This Day In Wrestling History – August 27th

Happy birthday to Sgt. Slaughter!

1958 – Rikidozan defeats Lou Thesz, to win the NWA International Heavyweight Championship.

1979 – Bill Dundee defeats Ron Bass, to win the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship.

1982 – In the Mid-South Wrestling Association, Killer Khan defeats Mr. Olympia, to win the MSW Mississippi Heavyweight Championship.

1990 – The Snowman is stripped of the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship, after no-showing for a title defense.

1990 – WWF SummerSlam is held in Philadelphia, in front of 19,304 fans.

– In a dark match, Shane Douglas defeats Buddy Rose.
– In a tag team match, Power and Glory (Hercules & Paul Roma) defeat The Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannety).
– The Texas Tornado defeats Mr. Perfect, to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
– Queen Sherri defeats Sapphire via forfeit; Sapphire did not come out when she was announced.
– The Warlord defeats Tito Santana.
– In a Two out of Three Falls match, The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Niedhart) defeat Demolition (Smash and Crush), to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.
– Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts defeats Bad News Brown via disqualification; Brown hit Roberts with a steel chair and was caught by special guest referee, Big Boss Man.
– In a tag team match, Nikolai Volkoff & ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan defeat The Orient Express (Sato & Pat Tanaka).
– ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage defeats Dusty Rhodes.
– Hulk Hogan defeats Earthquake via countout.
– In a Steel Cage Match, The Ultimate Warrior defeats Rick Rude, to retain the WWF Championship.

1994 – Shane Douglas defeats 2 Cold Scorpio, in the finals of a one-night tournament, to become the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion.  After the match Douglas throws down the NWA World Title and says he does NOT want to be the NWA’s World Champion. Douglas declares that the NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Championship (which he also holds) is now the ECW World Heavyweight Championship (the YouTube link is below).  ECW, which would change its name to Extreme Championship Wrestling in the days following the shocking actions, officially breaks away from the NWA.

On the same night that Douglas wins the NWA World Title, Cactus Jack & Mikey Whipwreck defeat Public Enemy to win the ECW World Tag Team Championship. This event also features the ECW debuts of Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Osamu Nishimura.

1994 – Boris Malenko passes away at age 61.  Malenko won multiple tag team and heavyweight titles among various wrestling promotions.  Later in his career Malenko trained wrestlers such as, his son Dean Malenko, along with Sean Waltman, Fred Ottman, Perry Saturn, Buddy Landell, and Barry Horowitz.

1995 – WWF SummerSlam is held in Pittsburgh, with 18,062 in attendance.

– Hakushi defeats The 1-2-3 Kid.
– Hunter Hearst Helmsley, in his WWF pay-per-view debut, defeats Bob Holly.
– In a tag team match, The Smoking Gunns (Billy & Bart Gunn) defeat The Blu Brothers (Jacob & Eli Blu).
– Barry Horowitz defeats Skip.
– Bertha Faye defeats Alundra Blayze, to win the WWE Women’s Championship.
– The Undertaker defeats Karma in a Casket Match.
– Bret Hart defeats Isaac Yankem, D.D.S. via disqualification.
– In a Ladder Match, Shawn Michaels defeats Razor Ramon, to retain the Intercontinental Championship.
– Diesel defeats King Mabel, to retain the WWF Championship.

1998 – In World Xtreme Wrestling, John Rambo defeats Jake Molsonn, in a Ladder Match, to becomes win the WXW Heavyweight Championship.

1999 – ECW on TNN airs its first episode.

2000 – WWF SummerSlam is held in Raleigh, NC, with 18,128 in attendance.

– Right To Censor (Bull Buchanan, Steven Richards, & The Goodfather) defeat Too Cool (Rikishi, Scotty 2 Hotty, & Grand Master Sexay).
– X-Pac defeats Road Dogg.
– In a Mixed Tag Team Match with the Intercontinental Championship on the line, Chyna & Eddie Guerrero defeat titleholder Val Venis & Trish Stratus.  Chyna got the pinfall over Stratus, making her the new Intercontinental Champion.
– Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler defeats Tazz; Jim Ross had assisted by breaking a glass jar over Tazz’s head.
– ‘The Lethal Weapon’ Steve Blackman defeats Shane McMahon, to win the WWE Hardcore Championship.
– Chris Benoit defeats Chris Jericho 2-1, to win a Two out of Three Falls Match.
– In the first Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match, Edge & Christian defeat The Hardy Boyz (Matt & Jeff) and The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray & D-Von), to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship.
– The Kat defeats Terri in a Stinkface Match. The first one to deliver a Stinkface to her opponent won the match.
– Kane vs. The Undertaker ended in a no contest. The match never started as both men began brawling outside the ring.  After Kane hit Undertaker with a low blow, Undertaker hit Kane with a spear and ripped his mask off; sending Kane running to the backstage area.
– In a Triple Threat Match, The Rock defeats Triple H and Kurt Angle, to retain the WWF Championship.

