This Day in Wrestling History (July 21): 7th Heaven

35 years ago today in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Tony Garea and Rick Martel defeated The Moondogs (Rex and Spot) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.

The win made Garea the first man to hold the WWF Tag Team Championship five times. He held it with four different partners: Haystacks Calhoun, Dean Ho (both in 1973), Larry Zbyszko in 1978, and Martel (1980 and 1981). Side note: dating back to when the title was vacated in August 1980, three of the four tag title changes happened in Allentown, PA (it would do so eight of ten times through November 1983).

34 years ago today, Abdullah the Butcher was named the first World Wrestling Council World Heavyweight Champion. The championship would eventually be renamed the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship. Abdullah won the titles five times, the last in 2004.

31 years ago today in Charlotte, North Carolina, Tully Blanchard defeated Magnum TA to win the NWA United States Championship.

21 years ago today in Tampa, Florida, Dean Malenko defeated Eddie Guerrero to win the ECW World Television Championship. He would lose the title back to Guerrero just a week later.

20 years ago today, WWF presented In Your House 9: International Incident (WWE Network link) from General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia. 14,804 were in attendance, with about 122,000 homes purchasing the event on PPV.

• In the preshow Free For All match, Justin Bradshaw defeated Savio Vega.
• The Body Donnas (Skip & Zip) defeated The Smoking Gunns (Bart & Billy Gunn).
• Mankind defeated Henry Godwinn.
• Steve Austin defeated Marc Mero.
• The Undertaker defeated Goldust by disqualification.
• Camp Cornette (Owen Hart, The British Bulldog, and Vader) defeated The People's Posse (Ahmed Johnson, Shawn Michaels, and Sycho Sid).

14 years ago today, WWE presented Vengeance (WWE Network link) from the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. About 12,000 were in attendance, with 375,000 homes watching on PPV. It's up 60,000 from the event of the same name the previous December, but down 400,000 from last July's PPV offering, Invasion.

• In a preshow match on Sunday Night Heat, Goldust defeated Steven Richards.
• Bubba & Spike Dudley beat Chris Benoit & Eddie Guerrero in a tables match.
• Jamie Noble defeated Billy Kidman to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
• Jeff Hardy defeated William Regal to retain the WWE European Championship.
• John Cena defeated Chris Jericho.
• Rob Van Dam defeated Brock Lesnar by DQ to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
• Booker T defeated The Big Show.
• The Un-Americans (Christian & Lance Storm) defeated Hulk Hogan & Edge to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. The loss ended Hogan's only tag team championship reign in his career.
• The Rock defeated Kurt Angle and The Undertaker in a triple threat match to win the WWE Championship. The win gave The Rock his seventh WWE championship, a record that would stand for nearly seven years, until Triple H won the WWE Championship for the eighth time in February 2009. John Cena currently holds the record with 12.

11 years ago today, longtime manager, wrestler, and commentator "Lord" Alfred George James Hayes died following a series of strokes in Dallas, Texas. He was 76.

Born August 8, 1928 in London, England, Hayes worked on the British wrestling circuit from the late 1950s to late 1970s as "Judo" Al Hayes, based on his black-belt training in judo as a youngster. After a long feud with Dr. Death for Paul Lincoln Promotions, Hayes joined the WWF in 1982, but his popularity took off in 1984 with WWF talk show Tuesday Night Titans as Vince McMahon's sidekick.

He served as a sideline reporter for the original Wrestlemania and commentated the main event of Wrestlemania II. His humorous and gentle demeanor also made him a mainstay on WWF home video releases, usually with Sean Mooney, and in skits for Saturday Night's Main Event, Prime Time Wrestling, and WWF Mania.

Though he was generally a face commentator, he leaned heel towards the end of his WWF run. Hayes left the WWF in 1995 following a series of budget cuts that affected the company. McMahon and the office took the loss of Hayes hard. Around the same time, he was involved in an auto accident that ultimately resulted in part of his leg being amputated, confining him to a wheelchair for the remainder of his life. His last major wrestling gig came for the short-lived American Wrestling Federation in 1996.

Hayes spent his final years in nursing homes and hospitals; it was at Baylor Hospital where he ultimately passed away on July 21, 2005. At the time of his death, he was survived by his son and daughter, along with three grandchildren. Poshumously, he was inducted last year into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame.

7 years ago today at a TNA Impact taping at Universal Orlando, The British Invasion (Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams) defeated Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) in a tables match to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.

The title match was not sanctioned by New Japan Pro Wrestling (the organization responsible for handling the belts), nor did they officially recognize the title change until August 10.

4 years ago today, Adam Pearce defeated Colt Cabana in a two-out-of-three falls match to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. It began his fifth and final reign with the championship that would end amid controversy in October when the NWA refused to let Pearce defend the title in Australia.