May 16th – On This Day In Wrestling History

1964 – Verne Gagne became a seven-time AWA World Heavyweight Champion when he defeated Mad Dog Vachon in Omaha, Nebraska.

1984 – Comedian Andy Kaufman, who along with Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler, took part in one of the most famous wrestling angles of all time, died of lung cancer aged just 35.

1987 – The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane) won the recently vacated NWA United States Tag Team Champions with a win over Ronnie Garvin and Barry Windham in Atlanta, Georgia.

1995 – At the WWF Superstars taping in Danbury, Connecticut, Razor Ramon defeated Jacob Blu in a first round King of the Ring Tournament match.

1998 – ECW held their ‘A Matter of Respect ’98‘ event from the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The main event saw Spike Dudley, The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer defeat Buh Buh Ray, D-Von and Big Dick Dudley in a Stairway To Hell match.

1999 – ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin retained the WWF Championship against The Undertaker and Triple H in an Anything Goes Triple Threat match in the UK only exclusive WWF No Mercy pay-per-view from Manchester, England.

1999 – Taz defended the ECW World Heavyweight Championship twice at ECW Hardcore Heaven from Poughkeepsie, New York. He defeated “No Gimmicks Needed” Chris Candido in the opening match of the pay-per-view, and against Buh Buh Ray Dudley in a Falls Count Anywhere match in the main event. Also Rob Van Dam retained the ECW World Television Championship against Jerry Lynn in a No Time Limit match and Lance Storm pinned Tommy Dreamer. The Dudley Boyz retained the ECW Tag Team Titles against Balls Mahoney & Spike Dudley.

2000 – Gerald Brisco pinned Crash Holly for the WWF Hardcore Championship taping at the SmackDown taping in Detroit, Michigan.

2002 – Alexander Rizzo AKA Big Dick Dudley passed away aged 34 in Copiague, New York from kidney failure. Rizzo was best known his appearances in ECW as a member of The Dudley Brothers.

2004 – In the main event of WWE Judgement Day from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, JBL picked up a disqualification victory over WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero in their main event WWE Title match when Guerrero hit JBL with the belt. During the match Guerrero bleed profusely after being hit in the head with a steel-chair, and due to the amount of blood loss from Guerrero during this match is event is rated as TV-MA on the WWE Network which suggests programming is not suitable for under-17s. Also on the card, The Undertaker defeated Booker T, John Cena retained the United States Championship against Rene Dupree and Chavo Guerrero defeated Jacqueline for the WWE Cruiserweight Title.

2005 – Lita turned heel on her kayfabe husband Kane who was defeated by The “Money In The Bank” briefcase holder Edge in the main event on Raw from Omaha in the finals of the Gold Rush Tournament to become the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship.

2010 – Rob Van Dam retained the TNA World Heavyweight Title against A.J. Styles in the main event of TNA Sacrifice from Orlando. Also, Douglas Williams defeated Kazarian to win the TNA X-Division Title, Sting defeated Jeff Jarrett, Jeff Hardy pinned Mr Anderson and Scott Hall & Kevin Nash retained the TNA World Tag Team Titles against Jesse Neal & Shannon Moore.

2019 – Former WWE star Ashley Massaro was found dead at the age of 39 in her home in Smithtown, New York. A number of media outlets reported her death as suicide but this was never officially confirmed publicly by the coroner’s office.

Notable Wrestling Birthdays:

• David Finlay (1993)
• Mike Kanellis (1985)
• Alex Wright (1975)
• Peaches (1967)
• Charles ‘The Godfather’ Wright (1961)
• Johnny Rodz (1938)
• Billy Martin (1928)