Wrestling History

July 7th – On This Day In Wrestling History

1990 – NWA The Great American Bash was held at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. It would be the last Great American Bash under the NWA banner as the following year it would be held under the WCW name. On the PPV:

Doug Furnas defeated Dutch Mantel.
Mike Rotunda defeated The Iron Sheik.
Brian Pillman defeated Buddy Landell after hitting a High Body Cross and getting the pin.
Doom (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed) defeated The Rock N’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) to retain the the NWA World Tag Team Championship, following a distraction from Teddy Long at ringside.
Paul Orndorff, Junkyard Dog, and El Gigante defeated Sid Vicious, Arn Anderson, and Barry Windham via disqualification after Orndorff got thrown over the top rope by all three opponents. (Throwing someone over the top rope was an instant DQ back then in the NWA).
Harley Race beat Tommy Rich by pinfall.
In his WCW debut, Big Van Vader defeated Tom Zenk in just over two minutes.
The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner) defeated The Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes).
The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) retained the NWA United States Tag Team titles after defeating the Southern Boys (Tracy Smothers and Steve Armstrong), with Eaton getting the pin on Smothers.
Lex Luger defeated Mark Callous to retain the NWA United States Championship.
Sting defeated Ric Flair with a small package to get the pin and to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for the first time.

1996 – WCW Bash At The Beach was held at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida, in front of 8,300 fans. The main event of the night was billed as the ‘Hostile Takeover match’ and had Team WCW (Randy Savage, Sting, and Lex Luger) face off against The Outsiders (Scott Hall and Kevin Nash) and a mystery ‘Third Man’. Hall and Nash came to the ring without a partner but as Luger was taken out of the match early on, it made it a 2 vs. 2. Towards the end of the match, Hulk Hogan made his way to the ring causing Hall and Nash to jump outside, leaving a downed Savage on the mat. Hogan, in a shocking betrayal to WCW, hit Savage with multiple leg drops and turned heel for the first time in recent memory. Nash and Hall got back in the ring and the NWO was formed.

1997 – On WCW Nitro in Memphis, Tennessee, Randy Savage took on La Parka. Savage lost the match after ‘La Parka’ hit him with the Diamond Cutter, took his mask off to reveal himself as Diamond Dallas Page, and got the pin.

1999 – At the OVW TV Taping in Jeffersonville, Indiana, Johnny Spade defeated Jason Lee to win the OVW Light Heavyweight Title.

2001 – The MCW (Memphis) Manila Show took place at the Manila Community Center in Manila, Arkansas. Steve Bradley defeated Joey Abs to win the MCW Southern Heavyweight Championship, but then in the main event lost the title in a match against Seven.

2001 – ‘CZW: A New Beginning’ was held at the Champs Soccer Arena in Sewell, New Jersey. In the main event of the show Justice Pain beat Wifebeater to become the CZW Champion.

2001 – Four titles changed hands at JAPW Royal Consequences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

Low Ki defeated Nick Berk for the JAPW Lightheavyweight Title.
Reckless Youth won the JAPW New Jersey State Title from Skinhead Ivan.
Da Hit Squad (Mafia and Monsta Mack) beat Dixie and The Insane Dragon in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match to win the JAPW Tag Team Titles.
In the main event of the show Low Ki defeated Homicide for the JAPW Heavyweight Title, making him a double champion.

2003 – In the opening match of WWE Monday Night Raw in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Booker T defeated Christian to become the WWE Intercontinental Champion for the first and only time.

2007 – wXw True Colors took place at the Musikpalette in Essen, Germany. On the show Dragon Kid defeated PAC to win the wXw Lightweight Title.

2012 – OVW Saturday Night Special was held at the Davis Arena in Louisville, Kentucky. Going into the show every title was up for grabs as they’d all been vacated the month before for one reason or another.

