This Day In Wrestling History – September 27th

1963 – While at a restaurant following an event at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Bruno Sammartino’s WWWF World Heavyweight Championship belt is stolen out of a locked car.  The belt was never found.  Sammartino defeated Buddy Rogers for the title May 17, 1963;  his first reign would last all the way to January 18, 1971, a span of 2,803 straight days as champion.

1977 – Porkchop Cash and Dr. X defeat The Medics, to win the NWA Tri-State United States Tag Team Championship.

1985 – Brian Adias defeats Gino Hernandez, to win the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship.

1986 – The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers) defeat Eddie Gilbert and Sting, to win the Mid-South Wrestling Tag Team Championship.

1993 – WWE suspends Shawn Michaels, and strips him of the Intercontinental Championship after testing positive for steroids.  A battle royal takes place where the final two wrestlers standing would meet in a match for the vacant title.    The two would be Razor Ramon and Rick Martel (Ramon would defeat Martel to become new Intercontinental Champion on a taping of Monday Night Raw, which aired on tape delay 10/11/1993).

1994 – Norio Honaga defeats Wild Pegasus, to win the vacant IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.  The title had been vacated three days earlier by Jushin Thunder Liger, after he fractured his ankle.

1995 – On a taping of WCW Saturday Night, Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray) defeat The American Males (Marcus Bagwell and Scotty Riggs), to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship.  The match would air via tape delay on 10/28/1995.

1998 – WWE Breakdown: In Your House is held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in front of 17,405 fans.

-In dark match #1, Golga defeats Mosh.

-In dark match #2, The Hardy Boyz defeat Kaientai (Men’s Teioh and Funaki).

-In dark match #3, 8-Ball and Skull defeat Billy Gunn.

-Owen Hart defeats Edge.

-In a tag team match, Al Snow and Scorpio defeat Too Much (Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor).

-Marc Mero defeats Droz.

-Bradshaw defeats Vader in a Falls Count Anywhere Match.

-D’Lo Brown defeats Gangrel.

-In a Triple Threat Steel Cage Match, The Rock defeats  Mankind and Ken Shamrock, to become the #1 contender for the WWE Championship.

-Val Venis defeats Dustin Runnels.

-In a six-man tag team match, D-Generation X (Billy Gunn, Road Dogg, and X-Pac) defeat Jeff Jarrett and Southern Justice (Mark Canterbury and Dennis Knight.

-In a Triple Threat Match, The Undertaker defeats Kane and Stone Cold Steve Austin, to win the WWE Championship.  Only Austin, the champion heading into the match, could be pinned by Undertaker or Kane (they could not pin each other).

1998 – In Ohio Valley Wrestling, The Lords of the Ring (Rob Conway and Nick Dinsmore) defeat Jason Lee and Rod Steel, to win the vacant OVW Southern Tag Team Championship.

1999 – In the Monday Night Wars, WWE RAW IS WAR (6.8 TV rating) defeats WCW Monday Nitro (3.0 rating).  The high rating for RAW was assisted by the 25-minute “This Is Your Life” segment involving The Rock and Mankind;  which drew an 8.4 quarter-hour TV rating.

2001 – On this evening’s episode of WWE SmackDown, Booker T and Test defeat The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane), to win the WCW Tag Team Championship.  On the same night, Maven and Nidia are named the winners of Season 1, of WWE Tough Enough.

2009 – On this evening’s FCW program, Mia Mancini defeats Angela Fong, to win the Queen of FCW Championship.  The match was taped on September 3, 2009.  During her 154-day title reign Mancini would change her name to Serena Mancini, and then change it again to just Serena.

2009 – Shinsuke Nakamura defeats Togi Makabe, to win the vacant IWGP Heavyweight Championship.  In Ohio Valley Wrestling, Big Men on Campus (Moose and Tilo) defeat The Network (Benny the Producer and Andrew the Director), to win the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship.  This was a Four-Way Gauntlet Match that also involved the team of Kamikaze Kid and DC, and the team of Hog Wild and Kevin Hundley.

2012 – On Impact Wrestling, Samoa Joe defeats Mr. Anderson, to win the vacant TNA Television Championship.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: WWE.com digital correspondent and WWE NXT backstage correspondent Cathy Kelley (28 years old).

SOURCES:  Google, Wikipedia, gerweck.net, YouTube, WWE.com