This Day in Wrestling History (July 11): Brock Lesnar Conquers UFC 100

Happy 7-11 Day! If it's after 11am where you are and you haven't gotten your free Slurpee, go do it. Do it. DO IT! This will still be here when you get back. (However, if it's after 7pm, you can sit down. Too late for your free Slurpee.)

58 years ago today in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Angelo Savoldi defeated Dory Funk, Sr. to win the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship.

55 years ago today in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Gene Kinski defeated Verne Gagne to win the AWA World Heavyweight Championship.

29 years ago today, at two separate NWA Great American Bash events, Lex Luger defeated Nikita Koloff to win the NWA United States Championship at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina, while in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams defeated Big Bubba Rogers to win the UWF Heavyweight Championship.

Williams would be the last UWF Champion, as the promotion was bought out by Jim Crockett Promotions back in April, but would not fold until December 1987. Side nugget: Williams was the only babyface champion in the brief history of the promotion.

27 years ago today in Hokkaido, Japan, Stan Hansen and Genichiro Tenryu defeated Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu to win the All Japan Pro Wrestling World Tag Team Championship.

17 years ago today, WCW presented Bash at the Beach (WWE Network link) from the National Car Rental Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 13,624 were in attendance, with 175,000 homes purchasing the event on PPV. That's down from 580,000 for the 1998 edition.

• Ernest Miller defeated Disco Inferno.
• Rick Steiner defeated Van Hammer to retain the WCW World Television Championship.
• David Flair defeated Dean Malenko to retain the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship.
• The No Limit Soldiers (Konnan, Rey Misterio, Jr., Swoll, and Brad Armstrong) defeated The West Texas Rednecks (Curt Hennig, Bobby Duncum, Jr., Barry Windham, and Kendall Windham) 4-2 in a tag team elimination match.
• Fit Finlay won a Junkyard Invitational. Other participants were Ciclope, Jerry Flynn, Johnny Grunge, Hardcore Hak, Horace Hogan, Brian Knobbs, Hugh Morrus, La Parka, Steven Regal, Rocco Rock, Silver King, David Taylor, and Mikey Whipwreck. The match, which took place in an actual junkyard, could have only been won by climbing a fence. Contrary to conventional belief, this was not the match where Finlay suffered an injury that nearly caused amputation of his leg. That was in another match against Knobbs later in the month.
• The Jersey Triad (Diamond Dallas Page, Chris Kanyon, and Bam Bam Bigelow) defeated Perry Saturn and Chris Benoit to retain the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
• Buff Bagwell defeated Roddy Piper in a boxing match by knockout 36 seconds into the third round. Famed boxing referee Mills Lane officiated the match.
• Randy Savage and Sid Vicious defeated WCW World Heavyweight Champion Kevin Nash and Sting. Per a pre-match stipulation, Savage became the new WCW world heavyweight champion.

12 years ago today, WWE presented Vengeance (WWE Network link) from the Harford Civic Center in Harford, Connecticut. About 7,000 were in attendance, with 240,000 homes purchasing the event on PPV.

• Tajiri and Rhyno defeated Garrison Cade and Jonathan Coachman.
• Batista defeated Chris Jericho.
• La Résistance (Róbert Conway and Sylvain Grenier) defeated Ric Flair and Eugene by disqualification for the World Tag Team Championship.
• Matt Hardy defeated Kane in a no disqualification match.
• Edge defeated Randy Orton to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
• Victoria defeated Molly Holly to become the #1 contender for the WWE Womens Championship.
• Chris Benoit defeated Triple H to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.

11 years ago today on RAW from East Rutherford, New Jersey (WWE Network link), Matt Hardy makes his return to WWE three months after he was released from the company.

Hardy, while rehabbing a knee injury, discovered that his girlfriend Amy Dumas (aka Lita) was having an affair with one Adam Copeland (aka Edge). The story quickly made the rounds on the Internet. With WWE unable to contain the virtual flames, it was Hardy who got the axe (in a bit of trivia, Matt's friend Terry Gerin, aka Rhyno, was released the same day for an unrelated incident). It also didn't help Matt's case that (a) he was injured, (b) Edge was on the verge of a main event push, and (c) Lita was one of the most popular performers on the roster, regardless of gender.

