Wrestling History

June 18th – On This Day In Wrestling History

June 18th - On This Day In Wrestling History

1995 – WCW The Great American Bash is held at the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio, in front of around 6,000 fans. On the PPV:

  • Alex Wright defeated Brian Pillman by pinfall.
  • Dave Sullivan defeated Diamond Dallas Page in an arm wrestling contest.
  • Hacksaw Jim Duggan defeated Sgt. Craig Pittman by disqualification after Pittman refused to let go of the Code Red Armbar within the 5-count when Duggan reached the ropes.
  • Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray) defeated Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck.
  • The Renegade hits Arn Anderson with a Splash from the top rope and gets the pin to win the WCW World Television Championship.
  • The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) defeated The Blue Bloods (Earl Robert Eaton and Lord Steven Regal) to retain the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
  • In a tournament final, Sting defeated Meng to win the vacant WCW United States Championship. The championship was vacated back in March when Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel stripped Vader of the championship after deliberately injuring Dave Sullivan.
  • Ric Flair pinned ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage after hitting him with a cane.

2001 – On an episode of WWF Monday Night Raw in Tampa, Florida, a masked man came out riding a motorbike to the Undertaker’s music. Getting into the ring Jim Ross on commentary said that ‘This must be the human being that’s been stalking the Undertakers wife.’ Taking off his mask in the ring he revealed himself to be the debuting Diamond Dallas Page who got a huge ovation from the crowd.

2004 – CMLL Infierno en el Ring was held in Mexico City, Mexico. Dr. Wagner, Jr. defeated El Canek in a 2 Out Of 3 Falls match to win the UWA Heavyweight Title. Wagner would hold the belt for the next seven years until it was retired on October 7th, 2011.

2005 – Day One of wXw Dead End V was in Essen, Germany. The main event was a ‘Fans Bring The Weapons’ match in which HATE beat Violent Tom to take the wXw Hardcore Title.

2005 – At ‘FWA: NOAH Limits’ in Morecambe, England, Martin Stone and Stixx defeated Andy Boy Simmonz and The Duke Of Danger to win the FWA Tag Team Titles, and then in the main event of the show Minoru Suzuki and Naomichi Marufuji won the GHC Tag Team Titles after beating 2 Cold Scorpio and Doug Williams.

2005 – C.M. Punk defeated Austin Aries in the main event of ‘ROH: Death Before Dishonor III’ in Morristown, New Jersey, to become the new ROH World Heavyweight Champion. It was well known that Punk had already signed a contract with the WWE and in the weeks that followed he said he was taking the ROH Championship with him, so began ‘The Summer of Punk.’ Jay Lethal, James Gibson, Roderick Strong, and Christopher Daniels all challenged (unsuccessfully) for the belt and it seemed Punk would indeed leave the company with the title. However, at ROH Redemption that August, James Gibson pinned Punk in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match to save the championship.

2005 – Day 12 of NJPW Best of the Super Juniors XII was in Kyoto, Honshu, Japan. The IWGP U-30 Championship changed hands when Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Toru Yano.

2006 – TNA Slammiversary was held at the Impact Zone, in Orlando, Florida, in front of 900 fans. On the PPV:

  • Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) defeated The James Gang (B.G. James and Kip James) in a Bingo Hall Brawl.
  • Rhino defeated Team Canada (Bobby Roode and Coach D’Amore) in a 2-on-1 handicap match. The match ends when Rhino hits D’Amore with the Gore and gets the pin.
  • Senshi defeated Sonjay Dutt, Alex Shelley, Shark Boy, Petey Williams, and Jay Lethal in an X Division elimination match.
  • After hitting him with a Jackknife Powerbomb, Kevin Nash defeated Chris Sabin.
  • A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels defeated America’s Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) to become the NWA World Tag Team Champions.
  • Samoa Joe defeated Scott Steiner.
  • Jeff Jarrett outlasted Christian Cage, Abyss, Ron Killings, and Sting in a King of the Mountain match to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

2007 – At a TNA iMPACT! taping in Orlando, Florida, Samoa Joe beats both Chris Sabin and Jay Lethal in a Three-Way match to win the TNA X-Division Title.

2010 – Capital City Championship Combat Crossing the Line III was held at the Knights Of Columbus Hall in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. In the main event of the show Stupefied won a 6-Way Elimination match against El Generico, Jimmy Jacobs, Kevin Steen, Manabu Soya, and Player Uno to win the C*4 Championship.

2011 – NJPW Dominion 6.18 was in Osaka, Japan. Mascara Dorada defeated Ryusuke Taguchi for the CMLL Welterweight Title, and then later in show Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson) defeated Yoshihiro Takayama and Takuma Sano in a Champions vs. Champions match to retain the IWGP Tag Team Titles and win the GHC Tag Team Titles.

2011 – ‘LL USA Masked Warriors #13’ was held at the Hard Rock Casino in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jon Rekon and Petey Williams became the new LL USA Tag Team Champions when they beat Rocky Romero and Super Nova, and then in the main event R. J. Brewer won a Triple-Threat match against Lizmark Jr. and Marco Corleone to win the LL USA Heavyweight Title.

2011 – AAA TripleMania XIX took place at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City, Mexico. Los Perros del Mal (Damián 666, Halloween and X-Fly) defeated Los Psycho Circus (Monster Clown, Murder Clown and Psycho Clown) in an Extreme Rules match to become the inaugural AAA World Trios Champions. Jeff Jarrett defeated El Zorro to take the AAA Mega Championship, and then in the main event of the show Dr. Wagner, Jr. defeated Rob Van Dam to be crowned the first ever AAA Latin American Champion.

2017 – WWE Money In The Bank was held in St. Louis, Missouri, in front of 15,392 fans. During the Kickoff Show The Hype Bros. (Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder) defeated The Colóns (Primo Colón and Epico Colón). On the PPV:

  • Carmella won the Women’s Money In The Bank Ladder match against Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Natalya, and Tamina. The end of the match came about when James Ellsworth retrieved the briefcase and dropped it Carmella, giving her the win. Two of the three referees did not agree with the decision and General Manager Daniel Bryan immediately Tweeted that ‘the circumstances surrounding the Women’s MITB match would be dealt with on SmackDown’.
  • The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) defeated The Usos (Jimmy and Jey Uso) via countout, meaning that the Usos retained the WWE Smackdown Tag Team Titles.
  • Naomi retained the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Lana by submission with the ‘Slay-O-Mission’ following a distraction from Carmella.
  • Jinder Mahal pinned Randy Orton after hitting him with The Khallas to retain the WWE Championship.
  • Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze) defeated The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) after Fandango pinned Viktor with a small package.
  • Baron Corbin outlasted A.J. Styles, Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Shinsuke Nakamura to win the Men’s Money In The Bank Ladder match.

2017 – CHIKARA The Johnny Kidd Invitational took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hermit Crab defeated Sylverhawk to become the new CHIKARA Young Lions Cup holder.

2018 – In the opening match of WWE Monday Night RAW in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Dolph Ziggler pinned Seth Rollins to become a six-time WWE Intercontinental Champion.

2019 – On Day Two of AJPW Dynamite Series in Tokyo, Japan, Jake Lee and Koji Iwamoto defeated Kazumi Kikuta and Ryuichi Kawakami to win the All Asia Tag Team Titles.

Notable Wrestling Birthdays:

  • Jordan Oliver (1999)
  • Brandon Cutler (1987)
  • Kenny Kaos (1970)
  • Vito LoGrasso (1969)
  • Bruiser Brody (1946)
  • Larry Hennig (1933)