June 25th – On This Day In Wrestling History

1968 – Bobo Brazil beat Giant Baba for the NWA International Heavyweight Championship in Nagoya, Japan. He would lose the title back to Baba two days later.

1992 – The Barbarian and Dick Slater would become the last WCW United States Tag Team Champions when they defeated The Fabulous Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes) at a WCW Main Event taping in Kansas City, Missouri. The titles would be retired at the end of July 1992.

1976 – WWWF Showdown at Shea took place at the Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York. In the main event Antonio Inoki and Muhammad Ali fought to a draw in a Boxer vs Wrestler match shown to the stadium crowd of 32,000 fans via close-circuit television from Toyko, Japan. Bruno Sammartino retained the WWWF World Title against Stan Hansen by countout, and Andre The Giant defeated Chuck Wepner by countout in the second boxer vs wrestler match on the card.

1990 – The Legion of Doom Hawk & Animal made their WWF Television debut in a squash match at the TV tapings for WWF Superstars of Wrestling in Dayton, Ohio.

1994 – Sabu defeated Terry Funk in the main event of the ECW Yonkers Show in Yonkers, New York. Tommy Dreamer picked up a disqualification win over the ECW World Champion Shane Douglas. Tommy Cairo defeated The Sandman in a ‘Singapore Cane’ match, and Johnny Grunge & Rocco Rock retained the ECW Tag Team Titles against Don & Ron Harris.

1995 – The third WWF King of the Ring pay-per-view took place in the historic Philadelphia Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This event is regarded by many long-time wrestling fans as one of the worst WWF pay-per-views of all time. Savio Vega was added to the tournament after picking up a win over IRS for a vacant spot in tournament bracket on the Sunday Night Slam preshow. The vacant spot was left by Razor Ramon who was unable to compete due to a legitimate rib injury picked up during a Ladder Match against Jeff Jarrett for the Intercontinental Championship earlier in the month.

The tournament was won by Mabel from the Men On A Mission tag team who recently turned heel, Mabel picked up a rare pinfall victory over The Undertaker during the pay-per-view, and defeated Savio Vega in the finals. In the main event of the show WWF Champion Diesel & Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Psycho Sid & Tatanka from the Million Dollar Corporation. Also Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart defeated Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler in a ‘Kiss My Foot’ match and Shawn Michaels and Kama wrestled to a time-limit draw during a King of the Ring tournament match.

2000 – The Rock pinned Mr McMahon during a six-man tag team match to win his fourth WWF World Championship in the main event of the eighth King of the Ring pay-per-view which took place in Boston, Massachusetts. The stipulation of the main event match was that Triple H’s WWF Title was on the line, and if any of the opposing team of The Rock, Undertaker & Kane scored a pinfall on either Triple H, Vince or Shane McMahon they would win the title.

Kurt Angle defeated Rikishi in the finals to win the biggest King of the Ring tournament to date which involved 32 other competitors including Chris Jericho, Edge, Eddie Guerrero, and Chris Benoit. Also X-Pac & Road-dog defeated The Dudleys in a Tag Team Dumpster match, Crash Holly interjected himself into the Evening Gown Match for the Hardcore Championship between Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco when Holly pinned Patterson for the title. Edge & Christian regained the WWF Tag Team titles in a Fatal Four Way Elimination match against reigning champions Too Cool, The Hardy Boys, and Test & Albert.

2001 – Rhino defeated Test for the WWF Hardcore Championship but would lose it moments later to the debuting Mike Awesome. Awesome became the first WCW competitor to win a WWE championship as ‘The Invasion’ angle started to pick up steam.

2002 – At the Smackdown taping in Chicago, Illinois, John Cena made his official WWE TV debut by answering Kurt Angle’s Open Challenge. After the conclusion of the match, which Angle won, Cena was endorsed backstage with a handshake from the WWE Undisputed Champion The Undertaker.

2006 – Shawn Michaels and Triple H officially reunited to reform D-Generation X and were victorious over The Spirit Squad in a five-on-two Handicap match in the main event of WWE Vengeance in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ric Flair defeated Mick Foley 2-0 in a Two-out-of-Three-Falls match, Johnny Nitro defeated Jeff Hardy and Carlito for the Intercontinental Championship in a Triple Threat match and Rob Van Dam retained the WWE Championship against Edge.

2008 – The Ultimate Warrior took part in his first professional wrestling match in nine years when he picked up a win over Orlando, Jordan in Barcelona, Spain. The match was for the Nu-Wrestling Evolution Heavyweight Championship. Warrior vacated the title immediately after the match and would never wrestle again.

2009 – Tara defeated Angelica Love to win the TNA Knockouts Championship at the TNT Impact TV tapings in Orlando, Florida.

2013 – Christian and Jimmy & Jey Uso defeated The Shield Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns in the main event of the Smackdown taping from Columbia, South Carolina.

2014 – At the TNA Impact tapings in Orlando, Florida, Bobby Lashley pinned Jeff Hardy to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in the main event.

2015 – Ethan Carter III (EC3) defeated Kurt Angle at an Impact Wrestling taping in Orlando, Florida to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

2017 – Chris Brooks & Kid Lykos defeated Tyler Bate & Trent Seven for the PROGRESS Tag Team Titles at PROGRESS Chapter 50: I’ll Give It Six Months at The Electric Ballroom in London, England.

2017 – Matt Riddle retained the WWN Title against Keith Lee in the main event of Evolve #87 at Woolside, New York.

Notable Wrestling Birthdays:

• Layla (1977)
• Phil ‘Damien Demento’ Theis (1958)