This Day In Wrestling History – June 22nd
Happy birthday, Amber Gallows! (photo credit: Ed Darcey)
1980 – Ray Stevens & Jimmy Snuka defeat Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood, to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship.
1990 – Bill Dundee defeats John Tatum, to win the CWA Southwestern Heavyweight Championship.
1996 – El Samurai defeats The Great Sasuke, to win the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship.
1996 – ECW’s Hardcore Heaven is held at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, in front of 1,250 fans.
– Shane Douglas defeats Mikey Whipwreck.
– JT Smith & Little Guido defeat Big Dick Dudley & Buh Buh Ray Dudley, via disqualification.
– Taz defeats Paul Varelans.
– Raven defeats Terry Gordy, to retain the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.
– The Eliminators (Perry Saturn & John Kronus) fought The Gangstas (New Jack & Mustafa Saed) to a no-contest, to retain the ECW World Tag Team Championship.
– Hack Meyers & Axl Rotten fought The Samoan Gangsta Party (Fatu & Samu) to a no-contest.
– Chris Jericho defeats Pitbull #2, to win the ECW World Television Championship.
– Tommy Dreamer defeats Brian Lee, in a Weapons Match.
– Sabu defeats Rob Van Dam.
1998 – In the Monday Night Wars, WWF RAW IS WAR (4.3 TV rating) beats WCW Monday Nitro (4.1 rating).
2000 – On this evening’s SmackDown, Rikishi defeats Chris Benoit, to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
2002 – At a house show in Cincinnati, the WWE Hardcore Championship’s 24/7 Rule sees the belt pass from Bradshaw to Raven, to Spike Dudley, to Shawn Stasiak, and back to Bradshaw.
2006 – In a Three-Way Match on Impact!, Senshi defeats Samoa Joe and Sonjay Dutt, to win the TNA X Division Championship.
2007 – WWE announces that Trinity had been released from the company. Trinity had been working on the ECW brand, since making her WWE debut in June 2006.
2007 – Former WCW & ECW valet Nancy ‘Woman’ Benoit is strangled to death by her husband, Chris Benoit, inside their home in Fayetteville, Georgia. Nancy was 43 years old.
2009 – Former WWF ring announcer, TV commentator, and interviewer Billy Red Lyons dies at the age of 77, after battling cancer.
2009 – Ultimo Guerrero wins the inaugural CMLL Universal Championship Tournament, defeating El Texano, Jr. in the tournament final.
2009 – Donald Trump, having bought RAW from Vince McMahon on June 15th, appears live at this evening’s show from Green Bay, Wisconsin. RAW runs commercial-free for the first time ever. Trump announces to the fans in attendance, that after the show was over, they would all receive a full refund ($245,000 worth of ticket sales). It’s also announced that there wouldn’t be a new General Manager to replace Vickie Guerrero; Guerrero had ‘quit’ on a couple weeks earlier. Instead of a GM, there will be a celebrity guest host each week. Toward the end of the program, after having sold RAW to Trump on June 15th, Vince McMahon buys RAW back, for twice the price he sold it to Trump for, and then fires Trump.
2013 – House of Hardcore #2 is held at the National Guard Armory in Philadelphia, in front of 1,300 fans.
– Crowbar defeats Hale Collins.
– Vik Dalishus defeats Little Guido.
– MVP defeats Sami Callihan.
– Carlito defeats Mike Bennett.
– In a Triple Threat Match, Petey Williams defeats Tony Nese and Alex Reynolds.
– The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott) defeat Eddie Kingston & Homicide.
– John Hennigan (formerly John Morrison in WWE) defeats 2 Cold Scorpio, to retain the Family Wrestling Entertainment (FWE) Heavyweight Championship.
– The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson) defeat Paul London & Brian Kendrick.
– Tommy Dreamer defeats Lance Storm.
2014 – Ring of Honor’s Best in the World 2014 is held at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds Sports Arena in Nashville, with over 1,000 fans in attendance. This was ROH’s first ever LIVE pay-per-view event; all previous pay-per-views aired via tape delay.
– In a Six Man Mayhem Match, ACH defeats BJ Whitmer, Tommaso Ciampa, Takaaki Watanabe. TaDarius Thomas, and Caprice Coleman, to earn a future ROH World Television Championship match.
– Jay Lethal (with Truth Martini & Seleziya Sparx) defeats Matt Taven, to retain the ROH World Television Championship. Truth Martini was handcuffed to the ringpost.
– Cedric Alexander defeats Roderick Strong in a Submission Match.
– In a No Disqualification Tag Team Match, The Briscoe Brothers (Mark & Jay) defeat Michael Bennett & Matt Hardy (with Maria Kanellis).
– Kevin Steen defeats Silas Young.
– reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) defeat Frankie Kazarian & Christopher Daniels to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championship.
– Michael Elgin defeats Adam Cole, to win the ROH World Championship.
2015 – One day after being released from the hospital after a car crash, Buddy Landel is found dead in his home. He was 53 years old.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: Former NWA World Women’s Champion Amber O’Neal (43 years old, currently wrestling as Amber Gallows); former SHIMMER wrestler Lorelei Lee (35 years old); WWF 1986 Slammy Award winner Cyndi Lauper (64 years old); and former IWGP Heavyweight, Tag Team, & Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito (35 years old).
Today would’ve been the 54th birthday for former WWF Tag Team Champion John ‘Earthquake’ Tenta.