2001 – On RAW, The Hurricane defeats Matt Hardy, to win the WWF European Championship.

2003 – On TNA Wrestling’s weekly pay-per-view, Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger defeat America’s Most Wanted (James Storm & Chris Harris), to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship.

2005 – In Buffalo, Nigel McGuinness defeats Samoa Joe, to win the ROH Pure Championship.

2006 – Paul Tracey defeats Justin White, to win the NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship.

2008 – In Ohio Valley Wrestling, Rudy Switchblade defeats JD Michaels in a 15-foot Pole Match, to win the vacant OVW Television Championship.

2009 – Dixie Carter makes her television debut on TNA Impact!   Carter announces a new TV contract with Spike TV that will extend through 2012.  On the same night, Mick Foley decides to make the TNA Knockouts Championship vacant; Cody Deaner felt he should have been awarded the title at Hardcore Justice since he scored the pinfall.  Instead, his partner, ODB, was awarded the title that night.

2010 – Luna Vachon is found dead in her home.  She  had died from a drug overdose at age 48.  Vachon was a former USWA Women’s Champion, and challenged for the WWF Women’s Championship in late 1998 and early 1999.

2011 – NJPW / AJPW / Pro Wrestling NOAH hold a joint event titled, All Together, held in Tokyo. This was a benefit show for victims of the Tohuku earthquake and tsunami that occurred five months earlier.  All proceeds were donated to the Japanese Red Cross.

– Kota Ibushi, Taiji Ishimori, Hiroshi Yamato & BUSHI defeat Tiger Mask, Kaz Hayashi, Shuji Kondo & Ricky Marvin.
– Tetsuya Naito, Shuhei Taniguchi & Seiya Sanada defeat Mohammed Yone, Yujiro Takahashi & Manabu Soya.
– Togi Makabe & Akitoshi Saito defeat Hirooki Goto & Taiyo Kea.
– Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi, Kotaro Suzuki, Katsuhiko Nakajima & KAI defeat Koji Kanemoto, KENTA,  Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Minoru, & Genba Hirayanagi.
– Masakatsu Funaki, Takuma Sano, & Jushin Liger defeat Minoru Suzuki, Atsushi Aoki, & Taichi.
– Kentaro Shiga wins a 26-man Battle Royal, to win the Destroyer Cup.
– Takeshi Morishima, Akebono, Yutaka Yoshie, & Ryota Hama defeat Yuji Nagata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Osamu Nishimura, & Wataru Inoue.
– Kensuke Sasaki & Jun Akiyama defeat Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori.
– Kenta Kobashi & Keiji Muto defeat Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka.
– Hiroshi Tanahashi, Go Shiozaki, & Suwama defeat Shinsuke Nakamura, Takashi Sugiura, & KENSO.

2011 – In the Heartland Wrestling Association, Jesse Emerson defeats B.J. Whitmer, to win the HWA Heavyweight Championship. Also The Heatseekers (Kaden Assad & Jeremy Madrox) win the HWA Tag Team Championship; previous titleholders DNA (Doug Charlez & Aaron Xtreme) are forced to relinquish the titles after Aaron Xtreme suffers an injury.

2017 – Four title changes occur at AJPW’s Summer Explosion event.

– Black Tiger VII & Taka Michinoku defeat Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato, to win the All Asia Tag Team Championship.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO:  2-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, Sho Tanaka (29 years old);  WWE Hall of Famer, Sgt. Slaughter (70 years old);  former World Heavyweight Champion, The Great Khali (46 years old);  2-time WWE Women’s Champion, Jazz (45 years old);  and former NWA International Light Heavyweight Champion, Milano Collection A.T. (42 years old).

Today would’ve been the 89th birthday for NWA Tag Team Legend, George Scott.

And finally, happy birthday to the man that owns and runs this very website, Steve Gerweck!!