This Day In Wrestling History – March 5th

Trivia

2001 – The Monday Night War continued: WWF Raw defeated WCW Nitro: 4.5 to 2.1 in the ratings

2007 – Memphis Wrestling aired an angle where Hulk Hogan signed a contract to wrestle Jerry Lawler.  The match didn’t come to take place as WWE pressured Lawler to drop out, leading to a lawsuit from promoter Cory Maclin, which was later settled

2009 – John Carle, who worked on the WWE Creative team for two years, was let go by WWE.  He had been working on the Smackdown brand at the time of his departure

2009 – Commercials for ROH on HDNet began airing.  The series would have a two year run

2010 – Sean Morley & Roxxi departed TNA

Events

In 1988, The WWF held an event at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts:

– Steve Lombardi defeated Special Delivery Jones. This match aired on the March 21 edition of Prime Time Wrestling
– Danny Davis defeated Sam Houston
– Demolition (Ax & Smash) defeated The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (Jacques & Raymond)
– The Ultimate Warrior defeated Harley Race. This match aired on the March 21 edition of Prime Time Wrestling
– Dino Bravo defeated David Sammartino. This match aired on the April 11 edition of Prime Time Wrestling
– Jake Roberts defeated Ron Bass via countout. This match aired on the July 4 edition of Prime Time Wrestling
– WWF Women’s Tag Team Champions The Jumping Bomb Angels (Noriyo Tateno & Itsuki Yamazaki) defeated The Glamour Girls (Leilani Kai & Judy Martin)
– Randy Savage & WWF Tag Team Champions Strike Force (Rick Martel & Tito Santana) defeated The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart & WWF Intercontinental Champion The Honky Tonk Man in a Steel Cage match

In 1994, ECW held an event at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

– 911 pinned both Paul Lauria & Mikey Whipwreck in a handicap match in 18 seconds
– J.T. Smith & Pat Tanaka defeated Pitbull #1 & Rockin’ Rebel
– Tommy Dreamer defeated Jimmy Snuka
– The Bruise Brothers (Ron & Don Harris) defeated The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge & Rocco Rock) in a Falls Count Anywhere match
– Road Warrior Hawk defeated Mr. Hughes
– ECW Television Champion Sabu defeated Mike Awesome
– Kevin Sullivan & The Tazmaniac defeated The Bruise Brothers (Ron & Don Harris) to win the held-up ECW Tag Team Title
– The Sandman defeated Chad Austin
– ECW Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk defeated Shane Douglas by knockout in a Taped Fists match

In 1998, The 9th edition of Thunder airs live on TBS from Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The show got a 4.3 rating, which was its highest to date:

– Goldberg defeated Vincent
– Eddie Guerrero defeated Prince Iaukea
– Juventud Guerrera defeated El Dandy
– Curt Hennig defeated Jim Neidhart
– Chris Jericho defeated Ciclope
– Scott Norton defeated The Renegade via DQ
– WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Diamond Dallas Page defeated Raven via DQ to retain the title, after The Flock interfered
– Brian Adams vs. Randy Savage ended in a no-contest

In 2003, TNA held its 34th weekly pay-per-view event live at the TNA Asylum in Nashville, Tennessee:

Matches taped for the March 8 Xplosion:
– Ron & Don Harris defeated Brad Hunter & B.A.D.
– NWA World Tag Team Champion Elix Skipper defeated J.C. Ice
– A.J. Styles defeated David Young
Live matches:
– Jerry Lynn defeated Super Crazy.
– The New Church (Brian Lee & Slash) defeated The Hotshots (Chase Stevens & Cassidy O’Reilly)
– TNA X Division Champion Kid Kash defeated The Amazing Red to retain the title
– Glenn Gilberti & Mike Sanders defeated America’s Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm)
– Raven defeated The Sandman in a Clockwork Orange House of Fun match

Title Changes

1925 – Tommy Record defeated Jack Reynolds to win the World Welterweight Title in Indianapolis, Indiana

1949 – Ben Sherman defeated Jack O’Reilly to win the Pacific Coast Light Heavyweight Title in Eugene, Oregon

1942 – Tom Zaharias defeated Orville Brown to win the Midwest Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title in Kansas City, Kansas

1953 – Antonino Rocca defeated Buddy Rogers to win the American Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title in Cleveland, Ohio. This title was the Ohio branch of Boston’s AWA title

1964 – Johnny Valentine defeated The Beast to win the Toronto NWA United States Heavyweight Title in Toronto, Ontario

1970 – Randy & Rip Tyler defeated Dick Dunn & Ken Lucas to win the NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Title in Panama City, Florida

1971 – Wahoo McDaniel defeated Toru Tanaka to win the WCCW American Heavyweight Title

1976 – The Fabulous Moolah defeated Sue Green to win the NWA Women’s Title. Current WWE Title Histories do not recognize this change

1977 – Dick the Bruiser defeated The Masked Stranger (Guy Mitchell) to win the World Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title

1978 – Johnny Weaver defeated Baron von Raschke to win the NWA Television Title in Charlotte, North Carolina

1980 – Hans Schroder defeated Peter Maivia to win the NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Title

1986 – Kendall Windham defeated The Cuban Assassin to win the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title in Tampa, Florida

1997 – Tarek the Great defeated The American Kickboxer to win the IWA Mid-South Lightweight Title in Campbellsville, Kentucky

1999 – Logan Caine defeated Viper in the final of a tournament to win the vacant NWA Junior Heavyweight Title

2000 – Abismo Negro wins the AAA Rey de Reyes Tournament, defeating El Alebrije, Charly Manson & Cibernetico

2001 – on Raw, The Hardy Boyz defeated The Dudley Boyz to win the WWF Tag Team Titles

2003 – The Disciples of Synn (Seven & Travis Tomko) defeated Lance Cade & Renee Dupree to win the OVW Southern Tag Team Title in Louisville, Kentucky. The title was vacated when both members of then-champions The Dogg Pound (Shelton Benjamin & Rodney Mack) were called up to WWE

2003 – Takeshi Rikio ended Kenta Kobashi’s 2-year reign as GHC Heavyweight Champion

2005 – Jay Lethal defeats John Walters to win the ROH Pure Title

2006 – Nikki Roxx defeated champion Violet Flame & Mercedes Martinez in a three-way elimination match to win the New England Championship Wrestling Women’s Title in Somerville, Massachusetts

2006 – Minoru Fujita & Ikuto Hidaka defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Takashi Sugiura to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles

2010 – Eddie Edwards defeated Davey Richards in the final of a tournament to become the first ROH Television Champion

2012 – Santino Marella defeated Jack Swagger to win the WWE United States Title

Birthdays

Today would have been the birthday of former NWA President Dennis Coralluzzo (62) & WWWF wrestler Chief Big Heart (88)

In Memoriam

On this day in 2009,  Yvon “The Beast” Cormier passed away at the age of 70. Beast competed for Stampede Wrestling in its heyday and toured around the world quite a bit. I believe he also had stints working for Crockett Sr.  He was one of four wrestling brothers – Leo Burke, Rudy Kay and Bobby Kay.  They were considered to New Brunswick what the Harts were to Calgary