This Day in Wrestling History (August 23): All Hail Terra Ryzing

18 years ago today, WWF taped two episodes of Friday Night's Main Event from the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago, Illinois. The shows were presented in place of RAW is WAR on August 29 and September 5 with USA Network airing the annual US Open tennis tournament. The two specials used the Saturday Night's Main Event format, meaning the featured bout would be aired first.

Matches airing on August 29:

• Vader defeated Bret Hart by disqualification in a WWF Championship match.
• Goldust defeated Salvatore Sincere.
• Dude Love defeated Rockabilly.
• Road Warrior Hawk defeated The British Bulldog by disqualification.
• The Disciples Of Apocalypse (Chainz & Crush) and The Nation Of Domination (Faarooq & Rocky Maivia) fought to a double countout.
• Taka Michinoku defeated Jerry Lynn.
• The Truth Commission (Recon & Sniper) defeated The Head Bangers (Mosh & Thrasher).

Matches airing on September 5:

• The Patriot defeated Owen Hart by disqualification.
• Dude Love defeated The British Bulldog by disqualification.
• The Undertaker defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley by disqualification.
• The Legion Of Doom (Road Warrior Animal & Road Warrior Hawk) defeated Los Boricuas (Jesus Castillo & Jose Estrada) by disqualification.
• Ken Shamrock defeated Salvatore Sincere by submission.
• Scott Putski defeated Steve Casey.
• The Interrogator defeated Jerry Fox & Sonny Rogers in a handicap match.

• In a post-show dark match, The Undertaker defeated Bret Hart by disqualification in a WWF Championship match.

Harlem Heat vs. West Texas Rednecks by Stinger1981

16 years ago today on WCW Monday Nitro from Las Vegas, Nevada, the West Texas Rednecks (Barry and Kendall Windham) defeated Harlem Heat to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

16 years ago today on RAW is WAR from Ames, Iowa, Triple H defeated Mankind to win the WWF Championship. There were two debuts on this edition of RAW: Stacy Carter (future ex-wife of Jerry "The King" Lawler), aka Miss Kitty, who was a valet for then-Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett, and Lilian Garcia, the WWF's first full-time female ring announcer since Mike McGuirk in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The full episode has recently been added to WWE Network, and is available for streaming here.

6 years ago today, WWE presented Summerslam (WWE Network link) from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. 14,116 were in attendance, with 369,000 homes watching on PPV, which was down from 477,000 in 2008. This would be the first of six consecutive Summerslam events to be hosted at the Staples Center. The event was the return of The Undertaker, making his first PPV appearance since Wrestlemania 25.

• In a preshow dark match, Beth Phoenix won a 15-diva battle royal.
• Rey Mysterio defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
• Montel Vontavious Porter defeated Jack Swagger.
• Jeri-Show (Big Show and Chris Jericho) defeated Cryme Tyme (JTG and Shad Gaspard) to retain the WWE Unified Tag Team Championship.
• Kane defeated Great Khali.
• D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) defeated Legacy (Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase).
• Christian defeated William Regal in just eight seconds to retain the ECW Championship. The win breaks the record for fastest win in Summerslam history by 17 seconds, set by Chris Benoit over Orlando Jordan in 2005. The record would be tied in 2013 when Randy Orton cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to defeat Daniel Bryan in eight seconds for the WWE Championship.
• Randy Orton defeated John Cena to retain the WWE Championship. The match had three restarts after Orton (1) was disqualified, (2) was counted out, and (3) had an illegal pin.
• CM Punk defeated Jeff Hardy in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match to win the World Heavyweight Championship.