This Day in Wrestling History (October 25)

22 years ago today, WCW presented Halloween Havoc (WWE Network link) from the Philadelphia Civic Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. About 7,000 were in attendance, with 160,000 homes watching on PPV.

• In a preshow dark match, Erik Watts and Van Hammer defeated The Vegas Connection (Vinnie Vegas and Diamond Dallas Page).
• Tom Zenk, Johnny Gunn, and Shane Douglas defeated Arn Anderson, Michael Hayes, and Bobby Eaton.
• Ricky Steamboat defeated Brian Pillman.
• Big Van Vader defeated Nikita Koloff.
• NWA World Tag Team Champions and WCW World Tag Team Champions Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes fought Steve Williams and Steve Austin to a 30-minute time limit draw.
• Rick Rude defeated NWA World Heavyweight Champion Masahiro Chono by disqualification. Harley Race and Kensuke Sasaki were special referees.
• Ron Simmons defeated The Barbarian to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
• Sting defeated Jake Roberts in a Coal Miner's Glove match. The match stipulation was determined by a spin of the wheel.

16 years ago today, WCW presented Halloween Havoc (WWE Network link) from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. 10,663 were in attendance, with 310,000 homes watching on PPV, though some estimates have it as many as 500,000 homes. The event has an infamous place in wrestling history because the PPV ran three and a half hours instead of three. This caused an issue with many PPV providers (many cable providers weren't told in advance, and some of those that were told would not or could not accommodate the extra half hour) as viewers' PPV feeds that cut out at 11pm missed the conclusion of the Hogan-Warrior match and the entire WCW world title match that followed. The decision proved costly, as not only they had to air the match the next night on Nitro for free, WCW had to reimburse cable companies and providers for the long show.

• Chris Jericho defeated Raven to retain the WCW World Television Championship.
• Wrath defeated Meng.
• Disco Inferno defeated Juventud Guerrera.
• Alex Wright defeated Fit Finlay.
• Saturn defeated Lodi.
• Billy Kidman defeated Disco Inferno to retain the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.
• Rick Steiner and Buff Bagwell defeated The Giant and Scott Steiner to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
• Scott Hall defeated Kevin Nash by countout.
• Bret Hart defeated Sting to retain the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship.
• Hollywood Hogan defeated The Warrior.
• Goldberg defeated Diamond Dallas Page to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

15 years ago today on RAW is WAR from Providence, Rhode Island, Ivory defeated The Fabulous Moolah to win the WWF Womens Championship.

10 25 99 Bret Hart vs U.S. Champion Bill Goldberg by Yosihait

15 years ago today on Nitro from Phoenix, Arizona, The Filthy Animals (Konnan & Billy Kidman) defeated Harlem Heat to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship. On the same show, Bret Hart defeated Goldberg to win the WCW United States Championship. A side note to the U.S. title match: it served as a first round match in the WCW World Heavyweight Championship tournament, as the title was vacated following the events of Halloween Havoc. So, yes, Bill Goldberg, world champion not even 24 hours ago, is one and done in the world title tournament. 1999 WCW, everyone. Also of note, Macho Man Randy Savage made his second to last appearance in a WCW ring. His last would come about seven months later in a battle royal.

11 years ago today, Stephanie McMahon and Paul Levesque, aka Triple H, get married. It did not go like this, but enjoy this classic moment anyway for banshee Stephanie McMahon face.

9 years ago today at a Smackdown taping in San Francisco, California, MNM (Joey Mercury & Johnny Nitro) defeat Road Warrior Animal & Heidenreich, Paul Burchill & William Regal, and the Mexicoos (Psicosis & Super Crazy) to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.

Rhino vs. Jeff Jarrett by Stinger1981

9 years ago today at an Impact taping at Universal Orlando, Jeff Jarrett defeated Rhino to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship just two days after Rhino wins the title at Bound for Glory.

6 years ago today in Mexico City, Mexico, Blue Demon, Jr. defeated Adam Pearce to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The win made him the first Mexican-born wrestler and the first masked wrestler in the history of the NWA to win the "ten pounds of gold".

5 years ago today, WWE presented Bragging Rights (WWE Network link) from the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 13,562 were in attendance, with 181,000 homes watching on PPV, up from 153,000 buys for Cyber Sunday which was held around this time in 2008. The hook of the show (besides a one-hour Ironman match)

• In a preshow dark match, Christian defeated Paul Burchill to retain the ECW Championship.
• The Miz defeated John Morrison.
• Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix and Natalya defeated Melina, Kelly Kelly and Gail Kim.
• The Undertaker defeated CM Punk, Batista, and Rey Mysterio in a Fatal Four Way match to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
• Team SmackDown (Chris Jericho, Kane, Finlay, R-Truth, Matt Hardy & The Hart Dynasty) defeated Team RAW (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Big Show, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston and Mark Henry).
• John Cena defeated Randy Orton 6-5 in a hardcore 60 minute Iron Man Match to win the WWE Championship. Cena scored the deciding fall by submission with five seconds remaining. Had Cena lost, he would have been forced to leave RAW.

4 years ago today on RAW from Green Bay, Wisconsin, Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel defeat John Cena and David Otunga to win the WWE Tag Team Championship, and by win, I mean David Otunga was forced by Wade Barrett to lay down for Slater and Gabriel.