The title had been vacated the previous month when Eddie Gilbert left the territory. Here are the results of the tournament:
First Round:
- King Cobra defeated Don Bass.
- Tony Anthony defeated Jerry Lynn.
- Terrance Garvin defeated Chris Champion.
- Jeff Jarrett defeated Doug Gilbert.
- Danny Davis defeated Joseph Magliano.
- Brian Lee defeated Cody Michaels.
Quarterfinals:
- Tony Anthony defeated King Cobra.
- Jeff Jarrett defeated Terrance Garvin.
- Brian Lee defeated Danny Davis.
Semifinals:
- Jeff Jarrett defeated Tony Anthony.
- Brian Lee received a bye.
Finals:
- Jeff Jarrett defeated Brian Lee to win the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title.
2001 - WCW held their first (and last) SIN Pay-per-view event at the Canseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. The show saw three title changes and the final WCW match of Bill Goldberg's career, but is probably best remembered for a horrific freak injury to Sid Vicious, as he suffered a compound fracture to his leg as he jumped off the second rope. Here is Tim Whitehead's original report on the show:
WCW started off the new year, and their new era after the sale to Eric Bischoff & Co., with what was overall their best PPV in a long time. WCW Sin (1/14 from Indianapolis) had a really super undercard. It was so good that had the upper card equalled it, this PPV would have gone down as one of the best of all time. That didn't happen, as the top matches ranged from average to quite bad in the case of the main event. It should, of course, be noted that part of the problem in the main event was a legitimate injury to Sid Vicious, but it was already pretty bad before that occurred. But on balance the lower card was so good that this was clearly a thumb's up show. The commentary was also very good from Tony Schiavone & Scott Hudson, as they stayed focused on the matches and what they said mostly made sense. The crowd seemed to be hot on occasion, but WCW apparently "sweetened" the sound quite a bit, as became obvious in the main event.
CHAVO GUERRERO JR. defeated SHANE HELMS in 11:13 to retain the Cruiserweight Title. This is the type of match that can give this division credibility. Helms asked Shannon Moore to stay in the back since he wanted to win on his own. They opened with some really good mat work. Helms hit a headscissors takedown. Guerrero blocked a piledriver and hit a powerbomb. Hudson sold Chavo's strategy of "grounding" Helms very well. They did some good near falls, including one from Helms after a dragon suplex. Helms bumped out and Guerrero hit a high plancha. Helms then hit a crossbody off the top to the floor. Guerrero blocked the vertebreaker. Helms hit the Nightmare on Helms Street but only got a two, which the commentators sold big. After a series of blocks and reversals, Guerrero won with a brainbuster. Real good opener.
Ric Flair arrived and wouldn't tell Mike Tenay who the mystery man would be for the main event.
RENO beat BIG VITO in 8:39. This was essentially just a brawl but it was a darn good one. Vito pounded Reno with fists and hit a superplex. They bumped out and Reno laid in the stomps to Vito. They just kept brawling, doing a good job. Vito hit a mafia kick and scored some near falls. Vito blocked the Roll of the Dice and they continued blocking one another until Reno hit a second Roll of the Dice and got the pin.
Backstage, Mike Sanders paid off Brian Adams to help him win his match against Cat. After Sanders left, Bryan Clark showed up and had even more money that someone had paid him to help Cat. So with money talking, Kronik decided Cat would be the guy they helped.
EVAN KARAGIAS & JAMIE KNOBLE defeated THE JUNG DRAGONS in 9:20. Want more proof that the undercard was better than the upper card? Leia Meow was on the undercard. The on-screen graphics mistakenly listed Karagias & Knoble as "Jamie Karagias & Evan Knoble". Karagias started off against Kaz Hayashi and they had a great sequence of moves. The Dragons did double Asai moonsaults. Knoble legscissored Yung Yang out to the floor. Karagias dropkicked Kaz out of the air. Karagias & Knoble have some really good double team moves. Karagias slipped a little on a quebrada. They did a lot of near falls throughout. Kaz got doubled on but hot tagged Yang in, and he cleaned house. Karagias hit a springboard crossbody to the floor. Yang powerbombed Knoble off the top. Karagias hit a perfect firebird splash. Knoble did a tombstone piledriver on Kaz. Lots of heat at the end. Yang went for the twisting moonsault but Karagias rolled clear and surprised Yang with a simple inside cradle for the pin. Leia was angry over her team losing, so I guess she'll slap them around. Maybe they like that coming from Leia. Anyway, it was an excellent match.
