Wrestling History

February 3rd – On This Day In Wrestling History

Our full On This Day In Wrestling History section can be found here.

1973 – All Japan Pro Wrestling joined the National Wrestling Alliance meaning that NWA wrestlers such as Ric Flair, Harley Race, and Dory Funk Jr. would appear on AJPW shows and defend their titles.

1989 – WWF Main Event is live from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On the show the Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage) defeated The Twin Towers (Akeem and The Big Boss Man.) During the match, Akeem threw Savage out of the ring where he landed on Miss Elizabeth, knocking her unconscious. Hogan carried her to the back and when she came around she told him to get back in to the ring to help Savage.

Hogan eventually called for the tag, but Savage, who was furious with being abandoned during the match, slapped Hogan in the face. Savage then took his championship belt and left ringside, leaving Hogan to defeat the Twin Towers alone. After the match Hogan went to the back where Savage was yelling at Miss Elizabeth. Savage accused Hogan of trying to steal both Elizabeth and the belt and then attacked Hogan, putting an end to their Mega Powers partnership.

1996 – ECW ‘Big Apple Blizzard Blast’ was held in New York. Bam Bam Bigelow made his ECW debut on the show, less than a year after headlining Wrestlemania. Also on the card John Kronus and Perry Saturn (The Eliminators) became the new ECW Tag Team Champions after defeating Cactus Jack and Mikey Whipwreck.

2000 – The ill-fated XFL football league was announced as a joint venture between WWF and NBC. The first match was played exactly one year later in 2001 but the XFL lasted just one season, with each company losing an estimated $70 million.

2001 – The XFL’s first two games occurred. In the first ever match in the league, the Las Vegas Outlaws beat the New York Hitmen 19-0. In the day’s other game, the Orlando Rage scored a 33-29 victory over the Chicago Enforcers.

2001 – WWF Live was held in Greensboro, North Carolina. The WWF Hardcore Title went from Raven to K-Kwik to Crash Holly and back to Raven who finished the night as he started, as the Hardcore Champion. The main event saw The Rock, Kane, and The Undertaker beat the team of Triple H, Rikishi, and Haku.

2004 – At a SmackDown taping in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi defeated The Basham Brothers to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.

2018 – OTT Homecoming took place in Dublin, Ireland. The main event was a 3-on-3 steel cage match for the Tag Team belts which were defended under the Freebird Rule (All three members of the same faction can claim to be champions, even though there’s only two belts.) Charlie Sterling, Sha Samuels and Zack Gibson defeated Bonesaw, Damien Corvin and Dunkan Disorderly to become new OTT Tag Team Champions.

2019 – For the first time in 20 years, WWE presented Halftime Heat during the mid-game break of the Super Bowl. The single match show was taped at the WWE Performance Centre in Orlando, Florida and saw Aleister Black, Ricochet and Velveteen Dream defeat Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa.

2021 – Edge made a surprise appearance in NXT, confronting both Finn Balor and Pete Dunne ahead of their NXT Championship match at Vengeance Day, making it clear they were on the Royal Rumble winner’s radar. In the main event, Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa defeated The Undisputed Era in a Dusty Rhodes Classic quarter-final match.

2021 – On AEW Dynamite: Beach Break, Chris Jericho and MJF won a tag team battle royale for the chance to face The Young Bucks for the AEW Tag Team Championships at Revolution. It was also the show where Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford got married, with Orange Cassidy appearing from the cake. At the end of the main event, Kenta shocking debuted and his the GTS on Jon Moxley.

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