This Day in Wrestling History (June 7): We Are One

34 years ago today in Greenville, South Carolina, Sgt. Slaughter defeated Wahoo McDaniel via forfeit to win the NWA United States Championship. McDaniel was injured and unable to compete at the time of the match.

21 years ago today, The Thugs (Tony Anthony & Tracy Smothers) defeated The Dynamic Duo (Al Snow and Unabomb) to win the Smoky Mountain Wrestling Tag Team Championship. In an interesting bit of trivia, this is the only title change that did not involve the Rock ‘n Roll Express or the Heavenly Bodies.

17 years ago today, Rena Mero, best known to wrestling fans as Sable, files a $110 million lawsuit against the WWF, claiming sexual harassment.

In her lawsuit, she claims the WWF tried to intimidate her into performing obscene acts, including exposing her breasts on live television and taking part in a lesbian storyline. In the suit, she also sought rights to the Sable name.

The suit would be settled out of court two months later. Financial terms were not disclosed, though it's believed that Mero did not get nearly as much as she was looking for, nor did she get the rights to her ring name. She would return to the WWE in 2003, and in a bit of irony, expose her breasts for Playboy later in the year... and again the next year.

13 years ago today, WWE presented Insurrextion (WWE Network link) from Telewest Arena in Newcastle, England.

• In a preshow dark match, Maven defeated Christian Eckstein.
• In a preshow dark match, The Hurricane defeated Lance Storm
• Jazz defeated Trish Stratus to retain the WWE Women's Championship.
• Christian defeated Booker T to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
• Rob Van Dam and Kane defeated La Résistance (Sylvain Grenier and René Duprée) to retain the World Tag Team Championship.
• Goldust defeated Rico.
• The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray, D-Von, and Spike) defeated Rodney Mack, Christopher Nowinski and Theodore Long.
• Scott Steiner defeated Test. Val Venis was the special referee.
• Triple H defeated Kevin Nash in a street fight to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.

11 years ago today at a Smackdown taping in Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Benoit is selected first for Smackdown (second overall) in the WWE Draft Lottery.

10 years ago today, WWE presented WWE vs. ECW: Head to Head, a special one-time event designed to hype the upcoming ECW One Night Stand and the resurrection of ECW, from the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio.

• Rob Van Dam defeated World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio in a non-title match.
• Mickie James defeated Jazz.
• Big Show last eliminated Randy Orton to win a WWE-ECW battle royal. Other participants were Finlay, Lashley, Tatanka, Matt Hardy, Shelton Benjamin, Carlito, and Mark Henry (representing WWE). The ECW competitors were Al Snow, Nunzio, Justin Credible, Tony Mamaluke, The Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, Terry Funk, Balls Mahoney, Steven Richards, and Kurt Angle. Big Show originally represented WWE, but turned on their crew to join ECW late in the match.
• Edge defeated Tommy Dreamer in an extreme rules match.
• John Cena defeated Sabu via disqualification in a non-title match.

7 years ago today, WWE presented Extreme Rules (WWE Network link) from the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. 9,124 were in attendance, with 213,000 homes watching on PPV. That's up from 194,000 homes for the June 2008 event, One Night Stand.

• In a preshow dark match, Mickie James and Kelly Kelly defeated Beth Phoenix and Rosa Mendes.
• Kofi Kingston defeated Montel Vontavious Porter, William Regal, and Matt Hardy in a fatal four-way match to win the WWE United States Championship.
• Chris Jericho defeated Rey Mysterio in a no holds barred match to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
• CM Punk defeated Umaga in a Samoan strap match.
• Tommy Dreamer defeated Christian and Jack Swagger in a triple threat match to win the ECW Championship.
• Santina Marella defeated Vickie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero in a hog pen match to win the title of Miss Wrestlemania.
• Batista defeated Randy Orton in a steel cage match to win the WWE Championship. An interesting quirk regarding this bout: Batista is the first man to win the WWE Championship in a steel cage match.
• John Cena defeated The Big Show in a submission match.
• Jeff Hardy defeated Edge in a ladder match for the World Heavyweight Championship. Post-match, CM Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank.
• CM Punk defeated Jeff Hardy in just 61 seconds to win the World Heavyweight Championship.

6 years ago today, WWE presented a Viewer's Choice edition of RAW (WWE Network link) from the American Airlines Center in Miami, Florida. All of the matches on the show were determined by a live vote.

• In a dark match, Chris Masters defeated Caylen Croft & Trent Baretta in a handicap match.
• Big Show defeated Chris Jericho in a Body Slam Challenge.
• The Hart Dynasty defeated The Great Khali & Hornswoggle.
• Vladimir Kozlov defeated Santino Marella in a dance-off.
• Maryse won a Divas battle royal. Other participants were Eve Torres, Rosa Mendes, the Bella Twins (Nikki & Brie), Layla, Michelle McCool, Gail Kim, Tiffany, Kelly Kelly, Alicia Fox, and Jillian Hall.
• Kane defeated Sheamus by countout.
• The Miz & Zack Ryder defeated R-Truth & John Morrison.
• Randy Orton defeated Edge via disqualification. Edge had one arm tied behind his back for the match.
• Matt Hardy defeated Drew McIntyre.
• John Cena and CM Punk fought to a no contest. Near the conclusion of the match, NXT Season 1 winner Wade Barrett comes out. Over the next two minutes, the rest of the rookies from the season emerge from the crowd. They attack CM Punk and Luke Gallows. The rookies, all wearing black armbands with a "N" logo, eventually surround the ring and quickly swarm Cena. They go after the announce team, Justin Roberts, basically anyone in the immediate area. They would quickly swarm Punk as well as he tried to fight back. They tear down the ringside area and the ring itself before laying out Cena. Gabriel tops it off with a 450 splash on Cena.

6 years ago today, Moore County Superior Court officials announce that prosecutors dropped three of the four charges against Jeff Hardy stemming from a raid and arrest at his North Carolina home in September 2009 shortly after his release from WWE.

The charges that were dropped following a June 3 hearing were felony drug trafficking, felony cocaine possession, and misdemeanor drug possession. The only remaining charge he faced was conspiracy to traffic opium. Officials decline to give specifics as to why the charges were dropped.

In September 2011, Hardy pled guilty to two counts of intent to distribute a controlled substance and one count of conspiracy to traffic opium. He would be sentenced to ten days in prison, two and a half years probation, and fined $100,000.

5 years ago today, WWE releases The Very Best of WCW Monday Nitro on DVD. The collection, hosted by Diamond Dallas Page, features some of the best matches and moments in the show's history. Two follow-up volumes were released, with Volume 2 released in 2013 and Volume 3 released last August.

Happy 27^th birthday to Taeler Conrad-Mellen, best known to wrestling fans as Taeler Hendrix.

Working primarily on the independent circuit, Taeler had a brief run in TNA in 2012 and 2013. Her biggest success has been with Ohio Valley Wrestling, where she's won their women's championship three times and was Miss OVW in 2012. She had two cameo appearances for WWE in 2014 as one of Adam Rose's Rosebuds. She currently appears for Ring of Honor both as a wrestler and as a valet.

Happy 51st birthday to "The Hardcore Legend" Mick Foley.

Working primarily as Cactus Jack in nearly every major promotion in the world, his biggest successes have come in the WWF/E as Mankind and Dude Love. Combined with Cactus Jack, they are known as the "three faces of Foley". Foley was the first ever WWF hardcore champion and has won tag team championships in the WWF, WCW, and ECW, and is a four-time world champion (three in the WWF, one in TNA). He's also a best-selling author, penning four memoirs, four children's books, and two contemporary fiction novels. He's also an actor, comedian, voice actor, and activist.

Happy 66th birthday to legendary ring announcer Howard Finkel.

The first and longest tenured employee under the elder Vince McMahon for the WWE (then WWWF), Finkel had been a ring announcer for the company since 1977. It was Finkel that's credited with "The Dragon" name for Ricky Steamboat and the name of the WWE's signature event,Wrestlemania, where he's been on camera every single year. Finkel has worked a lighter schedule since the turn the of the century, but still appears on occasion on WWE programming. Finkel, also the WWE's chief statistician, was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.