This Day In Wrestling History – November 23rd

Happy birthday to NXT’s Aliyah!!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!  I’m thankful for everyone that takes a few minutes out of their day, to read my daily ‘This Day In Wrestling History.’

1956 – El Medico defeats Bull Curry, to win the NWA Brass Knuckles Championship.

1965 – Lorenzo Parente defeats Danny Hodge, to win the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship.

1976 – The Brute is awarded the NWA (Tri-State) North American Championship, after defending the title as a substitute for The Spoiler.

1981 – Pedro Morales defeats Don Muraco, to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship.

1986 – Kuniaki Kobayashi defeats Hiro Saito, to win the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship.

1989 – On Thanksgiving Day, WWF Survivor Series is held at the Rosemont Horizon, outside Chicago, in front of 15,294 fans.  In a dark match before the pay-per-view began, Boris Zhukov defeated Paul Roma.  All of the pay-per-view matches were 4-on-4 Survivor Series Elimination Matches.

– The Dream Team (Dusty Rhodes, Brutus Beefcake, The Red Rooster, & Tito Santana) defeat The Enforcers (The Big Boss Man, Bad News Brown, Rick Martel, & The Honky Tonk Man).
– The King’s Court (Randy Savage, Canadian Earthquake, Dino Bravo, & Greg Valentine) defeat The 4×4’s (Jim Duggan, Bret Hart, Ronnie Garvin, & Hercules).
– The Hulkamaniacs (Hulk Hogan, Demolition (Ax & Smash), & Jake Roberts) defeat The Million Dollar Team (Ted DiBiase, The Powers of Pain (The Warlord & The Barbarian), & Zeus).
– The Rude Brood (Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect, & The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacque & Raymond)) defeat Roddy’s Rowdies (Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka, & The Bushwhackers (Luke & Butch)).
– The Ultimate Warriors (The Ultimate Warrior, Shawn Michaels, Marty Jannetty, & Jim Neidhart) defeat The Heenan Family (Bobby Heenan, Andre The Giant, Haku, & Arn Anderson).  Heenan actually replaced Tully Blanchard, who was fired a day earlier for a failed drug test.

1992 – Miss Texas defeats Lauren Davenport, to win the USWA Women’s Championship for the 4th time.

1994 – Former AAA World Tag Team Champion Art Barr dies in his sleep from a drug-related heart attack.  Barr was just 28 years old at the time of his death.  He would be inducted posthumously into the AAA Hall of Fame in 2016.

1994 – On Thanksgiving Eve, WWF Survivor Series is held in San Antonio, TX in front of 10,000 fans.  It was the final Survivor Series to be held on either Thanksgiving Eve or Thanksgiving Day.  All subsequent Survivor Series events have been held on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

– In a 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match, The Bad Guys (The 1-2-3 Kid, Sione (aka The Barbarian), Razor Ramon, The British Bulldog, & Fatu) defeat The Teamsters (Diesel, Jeff Jarret, Owen Hart, Shawn Michaels, & Jim Neidhart).
– The Royal Family (Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler, Cheesy, Queasy, & Sleazy) defeat Clowns R’ Us (Dink the Clown, Doink the Clown, Pink the Clown, & Wink the Clown).
– In a submission match, Bob Backlund (with Owen Hart) defeats Bret Hart (with The British Bulldog), to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.
– In a 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match, The Million Dollar Team (Bam Bam Bigelow, Jimmy Del Ray, King Kong Bundy, Tatanka, & Tom Prichard) defeat Guts and Glory (Mabel, Adam Bomb, Bart Gunn, Billy Gunn, & Lex Luger).
– In a Casket Match, The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) defeats Yokozuna (with Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji).  The special outside enforcer was Chuck Norris, who delivered a roundhouse kick to an interfering Jeff Jarrett.

1995 – In a Badstreet Death Match, Brad Armstrong defeats Terry Gordy, to win the Smoky Mountain Wrestling Heavyweight Championship.

1997 – WCW’s World War 3 pay-per-view is held at The Palace of Auburn Hills, outside Detroit, in front of 17,128 fans.

– The Faces of Fear (Meng & The Barbarian) defeat Ernest Miller & Glacier.
– Perry Saturn defeats Disco Inferno, to retain the WCW World Television Championship.
– Yuji Nagata (with Sonny Onoo) defeats Ultimo Dragon.
– The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott) defeat The Blue Bloods (Lord Steven Regal & Squire David Taylor), to retain the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
– In a Raven’s Rules Match, Raven (with Lodi, Kidman, Hammer, & Perry Saturn) defeats Scotty Riggs.
– Steve McMichael defeats Alex Wright.
– Eddie Guerrero defeats Rey Misterio, Jr., to retain the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.
– In a No Disqualification Match, Curt Hennig defeats Ric Flair, to retain the WCW United States Championship.
– Scott Hall wins the 60-Man, World War 3 Battle Royal, last eliminating The Giant, and earning a WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match.

