This Day in Wrestling History (Nov. 5): A November to Remember

22 years ago today, ECW presented November to Remember from the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show featured two of the most famous moments in the company's brief but storied history.

First, about halfway through the show, The Sandman, blinded a few weeks earlier in a match with Tommy Dreamer, appeared in a suit and dark glasses to announce his retirement. He was helped to the ring by ECW Commissioner Tod Gordon. During Sandman's speech, his real-life wife and former valet Peaches appeared, then Sandman's other former valet Woman appeared and caned Peaches.

As she was about to hit Sandman, Tommy Dreamer stepped in. Sandman then KO's Commissioner Gordon, rips off his glasses and bandages and beats down Dreamer. Woman, who promised a new client for the show, announced that client was... the returning (and no longer blinded) Sandman.

In a side note, to keep the ruse, Jim Fullington, a Philadelphia native and the man behind the Sandman, hardly answered his phone and never left his house for about a month.

The other major moment from the show would occur during the main event.

• JT Smith defeats Hack Myers.
• The Pitbulls (Pitbull #1 & Pitbull #2) defeat The Bad Breed (Axl Rotten & Ian Rotten).
• Too Cold Scorpio defeats Mr. Hughes.
• Tommy Dreamer defeats Tommy Cairo by knockout.
• Dean Malenko defeats The Tazmaniac to retain the ECW Television Championship.
• Shane Douglas defeats Ron Simmons to retain the ECW Heavyweight Championship.
• The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge & Rocco Rock) defeat Cactus Jack & Mikey Whipwreck to win the ECW Tag Team Championship.
• Chris Benoit vs. Sabu ended in a no contest. About two minutes in, Benoit backdropped Sabu from a high angle and Sabu landed right on his head, breaking his neck. Sabu had to be helped to the back, and 2 Cold Scorpio came out as a replacement for Benoit. The bout went to a double countout. Footage of the backdrop and broken neck would be played countless times over the next few years, and Chris Benoit would be nicknamed "The Crippler" from then on. The nickname followed him until his death in 2007.

19 years ago today, the J-Crown is officially retired after the WWF retakes control of its Light Heavyweight Championship.

The J-Crown, consisting of eight light heavyweight, junior heavyweight, and middle weight championships, was held by Shinjiro Otani. Otani would return all of the championships to their original promotions save for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

16 years ago today, ECW presented November to Remember (WWE Network link) from the Odeum Expo Center in Villa Park, Illinois. About 4,600 were in attendance, with about 96,000 homes watching on PPV. This was ECW's first PPV since the show was abruptly cancelled by TNN (now known as Spike TV) the previous month.

• Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger defeated Christian York and Joey Matthews.
• Kid Kash defeated C.W. Anderson.
• Danny Doring, Roadkill, and Spike Dudley defeated EZ Money, Julio Dinero, and Chris Hamrick.
• Nova defeated Chris Chetti in a Loser Leaves Town match.
• Balls Mahoney and Chilly Willy defeated Tony Devito and Angel in a Flaming Table match.
• Rhino defeated New Jack to retain the ECW Television Championship.
• Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke defeated Yoshihiro Tajiri & Super Crazy.
• Steve Corino defeated Jerry Lynn, Sandman, and Justin Credible in a Double Jeopardy Match to win the ECW Championship.

15 years ago today on RAW from Long Island, New York (WWE Network link), The Rock defeated Chris Jericho to win the WCW Championship.

With the Invasion storyline winding down, The Rock would be the last man to hold the WCW world title before it is unified a month later by Chris Jericho. The title was briefly known as the World Championship following WCW’s disbanding at Survivor Series.

On the same episode, Test defeated Edge to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship.

14 years ago today at a Smackdown taping in Manchester, New Hampshire (WWE Network link), Edge & Rey Mysterio defeated Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle 2-1 in a best of three falls match to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.

10 years ago today, WWE presented Cyber Sunday (WWE Network link) from the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. About 7,000 were in attendance, with 228,000 homes watching on PPV. That's down from 250,000 for the event that got replaced, Taboo Tuesday, occurring around this time the previous year.

Like Taboo Tuesday, the show’s hook was fans voting for stipulations and opponents throughout the night.

