This Day In Wrestling History – May 30th
1973 – Haystacks Calhoun & Tony Garea defeat Mr. Fuji & Professor Tanaka, to win the WWWF Tag Team Championship.
1981 – Sweet Ebony Diamond defeats Greg Valentine, to win the NWA Television Championship.
1983 – The Mongol defeats Iceman Parsons, to win the WCCW Television Championship.
1986 – In a tournament final, Terry Gordy defeats ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan, to become the inaugural Universal Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Champion.
1996 – Sean Morley defeats El Bronco I, to win the WWC Television Championship. Morley would be recognized as champion until the title is deactivated in March 1999, even after Morley had moved to the WWF in 1997.
2008 – WWE Heat (formerly known as Sunday Night Heat), airs its final episode on WWE.com. The show premiered in August 1998 on USA Network and initially performed well in the ratings. Perhaps the most well-known episode was Halftime Heat, during Super Bowl XXXIII on January 31, 1999; in an Empty Arena Match, Mankind defeated The Rock, to win the WWF Championship. Sunday Night Heat lost popularity after SmackDown premiered on UPN in August 1999. In 2005, when WWE programming moved back to USA Network after five years on Spike TV, Heat was not picked up by USA. WWE opted to move Heat to WWE.com and upload new episodes on Friday afternoons. Overall, Heat aired 513 episodes.
2012 – Randy Orton is suspended for 60 days, after his second violation of the WWE Wellness Policy. Also, Tom Prichard is released by WWE, after serving as one of the head trainers in WWE’s developmental territories Deep South Wrestling and Florida Championship Wrestling.
2013 – The GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is vacated, after one-half of the champions, Suwa, suffers a neck injury.
2014 – Akebono is forced to vacate the AJPW Triple Crown Championship, due to health issues. He would return to wrestling in August.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: WWE Hall of Famer Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts (62 years old); former NWA World Women’s Champion Lexie Fyfe (48 years old); current NXT wrestler No Way Jose (29 years old); and current CMLL World Trios Champion Valiente (43 years old).
