This Day In Wrestling History – March 25th
Happy birthday to Maria Manic!
1983 – Terry Gordy defeats The Great Kabuki, to win the NWA Brass Knuckles Championship.
1984 – Steve Regal (not to be confused with Lord Steven Regal) defeats Buck Zumhofe, to win the AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship.
1988 – Iceman Parsons defeats Kerry Von Erich, to win the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship.
1989 – The Olympians (Ken Patera & Brad Rheingans) defeat Badd Company (Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond), to win the AWA World Tag Team Championship.
1993 – Jaque Mate defeats Apolo Dantes, to win the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship.
1994 – Jerry Lawler defeats Eddie Gilbert, to win the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship for the 19th time.
1995 – In Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Killer Kyle defeats Boo Bradley, to win the vacant SMW Television Championship.
1996 – In the Monday Night Wars, WCW Monday Nitro (3.1 TV rating) beats WWF Monday Night RAW (2.8 rating).
2002 – The first WWF Draft Lottery takes place on this evening’s RAW, with Vince McMahon picking for SmackDown and Ric Flair picking for RAW. The first 20 picks were made on television, with the rest of the picks being announced later on WWF.com.
– The Rock was taken with the first pick by Vince McMahon for SmackDown.
– The Undertaker was Flair’s first pic for RAW (he’d be traded to SmackDown later that year).
– Kurt Angle was drafted to SmackDown.
– The NWO (Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, & X-Pac) were drafted to RAW (McMahon had allowed for the NWO to be drafted as a group).
– Chris Benoit was drafted to SmackDown (he was injured at the time and would make his return on RAW, though he and Eddie Guerrero would defect to SmackDown in August of that year).
– Kane was drafted to RAW.
– Hollywood Hulk Hogan was drafted to SmackDown.
– Rob Van Dam was drafted to RAW (RVD was the Intercontinental Champion, so the title became exclusive to RAW).
– Billy & Chuck were drafted to SmackDown (they were the World Tag Team Champions at the time, so the titles became exclusive to SmackDown).
– Booker T was drafted to RAW.
– Edge was drafted to SmackDown.
– The Big Show was drafted to RAW (he would be traded to SmackDown in November 2002).
– Rikishi was drafted to SmackDown.
– Bubba Ray Dudley was drafted to RAW.
– D-Von Dudley was drafted to SmackDown (he would be part of the Big Show trade in November 2002, and go to RAW to reform the Dudley Boyz).
– Brock Lesnar was drafted to RAW (Paul Heyman would be part of the pick, and would go to SmackDown along with Lesnar in August 2002).
– Mark Henry was drafted to SmackDown (he was injured at the time, and would return on RAW instead).
– William Regal was drafted to RAW (he was the European Champion, so the title would become exclusive to RAW).
– Maven was drafted to SmackDown.
– Lita was drafted to RAW (She was the only woman wrestler drafted on television).
2007 – Three titles change hands at Dragon Gate’s Memorial Gate 2007. Genki Horiguchi defeats Matt Sydal, to win the Open the Brave Gate Championship. In a six-man tag team match, Typhoon (CIMA, Ryo Saito, & Susumu Yokosuka) defeat Muscle Outlaw’z (Naruki Doi, Gamma, & Magnitude Kishiwada), to win the Open the Triangle Gate Championship. In the main event, Jushin Thunder Liger defeats Don Fujii, to win the Open the Dream Gate Championship.
2007 – Tiffany (not Taryn Terrell) wins a Battle Royal, to win the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship. Tiffany defeats previous champion Miss Janeth, Sexy Star, Cynthia Moreno, Rossy Moreno, and Faby Apache.
2011 – Kurt Angle is arrested in North Dakota, after failing a field sobriety test and being in control of a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Angle (who was in the middle of a loop of TNA house shows) was arrested after police found him sitting in his car “in the median separating lanes” in Thompson, North Dakota.
2011 – On this evening’s Friday Night SmackDown, Wade Barrett defeats Kofi Kingston, to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship.ww
2012 – In Florida Championship Wrestling, Seth Rollins defeats Leo Kruger, to win the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship.
2015 – Maki Narumiya defeats La Ampola, to win the CMLL-REINA International Championship.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: Indy wrestlers Maria Manic (20 years old) and Chris Conway (29 years old); former WWF/E referee Tim White (63 years old); and former IWGP Tag Team Champion Tatsutoshi Goto (62 years old) & Hiro Saito (56 years old).
Today would’ve been the 66th birthday for AJPW’s first Triple Crown Champion, Jumbo Tsuruta.
SOURCES: Maria Manic bio on Pro Wrestling Wiki, gerweck.net, wrestlingdata.com, The Internet Wrestling Database
