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22 years ago today at a WCW Saturday Night taping in Atlanta, Harlem Heat (Booker T & Stevie Ray) defeated Stars and Stripes (Marcus Bagwell & The Patriot) to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
By the time the match airs—January 14, 1995—the real-life brothers have held the tag titles for just over a month.
19 years ago today on Nitro from Buffalo, New York (WWE Network link), Disco Inferno defeated Perry Saturn to win the WCW World Television Championship.
19 years ago today on RAW is WAR from Portland, Maine (WWE Network link), The Rock defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin via forfeit to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
Citing that he had nothing to prove by beating him again (he had beaten him to retain the title the previous night at D-Generation X: In Your House), Austin forfeited the championship to The Rock without a fight. He then stuns The Rock and repossesses the belt, only to throw it in a river in New Hampshire the next night.
Following the forfeit, Austin formally began his pursuit of the WWF Championship, which he would win four months later at Wrestlemania XIV.
15 years ago today in Glasgow, Scotland, Psicosis defeated Juventud Guerrera to win the World Wrestling All-Stars International Cruiserweight Championship.
11 years ago today, ABC announces that WWE diva Stacy Keibler would appear on the second season of Dancing with the Stars. She eventually makes all the way to the finals, finishing third.
10 years ago today, WWE presented Tribute to the Troops (WWE Network link) from Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq. The show would air on Christmas Day.
- John Cena defeated Edge.
- CM Punk defeated Shelton Benjamin.
- The Undertaker defeated Johnny Nitro.
- Bobby Lashley defeated Hardcore Holly.
- Umaga defeated Jeff Hardy.
- Carlito defeated Randy Orton.
8 years ago today, WWE revives the Slammy Awards on a special extended edition of RAW (WWE Network link).
These were the first Slammys presented by the company since 1997. They've been presented yearly ever since.
- Superstar of the Year: Chris Jericho
- Match of the Year: Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania XXIV)
- Diva of the Year: Beth Phoenix
- OMG Moment of the Year: CM Punk's Money in the Bank cash-in win on the June 30 RAW
- Couple of the Year: Edge & Vickie Guerrero
- Tag Team of the Year: John Morrison & The Miz
- Finishing Maneuver of the Year: Evan Bourne's Shooting Star Press
- DAMN! Moment of the Year: The Great Khali hosts the Kiss Cam on the November 7 Smackdown
- Extreme Moment of the Year: Jeff Hardy's Swanton Bomb from the top of the RAW set on the January 14 RAW
- Best WWE.com Exclusive: "The Dirt Sheet"
- Breakout Star of the Year: Vladimir Kozlov
- Best Musical Performance: R-Truth for "What's Up?" on the September 15 Smackdown
- Announce Team of the Year: Todd Grisham and Matt Striker
- Best Impersonation: Charlie Hass as the Glamahaas on the October 27 RAW
2 years ago today, WWE presented the 2014 Slammy Awards on a special edition of RAW (WWE Network link) from Greenville, South Carolina.
In a company first, all of the show's awards were decided via fan vote through social media services, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Vine, and Snapchat.
- Superstar of the Year: Roman Reigns
- Match of the Year: Team Cena vs. Team Authority (Survivor Series)
- "This is Awesome!" Moment of the Year: Sting debuts
- Diva of the Year: AJ Lee
- LOL Moment of the Year: Damien Mizdow as The Miz's stunt double
- OMG Shocking Moment of the Year: Brock Lesnar ends the Undertaker's Wrestlemania streak
- Extreme Moment of the Year: Chris Jericho's cross body from the top of the steel cage on Bray Wyatt
- Surprise Return of the Year: Ultimate Warrior
- Tag Team of the Year: The Usos
- "Tell Me You Didn't Just Say That" Insult of the Year: The Rock insults Rusev and Lana
- Hashtag of the Year: #RKOOuttaNowhere
- Rivalry of the Year: Daniel Bryan vs. The Authority
- Fan Participation Award for Most Resounding Chant: "You sold out!" at Seth Rollins
- Breakout Star of the Year: Dean Ambrose
- Double Cross of the Year: Seth Rollins turns on The Shield
- Anti-Gravity Moment of the Year: Seth Rollins jumps off the balcony (Payback)
- Best Couple of the Year: Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella
- NXT Superstar of the Year: Sami Zayn
- RAW Guest Star of the Year: Hugh Jackman
- Animal of the Year: The Bunny
- Best Actor: The Rock
- Twitter Social Champion: Dolph Ziggler
- Faction of the Year: The Shield
1 year ago today, WWE taped Tribute to the Troops 2015 (WWE Network link) from the Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. The show aired on NBC on December 23.
