This Day In Wrestling History – December 11th
1993 – In Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Tracy Smothers defeats Chris Candido, to win the vacant SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship.
1995 – In the Monday Night Wars, WCW Monday Nitro (2.6 TV rating) edges out WWF Monday Night Raw (2.5 rating).
2000 – In the Monday Night Wars, WWF Raw Is War runs unopposed and scores a 5.75 TV rating. Due to a David Copperfield special airing on this night, TNT airs WCW Monday Nitro one night later (Tuesday). The Tuesday Nitro only scores a 1.7 TV rating, which was it’s worst since drawing a 1.72 rating on Monday April 27, 1998.
2002 – On TNA Wrestling’s weekly pay-per-view, Sonny Siaki defeats Jerry Lynn, to win the NWA-TNA X Championship.
2004 – Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura defeat Kensuke Sasaki and Minoru Suzuki, to win the vacant IWGP Tag Team Championship.
2005 – TNA Turning Point is held at the TNA Impact! Zone, with 900 fans in attendance. Sabu defeats Abyss in the first-ever Barbed Wire Massacre. Jeff Jarrett retains the NWA World Heavyweight Championship after defeating challenger Rhino. Samoa Joe becomes the new TNA X Division Champion after defeating A.J. Styles.
2008 – Eric Young was stripped of the TNA X Division Championship, after his controversial victory at the December 7 Final Resolution pay-per-view. A tournament to crown a new champion begins on this evening’s TNA Impact! Two quarterfinal matches are held; Young was allowed in the tournament and defeated Sheik Abdul Bashir (Young defeated Bashir for the X Title at Final Resolution). In the other quarterfinal match, Alex Shelley defeats Jay Lethal.
2009 – The main event on this evening’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown is a Street Fight between Batista and Rey Mysterio. Full match video below.
2011 – TNA Final Resolution is held at the Impact Zone in front of 1,100 fans. Jeff Hardy defeats Jeff Jarrett in a Steel Cage Match, to become the #1 contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Had Hardy lost, he would’ve had to leave TNA Wrestling; as a result of losing it was Jarrett who left TNA. In the main event, Bobby Roode retains the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, after battling A.J. Styles to a 3-3 draw in a 30-minute Iron Man Match.
2014 – At NXT TakeOver: R Evolution, Sami Zayn defeats Adrian Neville, to win the NXT Championship. Had Zayn lost, he would’ve had to leave NXT. In other notable matches, Charlotte retains the NXT Women’s Championship after defeating challenger Sasha Banks. And The Lucha Dragons retain the NXT Tag Team Championship after defeating The Vaudevillains.
2015 – At SHINE 31, the tag team Better Than You (Marti Belle and Jayme Jameson) defeat The Lucha Sisters (Leva Bates and Mia Yim), to win the vacant SHINE Tag Team Championship. At the same event Taylor Made defeats Santana Garrett, to win the SHINE Championship.
Happy 32nd birthday to WWE SmackDown Live star James Ellsworth.
SOURCES: raw WRESTLING rants, The Internet Wrestling Database, wrestlingdata.com, Gerweck Archives
