Wrestling History

June 8th – On This Day In Wrestling History

June 8th - On This Day In Wrestling History

1988 – Clash Of The Champions II: Miami Mayhem was promoted by the NWA at James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida. The main event saw Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard defend their NWA World Tag Team Championship against Sting and Dusty Rhodes. The match ended in a double disqualification meaning The Four Horsemen team retained the titles.

1988 – On an All Japan Wrestling card in Saitama, Japan, The Glamour Girls (Lelani Kai & Judy Martin) defeated The Jumping Bomb Angels (Noriyo Tateno & Itzuni Yamazaki) to win the WWF Women’s Tag Team Championship. The match ended via countout and seeing as it was held under All Japan rules, the belts could change hands by that decision, unlike in most North American promotions. The titles were retired in February the following year.

1997 – WWF’s annual King Of The Ring PPV took place at the Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island. The show played host to the semi-finals and final of the King Of The Ring tournament itself. In the final, Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated Mankind to win the coveted crown. In the main event The Undertaker defeated Farooq to retain the WWF Championship.

1999 – At a Raw Is War taping in Worcester, Massachusetts, Ivory defeated Debra to win the WWF Women’s Championship.

1999 – On WCW Monday Nitro in Syracuse, New York, Perry Saturn and Chris Benoit defeated Diamond Dallas Page and Kanyon to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

2008 – TNA’s Slammiversary PPV took place at the Desoto Civic Center in Southaven, Mississippi. The main event saw Samoa Joe retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a King Of The Mountain match against Rhino, Robert Roode, Christian Cage and Booker T. The show is perhaps most remembered for the tragic death of Kevin Sinex who fell from a collapsing scaffold to the arena floor after the show whilst packing down the arena.

2014 – Ricochet became the youngest winner of the New Japan Pro Wrestling Best of the Super Juniors tournament with a win over KUSHIDA in the final in Tokyo, Japan.

2016 – NXT TakeOver: The End…Of The Beginning took place at Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida. The main event saw Samoa Joe retain the NXT Championship against Finn Balor in NXT’s first ever cage match. Earlier in the night, The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson) defeated American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan) to win back the NXT Tag Team Championship they had lost at NXT TakeOver: Dallas the night before WrestleMania 32 in April 2016.

2020 – At a WWE SmackDown taping at the WWE Pefrormance Center in Orlando, Florida, AJ Styles defeated Daniel Bryan in the final of a tournament to crown a new Intercontinental Champion. The title had previously been vacated by Sami Zayn who had opted to stay home during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notable Wrestling Birthdays:

  • Liv Morgan (1994)
  • Dan Matha (1988)
  • Tatanka (1965)
  • Dan Severn (1954)