Today In Wrestling History- June 17th

Trivia

1996 – The Monday Night War continued: WCW Nitro defeated WWF Monday Night Raw: 3.4 to 2.3 in the ratings. This would begin WCW Nitro’s 84-week domination in the ratings of WWF Raw

2002 – Britain’s highest court, the House of Lords, ruled that the World Wildlife Fund, not WWE, owns the rights to the “WWF” initials. The ruling came down upholding the 2001 ruling from a British High Court that prevented the company now known as WWE from using the “WWF” initials after the Fund claimed sole ownership to them

2007 – Milano Collection AT wins the NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Tournament, defeating Wataru Inoue in the final

2011 – TNA released Nigel McGuinness aka Desmond Wolfe, who had not wrestled for them in some time due a medical issue

2011 – A jury voted to penalize Hustler magazine by awarding nearly $20 million to the family of Nancy Benoit after they published nude photographs of her in 2008, following her murder at the hands of Chris Benoit in July of 2007.   Right after the verdict was announced, the judge in the case, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr., ruled that the magazine will be liable for only $375,000 in compensatory and punitive damages ruling that the jury could not exceed Georgia’s punitive cap.  The lawyer for Nancy’s family said he will appeal the ruling stating that Georgia law allows a jury to exceed the $250,000 cap if it’s proven the defendant “acted with intent to harm.”  The case has been in appeals since & most recently, the entire amount owed to the family was thrown out

Events

In 1995, ECW Barbed Wire Hoodies & Chokeslams was held at the ECW Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With an attendance of 1,150:

– Broad Street Billy defeated The New Jersey Devil (Doug Gentry)
– Mikey Whipwreck defeated Big Val Puccio
– Vampire Warrior (Gangrel) defeated Hack Myers
– Tommy Dreamer defeated Vampire Warrior
– 911 defeated Jim Steele
– Beulah McGillicutty defeated Luna Vachon
– 2 Cold Scorpio & Taz defeated The Pitbulls & Raven in a Handicap match
– ECW World Tag Team Champions The Public Enemy (Rocco Rock & Johnny Grunge) were scheduled to face Axl & Ian Rotten, the reunited Bad Breed. Bill Alfonso would not allow the Bad Breed to team (they had lost a match to the Pitbulls where the losing team had to split up forever). So, Axl and Ian instead brawled out of the building. The Gangstas (New Jack & Mustafa Saed), making their ECW debut, attacked the Public Enemy & were arrested
– The Sandman defeated Cactus Jack in a Barbed Wire match to retain the ECW World Heavyweight Title.  This was the 2nd of only 5 barbed wire matches in ECW history

In 2007, WWE held it’s Supplemental Draft Lottery on WWE.com. The live 1st half of the draft had taken place the previous Monday June 11th, live on Monday Night Raw:

– Scotty 2 Hotty was drafted to Raw
– Kenny Dykstra was drafted to Smackdown
– Viscera was drafted to ECW (He would debut on ECW on July 10th under the new name Big Daddy V)
– The Sandman was drafted to Raw
– Hardcore Holly was drafted to Raw
– The Miz was drafted to ECW
– Daivari was drafted to Raw
– The Major Brothers (Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins) were drafted to Smackdown
– William Regal was drafted to Raw
– Victoria was drafted to Smackdown
– Jillian Hall was drafted to Raw
– Eugene was drafted to Smackdown
– Johnny Nitro was drafted to ECW (he would change his name to John Morrison a few weeks after debuting on ECW)

In 2007, TNA Slammiversary was held at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, in Nashville, Tennessee. With an attendance of 3,500. It marked the approximate 5th anniversary of TNA Wrestling, & was the 1st major TNA event in Nashville since the Asylum days. The event also featured a shoot interview with Jeff Jarrett, discussing his recently-deceased wife Jill:

– Senshi & Rhino (with Hector Guerrero) defeated The Latin American Xchange (Homicide & Hernandez) (with Konnan)
– Jay Lethal defeated Chris Sabin to win the TNA X-Division Title
– Frank Wycheck & Jerry Lynn (with Kyle Vanden Bosch) defeated Ron Killings & James Storm (with Jackie Moore)
– Bob Backlund defeated Alex Shelley
– The Voodoo Kin Mafia (Kip James & B.G. James) defeated Basham & Damaja (with Christy Hemme)
– Eric Young defeated Robert Roode (with Ms. Brooks)
– Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon) defeated Rick Steiner & Road Warrior Animal to retain the TNA Tag Team Titles
– Sting defeated Christopher Daniels
– Abyss defeated Tomko in a No-DQ Match
– Kurt Angle defeated Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Christian Cage, & Chris Harris in a King of the Mountain Match to win the vacant TNA World Title

