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21 years ago today at a WCW Saturday Night taping in Atlanta, Harlem Heat (Booker T & Stevie Ray) defeat Stars and Stripes (Marcus Bagwell & The Patriot) to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship. It would be the first of ten championship reigns for the real-life brothers. The match does not air until a little more than a month later.
Disco Inferno vs. Perry Saturn TV title
18 years ago today on Nitro from Buffalo, New York (WWE Network link), Disco Inferno defeated Perry Saturn to win the WCW World Television Championship.
18 years ago today on RAW is WAR from Portland, Maine (WWE Network link), The Rock regains the WWF Intercontinental Championship just one night after losing the title to Stone Cold Steve Austin at D-Generation X: In Your House. Citing that he had nothing to prove by beating him again, Austin forfeits the championship to The Rock without a fight. He then stuns The Rock and repossesses the belt, only to throw it in a river in New Hampshire the next night.
Austin formally begins his pursuit of the WWF Championship following the forfeit, culminating with him winning the title four months later at Wrestlemania XIV.
14 years ago today in Glasgow, Scotland, Psicosis defeated Juventud Guerrera to win the World Wrestling All-Stars International Cruiserweight Championship.
10 years ago today, ABC announces that WWE diva Stacy Keibler would appear on the second season of Dancing with the Stars. She eventually makes all the way to the finals, finishing third.
9 years ago today, WWE presented Tribute to the Troops (WWE Network link) from Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq. The show would air on Christmas Day.
- John Cena defeated Edge.
- CM Punk defeated Shelton Benjamin.
- The Undertaker defeated Johnny Nitro.
- Bobby Lashley defeated Hardcore Holly.
- Umaga defeated Jeff Hardy.
- Carlito defeated Randy Orton.
7 years ago today, WWE revives the Slammy Awards on a special extended edition of RAW (WWE Network link). These were the first Slammys presented by the company since 1997. They've been presented yearly ever since.
- Superstar of the Year: Chris Jericho
- Match of the Year: Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania XXIV)
- Diva of the Year: Beth Phoenix
- OMG Moment of the Year: CM Punk's Money in the Bank cash-in win on the June 30 RAW
- Couple of the Year: Edge & Vickie Guerrero
- Tag Team of the Year: John Morrison & The Miz
- Finishing Maneuver of the Year: Evan Bourne's Shooting Star Press
- DAMN! Moment of the Year: The Great Khali hosts the Kiss Cam on the November 7 Smackdown
- Extreme Moment of the Year: Jeff Hardy's Swanton Bomb from the top of the RAW set on the January 14 RAW
- Best WWE.com Exclusive: "The Dirt Sheet"
- Breakout Star of the Year: Vladimir Kozlov
- Best Musical Performance: R-Truth for "What's Up?" on the September 15 Smackdown
- Announce Team of the Year: Todd Grisham and Matt Striker
- Best Impersonation: Charlie Hass as the Glamahaas on the October 27 RAW
1 year ago today, WWE presented the 2014 Slammy Awards on a special edition of RAW (WWE Network link) from Greenville, South Carolina. In a company first, all of the show's awards were decided via fan vote through social media services, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Vine, and Snapchat.
- Superstar of the Year: Roman Reigns
- Match of the Year: Team Cena vs. Team Authority (Survivor Series)
- "This is Awesome!" Moment of the Year: Sting debuts
- Diva of the Year: AJ Lee
- LOL Moment of the Year: Damien Mizdow as The Miz's stunt double
- OMG Shocking Moment of the Year: Brock Lesnar ends the Undertaker's Wrestlemania streak
- Extreme Moment of the Year: Chris Jericho's cross body from the top of the steel cage on Bray Wyatt
- Surprise Return of the Year: Ultimate Warrior
- Tag Team of the Year: The Usos
- "Tell Me You Didn't Just Say That" Insult of the Year: The Rock insults Rusev and Lana
- Hashtag of the Year: #RKOOuttaNowhere
- Rivalry of the Year: Daniel Bryan vs. The Authority
- Fan Participation Award for Most Resounding Chant: "You sold out!" at Seth Rollins
- Breakout Star of the Year: Dean Ambrose
- Double Cross of the Year: Seth Rollins turns on The Shield
- Anti-Gravity Moment of the Year: Seth Rollins jumps off the balcony (Payback)
- Best Couple of the Year: Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella
- NXT Superstar of the Year: Sami Zayn
- RAW Guest Star of the Year: Hugh Jackman
- Animal of the Year: The Bunny
- Best Actor: The Rock
- Twitter Social Champion: Dolph Ziggler
- Faction of the Year: The Shield
It's a happy 51st birthday today for joshi legend Chigusa Nagoyo.
Born in Omura, Nagasaki, Japan, Naguyo in her prime was a national hero in her native land as one-half of the Crush Gals with Lioness Asuka.
The duo were the faces of All Japan Womens Pro Wrestling in the 1980s (AJW), winning their tag team championship three times. Their success wasn't just limited to the ring; the duo had several top ten pop music singles. Their battles with Dump Matsumoto's Gokuaku Domei (Atrocious Alliance) were some of the most watched shows in Japan at the time, with sometimes as many as one in eight televisions watching AJW's weekly show. Matsumo and Naguyo's rivalry was so vicious, the two fought in a hair versus hair match—twice, with each woman winning once (Matsumto in August 1985, Nagoyo in November 1986).
Following Matsumoto's mandated retirement, Nagoyo would chase the WWWA World Heavyweight Championship, winning it in August 1988 from Yukari Omori. Nagoyo would then feud with her longtime tag partner Asuka over the title, with Lioness winning it in January 1989. Having reached age 26, AJW's mandated retirement age, Chigusa was forced to hang up her boots, wrestling one last show in May of that year. Asuka would also retire in 1989.
In 1995, with the retirement age lifted, Naguyo returned to the ring for her own organization, GAEA Japan. Initially debuting as one of the top faces of the company, her longtime partner Lioness Asuka would join the company in 1998 and would become the company's storyline president in early 1999. The next year, the Crush Gals reunited as CRUSH 2000. The duo would win one last tag team championship together in 2004 before Asuka was forced to call it a career due to a neck injury. Nagoyo retired in April 2005, just one week after wrestling in GAEA Japan's final event.
Since retiring, Chigusa's wrestled, albeit rarely, and largely in independent events. She briefly went into producing shows in the mid-2000s before disappearing from the wrestling business altogether for a few years. She returned to wrestling for Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling in 2013, and returned to the ring herself in March 2014. Today, she's got another promotion in the works, Marvelous, set to launch in spring 2016.
Nagoyo, often cited as an inspiration for many joshis, is a member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame class of 1997 (her partner Lioness Asuka would join her in 1999), and the AJW Hall of Fame class of 1999.