This Day in Wrestling History (March 16)

21 years ago (give or take a day or two--the date differs depending on who tells the story) today in Munich, Germany, Mick Foley, then wrestling as Cactus Jack, loses an ear during a match with Big Van Vader. During the bout, Foley performed a hangman spot, where a wrestler is tied between two ropes by the head. The spot, usually safe, yet painful, was made even more so with WCW using elevator cables wrapped in rubber instead of actual ropes wrapped in rubber or tape. The ropes were tied to the maximum due to 2 Cold Scorpio complaining about the ropes being too loose. So when Foley was tied to the ropes by the head, blood was not flowing to his brain, and it could have ended badly for him in a hurry: cerebal anoxia (that's oxygen deprivation, kids), possible brain damage, even death could have resulted from this. Mick frees himself eventually, but loses 2/3 of his ear in the process. The ear was put on ice and Foley following his match was rushed to a hospital to get surgery to reattach the cartilage from the ear to his head so that a full reconstruction would be possible. Foley put off said full reconstruction because he and Kevin Sullivan were set to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship at Slamboree, which they did. It was Foley's only championship in WCW. Though WCW had a potential storyline dropped right on their lap, Foley's ear loss was never followed up on.

Needless to say, the video which shows Foley losing his ear is not suitable for all viewers.

21 years ago today in Tokyo, Japan, Hiroshi Hase defeated Rick Rude to win the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship. He holds the title for just eight days before Rude regains it from Hase.

18 years ago today, WCW presented Uncensored (WWE Network link) from the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, South Carolina. 9,286 were in attendance, with 325,000 homes watching on PPV.

• In a dark match, Ice Train defeated Maxx.
• Dean Malenko defeated Eddie Guerrero to win the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship.
• Último Dragón defeated Psychosis.
• Glacier defeated Mortis.
• Buff Bagwell defeated Scotty Riggs in a strap match.
• Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray) defeated The Public Enemy (Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge) in a Texas Tornado match.
• Prince Iaukea defeated Rey Misterio, Jr. to retain the WCW World Television Championship.
• Team nWo (Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Hollywood Hogan and Randy Savage) (with Dennis Rodman) defeated Team Piper (Roddy Piper, Chris Benoit, Steve McMichael and Jeff Jarrett) and Team WCW (Lex Luger, The Giant and Scott Steiner) in a three-team elimination match. Entry was via War Games Rules (5 minute first segment, followed by new entrants at 2 minute intervals. Elimination was via pinfall, submission, or over the top rope. Rick Steiner was to be a part of Team WCW, but was assumed to be attacked by the nWo and did not participate in the match. With the nWo victory, they could freely challenge for any championship as they please. Had Team WCW won, the nWo would have been forced to vacate all championships and been banned for three years. Had Team Piper won, Roddy Piper would have faced Hulk Hogan in a steel cage. Post-match, Sting made his first WCW in-ring appearance post-match since the previous September and decimated the nWo. The order of elimination for the curious:
  • Scott Hall ducked Giant, who went over the top rope and was eliminated.
  • Kevin Nash eliminated Jeff Jarrett (over the top rope).
  • Scott Hall eliminated Steve McMichael (over the top rope).
  • Scott Hall eliminated Scott Steiner (over the top rope).
  • Hulk Hogan eliminated Roddy Piper with help from an interfering Dennis Rodman (over the top rope).
  • Scott Hall and Kevin Nash co-eliminated Chris Benoit (over the top rope), eliminating Team Piper.
  • Lex Luger eliminated Randy Savage (submission).
  • Lex Luger eliminated Kevin Nash (over the top rope).
  • Lex Luger eliminated Scott Hall (submission)
  • Hulk Hogan eliminated Lex Luger (pinfall), eliminating Team WCW and winning the match for Team nWo.

Owen Hart vs. Triple-H European Title by Stinger1981

17 years ago today at a RAW is WAR taping in Phoenix, Arizona, Triple H defeated Owen Hart via referee stoppage to win the WWF European Championship.

8 years ago today, MTV removes their scheduled airing of the final episode of Wrestling Society X. The listing was on MTV's website and on TV Guide up until the day of the airing. No official reason was given for the episode's removal, though one MTV sourced claimed the episode was never officially set to air. The episode, main evented by an exploding steel cage match, never aired in the States. It was finally made available when the series is released on DVD.

7 years ago today at Rey de Reyes in Monterrey, Mexico Cibernetico defeated El Mesias to win the AAA Heavyweight Championship. Cibernetico holds the title until he legitimately quits the promotion in October. On the same show, El Zorro defeated Abismo Negro, Jr., Mr. Niebla, and Alan Stone in an elimination match to win the 2008 Rey de Reyes tournament.

4 years later, TNA announces via press release that anyone who ordered Victory Road from a few days earlier that sent their cable bill to a specific address would get six months of TNAOnDemand. The release in part:

TNA Wrestling strives to give fans who purchase our pay-per-views as close to a full three-hour event as possible. This past Sunday's "TNA Victory Road" fell short of that standard. Your support of TNA is never taken for granted. To show you how we value that support, we would like to offer six months of free access to the TNAondemand.com library.