This Day in Wrestling History (Feb. 11): Brian Pillman Leaves WCW

48 years ago today in Tampa, Florida, Dory Funk, Jr. defeated Gene Kinski to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

The win ended Kinski's three-year run as world champion and would begin another long run. Dory would hold the NWA world title for over four years before being defeatd by Harley Race in 1973.

34 years ago today in St. Louis, Missouri, Giant Baba defeated Harley Race to win the Pacific Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Championship.

34 years ago today in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Bob Backlund defeated WWF Intercontinental Champion "The Magnificent" Don Muraco in a Texas deathmatch to retain the WWF Championship. Only Backlund's WWF title was on the line in the match.

33 years ago today in Boston, Massachusetts, Tito Santana defeated "The Magnificent" Don Muraco to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship.

21 years ago today, WCW presented SuperBrawl VI (WWE Network link) from the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida. About 7,200 were in attendance, with 210,000 homes watching on PPV. That's more than WCW's previous two PPVs (World War 3 and Starrcade 1995) combined (165,000 buys).

• The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) defeated The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge & Rocco Rock) in a falls count anywhere tag team match.
• Johnny B. Badd defeated Diamond Dallas Page to retain the WCW World Television Championship.
• Lex Luger & Sting defeated Harlem Heat (Booker T & Stevie Ray) to retain the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
• Konnan defeated The One Man Gang to retain the WCW United States Championship.
• Kevin Sullivan defeated Brian Pillman in an "I Respect You" strap match in just 59 seconds. The bout came to a sudden stop when Pillman grabbed the microphone from referee Jimmy Jett and said "I respect you. Booker man," making an open reference to Kevin Sullivan being the head booker of WCW at the time. The "booker man" reference was removed from all replays and the commercial release of the event (it remains on the WWE Network version, which has the original PPV broadcast). Brian, who was working a loose cannon gimmick at the time, was to go to ECW to fine tune the gimmick, then return some time after a conquering hero... except he never got around to returning a conquering hero. Four months later, Pillman—while on the disabled list thanks to an auto accident—signed the first fully guaranteed contract in WWF history, making this 59-second donnybrook Pillman's final WCW appearance.
• Arn Anderson and Kevin Sullivan fought to a no contest in an "I Respect You" strap match when Ric Flair convinced the two to stop fighting.
• Lex Luger & Sting and The Road Warriors (Road Warrior Animal & Road Warrior Hawk) fought to a double disqualification for the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
• Ric Flair defeated Randy Savage in a steel cage match to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
• Hulk Hogan defeated The Giant in a steel cage match.

10 years ago today, TNA presented Against All Odds from the Impact Zone at Universal Orlando.

• In a preshow match, Serotonin (Kazarian and Havok) defeated Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt.
• The Latin American Exchange (Homicide and Hernandez) defeated Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) in a Little Italy Street Fight.
• Senshi defeated Austin Starr.
• Christy Hemme defeated "Big Fat Oily Guy" in a tuxedo match.
• Lance Hoyt defeated Dale Torborg in a Basebrawl.
• A.J. Styles defeated Rhino in a Motor City Chain match.
• Chris Sabin defeated Jerry Lynn to retain the TNA X Division Championship.
• James Storm and Jacqueline Moore defeated Petey Williams and Gail Kim in a mixed tag team match.
• Sting defeated Abyss in a Prison Yard match.
• Christian Cage defeated Kurt Angle to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

7 years ago today, Vince McMahon announces during an investor conference call that WWE would abandon the Survivor Series PPV name.

The decision comes after the 2009 annual financials reported that the show’s buyrate was down 26% from the 2008 edition (225,000 buys for the 2009 event versus 325,000 for 2008). From the conference call:

"We think that Survivor Series is obsolete, as far as that title is concerned. It was something that worked many, many years ago, in terms of a creative standpoint, various teams competing. That really is not advantageous as the consumer now looks as what actually they are buying. And it's such a broad ... Survivor Series yes, many years ago, was one of the original four pay-per-views, but it's outlasted its usage and it is one of the things in terms of rebranding, this year and going forward, that will be rebranded. No longer will we have that title, Survivor Series."

