This Day In Wrestling History- July 5th

Trivia

1994 – Vince McMahon’s criminal trial on charges of steroid distribution began in Long Island, New York.  The trial of McMahon, who would be acquitted on all charges, would be huge mainstream news nationally

1996 – Mexico National Middleweight Champion El Hijo del Santo defeated The Great Sasuke to win CMLL’s annual Gran Prix Tournament in Mexico City, Mexico

1999 – The Monday Night War continued: WWF Monday Night Raw defeated WCW Monday Nitro: 6.2 to 3.3 in the ratings

Events

In 1992, WCW held a live event at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia:

– Bobby Eaton defeated Larry Zbyzsko
– Johnny B. Badd fought Jushin Liger to a draw
– Dustin Rhodes defeated Greg Valentine
– Ron Simmons defeated The Super Invader
– Barry Windham defeated WCW World Television Champion Steve Austin
– Sting defeated Arn Anderson. Guest referee was Ole Anderson
– Brad Armstrong defeated Scotty Flamingo  (Raven) to win the WCW Light Heavyweight Title
– Nikita Koloff fought WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Rick Rude to a double DQ
– Terry Gordy & Steve Williams defeated The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott) to win the WCW Tag Team Titles

In 2000, AAA TripleMania VIII was held in Tokyo, Japan, making it the 1st major AAA event to be held outside North America:

– El Oriental & Esther Moreno fought Pentagon & Xochitl Hamada to a double-countout
– Perro Aguayo Jr., El Alebrije, & Pathfinder defeated Los Vatos Locos (El Picudo, Charly Manson & Espiritu), Team Japan (Naomichi Marufuji, Minoru Tanaka & Genki Horiguchi) & Los Vipers (Histeria, Psicosis II & Maniaco) in a Four Corners Elimination Match
– Heavy Metal & Tiger Mask IV defeated Kick Boxer & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
– Octagon, Jushin Liger, Latin Lover, & El Alebrije defeated Cibernetico, Shiima Nobunaga, Abismo Negro, & Electroshock

In 2002, AAA TripleMania X was held in Madero, Mexico:

– Latin Lover, La Parka, El Alebrije, & Gronda defeated Leatherface, Cibernetico, Abismo Negro, & The Monsther
– Perro Aguayo Jr, Mr. Aguila, & El Zorro defeated Hector Garza, El Dandy & Pirata Morgan
– Los Diabolicos (Mr. Condor, Angel Mortal, & El Gallego) & Gran Apache defeated Los Vipers (Maniaco, Histeria, Psicosis II, & Mosco de la Merced) in a Hair/Mask vs Hair Match. Maniaco was pinned, so was forced to unmask
– Heavy Metal defeated Sangre Chicana, El Oriental, Electroshock, May Flowers, & El Brazo in a Hair vs Hair Match where each wrestler represented a referee who put his hair on the line. Sangre Chicano was pinned, so referee El Tirantes was shaved bald

Title Changes

1915 – Joe Stecher defeated Charlie Cutler to win the vacant World Heavyweight Title (Frank Gotch had retired as champion)

1956 – Kay Bell defeated Buddy Rogers to win the NWA Texas Heavyweight Title in Houston, Texas

1962 – Buddy Rogers & Johnny Barend defeated Johnny Valentine & Bob Ellis to win the NWA Northeast United States Tag Team Titles

1975 – The Sheik defeated Bobo Brazil to win Detroit version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Title in Detroit, Michigan

1982 – Stan Lane & Ron Bass defeated The Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey & Norvell Austin) to win the AWA Southern Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee

1982 – The Von Erichs (Kevin & Kerry) defeated King Kong Bundy & Bugsy McGraw to win the WCCW American Tag Team Titles

1985 – King Parsons defeated Chris Adams to win the WCCW American Heavyweight Title

1993 – Jerry Lawler defeated Owen Hart to win the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Title

1994 – Following several no-shows by champion Jake Roberts, the SMW Heavyweight Title is awarded to The Dirty White Boy. Also, Chris Candido defeated Scott Studd to win the vacant SMW Television Title

1999 – on Nitro, David Flair was awarded the vacant WCW United States Title by his father, WCW President Ric Flair

2009 – Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi) defeated The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles

Birthdays

Happy birthday to former ECW, WWF, & WCW worker Jamie ‘JC Ice’ Dundee (42), former WWF jobber Barry Hardy (51), former WWF star Hillbilly Jim (61), 3-time WCW Tag Team Champion Jerry Sags (49), Puerto Rican star Rico Suave (43), &  Japanese junior-heavyweight star Tatsuhito Takaiwa (41)

In Memoriam

On this day in 2009, the wrestling world lost one-time WWWF United States Tag Champion and NWA star Waldo von Erich aged 75. Waldo was not part of the real-life Von Erich (Adkisson) family, rather, he was billed as the brother of Fritz. After retiring from the ring in 1979, he took charge of an Ontario indy promotion, where he trained such wrestlers as Tyson Dux. Waldo died in hospital of injuries he suffered in a fall at his home earlier in the day