This Day in Wrestling History (Nov. 16): When Taz Met Sabu

29 years ago today, WWF holds a legends battle royal at the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. This is unusual for the WWF at the time, as the WWF rarely acknowledged accomplishments that took place outside their company.

The battle royal is won by 71-year old Lou Thesz, who last eliminated Pat O’Connor (age 63) to win the bout. Other participants were Nick Bockwinkel, Art Thomas, Bobo Brazil, Jay Strongbow, Gino Brito, Arnold Skaaland, Eduardo Carpenter, Baron Scicluna, Al Costello, The Crusher, Pedro Morales, Dominic DeNucci, Killer Kowalski, Tony Garea, Gene Kinski, and Rene Goulet.

Thesz at the time of his win was the oldest person to win a match in WWF history. The mark would be surpassed by 76-year old The Fabulous Moolah in 1999. Mae Young holds the record, when the 87-year old defeated Lay-Cool in a handicap match on RAW in 2010.

Interesting little nugget: it’s who didn’t get invited that would cause some controversy. Angelo Poffo, Randy Savage’s father, didn’t get an invite to the battle royal. The slight would cause a riff between Savage and Vince McMahon, a riff that ultimately would never be repaired. As Randy’s brother Lanny put it in a 2015 interview with WrestlingInc:

"On November 6, 1987, Randy started to hate WWE. They said Killer Kowalski, Pat O'Conner, Lou Thesz, Bobo Brazil is gonna be [in the battle royal]. My dad looked at Randy and said, 'There's a battle royal on the Meadowlands, can you get me on it?' Dad was always proud of how good he looked, and he still did. Randy said 'don't worry, it's done,' and thought he would have the stroke to do it. Later Randy grabbed me by the wrist and says, '(expletives), they're not gonna let Dad in the battle royal because they're no good (expletives).'“

28 years ago today, WWF taped the eighteenth edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event (WWE Network link) from the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California.

The show aired on November 26, two days after Survivor Series.

• The Ultimate Warrior defeated Super Ninja to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
• Hercules defeated Virgil.
• Macho Man Randy Savage and Andre the Giant fought to a double disqualification in a WWF Championship match.
• Hacksaw Jim Duggan defeated Boris Zuhkov.
• The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacuqes & Raymond) defeated the Young Stallions (Paul Roma & Jim Powers).

23 years ago today, The Sandman defeated Don Muraco to win the NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Championship.

22 years ago today, WCW presented Clash of the Champions XXIX (WWE Network link) from the Jacksonville Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida.

• Stars and Stripes (Marcus Alexander Bagwell & The Patriot) defeated Pretty Wonderful (Paul Orndorff & Paul Roma) to retain the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
• Johnny B. Badd defeated The Honky Tonk Man by disqualification to retain the WCW World Television Championship.
• Harlem Heat (Booker T & Stevie Ray) defeated The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags).
• Vader defeated Dustin Rhodes.
• Hacksaw Jim Duggan defeated Stunning Steve Austin by disqualification to retain the WCW United States Championship. Vader ran in less than a minute into the match and attacked Duggan, causing the disqualification.
• Dave Sullivan, Hulk Hogan, and Sting defeated The Three Faces Of Fear (Avalanche, Kevin Sullivan & The Butcher). Mr. T was the special referee.

20 years ago today, ECW presented November to Remember from the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Of note, just before the ECW world title match, Taz called out Sabu. Vowing not to leave the ring until he met Sabu face to face, Sabu came out, and just as they locked up, the lights of the ECW Arena went out. When they came back on, they were gone.

Portions of the event aired on the November 19 and November 26 episodes of Hardcore TV (WWE Network links).

• Big Stevie Cool defeated Davey Morton Tyler Jericho. This bout featured the debut of the Blue World Order.
• Axl Rotten defeated Hack Myers.
• Buh Buh Ray Dudley defeated D-Von Dudley.
• Rob Van Dam & Sabu versus The Eliminators (John Kronus & Perry Saturn) went to a time limit draw in a #1 contender's match for the ECW World Tag Team Championship. Commissioner Tod Gordon named both teams co-#1 contenders for the tag titles and would face the champions in a three-way dance later.
• Chris Candido defeated Mikey Whipwreck.
• The Gangstas (Mustafa & New Jack) defeated Rob Van Dam & Sabu and The Eliminators (John Kronus & Perry Saturn) in a three-way dance to retain the ECW World Tag Team Championship. The Eliminators defeated Sabu and Rob Van Dam, only to be defeated seven seconds later by The Gangstas.
• Too Cold Scorpio defeated Devon Storm in a Loser Leaves Town match in just one minute.
• Too Cold Scorpio defeated JT Smith in a Loser Leaves Town match in just 32 seconds.
• Too Cold Scorpio defeated Hack Myers in a Loser Leaves Town match in just 75 seconds.
• Louie Spicolli defeated Too Cold Scorpio in a Loser Leaves Town match in just over two minutes. This was the final ECW bout for 2 Cold Scorpio, as he was leaving for the WWF.
• The Sandman defeated Raven to retain the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.
• Terry Funk & Tommy Dreamer defeated Brian Lee & Shane Douglas.

20 years ago today, WWF held their Hall of Fame induction ceremony from the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.

The 1996 class included Captain Lou Albano, Killer Kowalski, Baron Mikel Scicluna, Johnny Valiant, Jimmy Valiant, Johnny Rodz, Pat Patterson, Vincent J. McMahon, and Jimmy Snuka. This would be the last Hall of Fame ceremony for the company until just before Wrestlemania XX in 2004.

