This Day In History - October 23rd

October 23rd

On this day in history in ....

1940 - Yvon Robert defeats Lou Thesz for the Montreal World Heavyweight Title, beginning his fifth reign.

1956 - Junzo Yoshinosato defeats Isao Yoshiwara in a tournament final to become the first Japanese Light Heavyweight Champion in Tokyo.

1956 - Ben & Mike Sharpe defeat Bill & Ed Miller to win the San Francisco version of the NWA World Tag Team Title for the 12th of 18 times.

1958 - Ronnie Etchison & Buddy Rogers win the San Francisco version of the NWA World Tag Team Title from Gene Dubuque & Mike Valentino in Oakland, California.

1963 - Mickey Sharpe defeats Silento Rodriguez for the NWA Gulf Coast Heavyweight Title in Mobile, Alabama.

1965 - Kurt & Skull Von Stroheim defeat Sam Steamboat and Ron Etchison for the Florida version of the NWA World Tag Team Title in Tampa, Florida.

1967 - The Sheik defeats Gino Brito to win the vacant Montreal International Heavyweight Title.

1967 - Abdullah the Butcher & Dr. Jerry Graham defeat Chris and John Tolos for the Vancouver version of the NWA Canadian Tag Team Title in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

1967 - Spoiler #1 and Gary Hart defeat Brute Bernard and Mike Paidousis to win the NWA American Tag Team Title in Fort Worth, Texas.

1970 - Pantera Negra defeats Dale Lewis in Los Angeles, California for the NWA United National Heavyweight Title.

1974 - Robert Fuller defeats Jerry Lawler to win the NWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Nashville, Tennessee.

1978 - Kendo Kimura & Hiro Sasaki defeat Jose Rivera & Invader I for the WWC Tag Team Title in Caguas, Puerto Rico.

1980 - Bob Brown defeats Mike George to win the NWA Central States Heavyweight Title in Kansas City, Kansas. This started Brown's 12th reign and ended George's fourth.

1981 - Ken Patera defeats Jack Brisco for the Missouri State Heavyweight Title in St. Louis, Missouri, ending Brisco's second title reign and beginning the second run for Patera with the belt.

1981 - La Fiera defeats Lizmark to win the NWA World Welterweight Title in Mexico City, Mexico.

1981 - El Satanico defeats Solar I for the Mexican National Middleweight Title.

1983 - Ringo Mendoza defeats El Satanico for the NWA World Light Heavyweight Title in Guadalajara, Mexico.

1983 - Enrique Vera defeats Dos Caras and Canek in 3-man tournament to win the vacant UWA World Heavyweight Title.

1985 - Jon Cortez defeats Johnny Saint to win the British World Lightweight Title.

1988 - Jerry Lawler defeats Kerry Von Erich in Memphis, Tennessee for the WCWA Heavyweight Title.

1989 - The Soultaker defeats Jerry Lawler for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee, ending Lawler's second reign with the belt.

1992 - Black Bart & Johnny Mantell defeat The Ebony Experience (Harlem Heat) to win the GWF Tag Team Title in Dallas, Texas.

1994 - WCW held their Halloween Havoc Pay-per-view at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. Here are the results:
- In a dark match, Booker T defeated Brian Armstrong.
- WCW Television Champion Johnny B. Badd vs. The Honky Tonk Man ended in a ten minute draw.
- Paul Orndorff & Paul Roma defeated The Patriot & Marcus Bagwell to win the WCW World Tag Team Title. Bagwell had Orndorff pinned with a fisherman's suplex, but the referee was getting Patriot out of the ring, allowing Roma to hit Bagwell with a top rope elbow and roll Orndorff on top for the pin.
- Dave Sullivan defeated Kevin Sullivan via countout when both men were brawling on the floor and Dave rolled back in just before the ten count.
- Dustin Rhodes defeated Arn Anderson by reversing a sunset flip after the referee made Anderson let go of the ropes he was using for leverage, allowing Rhodes to get the pin.
- United States Champion Hacksaw Jim Duggan defeated Steve Austin via disqualification when Austin backdropped Duggan over the top rope.
- Vader defeated The Guardian Angel. Angel suplexed manager Harley Race into the ring, and when he did so, Vader splashed Angel and got the pin.
- The Nasty Boys defeated Terry Funk & Bunkhouse Buck when Jerry Saggs gave Funk a piledriver onto a pumpkin (yes, a pumpkin piledriver) for the pin.
- WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Ric Flair in a steel cage match with a legdrop. Mr. T was the special referee. As the result of a pre-match stipulation, Flair had to retire. After the match, a masked man who had been brawling with Sting during the match attacked Hogan, and was helped by Kevin Sullivan and John Tenta. The masked man was revealed to be Brutus Beefcake.

