This Day In Wrestling History – December 26th
1957 – Verne Gagne & Bronko Nagurski defeat The Atomic Blonds (Johnny Valentine & Chet Wallich), to win the Minneapolis version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship.
1969 – King Curtis Iaukea & Buddy Austin defeat Mario Milano & Spiros Arion, to win the International Wrestling Alliance Tag Team Championship.
1973 – Gene & Ole Anderson defeat Brute Bernard & Jay York, to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship.
1976 – Ric Flair & Greg Valentine defeat Gene & Ole Anderson, to win the Mid-Atlantic version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship.
1976 – The Sheik defeats Thunderbolt Patterson, to win the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Toronto version).
1978 – Paul Orndorff & Jimmy Snuka defeat Baron Von Raschke & Greg Valentine, to win the NWA (Mid-Atlantic) World Tag Team Championship.
1981 – Bugsy McGraw defeats The Great Kabuki, to win the WCCW American Heavyweight Championship.
1983 – The Iron Sheik defeats Bob Backlund, to win the WWF Championship.
1983 – Randy Savage defeats Terry Taylor, to win the NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship.
1985 – Ted DiBiase & Steve Williams defeat Eddie Gilbert & Dick Murdoch (subbing for The Nightmare) to win the MSW Tag Team Championship (renamed the UWF Tag Team Championship).
1988 – NWA Starrcade: True Gritt is held in Norfolk, VA in front of 10,000 fans. This was the first event promoted by WCW under the NWA banner, after Ted Turner’s rebranding of the former Jim Crockett Promotions.
– Kevin Sullivan & Steve Williams defeat The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers), to win the NWA United States Tag Team Championship.
– The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane) defeat The Original Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey & Randy Rose).
– The Russian Assassins (#1 & #2) defeat The Junkyard Dog & Ivan Koloff.
– Rick Steiner defeats Mike Rotunda (with Kevin Sullivan), to win the NWA World Television Championship.
– Barry Windham (with J.J. Dillion) defeats Bam Bam Bigelow (with Oliver Humperdink) by countout, to retain the NWA United States Championship.
– Sting & Dusty Rhodes defeat NWA World Tag Team Champions The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal) by disqualification; The Road Warriors retain the NWA World Tag Titles.
– Ric Flair (with J.J. Dillion) defeats Lex Luger, to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
1990 – Tatsumi Fujinami defeats Riki Choshu, to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Also, Hiro Saito & Super Strong Machine defeat Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki, to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.
1993 – In a No Disqualification Match, Terry Funk (with Axl & Ian Rotten) defeats Sabu (with Paul E. Dangerously), to win the NWA-ECW Heavyweight Championship.
1999 – Hector Garza defeats Pirata Morgan, to win the IWC World Heavyweight Championship.
2004 – At Ring of Honor’s ‘Final Battle 2004,’ Austin Aries defeats Samoa Joe, to win the ROH World Championship.
2006 – Former WCW wrestler Tyler Mane is hired to reprise the role of Michael Myers, in the Rob Zombie-directed remake of the horror classic, ‘Halloween.’
2008 – On Friday Night SmackDown, Maryse defeats Michelle McCool, to win the WWE Divas Championship. Maria served as special guest referee.
2009 – WWE signs Saron Snuka, daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Snuka, who would go on to debut on the main roster as Tamina.
2010 – CIMA, Dragon Kid, & Ricochet defeat Takuya Sugawara, Yasusha Kanda, & Naoki Tanizaki, to win the Dragon Gate ‘Open the Triangle Gate’ Championship.
2016 – Atsushi Kotege & Daisuke Harada vacate the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, with Kotege also vacating the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship, after he opts to move up to the Heavyweight Division.
2017 – SmackDown GM Daniel Bryan declares the United States Championship ‘vacant,’ after previous champion Dolph Ziggler left the title in the middle of the ring, on the December 19th SmackDown Live. Ziggler had won the U.S. Championship at the December 17th Clash of Champions pay-per-view.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: former WWF Tag Team & European Champion Phineas Godwinn (aka Mideon) (50 years old); renowned trainer Tom Howard (49 years old); current AAA Reina de Reinas Champion Faby Apache (38 years old).
