This Day in Wrestling History (Nov. 6): When Worlds Collide

22 years ago today, AAA, Puerto Rico's IWC, and WCW presented When Worlds Collide (Cuando Los Mundos Chocan, not to be confused with the ECW event of the same name taking place in May 1994) from the Los Angeles Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. About 13,000 were in attendance, with about 54,000 homes watching on PPV.

Though WCW had a hand in production, they had no direct involvement in the show itself, as all of their commentators refused to do the show outside of Chris Cruise. In a side note, Mike Tenay made his commentary debut on this show. Amazingly, despite an increased awareness in lucha libre since the show, this remains the one and only AAA PPV event to take place in the United States.

The show was voted the second best major wrestling card of 1994 by Wrestling Observer Newsletter readers, besting all other shows in North America. The award went to New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Super J Cup.

• Mascarita Sagrada & Octagoncito defeated Espectrito & Jerrito Estrada.
• Fuerza Guerrera, Madonna's Boyfriend, and Psicosis defeated Heavy Metal, Latin Lover, and Rey Misterio Jr.
• In an IWC-AAA interpromotional match, 2 Cold Scorpio, The Pegasus Kid, and Tito Santana defeated Blue Panther, Jerry Estrada, and La Parka.
• El Hijo del Santo & Octagon defeated La Pareja del Terror (Los Gringos Locos) (Eddie Guerrero & Love Machine) 2-1 in a best of three falls hair versus mask match. The falls were double elimination, meaning both members of the team had to be beaten before the fall could count. If one member of a team was beaten, they'd had to sit out until the next fall began. As a result of La Pareja del Terror losing, they were forced to get a haircut. Sadly, this would be the final match of the “Love Machine” Art Barr. Barr was found dead in his home in Springfield, Oregon just over two weeks later at age 28. The match, rated five stars by Wrestling Observer Newsletter, was voted the fourth best match of the year by Observer readers.
• Perro Aguayo defeated Konnan in a steel cage match.

18 years ago today at an ECW Hardcore TV taping in New York City (WWE Network link), The Dudley Boyz (Buh Buh Ray and D-Von) defeated Masato Tanaka and Balls Mahoney to win the ECW World Tag Team Championship for a record fifth time, beating Public Enemy's record for most ECW tag title runs.

The Dudley Boyz would go on to win the tag titles eight times (their last cobefore they left for the WWF in August 1999.

16 years ago today on RAW is WAR from Houston, Texas, (WWE Network link), Bull Buchanan and The Goodfather of Right to Censor defeated The Hardy Boyz to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.

On the same show, Nora Greenwald makes her WWF debut as Molly Holly, the lady cousin of Crash and Hardcore.

Greenwald was last seen as the cocktail-dressed grappler Mona. She occasionally fought in WCW (though they didn’t have a formal women’s division at this time). Greenwald, who was a member of Team Madness as Miss Madness, trained Macho Man Randy Savage’s girlfriend Stephanie Bellars, aka Gorgeous George. Greenwald was released from WCW in a cost-cutting move in August 2000.

16 years ago today at a WCW Thunder taping from Chicago, Illinois, Crowbar defeated Reno to win the WCW Hardcore Championship.

14 years ago today at an NWA-TNA weekly PPV taping in Nashville, Tennessee, Jerry Lynn defeated AJ Styles to win the TNA X Division Championship.

13 years ago today, Mike Lockwood, best known to wrestling fans as Crash Holly, passed away in his friend Stevie Richards' home in Navarre, Florida. He was just 32.

Born August 25, 1971 in Anaheim, California, Lockwood wrestled as Johnny Pearson for Bay City Wrestling from 1989 to 1994. During that period, he dislocated his shoulder five times and spent a year and a half recovering after leaving the promotion. He would wrestle on the independent circuit as "Irish" (and later "The Leprechaun") Erin O'Grady for All Pro Wrestling, where he would catch the interest of ECW's Taz. He wrestled a few untelevised matches for ECW in November 1997, then a tryout match with rival Vic Grimes for the WWF in January 1998.