Taeler Hendrix defeated Epiphany in an Evening Gown match to win the OVW Women’s Title.
The Family/The Best Team Ever (Jessie Godderz and Rudy Switchblade) won a Ladder match against Brandon Espinosa and Paredyse for the vacant OVW Southern Tag Team belts.
Mohamad Ali Vaez became the OVW Television Champion after defeating Flash Flanagan.
In the main event of the night Abyss, James “Moose” Thomas, Johnny Spade, Michael Hayes, and Trailer Park Trash took on Jack Black, Jason Wayne, Joe Coleman, Rob Terry, and Rocco Bellagio in a 5-On-5 Steel Cage Gauntlet match for the vacant OVW Heavyweight Title. The championship was won by Johnny Spade who lastly defeated Rob Terry.

2013 – At NOAH Great Voyage in Tokyo, Japan, Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste defeated Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano for the GHC Tag Team Titles.

2016 – IWA-MS The Star Spangled Spectacular was held at the Jammerz Rollerdome in Clarksville, Indiana. John Wayne Murdoch defeated Reed Bentley for the IWA:MS Heavyweight Championship but he then lost it in the very next match to J. J. Garrett.

2017 – On the SummerSlam Heatwave Tour A.J. Styles beat Kevin Owens at Madison Square Garden in New York to become the United States Champion.

2017 – IWA-MS In Memory of Madison was held in Jeffersonville, Indiana. On the show The Rejects (John Wayne Murdoch and Reed Bentley) defeated The 4Gotten (Aidan Blackhart and Justin Storm) to win the IWA:MS Tag Team Titles.

2017 – At WCPW Loaded in Manchester, England, War Machine (Hanson and Raymond Rowe) became the WCPW Tag Team Title holders after beating The Swords of Essex (Scott Wainwright and Will Ospreay).

2017 – Chuck Taylor defeated Zack Sabre Jr. at PWG Pushin Forward Back in Reseda, California, to win the PWG Title.

2018 – NJPW G1 Special in San Francisco was held at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California. On the show the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship was won by Juice Robinson after he beat Jay White.

2018 – At RISE 9: RISE of the Knockouts held at the Illinois Basketball Academy in Naperville, Illinois, Dust and Raven’s Ash outlasted Britt Baker and Chelsea Green, Charli Evans and Jessica Troy, and Kylie Rae and Miranda Alize in a Four-Way Elimination Tag Team match to win the Guardians Of RISE Titles. In the main event of the show, Tessa Blanchard defeated Mercedes Martinez in a 30 Minute Ironman match to become the Phoenix Of RISE Champion.

2018 – OVW Saturday Night Special: No Limits was held at the Davis Arena in Louisville, Kentucky. DL3 and Shiloh Jonze defeated Colton Cage and Dustin Jackson in a Tornado Tag Team match for the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles, Jay Lee won the OVW Women’s Title by submission against Cali, and in the main event Amon won a Casket match against Michael Hayes for the OVW Heavyweight Championship.

2019 – Impact Wrestling Slammiversary XVII was held at the South Side Ballroom in Dallas, Texas. On the PPV:

Willie Mack outlasted Jake Crist, TJP and Trey Miguel in a Four Way match.
The North (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander) defeated The Latin American Xchange (Santana and Ortiz) and The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz) in a Three Way Tag Team match to retain the Impact Wrestling World Tag Team Titles.
Eddie Edwards beat Killer Kross in a First Blood match.
Moose defeated Rob Van Dam by pinfall.
In a Four-way Monster’s Ball match, Taya Valkyrie defeated Jessicka Havok, Rosemary, and Su Yung to retain the Impact Knockouts Championship.
Rich Swann retained the Impact X Division title against Johnny Impact.
Brian Cage defeated Michael Elgin to keep hold of the Impact Wrestling World Championship.
Sami Callihan defeated Tessa Blanchard in an Intergender match.

Notable Wrestling Birthdays:

Oleg The Usurper (1988)
Bernd Föhr (1987)
Alan Funk (1971)
Smasher Sloan (1935)