This Day in Wrestling History (October 8)

24 years ago today in Memphis, Tennessee, Jerry Lawler wins a 21-man tournament to win the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship. The tournament was commissioned when Snowman no-shows a title defense and abruptly left the company. Other participants included Terry Funk, Dick Murdock, Dick Slater, Eddie Gilbert, Jeff Jarrett, Danny Davis, Steve Keirn, and Mark Callous, the future Undertaker.

23 years ago today in Montgomery, Alabama, The York Foundation (Richard Morton, Thomas Rich, and Terrance Taylor) defeated Big Josh, Dustin Rhodes, and Tom "Z-Man" Zenk to win the WCW Six-Man Tag Team Championship. The trio would be the last six-man champions, as the belts were abandoned a month later.

15 years ago today on an episode of ECW on TNN, Tammy Lynn Sytch gives a candid interview with an off-camera Paul Heyman, talking about women and drugs in the wrestling business, the death of Louie Spicolli, and her own issues with drugs and alcohol. At the end of the interview, she proclaimed she was back. The two-part interview received quite a bit of criticism, partly for the frank nature in which Tammy speaks on her past issues, partly because some questioned her sincerity. In the end, Tammy and her husband Chris Candido ended up being released from ECW by the end of the year.

13 years ago today on RAW from Indianapolis, Indiana, Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Kurt Angle to win the WWF Championship for the sixth and final time. On the same episode, The Hardy Boyz (Matt & Jeff) defeated Booker T and Test to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

13 years ago today, Vince Russo announces that he was going to retire from wrestling when his Time-Warner contract expired in two days. In an unsurprising swerve, he did not retire; in fact, he joined TNA less than a year later. He's still very much in the business today. Steve Corino also announces he intends to retire once he lost the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. He would lose the title in December and surely enough, he did not retire either, and despite going on a "retirement tour" in 2007, Corino is still in the business today as the color analyst for Ring of Honor.

12 years ago today, Lilian Garcia releases her debut single "Shout" on Universal Records, not WWE's music label Smackdown Records, further speculating that their label would be shut down. It indeed was, but was reborn as WWE Music Group in 2006, a subsidiary of Warner Music.

8 years ago today, WWE presented No Mercy (WWE Network link) from the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. About 9,000 were in attendance with just 197,000 homes watching on PPV. That's down from 230,000 for the 2005 edition, and the second lowest buyrate for a WWE show that year (the lowest would be the infamous December to Dismember). The show featured the much-hyped debut of MVP.

• In a preshow dark match, Jimmy Wang Yang defeated Sylvan.
• Matt Hardy defeated Gregory Helms.
• Paul London and Brian Kendrick defeated K.C. James and Idol Stevens to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship.
• Montel Vontavious Porter defeated Marty Garner.
• Mr. Kennedy defeated The Undertaker by disqualification.
• Rey Mysterio defeated Chavo Guerrero in a Falls Count Anywhere match.
• Chris Benoit defeated William Regal.
• King Booker defeated Bobby Lashley, Batista, and Finlay in a Fatal Four-Way match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.

7 years ago today, Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Yuji Nagata to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

2 years ago today in at NJPW King of Pro Wrestling in Tokyo, Japan, Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith, Jr. defeated Ten-Koji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.

2 years ago today following the lowest-rated non-holiday RAW since 1997, Brian Gerwitz was removed from his position as head writer for RAW. He remained at the company as a consultant.

2 years ago today, WWE Hall of Famer Tammy Lynn Sytch was arrested-again-and charged with violating a protective order, disorderly conduct, and criminal mischief after police were called to the home of her boyfriend Damien Darling. This would be her fourth arrest in a month after being arrested on three consecutive days in September. She was released on $25,000 bond...and arrested again the next day on one count of third degree burglary and three counts of violating a protective order.