1995 - Brian Christopher defeats Jesse James Armstrong for the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title, beginning his nineteenth run with the title.

1995 - The early stages of the Monday Night Wars waged on, with WWF Monday Night RAW featuring Owen Hart winning a 20-man Battle Royal, Avatar (Al Snow) defeating Brian Walsh, and Alundra Blayze winning her third WWF Women's Title by defeating Bertha Faye, posting a 2.2 rating. WCW Monday Nitro won the night, however, with a 2.6 rating. That show featured Randy Savage pinning Kurasawa, Eddie Guerrero and Mr. J.L. (Jerry Lynn) defeating Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko, and Lex Luger and Sting defeating Harlem Heat.

1996 - Carlos Colón wins his 20th WWC Universal Heavyweight Title, by official decision, from Huracan Castillo, Jr.

1998 - Halcon Negro Jr. defeats Olimpico for the CMLL World Welterweight Title in Mexico City, Mexico.

1999 - Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama win their second AJPW World Tag Team Title by defeating Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa in Nagoya, Japan.

1999 - Former ECW World Champion The Sandman makes his return to Extreme Championship Wrestling in dramatic fashion at the end of a television taping at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the main event of Tommy Dreamer & Raven vs. Lance Storm & Justin Credible, with Dreamer in trouble, the lights went out, and Sandman appeared in a balcony as "Enter Sandman" blared. Sandman had been working as Hardcore Hak in WCW prior to his return. In a bit of a swerve, ECW had teased a "former ECW World Champion" returning that night, but had former champion Mikey Whipwreck (who had also been in WCW) return in the opening match of the card, losing to current ECW World Champion Mike Awesome, to throw off the fans expecting a Sandman return. Also on the card, ECW Television Champion Rob Van Dam battled Sabu to a 30-minute draw.

2000 - The Hardy Boyz defeat Edge in a handicap match for the WWF World Tag Team Title, beginning their third reign as champions.

2000 - The Monday Night Wars continued, with WWF RAW is WAR's 5.6 rating solidly defeating WCW Monday Nitro's 2.2 rating. The respective main events that night were WWF Champion Kurt Angle fighting The Rock and Triple H to a no contest, and Scott Steiner defeating Mike Awesome.

2000 - Karloff Lagarde, Jr. defeats El Astro Rey, Jr. in Puebla, Mexico for the Mexican National Welterweight Title.

2001 - The Dudley Boyz defeat The Hardy Boyz for the WCW World Tag Team Title (at this point, controlled by WWF) in Omaha, Nebraska.

2002 - AJ Styles defeats Syxx-Pac for the NWA-TNA X Division Title in Nashville, Tennessee to begin his second title reign.

2004 - CM Punk defeats A.J. Styles for the IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Title in Highland, Indiana, beginning his fifth reign as champion.

2004 - Alex Montalvo wins his seventh WWC Junior Heavyweight Title by ending the third reign of Brent Dail in Camuy, Puerto Rico.

2005 - TNA holds their Bound for Glory pay-per-view from the iMPACT! Zone at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. The results were:
- In the pre-show match, Sonjay Dutt defeated Alex Shelley, Austin Aries and Roderick Strong, by pinning Strong.
- Samoa Joe forced Jushin Liger to submit with the Kokina Clutch.
- The Diamonds in the Rough (Simon Diamond, David Young and Elix Skipper) defeated Apolo, Sonny Siaki and Shark Boy, when Young pinned Siaki after a spinebuster.
- Monty Brown pinned Lance Hoyt after the Pounce.
- Team Canada (Boddy Roode, Eric Young and A-1) defeated the 3Live Kru (Konnan, Ron Killings and B.G. James), when Roode pinned James after hitting him with a hockey stick.
- Petey Williams defeated Chris Sabin and Matt Bentley in an Ultimate X match to become #1 contender to the TNA X Division Title.
- America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) defeated The Naturals (Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas) to retain the NWA World Tag Team Title, when Storm pinned Stevens after hitting the Death Sentence.
- Rhino defeated Abyss, Sabu and Jeff Hardy in a Monster's Ball match, by pinning Hardy after a piledriver off the second rope.
- A.J. Styles pinned Christopher Daniels for the only fall in a 30-minute Iron Man match, with only two seconds to spare, to retain the TNA X Division Title.
- Rhino defeated Samoa Joe, Ron Killings, Sabu, Lance Hoyt, Abyss, Jeff Hardy, Monty Brown, Kip James, and A.J. Styles in a Gauntlet for the Gold to earn an immediate NWA World Heavyweight Title match.
- Rhino pinned Jeff Jarrett to win his third match of the night, and the NWA World Heavyweight Title. Tito Ortiz was the special guest referee. The original main event was to feature Jeff Jarrett defending against Kevin Nash, however, due to chest pains the previous day, Nash had to pull out of the show.


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