Wrestling History

October 17th – On This Day In Wrestling History

October 17th - On This Day In Wrestling History

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

1983 – The Masked Superstar (Bill Eadie AKA Ax from Demolition) defeated WWE Champion Bob Backlund by countout. Don Muraco retained the Intercontinental Title against Jimmy Snuka in a Steel Cage match, and Andre The Giant defeated Afa in the main event of a house show in Madison Square Garden.

1994 – WWE Monday Night Raw was live from Burlington in Vermont building towards the upcoming Survivor Series pay-per-view. The featured match on the live edition was Doink The Clown (portrayed by former NWA wrestler Ray Apollo) vs Jeff Jarrett. On the following taped editions Razor Ramon defended the Intercontinental Championship against Yokozuna, and Lex Luger faced the then number one contender for the WWE Championship Bob Backlund.

1999 – WWE presented its second No Mercy PPV event of the calendar year with the previous one being an exclusive UK pay-per-view event. This specific No Mercy event came from the Gund Arena in Cleveland and in the main event Triple H successfully defended the WWE Championship against ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin in a highly underrated Anything Goes match.

Also, the very first tag-team ladder match took place between The Hardy Boyz and Edge & Christian for a $100,000 cash prize and the managerial services of Terri Runnels. The Hardyz emerged victorious in a match that launched both teams into stardom and reinvented the ladder match in wrestling. The Rock faced The British Bulldog, and Jeff Jarrett appeared in his final match in the WWE at the time against Chyna in a Good Housekeeping match for the Intercontinental Championship in which Chyna became the first woman to win a ‘men’s’ title in WWE.

2000 – Kurt Angle defeated Chris Benoit, The Rock and Triple H in a Fatal Four Way match on the way to his WWE Title opportunity at No Mercy 2000 at the Smackdown taping in Cleveland, Ohio.

2005 – On WWE Raw from Sacramento in California, The Big Show defeated Edge, and Shawn Michaels pinned Carlito. Also, Candice Michelle, Torrie Wilson & Victoria faced Ashley Massaro, Mickie James & Trish Stratus. In the main event, Kane won an 18-man Battle Royal to be eligible for the third voting spot up against Shawn Michaels and The Big Show in the upcoming Triple Threat WWE Championship match against John Cena and Kurt Angle at Taboo Tuesday.

2012 – At the TNA Impact taping in Orlando, James Storm defeated Kurt Angle to win his first TNA World Heavyweight Title.

2015 – Pete Dunne retained the OTT No Limits Title against Mark Andrews in the main event of OTT F**k PG II in Dublin, Ireland.

2016 – Goldberg returned to WWE for the first time in 12 years at Raw in Denver. The former WCW Champion accepted Brock Lesnar’s challenge to a match which eventually took place at Survivor Series.

2017 – On WWE SmackDown Live from Seattle in Washington, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair & Naomi defeated Lana, Natalya & Tamina in the opening six-person match. In the main event, Kevin Owens and Samin Zayn faced Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura.

2018 – At an NXT taping at Full Sail University, Orlando, Florida, Matt Riddle had his first match in a WWE ring. He was victorious over Luke Menzies who was later renamed as Ridge Holland.

Notable Wrestling Birthdays: