This Day In Wrestling History – February 24th
1991 – WCW WrestleWar is held in Phoenix in front of 6,800 fans; it’s the promotion’s first pay-per-view since splitting from the NWA. The Fabulous Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes) win the WCW World Tag Team Championship, defeating Doom (Butch Reed & Ron Simmons). The main event is a WarGames Match; the team of Larry Zbyszko, Ric Flair, Barry Windham, & Sid Vicious would defeat the team of Sting, Brian Pillman, and Rick & Scott Steiner.
1992 – Koko B Ware defeats Kamala, to win the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship.
1995 – Dan Severn defeats Chris Candido, to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Severn would hold the title for over four years; a span of 1,479 straight days.
1997 – In the Monday Night Wars, WCW Monday Nitro (3.0 TV rating) beats WWF Monday Night RAW (2.5 rating). On Nitro, Eric Bischoff returns the World Tag Team Championships back to The Outsiders (Kevin Nash & Scott Hall); they had lost the titles to Lex Luger & The Giant at SuperBrawl the night before. But Luger was not medically cleared to compete.
This evening’s RAW was a special ECW Invasion episode; ECW stars appearing on the show included Little Guido, D-Von Dudley, Tommy Dreamer, Mikey Whipwreck, and Taz.
2000 – On this evening’s SmackDown, Crash Holly defeats Test, to win the WWF Hardcore Championship. The 24/7 Rule begins on this episode; the Hardcore Title could be won anywhere and anytime, as long as a referee was present. Also during the show, Mick Foley (Cactus Jack) is arrested after recently damaging Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley’s luxury tour bus. The “cell” used to hold Foley was actually chained to the back of the DX Express; the show ends with the Express driving off, with a locked-up Foley dragging behind it. Video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhS7zTaKY8o
2002 – Toshiaki Kawada defeats Keiji Mutoh, to win the AJPW Triple Crown Championship.
2004 – Mephisto defeats El Satanico, to win the CMLL World Welterweight Championship. This begins a 1,141-day reign for Mephisto; lasting until April 10, 2007.
2007 – At Ring of Honor’s Fifth Year Festival in Chicago, The Briscoe Brothers (Jay & Mark) defeat Matt Sydal & Christopher Daniels, to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship.
2009 – WWE announces that WrestleMania 26 will be held at the University of Phoenix Stadium, in Glendale, AZ, in 2010.
2011 – The USA Network announces that Steve Austin, Bill DeMott, Booker T, and Trish Stratus have signed to become trainers for the resurrected Tough Enough series. Austin would actually serve as host of Tough Enough, instead of being a trainer.
2014 – WWE Network officially launches in the United States. Also, on this evening’s Monday Night RAW, Hulk Hogan makes his return to the company for the first time in seven years. Also, The Undertaker made his yearly return to confront Brock Lesnar, and accept his challenge to a match at WrestleMania XXX.
2016 – Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeats Taiji Ishimori, to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: CHIKARA wrestler Jojo Bravo (29 years old); former RAW guest host & WrestleMania 24 participant Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (40 years old); WWE RAW & 205 Live commentator Corey Graves (33 years old); and 2-time NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura (37 years old).
SOURCES: The Internet Wrestling Database, gerweck.net, wrestlingdata.com, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. on Wikipedia, List of WCW World Tag Team Champions on Wikipedia, WWE Network on Wikipedia
