53 years ago today in Washington, DC, Buddy Rogers is presented the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship belt, making him the promotion’s first champion.
Though the official story was he won it in a tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the reality is this comes after Vince McMahon, Sr. and Joseph "Toots" Mondt defected from the NWA after the events of two months earlier in Toronto.
Rogers would lose the title just 22 days later in under a minute to Bruno Sammartino, who would then go on to hold the title for over seven and a half years.
22 years ago today in Dallas, Texas, The Rock ‘n Roll Express defeated Dick Murdoch & Randy Rhodes in the finals of a one-night tournament to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship.
The titles had been vacated since September 1993 when Paul Roma and Arn Anderson were stripped of the titles following WCW's split from the NWA.
20 years ago today, Leon White, aka Vader, is detained in Kuwait after he attacks Bossam Al Otham, the host of Good Morning Kuwait.
The arrest comes after White took offense to Otham's questions about the legitimacy of wrestling, then assaulted the host and trashed the set. He spent ten days under house arrest and was ordered to pay a small fine before returning to the United States.
18 years ago today, WCW presented Spring Stampede (WWE Network link) from the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. 17,690 were in attendance, with 255,000 homes watching on PPV. That's down from 275,000 homes for the 1998 event, but down 325,000 from Uncensored just a month earlier.
- Juventud Guerrera defeated Blitzkrieg.
- Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Hak in a hardcore match.
- Scotty Riggs defeated Mikey Whipwreck.
- Konnan defeated Disco Inferno.
- Rey Mysterio Jr. defeated Kidman to retain the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship.
- Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko defeated Perry Saturn & Raven.
- Scott Steiner defeated Booker T to win the vacated WCW United States Championship.
- Goldberg defeated Kevin Nash.
- Diamond Dallas Page defeated Hollywood Hogan, Ric Flair, and Sting in a fatal four-way match to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Randy Savage was the special referee.
17 years ago today at a Smackdown taping in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (WWE Network link), Perry Saturn defeated Crash Holly to win the WWF Hardcore Championship... only to lose it to Tazz... only to lose it to Crash Holly.
The show also had the one and only appearance of Caryn "Muffy" Mower, whose gimmick was the personal trainer of Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. The gimmick was quickly shelved and Mower was sent back to WWE developmental territory Ultimate Pro Wrestling. Mower wrestled part-time through 2003 before turning to stunt work full time.
16 years ago today in Tokyo, Japan, Genichiro Tenryu, at the time the All Japan Pro Wrestling Triple Crown Champion, defeated Taiyo Kea to win the Champion Carnival tournament.
This was the first appearance of Tenryu in the tournament since 1982. This was the last time the tournament used the single block format, as every tournament since used a dual block round robin.
15 years ago today, Stanley Weston died of a heart attack in Long, Island, New York. He was 82.
Born September 25, 1919 in The Bronx, New York, Weston became interested in boxing after his father had brought home a copy of The Ring magazine, a magazine dedicated to boxing. Three years later, he met Nat Fleischer, the magazine’s founder. Eventually, Nat took Stanley under his wing, and Stanley would color Nat’s black-and-white portraits. After graduating high school, Weston took a summer job with the magazine. The summer job would turn into a 14-year career. In 1939, Weston would get his first cover, a painted portrait of Billy Conn (Weston’s paintings would account for a total of 57 covers of The Ring).
Weston took a four-year leave of absence in the early 1940s to serve in the United States Air Force during World War II. He rejoined The Ring upon his return from service, but left the publication in 1951. After serving in Korea, he would launch his own magazine, Boxing Illustrated/Wrestling News. The publication lasted six years. He would go on to launch multiple magazines dedicated to boxing and wrestling, including Boxing & Wrestling, The Boxing Almanac, The Big Book of Boxing, KO, Pro Wrestling Illustrated, The Wrestler (not to be confused with the movie of the same name), and Inside Wrestling.
Weston was also an author, penning many books on boxing including The Heavyweight Champions, The Chronicle of Boxing, and The Ring: Boxing the 20th Century. He also was a photographer, shooting over 100,000 photos according to Stanley’s own estimate.
In 1989, Weston rescued The Ring from bankruptcy and bought it; he would sell it just three years later, but remain on as a publisher. Weston would be around for the magazine’s resurgence as “The Bible of Boxing”. Stanley was also charitable, providing aid to destitute boxers, but only on the condition that the source of the contribution remained anonymous.
After a battle with cancer, Weston died in his home in Long Island, New York on April 11, 2002. He was 82. At the time of his death, he was survived by two daughters, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren; Stanley’s wife of 38 years, Hope Patrick, died in 1980.
