This Day In Wrestling History – March 25th
Trivia
1996 – The Monday Night War continued: WCW Monday Nitro defeated WWF Monday Night RAW: 3.1 to 2.5 in the ratings
2011 – Kurt Angle was arrested in North Dakota after failing a field sobriety test and allegedly operating his car while intoxicated. Angle (who was in the middle of a loop of TNA house shows) was arrested after police found him sitting in his car “in the median separating lanes” in Grand Forks, North Dakota
Events
In 1978, The WWWF held an event at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
– Joe Turco defeated Pete Reeves
– Gypsy Rodriguez defeated Pete Austin
– Dominic DeNucci defeated Davey O’Hannon via countout
– WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund fought Spiros Arion to a double-disqualification to retain the title
– Bruno Sammartino fought Ken Patera to a double-countout
– Peter Maivia & Chief Jay Strongbow defeated Baron Mikel Scicluna & Stan Stasiak
– Gorilla Monsoon defeated The Golden Terror. This match aired on All American Wrestling on December 18, 1983
– Haystacks Calhoun defeated Nikolai Volkoff
In 1996, WCW Monday Nitro was live from the Von Braun Civic Center in Huntsville, Alabama:
– Randy Savage defeated The Belfast Bruiser (Finlay)
– WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Konnan defeated Mr. JL to retain the title
– The Booty Man (with The Booty Babe) defeated Disco Inferno
– WCW Tag Team Champions Sting & WCW World Television Champion Lex Luger defeated The American Males (Mark Bagwell & Scott Riggs)
– WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair (with Miss Elizabeth and Woman) fought The Giant to a no-contest to retain the title
In 2002, The 1st WWE Draft Lottery takes place on Monday Night Raw, with Vince McMahon picking for Smackdown & Ric Flair for Raw (picks 1-20 were made live on Raw, picks 21-57 were made on WWF.com):
– The Rock was taken with the 1st pick by Vince McMahon for Smackdown
– The Undertaker was Flair’s 1st pic for Raw(he’d be traded to Smackdown later that year)
– Kurt Angle was drafted to Smackdown
– The NWO (Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, & X-Pac) were drafted to Raw (McMahon had allowed for the NWO to be drafted as a group)
– Chris Benoit was drafted to Smackdown (he was injured at the time, & would make his return on Raw, though he & Eddie Guerrero would defect to Smackdown in August of that year)
– Kane was drafted to Raw
– Hollywood Hulk Hogan was drafted to Smackdown
– Rob Van Dam was drafted to Raw (RVD was the Intercontinental Champion & the title became exclusive to Raw)
– Billy & Chuck were drafted to Smackdown (they were the tag team champions at the time, & the titles became exclusive to Smackdown)
– Booker T was drafted to Raw
– Edge was drafted to Smackdown
– The Big Show was drafted to Raw (he would be traded to Smackdown in November 2002)
– Rikishi was drafted to Smackdown
– Bubba Ray Dudley was drafted to Raw
– D-Von Dudley was drafted to Smackdown (he would be part of the Big Show trade in November 2002, & go to Raw to reform the Dudley Boys)
– Brock Lesnar was drafted to Raw (Paul Heyman would be part of the pick, & would later go to Smackdown along with Lesnar in August 2002)
– Mark Henry was drafted to Smackdown (he was injured at the time, & would return on Raw instead)
– William Regal was drafted to Raw (he was the European Champion, & the title would become exclusive to Raw)
– Maven was drafted to Smackdown
– Lita was drafted to Raw (She was the only diva drafted on television)
These picks were made on WWF.com:
– Billy Kidman to Smackdown
– Bradshaw to Raw (traded to Smackdown in late 2002)
– Tajiri to Smackdown (was the Cruiserweight Champion, & the title became exclusive to Smackdown)
– Stevie Richards to Raw
– Chris Jericho to Smackdown (would sign with Raw during a free agent period)
– Matt Hardy to Raw
– Ivory to Smackdown
– Raven to Raw
– Albert to Smackdown
– Jeff Hardy to Raw
– The Hurricane to Smackdown (signed with Raw during a free agent period, he would be the last 1 signed before the rosters were frozen)
– Mr. Perfect to Raw
– Al Snow to Smackdown
– Spike Dudley to Raw
– Lance Storm to Smackdown (would sign with Raw as a free agent)
– D’Lo Brown to Raw
– Diamond Dallas Page to Smackdown
– Shawn Stasiak to Raw
– Torrie Wilson to Smackdown
– Terri to Raw
– Scotty 2 Hotty to Smackdown
– Jacqueline to Raw
– Stacey Keibler to Smackdown (signed to Raw as a free agent)
– Goldust to Raw
– Christian to Smackdown (signed to Raw as free agent)
– Trish Stratus to Raw
– Test to Smackdown
– Justin Credible to Raw
– Farooq to Smackdown
– The Big Bossman to Raw
– Tazz to Smackdown
– Tommy Dreamer to Raw
– Hardcore Holly to Smackdown
– Crash Holly to Raw
– Val Venis to Smackdown
– Mighty Molly to Raw
– Perry Saturn to Smackdown
Title Changes
1924 – Joe Parelli defeated Johnny Meyers to win the World Middleweight Title in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1936 – Frank Sexton defeated George McCloud to become the 1st Ohio Heavyweight Champion in Columbus, Ohio
1960 – Jim Bernard defeated Al Warshawski to win the Wolverine Wrestling Michigan Heavyweight Title in Flint, Michigan
1965 – Buddy Gilbert & Ron Reed defeated Rocky Hamilton & Dutch Savage to win the Central States NWA North American Tag Team Title in Kansas City, Kansas
1968 – Don Leo Jonathan & Ski-Hi Jones (Grizzly Smith) defeated The Assassins to win the Vancouver NWA Canadian Tag Team Title in Vancouver, British Columbia
1971 – Jumbo Miyamoto & Maxie Murata defeated Irma Asebedo & Masked Killer to win the American Girls’ Wrestling Association International Tag Team Title in Yokohama, Japan
1983 – Terry Gordy defeated The Great Kabuki to win the Texas Brass Knuckles Title
1984 – Steve Regal defeated Buck Zumhofe to win the AWA World Light Heavyweight Title in St. Paul, Minnesota
1988 – Iceman King Parsons defeated Kerry von Erich to win the WCCW World Heavyweight Title
1989 – The Olympians (Ken Patera & Brad Rheingans) defeated Badd Company (Paul Diamond & Pat Tanaka) to win the AWA World Tag Team Title in Rochester, Minnesota
1993 – Jacques Mate defeated Apolo Dantes to win the NWA World Light Heavyweight Title in Cuernavaca, Mexico
1994 – Jerry Lawler defeated Eddie Gilbert to win the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Title
2000 – Blaze defeated 2 Tuff Tony to win the IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Title in Charlestown, Indiana
2005 – The Extreme Horsemen (C.W. Anderson & Steve Corino) defeated Minoru Fujita & Ikuto Hidaka to win the Premier Wrestling Federation Universal Tag Team Title at a Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX event in Hakodate, Japan
Birthdays
Happy birthday to one-time AJPW, WWF & NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiro Saito (54), one-time IWGP Tag Team Champion Tatsutoshi Goto (59), & former WWE referee Tim White (61)
Also, today would have been the birthday of the first AJPW Triple Crown Champion Jumbo Tsuruta (64)
