This Day In Wrestling History – September 28th
Happy birthday to the “Lethal Weapon!” (Photo credit: World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.)
1964 – Don Leo Jonathan and Roy McClarty defeat The Fabulous Kangaroos (Al Constello and Roy Heffernan), to win the NWA Vancouver Canadian Tag Team Championship. Don Leo Jonathan held this title 18 times throughout his career.
1972 – Tim Woods defeats Jack Brisco, by default, to win the vacant NWA Florida Television Championship.
1976 – Pat Barrett defeats Nelson Royal, to win the vacant NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship.
1979 – Mike George wins a Battle Royal, last eliminating Buck Robley, to win the Mid-South Tag Team Championship. George selects Bob Sweetan as his tag team partner.
1980 – The Sheepherders (Butch Miller and Luke Williams) defeat Matt Borne and Buzz Sawyer, to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship.
1985 – AWA SuperClash – The Night of Champions is held at Comiskey Park in Chicago in front of 20,347 fans. There were thirteen matches on the card.
-Steve Regal defeats Brad Rheingans, to retain the AWA Light Heavyweight Championship.
-Sherri Martel defeats Candy Divine, to become the new AWA World Women’s Champion.
-Mil Mascaras defeats Buddy Roberts, to retain the IWA Heavyweight Championship.
-In a six-man tag team match, Greg Gagne, Scott Hall, and Curt Hennig defeat Ray Stevens, Nick Bockwinkel, and Larry Zbyszko.
-Little Tokyo defeats a “midget” Mr. T, to retain the NWA World Midget’s Championship.
-Jumbo Tsuruta, Giant Baba, and Genichirio Tenryu defeat Bill Irwin, Scott Irwin, and Harley Race, to retain the Asian Six-Man Tag Team Championship.
-Kerry Von Erich defeats Jimmy Garvin, to retain the WCCW Texas Championship.
-Krusher Khruschev, Ivan Koloff, and Nikita Koloff defeat Crusher, Dick the Bruiser, and Baron von Raschke, to retain the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship.
-Jerry Blackwell defeats Kamala, in a $10,000 Body Slam Match.
-The Road Warriors defeat The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Terry Gordon), to retain the AWA World Tag Team Championship. The Road Warriors won via disqualification.
-Sgt. Slaughter defeats Boris Zukhov by disqualification, to retain the AWA America’s Championship.
-Ric Flair defeats Magnum T.A., to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
-Rick Martel fights Stan Hansen to a double countout. Martel retains the AWA World Heavyweight Championship.
1986 – Krusher Khruschev and Ivan Koloff defeat The Kansas Jayhawks (Dutch Mantel and Bobby Jaggers), to become the inaugural NWA United States Tag Team Champions. The titles would move over to WCW in January 1991.
1986 – In the Universal Wrestling Federation, Buddy Roberts defeats Terry Taylor, to win the UWF Television Championship.
1997 – Masato Tanaka defeats The Gladiator (Mike Awesome), to win the FMW World Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship and the FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship.
1998 – In the Monday Night Wars, WCW Monday Nitro (4.5 TV rating) defeats WWE RAW IS WAR (4.0 rating).
2006 – Wild Child (Manabu Nakanishi and Takao Omori) defeat Shiro Koshinaka and Togi Makabe, to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.
2007 – The (original) WWE Cruiserweight Championship is stripped from reigning champion Hornswoggle, by SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero. The reason provided on TV was Hornswoggle’s well-being could be jeopardized, because of his small stature (4-foot-6) and the revelation that he was Mr. McMahon’s illegitimate son.
The Cruiserweight Championship would be left vacant until being deactivated in March 2008. The title came to WWE as part of it’s acquisition of WCW’s assets in 2001 (WWE retired their own Light Heavyweight Championship in August 2001). The title was launched in 1991, with Brian Pillman becoming the inaugural champion. Gregory Helms had the longest reign, at 385 days. Psicosis had the shortest reign (about an hour). Rey Mysterio had the most title reigns with eight, five of them during his time in WCW. Three women held the title. Madusa and Daffney in WCW, and Jacqueline when it moved to WWE.
After WWE’ first “Brand Extension” in 2002, the WWE Cruiserweight Championship became exclusive to SmackDown, and was the only title that stayed on SmackDown during it’s entire tenure, even after each year’s WWE Draft.
2008 – In All Japan Pro Wrestling, The Great Muta defeats Suwama, to win the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. And Naomichi Marufuji defeats Ryuji Hijikata, to win the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship.
2010 – WWE NXT, the reality show that had launched on February 23rd, airs for the final time on Syfy before moving over to WWE.com. At the time of the announcement, NXT was in the middle of Season 3, which was exclusive to female wrestlers. The show, which replaced the WWE-branded ECW program, averaged a 0.9 TV rating for Syfy. Syfy would not be without WWE programming for long; three days later they would begin their run as the home of Friday Night SmackDown.
HAPPPY BIRTHDAY TO: Six-time WWE Hardcore Champion, the “Lethal Weapon” Steve Blackman (53 years old), five-time CMLL Tag Tam Champion and two-time CMLL World Light Heavyweight Champion Atlantis (54 years old), and four-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion / one-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Jado (48 years old).
And finally, happy 28th birthday to Jason Jordan from American Alpha. Jordan, along with tag team partner Chad Gable, defeated The Revival at NXT TakeOver: Dallas on April 1, 2016, to win the NXT Tag Team Championship. American Alpha would be champions for 68 days, and were drafted to the SmackDown Live roster on July 19, 2016.
SOURCES: Google, Wikipedia, gerweck.net, tpww.net
