August 21st – On This Day In Wrestling History

1979 – Dusty Rhodes defeated Harley Race to win his first NWA World Heavyweight title in Tampa, Florida. He would hold the belt only five days before losing it back to Race.

2000 – Lita defeated Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley to win the WWE Women’s title. This match was the first time in history that a women’s match main-evented Monday Night Raw.

2005 – SummerSlam takes place at the MCI Center in Washington D.C. The event is notable for Shawn Michaels facing Hulk Hogan in singles action for the first time. Hogan takes the win in what proved to be their only encounter.

Earlier in the show, Rey Mysterio fought Eddie Guerrero in a ladder match with custody of Mysterio’s son Dominik as the prize.

2016 – WWE SummerSlam was held at The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. On the show, Finn Balor defeated Seth Rollins to become the inaugural WWE Universal Champion. He was forced to vacate the belt due to injury the next night.

Elsewhere on the show, Charlotte Flair defeated Sasha Banks to win the Raw Women’s title and Brock Lesnar defeated Randy Orton in the night’s main event.

2020 – Despite being attacked by RETRIBUTION earlier in the show, Jeff Hardy managed to defeat AJ Styles for the Intercontinental Championship in the main event of WWE SmackDown.

Born On This Day:

• PAC (1986)
• Eve Torres (1984)
• Trent Seven (1981)
• Nathan Jones (1969)
• Keith Hart (1952)