This Day In Wrestling History – February 3rd

Happy birthday, Cookie!

1962 – Luther Lindsay & Ricky Waldo defeat Rikidozan & Toyonobori, to win the JWA All Asia Tag Team Championship.

1969 – Antonio Inoki & Kintaro Ohki defeat Tom Jones & Buster Royd, to win the vacant JWA All Asia Tag Team Championship.

1973 – All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) becomes a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).

1984 – David Von Erich defeats Michael Hayes, to win the NWA United National Championship. Seven days later, Von Erich dies of an apparent heart attack, at the age of 25.

1976 – The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Gene & Ole Anderson) defeat Wahoo McDaniel & Rufus R. Jones, to win the NWA (Mid-Atlantic) World Tag Team Championship.

1978 – Killer Karl Krupp defeats Fritz Von Erich, to win the NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Championship.

1989 – Brickhouse Brown defeats Iceman Parsons, to win the WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship.

1989 – On WWF’s second edition of The Main Event, The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan & WWF Champion Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth)) defeated The Twin Towers (Akeem & The Big Boss Man (with Slick)), when Hogan pinned Akeem after a legdrop. During the match, Savage was thrown out of the ring by Akeem onto Elizabeth. Hogan carried Elizabeth backstage for medical attention. She came to, and told Hogan to return to the ring. Hogan came back to the ring and called for a tag, and was then slapped in the face by Savage, who then left the ring. Hogan won the match, then went to the back as well. Savage accused Hogan of trying to steal Miss Elizabeth away. Hogan then begged Elizabeth to talk some sense into his partner. Savage would then hit Hogan with the WWF Title belt and attacked him. Brutus Beefcake and several officials broke up the fight. The Mega Powers’ five-month partnership was over, and the stage was set for Savage’s title defense against Hogan two months later at WrestleMania V. The program earned an 11.6 TV rating for NBC.

1990 – The Southern Rockers (Rex King & Steve Doll) defeat Robert Fuller & Brian Lee, to win the USWA World Tag Team Championship.

1996 – At ECW’s Big Apple Blizzard Blast, The Eliminators (Kronus & Saturn) defeat Cactus Jack & Mikey Whipwreck, to win the ECW World Tag Team Championship. Bam Bam Bigelow makes his ECW debut at this event.

1997 – In the Monday Night Wars, WCW Monday Nitro (3.1 TV rating) beats WWF Monday Night RAW (2.6 rating).  This evening’s RAW, being held at Toronto’s SkyDome in front of 25,268 fans, is the show’s first two-hour episode.

2000 – On this evening’s SmackDown, Jacqueline defeats “Hervina” (Harvey Wippleman), to win the WWF Women’s Championship.

2000 – At a press conference at the old ‘WWF New York,’ it is announced that the XFL will launch on February 3, 2001. The XFL, a 50-50 joint venture between the WWF and NBC, would be a new pro football league combining the NFL with the popularity of professional wrestling.

2001 – Exactly one year later, the XFL’s inaugural games are held in Las Vegas and Orlando. NBC airs a national broadcast of the New York/New Jersey Hitmen vs Las Vegas Outlaws game; when that game became one-sided, NBC would switch over to the Orlando Rage / Chicago Enforcers game. The opening night drew a 9.5 TV rating for NBC, double what the network had promised advertisers.
The XFL was advertised as “real football,” with fewer penalties and fewer rules. Players wore microphones, there were cameras in the huddle & locker rooms, and all 8 teams featured scantily-clad cheerleaders. A few WWF announcers and alumni were used to do play-by-play and commentary for the XFL; Jim Ross, Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler, and Jonathan Coachman.

2001 – At a house show in Greensboro, NC, Raven loses the WWF Hardcore Championship to K-Kwik. With the 24/7 rule in effect, Crash Holly pins K-Kwik to win the title. Crash would drop the title back to Raven by the end of the show.

2003 – This evening’s Monday Night RAW is the first where Randy Orton, Triple H, Ric Flair, and Batista are referred to as Evolution. The name was chosen after Triple H spoke about how the four were part of pro wrestling’s past (Flair), to the present (himself), to the future (Batista & Orton).

2014 – Emma makes her debut on the WWE main roster, on this evening’s Monday Night RAW. Chosen by Santino Marella from the crowd, Emma debuts by participating in a dance-off against Summer Rae.

2016 – Former WWE star Justin Gabriel, an original member of The Nexus and The Corre, makes his debut in Lucha Underground under the name ‘Darewolf’ P.J. Black.

2018 – There were three title changes in All Japan Pro Wrestling.  Atsushi Aoki defeats Tajiri, to win the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship.  Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata defeat Naoya Nomura & Ryoji Sai, to win the vacant All Asia Tag Team Championship.  And Kento Miyahara & Yoshitatsu defeat Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa, to win the AJPW World Tag Team Championship.

2019 – For the first time in 19 years, WWE airs a Halftime Heat special during the Super Bowl.  In what was an NXT six-man tag team match Aleister Black, Ricochet, & Velveteen Dream defeated Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano, & Tommaso Ciampa.  Vic Joseph was the lead commentator, with Shawn Michaels providing color commentary.  This aired exclusively on WWE Network.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: The inaugural Queen of FCW, Angela Fong (35 years old); 3-time CMLL World Welterweight Champion, El Pantera (56 years old); WWE Hall of Famer Dory Funk, Jr. (79 years old); former WWF Intercontinental & Tag Team Champion, Marty Jannetty (60 years old); former NXT backstage interviewer, Devin Taylor (32 years old); and former TNA wrestler Becky ‘Cookie’ Bayless (38 years old).

Today would have been the 60th birthday for WWE Hall of Famer, Kerry Von Erich.