18 years ago today on Nitro from Wichita, Kansas (WWE Network link), Juventud Guerrera defeated Billy Kidman to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.

16 years ago today, WCW presented Millennium Final from Arena Oberhausen in Oberhausen, Germany.

The German-exclusive PPV is the final international PPV put on by WCW. The event was never released for American audiences, and remains one of about a dozen PPVs not available on the WWE Network.

• KroniK (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark) defeated The Filthy Animals (Rey Mysterio, Jr. and Billy Kidman).
• Mike Awesome last eliminated Alex Wright to earn a spot in the European Cup qualifying match. Other participants were Brian Adams, Bryan Clark, Disqo, Fit Finlay, Mark Jindrak, Billy Kidman, Konnan, Kwee Wee, Ernest Miller, Rey Mysterio, Jr., Sean O'Haire, General Rection, Mike Sanders, Elix Skipper, Norman Smiley, and Lance Storm.
• Kwee Wee defeated Elix Skipper.
• Ernest Miller defeated Mike Sanders to become the Commissioner of WCW.
• General Rection defeated Lance Storm via disqualification in a WCW United States Heavyweight Championship match.
• Norman Smiley defeated Fit Finlay in an Oktoberfest hardcore match.
• Alex Wright and General Rection defeated Mark Jindrak and Sean O'Haire to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
• Kevin Nash defeated Mike Awesome and Alex Wright to advance to the European Cup final.
• Booker T defeated Scott Steiner to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
• Sting defeated Kevin Nash by submission to win the WCW European Cup. Boxer Axel Schultz was the special referee.

13 years ago today, WWE presented Survivor Series (WWE Network link) from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. 13,487 were in attendance, with 450,000 homes watching on PPV. That's up from 340,000 for the 2002 edition.

Sole survivors are in bold for Survivor Series matches.

• In a preshow Sunday Night Heatmatch, Tajiri defeated Jamie Noble to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
• Team Angle (Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, John Cena, Hardcore Holly, and Bradshaw) defeated Team Lesnar (Brock Lesnar, The Big Show, Matt Morgan, Nathan Jones, and A-Train) 5-3 in a Survivor Series match.
• Molly Holly defeated Lita to retain the WWE Women's Championship.
• Kane defeated Shane McMahon in an ambulance match.
• The Basham Brothers (Doug and Danny) defeated Los Guerreros (Eddie and Chavo) to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship.
• Team Bischoff (Chris Jericho, Christian, Randy Orton, Scott Steiner and Mark Henry) defeated Team Austin (Shawn Michaels, Rob Van Dam, Booker T, Bubba Ray Dudley, and D-Von Dudley) 5-4 in a Survivor Series match. As a result of the win for Team Bischoff, Stone Cold Steve Austin lost his position as co-general manager of RAW.
• Vince McMahon defeated The Undertaker in a Buried Alive match. This would be the Undertaker's last match until Wrestlemania XX the following March.
• Goldberg defeated Triple H to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.

12 years ago today at a Smackdown taping in Dayton, Ohio (WWE Network link), John Cena defeated Carlito Caribbean Cool in just 25 seconds to win the WWE United States Championship.

10 years ago today, Wrestling Society X taped the final two episodes of its only season.

The first of the two episodes would air as part of a marathon to burn off the series shortly after MTV cancelled it four episodes in. The second episode—effectively the series finale—never aired and was only made available when a DVD of the series was released. No specific reason was given as to why the series finale went unaired.

Episode 9:

• Alkatrazz & Luke Hawx defeated Arik Cannon & Vic Grimes.
• 6-Pac defeated Scorpio Sky.
• Human Tornado and Jack Evans fought to a time-limit draw.
• In a WSX Xtra match, Josh Raymond & Spyder Nate Webb defeated Babi Slymm & Ruckus.
• In a WSX Xtra match, Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black defeated Disco Machine & Joey Ryan.

Episode 10:

• Delikado & Lil Cholo defeated Aaron Aguilera & Kaos in a piranha deathmatch.
• Horiguchi & Yoshino defeated M-Dogg 20 & Teddy Hart in an exploding cage match.
• In a WSX Xtra match, Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black defeated Alkatrazz & Luke Hawx, Disco Machine & Joey Ryan, and Josh Raymond & Spyder Nate Webb in a four-team elimination match.

2 years ago today in Beijing, China, Mia Yim defeated Ivellise Velez to win the SHINE Championship. On the same show, Johnny Gargano defeated Ricochet to win the Dragon Gate Open the Freedom Gate Championship.

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The best of cSs on this day:

2015: WWE Shop wants to help you get ready for Roman Reigns' world title win (WWE releases a new Roman Reigns shirt, probably a sign that he’s winning the tournament for the title)

2014: CM Punk blasts fans for not caring about his health after retirement (Punk takes to Twitter blasting “entitled wrestling fans” who owe it to them to come back)

2013: Mickie James would ‘love’ to return to WWE (Mickie as a guest coach at the WWE Performance Center talks to WWE.com, thinks she has one more run in her. Side nugget: she’ll make her first WWE appearance in six years this Saturday at NXT Takeover: Toronto)

2012: WWE names the top 20 superstars from the 'Attitude Era' (In honor of the recently released WWE ’13, WWE lists its top twenty stars of their most popular era)

2011: Jeff Hardy's unprotected chair shot to the head proves that TNA never learns (TNA raises questions about the concern of their performers’ well being again after Jeff Jarrett gives Jeff Hardy an unprotected chairshot at Turning Point)