This Day In Wrestling History – October 23rd

1967 – Spoiler #1 & Gary Hart defeat Brute Bernard & Mike Paidousis to win the NWA American Tag Team Championship.

1972 – The Interns (Billy Garrett & Jim Starr) defeat Bill Dromo & Tojo Yamamoto, to win the NWA Mid-Southern Tag Team Championship.

1974 – Robert Fuller defeats Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler, to win the NWA Mid-Southern Heavyweight Championship.

1988 – Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler defeats Kerry Von Erich, to win the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship.

1989 – The Soultaker defeats Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler, to win the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship.  The Soultaker would be better known during WWF’s ‘Attitude Era’ as The Godfather.

1993 – On WCW Saturday Night, Marcus Alexander Bagwell & 2 Cold Scorpio defeat The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags), to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship

1994 – WCW Halloween Havoc is held in Detroit, in front of 14,000 fans.

WCW Main Event:
– Booker T defeats Brian Armstrong.
Halloween Havoc PPV:
– Johnny B. Badd and The Honky Tonk Man wrestle to a time-limit draw;  Badd retains the WCW World Television Championship.
– Pretty Wonderful (Paul Orndorff & Paul Roma) defeat Stars & Stripes (The Patriot & Marcus Alexander Bagwell), to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
– Dave Sullivan defeats Kevin Sullivan by count-out.
– Dustin Rhodes defeats Arn Anderson (with Col. Robert Parker & Meng).
– ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan defeats Steve Austin by disqualification;  Duggan retains the WCW United States Championship.
– Vader (with Harley Race) defeats The Guardian Angel.
– The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) defeat Terry Funk & Bunkhouse Buck.
– In a Career vs. Career Match inside a Steel Cage, Hulk Hogan (with Jimmy Hart) defeats Ric Flair (with Sensuous Sherri), to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.  Flair is forced to retire.  Mr. T served as special guest referee.

1995 – Alundra Blayze defeats Bertha Faye, to win the WWF Women’s Championship.  This would be the final reign before the title was deactivated in December, when Blayze famously dumped the title into a trash can on WCW Monday Nitro (and changed her name to ‘Madusa’).

1999 – Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi defeat Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa, to win the AJPW World Tag Team Championship.

2000 – Two-time WWF Champion & 2-time WWF Tag Team Champion, Yokozuna, dies from pulmonary edema at the age of 34.  A video tribute to Yokozuna played prior to the beginning of this evening’s RAW IS WAR.  Yokozuna would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame posthumously, in 2012.

2000 – Los Conquistadors (Matt & Jeff Hardy in disguise) defeat Edge & Christian, to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.  This is essentially a reversal of what occurred at the No Mercy pay-per-view the night before;  Edge and Christian were disguised as Los Conquistadores (they were banned from competing for the Tag Titles at the pay-per-view and used the disguises), and had defeated The Hardy Boyz to win the Titles.

2001 – BATT (Keiji Mutoh & Taiyo Kea) defeat Osamu Nishimura & Tatsumi Fujinami, to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.

2002 – On the weekly NWA-TNA pay-per-view, AJ Styles defeats Syxx-Pac, to win the NWA-TNA X Championship.

2003 – On this evening’s SmackDown, The Basham Brothers (Doug & Danny) defeat Los Guerreros (Chavo & Eddie Guerrero), to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.

2005 – TNA Bound For Glory is held at the Impact Zone in Orlando, in front of 900 fans.  This was the first TNA pay-per-view where a paid ticket was available.  Universal Studios did not allow charging for attendance, so the ticket was to gain access to a pre-show & preferential seating.  Bound For Glory was dedicated to Reggie ‘The Crusher’ Lisowski, who died of a brain tumor the night before.

