Wrestling History

March 13th – On This Day In Wrestling History

Our full On This Day In Wrestling History section can be found here.

1995 – WWF Monday Night Raw came from Stockton, California with live and taped editions of the show in the build-up to Wrestlemania XI. On the live edition Jacob & Eli Blu fought The Headshrinkers to a count-out draw and Jerry Lawler defeated Bret Hart in the main event by countout due to outside interference from the WWF Women’s Champion Bull Nakano. On the taped editions The Smoking Gunns retained the WWF Tag Team Titles against The Heavenly Bodies and former NFL Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers superstar Steve McMichael brawled with Kama The Supreme Fighting Machine from the Million Dollar Corporation building towards the upcoming match between Lawrence Taylor and Bam Bam Bigelow at Wrestlemania XI. Also Bret Hart defeated Owen Hart in a No Holds Barred match.

2000 – The Rock defeated The Big Show to regain his Wrestlemania WWF Title match opportunity on WWF Raw from East Rutherford, New Jersey after putting his career on the line as the stipulation. He was assisted by the returning Vince McMahon who had not been seen on television for three months. Also, Dean Malenko defeated Essa Rios for the WWF Light Heavyweight Title. This edition of Raw is also infamous for Bubba Ray Dudley delivering a power bomb to Mae Young through a table off the top of the entrance ramp.

2001 – At the Sunday Night Heat and Smackdown tapings in Anaheim, California Crash Holly defeated Dean Malenko for the WWF Light Heavyweight Title. Also, The Dudley Boyz defeated Chris Jericho in a Handicap Tables match and Stone Cold Steve Austin pinned Kurt Angle.

2003 – AJ Styles & The Amazing Red defeated Christopher Daniels and Xavier for the ROH World Tag Team Titles in the main event of ROH Expect The Unexpected from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

2004 – At ROH ‘At Our Best’ in Elizabeth, New Jersey Samoa Joe retained the ROH World Heavyweight Title against Jay Briscoe in a Steel Cage match. Also, AJ Styles defeated CM Punk to retain the ROH Pure Wrestling Title with Ricky Steamboat as the guest referee.

2004 – WWE held their first Hall Of Fame ceremony since 1996 at a Hilton hotel in New York City the night before WrestleMania XX. The induction class included Bobby Heenan, Jesse Ventura, Big John Studd, Don Muraco, Harley Race, Tito Santana, Superstar Billy Graham, The Junkyard Dog, Sgt. Slaughter, Greg Valentine and Pete Rose, who was the first ever celebrity induction.

2005 – In the Impact Zone from Orlando at the TNA Destination X PPV, Jeff Jarrett retained the NWA World Heavyweight Title against Diamond Dallas Page in a “Ringside Revenge” match. Christopher Daniels was victorious over AJ Styles, Elix Skipper and Ron Killings for the NWA X-Division Title in an “Ultimate X’ match. Jeff Hardy defeated Abyss in a Fall Counts Anywhere match, Dustin Rhodes defeated Raven in a Bull Rope match, and The Outlaw defeated Kevin Nash in a First Blood match.

2007 – WWE Hall of Famer Arnold Skaaland passed away aged 82 in White Plains, New York. He was part of the newly created World Wide Wrestling Federation which would go on to become the WWF. Skaaland managed Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backland with both winning the WWF Championship under his guidance. He was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 1994 in Baltimore the night before the second King Of The Ring pay-per-view.

2009 – Andrew Martin who was best known for his time in the WWF/WWE as Test passed away aged 33 in Tampa, Florida. He joined the WWF in 1998 as an unnamed bodyguard for the band Motley Crue who performed on an edition of Sunday Night Heat. He would become a member of The Corporation faction, interfering in the WWF Championship match between The Rock and Triple H on Raw in late 1998. During his time with the promotion he won the Intercontinental, European, Hardcore and also the WWF and WCW World Tag Team Championships, and was also involved in a storyline relationship with Stephanie McMahon, whose memorable wedding ceremony was interrupted by Triple H.

2011 – Sting retained the TNA World Heavyweight Title against Jeff Hardy in the main event of TNA Victory Road from the Impact Zone in Orlando. The match was laced with controversy as Hardy was very clearly in no condition to perform. Rather than cancel the match or replace Hardy, TNA decided to put Hardy in the ring for a short match. Overwhelming critical reaction followed from all quarters.

2017 – Former pro-wrestler Dennis Stamp died of Cancer at the age of 71. Many younger fans will know Stamp best for his role as the special referee in Terry Funk’s 1997 ‘retirement’ match against Bret Hart that was spotlighted in the ‘Beyond The Mat’ documentary.

2020 – The first edition of WWE Smackdown in the WWE Performance Center in Orlando took place as the world entered into the COVID-19 pandemic. Jeff Hardy returned to action after being away for a year and was victorious over King Corbin, Daniel Bryan pinned Cesaro and Bayley & Sasha Banks defeated Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. Roman Reigns had a sit down interview Michael Cole regarding his originally booked WrestleMania Universal Championship match with Goldberg, and Bray Wyatt confronts John Cena.

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