10 years ago today at a Smackdown taping in Los Angeles, California, Chavo Guerrero defeated Rey Mysterio in an I Quit match. The bout would be Mysterio's last until Summerslam the following August.
9 years ago today at an Impact taping at Universal Orlando, Kurt Angle defeated Sting to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship just one day after Sting defeated Angle to retain the title at Bound for Glory.
4 years ago today, Awesome Wrestling Entertainment presented Night of the Legends from Augusta Expoland in Fisherville, Virginia.
While it was considered a bad show by many (some put it on par with the infamously bad Heroes of Wrestling), it was far from the worst show of the year (though the ending of the main event may give Heroes a run for its money). Case in point: it finished eighth in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Worst Major Wrestling Show category (for the record: Victory Road won).
- Tommy Dreamer defeated Terry Funk.
- Jamin Olivencia defeated Sonjay Dutt.
- Perry Saturn defeated CW Anderson. It was Saturn's first filmed bout since facing Kenzo Suzuki for NWA-TNA in 2003.
- Hacksaw Jim Duggan defeated Mohammad Akbar.
- Alex Silva defeated Fit Finlay.
- Short Sleeve Sampson defeated Abo Shongo.
- The Rock ‘n Roll Express vs. Kevin Nash and Diamond Dallas Page was changed to a singles match, Kevin Nash vs. Ricky Morton, when DDP, Nash's mystery partner, and Robert Gibson were told to take the night off.
- Ricky Morton defeated Kevin Nash via countout in a no-disqualification match with Ronnie Garvin as the special referee. Here is one account of the confusing main event:
Off to Nash before much happens but here's Marvin Ward. Apparently he isn't a wrestler but rather the AWE boss. This is now a one on one match so Gibson and Page are thrown out. Uh.....ok then? Oh and it's now No DQ. So can't Page and Gibson stay now? One more thing: Ronnie Garvin is guest referee, somehow looking younger than he did when he was world champion.
Nash pounds on Ricky to start and uses all of his power stuff. There goes the buckle pad and Morton takes Snake Eyes to bust him open. It hits again and Ricky is busted open. Back in and Nash gets two before choking away a bit. Morton slugs away again and pounds Nash down to one knee as this is starting to get decent. Nash comes back with a chokeslam but grabs a mic instead.
He asks what Morton's problem is so Ricky goes into a rant about how this business is his life. Guys like Ronnie Garvin raised him in this business. Morton talks about how Nash was a jerk who was in it only for the money. Nash says if that's Morton's problem, then they don't have a problem. They shake hands....and there's a Jackknife to Ricky. Kevin grabs the mic and says of course it's all about the money. "Why else do you go to work?" He doesn't care about the fans as long as they keep buying his dolls and t-shirts. Nash isn't one of the people suffering from the economic downturn...and he walks out for the countout.
It’s a happy 34th birthday to Alipate “Pate” Fifita, best known to wrestling fans as Tama Tonga.
Pate is the adopted son of Tonga Fifita, who is best known in the wrestling world as Haku and Meng. After spending six years in the United States Air Force, Pate followed his father’s footsteps in the wrestling business.
He trained in the Team 3D Academy (the school ran by the Dudley Boyz) and worked for World Xtreme Wrestling, World Wrestling Council, and had a tryout with WWE (the try out led to Pate’s brother Tevita getting a contract; Tevita had a stint in WWE as Camacho).
Pate joined New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2010 as Tama Tonga, but it wasn’t until following an excursion to CMLL in late 2012 (where he was briefly CMLL world tag team champions with El Terrible) he began experiencing success. At Wrestling Dontaku 2013, Tonga joined Prince Devitt, Karl Anderson, and Bad Luck Fale as part of a stable known as Bullet Club.
In February 2016, Tonga, Bad Luck Fale, and Yujiro Takahashi defeated The Briscoes (Jay and Mark) and Toru Yano to win the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship. They would lose the titles back to The Briscoes and Yano just three days later. Soon after, he formed a partnership with his adoptive brother Tanga Roa. Together known as the Guerillas of Destiny (GOD, a play on Roa’s ring name meaning “Family of God”), the duo won the IWGP Tag Team Championship at Invasion Attack from Togi Makabe and Tonomoki Honma. They would lose the titles to the Briscoes at Dominion 6.19, but would regain them earlier this week at King of Pro-Wrestling.
In July 2016, Tama Tonga participated in the one-night tournament for CMLL, International Gran Prix. He was the last man eliminated in the bout, with Volador Jr. beating Tonga to win the Gran Prix for Team Mexico.
It’s a happy 38th birthday to Takeshi Morishima.
Breaking into the wrestling business in 1998, Morishima was one of two dozen wrestlers in the infamous All Japan Pro Wrestling mutiny of 2000 when Mitsuhara Misawa formed Pro Wrestling NOAH.
With a style comparable to that of the late Terry Gordy, Morishima gained fame when he went on a stateside excursion that saw him win the Ring of Honor World Championship in February 2007 from Homicide. He would successfully defend it 20 times over the next eight months, the third most successful defense in company history (Samoa Joe is second with 29, with Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness having the most with 38 each).
Just over a year later, Morishima defeated Misawa to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship (the top belt in Pro Wrestling NOAH) for the first time. He would win the championship again in 2012 and 2014. Morishima had a pair of tryout matches for WWE in August 2008, but was ultimately passed over.
In April 2015, Morishima was pulled from their annual Global Tag League tournament due to an injury. A blood test soon revealed that he had abnormally high glycated hemoglobin, a sign of diabetes. On doctor’s recommendations, Morishima immediately retired. A retirement ceremony was planned for September. It was moved to December, then cancelled altogether when Morishima insisted on having a retirement match.
Today would have been the 61st birthday of Alfred Dobalo, best known to wrestling fans as Al Green.
The well-traveled Green had multiple gimmicks in WCW, including as Blaster Master Blade (with Blaster Master Steel, aka Kevin Nash), Rage of the Wrecking Crew, and Big Al and The Dog during WCW’s late days. Greeen also appeared for All Japan Pro Wrestling and the Catch Wrestling Association.
Green was a part of wrestling infamy when at SuperBrawl 2000 he had a knife pulled on him by Tank Abbott following a match.
On June 14, 2013, Green died after a bout with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 57.