• In a dark match, Super Crazy defeated Rob Conway.
• Umaga defeated Kane. Kane was the fan-selected opponent (49%) over The Sandman (28%) and Chris Benoit (23%).
• Cryme Tyme (JTG and Shad Gaspard) defeated The Highlanders (Robbie and Rory McAllister), Charlie Haas and Viscera, and Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch in a Texas Tornado match. Tornado won with 50% of the vote. Other options were Tag Team Turmoil (35%) and Fatal 4-Way (15%).
• Jeff Hardy defeated Carlito to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship. Carlito won the spot with 62%. Other possible opponents were Shelton Benjamin (25%) and Johnny Nitro (13%).
• Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) defeated D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels). The returning Eric Bischoff (60%) was the fan choice for special referee over Jonathan Coachman and Vince McMahon (20% each).
• Lita defeated Mickie James in a Diva Lumberjack match to win the vacant WWE Women's Championship. Lumberjack rules won the stipulation vote with 46%. Other options were no disqualification (40%) and submission (13%). The title was vacated back at Unforgiven when Trish Stratus retired following winning the title. For the record, the lumberjacks were Candice Michelle, Torrie Wilson, Ashley Massaro, Jillian Hall, Layla El, Rebecca DiPietro, Kelly Kelly, Ariel, Michelle McCool, Melina, Victoria, Trinity and Kristal Marshall. In a side note, this would be Lita's last championship in WWE; she retired following Survivor Series three weeks later.
• Ric Flair & Roddy Piper defeated The Spirit Squad (Kenny and Mikey) to win the World Tag Team Championship. Piper was the WWE Hall of Famer of choice with 46%, with Dusty Rhodes coming in second (35%) and Sgt. Slaughter finishing third (19%).
• King Booker defeated John Cena and The Big Show in a triple threat match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. The fans selected the World Heavyweight Championship to be at stake with 67%, followed by the ECW Championship at 21%, and the WWE Championship bringing up the rear at 12%.

3 years ago today, TNA orders all talent stationed in Louisville were to move to Orlando. The order comes down three days after the company announces they have ended their relationship with Ohio Valley Wrestling in a cost-cutting measure.

It's a happy 29th birthday for women's wrestling standout Allysin Kay, though some wrestling fans know her these days as Sienna.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, the lifelong wrestling fan cut her teeth in the wrestling business for Detroit-based Blue Collar Wrestling Alliance. She competed for BCWA exclusively from her debut in late December 2008 to March 2010. After feuding with Shavonne Norrell for most of 2009, she regularly competed against BCWA's male talent and chased the BCWA National Championship, but would never win it, as the company closed in mid-2011.

The indy standout also competed for Cleveland-based Absolute Intense Wrestling, competing in eight Girls Night Out events from 2011 to 2014. In April 2012 at AIW Girls Night Out 6, Kay won the vacated AIW Womens Championship. She would hold it for nearly two years, losing it at Girls Night Out 12 to Athena.

Kay debuted for Women Superstars Uncensored in January 2011. In March 2012, Kay and Sassy Stephie, two members of the Midwest Militia (former TNA Knockout Jessicka Havok is also a part of the group), won the WSU Tag Team Championship. They would hold them for nearly two years, until Havok, substituting for Kay, lost the titles for the team and were defeated by Kimber Lee and Annie Social.

In 2012, Allysin wrestled on the debut Shine Wrestling show. She formed a tag team with Taylor Made; when they later added April Hunter, the group became Made in Sin. They would also add Rain and Ivellise Velez in early 2013, and the quintet would become Valkyrie. Her rivalry with Havok would follow her to Shine, with Kay defeating Havok at Shine 20 in July 2014. In October 2015 at Shine 30, Kay defeated Saraya Knight in an anything goes match.

Kay has also competed for Ring of Honor, SHIMMER, World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana in Japan, Bellatrix Female Warriors in England, and Mexico’s AAA as part of the Lucha Libre World Cup.

In May 2016, Kay made her debut for TNA as Sienna. She attacked Jade and aligned herself with Maria and Allie. At Slammiversary, Sienna defeated Jade and Gail Kim in a three-way match to win the TNA Knockouts Championship. She held the for just over two months before losing the title to Allie in a five-way match.

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The best of cSs on this day:

2015: Seth Rollins knee injury confirmed: Out 6-9 months, WWE title vacated (ESPN’s Jonathan Coachman breaks the bad news: torn ACL, MCL, meniscus; Rollins vacates title due to injury)

2014: Vince Russo thought the Nov. 4, 2014 WWE Raw was a step backwards, and he might have a point (Despite WWE putting on one of the better RAWs in recent memory, former writer Vince Russo still gets in his digs on the show)

2013: WWE Survivor Series 2013 main event match is set: Randy Orton vs. Big Show (Hours after RAW, WWE.com makes the next PPV’s main event official)

2012: Barack Obama for President? CM Punk approves this message (The WWE champion’s voting for a second term for Obama)

2011: That was awesome! (clap clap clapclapclap): Shelton Benjamin was made for Money in the Bank (the many exploits of the Gold Standard in Money in the Bank matches)

2010: The hypocrisy of TNA: "Help us put a stop to homophobic bullying while we promote an evil depraved bisexual character." (TNA launches anti-bullying campaign while promoting a questionable LGBT character)