This Day In History - 4th, Sept
On this day in history in ....
1911 - A wrestling event in Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois allegedly draws 30,000 fans to see Frank Gotch defeat George Hackenschmidt in two straight falls to win the World Heavyweight Title.
1980 - Shohei "Giant" Baba defeats Harley Race for the NWA World Heavyweight Wrestling Title in Saga, Japan, ending Race's fourth title reign. This would mark the beginning of Baba's third, and final, NWA World Title run.
1995 - WCW Monday Nitro debuts on TNT from the Mall Of America in Minnesota. The show, hosted by Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan and former Chicago Bears great Steve "Mongo" McMichael, purposely debuts on a Monday when WWF's Monday Night Raw was pre-empted for U.S. Open Tennis. The show, which earned a 2.5 cable rating, featured three matches, and the shocking return of Lex Luger, who jumped to WCW only a day after wrestling on a WWF house show. In fact, Luger was listed to appear on WWF's syndicated shows the following weekend, but his match was pulled off the shows after his jump. Scott Norton also appeared, challenging McMichael to a fight before he ended up with Randy Savage in his face instead. The show also saw a video package promoting the impending debut of Sabu. Here are the results from the first show:
- Brian Pillman defeated Jushin Liger with a rollup.
- Ric Flair defeated U.S. Champion Sting via disqualification when Arn Anderson interfered and brawled with Flair. Luger made his appearance during this match.
- WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Big Bubba Rogers with a legdrop.
1995 - Death & Destruction (Frank Parker & Roger Anderson) defeat The Young Guns for the SSW Tag Team Title.
2000 - During an edition of Raw in Lexington, Kentucky, Eddie Guerrero wins the WWF Intercontinental Title from Chyna in a Three Way match that also includes Kurt Angle, getting the pin on Chyna right after Angle hit her with the title belt.
2001 - During an edition of Smackdown in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, WWF Hardcore Champion Rob Van Dam pins WWF World Heavyweight Champion Steve Austin in a non-title match when Kurt Angle's music hit, distracting Austin and allowing Van Dam to roll him up for the pin.
2002 - Ohio Valley Wrestling holds a card at the Davis Arena in Louisville, Kentucky, headlined by Chris Benoit (subbing for Brock Lesnar) defeating Doug Basham, OVW Champion Nova (now Simon Dean), with Big Bossman in his corner, defeating John Cena, who had Sean O'Haire in his corner, and OVW Southern Tag Team Champions Shelton Benjamin & Redd Dogg defeating Nick Dinsmore (Eugene) & Rob Conway.
credit: pwinsider.com
