This Day In Wrestling History – May 11th

Trivia

1953 – The New York State Athletic Commission lifted a ban on tag team wrestling

1976 – Seiji Sakaguchi won the NJPW World League, defeating Pedro Morales in the final

1985 – WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event aired for the 1st time

1989 – Steve Austin makes his professional wrestling debut

Events

In 1985, The WWF’s very 1st edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event airs on NBC, scoring an 8.8 rating. This was the first time that a network aired wrestling in 34 years. The show was taped the previous night in Uniondale, New York at the Nassau Coliseum:

– Ricky Steamboat & The U.S. Express (Mike Rotundo & Barry Windham) (with Lou Albano) defeated George Steele & WWF Tag Team Champions The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (with Freddie Blassie), when Windham pinned Steele with a roll-up after Sheik and Volkoff refused to tag Steele.
– Paul Orndorff was the guest of Roddy Piper in Piper’s Pit, during which the partnership between the two broke down.
– WWF Champion Hulk Hogan (with Mr. T) defeated Bob Orton, Jr. (with Roddy Piper) via  disqualification, when Piper punched Hogan from the floor while Hogan had Orton pinned after hitting the legdrop. Orton and Piper attacked Hogan and Mr. T, with Paul Orndorff making the save.
– WWF Women’s Champion Wendi Richter pinned The Fabulous Moolah, by reversing a slam into a small package, to retain the title.
– The Junkyard Dog (with his mother) pinned Pete Doherty

In 1996, AAA TripleMania IV-A was held at the International Amphitheater, in Chicago, Illinois, making it the 1st major AAA event to be held in the US (excepting the When Worlds Collide event, which was a co-promotion with WCW). With an attendance of 2,676:

– Jerry Estrada & Juventud Guerrera defeated El Pantera & Super Calo in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match
– Cibernetico, El Picudo & Mosco de la Merced defeated Octagon, Ultimo Dragon & La Parka in a Six-Man Lucha Libre Rules Tag Team Match
– Konnan & Perro Aguayo defeated Pierroth Jr & Cien Caras in a Lumberjack Match

In 1997, WWF In Your House 15: A Cold Day In Hell was held at the Richmond Coliseum, in Richmond, Virginia. With an attendance of 9,381:

Free For All:
– Rockabilly (Billy Gunn) defeated Jesse James (Road Dogg)
PPV:
– Hunter Hearst Helmsley (with Chyna) defeated Flash Funk
– Mankind defeated Rocky Maivia
– The Nation of Domination (Crush, Savio Vega & Faarooq) defeated Ahmed Johnson in a Gauntlet Match
– Ken Shamrock defeated Vader in a No Holds Barred Match
– The Undertaker defeated Steve Austin to retain the WWF Title
Post PPV Dark Match:
– The Legion of Doom (Hawk & Animal) defeated WWF Tag Team Champions The British Bulldog & Owen Hart via DQ. Bulldog & Hart retain the titles

In 2008, TNA Sacrifice featured a one-night, 8-team ‘Deuces Wild ’Tournament to crown new TNA Tag Team Champions. It was held at the Impact Zone, in Orlando, Florida. With an attendance of 900:

– Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon) defeated James Storm (with Jackie Moore) & Sting in a Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament Quarterfinal Match
– Rhino & Christian Cage defeated Robert Roode & Booker T in a Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament Quarterfinal Match
– The Latin American Xchange (Homicide & Hernandez) (with Hector Guerrero) defeated Matt Morgan & Kip James (Billy Gunn) in a Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament Quarterfinal Match
– Super Eric & AJ Styles defeated Awesome Kong (with Raisha Saeed) & B.G. James in a Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament Quarterfinal Match
– Kaz wins a 10-man X-Division TerrorDome Match. Earning a spot in the main event to replace an injured Kurt Angle. Also in the match were: Shark Boy, Chris Sabin, Consequences Creed, Alex Shelley, Jay Lethal, Curry Man, Sonjay Dutt, Johnny Devine, & Jimmy Rave
– Team 3D defeated Christian Cage & Rhino in a Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament Semifinal Match
– The Latin American Xchange (with Hector Guerrero) defeated AJ Styles & Super Eric in a Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament Semifinal Match
– Gail Kim & Roxxi Laveaux win a 10-woman TNA Knockout’s Makeover Battle Royal (also in this match were: Angelina Love, Velvet Sky, Salinas, ODB, Traci Brooks, Jackie Moore, Rhaka Khan, & Christy Hemme)
– Gail Kim defeated Roxxi Laveaux in a Ladder Match to become the #1 contender for the Knockout’s Title, & forcing Roxxi to have her head shaved
– The LAX (Homicide & Hernandez) (with Hector Guerrero) defeated Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon) in the final of the Deuces Wild Tournament to win the vacant TNA Tag Team Titles
– Samoa Joe defeated Scott Steiner (with Petey Williams & Rhaka Khan) & Kaz in a 3-Way Match to retain the TNA World Title

