August 2nd – On This Day In Wrestling History

1962 – Bruno Sammartino defeated Buddy Rogers to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in Toronto, Canada. Remarkably, Sammartino refused to take the title after Rogers claimed to suffer a groin injury and therefore the title change was reversed.

1992 – Ron Simmons became the first African American to win a major world title in wrestling when he defeated Lex Luger to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in Baltimore, Maryland.

1998 – ECW presented Heatwave ’98 on PPV. With an estimated 100,000 buyrate, it was the most widely viewed PPV in their entire run. The highlights of the card saw Taz defeat Bam Bam Bigelow via submission in a Falls Count Anywhere match to retain the FTW Title and Sabu and Rob Van Dam bested Hayabusa and Jinsei Shinzaki to retain the ECW Tag Team Titles.

2008 – ROH Death Before Dishonour VI took place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. The main event saw Nigel McGuinness defeat Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan), Tyler Black (Seth Rollins) and Claudio Castagnoli (Cesaro) in a four-way match to retain the ROH Title.

Notable Wrestling Birthdays:

• El Hijo Del Santo (1963)
• Blitzkrieg (1975)
• Austin Theory (1997)