July 16th – On This Day In Wrestling History

1988 – In one of the most notorious incidents in wrestling history, international star Bruiser Brody is stabbed to death after a wrestling show in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Although never proven, it is thought that the stabbing was carried out by Jose Huertes Gonzalez who wrestled as Invader I. Brody, real name Frank Goodish, was stabbed twice in the stomach and died the next day in hospital from excessive blood loss.

1990 – The 27th edition of ‘WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event’ is taped at the Omaha Civic Center in Omaha, Nebraska. All three titles are up for grabs and retained on the show. In the opening bout The Ultimate Warrior retains the WWF Championship with a disqualification win over ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude. Next, Demolition (Smash and Crush) defeat The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) to keep hold of their WWF Tag Team Championship. Finally, Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect retains over Tito Santana.

1995 – WCW ‘Bash At The Beach’ took place on an actual beach in Huntington Beach, California. In the main event, Hulk Hogan retained the WCW World Heavyweight Championship with a win over Big Van Vader in a steel cage match after escaping the cage. This was the first match in WCW history that used the ‘escape’ rule.

2000 – ECW’s Heatwave 2000 takes place at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. Justin Credible defeated Tommy Dreamer in a ‘Stairway To Hell’ match. The event is perhaps better remembered for the legitimate interruption of the show by a bunch of wrestlers from the XPW promotion who bought front row seats to the show.

2001 – ‘Bam Bam’ Terry Gordy, best remembered as one of the Fabulous Freebirds died of a result of a blood clot causing a heart attack at the age of 40.

2002 – Just a day after Eric Bischoff is confirmed as the Raw General Manager, Stephanie McMahon returns to WWE television for the first time in nearly four months in the position of SmackDown General Manager.

2006 – TNA’s Victory Road PPV take place in the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. In the main event, Sting won a four man ‘Road To Victory’ match against Scott Steiner, Samoa Joe, Christian Cage to earn a TNA World Heavyweight Championship match at the next PPV, Hard Justice.

2020 – WWE taped the ‘Cinematic’ Swamp Fight match between Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt that aired on their ‘The Horror Show At Extreme Rules’ PPV.

2021 – WWE SmackDown took place at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The event was historic in being the first WWE event with a capacity crowd since March 2020 due to restrictions brought about by the COVId-19 pandemic. The show started with Vince McMahon boisterously asking the fans ‘Where the hell have you been?’ with the in ring highlight of the night seeing Edge, Dominik Mysterio and Rey Mysterio defeat Roman Reigns and The Usos. The show saw Finn Balor make his return to the WWE main roster after almost two years working on the NXT brand.

Notable Wrestling Birthdays:

• Mike Bailey (1990)
• Jon Cutler (1981)
• Excalibur (1980)
• Knux/Mike Knox (1978)
• Bobby Lashley (1976)
• Chris Chetti (1974)
• Blue Demon Jr. (1966)