Today in Wrestling History (June 23rd)

Titles Changes for June 23rd

 (Thanks - This Day in Pro Wrestling History)

1944 – Firpo Segra defeated Doc Macias to win the EMLL Mexican National Heavyweight Championship

1959 – Bobby Jones defeated George Eakin to win the MWC (Winnipeg) Heavyweight Championship

1961 – Waldo Von Erich defeated Pepper Gomez to win the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship

1964 – Pampero Firpo defeated Nick Bockwinkel to win the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship

1970 – Nick Bockwinkel defeated Joe Scarpa to win the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship

1972 – Billy Red Lyons defeated The Spoiler to win the NWA American Heavyweight Championship

1978 – "Black Superman" Tony Atlas & Thunderbolt Patterson defeated Ole Anderson & Ivan Koloff to win the NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship

1980 – Mr. Hito & Mr. Sakurada defeated Jose Lothario & Tiger Conway, Jr. to win the NWA American Tag Team Championship

1982 – Ted DiBiase defeated Junkyard Dog to win the MSW North American Heavyweight Championship

1984 - NWA American Heavyweight Champion Gino Hernandez defeated NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nature Boy Ric Flair to win the vacant NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship. The title had been vacant since the previous champion, David Von Erich, had passed away in February 1984.

1987 – The Sheepherders defeated Mike Graham & Steve Keirn to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship

1989 – The Stud Stable (Robert Fuller & Brian Lee) defeated Jeff Jarrett & Mil Mascaras to win the WCWA World Tag Team Championship

1989 – Dr. Tom Prichard defeated Wendell Cooley to win the CWF (Tennessee) Heavyweight Championship

1990 – Dave Finlay & Marty Jones defeated Tony St. Clair & Miles Zrno to win the CWA (Germany) World Tag Team Championship

1992 – The Super Destroyers (AJ Petrucci & Doug Stahl) win a tournament to become the first NWA ECW Tag Team Champions

1995 – Apolo Dantes defeated Silver King to win the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship

1995 – Scott D’Amore defeated Bruiser Bedlam to win the BCW (Ontario) Can-Am Heavyweight Championship

2000 – Dakota defeated Brianna Starr & Alben Thunder in a Triple Threat to become the first NWA Mid-South Women’s Champion

2002 – Bam Bam Bambi defeated Madison to win the NWA Canadian Women’s Championship

2006 – 2 Cold Scorpio defeated Trent Acid to win the PWU (Pennsylvania) Heavyweight Championship

2007 – Mr. Prime Time defeated Psicosis 2 out of 3 Falls to win the APW (California) Worldwide Internet Championship

Today in Wrestling History (June 3rd)

Title Changes for June 3

(courtesy This Day in Pro Wrestling History)

1962 – Alberto & Ramon Torres defeated Jan Madrid & Louie Tillet to win the NWA Southwestern Tag Team Championship

1965 – The Destroyer & Billy Red Lyons defeated Giant Baba & Toyonobori to win the JWA All-Asia Tag Team Championship

1968 – Fritz Von Erich defeated The Spoiler to win the vacant NWA American Heavyweight Championship

1968 – Danny Hodge & Lorenzo Parente defeated Jack Donovan & Ron Reed to win the NWA United States (Tri-State) Tag Team Championship

1969 – Baron Von Raschke defeated Chief Wahoo McDaniel to win the NWA Brass Knuckles (Texas) Heavyweight Championship

1971 – Crazy Luke Graham & Tarzan Tyler defeated Dick The Bruiser & The Sheik in the final of a tournament to become the first WWWF World Tag Team Champions

1980 – David Von Erich defeated Gino Hernandez to win the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship

1991 – Stunning Steve Austin defeated Beautiful Bobby Eaton to win the WCW World Television Championship

1991 - The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael P.S. Hayes, Jimmy Jam Garvin & Brad "Badstreet" Armstrong) defeated The Junkyard Dog, Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich to win the WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship

2002 – Bradshaw defeated Steven Richards to win the WWE Hardcore Championship

2003 – Rey Mysterio Jr. defeated Matt Hardy to win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship

Pro Wrestling Magazine Cover of the Day

July 1989

Blackjack Mulligan & Masked Superstar vs Ray Stevens & Jimmy Snuka

1980, clip of Blackjack Mulligan and The Mask Superstar against the NWA World Tag Team champions, Ray Steven and Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka.  The interview with Mulligan is about Bobby Duncam interfering in the match and costing the Superstar and Mulligan the titles.

Match of the Night (Junkyard Dog vs Dibiase)

The Mid South North American Heavyweight Title

June 23rd 1982

Shreveport, LA

Junkyard Dog

North American Heavyweight Champion

vs

Ted Dibiase

(3 time former champion)

Today in Wrestling History (Stan Hansen)

Today in 1988 - Stan 'The Lariat' Hansen defeats Genichiro Tenryu to win the NWA United National Championship & the PWF World Heavyweight Championship. 

This would be the final reigns for both titles before being unified with the NWA International Heavyweight Championship and forming the AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship

Wrestling Icons - Lou Thesz

Here courtesy of the Wrestling Channel is a great interview with one of if not the biggest legend in 20th wrestling, Lou Thesz.
He was a 6 time NWA World Heavyweight Champion and one of the last men known as "shooters" or "hookers", wrestlers who could legitimately wrestle another man into submission in the old catch style.

Four Horsemen part 5

Today in Wrestling History December 15th

1963 - The most important figure in the history of professional wrestling in Japan, Rikidozan, dies of complications from a stab wound suffered on December 8th at the age of 38.
Rikidozan, who debuted in 1951, helped to popularize professional wrestling in post-WWII Japan, and would train Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba, who would become two of the most influential and powerful individuals in Japanese wrestling.
While it was thought that Rikidozan, whose Japanese name was Mitsuhiro Momota, was born in Nagasaki, Japan, in truth he was Korean. Because Koreans were heavily discriminated against in Japan, his real background was kept secret, not being revealed until long after his death. Rikidozan's final match was on December 7th, teaming with Great Togo & Michiaki Yoshimura to battle The Destroyer, Buddy Austin & Illio DiPaolo to a draw.
Stories of what happened the night Rikidozan was stabbed are cloudy, with legend and fact often getting mixed up. He was stabbed in a nightclub and allegedly it was by a member of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia.
However, stories have circulated for years that he beat up his attacker and partied into the night before going to the hospital, which is why the wound got infected and ended up killing him. Obviously, there are many that doubt that account of the stabbing.

Rikidozan vs The Destroyer
JWA 12/2/63.
Rikidozan, the father of puroresu, goes against The Destroyer. This match drew the second-highest TV rating in puroresu history, and perhaps the largest in terms of number of viewers.

Recommended Reading

From the blog of Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine, lessons that the WWE and pro wrestling could learn from UFC 116.

Read the blog post here.

Watch the fight here, courtesy of Entesity.net

Welcome to the New Blog for wrestling fans

Welcome to my new blog that will cover pro wrestling/mma/UFC/amateur wrestling in and out of the ring and in real life. I hope to post video and articles and links to stuff that you will enjoy and comeback for everyday.