This Day in Wrestling History (Nov. 20): Never Before, Never Again

26 years ago today, NWA presented Clash of the Champions XIII: Thanksgiving Thunder (WWE Network link) from the Jacksonville Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida. This was the last Clash of the Champions event under the NWA banner.

• The Fabulous Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes) defeated The Southern Boys (Steve Armstrong & Tracy Smothers).
• Flyin 'Brian defeated Buddy Landel.
• Big Cat defeated Brad Armstrong.
• The Z-Man defeated Brian Lee.
• Michael Wallstreet defeated The Star Blazer.
• Col. DeKlerk & Sgt Krueger defeat Kaluha & The Beast.
• Lex Luger defeated The Motor City Madman.
• The Renegade Warriors (Chris Youngblood & Mark Youngblood) defeated The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) by disqualification.
• Sid Vicious defeated The Nightstalker.
• The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner) defeated Magnum Force (#1 & #2) to retain the NWA United States Tag Team Championship.
• Ric Flair defeated Butch Reed to earn a NWA World Tag Team Championship match for the Four Horsemen at Starrcade.

23 years ago today, WCW presented Battlebowl (WWE Network link) from the Pensacola Civic Center in Pensacola, Florida. About 7,000 were in attendance, with an at the time record low 55,000 homes watching on PPV.

The concept, used before in Starrcade in 1991 and 1992 (and revived for Slamboree in 1996) was that wrestlers would be randomly paired for one-off tag team matches via "lethal lottery", with the winners advancing to an over-the-top-rope battle royal, with the winner of the battle royal declared the winner of Battlebowl.

This was the only Battlebowl PPV in WCW history, as it was scrapped the next year.

• Vader and Cactus Jack defeated Charlie Norris and Kane.
• Brian Knobbs and Johnny B. Badd defeated Erik Watts and Paul Roma.
• The Shockmaster and Paul Orndorff defeated Ricky Steamboat and Lord Steven Regal.
• King Kong and Dustin Rhodes defeated The Equalizer and Awesome Kong.
• Sting and Jerry Sags defeated Ron Simmons and Keith Cole.
• Ric Flair and Steve Austin defeated 2 Cold Scorpio and Maxx Payne.
• Rick Rude and Shanghai Pierce defeated Tex Slazenger and Marcus Bagwell.
• Road Warrior Hawk and Rip Rogers defeated Davey Boy Smith and Kole.
• Vader last eliminated Sting to win the Battlebowl battle royal.

22 years ago today in Tokyo, Japan, Bull Nakano defeated Alundra Blayze to win the WWF Womens Championship. The win ends a 342-day run with the championship for Blayze, by far the longest run in the second incarnation of the Womens Championship.

16 years ago today on Nitro from Augusta, Georgia (WWE Network link), The Perfect Event (Chuck Palumbo & Shawn Stasiak) defeated Alex Wright and Elix Skipper (substituting for General Rection) to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

14 years ago today at an NWA-TNA PPV taping in Nashville, Tennessee, Jeff Jarrett defeated Ron Killings to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

The match (and the episode) ended with the TNA on-screen debut of Vince Russo, who was the masked Mr. Wrestling III.

5 years ago today, WWE presented Survivor Series (WWE Network link) from Madison Square Garden in New York City. 16,749 were in attendance, with 281,000 homes watching on PPV. For the first time in six years, it was actually an increase in buys from the prior year, up from 244,000.

The hook of the show was the "Never Before, Never Again" pairing of The Rock and John Cena.

• In a dark match, Santino Marella defeated Jinder Mahal.
• Dolph Ziggler defeated John Morrison to retain the WWE United States Championship. This was Morrison's final PPV match, as he was released less than two weeks later.
• Beth Phoenix defeated Eve in a lumberjill match to retain the WWE Divas Championship.
• Team Barrett (Jack Swagger, Hunico, Wade Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, and Cody Rhodes) defeated Team Orton (Mason Ryan, Kofi Kingston, Sin Cara, Sheamus, and Randy Orton) 5-3 in a Survivor Series match.
• Big Show defeated Mark Henry by disqualification in a World Heavyweight Championship match.
• CM Punk defeated Alberto Del Rio by submission to win the WWE Championship. Prior to the match, longtime WWE announcer Howard Finkel made a cameo appearance introducing Punk. Punk would go on a 434-day run as WWE Champion, the longest since Hulk Hogan’s four-year run in
• John Cena & The Rock defeated Awesome Truth (The Miz & R-Truth). Post-match, The Rock gave the Rock Bottom to Cena. Another tidbit: R-Truth was busted for violating the WWE's Wellness Policy just days before the event, but was not suspended until two days later.

4 years ago today, Celeste Bonin, aka Kaitlyn, was arrested during a Smackdown taping in Grand Rapids, Michigan for an outstanding warrant on an unpaid speeding ticket. She was released after posting bond, estimated at around $300.

The Best of cSs on this day:

2015: Mick Foley thinks the Full Sail crowd hurts WWE NXT (Mick Foley takes to Twitter to criticize the Full Sail fans who put themselves ahead of the show)

2014: Alberto Del Rio is 'proud' of CM Punk for walking out on WWE (Two years to the day Punk defeated Del Rio for the WWE title, Alberto Del Rio talks about Punk walking out on WWE with WrestletalkTV)

2013: Big Show turning heel and joining The Authority at Survivor Series? (Triple H’s weekly interview with Michael Cole suggests that yet another Big Show heel turn is imminent)

2012: John Cena injury reportedly a work with Twitter comments seemingly confirming as much (Wrestling Observer Radio says that John Cena’s latest injury is just an angle to set up a Cena-Ziggler match at TLC)

2011: That was awesome! (clap clap clapclapclap): The Undertaker wins the WWF title at Survivor Series 1991 (Sergio Hernandez looks at the lone bright spot of the 1991 Survivor Series, The Undertaker’s shocking WWF title win)

2010: Is Vickie Guerrero strapped for cash again? (Pro Wrestling Torch’s James Caldwell reported that Vickie sold Eddie Guerrero’s memorial Low Rider on eBay for $55,000, suggesting that Vickie needs money, especially considering she was on a per-appearance deal)