Lex Luger & Buff Bagwell arrived in a vintage car. They were boasting about their plans for their match against Bill Goldberg & Dewayne Bruce, mentioning that Plan B would have someone interfere to cause Goldberg to lose by DQ.
CAT defeated MIKE SANDERS in 5:42. This may have been the greatest Cat match of all time. Sanders attacked Cat while he was playing to the crowd. Cat came back with fists and Sanders retreated. Cat blocked a sunset flip and hit an elbow smash. They went to the floor where Sanders grabbed a chair. Miss Jones kicked Sanders and chased him with the chair. While this distracted the ref, Sean Stasiak & Mark Jindrak attacked Cat. But Kronik made the save, running Stasiak & Jindrak off and then laying Sanders out, stuffing his payoff money in his mouth as a "refund" since they had accepted Cat's bigger payoff instead. The ref returned to action as Cat hit the feliner on Sanders and got the pin. By winning, Cat regained the WCW Commissionership from Sanders.
After hearing about Luger & Bagwell's "Plan B" to get Goldberg DQ'ed, Ric Flair made the match no-DQ, thus foiling that plan. Flair then told Goldberg that an old high school friend of his had come to the show with his 19 year old son and asked if Goldberg would sign an autograph and pose for a photo with the kid. Goldberg did. The kid was wearing a Goldberg T-shirt and acting like a big Goldberg mark.
LANCE STORM & MIKE AWESOME & ELIX SKIPPER beat REY MYSTERIO JR. & KONNAN & BILLY KIDMAN in a Penalty Box match in 13:05. Hacksaw Duggan was special ref and promised to call it down the middle. Amazingly, he did so. The rules were that any wrestler caught in a rules infraction had to spend a minute in a penalty box. Storm and Mysterio started off for their teams. Skipper came in without tagging and was immediately sent to the penalty box. That was the story of the match. It was pretty funny watching guys who are used to breaking the rules actually get penalized for it. The match was pretty good, too, with everyone working hard. There was one really cool spot where Skipper did a spinning headscissors on Konnan, then ducked a Konnan lariat, but as Skipper bridged back up Konnan DDT'd him. Guys kept being sent to the penalty box for things like not tagging in or not breaking on the ropes. Tygress and Major Gunns got put in the box after catfighting on the floor. Awesome got put in the box for trying to cut Kidman's hair. When he got out he Awesome bombed Mysterio but since he wasn't the legal man, Duggan wouldn't count the pin. Finally, Storm ducked an enzuigiri from Kidman and forced Kidman to submit to the cloverleaf.
MENG defeated TERRY FUNK and CROWBAR in 11:39 in a three-way match to capture the Hardcore Title. Funk was the reigning champ but Meng came out with the belt, since he had stolen it earlier. Daffney threw a drink in Funk's face as he came out. Funk dragged her over the rail but Crowbar saved with a series of chairshots. Funk and Crowbar fought to the back, with Meng just watching at first. They ended up in the women's restroom where they brawled with garbage cans, mop buckets, and other stuff as Daffney screamed. Meng then got involved. They could have used a little better lighting during this backstage sequence. Garbage cans were flying all over. Funk literally hurled one full force into Meng's face. Funk and Crowbar breifly joined forces to pound Meng down as he was doing the no-sell gimmick. Crowbar turned a bunch of tables over on him. Funk did some hard chairshots on Crowbar. Crowbar came off an elevated seating section and put Funk through a table. The cameras missed it live but they did air a replay. Meng recovered and sent Crowbar rolling down the ramp. Funk used a snow shovel on Meng. Funk slammed Crowbar on a guard rail, which broke. Finally in the ring, Crowbar used a chair on Funk's knee and hooked the figure four, but Meng went aerial and splashed Crowbar. Funk and Crowbar hit Meng with a ton of chairshots but he withstood them and laid Crowbar out before putting Funk down for the count with the Tongan Death Grip. Another very good match, and at this point the PPV was looking to be fantastic.
Ric Flair congratulated Cat on regaining the commissionership. He gave Cat the rest of the night off and said he had ordered caviar and wine for him, though Cat preferred collared greens and neckbones.
