This Day in Wrestling History (July 19): The Road To Minus Five Stars

55 years ago today in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Verne Gagne and Leo Nomellini defeated Murder Inc. (Tiny Mills and Stan Kowalski) to win the AWA World Tag Team Championship.

18 years ago today, ECW presented Heatwave '97 from the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

• Mikey Whipwreck & Spike Dudley defeated Jason & PG-13 (JC Ice & Wolfie D) in a 2-on-3 handicap match.
• Axl Rotten defeated Tracy Smothers.
• John Kronus defeated Pablo Marquez.
• Bam Bam Bigelow & Chris Candido defeat Balls Mahoney & Chris Chetti.
• Taz defeated Lance Storm via submission to retain the ECW Television Championship.
• Terry Funk defeated Shane Douglas by disqualification to retain the ECW Heavyweight Championship.
• The Gangstas (Mustafa & New Jack) defeat The Dudley Boyz (Buh Buh Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley) in a steel cage weapons match to win the ECW Tag Team Championship.
• Jerry Lawler, Rob Van Dam, and Sabu versus Rick Rude, The Sandman & Tommy Dreamer was ruled a no contest. Rick Rude turned on Sandman and Dreamer, leading to a long brawl. The brawl also served as the final original ECW appearance for Jerry Lawler. Lawler's final appearance came eight years later at the reunion show ECW One Night Stand.

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12 years ago today, Ring of Honor presented Death Before Dishonor from the Rex Plex in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

• Low Ki defeated Deranged.
• Matt Stryker defeated Jimmy Rave.
• The Texas Wrestling Academy (Don Juan, Fast Eddie, Hotstuff Hernandez & Rudy Boy Gonzales) defeated The Carnage Crew (DeVito, Justin Credible, Loc & Masada) in an tag team weapons match.
• The Purists (John Walters & Tony Mamaluke) defeated The Outcast Killaz (Diablo Santiago & Oman Tortuga).
• Tom Carter defeated Doug Williams.
• BJ Whitmer defeated Colt Cabana, Dan Maff, and Homicide in a four corners survival match for the #1 Contender's Trophy.
• Special K (Angel Dust, Dixie, Hydro & Mikey Whipwreck) defeated The Backseat Boyz (Johnny Kashmere & Trent Acid) and The SAT (Joel Maximo & Jose Maximo) in an tag team scramble match.
• Jeff Hardy defeated Joey Matthews and Krazy K in a three-way dance.
• CM Punk defeated Raven in a Dog Collar match.
• AJ Styles & The Amazing Red defeated The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championship.
• Samoa Joe defeated Paul London to retain the ROH World Championship.

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6 years ago today, TNA presented Victory Road from the Impact Zone at Universal Orlando. The show was a runaway winner for Worst Major Show by Wrestling Observer Newsletter, with 82% of the first place votes.

• Angelina Love defeated Tara to win the TNA Knockouts Championship.
• Matt Morgan defeated Daniels.
• Abyss defeated Dr. Stevie in a no disqualification match.
• Team 3D (Brother Devon & Brother Ray) defeated The British Invasion (Brutus Magnus & Doug Williams) to retain the IWGP Tag Team Championship.
• Jenna Morasca defeated Sharmell. This match won Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Worst Worked Match of 2009. Bryan Alvarez famously savaged this match in an infamous MINUS FIVE STARS review for Wrestling Observer Radio.
• Kevin Nash defeated AJ Styles to win the TNA Legends Championship.
• Booker T & Scott Steiner defeated Beer Money Inc. (James Storm & Robert Roode) to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship.
• Samoa Joe defeated Sting. The match featured the TNA debut of Taz, who left WWE just before Wrestlemania 25.
• Kurt Angle defeated Mick Foley to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.