November 19th – On This Day In Wrestling History
Our full On This Day In Wrestling History section can be found here.
1966 – In Omaha, Nebraska, Mad Dog Vachon became a five-time AWA World Heavyweight Champion after defeating Dick the Bruiser to win the championship. This would be Vachon’s last run with the belt.
1990 – As part of a ‘WWF Superstars’ taping, Mr Perfect defeated The Texas Tornado to win his second Intercontinental Championship. Tornado had defeated him for the belt at SummerSlam that same year.
1991 – WCW Clash of the Champions XVII was held in Savannah, Georgia. In a short, five-minute match Rick Rude pinned an already injured Sting after a roll-up to win the WCW United States Championship. In the main event, Lex Luger managed to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Title in a match against Rick Steiner after Luger hit him with the belt when the referee was distracted.
1994 – SMW/NWA presented their Cherry Hill Show in New Jersey. The event was a one-night tournament to decide who would take the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Title and in the final match, Chris Candido defeated Tracy Smothers via pinfall.
1995 – WWF Survivor Series was held in Landover, Maryland and would feature the last match in the WWF for Bam Bam Bigelow. In one of the traditional Survivor Series matches the Darkside (The Undertaker, Savio Vega, Fatu, and Henry Godwinn) defeated The Royals (King Mabel, Jerry Lawler, Isaac Yankem, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley) with the Undertaker being involved in each elimination. Three were by pinfall, and one by count-out when King Mabel ran from the ring.
The main event saw Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart defeat Diesel in a no-disqualification match to win the WWF Championship. Diesel had been the champion for 358 days which would be the longest reign of the 90’s. The match was notable as it featured the first table-breaking in WWE history.
2000 – WWF presented the Survivor Series from Tampa, Florida. The match between the Undertaker and Kurt Angle for Angle’s WWF World Heavyweight title is remembered for two things. Firstly, the finish. When the Undertaker hit the Last Ride and went for the cover it turned out that a few minutes before, Angle had switched places with his brother (who then took the finisher) and gave Kurt the opening to roll up ‘Taker from behind and get the pin. Secondly, it’s remembered as the time the Undertaker wore gold, snakeskin trousers instead of the usual black due to having lost his luggage before the PPV.
2001 – Monday Night Raw was in Charlotte, North Carolina and marked the return of Ric Flair to the company, for the first time since 1993. On the show he came to the ring and told Vince McMahon that he had been the mystery ‘consortium’ who bought out Shane and Stephanie McMahon’s share and now owned 50% of the company, making them partners. On the same show, Jerry “The King” Lawler also made his return following his heart attack.
2006 – TNA Genesis took place in Orlando, Florida. In a very rarely enforced rule, Sting lost the NWA World Heavyweight Title to Abyss after getting himself disqualified. The rule that titles could change hands this way was put in place in TNA in 2002 but had only been held up on two other occasions. In the main event of the evening, Kurt Angle beat Samoa Joe via submission, giving Joe his first-ever loss in TNA since he arrived 18 months earlier.
2007 – After a two-year absence, Chris Jericho made his return to WWE on Raw and told Randy Orton that he was coming for his World Championship.
2012 – In Tokyo, Japan, the finals of the NEVER Openweight Championship Decision Tournament were held. Masato Tanaka defeated Karl Anderson by pinfall to be crowned the first-ever NEVER Openweight Champion.
2017 – WWE Survivor Series was held in Houston, Texas with a Raw vs. SmackDown theme featuring a series of inter-brand matches. The two brands were tied at three wins each going into the final match of the night which was a traditional Survivor Series elimination match. Team Raw: Kurt Angle, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Braun Strowman and Triple H vs. Team SmackDown: Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura and John Cena. Team Raw won the match (and the night overall) with Triple H and Strowman being the survivors. After the match Braun was in no mood to celebrate with Triple H, instead deciding to give him a couple of Running Powerslams.
Notable Wrestling Birthdays:
- Miss Elizabeth (1960)