This Day in Wrestling History (August 18): The Shockmaster debuts

53 years ago today, Bobo Brazil defeats Buddy Rogers in Newark, New Jersey to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship...sort of. Rogers claimed he injured his groin during the match, and the match was stopped with the referee declaring Brazil the winner. However, Bobo did not accept the victory. Two and a half weeks later, after a doctor exam revealed Buddy's groin was just fine, the result stood, and Bobo was the new NWA world champion. Rogers would win the title back on October 30 from Brazil in Toledo, Ohio. Today, this title change is not recognized by NWA. As the October 30 title change isn't recognized, that negates Brazil's historic title win that would have made him the first African-American pro wrestling world champion.

22 years ago today, WCW presented Clash of the Champions XXIV (WWE Network link) from the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida. Though there were three championship matches on the show, the story was what went down away from the ring. In one of wrestling's most infamous moments, The Shockmaster debuted...by tripping over the wall and losing his Stormtrooper bedazzled helmet.

• Arn Anderson and Paul Roma defeated Steve Austin and Lord Steven Regal (subbing for the injured Brian Pillman) to win the NWA/WCW World Tag Team Championship.
• 2 Cold Scorpio pinned Bobby Eaton (subbing for Lord Steven Regal).
• Johnny B. Badd defeated Maxx Payne. As a result of the win, Badd gained possession of Maxx Payne's guitar.
• Ricky Steamboat defeated Paul Orndorff to win the NWA/WCW World Television Championship.
• Sting and Ric Flair defeated The Colossal Kongs.
• Dustin Rhodes and mystery partner Road Warrior Hawk defeated The Equalizer (Dave Sullivan) and Rick Rude.
• Big Van Vader defeated Davey Boy Smith to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

19 years ago, WWF presented Summerslam (WWE Network link) from the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. About 17,000 were in attendance, with just 194,000 homes watching on PPV (though some estimates put the number as low as 145,000). It's the least bought Summerslam in the company's history (pre-Network era).

• In a preshow Free for All match, Steve Austin defeated Yokozuna. Near the end of the match, Yokozuna was going fot the Banzai Drop, but the ropes gave way.
• Owen Hart defeated Savio Vega.
• The Smokin' Gunns (Billy and Bart) defeated The Bodydonnas (Skip and Zip), The New Rockers (Marty Jannetty and Leif Cassidy) and The Godwinns (Henry and Phineas) in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship.
  • Billy pinned Zip to eliminate the Bodydonnas.
  • Henry pinned Jannetty to eliminate the New Rockers.
  • Billy pinned Phineas to eliminate the Godwinns.
• Sycho Sid defeated The British Bulldog.
• Goldust defeated Marc Mero.
• Jerry Lawler defeated Jake Roberts.
• Mankind defeated The Undertaker in a Boiler Room Brawl. The match could only have been won when one of the participants took possession of the urn. When Undertaker was going for the urn, Paul Bearer turned his back-literally-on the Undertaker.
• Shawn Michaels defeated Vader to retain the WWF Championship. Vader had twice won the match, but not the title (once via countout, once via disqualification), but manager Jim Cornette insisted on-and was granted-a restart both times.

18 years ago today, Robert "Jeep" Swenson dies at UCLA Medical Center of heart failure. He was just 40 years old. Swenson wrestled briefly for World Class Championship Wrestling in the 1980s, but he's most noted wrestling-wise as "The Ultimate Solution" (originally named "The Final Solution" before some Jewish groups took offense to the name-it was the name of the plan Adolf Hitler used to exterminate the Jewish population) as part of the Alliance to End Hulkamania at WCW Uncensored 1996. Swenson also had a few notable roles in film, including as Lugwrench Perkins in the Hulk Hogan-vehicle No Holds Barred, as James Caan's bodyguard Bledsoe in Bulletproof, and as Bane in Batman & Robin.

17 years ago today, independent wrestler Brian Howser was shot and killed during an altercation with police in Baltimore, Maryland. He was just 23 years old. Howser, aka Shane Shamrock (no relation to Ken), was the first Maryland Championship Wrestling light heavyweight champion, winning the belt just a month earlier. The championship was retired in September 1998 with Shamrock as its only champion. Each year, MCW holds the Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup, a series of singles matches with all the winners facing off the same night in an elimination match. The tournament served as a basis for Ring of Honor's "Survival of the Fittest". Past winners of the Shamrock Memorial Cup include Christian York, Joey Matthews (aka Joey Mercury), Sami Callahan (aka Solomon Crowe), and former ROH World Heavyweight Champion Adam Cole.

12 years ago today on RAW from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Chris Jericho defeated Kevin Nash in a hair versus hair match.

5 years ago today, TNA announced that they had signed independent wrestler Rebecca Treston, aka Becky Bayless. She would appear for the company as Cookie. She would leave the company after just one year after TNA decides not to renew her contract.

2 years ago today, WWE presented Summerslam (WWE Network link) from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. 17,739 were in attendance, with 298,000 homes watching on PPV, which was down from 358,000 in 2012. It was the fifth consecutive year Summerslam emanated from Los Angeles (the streak would go to six the next year).

• In a preshow match, Rob Van Dam defeated Dean Ambrose via disqualification in a WWE United States Championship match.
• Bray Wyatt defeated Kane in a Ring of Fire match.
• Cody Rhodes defeated Damien Sandow.
• Alberto Del Rio defeated Christian to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.
• Natalya defeated Brie Bella.
• Brock Lesnar defeated CM Punk in a no disqualification match.
• Dolph Ziggler & Kaitlyn defeated Big E. Langston & AJ Lee.
• Daniel Bryan defeated John Cena to win the WWE Championship. Triple H was the special referee. He also played a part in the post-match. Triple H pedigreed Bryan, leading to Randy Orton cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase, and moments later...
• Randy Orton defeated Daniel Bryan to win the WWE Championship. At just eight seconds, this ties the fastest WWE Championship title change ever, tying Diesel's mark against Bob Backlund in 1994.