This Day In Wrestling History – November 15th

Happy birthday to the ‘Macho Man!!’

1955 – In a Two-out-of-Three Falls Match, King Kong Czaya & Tiger Joginder Singh defeat Rikidozan & Harold Sakata, to win the JWA All Asia Tag Team Championship.

1963 – Bull Curry defeats Louie Tillet, to win the NWA (Texas) Brass Knuckles Championship for the 19th time.

1983 – Soul Patrol (Tony Atlas & Rocky Johnson) defeat The Wild Samoans (Afa & Sika), to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.

1989 – NWA Clash of the Champions IX: New York Knockout is held in Troy, NY, in front of 4,000 fans.  The show draws a 4.9 TV rating on TBS.

– The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin) defeat The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal), via disqualification.
– Doom (#1 & #2) defeat Eddie Gilbert & Tommy Rich.
– The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane) defeat The Dynamic Dudes (Shane Douglas & Johnny Ace).
– Steve Williams defeats The Super Destroyer.
– The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott) defeat The Skyscrapers (Dan Spivey & Sid Vicious), via disqualification.
– Lex Luger defeats Brian Pillman, to retain the NWA United States Championship.
– Ric Flair defeats Terry Funk (with Gary Hart), in an ‘I Quit’ Match.

1998 – WWF Survivor Series is held in St. Louis, in front of 21,179 fans.  It was the first Survivor Series not to feature at least one Elimination Match.  Between dark matches, Sunday Night Heat matches, and the main pay-per-view, 18 matches occurred;  twelve of the matches were part of a one-night tournament for the vacant WWF Championship.

Dark Match:
– Too Much (Brian Christopher & Scott Taylor) defeat The Hardy Boyz (Matt & Jeff).
Sunday Night Heat Matches:
– The J.O.B. Squad (Bob Holly & Scorpio) defeat The Legion of Doom (Animal & Hawk).
– Val Venis defeats Tiger Ali Singh.
– Gangrel (with Edge & Christian) defeats Steve Blackman.
Survivor Series PPV:
– Mankind defeats Duane Gill (First Round Tournament Match).
– Al Snow (with Head) defeats Jeff Jarrett (with Debra) (First Round Tournament Match).
– Stone Cold Steve Austin defeats Big Boss Man, via disqualification (First Round Tournament Match).
– Steven Regal vs. X-Pac ends in a double count-out (First Round Tournament Match).
– Ken Shamrock defeats Goldust, via submission (First Round Tournament Match).
– In the final First Round Tournament Match, The Rock defeats Big Boss Man (replacing Triple H), in the shortest match in WWF history – three seconds.
– The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) defeats Kane, in a Tournament Quarterfinal Match.
– Mankind defeats Al Snow (with Head) in a Tournament Quarterfinal Match.
– The Rock defeats Ken Shamrock, in a Tournament Quarterfinal Match.
– Sable defeats Jacqueline (with Marc Mero), to win the WWF Women’s Championship.
– Mankind defeats Stone Cold Steve Austin, in a Tournament Semifinal Match.  Shane McMahon refused to make the 3-count when Austin had Mankind pinned, instead giving two middle fingers to Austin at the count of two.
– The Rock defeats The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer), via disqualification, in the other Tournament Semifinal Match.
– In a Triple Threat Match, The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg & Billy Gunn) defeat The Headbangers (Mosh & Thrasher) and D’Lo Brown & Mark Henry, to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship.
– The Rock defeats Mankind, via submission, to win the vacant WWF Championship.

1999 – In the Monday Night Wars, WWF RAW IS WAR (6.3 TV rating) beats WCW Monday Nitro (3.1 rating).

2004 – In a Three-Way Elimination Match on RAW, William Regal & Eugene defeat La Resistance (Robert Conway & Sylvain Grenier) and Tajiri & Rhyno, to win the World Tag Team Championship.

2005 – At a house show in Rome, Italy, Nunzio defeats Juventud, to win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.

