This Day in Wrestling History (July 28): The PG Era Begins

28 years ago today in Trinidad, Wendi Richter defeated Monster Ripper to win the WWC Womens Championship. Richter would hold the title until she left the company in 1990.

20 years ago today in Middletown, New York, Eddie Guerrero defeated Dean Malenko to regain the ECW World Television Championship. The show also featured the debut of the Steiner Brothers.

18 years ago today on Nitro from Charleston, West Virginia, Alex Wright defeated Chris Jericho to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. Jericho would regain the title less than three weeks later.

12 years ago today on RAW from Colorado Springs, Colorado, Molly Holly defeated Gail Kim to win the WWE Womens Championship. She would hold the title for the next seven months, the longest since Chyna's 214-day run ended when she left WWE in November 2001.

11 years ago today at an NWA-TNA weekly PPV taping in Nashville, Tennessee, Michael Shane and Frankie Kazarian defeat AJ Styles in an Ultimate X match to win the TNA X Division Championship. Both men retrieved the championship at the same time and were declared co-winners. Full show's up there.

8 years ago today, TNA signed Adam "Pacman" Jones. The then-Tennessee Titans cornerback was suspended for the 2007 season without pay for multiple violations of the NFL's personal conduct policy, most notably a shooting at a strip club in Las Vegas. His TNA run was marred with controversy, with the Titans using legal means to prevent him from being involved in a physical capacity. He eventually would sign on in a non-wrestling role and somehow was one half of the TNA World Tag Team Champions.

8 years ago today, Karl Itsaz, aka Karl Gotch passes away from natural causes in Tampa, Florida. He was 82. Gotch was known as the "God of Wrestling" in Japan as he is credited in influencing the Japanese strong style, and was said to have created the German suplex (even though Gotch himself denied it; he credits Lou Thesz for teaching him to use it). Gotch was twice New Japan Pro Wrestling's Real World Champion and a WWWF Tag Team Champion with Rene Goulet in late 1971. He defeated Antonio Inoki in the deciding fall of a two out of three falls match on the first ever NJPW show in March 1972. After retiring in 1982, he worked as a trainer and booker for New Japan, training such wrestling legends as Hiro Matasuda, Satoru Sayama (the original Tiger Mask) and Yoshiaki Fujiwara.

7 years ago today, Stephanie McMahon gives for a second time, this time to Murphy Claire Levesque. She was eight pounds, 12 ounces.

7 years ago today, Mike Adamle is named the new General Manager of RAW. The move was a last-ditch effort to salvage something for Mike's disappointing, yet expensive run with the company. It didn't work out; just over three months later, Adamle was released.

7 years ago today, the WWE announces via press release that all programming going forward would carry a PG rating. The announcement on WWE.com:

WWE's family programming has been deemed a PG television rating by their network distributors. World Wrestling Entertainment has been engaging families across all generations with their family programming for more than two decades, and will continue to do so for years to come with all the action on Raw, SmackDown and ECW.    

6 years ago today, Hulk and Linda Hogan, aka Terry and Linda Bollea, announce via their attorneys that they have settled their divorce case. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed at the time, but would be two years later when the terms were attached to a new motion filed in court by Hogan's attorneys in regards to monies owed to various companies. The most important numbers via USA Today:

Linda, 52, received a little more than 70% of the couple's liquid assets, plus 40% ownership in the semi-retired wrestler's companies and a $3 million "property settlement."

That breakdown of liquid assets meant Linda walked with $7.44 million, and Hogan took away $2.97 million. But Hogan, 58, (real name: Terry Bollea) owes no alimony.

The couple still is in the process of selling property, including a mansion that's listed at $8.87 million.

Linda also hangs onto a Mercedes-Benz, a Cadillac Escalade, a Corvette, a Rolls-Royce and various off-road vehicles. But Hogan keeps the rest of his considerable collection of cars.

Linda spent some of that $7.44 million on this home in Simi Valley, California. She bought it in 2010, and would sell it just five years later.

5 years ago today, Shawn Michaels launches his official website.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/USxXhUr_OZs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

5 years ago today at a Smackdown taping in Laredo, Texas, Dolph Ziggler defeats Kofi Kingston to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship. It's Ziggler's first singles championship in WWE.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hafznPCNaqM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Happy 52^nd birthday to Tomoko Kitamura, best known to puroresu fans as the legendary Lioness Asuka. Debuting for All Japan Womens Pro-Wrestling at just age 16, she would go on to great success as one half of The Crush Gals with Chigusa Nagayo. At the height of their popularity, their bouts were among the most watched shows on Japanese television. The Gals split up in the late 1980s and had an emotional feud with one another, with Asuka taking the WWWA World Heavyweight Championship just before her retirement in 1989 (her retirement wasn't an option; at the time, joshis had to retire by their 26^th birthday).

Asuka came out of retirement when the restrictions were lifted in 1994; by 1998, she joined Naguyo's federation, GAEA Japan. Initially debuting there as a heel and resuming her feud with Naguyo, the Crush Gals reunited in April 2000 under a new name, CRUSH 2000. Asuka announced her retirement following a neck injury in November 2004, and would wrestle her final match in April 2005 when the Crush Gals defeated Chikayo Nagashima and Sugar Sato at GAEA Japan's 10^th anniversary show, which ironically, would serve as the promotion's last. Asuka is a member of the AJW Hall of Fame class of 1998 and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter class of 1999.