This Day In History - December 17th
December 17th
On this day in history in ....
1906 - Frank Gotch defeats Fred Beel in Kansas City, Missouri to win the American Heavyweight Title for the third time. Gotch would go on to defeat George Hackenschmidt two years later to unify the belt with the World Heavyweight Title.
1968 - Fritz Von Erich & Dan Miller defeat The Spoiler & Gary Hart to win the NWA American Tag Team Title (later to become the World Class World Tag Team Title) in Dallas, Texas.
1977 - Jose Rivera & Invader I defeat The Samoans (Afa & Sika) for the WWC World Tag Team Title in San Juan, Puerto Rico. On the same show, Joe Novak defeats Hercules Ayala to win the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Title.
1994 - ECW held their "Holiday Hell" show at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Here are the results:
- Stevie Richards defeated JT Smith.
- Dean Malenko defeated Ray Odyssey.
- Chris Benoit defeated Hack Myers.
- 911 defeated The Pitbulls in a Handicap match.
- Mikey Whipwreck defeated Don E. Allen.
- Tommy Dreamer & Cactus Jack defeated Tommy Cairo & The Sandman.
- ECW World Champion Shane Douglas defeated Ron Simmons.
- ECW World Tag Team Champions The Public Enemy defeated Sabu & Taz.
1995 - Dr. Wagner Jr. defeats Atlantis in Mexico City, Mexico to win the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Title for the second time.
2000 - The 18th, and final, Starrcade event was held in Washington, DC at the MCI Center. Three months later, WCW would be purchased by the World Wrestling Federation, and thus ending the eighteen year streak of Starrcade events, going back to the days of Jim Crockett Promotions. Here is Tim Whitehead's original report on the show.
WCW put in a decent effort for Starrcade (12/17 from the MCI Center in Washington). It was a show where most of the guys worked hard, and there were a couple of real good matches, and enough entertainment value in those that weren't good to keep everyone's attention. The crowd heat was good early, died for a while in the middle, and picked up greatly for the top matches, even though they weren't the best ones on the show. Commentary was so-so. There was way too much outside interference.
SHANE HELMS & SHANNON MOORE defeated KAZ HAYASHI & YUNG YANG and EVAN KARAGIAS & JAMIE KNOBLE in a ladder match in 13:50. There was a contract for a Cruiserweight Title shot hanging from the ceiling and the wrestler to get it earned the shot. Chavo Guerrero Jr., the reigning champ, did color commentary. Moore nearly killed Hayashi early on with a DDT. Hayashi came back with a spinning headscissors. They all went for the ladders. Helms & Moore went up first but got pulled down and lariated over in a perfectly synchronized spot. Hayashi hit a moonsault but landed on a ladder. They did a few traditional ladder spots, and then went for the dives, with everyone doing one to the floor. They then went to a series of innovative ladder spots. In one, a ladder was propped up like a scaffold over another ladder and the ropes. Karagias was on it and caught Hayashi in mid-air and powerbombed him off. Moore did a Rocker Dropper type move off the top. That looked scary. Helms gave Knoble a neckbreaker off the top. Moore did the same to Yang. Knoble started up the ladder but Leia Meow (did I mention yet what a babe she is?) pulled him down. Hayashi & Yang built another scaffold for a series of bumps. In the end, everyone went down but Helms & Moore, who jointly retrieved the contract. Since that theoretically meant both would get a Cruiserweight shot, Chavo threatened to call his lawyer. Helms was limping after the match. A really great opener!
LANCE STORM beat CAT in 7:23. Cat's not good in the ring but his gimmick is major league entertaining. He does admittedly do some innovative crotch shots. Elix Skipper interfered to help Storm. Miss Jones got into it with Major Gunns. Jones accidentally kicked the ref while trying to kick Gunns. Storm hit a missile kick but there was no ref. Hacksaw Duggan came out and teased hitting Storm with the 2x4, but instead threw the weapon down and hit Cat with a sissy looking forearm shot and Storm won with the Maple Leaf submission hold. Storm & Skipper then attacked Duggan for being a lukewarm Canadian. Cat saved Duggan and threw Storm out for a cool bump, which was way better than anything in the actual match.
Buff Bagwell announced himself as the new interviewer. He's actually better than Pamela Paulshock, though Pam was far better looking.
TERRY FUNK beat CROWBAR to capture the Hardcore Title in 10:32. This was a really good hardcore match, a few notches above the standard stuff we see on almost every PPV. Funk attacked Crowbar backstage with a fire extinguisher to start the match. Daffney was doing the full banshee gimmick, screaming like crazy. The commentators mentioned the many times Funk has supposedly retired, going back to 1983 retirement ceremony in Japan, which was one of those truly magic moments in wrestling (though obviously the actual retirement didn't last long). They fought inside a truck, with Crowbar getting hiptossed out and crashing through a table. Crowbar walloped Funk with a car door. Funk managed to handcuff Crowbar and hit him with some sick chairshots. They fought to the ring where Funk grabbed Daffney but Crowbar made the save. Though still handcuffed, Crowbar vaulted over the ropes and put Funk through a table. Daffney hit Funk with a weak chairshot. Funk then plastered Crowbar with a chair and gave him a piledriver on the chair for the pin.
