This Day In Wrestling History – December 18th

Happy birthday, Trish!

Happy birthday to Stone Cold!

1993 – Smoky Mountain Wrestling’s SMW TV airs the Tag Team title change that involved The Heavenly Bodies (Jimmy Del Ray and Tom Prichard), and The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson).   The match originally occurred at WWF Survivor Series the month before.

1995 – In the Monday Night Wars, WCW Monday Nitro (2.7 TV rating) beats WWF Monday Night Raw (2.3 rating).  This evening is well known for WWF Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze appearing on WCW Nitro, and dropping the WWF Women’s Title into a trash can, on live TV.  Blazye would begin competiting in WCW under the name “Madusa.”  As a result, the WWF Women’s Championship is deactivated, and would not be activated again until September 1998.

2000 – In the Monday Night Wars, WWF Raw Is War (4.8 TV rating) scores more than double the rating for WCW Monday Nitro (2.3 rating).   On RAW, The Rock and The Undertaker defeat Edge and Christian, to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.  It’s the 4th time both The Rock and Undertaker have become Tag Team Champions.

2003 – On this evening’s WWE SmackDown, Brock Lesnar defeats Shannon Moore in one minute and 39 seconds, to retain the WWE Championship;  Moore was selected as Lesnar’s opponent via lottery tumbler.  The Basham Brothers retain the WWE Tag Team Championship after winning a Fatal 4-Way Match;  the other tag teams were Los Guerreros (Eddie and Chavo Jr.), the team of Scotty 2 Hotty & Rikishi, and The World’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin).  Video of the Lesnar / Moore match is below.  Sorry for the video quality.

2005 – WWE Armageddon is held in Providence, Rhode Island in front of 8,000 fans.  This pay-per-view as exclusive to the SmackDown Brand.  Kid Kash becomes the new Cruiserweight Champion after defeating Juventud.  In the main event, The Undertaker defeats Randy Orton, in a Hell in a Cell Match.

2006 – Edge wins a #1 Contender Battle Royal, for the WWE Championship, on this evening’s RAW.  Edge would face champion John Cena later in the evening;  Cena defeats Edge to retain the title.

2008 – Quarterfinal matches are held on tonight’s TNA Impact!,  to crown a new TNA X Division Champion, Chris Sabin defeats Sonjay Dutt;  and Kiyoshi defeats Consequences Creed.  In the evening’s main event, A.J. Styles and Samoa Joe defeat Kevin Nash and Sting, in a Six Sides of Steel Match.

2009 – On this evening’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown, Rey Mysterio defeats Batista, to become the #1 contender for the World Heavyweight Championship (held by The Undertaker at the time).

2011 – WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs is held in Baltimore in front of 9,000 fans.  Zack Ryder defeats Dolph Ziggler, to win the United States Championship.  CM Punk defeats The Miz and Alberto Del Rio, in a Triple Threat Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match, to retain the WWE Championship.  The Big Show becomes the new World Heavyweight Champion, after defeating Mark Henry in a Chairs Match.  Big Show is champion for only five and a half minutes;  Daniel Bryan cashes in his Money In the Bank and pins Big Show, to win the World Heavyweight Championship.  Video of Bryan’s title win is below.

2015 – At Ring of Honor Final Battle 2015, War Machine (Hanson and Raymond Rowe) defeat The Kingdom (Michael Bennett and Matt Taven), to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship.  In the main event, Jay Lethal defeats A.J. Styles, to retain the ROH World Championship.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: WWE Hall of Famers Trish Stratus (41 years old) & Stone Cold Steve Austin (52 years old);  former WWE Champion Rob Van Dam (45 years old);  former WWE wrestler Eric Escobar (37 years old);  and 3-time Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) World Heavyweight Champion The Messiah (39 years old);