This Day In Wrestling History – July 30th
Happy birthday to WWE Hall of Famer Arnold Schwarzenegger!!
1960 – Gory Guerrero defeats Rey Mendoza to win the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship. Guerrero would hold the title all the way to August 6, 1963, a span of 1,102 consecutive days.
1968 – Kintaro Ohki & Michiaki Yoshimura defeat Klondike Bill & Skull Murphy, to win the JWA All Asia Tag Team Championship.
1977 – Gorilla Monsoon defeats Hartford Love, to win the WWC North American Heavyweight Championship.
1985 – Stan Hansen defeats Giant Baba, to win the Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF) World Heavyweight Championship. Giant Baba fell one day shy, of holding the title for one full year.
1987 – In a tournament final, Mighty Inoue & Takashi Ishikawa defeated Masanobu Kurisu & Isamu Teranishi, to win the vacant AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship.
1999 – A benefit card, Curtis Comes Home, is held in Rostraver, PA. The event was to raise money for Brian Hildebrand (referee ‘Mark Curtis’ of SMW & WCW fame), who was battling stomach cancer. The card saw the participation of WCW, WWF, & ECW wrestlers, and raised $30,000 for Hildebrand, who continued to fight the disease until passing away on September 8, 1999.
– Julio Sanchez defeats Frank Parker.
– Dominic DeNucci defeats Lord Zoltan.
– Dick Flanagan defeats Preston Steele.
– In a Three-Way Match, Eddie Guerrero defeats Billy Kidman and Shark Boy.
– The Public Enemy defeats Bo James & Roger Anderson.
– D’Lo Brown vs. Al Snow ended up with referee Mick Foley getting involved, and actually pinning Brown.
– Cody Michaels (with Jim Cornette) defeats Hugh Morrus.
– Chris Jericho defeats Terry Taylor.
– In a Six-Man Tag Team Match, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, & Shane Douglas defeat Tim Horner, Tracy Smothers, & Chris Candido.
2001 – There were two title changes on this evening’s WWF RAW. In a No Disqualification Title vs Title Match, X-Pac (WWF Light Heavyweight Champion) defeats Billy Kidman (WCW Cruiserweight Champion). X-Pac retains his title and wins Kidman’s title as well. Also, Booker T defeats Kurt Angle, to reclaim the WCW Championship; Angle had defeated Booker T for the title, four days earlier on WWF SmackDown.
2005 – In the finals of CZW’s Tournament of Death IV, Necro Butcher defeats Zandig and Nick Gage in a Ultraviolent Boxes, Barbed Wire Canvas, Light Tubes, Squared Circle Of Fear, & Whatever Is Left, Elimination Death Match. As a result of the win, Butcher was awarded the CZW Ultraviolent Underground Championship (previously held by Zandig).
2009 – On the 200th episode of Impact!, The British Invasion (Brutus Magnus & Doug Williams) defeat Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon) in a Tables Match, to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship. Also, in a tag team match, Mick Foley & Bobby Lashley defeat TNA Legends Champion Kevin Nash & World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle. The champion who was pinned would lose his title; Foley pinned Nash, to win the Legends Championship.
2012 – On Monday Night RAW, Abraham Washington makes a crass joke, referencing NBA player Kobe Bryant’s sexual assault case from 2003. As his ‘client’ Titus O’Neil tangled with Kofi Kingston in a singles match, A.W. yelled from ringside, “Titus O’Neil is like Kobe Bryant at a hotel in Colorado. He’s unstoppable!!” When RAW returned from commercial break following the O’Neil vs. Kingston match, WWE apologized on-air via announcer Michael Cole, and A.W. subsequently issued an apology via Twitter, noting that “there was no malicious intent behind the joke.” After RAW went off the air, WWE issued an official apology via TMZ.com, stating that they had “taken appropriate action in the matter.”
This would eventually lead to Abraham Washington being released by WWE on August 10, 2012.
About two hours before RAW was set to air live from Cincinnati, the stage area caught fire due to a pyrotechnics malfunction. Everyone inside U.S. Bank Arena at the time were evacuated, and the fire was quickly put out. There were no injuries, and RAW went on-air at its scheduled 8pm ET.
2014 – Former, ring announcer, wrestler, and Spanish commentator Ricardo Rodriguez is released by WWE.
2016 – In a Lumberjack Match, Takashi Sugiura defeats Go Shiozaki, to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: WWE Hall of Famer Arnold Schwarzenegger (70 years old); current Triangle Ribbon Champion Tsukasa Fujimoto (34 years old); Mexico indy wrestler Black Star (35 years old); and retired Pro Wrestling Zero1 women’s wrestler Yuhi (22 years old).
Today would’ve been the 56th birthday for AAA Hall of Famer El Brazo.
