Wrestling History

June 11th – On This Day In Wrestling History

June 11th - On This Day In Wrestling History

1879 – In Boston, Massachusetts, Henry M. Dufur defeated James Owens to win the American Collar-and-Elbow Title.

1993 – At the Smoky Mountain Wrestling show in Knoxville, Tennessee, Tracy Smothers beat Dirty White Boy to win the vacant SMW Heavyweight Championship.

1998 – IWA-MS was in Louisville, Kentucky. Mike Sensation defeated both Blaze and Harry Palmer in a Three-Way match to become the IWA:MS Lightheavyweight Champion.

2000 – WCW: The Great American Bash PPV was held in Baltimore, Maryland, in front of 7’031 fans. On the show:

  • Lt. Loco (Chavo Guerrero) defeated Disco Inferno to retain the WCW Cruiserweight Championship after interference from Corporal Cajun.
  • KroniK (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark) defeated The Mamalukes (Big Vito and Johnny the Bull), making KroniK the Number One Contenders for the WCW Tag Team Titles.
  • Mike Awesome defeated Diamond Dallas Page in an ‘Ambulance’ match.
  • GI Bro (Booker T) defeated Shawn Stasiak in a ‘Boot Camp’ match (also known as a ‘Last Man Standing’ match).
  • The Franchise Shane Douglas defeated The Wall in a ‘Best Of Five Tables’ match where the first person to go through a total of three tables loses.
  • Scott Steiner defeated Rick Steiner and Tank Abbott by submission in a ‘Handicap Asylum’ match to retain the WCW United States Championship.
  • Hulk Hogan defeated Billy Kidman to earn a WCW World Heavyweight Championship match with Horace Hogan as the Special Guest referee. Had Hogan lost, he would have been forced to retire.
  • Ric Flair defeated David Flair following interference from Reid Flair and Ashley Flair (now known as Charlotte Flair). Had Ric Flair lost, he would have been forced to retire.
  • Vampiro defeated Sting in a ‘Human Torch’ match where the aim was to set your opponent on fire.
  • Jeff Jarrett defeated Kevin Nash to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, with Ernest ‘The Cat’ Miller as the special referee. Jarrett got the pin after Goldberg turned heel and hit Nash with the Spear.

2003 – At an NWA:TNA weekly PPV taping in Nashville, Tennessee, AJ Styles defeated Jeff Jarrett and Raven in a Three-Way match to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for the first time.

2005 – APW Gym Wars was held in Hayward, California. In the main event of the show Kafu defeated Nate Rulez to become the new APW Universal Heavyweight Champion.

2005 – Multiple titles changed hands at IWA-MS Something To Prove in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Josh Abercrombie beat Delirious for the IWA:MS Lightheavyweight Title, Mickie Knuckles defeated Allison Danger and MsChif in a Three-Way match for the IWA:MS Womens Title and then later in the show Sal and Vito Thomaselli outlasted five other teams in a 6-Way Elimination Tag Team Tables Match to become the IWA:MS Tag Team Champions.

2005 – At CZW Violent By Design: Synthesized Euphoria Mike Quackenbush won a Three-Way match against B-Boy and Sabian to win the CZW Jr. Heavyweight Championship.

2006 – WWE presented ECW One Night Stand at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, with 2’460 fans at ringside. This was the first official revival of the ECW brand since the bankruptcy of the company in early 2001. The event was a sequel to the hugely successful original the year prior and was followed days later by the revival of ECW as a third WWE weekly brand. It also marked the first time that Rob Van Dam won a world championship level title in his wrestling career. On the PPV:

  • Tazz defeated Jerry Lawler by in just 35 seconds by making Lawler pass out to the Tazzmission. Tazz then joined the commentary table for the rest of the show.
  • Kurt Angle defeated Randy Orton by submission with the Ankle Lock.
  • The F.B.I. (Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke) defeated Tajiri and Super Crazy with Guido getting the pin on Tajiri.
  • Rey Mysterio fought Sabu to a no contest in an Extreme Rules match for the World Heavyweight Championship. The ending came about when Sabu DDT’d Mysterio through a table injuring both men, and ringside doctors called for the end of the match.
  • Mick Foley, Edge and Lita defeated Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer and Beulah McGillicutty in an ‘Intergender Extreme Rules Tag Team’ Match after Edge hit McGillicutty with a Spear and got the pin.
  • Balls Mahoney defeated Masato Tanaka.
  • Rob Van Dam defeated John Cena in an Extreme Rules Match to win the WWE Championship. Edge interfered towards the end of the match hitting Cena with a Spear and then knocking out the referee. Van Dam then hit Cena with the Five-Star Frog Splash and Paul Heyman ran out to count the pin.

2007 – On an episode of Monday Night RAW aired called ‘Mr McMahon Appreciation Night’. The night was conceived as a way of cheering up McMahon after losing the ECW Championship to Bobby Lashley. At the end of the show McMahon was seen walking to his limo, getting inside and then the limo exploded. After RAW went off the air WWE.com reported that McMahon had died but the next day a press release was announced making it obvious that it was a story line, which angered a lot of people. The angle was cancelled a couple of weeks later due to the very real Chris Benoit murder-suicide tragedy.

2009 – At the FCW TV Tapings in Tampa, Florida, Tyler Reks defeated Drew McIntyre to win the FCW Florida Heavyweight Title.

2011 – CZW Prelude to Violence 2 was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A. R. Fox won the CZW Wired TV Title after beating Drew Gulak.

2014 – OVW TV Taping was in Louisville, Kentucky, and on the show Adam Revolver defeated Melvin Maximus by submission to become the OVW Television Champion.

2016 – NEW Big Bethany Bash was held at the NEW Arena in Bethany, Connecticut. On the show Jimmy Preston and Mark Shurman became the NEW Tag Team Champions after defeating Anthony and Chris Battle.

2016 – Andy Harner won the PWS Suicidal 6-Way Title in Sayreville, New Jersey, after outlasting Brett Gakiya, C. J. Esparza, David Starr, Facade, and Tony Deppen in a 6-Way match.

2017 – Day One of AJPW Dynamite Series was held in Tokyo, Japan. The Bodyguard and Zeus defeated KAI and Kengo Mashimo to become the new AJPW World Tag Team Title holders.

2017 – NJPW Dominion was held in Osaka, Japan. Various titles changed hands on the show including:

  • The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship belts from Beretta and Rocky Romero.
  • Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa defeating Hanson and Raymond Rowe for the IWGP World Tag Team Titles.
  • KUSHIDA defeating Hiromu Takahashi for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title.
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi becoming the IWGP Intercontinental Champion after pinning Tetsuya Naito.
  • In the main event of the night Kazuchika Okada retained the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Kenny Omega when they fought to a 60-Minute Time Limit draw. Dave Meltzer rated this match 6.25-stars out of five, making it (at the time) the greatest professional wrestling match in history.

Notable Wrestling Birthdays:

  • Hikaru Shida (1988)
  • Mascarita Sagrada (1965)
  • Mike Enos/Blake Beverly (1963)