This Day In Wrestling History – August 31st
Happy birthday to Mickie James!
1945 – Ted Cox defeats Buddy Rogers, to win the Texas Heavyweight Championship.
1950 – In Columbus, Ohio, Don Eagle defeats Gorgeous George, to win the AWA Boston World Heavyweight Championship.
1951 – In Atlanta, Art Neilson & Jack Steel defeat Farmer Jones & Al Massey, to win the Georgia NWA Southern Tag Team Championship.
1965 – In Pensacola, Florida, Don Larson defeats Ken Lucas, to win the NWA Gulf Coast Heavyweight Championship.
1968 – In Minneapolis, Verne Gagne defeats Dr. X, to win the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. Gagne would hold the title all the way until November 8, 1975 – a span of 2,625 consecutive days. Meanwhile in Tampa, Jose Lothario & Joe Scarpa defeat Boris Malenko & Johnny Valentine, to win the Florida NWA Southern Tag Team Championship.
1979 – In Atlanta, Ole Anderson & Ivan Koloff defeat Stan Hansen & Tommy Rich, to win the NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship.
1981 – Eddie Gilbert & Ricky Morton defeat Masa Fuchi & Mr. Onita, to win the AWA Southern Tag Team Championship.
1985 – Tiger Mask II defeats Kuniaki Kobayashi, to win the NWA Interrnational Junior Heavyweight Championship.
1986 – In the Universal Wrestling Federation, Eddie Gilbert & Sting defeat The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers), to win the vacant UWF Tag Team Championship.
1987 – Bill Dundee defeats George Barnes, to win the AWA International Heavyweight Championship. Also, Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler defeats Don Bass, to win the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship for the 51st time.
1991 – In Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, Katsuji Ueda defeats Mark Starr, to win the FMW World Light Heavyweight Championship.
1996 – Jamie Dundee defeats Wolfie D, to win the USWA Television Championship. Dundee would hold the title until it is retired in November 1996.
1996 – On WCW Saturday Night, Lord Steven Regal defeats Lex Luger, to win the WCW World Television Championship.
1997 – PG-13 (J.C. Ice & Wolfie D) defeat Flash Flanagan & Steven Dunn, to win the USWA World Tag Team Championship for the 16th time. PG-13 would hold the titles until the United States Wrestling Association closes, in November 1997.
1997 – Kensuke Sasaki defeats Shinya Hashitmoto, to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
1998 – WCW Monday Nitro achieves it’s highest ever TV rating (6.0) in the Nielsen Ratings. WWF RAW is WAR was preempted, due to the USA Network broadcasting U.S. Open Tennis.
2000 – On SmackDown, Al Snow defeats Perry Saturn, to win the WWF European Championship.
2007 – On SmackDown, Matt Hardy & MVP defeat Deuce ‘n Domino, to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.
2009 – WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes is the guest host of this evening’s Monday Night RAW.
2010 – Kaval (aka Low Ki) wins Season 2 of WWE: NXT, and is added to the SmackDown roster. Alex Riley, who finished 3rd, was added to the RAW roster, to aid The Miz.
2012 – El Terrible defeats Hiroshi Tanahashi, two falls to one, to win the 2012 CMLL Universal Championship.
2015 – Braun Strowman makes his WWE television debut on Monday Night RAW; he defeats Dean Ambrose via disqualification.
2015 – Psycho Clown defeats Chessman, to win the AAA Latin American Championship.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: former NXT Women’s Champion, Ember Moon (30 years old); WWE Grand Slam champion, Jeff Hardy (41 years old); 5-time WWE Women’s Champion & 1-time Divas Champion, Mickie James (39 years old); former SmackDown wrestler Tank Toland aka ‘James Dick’ (45 years old); NJPW Hall of Famer, Animal Hamaguchi (71 years old).
Today would’ve been the 74th birthday for Memphis Wrestling Hall of Famer, Jos LeDuc.
