This Day In Wrestling History – November 20th

1971 – Waldo Von Erich defeats Johnny Powers, to win the NWF Heavyweight Championship.

1990 – NWA Clash of the Champions XIII: Thanksgiving Thunder is held in Jacksonville, FL in front of 5,000 fans.  The show drew a 4.2 TV rating for TBS.  This was the final Clash event to be held under the NWA umbrella, with World Championship Wrestling producing all future events, independently.

– The Fabulous Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes) defeat The Southern Boys (Tracy Smothers & Steve Armstrong).
– Brian Pillman defeats Buddy Landel.
– Big Cat defeats Brad Armstrong.
– Tom Zenk defeats Brian Lee.
– Michael Wallstreet defeats The Starblazer.
– Sgt. Kruger & Col. DeKlerk defeat The Beast & Kaluha, in a Pat O’Connor Memorial Tournament Qualifying Match.
– Lex Luger defeats The Motor City Madman.
– The Renegade Warriors (Chris & Mark Youngblood) defeat The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags), via disqualification.
– Sid Vicious defeats The Nightstalker.
– The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott) defeat Magnum Force (1 & 2) to retain the NWA United States Tag Team Championship.
– Ric Flair defeats Butch Reed.

1992 – Black Magic defeats Rayo de Jalisco, Jr., to win the vacant CMLL World Heavyweight Championship.

1993 – The first and only WCW Battlebowl pay-per-view is held in Pensacola, FL, in front of 7,000 fans.  Though this was the only Battlebowl PPV, the concept had been seen before and would be seen again on other WCW events.  Wrestlers were assigned into random tag teams, with the winning teams entering a Battle Royal, to crown the Battlebowl Champion.

– Vader & Cactus Jack defeat Charlie Norris & Kane (Stevie Ray).
– Brian Knobbs & Johnny B Badd defeat Erik Watts & Paul Roma.
– The Shockmaster & Paul Orndorff defeat Ricky Steamboat & Lord Steven Regal.
– King Kong & Dustin Rhodes defeat The Equalizer & Awesome Kong.
– Sting & Jerry Sags defeat Ron Simmons & Keith Cole.
– Ric Flair & Steve Austin defeat 2 Cold Scorpio & Maxx Payne.
– Rick Rude & Shanghai Pierce defeat Tex Slazenger & Marcus Bagwell.
– Road Warrior Hawk & Rip Rogers defeat Davey Boy Smith & Kole.
– Vader wins the Battlebowl Battle Royal, last eliminating Sting.

1994 – In Tokyo, Japan, Bull Nakano defeats Alundra Blayze, to win the WWF Women’s Championship.

1995 – In the Monday Night Wars, WCW Monday Nitro (2.5 TV rating) beats WWF Monday Night RAW (2.3 rating).

2000 – On Monday Nitro, The Perfect Event (Shawn Stasiak & Chuck Palumbo) defeat The Boogie Knights (Alex Wright & Disco Inferno), to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

2002 – Jeff Jarrett defeats Ron Killings, to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

2007 – Hulk Hogan’s wife Linda files for divorce.  The two had been married for almost 24 years.

2011 – Takeshi Morishima defeats KENTA, to win Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Global League Tournament.

2011 – WWE Survivor Series is held in New York City in front of 16,749 fans.

Dark Match:
– Santino Marella defeats Jinder Mahal.
Survivor Series PPV:
– Dolph Ziggler (with Vickie Guerrero) defeats John Morrison, to retain the WWE United States Championship.
– In a Lumberjill Match, Beth Phoenix defeats Eve Torres, to retain the WWE Divas Championship.
– In a 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match, Team Barrett (Dolph Ziggler, Hunico, Wade Barrett, Jack Swagger, & Cody Rhodes) defeat Team Orton (Kofi Kingston, Mason Ryan, Randy Orton, Sheamus, & Sin Cara).
– Big Show defeats World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry via disqualification;  Henry retains the championship.
– CM Punk defeats Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez), via submission, to win the WWE Championship.  This begins Punk’s 435-day reigns as WWE Champion, lasting until January 27, 2013 (the sixth-longest reign in WWF/E history).
– John Cena & The Rock defeat Awesome Truth (R-Truth & The Miz).

2016 – Marty Scurll defeats Will Ospreay, to win the ROH World Television Championship.  Ospreay had only been champion for two days.

2016 – WWE Survivor Series is held in Toronto, in front of 17,143 fans.

Pre-Show Matches:
– In a Six-Man Cruiserweight Tag Team Match, TJ Perkins, Rick Swann, & Noam Dar defeat Tony Nese, Drew Gulak, & Ariya Daivari.
– Kane defeats Luke Harper.
Survivor Series PPV:
– In a 5-on-5 Survivor Series Women’s Elimination Match, Team RAW (Alicia Fox, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, & Nia Jax) defeat Team SmackDown (Alexa Bliss, Becky Lynch, Carmella, Naomi, & Natalya).
– The Miz (with Maryse) defeats Sami Zayn, to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
– In a 10-on-10 Survivor Series Elimination Match, Team RAW (Cesaro, Sheamus, Enzo Amore, Big Cass, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Big E., Kofi Kingston, Primo, & Epico) defeat Team SmackDown (Chad Gable, Jason Jordan, Fandango, Tyler Breeze, Heath Slater, Rhyno, Mojo Rawley, Zack Ryder, Jimmy Uso, & Jey Uso).
– Cruiserweight Champion The Brian Kendrick defeats Kalisto, via disqualification, to retain the title.  Had Kalisto won, the entire Cruiserweight Division would’ve transferred from RAW to SmackDown.
– In a 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match, Team SmackDown (AJ  Styles, Bray Wyatt, Shane McMahon, Dean Ambrose, & Randy Orton) defeat Team RAW (Braun Strowman, Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns, & Seth Rollins).
– In a main event that lasted one minute & 26 seconds, Goldberg defeats Brock Lesnar.  It marked Goldberg’s WWE in-ring return after twelve years.

2017 – On Monday Night RAW, Roman Reigns defeats The Miz, to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship.  Reigns becomes WWE’s ninth ‘Grand Slam Champion’ under the current format (WWE Heavyweight Champion, United States Champion, Intercontinental Champion, & Tag Team Champion).  Also, Paige makes her return to WWE television, after a 15-month hiatus due to neck surgery and multiple suspensions for violating WWE’s Wellness Policy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO:  WWE SmackDown referee, Rudy Charles (40 years old);  former GHC Tag Team Champion, Quiet Storm (34 years old);  former EWF Tag Team Champion & American Heavyweight Champion Extreme Loco (37 years old);  IWA Mid-South wrestler Peter B. Beautiful (39 years old);  former TNA Knockout Sirelda (41 years old);  and comedian Thea Vidale, known for her WWE stint as ‘Momma Benjamin’ (61 years old).

Also born on this day, in 1891, was former American Heavyweight Champion, Wladek Zbyszko.