Wrestling History

June 24th – On This Day In Wrestling History

June 24th - On This Day In Wrestling History

1994 – Sabu defeated Cactus Jack in the main event of ECW Hostile City Showdown in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk beat The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge & Rocco Rock), Tommy Cairo beat The Sandman in a ‘Cane On A Pole’ match, and The Tasmaniac pinned Pitbull #1 in a ‘Dog Collar’ match.

1995 – At a ceremony in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, WWE induced their second Hall of Fame class that included The Fabulous Moolah, The Grand Wizard, Ernie Ladd, Pedro Morales, Ivan Putski, Antonio Rocca, and George “The Animal” Steele. Morales did not attend the ceremony as he was contracted to WCW as a Spanish language announcer at the time. With the exception of the mid-pandemic 2021 ceremony, he remains the only living person not to attend their WWE Hall Of Fame induction.

1996 – The fallout from the King of the Ring and build up to the ‘In Your House: International Incident’ pay-per-view was covered on the live and taped editions of WWF Monday Night Raw from Green Bay, Wisconsin. On the live edition The Undertaker picked up a disqualification win over ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin after outside interference from Golddust. On the taped editions WWF Champion Shawn Michaels defeated Marty Jannetty in a non-title match, and Golddust pinned Marc Mero. The Ultimate Warrior made his last competitive TV appearance on WWF TV in a match against Owen Hart and was kayfabe injured at the hands of Camp Cornette. In reality the Warrior no-showed a number of house shows, and the situation was addressed on a taped edition of Raw by Gorilla Monsoon in the gimmick of the on-screen WWF President.

1996 – Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray) defeated The Steiner Brothers, and Lex Luger & Sting for the WCW World Tag Team Titles in the main event of WCW Monday Nitro from Charlotte, North Carolina. Also, The Outsiders (Scott Hall & Kevin Nash) officially declare war on WCW.

2001 – At the King of The Ring pay-per-view in East Rutherford, New Jersey Edge defeated Kurt Angle in the finals of the tournament. The tournament itself was unique in that all four semi-finalists were heels. In the semis, Edge defeated Rhyno and Angle defeated Christian. Angle’s win came with assistance from Shane McMahon who faced Angle later in the show in a bloody street fight. In helping his foe get to the final, he ensured he had one more match to compete in before their violent encounter. In the final, McMahon interfered again, this time to cost Angle and gift Edge the crown to anger his upcoming opponent. In that street fight, Angle emerged victorious from a vicious, bloody brawl that involved McMahon being thrown through a plate glass window that twice refused to break as it had not been properly gimmicked. In the main event ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin retained the WWF Championship against Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit in a Triple Threat match which was notable for outside interference from WCW Heavyweight and United States Champion Booker T who was making his first appearance in WWE.

2002 – Vince McMahon opened up WWE Raw from Cleveland, Ohio the night after the King of the Ring and addressed the entire Raw Roster who surrounded the ring and made one of the most important speeches in his company’s history. McMahon asked the red brand roster “who had Ruthless Aggression?”. This segment was in response to the then recently launch of Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling brand which made its TV debut five days prior to this edition of Raw, and this was the first opportunity for McMahon to address this situation on-air without even mentioning TNA by name. McMahon revealed it was his ruthless aggression in the past which helped him wipe out competition from the old territory organisations such as the NWA & AWA, to WCW and ECW. This one segment highlighted the WWE’s acknowledgment of the end of the Attitude Era, and shift in WWE programming at the time.

2002 – Former WWE Champion Bret Hart suffered a stroke as a result of a blood clot caused by falling from his bicycle near his Calgary home.

2004 – American Dragon was victorious in a ‘Survival of the Fittest Six-Way’ match in the main event of ROH Survival of the Fittest in Philadephia over Austin Aires, Colt Cabana, Homicide, Mark Briscoe & Samoa Joe.

2006 – Bryan Danielson retained the ROH World Heavyweight Title against Colt Cabana in the main event of ROH Chi Town Struggle from Chicago Ridge, Illnois.

2007 – Chris Benoit committed suicide at his home in Fayetville, Georgia after murdering his wife Nancy and son Daniel in the days prior. He was 40 years old.

2007 – John Cena retained the WWE Championship over Bobby Lashley, King Booker, Mick Foley & Randy Orton in a Fatal Five Way match in the main event of ‘WWE Vengeance: Night of Champions’ from Houston, Texas. This was the first WWE pay-per-view where every match on the card was a championship match. Johnny Nitro defeated CM Punk to win the vacant ECW World Championship and Candice Michelle pinned Melina to win the WWE Women’s Title. Also Edge retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Batista by count out, the stipulation for this match that this was Batista’s last chance at the championship as long as Edge was holding the title.

2008 – Taylor Wilde pinned Awesome Kong for the TNA Knockouts Championship at the TNA Impact taping in Orlando, Florida.

2012 – Ring Of Honor presented ‘Best In The World 2012: Hostage Crisis at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, New York. On the show The All Night Express (Kenny King and Rhett Titus) defeated The World’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) to win the ROH Tag Team Championship. In the main event Kevin Steen retained the ROH World Championship against Davey Richards in a No Disqualification match.

2012 – Nathan Cruz retained the PROGRESS Title over Marty Scrull in the main event of PROGRESS Chapter Two: The March of Progress from The Garage in London, England.

2013 – Daniel Bryan defeated Randy Orton in the main event of WWE Raw from North Charleston, South Carolina.

2013 – Memphis wrestling legend Jackie Fargo passed away at the age of 82.

2015 – TNA Wrestling founder Jeff Jarrett made a shock return to the promotion for the first time in four years to kick off a TNA vs Global Force Wrestling feud. Former TNA stalwarts Shawn Hernandez and Matt Morgan returned alongside Jarrett.

2017 – Zack Sabre Jr defeated Matt Riddle by submission in the main event of Evolve #86 in Melrose. Massachusetts.

2018 – Travis Banks retained the PROGRESS Title against Chuck Mambo at Progress Wrestling ‘Chapter 72: Got, Got Need’ at The Electric Ballroom in London, England.

Notable Wrestling Birthdays:

  • Terukai Kanemitsu (1993)
  • Mark Haskins (1988)
  • Corey Havoc (1987)
  • Jessamya Duke (1986)
  • Rey Horous (1984)
  • Adam Pearce (1978)
  • Madman Pondo (1969)
  • Thomas ‘Zeus’ Lister Jr (1958)