This Day in Wrestling History (May 29): NXT Takes Over

33 years ago today, WWF tapes All-Star Wrestling from the Agricultural Hall in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Appearing at the taping was pop singer Cyndi Lauper, who confronted Captain Lou Albano on Piper’s Pit claiming he managed her career. The confrontation eventually turned physical, with Lauper swinging on both Albano and Piper with her purse until manager (and boyfriend at the time) David Wolff pulled her away.

Born from that angle would be the most watched show in MTV history at the time two months later: The Brawl to End it All, featuring The Fabulous Moolah and Wendi Richter for the WWF Women’s Championship.

One of wrestling’s most famous angles would also air during this set of tapings: on the June 9 episode was the infamous Piper’s Pit where Roddy smashed a coconut over Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka’s head.

A little tidbit: by the time it aired nationally, the St. Louis area had already seen it... two months ago. It was on the March 29 taping and aired that weekend on St. Louis’ local show, Wrestling at the Chase.

17 years ago today on Nitro from Salt Lake City, Utah (WWE Network link), Kevin Nash forfeited the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and gave it to Ric Flair.

He stated that he shouldn't have been stripped of the title a week prior and he's the rightful champion. Flair then loses the championship later that night to Jeff Jarrett for the second Monday in a row. At less than two hours, it's the shortest world title reign of Flair's career. It would also be his last.

Dating back to April 10, that's eleven world title changes in seven weeks. In the seven months prior to April 10, the WCW world title changed hands eleven times, with six of those eleven being title vacancies.

The championship would gain some stability; it wouldn't change hands again for six weeks, making it the longest title reign in WCW since Sid Vicious' ten-week run earlier that year.

17 years ago today on RAW is WAR from Vancouver, British Columbia (WWE Network link), Too Cool (Grandmaster Sexay & Scotty 2 Hotty) defeated Edge & Christian to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.

The show also featured a live performance by Kid Rock (the performance is cut from the WWE Network version). Oh, this awesome return happened too.

9 years ago today, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and his wife Dany Garcia-Johnson announce in a joint statement they have divorced.

The couple, who had been married for ten years, have one daughter together, Simone. The divorce was actually finalized back on May 19. Per terms of the divorce settlement, Johnson has to pay about $22,500 a month in child support and both make monthly contributions to a trust fund. Also, per the agreement, both Dwayne and Dani waived their rights to any alimony.

The couple are very much friends to this day; they co-founded Seven Bucks Entertainment in 2012, named for how much the then-downtrodden Johnson had to his name at one point in 1995.

9 years ago today in Atlanta, Georgia, a federal grand jury hands down a 175-count indictment against Dr. Phil Astin, the personal physician of Chris Benoit for allegedly illegally writing thousands of prescriptions to seventeen patients over a five-year period.

The indictment comes ten months after he's indicted on seven counts of over-prescribing painkillers and other drugs in July 2007, just weeks after Benoit's suicide. Facing over 300 years in prison and fines of up to $175 million, Astin pled guilty to all charges in January 2009. In May of that year, he was sentenced to ten years in prison.

8 years ago today at an ROH on HDNet taping in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ric Flair announces he is leaving the company.

Flair claimed it was due to his working relationship with WWE, but it more likely stemmed from the company deciding not to sign Ric's son Reid after he was arrested on drug charges. Then-ROH owner Cary Silkin would later sue for money not refunded for Flair's appearances.

8 years ago today, Ken Anderson, aka Mr. Kennedy, was released by WWE less than a week after he returned to television. His release came after complaints from Randy Orton and John Cena about Anderson's recklessness in the ring.

After a brief run on the independent circuit, Anderson joined TNA in January 2010. Anderson was fired in March 2016 after failing a drug test.

5 years ago today, Patrick Martin, best known to wrestling fans as Alex Shelley, leaves TNA after an eight-year run with the company, mostly as one half of the Motor City Machine Guns with Chris Sabin.

Shelley returned to New Japan Pro Wrestling later that year. After a successful tag team run with KUSHIDA as the Timesplitters, he reunited with Sabin to reform the Motor City Machine Guns in late 2015 when he returned to Ring of Honor.

4 years ago today, WWE announces they were co-producing with Warner Brothers a Flintstones animated feature. The movie, The Flintstones and WWE: Stone Age Smackdown, is released in March 2015 just before Wrestlemania 31.

3 years ago today, WWE presented NXT Takeover from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.

• In a preshow dark match, Bayley defeated Sasha Banks.
• Adam Rose defeated Camacho.
• The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) defeated El Local and Kalisto to retain the NXT Tag Team Championship.
• Tyler Breeze defeated Sami Zayn to become the #1 contender for the NXT Championship.
• Charlotte defeated Natalya in a tournament final to win the vacant NXT Womens Championship. The championship was vacated a month earlier by then-NXT general manager John Bradshaw Layfield after he determined Paige, who was also WWE Divas Champion, could not handle the demanding schedule of defending both championships at once. A tournament was then commissioned to crown a new champion.
• Adrian Neville defeated Tyson Kidd to retain the NXT Championship.