- In a preshow match, Titus O’Neil defeated Heath Slater.
- Jack Swagger defeated Rusev via submission in a Boot Camp match.
- Mark Henry defeated Bo Dallas.
- Ryback defeated Kevin Owens by countout.
- Team B.A.D. (Sasha Banks, Naomi, and Tamina) and Paige defeated Team Bella (Brie Bella & Alicia Fox), Charlotte, and Becky Lynch by submission.
- Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso), The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley), Ryback, and Kane defeated The League of Nations (Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, Rusev and King Barrett), and The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, and Braun Strowman).
It's a happy 52nd birthday today for joshi legend Chigusa Nagoyo.
Born in Omura, Nagasaki, Japan, Naguyo in her prime was a national hero in her native land as one-half of the Crush Gals with Lioness Asuka.
The duo were the faces of All Japan Womens Pro Wrestling in the 1980s (AJW), winning their tag team championship three times. Their success wasn't just limited to the ring; the duo had several top ten pop music singles. Their battles with Dump Matsumoto's Gokuaku Domei (Atrocious Alliance) were some of the most watched shows in Japan at the time, with sometimes as many as one in eight televisions watching AJW's weekly show. Matsumo and Naguyo's rivalry was so vicious, the two fought in a hair versus hair match—twice, with each woman winning once (Matsumto in August 1985, Nagoyo in November 1986).
Following Matsumoto's mandated retirement (all AJW performers were forced to retire once they turned 26), Nagoyo would chase the WWWA World Heavyweight Championship, winning it in August 1988 from Yukari Omori. Nagoyo would then feud with her longtime tag partner Asuka over the title, with Lioness winning it in January 1989. Having reached age 26, Chigusa was forced to hang up her boots, wrestling one last show in May of that year. Asuka would also retire in 1989.
In 1995, with the retirement age lifted, Naguyo returned to the ring for her own organization, GAEA Japan. Initially debuting as one of the top faces of the company, her longtime partner Lioness Asuka would join the company in 1998 and would become the company's storyline president in early 1999. The next year, the Crush Gals reunited as CRUSH 2000. The duo would win one last tag team championship together in 2004 before Asuka was forced to call it a career due to a neck injury. Nagoyo retired in April 2005, just one week after wrestling in GAEA Japan's final event.
Since retiring, Chigusa's wrestled, albeit rarely, and largely in independent events. She briefly went into producing shows in the mid-2000s before disappearing from the wrestling business altogether for a few years. She returned to wrestling for Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling in 2013, and returned to the ring herself in March 2014. Today, she's promoting again, having launched joshi promotion Marvelous in May 2016.
Nagoyo, often cited as an inspiration for many joshis, is a member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame class of 1997 (her partner Lioness Asuka would join her in 1999), and the AJW Hall of Fame class of 1999. In 2015, she was a co-winner of Tokyo Sports’ Best Tag Team with deathmatch legend Atsushi Onita.
The best of cSs on this day:
2015: Ric Flair: I heard Charlotte will wrestle either Sasha Banks or Bayley at WrestleMania 32 (Flair on his WOOOOO! Nation podcast says Charlotte would face either Sasha Banks or Bayley at next year’s Wrestlemania—turned out he was kinda right; Charlotte faced Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch)
2014: Undertaker vs. Sting at WrestleMania 31 might actually happen (PWInsider reports that the dream match of Sting vs. Undertaker may be a go for Wrestlemania 31—Sting got Triple H, Undertaker got Bray Wyatt, nobody’s better for it)
2013: Report: AJ Styles likely done in TNA (PWInsider reports Styles likely to leave TNA when his contract expires December 16)
2012: The Forgotten Golden Age of MMA – Part II: The Rise of Judo & the Dawn of a New Age (John S. Nash details the early history of judo)
2011: WWE 2011 Slammy Award for Superstar of the Year winner should be... (WWE releases its 2011 Superstar of the Year Slammy nominees; 34% of Cagesiders correctly pick the winner, CM Punk)
2010: Drunk Driver Convicted of Death of Charles "Mask" Lewis (Orange County jury finds Jeffrey Kirby guilty of manslaughter in the March 2009 death of MMA clothing line TapOut founder Charles Lewis; Kirby was sentenced to nine years in prison in February 2011. The conviction was held up in May 2012)