Title Changes

1944 – Frankie Talaber defeated The Great Mephisto for the Midwest Wrestling Association World Junior Heavyweight Title in Columbus, Ohio

1945 – Jules Strongbow defeated Hans Schnable to win the Texas Heavyweight Title in Houston, Texas

1972 – Don & Johnny (Greg Valentine) Fargo defeated Dominic DeNucci & Tony Parisi to win the National Wrestling Federation Tag Team Title in Cleveland, Ohio

1976 – The Executioners defeated Louis Cerdan & Tony Parisi to win the WWWF Tag Team Titles

1976 – Killer Karl Kox & Bob Sweetan defeated Ted DiBiase & Dick Murdoch to win the TSW United States Tag Team Titles

1978 – Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta defeated Kim Duk & Kintaro Ohki to win the NWA International Tag Team Title in Osaka, Japan

1979 – Hector Guerrero & Barry Orton defeated The Twin Devils to win the NWA Americas Tag Team Title in Los Angeles, California

1980 – The Iron Sheik defeated Jim Brunzell to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title in Charlotte, North Carolina

1981 – Ernie Ladd defeated Kerry von Erich to win the WCCW American Heavyweight Title

2007 – Mike Quackenbush defeated Tiger Mask IV to win the NWA Junior Heavyweight Title

2010 – on Smackdown, LayCool (Layla & Michelle McCool) defeated Beth Phoenix in a Texas Tornado Handicap Match. Layla pins Phoenix to win the WWE Women’s Title

Birthdays

Happy birthday to CZW regular Nick Berk (34), former WCW & WWE Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman (40), former AWA, CWA & USWA Tag Team Champion Paul Diamond (53), one-time WWF Junior Heavyweight Champion Mark ‘Rollerball’ Rocco (63), 2008 King of Trios winner Lince Dorado (27), & Chickfight VI winner Daizee Haze (31)

In Memoriam

The wrestling world has lost 2 personalities on this date:

Firstly, in 1992, 6-time NWA Middleweight Champion Rene Guajardo died aged 59. Guajardo began training in Monterrey at the age of 16 and went on to make his professional debut 3 years later. His performance was such that EMLL signed him after only his third professional match. A friendship with famed ‘rudo’ Karloff Lagarde led to the formation of their tag team, which in turn led to Guajardo’s 1st main event run. He won his first major title in 1960, defeating his trainer Rolando Vera to win his first NWA Middleweight Title. Later in the decade, Guajardo & Lagarde formed an alliance both in & out of the ring with Ray Mendoza. The three used their main event status to pressure EMLL promoters to improve pay and working conditions for their fellow wrestlers. During this time, Guajardo and Lagarde won their one and only tag title, while Guajardo gained perhaps the biggest win of his career by defeating El Santo for the Mexican Middleweight Title. Guajardo continued to compete for the two middleweight titles into the 1970′s until the famed EMLL split, upon which he followed Mendoza and Lagarde to the newly-formed UWA. Guajardo used this opportunity to become more involved in backstage roles with the promotion, becoming the UWA’s lead promoter for northern Mexico. He continued to wrestle into the 1980′s, but it was clear that his career was winding down & he hung up his boots for good in 1982. In 1990, Guajardo regularly traveled to Europe to scout talent for UWA, talent which included Chris Benoit, Scorpio and Owen Hart. Despite suffering from liver cancer in his later years, Guajardo was still actively working as a promoter when he succumbed to the disease

Secondly, in 2008, famed women’s wrestler Judy Grable died aged 72. Grable was one of numerous wrestlers who trained under The Fabulous Moolah in he 1950′s, having initially embarked on a career as a circus acrobat. Like all of Moolah’s trainees, Grable started her career in Paul Bowser’s Boston promotion but was soon competing in various NWA promotions all over the United States. Grable competed in a battle royal for the NWA Women’s Title in 1956 (her only shot at the title I believe) but finished runner-up to Moolah. Grable’s fame became such that she made an appearance on the popular game show ‘What’s My Line?’. Despite this popularity, Grable only held two major titles in her professional career, winning the NWA Georgia Women’s Title twice between 1958 and 1963. She officially retired from wrestling in the late 60′s in order to start a family with her new husband, but continued to make occasional appearances until 1974. In retirement, Grable returned to school and gained a nursing qualification, living out the rest of her life as a nursing assistant in a retirement home for war veterans. Grable developed diabetes in her later years and it was this along with Alzheimer’s disease which would eventually claim her life. Grable’s daughter Debbie occasionally appears in independent promotions in Washington state