This Day in Wrestling History (June 16): Edge Debuts

33 years ago today in New York City, Sgt. Slaughter defeated The Iron Sheik in a boot camp match.

This would be one of Slaughter’s last notable bouts in his second run with the company. Late in the year, Slaughter, real name Robert Remus, was fired from the WWF. Why he was fired depends on who is telling the story.

One possible scenario is that he missed a show in protest of not being given six weeks paid vacation, and Vince McMahon fired him in retaliation. Another possibility is that McMahon wouldn’t allow Sgt. Slaughter to be a part of the G.I. Joe toy line, and Remus quit the company in protest.

Remus would return to the WWF in the summer of 1990 again as Sgt. Slaughter, but under his most controversial gimmick, an Iraqi sympathizer. He would have a brief run as WWF Champion in early 1991.

25 years ago today, WCW presented Clash of the Champions XIX (WWE Network link) from the McAllister Fieldhouse in Charleston, South Carolina.

The show featured the first round and the beginning of the second round of a tournament to crown new NWA World Tag Team Champions. The championships were vacated in early 1991 when WCW began referring the NWA world tag titles as the WCW world tag titles.

It’s also noted for being the only Clash of the Champions to be pre-recorded for broadcast, as every other show in the series was presented live. The show aired six days later.

First round matches:

• Nikita Koloff & Ricky Steamboat defeat The Malenko Brothers (Dean & Joe).
• Rick Rude & Steve Austin defeat Marcus Alexander Bagwell & The Z-Man.
• Steve Williams & Terry Gordy defeat Jeff O'Day & Larry O'Day.
• The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner) defeat Miguel Perez Jr. & Ricky Santana via forfeit.
• Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes defeat Arn Anderson & Beautiful Bobby.
• The Fabulous Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes) defeat Los Cowboys (El Texano & Silver King).
• Flyin' Brian & Jushin Thunder Liger defeat Biff Wellington & Chris Benoit.
• Akira Nogami & Hiroshi Hase defeat The Headhunters (Arn Anderson & Bob Cook).

Second round match:

• Steve Williams & Terry Gordy defeat The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner)

24 years ago today, WCW presented Clash of the Champions XXIII (WWE Network link) from The Scope in Norfolk, Virginia.

The show was noted for the in-ring return of Ric Flair who, despite returning a few months earlier to WCW, had to sit out due to a no-compete clause. To cover for the no-compete clause, Flair was given a talking segment, Flair for the Gold.

The assumption that airing past Flair bouts since his departure (which sometimes rated higher than original WCW programming at the time) would lead to a huge spike in ratings for his first WCW match in two years.

TBS and WCW turned out to be very, very, very wrong. The show was both the lowest-rated and least-watched Clash to date, and the Hollywood Blonds ended up taking the fall for it. The duo was split up a few months later.

• In a preshow dark match, Jim Neidhart defeated Shanghai Pierce.
• Ron Simmons defeated Dick Slater.
• Lord Steven Regal defeated Marcus Alexander Bagwell.
• Maxx Payne defeated Johnny B. Badd via forfeit.
• Barry Windham defeated Too Cold Scorpio to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
• Big Van Vader, Rick Rude, and Sid Vicious defeated Davey Boy Smith, Dustin Rhodes & Sting.
• The Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson & Ric Flair) defeated The Hollywood Blondes (Flyin' Brian & Stunning Steve) 2-0 in a best of three falls match for the WCW and NWA World Tag Team Championship. As the second fall was won via disqualification, the championships did not change hands.

21 years ago today, WCW presented The Great American Bash (WWE Network link) from the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. About 9,000 fans were in attendance, with 170,000 homes watching on PPV.

The show was noted for the Scott Hall and Kevin Nash returning to PPV for WCW. They were interviewed by Eric Bischoff. One of the questions asked in the interview was apparently for legal purposes: the Outsiders were asked if they still worked for the WWF. They both answered no. WWF alleged that WCW implied that Hall and Nash still worked for the WWF, deliberatly misleading fans.

This led to a years-long lawsuit between the two promotions. The suit was settled in August 2000 for an undisclosed sum, but that lawsuit gave WWF the right of first refusal should WCW ever come up for sale... which it did three months after the suit was settled.

