This Day in Wrestling History (March 3)

93 years ago today in Wichita, Kansas, Ed "The Strangler" Lewis defeated Stanislaus Zbyszko to win the world heavyweight championship.

Erik Watts vs. Paul Orndorff TV Title by Stinger1981

22 years ago today at a WCW Power Hour taping in Macon, Georgia, Paul Orndorff defeated Erik Watts to win the tournament for the vacated WCW World Television Championship.

Ultimo Dragon vs. Eddie Guerrero by wcwAttitude

18 years ago today, WCW held Nitro from The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia. This was the final time a WCW event was held in the building (there were 77 in all), as the arena would be demolished later in the year, with the Phillips Arena built in its place. In a featured bout, Eddie Guerrero defeated Ultimo Dragon to retain the WCW United States Championship. In the show's main event, The Giant and Lex Luger versus the Steiner Brothers went to a no contest when the nWo interfered.

18 years ago today, WWF aired the final Monday Night RAW before the name change to RAW is WAR from Berlin, Germany. The show featured The British Bulldog becoming the first ever WWF European Champion, defeating tag team partner Owen Hart in the final match. For full results, click here.

7 years ago today, the WWE Cruiserweight Championship was officially retired, with Hornswoggle recognized as its last champion. The title was retired the previous September on an episode of Smackdown by Vickie Guerrero, but the championship's retirement was made official on WWE's website when it was removed from the active championship listing. The title, born in 1991 as the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship, was revived in 1996 and brought over in 2001 following WWF's purchase of WCW. The title served as a cornerstone for Smackdown during the early days of the Brand Extension era. Gregory Helms' 385-day run is the longest in the title's history (partly due to the title being phased during much of that period), but Rey Mysterio holds the most championships with eight, his first coming in 1996 for WCW and his last coming in 2003 for WWE. In all, thirty-eight men and two women (Madusa and Daffney) held the title.

8 years ago today, Naruki Doi & Shingo defeated The Briscoe Brothers (Mark & Jay) to win the Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championship.

6 years ago today, Mr. T in an interview with The UK Mirror revealed he had turned down an invitation to go into the WWE Hall of Fame. His reason: Pete Rose got in first:

"WWE asked me to be in the Hall of Fame and I turned it down. You know why? They put Pete Rose in the wrestling Hall of Fame. This guy can't even get into his own Hall of Fame.  After they put Rose in they came and asked me and I said "You don't insult me! You don't put Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame before me! I ain't going to be a part of that.  They put him in and he only did one WrestleMania, and he didn't even wrestle."

Rose actually appeared in three Wrestlemanias (XIV, XV, and 2000), one more than Mr. T. Drew Carey, who never appeared in a Wrestlemania, also got in ahead of Mr. T. As for the former B.A. Baracus, he would get in the Hall in 2014.

4 years ago today, Ring of Honor announced that Kevin Kelly was signed to their promotion as an announcer.

1 year ago today, WWE announces that William Moody, best known as Paul Bearer, would be posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. The announcement came almost a year to the day of Moody's death.

1 year ago today, The Usos (Jimmy & Jey) defeated The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg Jesse James & Bad Ass Billy Gunn) to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.