This Day in Wrestling History (February 21)

22 years ago today, WCW presented Superbrawl III (WWE Network link) from the Asheville Civic Center in Asheville, North Carolina. About 6,500 were in attendance, with 85,000 homes watching on PPV, though some estimates have the number of home buys as high as 95,000. Either way, it's down sharply from the previous year (160,000 home buys). This was the first WCW PPV of the Eric Bischoff/Ole Anderson era, as Bill Watts was fired a month earlier for racist and homophobic remarks he had made in an interview.

• Flyin' Brian & Steve Austin defeated Erik Watts & Marcus Alexander Bagwell.
• Too Cold Scorpio defeated Chris Benoit.
• Davey Boy Smith defeated Bill Irwin.
• Cactus Jack defeated Paul Orndorff in a Falls Count Anywhere match.
• The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) defeated The Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane & Tom Prichard) by disqualification in a Smoky Mountain Wrestling Tag Team Championship match.
• Dustin Rhodes defeated Maxx Payne by disqualification in a WCW United States Heavyweight Championship match.
• Barry Windham defeated The Great Muta to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
• Big Van Vader defeated Sting in a "White Castle Of Fear" leather strap match.

WCW SuperBrawl IX (1999) - nWo vs Konnan & Rey... by theanunnakilish

16 years ago today, WCW presented Superbrawl IX (WWE Network link) from the Oakland Arena in Oakland, California. 15,880 were in attendance, with 485,000 homes watching on PPV.

• Booker T defeated Disco Inferno.
• Chris Jericho defeated Perry Saturn by countout.
• Kidman defeated Chavo Guerrero Jr. to retain the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.
• Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko defeated Barry Windham & Curt Hennig in a WCW World Tag Team Title Tournament match. As the tournament was double elimination, the tournament was not over, as coming into the match, only Benoit & Malenko had a loss. Translation: both teams had to face each other again in a winner-take-all match....
• ...which lasted all of 20 seconds. Barry Windham & Curt Hennig defeated Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko to win the vacant WCW World Tag Team Championship.
• The Outsiders (Kevin Nash & Scott Hall) defeated Konnan & Rey Mysterio Jr. in a hair vs. mask match. A few side nuggets: it was Mysterio's mask against...Elizabeth's hair. Yeah, really. With the win by the Outsiders, Mysterio was forced to unmask. Small problem: Mysterio had a major bout in Mexico a few days later against Psicosis...in a mask vs. mask match. Needless to say, Mexican fans were none too happy about Mysterio disgracing his career in such a manner by wearing the mask again after losing it. Rey went without the mask for the remainder of his WCW run, and when WWE snapped him up finally in the summer of 2002, Rey was remasked.
• Scott Steiner defeated Diamond Dallas Page to retain the WCW World Television Championship.
• Scott Hall defeated Roddy Piper to retain the WCW United States Championship.
• Goldberg defeated Bam Bam Bigelow.
• Hollywood Hogan defeated Ric Flair to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

10 years ago today on RAW from State College, Pennsylvania, Chris Mordetsky makes his WWF television debut as "The Masterpiece" Chris Masters. He defeats Steven Richards with the Masterlock. During the bout, Richards suffers a broken orbital bone at the hands of Masters.

9 years ago today during a Smackdown taping in Richmond, Virginia, Smackdown general manager Theodore Long adds Rey Mysterio to the World Heavyweight Championship match at Wrestlemania 22, making it a triple threat match featuring Kurt Angle, Randy Orton, and Mysterio.

5 years ago today, WWE presented Elimination Chamber (No Way Out for German audiences) (WWE Network link) from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. About 17,000 were in attendance, with 285,000 homes watching on PPV. Of note, The Undertaker suffered first and second degree burns when mistimed pyrotechnics went off on his coat during his entrance. Throughout the bout, he would douse himself with water handed to him from doctors through the cage.

• In a preshow dark match, Christian defeated Ezekiel Jackson.
• John Cena defeated Sheamus , Triple H, Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase, and Kofi Kingston in a Elimination Chamber match to win the WWE Championship.
• Post-match, Mr.McMahon orders another championship match, pitting Cena against Batista.
• Batista defeated John Cena in just 31 seconds to win the WWE Championship.
• Drew McIntyre defeated Kane to retain the Intercontinental Championship.
• Michelle McCool and Layla defeated Maryse and Gail Kim.
• The Miz defeated MVP to retain the WWE United States Championship.
• Chris Jericho defeated The Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, John Morrison, R-Truth, and CM Punk in a Elimination Chamber match to win the World Heavyweight Championship.

4 years ago today on RAW from Fresno, California, both The Undertaker and Triple H made their returns to WWE programming and without saying a word, made a match with one another for Wrestlemania XXVII. Of note, John Cena brought back his Doctor of Thuganomics gimmick and cut a rap-style promo on The Rock. On the same show, it was announced that Hacksaw Jim Duggan would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Oh, and the WWE Tag Team Championship changed hands twice (or not at all depending on how you look at it). The Miz and John Cena defeated The Corre (Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel) to win the WWE Tag Team Championship...only to lose the championships again less than five minutes later back to Slater and Gabriel after Wade Barrett cashed in their rematch clause on their behalf.

2 years ago today on Impact, Velvet Sky defeated Tara, Brooke Tessmacher, and Gail Kim to win the TNA Knockouts Championship.

1 year ago today, Ring of Honor presented their 12^th Anniversary Show from the National Guard Armory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

• In a dark match, Caprice Coleman defeated Amasis.
• Matt Taven defeated Silas Young.
• The Decade (BJ Whitmer, Jimmy Jacobs & Roderick Strong) defeated Adam Page, Cedric Alexander & Mark Briscoe.
• Tommaso Ciampa defeated Hanson to retain the ROH World Television Championship.
• Michael Elgin defeated Raymond Rowe.
• Jay Briscoe defeated Michael Bennett.
• reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) defeated Adrenaline RUSH (ACH & Tadarius Thomas) to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championship.
• AJ Styles defeated Jay Lethal.
• Adam Cole defeated Chris Hero to retain the ROH World Championship.
• Kevin Steen defeated Cliff Compton in a Philadelphia Street Fight.