Moments later, Bischoff was powerbombed through the stage when he did not give the names of the three people that would face the "outsiders" in a match.

• In a WCW Main Event preshow match, Rocco Rock defeated Jerry Sags.
• In a WCW Main Event preshow match, Michael Wallstreet defeated Jim Powers.
• In a WCW Main Event preshow match, Jim Duggan defeated Disco Inferno.
• The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) defeated Fire and Ice (Scott Norton and Ice Train).
• Konnan defeated El Gato to retain the WCW United States Championship.
• Diamond Dallas Page defeated Marcus Bagwell.
• Dean Malenko defeated Rey Mysterio, Jr. to retain the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. This was Mysterio's WCW debut.
• John Tenta defeated Big Bubba Rogers.
• Chris Benoit defeated Kevin Sullivan in a falls count anywhere match.
• Sting defeated Lord Steven Regal.
• Ric Flair and Arn Anderson defeated Kevin Greene and Steve McMichael. Late in the match, McMichael turned on Greene. Post-match, Chris Benoit joined in the beatdown on Greene. The Four Horsemen were reformed with Flair, Anderson, Benoit, and McMichael.
• The Giant defeated Lex Luger to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

19 years ago today at a RAW is WAR taping in Austin, Texas (WWE Network link), Adam Copeland makes his WWF television debut as loner/tortured soul Edge. His debut airs six days later.

Less than a minute into his match with Jorge Estrada, he hits a somersault to the outside, with his right leg landing badly on Estrada's head and injuring his neck. Edge wins by countout.

Estrada would eventually return to the ring, but would compete primarily on a few Super Astros tapings until his release in August 1999.

As for Edge, he goes on to a somewhat moderately successful career, winning 11 world championships, 14 tag team championships, the 2001 King of the Ring tournament, the 2005 Money in the Bank ladder match, and the 2010 Royal Rumble (the first man to win all three). At the time of his retirement in 2011, he amassed 31 total championships.

5 years ago today, New Japan Pro Wrestling presented Dominion 6.16 from Bodymaker Coliseum in Osaka, Japan. The show's main event was named the match of the year by Tokyo Sports Magazine.

• Daisuke Sasaki and Golden☆Lovers (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi) defeated Bushi, Kushida and Prince Devitt.
• Chaos (Rocky Romero, Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi) defeated Seigigun (Captain New Japan, Wataru Inoue and Yuji Nagata).
• Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask defeated Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Taka Michinoku) to win the vacated IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. The championship was stripped from No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards and Rocky Romero) when Richards could not make the show due to travel issues.
• Black Dynamite (MVP and Shelton Benjamin) defeated Karl Anderson and Tama Tonga.
• Low Ki defeated Ryusuke Taguchi to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
• Chaos (Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano) and Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) fought to a double countout for the IWGP Tag Team Championship. The match was restarted and the teams fought to a no contest.
• Chaos (Masato Tanaka and Shinsuke Nakamura) defeated Hirooki Goto and Tetsuya Naito.
• Togi Makabe defeated Minoru Suzuki.
• Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Kazuchika Okada to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

4 years ago today, WWE presented Payback (WWE Network link) from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. 14,623 were in attendance, with 186,000 homes watching on PPV.

• In a preshow match, Sheamus defeated Damien Sandow.
• Curtis Axel defeated Wade Barrett and The Miz in a triple threat match to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship. The win made Axel and his late father Curt Hennig the first father-son duo to win a singles championship in WWE history.
• AJ Lee defeated Kaitlyn to win the WWE Divas Championship. AJ would hold the championship for nearly 10 months, then a WWE record. She would not lose it until the night after Wrestlemania XXX when Paige defeated her in her debut match.
• Dean Ambrose defeated Kane by countout to retain the United States Championship.
• Alberto Del Rio defeated Dolph Ziggler to win the World Heavyweight Championship.
• CM Punk defeated Chris Jericho. This was Punk's first match since his loss to The Undertaker at Wrestlemania XXIX.
• The Shield (Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) defeated Team RKNo (Randy Orton & Daniel Bryan) to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship.
• John Cena defeated Ryback 2-1 in a Three Stages of Hell match to retain the WWE Championship.

Stage 1: Ryback defeated John Cena in a lumberjack match.