2007 – After appearing at the Genesis pay-per-view four days earlier, Booker T and Sharmell sign official contracts to become TNA Wrestling’s latest acquisitions.

2009 – TNA Turning Point is held at the Impact Zone in Orlando, in front of 1,100 fans.

– Amazing Red (with Don West) defeats Homicide, to retain the X Division Championship.
– In a Six-Knockout Tag Team Match, with the Knockouts & Tag Team Knockouts Titles on the line, ODB, Sarita, & Taylor Wilde defeat The Beautiful People (Velvet Sky, Lacey Von Erich, & Madison Rayne);  ODB retains the TNA Knockouts Championship, and Sarita & Wilde retain the Knockouts Tag Team Championship.
– In a Three-Way Tag Team Match, The British Invasion (Doug Williams & Brutus Magnus) defeat The Motor City Machine Guns ( Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) and Beer Money, Inc. (James Storm & Robert Roode), to retain the TNA World Tag Team Championship.
– Tara defeats Awesome Kong, in a Six Sides of Steel Match.
– In a Six-Man Tag Team Match, Rhino and Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon) defeat D’Angelo Dinero, Matt Morgan, & Hernandez.
– Scott Steiner defeats Bobby Lashley, in a Falls Count Anywhere Match.
– Kurt Angle defeats Desmond Wolfe.
– In a Three-Way Match, AJ Styles defeats Samoa Joe and Daniels, to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

2010 – The Million Dollar Championship, the unsanctioned WWF/E Title Belt introduced in 1989, is returned to its creator, Ted DiBiase, Sr., and retired.  The belt cost around $125,000 in 1989 (equivalent to almost $246,000 in 2017).  Besides DiBiase, other titleholders included Virgil, The Ringmaster (aka Stone Cold Steve Austin), and Ted DiBiase, Jr.

2010 – WWE Old School RAW is held in Hershey, PA.  Among the legends appearing on the three-hour program were Howard Finkel, ‘Mean Gene’ Okerlund, Mae Young, The Brooklyn Brawler, ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan, and Sgt. Slaughter.  The RAW set reverted to its 1993 version, with red, white, & blue ring ropes and the theme music for RAW from ’93.

2014 – Ring of Honor’s Glory By Honor XIII is held in San Antonio, TX.

Pre-Show:
– J. Diesel defeats Shane Taylor.
Glory By Honor PPV:
– Tommaso Ciampa defeats Romantic Touch.
– In a Four-Corner Survival Match, Hanson defeats Mark Briscoe, BJ Whitmer, and Moose.
– Frankie Kazarian defeats Roderick Strong.
– reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) defeat The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Michael Bennett), to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championship.
– Will Ferrara defeats Adam Page (with Roderick Strong & BJ Whitmer).
– Jay Lethal (with Truth Martini) defeats R.D. Evans (with Moose, Ramon, & Veda Scott), to retain the ROH World Television Championship.
– Adam Cole defeats Christopher Daniels.
– Jay Briscoe defeats ACH, to retain the ROH World Championship.

2015 – Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto defeat Kotaro Suzuki & Yohei Nakajima, to win the vacant AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship.

2016 – On SmackDown Live, The Miz defeats Dolph Ziggler, to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship for the 6th time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO:  Current ECCW Women’s Champion, Cat Power (33 years old);  current Dragon Gate “Open the Twin Gate” Champion, Cima (40 years old);  former OVW Television Champion, Dylan Bostic (26 years old);  ECWA Hall of Famer, Aden Chambers (34 years old);  2-time British Heavyweight Champion, ‘The Showstealer’ Alex Shane (38 years old);  2-time CMLL “Little Kings of the Air” winner Pequeño Black Warrior (47 years old);  former IWGP Tag Team Champion Michiyoshi Ohara (50 years old);  NXT wrestler Nixon Newell (23 years old);  and former Dragon Gate ‘Open the Twin Gate’ & ‘Open the Triangle Gate’ champion, Taku Iwasa (40 years old).

Today would’ve been the 65th birthday for WWE Hall of Famer, ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage.