This Day in Wrestling History (May 27)

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27 years ago today in Sendai, Japan, Owen Hart defeated Hiroshi Hase to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. On the same show, Tatsumi Fujinami and Riki Choshu fought to a no contest for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The championship is held up pending a rematch. The rematch doesn't occur until nearly a month later in Osaka, with Fujinami reclaiming the title.

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21 years ago today, AAA presented Triplemania II-C from El Toreo in Tijuana, Mexico. This was the last of a three-show Triplemania series for 1994.

• Super Amigo, El Plumo, and Depredator defeated May Flowers, Pimpinela Escarlata, and Rudy Reyna in a lucha libre rules match.
• Rambo, Magnate and Espanto, Jr. defeated Winners, Super Caló and El Solar in a lucha libre rules match.
• El Torero, Rey Misterio, and Rey Misterio Jr. defeated Fuerza Guerrera, Fishman, and Pirata Morgan in a lucha libre rules match.
• Volador, Tinieblas Jr. and Lizmark, Jr. defeated Love Machine, Miguel Pérez, Jr. and Misterioso by disqualification in a lucha libre rules match.
• Blue Panther defeated Octagón via forfeit to win the Mexican National Middleweight Championship.
• Perro Aguayo, Lizmark, El Hijo del Santo, and Máscara Sagrada defeated La Parka, Psicosis, Black Cat and El Satánico 2-1 in a best of three falls atomicos match.
  • Lizmark pinned El Satánico
  • Black Cat won by submission
  • Máscara Sagrada pinned El Satánico
• Los Hermanos Dinamita (Cien Caras, Máscara Año 2000 and Universo 2000) defeated Los Payasos (Coco Rojo, Coco Verde and Coco Amarillo) in a steel cage match.
• Konnan defeated Jake Roberts 2-0 in a best of three falls hair versus hair match. With the loss, Roberts had his head shaved.

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19 years ago today, WCW presented the first two-hour edition of Monday Nitro from the Macon Coliseum in Macon, Georgia. The show is noted for the return of Scott Hall to WCW after a four-year absence. Of course, Hall was last seen as Razor Ramon in the WWF. He enters through the crowd during a match and was never acknowledged by name. In essence, he comes in seemingly as an outsider from the WWF, letting Eric Bischoff know he was declaring war on WCW. The episode is up in full on WWE Network and you can watch it right here.

18 years ago today in Sapporo, Japan, Kenta Kobashi and Johnny Ace defeated The Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue) to win the All Japan Unified World Tag Team Championship.

<iframe frameborder="0" width="480" height="270" src="//www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x1w2wwi" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1w2wwi_rob-van-dam-vs-eddie-guerrero-raw-05-27-2002-ladder-match_sport" target="_blank">Rob Van Dam vs Eddie Guerrero (Raw 05.27...</a> <i>by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/zep81videos" target="_blank">zep81videos</a></i>

13 years ago today on RAW, Rob Van Dam defeated Eddie Guerrero in a ladder match to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship. On the same show, Terri Runnels defeated Steven Richards to win the WWE Hardcore Championship...only to lose it back to Richards a few seconds later. Runnels is the last woman to win the WWE hardcore title.

10 years ago today, just one day after TNA cancels Impact tapings for the foreseeable future, Fox Sports Net airs their final contractually obligated episode of Impact. The show goes dark for a few months (except for the Internet) before finding a home on Spike TV.

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Happy 33^rd birthday to Natalie Katherine Neidhart, best known to wrestling fans as Natalya. The world's first third-generation female wrestler (seriously), Natalie trained in the famous Hart family dungeon. She wrestled on the independent circuit from 2000 to 2006 before signing with WWE in 2007. She worked for their developmental territories Deep South, FCW, and OVW before being called up to the main roster in April 2008. She managed her cousin David Hart Smith and her longtime boyfriend (later husband) Tyson Kidd as The Hart Dynasty and managed them to the tag team championship. In 2010, Natalya became a champion herself, winning the WWE Divas Championship. Since July 2013, Neidhart has been a central cast member of the WWE reality series Total Divas.

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It's a happy 60th birthday to Eric Bischoff. Best known for his long stint in World Championship Wrestling as an announcer and executive, Bischoff broke into the wrestling business during the dying days of the AWA. Bischoff auditioned for the WWF in 1990, but was not hired, leading him to try for the same gig in WCW in 1991. Eric took over for Bill Watts following his resignation in 1993 (the promotion of Bischoff eventually led to Jim Ross leaving WCW for the WWF). The next year, he was executive vice-president (and by 1995, president) of WCW.

During his tenure, he turned WCW into a major money-maker for Turner, increasing the number of PPVs, moving TV production to Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, and signed big name talent best known for their time in the WWF. His chase for money, mainstream exposure, and ratings would catch up to him; by 1999, attendance, revenue, and ratings were plummeting, leading to Eric's dismissal from the company—only to be brought back a few months later. Bischoff was in the process of buying WCW, but with the sudden cancellation of their TV programming, its backers dropped out, paving the way for the WWF to buy it.

Bischoff landed in WWE in 2002, primarily as the on-screen general manager of RAW, but also was a contributor to their creative team. During his three years as GM, he is credited with creating RAW Roulette and the Elimination Chamber match. He was "fired" in late 2005 to work on his autobiography, Controversy Creates Cash. He made a couple cameo appearances following his "firing".

In late 2009, Bischoff joined TNA and debuted on the first episode of Impact of 2010 alongside Hulk Hogan. He assumed the same role there as he did in WWE, doing so until 2012 when he took on a backstage role. When Hogan left TNA in late 2013, Bischoff was soon sent home, allowing his contract to expire. Earlier this month, he, his son, and business partner Jason Hervey sued TNA for unpaid salary.