Wrestling History

October 26th – On This Day In Wrestling History

October 26th - On This Day In Wrestling History

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

1960 – In Wellington, New Zealand, Al Hobman defeats John DaSilva for the vacant New Zealand Heavyweight Title (one of the oldest wrestling titles in the world, it dates from 1919.)

1964 – Tony Borne begins his third reign as the NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Champion after he defeats Killer Karl Kox in Fort Worth, Texas.

1982 – Chief Jay Strongbow and Jules defeat Mr. Fuji and Mr. Saito for the WWF Tag Team belts to become two-time champions. It was just over a year since they won the belts originally, which had also been against the team of Fuji and Saito.

1997 – WCW held their Halloween Havoc PPV in the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas. Rey Misterio Jr. defeated Eddie Guerrero in a title versus mask match to take the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. If Mysterio had lost the match he would have been forced to unmask. The match was named by Wrestling Observer Newsletter as the fourth-best match of 1997.

On the same card was the bout that they named the WORST match of 1997 – the main event between ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper and Hollywood Hogan in a steel cage. Piper won the match after applying a sleeper hold to Hogan. Afterwards, a fan jumped in the ring and was taken out by Hogan and Randy Savage (who had earlier interfered in the match and jumped off the top of the cage.)

2002 – WWE held their UK PPV, Rebellion at the Evening News Arena in Manchester, England. The Cruiserweight, Tag Team and World Championships were all defended in separate matches but none changed hands.

  • Jamie Noble defeated Rey Mysterio and Tajiri in a triple-threat elimination match to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
  • Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit defeated Los Guerreros (Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero) to keep hold of the WWE Tag Team Championship.
  • The main event saw Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman defeat Edge in a handicap match to retain the WWE Championship.

2008 – WWE Cyber Sunday PPV was held at the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona. In a match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, The Honky Tonk Man beat Santino Marella by disqualification after Beth Phoenix tripped up Honky Tonk. Elsewhere on the card The Undertaker defeated The Big Show in a Last Man Standing match and the main event saw Batista pin Chris Jericho to win the World Heavyweight Championship. The official referee for the match was Stone Cold Steve Austin but it also had Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton try to take over ref duties from the Rattlesnake at various points. (Plus some interference from JBL.)

2014 – WWE Hell In A Cell was in Dallas, Texas. In the first of the two Cell matches of the night, John Cena defeated Randy Orton to become the number one contender for the WWE Championship. The second one saw former Shield teammates Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose face off and ended when Rollins pinned Ambrose for the win.

Notable Wrestling Birthdays:

Notable Wrestling Deaths: