This Day In Wrestling History – June 4th
Happy birthday to Gorilla Monsoon. (Photo credit: Pro Wrestling Illustrated)
1962 – Buddy Austin & Mike Sharpe defeat Rikidozan & Toyonobori, to win the JWA All Asia Tag Team Championship.
1980 – Lizmark defeats El Supremo, to win the NWA World Welterweight Championship.
1981 – Kerry Von Erich defeats Ernie Ladd, to win the NWA/WCCW American Heavyweight Championship.
1986 – Kerry Von Erich suffers a dislocated hip and a badly injured right leg after a motorcycle accident. Following surgery, Kerry would have his right foot amputated after trying to walk on it prematurely. He used a prosthesis foot for the rest of his wrestling career.
1988 – Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu defeat Ashura Hara & Genichiro Tenryu, to win the PWF World Tag Team Championship.
1999 – NO FEAR (Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama) defeat Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki, to win the AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship.
2002 – NWA-TNA Wrestling announces the signing of Rick Steiner, for its inaugural pay-per-view event later in the month.
2004 – TNA Wrestling airs its inaugural episode of Impact! on FOX Sports Net. The showed aired on Friday afternoons in the year and a half it aired on FSN. On the inaugural episode, America’s Most Wanted (James Storm & Chris Harris) defeat Kid Kash & Dallas, to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship.
2006 – On Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Northern Navigation Tour, Takashi Sugiura defeats KENTA, to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship. Also, Tamon Honda & Kenta Kobashi defeat Takeshi Morishima & Muhammad Yone, to win the GHC Tag Team Championship.
2007 – Ric Flair is inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame, though he wasn’t present at the induction. WWE had requested that Flair cancel his scheduled appearance at the induction ceremony.
2007 – On WWE RAW, Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch defeat The Hardy Boyz (Matt & Jeff), to win the World Tag Team Championship. It would be about ten years before The Hardy Boyz were tag team champions in WWE again, winning the RAW Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania 33; Matt did have one reign as WWE tag team champion with MVP, from August – November of 2007.
2009 – Chris Masters signs with WWE for a second time. Masters was released by WWE on November 8,2007, six days after receiving a 60-day suspension for violating WWE’s Wellness Policy. Masters would make his return on television on July 27, 2009. WWE would release him again on August 5, 2011 (along with Gail Kim, Melina, Vladimir Kozlov, and David Hart Smith).
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: Former ECW World Heavyweight Champion Mikey Whipwreck (44 years old); former Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Tag Team Champion John Silver (27 years old); former TNA wrestler The Alpha Female (35 years old); and 2-time AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion Joe Malenko (61 years old).
Today would’ve been the 80th birthday for WWE Hall of Famer Gorilla Monsoon.