CHUCK PALUMBO & SHAWN O'HAIR defeated KEVIN NASH & DALLAS PAGE in 11:15 to capture the WCW World Tag Titles. Earlier, Sanders had chosen Palumbo & O'Hair as the two guys to represent the Natural Born Thrillerz in this match. However, he came out and announced that he reserved the right to make substitutions during the match, like during a football game. Ric Flair had security take Sanders and the other Thrillerz out. Palumbo and Page slugged it out, with Page getting the upper hand. Nash kicked the hell out of O'Hair. O'Hair did a neat spot, vaulting over Nash and then hitting a superkick. Nash did the old snake eyes move on Palumbo. Page got doubled on until reversing a tombstone piledriver on Palumbo and hot tagging Nash in. Nash jackknifed Palumbo but the ref was distracted because all the Thrillerz returned. Lex Luger arrived, attacking Page, with the two brawling though the crowd. Buff Bagwell then ran in and used a wrench on Nash. O'Hair nailed Nash with the Shawnton and scored the pin as the ref returned to action. Overall a decent match though there was way too much interference.
Ric Flair left in his limo to get the mystery man.
SHANE DOUGLAS beat GEN. RECTION in 11:35 to capture the U.S. Title. There was a chain hanging from the ceiling and whoever got it and juiced his opponent first would win. The ref found a chain in Douglas' tights before the bell. Lots of standard brawling with the idea that they were each trying to bust the other open. They did some rest spots, too. Rection finally got a ladder, hit Douglas with it, and got the chain. However, Douglas surprised Rection with a chain hidden in his boot. He juiced Rection and then pretended he had done so with the "legal" chain to score the win. Average match. Backstage afterward, Rection was despondent over losing and kept saying he now has nothing as Cpl. Cajun & Sgt. Awall tried to console him.
LEX LUGER & BUFF BAGWELL defeated BILL GOLDBERG & DEWAYNE BRUCE in a No-DQ match in 10:59. The rules were that Goldberg would be banned from WCW for life if his team lost. Seriously! Anyway, Goldberg dominated at first doing the superman routine. With Lex & Buff down, Bruce came in and pounded on them but they eventually took command. Goldberg had to keep saving Bruce from being pinned. Hudson actually brought up the metal rod in Luger's arm from many years ago. Lex ended up on the floor and guess who was in the front row? None other than the kid who had marked out for Goldberg earlier. Lex started threatening the kid. Goldberg made the save but the kid turned on him and maced him. Blinded, Goldberg still dragged the kid over the rail. Lex & Buff laid Bruce out and then went after Goldberg, who "valiantly fought back" despite being blinded but eventually was pinned by Lex after a chairshot and Buff Blockbuster off Luger's shoulders. The heel kid left with Lex & Buff. The match wasn't all that great but I guess the angle was entertaining if you like fake retirement angles. As they washed out Goldberg's eyes, Schiavone & Hudson kept going on and on about how Goldberg's popularity had saved WCW and what a shame it was that he'll now have to be banned from ever wrestling in WCW again.
SCOTT STEINER defeated JEFF JARRETT and SID VICIOUS and THE MYSTERY OPPONENT in 7:51 in a four-way match to retain the WCW World Title. Earlier, Jarrett had promised to help Steiner and not try to win the belt, which is in fact what happened. The Mystery Opponent wasn't there at first, so Steiner and Jarrett doubled on Sid. It was pretty bad, and Sid's fists and lariats looked awful. At one point, Scott encouraged Jarrett to try and pin Sid, which made no sense because that would have made Jarrett champ under the rules. Flair then arrived with the Mystery Opponent under a mask. This was kind of funny as Flair's 2001 theme interrupted the crowd noise, proving most of the noise was on tape. Anyway, while the cameras focused on Flair and his mystery guy, Sid got injured somehow and broke his leg in two places. So the planned finish had to be changed and hurried up. So the mystery man walked to the ring, unmasked to reveal Road Warrior Animal (Oh joy!), and gave Sid a weak shot and Scott pinned him. So Flair's man turned heel immediately. A really bad main event, though granted it was partly beyond their control. Sid was stretchered out afterward and was found to have suffered a broken leg in two places as well as a back injury.
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