This Day in Wrestling History (July 24): Kurt Angle Wins The WCW Title

29 years ago today in Houston, Texas, Sherri Martel in her WWF debut defeated The Fabulous Moolah for the WWF Women's Championship. She would rename herself Sensational Sherri and hold the WWF Championship for the next fifteen months before being defeated by Rockin' Robin.

20 years ago today in Cincinnati, Ohio, The Steiner Brothers defeated Harlem Heat (Booker T & Stevie Ray) to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship. The Steiners would lose them just three days later in Atlanta back to Harlem Heat.

17 years ago today in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Edge defeated Jeff Jarrett to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship.

Ken Shamrock was the originally scheduled opponent, but due to travel issues, he could not make the show. In an interesting story, Edge wasn't even aware he was going to win the title that night until the referee made the three count. But the feel good hometown moment wouldn't last; Jeff Jarrett would defeat Edge the next night at Fully Loaded to win the title back.

16 years ago today, on Nitro from Cleveland, Ohio (WWE Network link), Lance Storm defeated Big Vito to in a title versus title match to win the WCW Hardcore Championship. Storm's WCW United States Championship was also at stake.

15 years ago today at a Smackdown taping in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (WWE Network link), Kurt Angle defeated Booker T by submission to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. During the same taping, Chris Kanyon is awarded the WCW United States Championship by Booker T and Stephanie McMahon.

11 years ago today, WWE presented The Great American Bash (WWE Network link) from the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York. About 8,000 were in attendance with 279,000 homes watching on PPV.

The event is noted for the final appearance of Mark Copani, who played the controversial Muhammad Hassan. Hassan was taken off television due to mounting pressure from UPN after a terrorist-like angle aired on the same day of the London bombings. Increased public pressure forced WWE to drop the character altogether, and after two months in developmental, Copani was released.

The event was voted the Worst Major Wrestling Show of 2005.

• In a Sunday Night Heat preshow match, Paul London defeated Nunzio to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
• The Legion of Doom (Heidenreich and Road Warrior Animal) defeated MNM (Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro) to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.
• Booker T defeated Christian.
• Orlando Jordan defeated Chris Benoit to retain the United States championship.
• The Undertaker defeated Muhammad Hassan.
• The Mexicools (Super Crazy, Juventud, and Psicosis) defeated The Blue World Order (Big Stevie Cool, The Blue Meanie, and Hollywood Nova).
• Rey Mysterio defeated Eddie Guerrero.
• Melina defeated Torrie Wilson in a bra and panties match. Candice Michelle was the special guest referee.
• John "Bradshaw" Layfield defeated Batista by disqualification in a World Heavyweight Championship match.

10 years ago today, Stephanie McMahon-Levesque and her husband Paul (aka Triple H) have their first child together, Aurora Rose.  The couple would have two more children in the next four years, Murphy Claire in 2008, and Vaughn Evelyn in 2010.

9 years ago today, WWE signs Ted DiBiase, Jr. to a developmental deal.

The son of the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, he would win the FCW Southern Heavyweight Championship before joining the main roster in May 2008. He would win two world tag team championships with another third-generation wrestler Cody Rhodes, and star in The Marine 2 before being released in 2013.

7 years ago today, Ring of Honor presented the first of two nights of Death Before Dishonor VII from the Ted Reeve Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

• In a preshow dark match, Tyson Dux defeated Rip Impact.
• In a preshow dark match, Alex Payne & Bobby Dempsey defeated The Flatliners (Asylum & Matt Burns)
• In a preshow dark match, Rhett Titus defeated Jimmy Stone
• El Generico and Sonjay Dutt fought to a 15-minute time limit draw.
• The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) defeated The Super Smash Brothers (Player Dos & Player Uno).
• D-Lo Brown defeats Franky The Mobster.
• The Embassy (Bison Smith, Claudio Castagnoli, Jimmy Rave & Joey Ryan) defeated Brent Albright, Colt Cabana, Grizzly Redwood & Necro Butcher in an eight-man tag team elimination match.
• Kenny Omega defeats Kenny King.
• Kevin Steen & Lance Storm defeated Chris Hero & Davey Richards.
• Austin Aries defeated Jerry Lynn, Nigel McGuinness, and Tyler Black in a Four Corners Survival Match to retain the ROH World Championship.

It's a happy 41st birthday for Torrie Anne Wilson.

Wilson is best known for her stints in WCW and WWE, but it almost never came to be. After battling anorexia and bulimia for most of her teenage years, she took up fitness modeling, ultimately winning the Miss Galaxy competition in 1999. While attending a WCW show with her boyfriend in 1999, she broke into the wrestling business. After Kevin Nash put in a good word for her, Wilson served as a valet for a number of WCW wrestlers, most notably Billy Kidman (whom she would marry in 2003 and divorce in 2008).

She was one of the 24 brought into the WWF following the sale of WCW for the Invasion storyline. Her most high-profile storylines were with Dawn Marie in 2003 and as a part of Vince's Devils in 2006. Torrie retired from wrestling following a back injury in late 2007 and her subsequent release in 2008. More recently, Torrie dated New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez for about three years. The couple split in February 2015.

It's a happy 53^rd birthday for famed basketball player Karl Anthony Malone.

The one-time wrestler known as "The Mailman" is best known for his 19 seasons in the NBA, 18 of them with the Utah Jazz. Malone is second all time in career points scored with 36,928 (only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has more), and holds the NBA record for most free throws made and attempted (9,787 and 13,188 respectively). Karl is a 14-time NBA All-Star and a two-time NBA MVP, and was an 11-time All-NBA First Team selection, and is a member of the NBA's 50^th Anniversary All-Time Team. His #32 has been retired by the Jazz.

Malone is also a two-time Olympic gold medalist, as a member of both the 1992 and 1996 men's basketball teams. In 2010, Malone was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame—twice (as a player for his individual achievements, and as a member of the 1992 US men's Olympic basketball team, known commonly as "The Dream Team").

Wrestling connection: Malone, a lifelong wrestling fan, wrestled for WCW once. No, seriously, that happened. It was a losing effort at the 1998 Bash at the Beach when he and Diamond Dallas Page were defeated by Hollywood Hogan and Dennis Rodman. The bout was poorly received by critics, yet the PPV garnered the second-highest buyrate in WCW history.