Following their WWF tryout, they were both signed and wrestled for Power Pro Wrestling, then the WWF's developmental program. Lockwood also wrestled some lucha libre in Mexico briefly as The Green Ghost in preparation for Super Astros.

Lockwood would debut for the WWF in August 1999 as Crash Holly, the estranged cousin of Bob "Hardcore" Holly. The duo claimed to be super heavyweights, carrying a scale with them. The Hollys would briefly hold the WWF Tag Team Championships in October and early November after defeating the Rock ‘n Sock Connection.

Crash would have his breakout role in 2000 as part of the hardcore division. He defeated Test on the February 24 Smackdown, then a week later introduce what would be known as the "24/7 Rule", meaning the title is contested at all times, day or night, as long as there was a referee present. This often put Crash in some pretty sticky situations. His ability to worm his way out of trouble, or even back into the hardcore title shortly after being beaten for it, made him a fan favorite and earned him the moniker "The Houdini of Hardcore". Over the next two years, Crash would win the title 22 times, more than anyone ever except for Raven (who had 27). Crash briefly held the European Championship in late 2000, and the Light Heavyweight Championship in 2001.

After a year and a half of limited success, Crash joined the Mattitude stable as a Mattitude Follower (MFer) in 2003 before being released in June of that year. Lockwood would briefly join TNA later in the year, wrestling and doing angry promos as Mad Mikey for a little over two months before being released, then lastly for Pro Wrestling Iron.

Lockwood was found dead at his and his friend Stevie Richards' home in November 6, 2003 with alcohol and drugs near his body. His death, due to choking on his own vomit, was officially ruled a suicide.

11 years ago today, Joey Styles returned to commentary, this time as the lead play-by-play announcer for RAW alongside Jonathan Coachman and Jerry Lawler.

Styles briefly took the role held by Jim Ross when Ross was "fired" by the McMahons (in reality, Ross had to leave for colon surgery). Ross would return to full-time commentary in May 2006.

11 years ago today, SHIMMER Women Athletes debuts with Volume 1 from the Eagles Club in Berwyn, Illinois.

Based out of Chicago, the promotion founded by Dave Prazak and Allison Danger (who also serve as commentators) has a goal of presenting female wrestlers in a serious, non-objectifying platform. Ring of Honor and fellow women's promotion Shine were considered sister promotions to SHIMMER until 2011 when the promotion began self-distributing its content.

To date, 147 wrestlers have performed at the events, including Sara Del Rey, Beth Phoenix, Cheerleader Melissa, Madison Eagles, Jessie McKay, KC Cassidy, Candice LeRae, AJ Kong, Santana Garrett, MsChif, Davina Rose, Saraya Knight, Brittani Knight, Mia Yim, Kana, and Leva Bates. Four more women will make their first appearance for the promotion next weekend, including Mickie James and Taeler Hendrix.

Due to the promotion's structure (a year’s worth of shows is done over three weekends: one the day before Wrestlemania, one in the summer, one in the fall; no shows are done during the winter, there’s a story behind that), the roster is fluid, and SHIMMER's official site does not have an official roster page.

• Shantelle Taylor defeated Tiana Ringer.
• Team Blondage (Amber O'Neal & Krissy Vaine) defeated Cindy Rogers & Nikki Roxx.
• Ariel defeated Rain.
• Lexie Fyfe defeated Christie Ricci.
• MsChif defeated Cheerleader Melissa.
• Allison Danger defeated Beth Phoenix.
• Sara Del Rey defeated Mercedes Martinez.
• Daizee Haze defeated Lacey.

Volume 2 was also taped on this day.