Stage 2: John Cena defeated Ryback in a tables match.

Stage 3: John Cena defeated Ryback in an ambulance match.

4 years ago today, AAA presented Triplemania XXI from Arena Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico.

The show was to be AAA's first Internet PPV event, but Ustream were unable to air the show due to technical difficulties, forcing Ustream offered refunds to anyone purchasing the event. The event was posted in its entirety for free on AAA's Youtube channel two days later.

• Dinastía, El Elegido, Faby Apache and Pimpinela Escarlata defeated Mamba, Mini Abismo Negro, Silver Kain and Taya.
• Heavy Metal defeated Chessman.
• Los Mexican Power (Crazy Boy and Joe Líder) defeated Angélico and Jack Evans, Drago and Fénix, Los Mamitos (Mr. E and Sexy B), and Los Perros del Mal (Daga and Psicosis) in a five-team elimination match to win the vacant AAA World Tag Team Championship.
• Jeff Jarrett, Matt Morgan, and Monster Pain defeated Los Psycho Circus (Monster Clown, Murder Clown and Psycho Clown).
• El Texano, Jr. defeated Heavy Metal to retain the AAA World Heavyweight Championship.
• Blue Demon, Jr. defeated El Mesías to win the vacant AAA Latin American Championship
• Dr. Wagner, Jr., Electroshock, La Parka, and Octagón defeated Canek, Máscara Año 2000, Universo 2000 and Villano IV.
• El Hijo del Perro Aguayo defeated Cibernético in a best of three falls hair versus hair match.

2 years ago today, WWE begins announcing the roster for its annual video game, WWE 2K16. The first names announced were then-WWE Champion Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Daniel Bryan, Paige, Wade Barrett, and Finn Balor.

2 years ago today, WWE announces via press release that they've launched a gaming channel on Youtube. The press release on UpUpDownDown:

STAMFORD, Conn. - WWE today launched UpUpDownDown, a new YouTube channel focusing on the world of video gaming, hosted by WWE Superstar and avid gamer, Xavier Woods. Woods, also known to online players by his handle "Austin Creed," will be joined by YouTube celebrities, WWE Superstars and video game editors who will star in daily programming about everything in the world of gaming - from current hits like "WWE 2K15" and "The Witcher" to classic series like "FIFA" and "Grand Theft Auto."

"By leveraging WWE's massive influence on YouTube and tapping into a content vertical that scores highly among our fans, we're poised to make an immediate impact with this new channel," said Lisa Fox, WWE Executive Vice President, Content. "We're confident that UpUpDownDown will entertain not only WWE fans, but gamers everywhere."

WWE has a powerful presence on YouTube, having served more than 5 billion video views in the last 12 months and boasting more than 6.4 million subscribers, making it the No. 1 Sports channel on the platform ahead of the NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL, ESPN and NASCAR.

Programming for UpUpDownDown will include:

UpUpDownDown Plays (Mondays) - A "Let's Play" style show featuring Woods and other personalities playing through today's hottest titles.

For the Lolz (Wednesdays) - Woods and others explore the vast worlds of popular sandbox games like Grand Theft Auto V, where just about anything and everything can happen.

Jump Scares (Fridays) - Delving deep into the horror genre, players push their intestinal fortitude to the limit by creeping through the industry's most bloodcurdling games

Superstar Savepoint (Saturdays) - Guests are tasked with jumping into a random game totally "cold," and must help lead Woods to gaming glory in this unpredictable co-op experiment.

Gamer Gauntlet (Sundays) - Woods and friends challenge each other for more than gaming bragging rights, with losers suffering pre-determined penalties.

As of this writing, the channel has over 1,100 videos, over 1.1 million subscribers, and over 114 million video views.

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It's a happy 54th birthday to James Fullington, best known to wrestling fans as The Sandman.

He had stints in WCW, TNA, WWE, and XPW, but his greatest success came in ECW, where he won the ECW World Heavyweight Championship five times (his record-breaking fifth title run came on the promotion's last PPV, Guilty as Charged in 2001, and lasted only a few minutes) and was a tag team champion with 2 Cold Scorpio. In 2007, he was inducted into the Hardcore Hall of Fame.

Fullington occasionally wrestles to this day, competing most recently for an East Coast Professional Wrestling show in March 2017.

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