Pre-Show:
– In a Fatal 4-Way Match, Sonjay Dutt defeats Alex Shelley, Roderick Strong, and Austin Aries.
Bound For Glory PPV:
– Samoa Joe defeats Jushin Liger.
– In a Six-Man Tag Team Match, The Diamonds In the Rough (David Young, Elix Skipper, & Simon Diamond) defeat Apolo, Shark Boy, & Sonny Siaki.
– Monty Brown defeats Lance Hoyt.
– In another Six-Man Tag Team Match, Team Canada (A-1, Bobby Roode, & Eric Young) defeat 3Live Kru (Konnan, Ron Killings, & B.G. James).
– In an Ultimate X Match, Petey Williams defeats Chris Sabin & Matt Bentley, to become the #1 contender for the X Division Championship.
– America’s Most Wanted (James Storm & Chris Harris) defeat The Naturals (Andy Douglas & Chase Stevens), to retain the NWA World Tag Team Championship.
– Rhino defeats Abyss, Sabu, and Jeff Hardy, in a Monster’s Ball Match.
– In a 30-minute Iron Man Match, AJ Styles defeats Christopher Daniels (1-0), to retain the TNA X Division Championship.
– Rhino wins a Ten Man Gauntlet to replace Kevin Nash in the main event vs. Jeff Jarrett.  Nash wasn’t cleared to compete due to a medical emergency.
– In his third match of the night, Rhino defeats Jeff Jarrett (with Gail Kim), to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.  Tito Ortiz served as special guest referee.

2006 – WWE Monday Night RAW airs its 700th episode, becoming the longest running weekly entertainment show without a hiatus, in TV history

2008 – TNA Impact! airs in high definition for the first time.  The first episode in HD, filmed in Las Vegas, was the also the first time an Impact! episode was filmed outside the Impact Zone in Orlando.  On this episode, Booker T introduces the TNA Legends Championship and declares himself the inaugural champion;  the title was unsanctioned by TNA.  On the same night, Awesome Kong defeats Taylor Wilde, to win the TNA Women’s Knockout Championship.

2011 – WWE Vengeance is held in San Antonio, TX in front of 8,000 fans.

Dark Match:
– Wade Barrett defeats Daniel Bryan.
Vengeance PPV:
– Air Boom (Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne) defeat Jack Swagger & Dolph Ziggler, to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship.
– Dolph Ziggler (with Jack Swagger & Vickie Guerrero) defeats Zack Ryder, to retain the United States Championship.
– Beth Phoenix defeats Eve Torres, to retain the Divas Championship.
– Sheamus defeats Christian.
– The Miz & R-Truth defeat Triple H & CM Punk.
– Randy Orton defeats Cody Rhodes.
– World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry performs a superplex on The Big Show, causing the ring to collapse.  The match is declared a no-contest, and Henry retains the World Heavyweight Championship.
– In a Last Man Standing Match, Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez) defeats John Cena, to retain the WWE Championship.  The collapsed ring was left as is during the main event.

2011 – All Japan’s Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku Vol. 13 is held in Tokyo, Japan in front of 8,500 fans.  There were eight matches on the card;  only the four title changes are listed below.

– Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi defeat Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya, to win the AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship.
– Kenny Omega defeats KAI, to win the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship.
– The Dark Carnival (Dark Ozz & Dark Cuervo) defeat The Great Muta & KENSO, to win the AJPW World Tag Team Championship.
– Jun Akiyama defeats Suwama, to win the AJPW Triple Crown Championship.

2014 – The AJPW World Tag Team Titles are vacated;  the new tag team champions would be decided in the 2014 World’s Strongest Tag Determination League.

2015 – Global Force Wrestling completes its tournaments to determine their inaugural Global Champion, NEX*GEN Champion, Women’s Champion, and Tag Team Champions.

– The Bollywood Boyz (Gurv Sihra & Harv Sihra) defeat Reno Scum (Adam Thornstowe & Luster the Legend), to win the GFW Tag Team Championship.  The Bollywood Boyz now perform in WWE as The Singh Brothers.
– Christian Von Eerie defeats Amber Gallows, to win the GFW Women’s Championship.
– In a Four-Way Match, PJ Black defeats Jigsaw, TJ Perkins, and Virgil Flynn, to win the NEX*GEN Championship.
– Nick Aldis defeats Bobby Roode, to win the GFW Global Championship;  Aldis changes his name to ‘Magnus’ during his title reign.

2015 – Roderick Strong defeats Jay Lethal, to win the ROH World Television Championship.

2016 – Katsuhiko Nakajima defeats Takashi Sugiura, to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO:  Ms. Money in the Bank, Carmella (30 years old);  former ECW manager Jasmin St. Claire (45 years old);  3-time WCW Tag Team Champions Ron & Don Harris (57 years old);  and 2-time NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion Tony Kozina (47 years old).

And finally, happy birthday to……me!!