Wrestling History

October 16th – On This Day In Wrestling History

October 16th - On This Day In Wrestling History

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

1988 – The fourth non-televised WWE King of the Ring tournament took place in Providence, Rhode Island. Ted DiBiase defeated the reigning WWF Champion Randy Savage via count-out in the final. Also, Jim Duggan defeated Dino Bravo with Frenchy Martin in a Flag Match.

1995 – On Monday Nitro from Albany in New York, the unlikely team of Ric Flair and Sting faced Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman in the main event.

1995 – On the go-home edition of Monday Night Raw for In Your House 4, The Smoking Gunns defended the WWF Tag Team Titles against PG13, Hunter Hurst Helmsley faced Doink The Clown in the opening bout, and in the main event Bret Hart faced Dr. Issac Yankem in a Steel Cage Match.

2000 – ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin returned to the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit for the go-home edition of WWF Raw for the No Mercy PPV and was almost run down again by his previous vehicular assailant and upcoming pay-per-view opponent, Rikishi. In addition, the number one contender for the WWE Championship Kurt Angle teamed up with Edge & Christian and faced The Rock and The Hardy Boyz in the main event.

2003 – The patriarch of the Hart family and founder of Stampede Wrestling Stu Hart passed away from heart failure in Calgary. Hart is best known to younger fans as the father of Bret and Owen Hart, as well as the grandfather of Natalya Neidhart, and David Hart Smith.

2004 – Samoa Joe and CM Punk fought to a one-hour time limit draw for the ROH World Championship at ‘Joe vs Punk II’ at the Frontier Fieldhouse in Illinois. On the undercard Alex Shelley defeated Jimmy Jacobs in an I Quit match, Josh Daniels defeated Angel Dust, Matt Sydal and Trent Acid in a Four Corners Survival Match, Generation Next (Jack Evans & Roderick Strong) faced The Rottweilers (Homicide & Rocky Romero), and Chad Collyer & Nigel McGuinness with Ricky Steamboat in their corner defeated BJ Whitmer & Dan Maff with Mick Foley.

2010 – Davey Richards defeated Christopher Daniels in the headline bout of ‘ROH: Richards vs Daniels’. On the undercard Colt Cabana faced Steve Corino in a “I Quit” Match, and Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly faced Kenny King & Rhett Titus.

2011 – At TNA Bound For Glory in Philadelphia Kurt Angle retained the TNA World Heavyweight Title against Bobby Roode in the main event and Mr Anderson and Bully Ray fought in a “Falls Count Anywhere Philadelphia Street Fight”. Also, Rob Van Damn faced Jerry Lynn in a “Full Metal Mayhem” match, Velvet Sky won the TNA Knockouts Championship in a Fatal Four Way match and Sting defeated Hulk Hogan in a match that gave Dixie Carter full control of TNA again if Sting won the match. The match would be Hogan’s last ever televised wrestling match.

2012 – At the WWE SmackDown taping in Memphis Randy Orton faced The Miz in the opening match, and in the main event Sheamus defeated Wade Barrett in a Lumberjack match.

2016 – At ‘Progress Chapter 37: A Sudden Sense of Liberty’ in Manchester, England Mark Haskins defended the Progress World Title against Zack Gibson in the main event. Also, Marty Scrull, Joe Coffey, Pete Dunne & Trent Seven competed in a Fatal Four Way match, and Rampage Brown defended the Progress Atlas Title against Mikey Whiplash. The teams of T.K. Copper & Travis Banks, Eddie Dennis & Mark Andrews, and Dave Mastiff & El Ligero competed in a Triple Threat Tag Team match.

2017 – Braun Strowman defeated Roman Reigns in the Steel Cage main event on WWE Monday Night Raw from Portland in Oregon.

2018 – WWE SmackDown Live celebrated its 1000th edition from Washington DC and featured a reunion between all of the members of Evolution. The first seeds were planted here for the eventual WrestleMania 35 match between Triple H and Batista. Also, The New Day defeated Cesaro & Sheamus (The Bar) to win the WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship.

2019 – Chris Jericho retained the AEW World Championship in Street Fight against Darby Allin on the third edition of AEW Dynamite from Philadelphia.

2020 – On an episode of SmackDown from The ThunderDome, Roman Reigns successfully retained the Universal Championship against Braun Strowman, and went on to destroy ‘The Monster Among Men’ with a steel chair after the match.

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