This Day In Wrestling History – October 25th

1971 – Norvell Austin & Sputnik Monroe defeat Len Rossi & Bearcat Brown, to win the vacant NWA Mid-Southern Tag Team Championship.

1972 – Jose Lothario defeats Stan Stasiak, to win the Texas Heavyweight Championship.

1981 – Kerry Von Erich & Terry Orndorff defeat Tim Brooks & Arman Hussein, to win the NWA American Tag Team Championship.

1982 – The Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn & Stan Lane) defeat Bobby Eaton & Koko Ware, to win the AWA Southern Tag Team Championship.  Elsewhere, El Jalisco defeats El Satanico, to win the NWA World Middleweight Championship.

1992 – WCW Halloween Havoc is held in Philadelphia, in front of 7,000 fans.

Dark Match:
– Erik Watts & Van Hammer defeat The Vegas Connection (Vinnie Vegas & Diamond Dallas Page).
Halloween Havoc PPV:
– In a Six-Man Tag Team Match, Tom Zenk, Johnny Gunn, & Shane Douglas defeat Arn Anderson, Michael Hayes, & Bobby Eaton.
– Ricky Steamboat defeats Brian Pillman.
– In a No Disqualification Match, Big Van Vader defeats Nikita Koloff, to retain the WCW United States Championship.  Vader was defending the title on behalf of Rick Rude, who did not want to wrestle twice in the same night.
– A tag team match between Dustin Rhodes & Barry Windham, and Steve Austin & “Dr. Death” Steve Williams ends in a time-limit draw.  Rhodes & Windham retain the NWA & WCW World Tag Team Championships.
– Rick Rude (with Madusa) defeats Masahiro Chono (with Hiro Matsuda) via disqualification;  Rude retains the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
– Ron Simmons defeats The Barbarian (with Cactus Jack), to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
– Sting defeats Jake Roberts, in a Coal Miner’s Glove Match.

1993 – Jeff Jarrett & Brian Christopher defeat Jerry Lawler & Red Knight, to win the vacant USWA World Tag Team Championship.  Also, Sweet Georgia Brown defeats Miss Texas, to win the USWA Women’s Championship.

1998 – WCW Halloween Havoc is held in Las Vegas, in front of 10,663 fans.

– Chris Jericho defeats Raven, to retain the WCW World Television Championship.
– Wrath defeats Meng.
– Disco Inferno defeats Juventud Guerrera.
– Alex Wright defeats Fit Finlay.
– Perry Saturn defeats Lodi.
– Billy Kidman defeats Disco Inferno, to retain the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.
– Rick Steiner & Buff Bagwell defeat The Giant & Scott Steiner, to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
– Rick Steiner defeats Scott Steiner.
– Scott Hall defeats Kevin Nash by count-out.
– Bret Hart defeats Sting, by knockout, to retain the WCW United States Championship.
– Hollywood Hogan defeats The Warrior, in what has been called “one of the worst matches of all time.”
– Goldberg defeats Diamond Dallas Page, to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.  The pay-per-view feed was cut off for many viewers at 11pm ET, three hours after the pay-per-view began.  Viewers missed the entire Goldberg/DDP match.  WCW would show the match, in its entirety, the following night on Monday Nitro.

1999 – In the Monday Night Wars, WWF RAW IS WAR (5.6 TV rating) beats WCW Monday Nitro (3.5 rating).  On Nitro, Sting gets stripped of the World Heavyweight Championship, after losing an unsanctioned match against Goldberg at the previous night’s Halloween Havoc, and also for attacking referee Charles Robinson.  This begins a tournament to crown a new World Heavyweight Championship.  In a first round match, Bret Hart defeats Goldberg, to win the United States Championship;  Goldberg had just won the US Title the night before after beating Sid Vicious.  In another title match, The Filthy Animals (Konnan & Billy Kidman) defeat Harlem Heat (Booker T & Stevie Ray), to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

1999 – Over on WWF RAW,  Ivory defeats The Fabulous Moolah, to win the WWF Women’s Championship.

1999 – Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue defeat Maunakea Mossman & Johnny Smith, to win the vacant AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship.

2000 – In Ohio Valley Wrestling, Nick Dinsmore defeats Rob Conway, to win the OVW Heavyweight Championship.

2001 – On this evening’s SmackDown, The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) defeat The Hardy Boyz (Matt & Jeff), to win the WCW Tag Team Championship.  The Dudley Boyz would be the final WCW Tag Team Champions;  the titles would be unified with the WWF Tag Team Championship at Survivor Series, the following month.

2006 – In Ohio Valley Wrestling, Jacob Duncan defeats Chet the Jett, to win the OVW Heavyweight Championship.

2007 – On this evening’s TNA Impact!, Kurt Angle defeats Sting, to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

2008 – Blue Demon, Jr. defeats Adam Pearce, to become the first Mexican wrestler to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

2009 – The inaugural WWE Bragging Rights pay-per-view is held in Pittsburgh, in front of 13,562 fans.  It featured a series of inter-promotional matches between the RAW & SmackDown brands, with the overall winning brand receiving the Bragging Rights Trophy.  Looking back on it, they probably could’ve done this at Survivor Series in November (like they did last year & will again this year), and go with something else for the October PPV.

– In a dark match, Christian defeats Paul Burchill, to retain the ECW Championship.  That shows how little WWE cared about the title at the time.  Only fans in attendance at Mellon Arena could watch.
– The Miz (from RAW) defeats John Morrison (from SmackDown), to give RAW a 1-0 lead, in the 3-Match Series.
– In a Six-Diva Tag Team Match, The SmackDown Divas (Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, & Natalya) defeat The RAW Divas (Melina, Kelly Kelly, & Gail Kim).  The 3-Match Series noted above is tied 1-1.
– In a Fatal 4-Way Match, The Undertaker defeats CM Punk, Rey Mysterio, and Batista, to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.  After the match, Batista, furious at his best friend Mysterio for breaking up a pinfall that would’ve won Batista the championship, turned heel and attacked Mysterio.
– Team SmackDown (Chris Jericho, Kane, R-Truth, Matt Hardy, Finlay, David Hart Smith, & Tyson Kidd) defeat Team RAW (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Big Show, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, & Mark Henry).  Team RAW wins the 3-Match Series, 2-1, to win the Bragging Rights trophy.
– In a No Disqualification 60-Minute Iron Man Match, John Cena defeats Randy Orton (6-falls-to-5), to win the WWE Championship.  Had Cena lost, he would have been forced to leave RAW.

2010 – On Monday Night RAW, Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel defeat David Otunga & John Cena (both teams representing The Nexus) to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.  Otunga & Cena had just won the titles the night before at the Bragging Rights pay-per-view.  Nexus leader Wade Barrett took out Cena, by ordering Otunga to lie down purposely for a pinfall.  Country music legend Toby Keith was the show’s guest star.

2015 – WWE Hell in a Cell is held in Los Angeles, in front of 17,505 fans.

Pre-Show:
– In a Six-Man Tag Team Match, Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler, & Neville defeat Rusev, Sheamus, & King Barrett.
Hell in a Cell PPV:
– An Open Challenge is issued by John Cena for his United States Championship.  The challenge is answered by a returning Alberto Del Rio.  Del Rio had been fired by WWE about 14 months earlier.  Del Rio counters Cena’s Attitude Adjustment, and performs a backstabber & a superkick, to defeat Cena to become the new United States Champion.
– Roman Reigns defeats Bray Wyatt in a Hell in a Cell Match.
– The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Big E.) defeat The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray & D-Von), to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship.
– Charlotte defeats Nikki Bella, via submission, to retain the Divas Championship.
– Seth Rollins defeats Demon Kane, to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.  Since ‘Demon’ Kane lost, ‘Corporate’ Kane was fired from his role as Director of Operations.
– Kevin Owens defeats Ryback, to retain the Intercontinental Championship.
– Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) defeats The Undertaker, in a Hell in a Cell Matc

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO:   Former WWE wrestler & manager Rosa Mendes (38 years old);  former ECW and WCW Tag Team Champion, & 4-time ECW Television Champion 2 Cold Scorpio (52  years old);  3-time ECW Tag Team Champion, 2-time WCW Tag Team Champion, & 2-time WWF Hardcore Champion Perry Saturn (51 years old);  former Mexican National Tag Team, Heavyweight & Light Heavyweight Champion Latin Lover (50 years old);  and founder of Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, Atsushi Onita (60 years old).