• Cindy Rogers defeated Krissy Vaine.
• Nikki Roxx defeated Lexie Fyfe.
• Cheerleader Melissa & Tiana Ringer defeated Ariel & Shantelle Taylor.
• Christie Ricci defeated Amber O'Neal.
• Allison Danger defeated Rain.
• Beth Phoenix defeated MsChif.
• Sara Del Rey defeated Daizee Haze, Lacey, and Mercedes Martinez in a fatal four-way elimination match.

10 years ago today, WWE signed TJ Wilson.

The last graduate of the Hart Dungeon in Calgary, Wilson would make his main roster debut as a part of the rebooted ECW in 2009 as Tyson Kidd with manager/real-life girlfriend (now wife) Natalie Neidhart.

Wilson, a two-time WWE tag team champion, is in career limbo after suffering a severe neck and spinal injury in June 2015 during a RAW dark match. Wilson later stated on Twitter that just five percent of people who suffered a similar surgery survive.

10 years ago today at an Impact taping at Universal Orlando, Christopher Daniels defeated AJ Styles and Chris Sabin in a three-way dance to win the TNA X Division Championship.

10 years ago today on RAW from Columbus, Ohio (WWE Network link), Johnny Nitro defeated Jeff Hardy in a no disqualification match to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship.

The show is also noted for rapper/dancer Kevin Federline challenging John Cena to a match on the New Year’s Day 2007 RAW (this one night after Federline cost Cena the World Heavyweight Championship at Cyber Sunday). Cena accepted.

In what can only be described as bizarre, that 80-second video above (or maybe this one, or maybe this one) may have in part led to Federline and singer Britney Spears’ divorce.

Various Hollywood gossip websites reported Kevin went into a rage and destroyed property after Spears laughed at a tape of Federline’s appearances on WWE programming. Britney filed for divorce the next day, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized in July 2007.

4 years ago today, Chris Murphy is elected over Linda McMahon in the United States Senate race in Connecticut. Murphy won the seat replacing the retiring Joe Lieberman. Murphy wins with 55% of the vote to McMahon’s 43%.

McMahon spent just under $51 million, much of that her own money, in a second futile effort to win a seat on the Senate (by comparison, Murphy spent just over $10.5 million). Combined with the $50 million McMahon in 2010 to win the seat for outgoing Senator Chris Dodd, the estimated $101 million is believed to be the most spent in a failed bid for federal office. The mark may likely be surpassed in the 2016 United States Presidential election.

It's a happy 73rd birthday for the original "World's Strongest Man", Kenneth Wayne Patera.

Born to a Greek-American family in Portland, Oregon, Patera was always destined for athletics. His brother Jack Patera played and coached in the NFL, while Ken competed in football, wrestling, and track in his younger days. However, a serious ankle injury forced Ken to switch from high hurdles to shot put and discus. The switch made Patera one of the country's top weight throwers and garnered him a scholarship to BYU (Brigham Young University). After winning the gold medal in shot-put at the 1967 Pan American Games, he placed sixth in the Olympic trials the next year. The disappointing finish effectively ended his track and field career, and turned his attention to weightlifting.

From 1969 to 1972, Patera would become one of the world's preeminent weightlifters. He won four consecutive national weightlifting championships during that span, cleaned up at the 1971 Pan American Games (including a gold medal in the weightlifting total), and finished second in the world weightlifting championships in 1971. In 1972, he became the first American to clean and jerk over 500 pounds, and the only American to clean and press 500 pounds. Patera was often bested by Russian Vasily Alekseyev, who went on to set 80 world records in weightlifting. Patera retired from weightlifting shortly after the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.

Patera transitioned to wrestling with his true-to-life strongman gimmick in 1973. He began in the AWA, but made a name for himself in the Mid-Atlantic territory feuding with Johnny Valentine. Valentine, at the time a nearly unbeatable United States champion, fought one jobber at random after another until he was forced to fight Patera when his name was pulled at random (of course, Patera replaced all the slips of paper with ones with only his name on them). They eventually fought to a 10 minute draw on television, then fought a series of house show matches for the title with Valentine leaving with the title every time.

