Wrestling History

October 20th – On This Day In Wrestling History

October 20th - On This Day In Wrestling History

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

1964 – Mad Dog Vachon bested Verne Gagne to win the AWA World Heavyweight Championship in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

1996 – WWF In Your House: Buried Alive took place in Indianapolis, Indiana. In the main event, The Undertaker faced Mankind in the first-ever Buried Alive match. Undertaker won the match but the debuting Executioner (Terry Gordy) attacked ‘Taker after the match and replaced Mankind in the grave with The Deadman. The PPV ended with the iconic image of Undertaker’s purple glove bursting up through the dirt.

2000 – WCW released Bret Hart, almost exactly three years after signing with the company. Hart was suffering from post-concussion syndrome as a result of an injury caused by Bill Goldberg. Hart announced his retirement soon after.

2002 – WWE No Mercy took place at the Alltel Arena in Little Rock, Arkansas. A strong card was headlined by Brock Lesnar retaining the WWE Championship by defeating The Undertaker in a Hell In A Cell Match. In the other featured singles match, World Heavyweight Champion Triple H defeated Intercontinental Champion, Kane in a champion vs. champion unification match. With that result, the Intercontinental Championship was retired after 33 years. It would be reactivated in May 2003. Additionally, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit defeated Edge and Rey Mysterio in the tournament final to decide the first-ever SmackDown Tag Team Champions.

2003 – On WWE Raw, Shawn Michaels faced Goldberg in something of a dream match for Goldberg’s World Heavyweight Championship. The match was interrupted by a returning Batista who attacked Goldberg to claim the $100,000 bounty placed on the champion’s head by his Evolution stablemates.

2007 – On the UFC 77 PPV, Brock Lesnar is announced as the latest signee for UFC’s heavyweight division.

2010 – Nigel McGuinness signs for TNA Wrestling. Before his debut, he was renamed Desmond Wolfe.

2013 – At TNA Wrestling’s Bound For Glory PPV, AJ Styles claimed the TNA Heavyweight Championship by defeating the leader of Aces and Eights, Bully Ray. On the same show, EC3 made his in-ring debut for the company.

Notable Wrestling Birthdays:

Notable Wrestling Deaths: