This Day in Wrestling History (Dec. 3): December to Dismember

25 years ago today, WWF presented This Tuesday in Texas (WWE Network link) from the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas. About 8,000 were in attendance with just 140,000 homes watching on PPV, though some estimates have it as high as 198,000 buys.

Though the show was offered for about half the price of a typical WWF PPV at the time, just half the number of homes bought this show as they did This Tuesday in Texas. The mid-week PPV experiment was immediately abandoned, though WWE would try it again with Taboo Tuesday in 2004.

Dark matches:

• The Harris Brothers (Don and Ron) defeated Brian Donahue and Brian Costello.
• Sir Charles defeated Dale Wolfe.
• Chris Walker defeated Brian Lee.
• Chris Chavis defeated JW Storm.
• Ric Flair defeated Roddy Piper.

PPV matches:

• Bret Hart defeated Skinner by submission to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
• Randy Savage defeated Jake Roberts. Post-match, Roberts slapped Miss Elizabeth.
• Davey Boy Smith defeated The Warlord.
• Ted DiBiase and The Repo Man defeated Tito Santana and Virgil.
• Hulk Hogan defeated The Undertaker to win the WWF Championship. The title would be vacated less than a week later due to the disputed finish of both this match and their prior bout at Survivor Series, declaring that a champion would be crowned at next month's Royal Rumble event.

16 years ago today, ECW presented Massacre on 34^th Street (WWE Network link) from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. About 2,600 were in attendance, with a staggering (though disputed) 390,000 homes watching on PPV, which was four times the buyrate of a typical ECW PPV.

The rumors of the show being the last PPV for ECW drove the buyrate up, though the rumors may have been premature. ECW's final PPV came a month later with Guilty as Charged.

• In a dark match, New Jack defeated Angel.
• In a dark match, HC Loc defeated Danny Daniels.
• Christian York & Joey Matthews defeated Simon Diamond & Swinger.
• EZ Money defeated Balls Mahoney.
• Nova defeated Julio Dinero.
• Danny Doring & Roadkill defeated The FBI (Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke) to win the ECW World Tag Team Championship.
• CW Anderson defeated Tommy Dreamer.
• Rhino defeated Spike Dudley to retain the ECW World Television Championship.
• Mikey Whipwreck & Yoshihiro Tajiri defeated Kid Kash & Super Crazy.
• Steve Corino defeated Jerry Lynn and Justin Credible in a three-way dance to retain the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.

11 years ago today in Los Angeles, California, Joey Ryan defeated Kevin Steen to win the Pro Wresting Guerrilla Heavyweight Championship.

10 years ago today, WWE presented December to Dismember (WWE Network link) from the James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia. About 4,800 were in attendance with just 90,000 homes watching on PPV. That is the lowest number of buys for a WWE PPV ever (pre-Network era).

The show is considered by many to be among the worst PPVs not just in WWE history, but professional wrestling history. The show would not only be the last for Big Show, whose contract was expiring two days after the event, but for Paul Heyman who was dismissed following the event after a series of backstage clashes with Vince McMahon in the days leading up to the show. Heyman would not return to the company until 2012. You can read my review of the show here.

Side note: because the show came too late, it could not be voted for Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Worst Show of 2006. But it would win in 2007, making it the only time a show from the year prior had won the award.

• The Hardys (Matt and Jeff) defeated MNM (Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro).
• Balls Mahoney defeated Matt Striker in a Striker's Rules match.
• Elijah Burke and Sylvester Terkay defeated The Full Blooded Italians (Little Guido Maritato and Tony Mamaluke).
• Daivari defeated Tommy Dreamer.
• Kevin Thorn and Ariel defeated Mike Knox and Kelly Kelly in an intergender tag team match.
• Bobby Lashley defeated The Big Show, Rob Van Dam, Hardcore Holly, CM Punk and Test in an Extreme Elimination Chamber match to win the ECW World Championship.

3 years ago today, TNA taped a special episode of Impact with Final Resolution from the Impact Zone at Universal Orlando. The show aired on December 19.

• Bobby Roode defeated Kurt Angle 2-1 in a best of three falls match.
• Madison Rayne & ODB defeat Gail Kim & Lei'D Tapa.
• Magnus defeats Jeff Hardy in a "Dixieland Match" to win the vacated TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

The best of cSs on this day:

2015: Steve Austin is worried Finn Bálor will 'get lost in the shuffle' in WWE (On The Taz Show podcast, the WWE Hall of Famer feels Finn Balor has to connect with the audience to stand out on the main roster)

2015: Here's Joey Ryan using his genitals to flip a guy (The first recorded use of what would be Joey Ryan’s YouPornplex)

2014: Zack Ryder has a completely understandable response to Vince McMahon saying the WWE locker room lacks ambition that will probably still get him in trouble (The former United States champion/Internet sensation throws some wicked shade at McMahon’s comments claiming the current WWE roster doesn’t want to grab the brass ring)

2013: WWE strongly pushing title unification at TLC (Cena and Orton’s title-for-title main event may be a title unification match—turned out it was)

2012: Gabe Tuft shoots on John Cena on Twitter, rants on WWE (The former Tyler Reks goes on a Twitter rant about his four-year run in WWE)

2011: WWE's B-show PPV business continues to decline (Non-Big Four PPV buys down from 2010, approaching record low numbers domestically)