On this day in wrestling history…
1987: NWA The Great American Bash ran in front of an estimated 20,000 inside the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida and featured the first ever War Games match, one of the best matches of all time. The bout saw Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Lex Luger and the War Machine battle the Road Warriors, Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff and Paul Ellering in an absolutely iconic match should be required viewing for any hardcore wrestling fans.
1988: WWF WrestleFest was a supercard event ran at the County Stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was originally intended as an unrecorded live event, but they opted to record it for home video because tickets sold incredibly well (25,000+). The show was headlined by Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant in a steel cage. Demolition also defended the WWF Tag Team Championships against the British Bulldogs, Ultimate Warrior beat up Bobby Heenan, Jake Roberts fought Rick Rude, Curt Hennig vs. Terry Taylor, and Randy Savage defended the WWF Championship against Ted DiBiase. Plus Bret Hart, Jim Niedhart, Jim Duggan, Bad News Brown, the Rougeaus, Honkey Tonk Man and several more in a massively stacked 15-match card. The show can still be found online, although it’s not yet on the WWE Network.
1998: NJPW kicked off their annual G1 Climax tournament on this day, and unlike the modern 20-man round robin style, this was a 16-man single elimination tournament. Shinya Hashimoto, who was one of a small handful of stars that dominated the Japanese wrestling scene at the time, won the tournament, which also included Big Titan (the fake Razor Ramon), Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Keiji Mutoh, Genichiro Tenryu, Masahiro Chono, WWE Hall of Famer Tatsumi Fujinami and more.
1999: The Los Angeles based Xtreme Pro Wrestling hardcore promotion, owned and operated by pornographer Rob Zicari, launched with its debut show on this day. The event was headlined by ECW’s Big Dick Dudley vs. the late Damien Steele. The promotion frequently ran in Reseda, California which is the same town PWG currently runs their events.
2000: In the heart of some truly awful years for WCW Nitro, Shane Douglas and Billy Kidman had their infamous “Viagra on a Pole” match on this day. The episode was headlined by Booker T vs. Sting, and Scott Steiner vs. Kevin Nash in a Straightjacket match. Lance Storm also defeated Lt. Loco (Chavo Guerrero) to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.
2000: The Rock and Lita teamed up to take on Triple H and Trish Stratus in the main event of WWE Raw. This show also had The Hardys take on Edge and Christian, Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle taking on the Dudley Boyz, and the APA vs. Bull Buchanan and The Goodfather.
2000: TNA ran their 7th weekly pay-per-view under the NWA branding in what, at the time, was the very definition of a clusterf**k. Jeff Jarrett vs. Scott Hall (and this is turn of the century Scott Hall, mind you) headlined in one of the most convoluted matches in company history, which is saying something. Plus, a bunch of mediocre matches, a man beating up a woman to win the “Miss TNA” crown, and an in-ring segment where Disco Inferno calls another woman a “dumb bitch” and tries to get her to exposure her breasts on television. Oy vey…
2o07: WWE taped an episode of ECW TV on this day. CM Punk defeated Elijah Burke and Tommy Dreamer in the main event, The Miz beat Balls Mahoney, plus John Morrison, Joey Ryan, Stevie Richards, Kevin Thorn all in action, and Big Daddy V slaughtering three jobbers simultaneously.
2009: PWG ran their sixth anniversary show, “Threemendous II” on this day. Chris Hero beat Joey Ryan to retain the PWG Championship in the main event, and the rest of the card is a who’s who of incredible talent. El Generico (Sami Zayn) and Human Tornado fought the Young Bucks, Roderick Strong beat Davey Richards, Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) beat Chris Sabin, Chuck Taylor beat Colt Cabana, and Alex Shelley beat Scott Lost.
Wrestling Birthdays…
- Eric Watts, who appeared on the 2011 reboot of WWE Tough Enough (the good Steve Austin series, not the terrible Chris Jericho series) is 31.
- El Texano, Jr. of CMLL, AAA and Lucha Underground is 32.
- Durango Kid, a Mexican wrestler who was given two runs as a junior in New Japan back in 2006, is 39.
- Kid Kash, long-time TNA star, former X-Division champion and former WWE Cruiserweight champion, is 47.
- John Luarinaitis, Mr. Excitement himself, is 54.