Patera wrestled mainly as a heel for most of the late 1970s and early 1980s for all three major promotions (WWF, NWA, and AWA). In the WWF, he was a prime antagonist for Bruno Sammartino's and Bob Backlund's WWF championships. In the NWA, he used his swinging full nelson to injure babyface opponents, most notably Billy White Wolf in 1977. That same year, he competed in the first ever World's Strongest Man competition, finishing third.

He was one of pro wrestling's most hated heels at the height of his career, holding the NWA Mid-Atlantic heavyweight championship in 1978, and both the NWA Missouri heavyweight and WWF Intercontinental championships at the same time in 1980. He was a member of the notorious Heenan family in both the AWA and WWF. When Heenan was injured in 1983, he would join forces with Sheik Adnan El-Kassie and tagged with Jerry Blackwell to win the AWA world tag team titles. In his later WWF run, he feuded with Hulk Hogan (a feud that went back to their days in the AWA) and Andre the Giant. During his wrestling career, strongman feats would become a regular part of their shows, including blowing hot water bottles until they popped, and bending steel bars with towels around their necks.

In April 1984, Patera and Masa Saito were denied service at a McDonald's in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Patera then threw a rock through one of the restaurant's windows. He and Saito later assaulted the policemen sent to arrested the pair. In August 1985, both men were convicted of battery on a police officer and were sentenced to two years in prison.

Patera returned to the WWF in the spring of 1987, airing vignettes and releasing a home video chronicling his career. He went to his natural brown hair color instead of sticking with the bleached blond look that followed him through his career, yet was still in peak physical condition. He broke away from the Heenan family, turning him face (though he swung Heenan with a belt around his neck) shortly thereafter. In his first match back at Madison Square Garden, Patera defeated Honky Tonk Man with a bearhug to a huge ovation.

Shortly after that bout, Patera ruptured his right biceps tendon. The time missed caused Patera to quickly slide down the card and commentators Gorilla Monsoon and Lord Alfred Hayes to openly remark that Patera should consider retirement.

Patera left the WWF for the AWA in early 1989 and unsuccessfully challenged for the AWA world title held by Larry Zbyszko, but found tag team gold once again, this time with Brad Rhenigans as the Olympians. They feuded with Badd Company (Pat Tanaka and Paul Diamond) and the Destruction Crew (Wayne Bloom & Mike Enos) until Rhenigans had to leave the company to get knee surgery. Despite the duo being stripped of the tag team championship, they feuded until the company's demise in 1990. Patera would wrestle well into the 1990s in Minnesota independent cards, sometimes even promoting his own events.

Patera, thrice married and divorced, has two children: Natalie, age 35, and Emilie, age 32.

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The best from this day in cSs past:

2015: The likely candidates for next WWE World Heavyweight Champion (Bill Hanstock breaks down the favorites to win the WWE world title tournament)

2014: Roman Reigns on WWE return: I’m going to unleash hell on everybody (Reigns talks with Gamespot’s The Lobby on when he’ll be back, his Shield mates in main event spots, and Wrestlemania 31)

2013: WWE Main Event spoilers and open thread for Nov. 6 (Hey kids! Remember Main Event? It was a very slow news day. By the way, Usos over Hunico and Camacho, Wyatts over Prime Time Players, and Nikki Bella over Alicia Fox)

2012: Election Results 2012: Barack Obama Retains His Title as POTUS (Barack Obama wins a second term as President of the United States)

2011: Video: CM Punk argues with fan at WWE house show in France (CM Punk gets into a light-spirited discussion with a John Cena fan that probably watches TNA)

2010: Mick Foley believes that he has suffered permanent brain damage from his career in pro wrestling (The hardcore legend says what we probably already know: he may have permanent brain damage from all those headshots in his career)