This Day in Wrestling History – July 27

Happy birthday to The Game!

1945 – Buddy Rogers defeats Dave Levin, to win the Texas Heavyweight Championship.

1963 – Fritz Von Erich defeats Verne Gagne, to win the AWA World Heavyweight Championship.

1988 – Stan Hansen defeats Genichiro Tenryu, to win both the PWF World Heavyweight and the NWA United National Heavyweight Championships.

1990 – Stan Hansen defeats Mitsuharu Misawa, to win the vacant AJPW Triple Crown Championship.  The title is vacated by Terry Gordy earlier in the night, after he becomes hospitalized.

1991 – In the Global Wrestling Federation, Steve Simpson & Chris Walker defeat Scott Anthony & Rip Rogers, to become the inaugural GWF Tag Team Champions.

1996 – At a house show in Dayton, OH, Harlem Heat (Booker T & Stevie Ray) defeat The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott), to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship.  The Steiners had defeated Harlem Heat for the titles, at a house show in Cincinnati, three days earlier.

1998 – In the Monday Night Wars, WWF RAW IS WAR (4.9 TV rating) defeats WCW Monday Nitro (4.7 rating).

2001 – Jun Akiyama defeats Mitsuharu Misawa, to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship.  Elsewhere, Kayo Noumi defeats Miho Wakizawa, to win the vacant All Japan Women’s Singles Championship.

2002 – At a house show in San Antonio, TX, the 24/7 Rule for the WWE Hardcore Championship sees the belt pass from Bradshaw to Raven, to Justin Credible, to Shawn Stasiak, and back to Bradshaw.

2002 – Ring of Honor’s Crowing a Champion event is held at the Murphy Recreational Center, in Philadelphia, in front of 450 fans.  The show’s main event featured a Four-Way 60-Minute Iron Man match, to determine the inaugural ROH Champion. The four participants earned the right to compete for the title, by winning their respective brackets, in the Road to the Title tournament.  The rules for the match were, that for every pin and submission a wrestler scored, they would gain two points.  But if THEY were pinned or submitted, they would lose one point.

–Tony Mamaluke defeats Jeremy Lopez, via submission.
– Joey Matthews & Christian York defeat Prince Nana & Jacob Ladder.
– Michael Shane & Bio-Hazard defeat Don Juan & Paul London.
– Da Hit Squad (Monsta Mack & Mafia) defeat Devine Storm (Quiet Storm & Chris Devine).
– James Maritato defeats Jay Briscoe (with Mark Briscoe).
– In a Tag Team Bunkhouse Brawl, The Natural Born Sinners (Boogaloo & Homicide) defeat The Carnage Crew (Tony DeVito & HC Loc).
– In a Three-Way Elimination Match, AJ Styles defeats Adam Jacobs and David Young to retain the NWA–TNA X Championship.
– In a Six-Man Tag Team Match, Mike Tobin and The Ring Crew Express (Marcos & Dunn) defeat Brian XL, Dixie, and Black Gordman, Jr.
– Scott Andrews defeated Xavier.
– In the Four-Way 60-Minute Iron Man Match, Low Ki defeats Spanky, Doug Williams, and Christopher Daniels, to become the inaugural ROH Champion.

Match airing on Sunday Night Heat:
– Ultimo Dragon defeats Chris Kanyon.
PPV:
– In a tournament final, Eddie Guerrero defeats Chris Benoit, to win the reactivated United States Championship.  The title, previously owned by WCW, was part of the assets bought by the WWF in March 2001;  the US Title had been unified with the WWF Intercontinental Championship at Survivor Series in November 2001.  The US Title (exclusive to SmackDown) is reactivated almost three months after WWE reactivates its Intercontinental Championship (exclusive to RAW).
– Jamie Noble (with Nidia) defeats Billy Gunn (with Torrie Wilson).
– Bradshaw wins The APA Invitational Bar Room Brawl, last eliminating Brother Love.  Among the participants was The Easter Bunny, portrayed by 21-year-old Damien Sandow.
– The World’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin) defeat Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman, to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship.
– In a match with no count-outs, Sable defeats SmackDown General Manager Stephanie McMahon.
– The Undertaker defeats John Cena.
– Vince McMahon defeats Zach Gowen.
– In a Triple Threat Match, Kurt Angle defeats Brock Lesnar and The Big Show, to win the WWE Championship.

2009 – Shaquille O’Neal guest hosts RAW from Washington, D.C.

2013 – On a Ring of Honor TV taping, The Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov & Rocky Romero) defeat reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly), to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship.  The title change aired on TV on August 3.

2014 – Joe Doering defeats Suwama, to win the AJPW Triple Crown Championship.

2020 – On RAW, Sasha Banks defeats Asuka by countout, to win the RAW Women’s Championship. The title could change hands via pinfall, submission, disqualification, or countout.