This Day in Pro Wrestling History (July 26)

28 years ago today, Dusty Rhodes (at the time 1/3 of the NWA Six-Man Tag Team Champions) defeated Ric Flair in a steel cage match to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina.

28 years ago today, the WWF in their red-hotness ran three events in one night in three different cities. At the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, WWF Tag Team Champions The US Express (Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo) defeated Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff in the main event. In the featured bout of the show at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Middletown, New York, Andre the Giant defeated Big John Studd. But clearly, your winner is the St. Louis Arena in St. Louis, Missouri. They got the WWF Champion Hulk Hogan on their card. In their main event, Hogan & Paul Orndorff defeated Bob Orton Jr. and Roddy Piper.

16 years ago today, WWF presented Fully Loaded: In Your House (WWE Network link) from the Selland Arena in Fresno, California (the same arena that saw Mike Tyson's WWF debut six months prior). 9,855 were in attendance, with about 329,000 homes watching on PPV.

• Val Venis defeated Jeff Jarrett.
• D'Lo Brown defeated X-Pac.
• Faarooq and Scorpio defeated Terry Funk and Justin Bradshaw.
• Mark Henry defeated Vader.
• The Disciples of Apocalypse (8-Ball and Skull) defeated LOD 2000 (Hawk and Animal).
• Owen Hart defeated Ken Shamrock in a Dungeon match. Dan Severn was the referee for the match.
• The Rock and Triple H went to a 30-minute time limit draw in a two-out-of-three falls match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship, with each man scoring one fall each. The Rock scored the first fall with a Rock Bottom at 20:23, then Triple H tied it up via a DDT by Chyna at 25:21. Triple H hit the Pedigree on The Rock just as time expired.
• Sable defeated Jacqueline in a bikini contest, but the decision would be reversed the next night on RAW as Sable didn't exactly wear a bikini-she wore hand prints painted to her chest.
• The Undertaker and WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Kane and Mankind to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.

15 years ago today at a RAW is WAR taping in Columbus, Ohio, D-Lo Brown defeats Jeff Jarrett in a title-for-title match to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship. D-Lo's European Championship was also at stake in the match.

11 years ago today, Combat Zone Wrestling presented Tournament of Death II from Rack's Bar and Billiards in Dover Delaware. In the final match, Nick Mondo defeated Ian Rotten in  a Barbed Wire 200 Light Tubes match. Mondo also defeated Zandig and JC Bailey in earlier rounds. Other participants include Nate Webb, Necro Butcher, Corporal Robinson, and Nick Gage. WARNING: THE ABOVE HIGHLIGHT VIDEO MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL VIEWERS.

11 years ago today, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla was born at Frank and Sons in City of Industry, California. In the featured bout, NWA World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles defeated Frankie Kazarian.

10 years ago today was a big episode of RAW from the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On the undercard, Randy Orton was the last man standing in a 20-man battle royal to earn a World Heavyweight Championship match at Summerslam.  (part 1) (part 2)  In the main event, Chris Benoit defeated Triple H four falls to three in a 60-minute Ironman match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. Benoit, down 3-1, tied the match at 47:57 via the Crossface, then won it with Benoit  pinning Triple H following a Rock Bottom by Eugene with just six seconds remaining.

5 years ago, WWE presented Night of Champiions (WWE Network link) from the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 17,774 were in attendance, with 267,000 homes watching on PPV, down slightly from the 2008 edition. This was the last Night of Champions to be presented in July, as every one since has taken place in September.

• In a preshow dark match, Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspard and JTG) defeated The Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd and David Hart Smith).
• Jeri-Show (Chris Jericho and The Big Show) defeated The Legacy (Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase) to retain the Unified Tag Team Championship.
• Christian defeated Tommy Dreamer to win the ECW Championship.
• Kofi Kingston defeated Carlito, Primo Colon, MVP, Jack Swagger and The Miz in a Six Man Challenge to retain the WWE United States Championship.
• Michelle McCool defeated Melina to retain the WWE Women's Championship.
• Randy Orton defeated Triple H and John Cena in a triple threat match to retain the WWE Championship.
• Mickie James defeated Maryse to win the WWE Diva's Championship.
• Rey Mysterio defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
• Jeff Hardy defeated CM Punk to win the World Heavyweight Championship.

Happy 31^st birthday to Chris Lindey, best known as ROH triple crown champion and the self-professed "Messiah of the Backbreaker" Roderick Strong. Though it's a few years old, check out this profile from The Fight Network.

Happy 58^th birthday to Thomas Richardson, aka "Wildfire" Tommy Rich. Rich defeated Harley Race to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1981, but lost the title just four days later.

Today would have also been the 47^th birthday of Anthony Durante, best known as Pitbull #2 of ECW fame. He and his girlfriend at the time Dianna Hulsey, were found dead in their home in September 2003. He was just 36.