1998 – In the Monday Night Wars, WWF RAW IS WAR (4.9 TV rating) beats WCW Monday Nitro (4.5 rating).  On RAW, Gillberg defeats Christian, to win the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship.  Gillberg would hold the title for 448 consecutive days.

2000 – On SmackDown, ‘The One’ Billy Gunn defeats Eddie Guerrero, to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship.

2008 – WWE Survivor Series is held in Boston, in front of 12,498 fans.

Dark Match:
– The Brian Kendrick defeats Kung Fu Naki.
Survivor Series PPV:
– In a 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match, Team HBK (The Great Khali, JTG, Shad Gaspard, Rey Mysterio, & Shawn Michaels) defeat Team JBL (John Morrison, The Miz, MVP, John Bradshaw Layfield, & Kane).
– In a 5-on-5 Women’s Survivor Series Elimination Match, Team RAW (Jillian Hall, Kelly Kelly, Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, & Candice Michelle) defeat Team SmackDown (Maria, Maryse, Michelle McCool, Natalya, & Victoria.
– The Undertaker defeats Big Show, in a Casket Match.
– In a 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match, Team Orton (Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Mark Henry, Shelton Benjamin, & William Regal) defeat Team Batista (CM Punk, Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, Matt Hardy, & Batista).
– In a Triple Threat Match, Edge defeats Triple H and Vladimir Kozlov, to win the WWE Championship.
– John Cena defeats Chris Jericho, to win the World Heavyweight Championship.

2009 – Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura guest hosts Monday Night RAW from Hershey, PA.

2014 – WWE Survivor Series is held in St. Louis in front of 12,000 fans.  It was the first Survivor Series since 2001 not to feature a World Championship match.  It is also notable for something else, but you’ll have to read the results below to find out what it is.

Pre-Show Matches:
– Fandango (with Rosa Mendes) defeats Justin Gabriel.
– Jack Swagger (with Zeb Colter) defeats Cesaro via submission.
Survivor Series PPV:
– In a Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Match, The Miz & Damien Mizdow defeat Gold & Stardust, Los Matadores (Diego & Fernando), and The Usos (Jimmy & Jey), to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.
– In a 4-on-4 Women’s Survivor Series Elimination Match, Team Natalya (Emma, Naomi, Alicia Fox, & Natalya) defeat Team Paige (Cameron, Summer Rae, Layla, & Paige).
– Bray Wyatt defeats Dean Ambrose via disqualification.
– Adam Rose & The Bunny (Justin Gabriel) defeat Slater-Gator (Heath Slater & Titus O’Neil).
– Nikki Bella (with Brie Bella) defeats AJ Lee, to win the WWE Divas Championship.
– In a 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match, Team Cena (Big Show, Dolph Ziggler, John Cena, Ryback, & Erick Rowan) defeat Team Authority (Kane, Luke Harper, Mark Henry, Rusev, & Seth Rollins).  Team Authority also had Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, Jamie Noble, Joey Mercury, & Lana in their corner.

After Triple H had pulled two referees out of the ring before either could count the pinfall in favor of Team Cena.  Triple H called for referee the usually crooked referee Scott Armstrong, but instead got Sting (making his WWE debut).  Sting knocked out referee Armstrong and executed a Scorpion Death Drop on Triple H.  Sting then pulled Dolph Ziggler on top of Seth Rollins, allowing Team Cena to get the pinfall.
Since The Authority lost, they were removed from power.  Had Team Cena lost, Ziggler, Ryback, Rowan, & Big Show would’ve been fired.

2016 – Davey Boy Smith, Jr. & Lance Archer defeat Naomichi Marufuji & Toru Yano, to win the GHC Tag Team Championship.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO:   past RAW guest star, Snooki (30 years old);  former NWA Vendetta Pro Tri-Force Champion, Mike Rayne (35 years old);  2001 G-1 World League Winner, Don Frye (52 years old);  former ECW & WCW valet Kristina ‘Kimona/Leia Meow’ Laum (41 years old);  former WWE, WCW & AAA Cruiserweight Champion, Juventud Guerrera (43 years old);  6-time AJPW Triple Crown Champion, Kohei Suwama (41 years old);  2-time AJPW All Asia Tag Team Champion, Tetsuhiro Kuroda (46 years old);  AAA performer, El Elegido (42 years old);  the runner-up on the first season of Tough Enough, Taylor Matheny (38 years old);  and NXT wrestler, Aliyah (23 years old).

Today would have been the 89th birthday for former NWA & AWA World Heavyweight Champion, Gene Kiniski.