In June, WWE would reverse course and announce that the Survivor Series would go on as planned that November, as it has every November since its inception in 1987. Turned out to be a good call: it was just one of two PPVs to have a year-to-year increase in buys over 2009. The other was Royal Rumble.

3 years ago today, New Japan Pro Wrestling presented The New Beginning in Osaka from Bodymaker Colosseum in Osaka, Japan.

• The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) defeated Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida) to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.
• Katsuyori Shibata defeated Yoshi-Hashi.
• Suzuki-gun (Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer, and Minoru Suzuki) defeated Bullet Club (Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, and Tama Tonga).
• Ryusuke Taguchi and Togi Makabe defeated Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale and Prince Devitt).
• Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) defeated Big Daddy Yum-Yum and Michael Tarver to become the #1 contenders for the NWA World Tag Team Championship.
• Gracie Ichizoku (Daniel Gracie and Rolles Gracie) defeated Kazushi Sakuraba and Yuji Nagata in a Ishu kakutōgi sen rules tag team match. The MMA rules bout could be won by pinfall, submission, or knockout.
• Hiroshi Tanahashi and Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Chaos (Shinsuke Nakamura and Yujiro Takahashi).
• Kota Ibushi defeated El Desperado to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
• Tomohiro Ishii defeated Tetsuya Naito to win the NEVER Openweight Championship.
• Kazuchika Okada defeated Hirooki Goto to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

2 years ago today, NXT presented Takeover: Rival (WWE Network link) from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.

• In a preshow dark match, Colin Cassady & Enzo Amore defeated The Vaudevillains (Aiden English & Simon Gotch).
• Hideo Itami defeated Tyler Breeze.
• Baron Corbin defeated Bull Dempsey in a no disqualification match.
• Blake and Murphy defeated The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto & Sin Cara) to retain the NXT Tag Team Championship.
• Finn Balor defeated Adrian Neville to become the #1 contender for the NXT Championship.
• Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte, Bayley, and Becky Lynch in a Fatal 4-Way match to win the NXT Women's Championship.
• Kevin Owens defeated Sami Zayn by TKO to win the NXT Championship.

2 years ago today, New Japan Pro Wrestling presented The New Beginning in Osaka from Bodymaker Colosseum in Osaka, Japan.

• Sho Tanaka defeated Yohei Komatsu.
• Mascara Dorada & Tiger Mask defeat Captain New Japan & Manabu Nakanishi.
• Chase Owens & Rob Conway defeat Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Jushin Thunder Liger.
• Kota Ibushi defeated Tomoaki Honma.
• The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) defeat reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) and Time Splitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) in a three-team match to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.
• Kenny Omega defeated Ryusuke Taguchi to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
• CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano) & Kazushi Sakuraba defeat BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi).
• Satoshi Kojima, Tetsuya Naito, and Yuji Nagata defeat CHAOS (Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, and YOSHI-HASHI).
• BULLET CLUB (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) defeat Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.
• AJ Styles defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

1 year ago today, New Japan Pro Wrestling presented The New Beginning in Osaka from EDION Arena in Osaka, Japan.

• Jay White defeated David Finlay.
• Jushin Thunder Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Tiger Mask defeated CHAOS (Gedo, Kazushi Sakuraba, and YOSHI-HASHI)
• TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) defeated Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata.
• Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, EVIL, and Tetsuya Naito) defeated Juice Robinson, KUSHIDA, and Michael Elgin.
• BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, and Yujiro Takahashi) defeated Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) and Toru Yano to win the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.
• Matt Sydal & Ricochet defeated The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) and reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) in a three-team match to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.
• Katsuyori Shibata defeated Tomohiro Ishii to retain the NEVER Openweight Championship.
• BULLET CLUB (Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, and Kenny Omega) defeated Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) and Hiroshi Tanahashi.
• Kazuchika Okada defeated Hirooki Goto to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.