This Day In Wrestling History – October 5th
1993 – El Dandy defeats Emilio Charles, Jr., to win the CMLL World Middleweight Championship.
1996 – On WCW Saturday Night, Harlem Heat (Booker T & Stevie Ray) defeat The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge & Rocco Rock), to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
1996 – In an Ultimate Jeopardy Tag Team Steel Cage Match, The Sandman & Tommy Dreamer defeat Stevie Richards & Brian Lee (subbing for the no-showing Raven). Sandman scored the pin to become the new ECW World Heavyweight Champion. Brian Lee subbed for previous champion Raven, who never showed up for the match.
1997 – Former WCW & NWA Tag Team Champion Brian Pillman dies after suffering a heart attack caused by a previously undetected heart condition, arteriosclerotic heart disease. Pillman, 35 years old at the time of his death, had been competing in the WWF since June 1996. Pillman was scheduled to be at this evening’s Badd Blood: In Your House event in St. Louis, for a match against Dude Love.
1997 – WWF Badd Blood: In Your House is held in St Louis, in front of 21,151 fans. The event marked the last appearance of Vince McMahon as the WWF’s lead announcer. It also saw the first appearance of both Kane and featured the first-eve Hell In A Cell Match.
– In a Handicap Match, The Nation of Domination (Rocky Maivia, Kama Mustafa, & D’Lo Brown) defeat The Legion of Doom (Animal & Hawk).
– In a midget wrestling tag team match, Max Mini & Nova defeat Mosaic & Tarantula. This was one of two matches that replaced Dude Love’s match with Brian Pillman.
– The Godwinns (Henry & Phineas) defeat The Headbangers (Mosh & Thrasher), to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.
– In a tournament final, Owen Hart defeats Faarooq, to win the vacant WWF Intercontinental Championship.
– In an 8-Man Tag Team Match, The Disciples of Apocalypse (Chainz, Crush, Skull, & 8-Ball) defeat Los Boricuas (Savio Vega, Miguel Perez, Jr., Jose Estrada, Jr., & Jesus Castillo, Jr.). This was the second match added to the card after the cancellation of the Dude Love/Brian Pillman match.
– Bret Hart & The British Bulldog defeat Vader & The Patriot.
– In the first-ever Hell in a Cell Match, Shawn Michaels defeats The Undertaker, to become the #1 contender for the WWF Championship.
1998 – The Monday Night War continued: WCW Monday Nitro tied WWF RAW IS WAR, 4.5 to 4.5, in the ratings. On RAW, D’Lo Brown defeats X-Pac, to win the WWF European Championship.
1999 – WWF’s two lead writers, Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara, both leave the company and sign contracts with WCW. Both were responsible for the storylines that helped Monday Night RAW overtake WCW Monday Nitro in the ratings in 1998. Russo and Ferrara left the WWF because Vince McMahon was being credited for work the two writers had done to turn WWF’s ratings around. Also a factor in Russo and Ferrara’s decision to leave was the added workload of writing for the new SmackDown program.
1999 – During this evening’s SmackDown taping, Droz fractures two discs in his neck after landing on his head. The injury occurred during his match against D’Lo Brown, when Brown attempted a running powerbomb. The injury initially left Droz a quadriplegic, but he would eventually gain movement in his arms and upper body. Droz’s match vs. D’Lo was edited out of the SmackDown episode prior to its October 7th airing.
2006 – The founder of the Mexico AAA promotion, Antonio Pena, passes away at the age of 55, after suffering a massive heart attack.
2008 – WWE No Mercy is held in Portland, Oregon, in front of 9,527 fans.
– Big Show defeats The Undertaker.
– Matt Hardy defeats Mark Henry (with Tony Atlas), to retain the ECW Championship.
– Beth Phoenix (with Santino Marella) defeats Candice Michelle, to retain the WWE Women’s Championship.
– Rey Mysterio defeats Kane via disqualification.
– Batista defeats JBL, to become the #1 contender for the World Heavyweight Championship.
– Triple H defeats Jeff Hardy, to retain the WWE Championship.
– In a Ladder Match, Chris Jericho defeats Shawn Michaels, to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.
2009 – On Monday Night RAW, The Miz defeats Kofi Kingston, to win the WWE United States Championship. RAW was guest-hosted by Ben Roethlisberger.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: former WWE Hardcore Champion & manager Terri Runnels (51 years old); 2-time Impact X Division Champion DJ Z (31 years old); Canadian wrestler Evan Adams (30 years old); and 2-time NWA World Light Heavyweight Champion El Faraón (70 years old).
