July 15th – On This Day In Wrestling History
1963 – Bobo Brazil defeated Johnny Barend in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to become the first man to hold the WWWF United States Championship for a second time.
1992 – After mere months in operation, Vince McMahon announced that the Titan Sports owned World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF) would be ceasing operations.
1995 – The ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania played host to ECW Heatwave ’95. The main event saw The Gangstas (Mustafa and New Jack) defeat The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock) in a steel cage match.
2002 – On an episode of Raw from East Rutherford, New Jersey, former WCW President Eric Bischoff shockingly made his WWE debut when he was announced as the brand’s first General Manager by Vince McMahon. Upon his entrance, McMahon and Bischoff enthusiastically embraced on the Raw stage in one of the most jaw dropping moments in WWE history.
2006 – Brock Lesnar is stripped of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship following a disagreement with NJPW over a title defence against Hiroshi Tanahashi. Lesnar would leave the company with the belt and Tanahashi won win the vacant title two nights later by defeating Giant Bernard in the final of a one-night tournament to give him the first of his seven reigns (To date) with the belt.
2006 – WWE ‘Saturday Night’s Main Event’ took place at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas. In the featured bout of the night, the newly reunited D-Generation X team of Shawn Michaels and Triple H defeated The Spirit Squad (Kenny, Nicky, Mitch, Mikey and Johnny) in a 5 vs 2 elimination match.
2006 – The long running ROH vs. CZW feud came to a head a ‘ROH: Death Before Dishonor IV’ at the National Guard Armory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The main event saw a Cage Of Death match (Similar in format to War Games) between Team ROH (Samoa Joe, Homicide, Adam Pearce, Bryan Danielson, Ace Steel and BJ Whitmer) and Team CZW (Eddie Kingston, Chris Hero, Claudio Castignoli, Necro Butcher and Nate Webb). Team ROH emerged victorious to end the violent feud.
2006 – Bob Orton Sr. (Randy Orton’s grandfather) died as a result of heart failure aged 76.
2007 – TNA’s Victory Road PPV took place at The Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. The main event match was a Winner Takes All match pitting TNA Tag Team Champions Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) against TNA World Champion Kurt Angle and the X-Division Champion, Samoa Joe. The pre-match stipulation saw the person getting the fall winning the title from the person they defeated. In the end, Samoa Joe made the winning pin, he won the tag titles seemingly for he and Angle but in the end, he decided to keep both belts for himself to defend.
2012 – WWE’s Money In The Bank PPV took place at the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona. The main event saw John Cena win a Money In The Bank match to win a future WWE Championship title shot. Also in the match were The Big Show, Kane, The Miz and Chris Jericho. In the other MITB for a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship, Dolph Ziggler emerged victorious over Damien Sandow, Tyson Kidd, Tensai, Sin Cara, Cody Rhodes, Christian and Santino Marella. Also on the show, Sheamus defeated Alberto Del Rio to win the World Heavyweight Championship.
2018 – Two championships changed hands at WWE Extreme Rules 2018 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Firstly, The Miztourage (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel) defeated Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt for the Raw Tag Team Championship. Shinsuke Nakamura beat Jeff Hardy to grab the WWE United States Championship. In the main event, Dolph Ziggler defeated Seth Rollins in an Iron Man match to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
2020 – AEW held their ‘Fight For The Fallen’ episode of Dynamite from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida. In the main event, Jon Moxley defeated Brian Cage to retain the AEW World Heavyweight Championship. Cage had earned the title shot by winning the Casino Battle Royale at Double Or Nothing the prior month.
Notable Wrestling Birthdays:
- Anna Jay (1998)
- Karl Fredericks (1990)
- QT Marshall (1985)
- Heath Slater (1983)
- BxB Hulk (1980)
- Jesse Ventura (1951)
- Mil Mascaras (1942)