This Day in Wrestling History (Dec. 21): A New Year’s Knockout

6 years ago today, TNA taped New Years Knockout Eve at the Impact Zone at Universal Orlando.

The one-night tournament was part of a double episode of Impact on New Year's Eve, interspersed with the best matches and moments from 2009. The tournament's winner would challenge for the TNA Knockouts Championship on the January 4, 2010 Impact.

Not surprisingly, since the show did air on New Year's Eve, it's the lowest-rated show of the year, doing just an 0.7 rating. The next Impact, airing January 4, would be the most watched in company history, doing a 1.45.

• In a preshow dark match, The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) defeated The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson).
• In a preshow dark match, Lizzy Valentine defeated Amber O'Neal.
• In a non-tournament, non-title match, TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions Sarita & Taylor Wilde defeated April Hunter & Lorelei Lee.

First round matches:

• Hamada defeated Madison Rayne.
• ODB defeated Traci Brooks.
• Roxxi defeated Velvet Sky.
• Awesome Kong defeated Daffney.

Semifinal matches:

• Hamada defeated Roxxi.
• ODB defeated Awesome Kong.

Final:

• ODB defeated Hamada to earn a TNA Knockouts Championship match on the January 4 Impact.

It’s a happy 31st birthday to Christopher Girard. Known more recently as Oney Lorcan, Gerard was best known on the independent circuit as Biff Busick.

Born in Boston, and trained under Lance Storm, Mike Hollow, and Sho Funaki, Girard made his pro debut for Combat Zone Wrestling in October 2012. He gained national exposure in April 2014 by making it to the finals of the promotion's Best of the Best XIII tournament, losing to Drake Younger. One month later, Busick defeated Gulak to win the CZW World Heavyweight Championship. He would lose it In October to former ally Sozio.

Busick also appeared for Evolve in 2013 and 2014, most notably splitting a pair of bouts with Timothy Thatcher while on tour in China. He would also spend a year at Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, participating in the very first six-man tag team Guerrilla Warfare match, and competing in a pair of Battle of Los Angeles tournaments, losing to former tournament finalists Roderick Strong in 2014 (Strong was a 2007 BOLA finalist) and Chris Hero in 2015 (Hero was a finalist in 2010).

In September 2015, Gerard signed a WWE developmental deal. Debuting as Biff Busick in a Halloween battle royal a month later, he wrestled briefly under his real name before being rechristened Oney Lorcan in June 2016.

The best of cSs on this day:

2015: R-Truth pulls a Steve Harvey on Paige, then announces Nikki Bella as Diva of the Year (WWE spoofs Steve Harvey’s infamous Miss Universe gaffe at the Slammys)

2014: WWE Royal Rumble 2015 match card, rumors (The latest developments heading into the 2015 Royal Rumble)

2013: Report: Batista returning to WWE in 2014, possibly at the Royal Rumble (PWInsider reports an advertisement for a February show in Las Vegas indicates a Batista return to WWE is imminent)

2012: Undertaker's WrestleMania Streak is interesting again (Our own Geno looks ahead to possible challengers for the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 29)

2011: Superman of the squared circle: John Cena's past could prove a hindrance to the WWE's future (The lack of development in John Cena’s character may become a problem for WWE down the line)

2010: Megumi Fujii Reflects On Loss, Looks to Future (Megumi Fujii talks about suffering her first loss in 23 career fights to MMA website Sherdog)

2009: Tommy Dreamer leaving WWE? (Tommy Dreamer, the last ECW original still in the company, asked for his release from WWE—it was granted the next day, but WWE doesn’t announce it until January 4)