Wrestling History

February 5th – On This Day In Wrestling History

February 5th - On This Day In Wrestling History

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

1971 – Atlanta, Georgia – in the finals of a 14-man tournament, El Mongol defeated Nick Bockwinkel to win the vacant NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship.

1988 – WWF The Main Event was held at the Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana and was the first prime-time wrestling show on network television since 1955. A staggering 33 MILLION people tuned in to watch Hulk Hogan defend the WWF Championship against Andre the Giant in a WrestleMania III rematch. Andre was accompanied to the ring by the ‘Million Dollar Man’ Ted DiBiase and Virgil. The referee was supposed to be Dave Hebner but due to some DiBiase shenanigans his twin brother Earl Hebner was secretly the official instead.

Being paid off by The Million Dollar Man, Hebner counted Hogan for the three count even though his shoulders were clearly up at two, and Andre the Giant won his first and only ever singles title in the WWF which he held for an astonishing… 108 seconds. The Giant had also been bought off by DiBiase and handed over the championship belt making DiBiase the world champion, for a time. An announcement by WWF President Jack Tunney on the February 13th episode of WWF Superstars stated the title was vacant (because it couldn’t just be handed from one wrestler to another) and that a tournament would be held at WrestleMania IV to crown a legitimate champion.

It’s also worth noting that before this loss, Hulk Hogan had held the belt for 1,474 days, or just over four years.

1994 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ECW held ‘The Night The Line Was Crossed’. The main event was a ‘Triangle’ match between Shane Douglas, Sabu, and the ECW Champion Terry Funk. The match started with Douglas and Sabu with the stipulation that if either beat the other within the first 15 minutes, they would go one on one with Funk. This didn’t happen and so Funk joined in after 15 minutes had gone by and made it a triple-threat match. After interference from multiple wrestlers the match went to a 60-minute time-limit draw and received a standing ovation from the audience, with Funk retaining the belt.

2001 – On the weekly episode of WCW Nitro, Rick Steiner beat Shane Douglas by pinfall to become the WCW United States Champion.

2002 – On an episode of SmackDown taped in Los Angeles, California, Maven scored a huge upset over The Undertaker to win the WWF Hardcore Title.

2005 – CZW Only The Strong: Scarred 4 Life was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and had multiple title changes on the show.

  • Justice Pain and Nick Gage beat Chri$ Ca$H and Spyder Nate Webb for the CZW Tag Team Titles.
  • Frankie The Mobster beat B-Boy for his CZW Ironman Title making him a double champion, as he already held the IWS World Title.
  • In a four-way match, Mike Quackenbush was victorious against Alex Shelley, Sexxxy Eddie, and The Arsenal to become the new CZW Jr. Heavyweight Champion.
  • Ruckus beat The Messiah for the CZW Championship.
  • In the main event, J. C. Bailey defeated Necro Butcher in a ‘Barbed Wire Cage’ match to win the aptly named CZW Ultraviolent Title.

2007 – In the main event on WWE Raw in Sioux City, Iowa, Shawn Michaels defeated Edge and Randy Orton in a triple-threat match to earn a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania 23.

2021 – On an episode, Edge returned to the blue brand in an attempt to name his WrestleMania opponent. However, he was confronted by Roman Reigns who was in turn taken out by Kevin Owens. Also on the show, Big E retained the Intercontinental Championship in a triple-threat match against Apollo Crews and Sami Zayn.

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