46 years ago today in New York City, Ivan Koloff defeated Bruno Sammartino to win the WWWF Championship.
The win ends Sammartino’s WWWF Championship run at 2,803 days, by far longer than anyone in the history of the promotion. Reaction among the Madison Square Garden crowd ranged from shock to stunned silence to sadness. Longtime wrestling journalist Bill Apter remarked in 2014 that the atmosphere in the Garden following the title change was “like a funeral” was taking place. In fact, out of fear of a riot breaking out, Koloff was never announced over the PA system as the new WWWF Champion.
There is more to the title change than meets the eye: as the story goes, Sammartino grew tired of the demanding schedule, so he voluntarily decided to give up the championship. As for Koloff, he was nothing more than a stopgap for their next “face of the promotion”; Pedro Morales defeated Koloff for the title just three weeks later.
Sammartino would become WWWF Champion again in 1973, holding the title for over three years before being defeated by Superstar Billy Graham.
19 years ago today, WWF presented Royal Rumble (WWE Network link) from the San Jose Arena in San Jose, California. 18,542 were in attendance, with 351,000 homes watching on PPV. That's up from 244,000 for the 1997 edition.
The show is noted for Shawn Michaels taking a backdrop onto the casket early on in the WWF championship casket match, causing him to suffer a back injury that would force him into retirement just two months later.
Match ratings are from Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Meltzer as recorded in the Internet Wrestling Database. Ratings are out of a possible five stars.
- Vader defeated Goldust. (1.25/5)
- Max Mini, Mosaic, and Nova defeated Battalion, El Torito, and Tarantula in a Minis tag team match. Sunny was the special referee. (3.5)
- The Rock defeated Ken Shamrock by disqualification to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship. (2.25)
- The Legion Of Doom (Road Warrior Animal & Road Warrior Hawk) defeated The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn & Road Dogg) by disqualification in a WWF World Tag Team Championship match. (1.25)
- Steve Austin last eliminated The Rock to win the Royal Rumble match. (2.5)
- Shawn Michaels defeated The Undertaker in a Casket Match to retain the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Post-match, Kane, who was thought to be interfering on Undertaker's behalf, but cost him the match instead, burned the casket. Undertaker was not found in the casket once the fire was put out. (3.5)
1998 Royal Rumble
Entrant # | Entrant | Eliminated # | Eliminated by | Time | # of eliminations |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Entrant # | Entrant | Eliminated # | Eliminated by | Time | # of eliminations |
1 | Cactus Jack | 2 | Charlie | 9:41 | 1 |
2 | Chainsaw Charlie | 6 | Mankind | 25:19 | 3 |
3 | Tom Brandi | 1 | Jack and Charlie | 0:12 | 0 |
4 | The Rock | 28 | Austin | 51:32 | 3 |
5 | Mosh | 3 | Kurrgan | 13:09 | 0 |
6 | Phineas I. Godwinn | 12 | Henry | 28:48 | 1 |
7 | 8-Ball | 14 | Austin | 30:43 | 1 |
8 | Blackjack Bradshaw | 15 | Dude Love | 35:45 | 1 |
9 | Owen Hart | 10 | Triple H and Chyna | 2:00 | 1 |
10 | Steve Blackman | 4 | Kurrgan | 5:58 | 0 |
11 | D'Lo Brown | 16 | Faarooq | 32:21 | 1 |
12 | Kurrgan | 5 | Shamrock, 8-Ball, Godwinn, Bradshaw, Charlie and Rock | 3:38 | 2 |
13 | Marc Mero | 13 | Austin | 19:40 | 0 |
14 | Ken Shamrock | 9 | Rock | 9:15 | 1 |
15 | Thrasher | 18 | Austin | 28:08 | 0 |
16 | Mankind | 7 | Goldust | 2:40 | 1 |
17 | The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust | 23 | Chainz | 26:04 | 2 |
18 | Jeff Jarrett | 8 | Owen Hart | 1:05 | 0 |
19 | The Honky Tonk Man | 17 | Vader | 19:55 | 0 |
20 | Ahmed Johnson | 11 | Henry and Brown | 3:18 | 0 |
21 | Mark Henry | 25 | Faarooq | 19:07 | 2 |
22 | Skull | - | Unable to compete due to injury | - | - |
23 | Kama Mustafa | 19 | Austin | 13:58 | 0 |
24 | Steve Austin | - | Winner | 15:58 | 7 |
25 | Henry O. Godwinn | 22 | Dude Love | 11:32 | 0 |
26 | Savio Vega | 20 | Austin | 9:29 | 0 |
27 | Faarooq | 27 | Rock | 12:05 | 3 |
28 | Dude Love | 26 | Faarooq | 7:53 | 2 |
29 | Chainz | 24 | Austin | 4:56 | 1 |
30 | Vader | 21 | Goldust | 2:16 | 1 |
Notes:
- Steve Austin became the second straight back-to-back Royal Rumble winner, and the third of the 1990s (Hulk Hogan went back to back in 1990 and 1991, while Shawn Michaels' two Rumble wins came in 1995 and 1996). It would be more than a decade before someone else won their second Rumble: John Cena won two in 2008 and 2013, while Batista won his two in 2005 and 2014.
- Mick Foley became the first (and to this day, only) man to enter the Royal Rumble match three times. He’s also the only man to have been eliminated three times in the same Rumble.
- The Rock's 51-minute performance in the Royal Rumble match was at the time the third longest by a non-winner (behind Rick Martel and Bob Backlund).
- Skull was jumped by Los Boriquas, who mistaken him for Stone Cold Steve Austin, and was not able to compete in the match.
17 years ago today at a Thunder taping in Evansville, Indiana, The Mamalukes (Big Vito & Johnny the Bull) defeated Crowbar & David Flair to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
14 years ago today, Edward George Farhat, best known to wrestling fans as The Sheik (or in recent years The Original Sheik) died of a heart attack in Williamston, Michigan. He was 76.
Farhat is credited as a pioneer of the hardcore wrestling style and is the uncle of ECW legend Sabu. At the time of his death, Farhat was working on a book at the time of his death, but the drafts have since been sealed despite offers to turn the book into a movie.
7 years ago today, TNA got into hot water with their fans and critics—again—when video of a pre-taping talk between producer Steve Small and fans at the Impact Zone surfaced.
Small, while acknowledging that vulgar chants were not welcome even though it's a TV-14 product (understandable since they do tape their shows in a theme park), called the fans "cast members".
While the video would eventually be taken down by TNA (initially—nothing on the Internet ever truly goes away), many fans of the promotion were not happy; longtime regulars stopped going and the company would resort to using plants to fill the Impact Zone.
The best of cSs on this day:
2016: Injuries related to current WWE style, says Stone Cold Steve Austin (Stone Cold Steve Austin on The Ross Report says faster-paced matches leading to more matches)
2015: Jim Ross predicts Daniel Bryan will win the Royal Rumble in Philadelphia (Jim Ross on his blog says Daniel Bryan will win the Royal Rumble and main event Wrestlemania 31)
2014: Daniel Bryan concussion: Just what the hell is going on? (What Bryan’s concussion could mean for future plans)
2013: WrestleMania 29 match card may be set with top four bouts already booked (Rock-Cena II, Triple H-Lesnar II, Undertaker-Punk, Orton-Sheamus set in stone for Wrestlemania 29); also, one of the most popular posts in cSs history, the wedding of Bully Ray and Brooke Hogan
2012: Cageside Seats, SB Nation and Vox Media Officially Oppose SOPA and PIPA (cSs and parent partners SB Nation and Vox Media take a stand against harmful Internet privacy acts)
2011: Bellator's New Deal Will Have Them Going Head Up Against UFC and Strikeforce Events (Bellator to air on MTV on the same night as Strikeforce and UFC events)