This Day In Wrestling History – March 22nd
1955 – In a Two-out-of-Three Falls Match, Leo Nomellini defeats Lou Thesz, to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
1981 – Paul Jones & The Masked Superstar defeat Ivan Koloff & Ray Stevens, to win the NWA (Mid-Atlantic) World Tag Team Championship.
1984 – At a house show in Singapore, Ric Flair defeats Harley Race, to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The title change is not recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance or WWE; Race’s title win over Flair a couple days earlier is also not recognized by either promotion.
1992 – Los Intocables (Jaque Mate, Masakre, & Pierroth Jr.) defeat Los Infernales (MS-1, Pirata Morgan, & El Satanico), to win the CMLL World Trios Championship.
1993 – In the United States Wrestling Association, Brian Christopher & Scotty Flamingo defeat The Moondogs (Spot & Splat), to win the USWA World Tag Team Championship.
1994 – JT Smith defeats The Tazmaniac, to win the NWA-ECW Television Championship.
1996 – Dos Caras, La Fiera, & Hector Garza defeat Bestia Salvaje, Emilio Charles, Jr., & Sangre Chicana, to win the CMLL World Trios Championship.
1997 – Jerry Lawler defeats Tank, to win the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship for the 27th time.
1999 – At Day 16 of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Hyper Battle ’09, Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka defeat Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima, to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.
1999 – In the Monday Night Wars, WWF RAW IS WAR (6.4 TV rating) beats WCW Monday Nitro: Spring Breakout (3.9 rating).
2003 – At Ring of Honor’s Night of the Champions, Doug Williams defeats Christopher Daniels, to win the Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA) British Heavyweight Championship. Also, Samoa Joe defeats Xavier, to win the ROH Championship.
2004 – On this evening’s RAW in Detroit, Evolution (Ric Flair & Batista) defeat Rob Van Dam & Booker T, to win the World Tag Team Championship. WWE also held its Draft Lottery, with RAW GM Eric Bischoff and SmackDown GM Paul Heyman making the selections. The following draft picks were made:
– Renee Dupree was drafted to SmackDown
– Shelton Benjamin was drafted to RAW.
– Mark Jindrak was drafted to SmackDown
– Nidia was drafted to RAW.
– Triple H was drafted to SmackDown
– Rhyno was drafted to RAW.
– Rob Van Dam was drafted to SmackDown
– Tajiri was drafted to RAW.
– Teddy Long (manager) was drafted to SmackDown
– Edge was drafted to RAW
– Spike Dudley was drafted to SmackDown
– Paul Heyman (GM) was drafted to RAW (Kurt Angle would replace him as the SmackDown GM).
After RAW went off the air, the GM’s were allowed to conduct trades with the following results:
– Triple H was traded back to RAW for The Dudley Boyz and Booker T.
– A-Train (Tensai) and Chuck Palumbo were traded to RAW for Miss Jackie Gayda and Rico.
2006 – Andrew Martin, aka Test, verbally agrees to a contract, to return to WWE. He had been released from the company November 1, 2004. He would make his return to TV on July 4, 2006 and compete on the ECW brand.
2009 – Hirooki Goto defeats Giant Bernard, via submission, to win the 2009 New Japan Cup.
2010 – Exactly one year later, Hirooki Goto defeats Togi Makabe, to win the 2010 New Japan Cup. Goto is the second two-time winner, and the first to win the New Japan Cup in back-to-back years.
2010 – WWE Hall of Famer Pete Rose is the guest host, of this evening’s RAW from San Jose. The show receives a 3.24 TV rating; TNA Impact!, in its third week on Monday nights, only receives a 0.86 rating despite airing live. Jeff Jarrett defeated Mick Foley, in a No Disqualification, Loser Leaves Town Match; James Storm and Robert Roode served as special guest referees. Foley is forced to leave TNA Wrestling as the loser of the match.
2015 – At Day 5 of All Japan Pro Wrestling’s Dream Power Series 2015, Ultimo Dragon & Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeat Takeshi Minamino & Mitsuya Nagai, to win the All Asia Tag Team Championship. Also, Akebono & Yutaka Yoshie defeat Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori, to win the AJPW World Tag Team Championship.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: One-time AWA World Tag Team Champion Wayne Bloom (59 years old); 2-time AAA Americas Trios Champion Villano V (55 years old); 3-time CMLL World Welterweight Champion El Felino (53 years old); Death & Destruction member Frank Parker (47 years old); Mexico indy wrestler Black Fire (26 years old); former WWE RAW guest host William Shatner (86 years old); and WrestleMania II participant (in the WWF vs NFL Battle Royal in Chicago), & member of the 1985 Super Bowl Champion Chicago Bears Jimbo Covert (57 years old).
SOURCES: wrestlingdata.com, The Internet Wrestling Database, gerweck.net