Since 1981, Pro Wrestling Illustrated has given an annual award for lifetime achievement in professional wrestling. The honor, originally called the PWI Editor’s Award, has been posthumously named after Stanley Weston, the magazine’s founder, since 2003. Winners of the award include Bruno Sammartino, Lou Thesz, Gordon Solie, Andre the Giant, Bret Hart, Eddie Guerrero, Ric Flair, Vince McMahon, Dusty Rhodes, and Stanley himself (he won it in 1992).
In 2006, Weston was posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as an Observer for his coverage of the sport.
7 years ago today, Texas Stadium was demolished.
Best known as the long-time home of the Dallas Cowboys, the stadium hosted World Class Championship Wrestling's Parade of Champions events, including Kerry Von Erich's 1984 NWA World Championship win over Ric Flair just three months following the death of Kerry's brother David.
The Cowboys' replacement stadium, AT&T Stadium, played host to Wrestlemania 32 last year, which drew a record crowd of 101,763 fans, though the figure is disputed.
7 years ago today, SHIMMER Women Athletes presented Volume 31 from the Eagles Club in Berwyn, Illinois.
- In a dark match, Leva Bates & PJ Tyler defeated Anna Minoushka & She Nay Nay.
- Kellie Skater defeated Jessica James.
- Jessie McKay defeated Sassy Stephie.
- Malia Hosaka defeated Rayna von Tosh.
- Mercedes Martinez defeated Tomoka Nakagawa.
- Melanie Cruise defeated Allison Danger.
- Daffney defeated Rachel Summerlyn in a no disqualification match.
- Hiroyo Matsumoto defeated LuFisto.
- Cheerleader Melissa defeated Misaki Ohata.
- The Canadian NINJAs (Nicole Matthews & Portia Perez) defeated Ariel & Nikki Roxx to retain the SHIMMER Tag Team Championship.
- Hamada defeated Daizee Haze.
- Ayumi Kurihara defeated Sara Del Rey.
- Madison Eagles defeated MsChif to win the SHIMMER Championship. The win ends MsChif’s 715-day run as champion, the longest in the company’s history. MsChif also holds the record for most successful title defenses with 15.
Volume 32 was also presented on this day.
- Jamilia Craft defeated Malia Hosaka.
- Rachel Summerlyn defeated Kellie Skater.
- Cat Power defeated Nevaeh.
- Allison Danger & Jennifer Blake defeated Annie Social & Melanie Cruise.
- Tomoka Nakagawa defeated Jessie McKay.
- Portia Perez defeated Tenille Tayla.
- Sara Del Rey defeated Misaki Ohata.
- MsChif defeated Daffney.
- Sarah Stock defeated Nicole Matthews.
- Daizee Haze defeated Ayumi Kurihara.
- Mercedes Martinez defeated Hiroyo Matsumoto.
- Cheerleader Melissa defeated Hamada.
6 years ago today on RAW from Bridgeport, Connecticut (WWE Network link), Adam Copeland, best known to wrestling fans as Edge, announces his retirement from professional wrestling.
A series of tests revealed that Copeland's neck problems and arm numbness had gotten to the point where he’d be risking paralysis or death had he continued to wrestle. Officially, he was diagnosed with cervical spinal stenosis.
At the time of his retirement, he was the World Heavyweight Champion, so obviously that meant the title was vacated, which he would do at the Smackdown taping the next night. Also at the time of his retirement, Edge had amassed a total of 31 championships, more than anyone in WWE history.
Copeland would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in March 2012. Though he's made sporadically appeared on WWE programming since his retirement, he has since become an actor, appearing most notably on the SyFy series Haven and as Atom-Smasher on the CW series The Flash.
Most recently, he and Jay Reso presented a comedy series on WWE Network, The Edge and Christian Show That Totally Reeks of Awesomeness. The two last month launched a podcast, E&C’s Podcast of Awesomeness. New episodes are released every Friday. Earlier this month, he was in attendance for the WWE Hall of Fame induction of his wife, Beth Phoenix.
On the same show, Brie Bella defeated Eve Torres to win the WWE Divas Championship.
6 years ago today, Alex Whybrow, best known to wrestling as Larry Sweeney, was found dead at a wrestling school in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He was just 30 years old.
Sweeney is best known as the manager of Sweet and Sour Inc. in Ring of Honor from 2006 to 2008, but also wrestled for Chikara, where he won the Young Lions Cup in 2006. Whybrow won the Best Non-Wrestler award for the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 2007 and 2008.
4 years ago today on Impact Wrestling from Corpus Christi, Texas, Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez defeated Bobby Roode and Austin Aries 2-1 in a best of three falls match to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Had they lost, Guerrero and Hernandez could never team again.
3 years ago today, Bryan Danielson and Brianna Garcia, aka Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella, marry in a small wedding ceremony in Sedona, Arizona.
Tragedy would soon strike the newlyweds; on the day the couple returns from their honeymoon, Bryan's father Donald passes away at age 57.