In Hardy's surprising return to the company, he ambushed Edge--twice (first following an interview concerning his opponent Kane, then following the Edge-Kane bout). The second ambush resulted in Hardy being hauled out of the arena in handcuffs, but not before he encouraged fans to see him in Ring of Honor (he worked a show that weekend in Woodbridge, Connecticut). Hardy was never acknowledged on commentary, creating at least an illusion that Matt wasn't exactly welcome on their lawn.

7 years ago today in Las Vegas, Nevada, Brock Lesnar defeated Frank Mir via TKO in the second round to unify the UFC Heavyweight and Interim Heavyweight Championships. The win made Lesnar the first--and to this day, only--man to hold heavyweight championships in NCAA, WWE, and UFC.

At 1.6 million home buys, the show, UFC 100, is the most bought in UFC history, and to this day remains one of the most bought events in PPV history. Though the show got more first place votes than its winner (Dragon Gate USA's Open the Historical Gate), the event is voted the second best major wrestling show of 2009 by Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

6 years ago today, TNA presented Victory Road from the Impact Zone at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

• Douglas Williams defeated Brian Kendrick in an Ultimate X/submission match for the TNA X Division Championship. The match could be won if either wrestler submitted the other or retrieved the belt from the Ultimate X cables. Williams submitted Kendrick to retain the title.
• Brother Ray defeated Brother Devon & Jesse Neal in a 3-way match.
• Angelina Love defeated Madison Rayne to become the new TNA Knockouts Champion. Had Angelina lost the match, Love would have been forced to retire.
• A.J. Styles and Kazarian defeated Rob Terry and Samoa Joe.
• Hernandez defeated Matt Morgan in a steel cage match.
• Jay Lethal defeated Ric Flair.
• The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) defeated Beer Money, Inc. (James Storm and Robert Roode) to win the vacant TNA World Tag Team Championship.
• Kurt Angle defeated D'Angelo Dinero.
• Rob Van Dam defeated Jeff Hardy, Mr. Anderson, and Abyss in a four-way match to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

5 years ago today at an Impact taping at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Sting defeated Mr. Anderson to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

This would begin the fourth and final TNA world title for Sting. He was briefly tied for most TNA world titles until Angle defeated Sting for the title less than a month later at Hardcore Justice.

4 years ago today, WWE announces it had made a $5 million investment in social media service Tout.

The service enables its users to send 15 second videos. The service gained popularity when Shaquille O'Neal used it to announce his retirement in June 2011.

But with Twitter introducing Vine just six months later and Instagram adding video capabilities to its social media service the following summer, the partnership bombs. WWE does not renew their deal with Tout when it expires two years later.

3 years ago today, WWE opens their Performance Center in Winter Park, Florida. The official training facility of the WWE, it's 26,000 square feet and includes seven training rings, a strength and conditioning program, edit and production facilities, and a voice-over room that performers and announcers can practice. Cagesider GuyNamedJason took a tour of the facility just before NXT Takeover: Rival back in February 2015. Read and enjoy it, as it's probably the closest you'll get to it.

That is, unless you have $1,596.43 (including the 6.5% state convenience fee), in which case, you can get a tour of the facility on July 25. The facility is not open to the general public.

Happy 36^th birthday to Theodore James Wilson, known better to wrestling fans as Tyson Kidd.

The last graduate of the famed Hart Dungeon, Wilson is a Hart by marriage; he married Natalya Neidhart in 2013. Wilson competed most notably in Stampede Wrestling from 1995 to 2007. In late 2006, he signed a WWE developmental deal. He joined the main roster in 2009 with David Hart Smith and his girlfriend at the time Natalya. Known as the Hart Dynasty, they won WWE Tag Team Championship in 2010.

Wilson floundered for most of the next three years, but experienced a resurgence after he returned from a torn meniscus in late 2013. In 2015, he began teaming with Cesaro. Unofficially dubbing themselves "The Brass Ring Club", the duo won the tag titles at Fastlane in February 2015. In June 2015, Wilson suffered a severe neck and spinal injury during a dark match against Samoa Joe. The injury he suffered has just a 5% survival rate. Wilson survived, but his wrestling future remains in doubt.