In 2012, WWE No Way Out was held at the IZOD Center, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. With an attendance of 10,000. This was the 1st No Way Out since 2009, having been replaced by Elimination Chamber in 2010 & 2011:

Pre-Show Match:
– Brodus Clay (with Cameron & Naomi) defeated David Otunga via countout
PPV:
– Sheamus defeated Dolph Ziggler (with Vickie Guerrero) to retain the World Heavyweight Title
– Santino Marella defeated Ricardo Rodriguez in a Tuxedo Match
– Christian defeated Cody Rhodes to retain the WWE Intercontinental Title
– The Prime Time Players (Titus O’Neil & Darren Young) (with Abraham Washington) defeated The Usos (Jimmy & Jey), Primo & Epico (with Rosa Mendes), & Justin Gabriel & Tyson Kidd in a 4-way tag team match to become the #1 contenders to the WWE Tag Team Titles
– Layla defeated Beth Phoenix to retain the WWE Divas Title
– Sin Cara defeated Hunico (with Camacho)
– CM Punk defeated Kane, & Daniel Bryan in a Triple Threat Match to retain the WWE Title
– Ryback defeated Dan Delaney & Rob Grymes in a Handicap Match
– John Cena (with Vince McMahon) defeated The Big Show (with John Laurinaitis) in a Steel Cage Match. As per the pre-match stipulation, John Laurinaitis is fired

Title Changes

1934 – Mario Nuez defeated Tony Canales to become the 1st holder of the Mexico National Welterweight Title in Mexico City, Mexico

1964 – Pat Patterson & Tony Borne defeated Nick Bockwinkel & Buddy Mareno (Omar Atlas) to win the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Title in Salem, Oregon

1965 – Bob Orton, Sr. won a tournament for the vacant NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight Title in Jacksonville, Florida. The title had been stripped from Tarzan Tyler in April

1977 – Butcher Brannigan & Killer Karl Krupp defeated Larry O’Day & Ron Miller to win the NWA Austra-Asian Tag Team Title in Sydney, Australia

1983 – The Dynamite Girls (Jumbo Hori & Yukari Ohmori) defeated Devil Masami & Talantula to win the WWWA World Tag Team Title

1983 – Kerry von Erich & Bruiser Brody defeated The Fabulous Freebirds (Terry Gordy & Michael Hayes) to win the WCCW American Tag Team Titles. Also, Jimmy Garvin defeated David von Erich to win the vacant Texas Heavyweight Title, but the title is immediately held up due to interference by Sunshine. & Vicki Carranza defeated Lola Gonzales to win the Mexican Women’s Title

1984 – Jake Roberts defeated Ron Garvin to win the NWA World Television Title in Atlanta, Georgia, however the title was immediately held up upon the discovery that Roberts used a foreign object

1985 – The US Express (Mike Rotunda & Barry Windham) defeated The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff to win the WWF Tag Team Titles

1985 – The Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn & Stan Lane) defeated Ron Sexton & Billy Travis in a tournament final to win the AWA Southern Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee

1988 – Chris Benoit defeated Johnny Smith to win the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Title in Calgary, Alberta

1989 – TNT (Savio Vega) defeated Abudda Dein to win the vacant WWC Television Title in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The title had been vacated on May 22 when Steve Strong injured then-champion Carlos Colon

1994 – Mickey Doyle defeated Scott D’Amore for the Border City Wrestling Can-Am Heavyweight Title in Wallaceburg, Ontario

1996 – Flex Kavana (who would debut exactly 5 months later as Rocky Maivia at WWF Survivor Series) & Bart Sawyer defeated Brickhouse Brown & Reggie B. Fine in a tournament final to win the USWA Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee

1999 – Sherri Martel defeated Miss Manners (Adrian Lynch) to win the (revived) AWA World Women’s Title in Fargo, North Dakota

1999 – The Public Enemy (Rocco Rock & Johnny Grunge) defeated The Brotherhood (Knuckles Nelson & Rick Fuller) to win the NWA World Tag Team Title in Bolton, Massachusetts

2012 – Manabu Soya & Takao Omori defeated Joe Doering & Seiya Sanada to win the AJPW Unified Tag Team Titles

Birthdays

Happy birthday to 2-time AJPW Triple Crown Champion Minoru Suzuki (46), & former WWF & WCW manager Clarence Mason/J. Biggs (49)

In Memoriam

In 2005, AWA announcer Ron Trongaurd died of liver cancer at age 72