Gene Okerlund did his angry old man interview with Lance Storm, acting real pissed over his assault on Duggan. He also told Gunns he has a pole she can fly her Canadian flag on. That was funny!
KRONIK defeated BIG VITO & RENO in 8:17. Earlier, Reno had rejoined Vito over the protests of the Natural Born Thrillers. Also, Kronik had been shown discussing taking a payoff from somebody. They kept hinting that Marie (formerly Maria, with no explanation for the change) had paid them off. The match didn't amount to much, and there was a lot of arguing and stalling. The end saw Reno turn against his "brother" and give him the Roll of the Dice for the pin. I guess that made Kronik the winner, though who knows? Anyway, Reno then tossed a bag of money to Kronik, and hugged his Thrillers allies, so his turn against them was all a swerve. Marie acted real upset, though she didn't act real upset well. So let me get this straight....Reno paid Kronik and then beat Vito himself? Maybe the payoff was for the post-match, as Kronik destroyed Vito afterward with the Meltdown and High Times.
Helms & Moore were interviewed and indicated both would get the Cruiserweight shot since both retrieved the contract. Chavo Jr. arrived and flattened both with the title belt.
MIKE AWESOME defeated BAM BAM BIGELOW in an Ambulance Match in 7:00. They both worked hard but the crowd had died. They were putting Awesome over as the "career killer", so maybe they'll phase out the 70's gimmick. Then again, maybe not. They brawled back to the ambulance and Bigelow's fist went through a gimmicked window and he juiced from the arm. Awesome got backdropped through a table. They went up on the ambulance, which was kind of clumsy since the ambulance's hood was very sloped and they kept slipping off. Bigelow made it up on top but Awesome shoved him backwards and he fell through the ambulance top, so Awesome won.
GEN. RECTION defeated SHANE DOUGLAS via DQ to retain the U.S. Title in 9:46. Douglas blamed Rection for the fact that his "beautiful woman" was missing. You mean Rection was responsible for slashing Torrie Wilson's pay to $52,000? Pretty much standard stuff, with no crowd heat. They did a long bearhug spot. Plenty of brawling, with Douglas juicing after being posted. Douglas pulled out a chain but missed when he went to hit Rection and he lost the weapon. Chavo Jr. then came out and tossed another chain to Douglas, but then, just as Douglas was about to use it, Chavo informed the ref, who caught Douglas with the chain and DQ'ed him. Douglas was furious and destroyed both Rection and Chavo with the chain, with Rection juicing. Cpl. Cajun and Sgt. Awall made the save.
JEFF JARRETT & THE HARRIS BOYS defeated REY MYSTERIO JR. & KONNAN & BILLY KIDMAN in a bunkhouse street fight in 12:30. Tygress was on color commentary again and she really was bad. They all worked hard but it was kind of a mess. They used the standard weapons, such as garbage cans and brooms, plus they had a bar set up inside the ring, with Jarrett getting put through in a good spot. They also had a popcorn machine, with Jerrett's face rubbed in the popcorn in a silly spot. Mysterio did some good stuff before being tossed in a dumpster. Konnan actually got in a little offense. Mysterio came back in but got plastered through a table. Kidman hit a tomokaze on Jarrett and went to the top but one of the Harrises busted a bottle over his head and Jarrett pinned him with the stroke. Tony Schiavone said, with some irony and a lot of sarcasm, that they've come a long way since Flair vs. Race at the first Starrcade in 1983.
KEVIN NASH & DALLAS PAGE defeated SHAWN STASIAK & CHUCK PALUMBO to regain the WCW World Tag Titles in 12:04. Didn't we see this on the last PPV? Yes, Nash & Page won the titles at Mayhem, but because they technically pinned the guy who wasn't the legal man in the ring, the belts were later restored to Stasiak & Palumbo. In other words, titles change hands all the time due to the most blatant cheating, interference, use of foreign objects, etc., with no reversals, but cleanly pinning the guy who wasn't the legal man is grounds for voiding the decision. Ric Flair came out and warned Mike Sanders that any interference by him would lead to the belts being given to Nash & Page. So unless otherwise noted, outside interference is okay? Nash didn't do much here, just a flurry at the beginning and the end. Page had the champs reeling but they then tied him up for a long double teaming. When Nash hot tagged there was a huge pop. Mark Jindrak & Sean O'Haire ran in but Page took Jindrak out with a Diamond Cutter while Nash caused O'Haire to get crotched. Nash dropped the strap a la Lawler and laid Palumbo out with the jackknife for the pin. I hope Palumbo was the legal man. Afterward, Nash said "Hey Yo" as his subliminal reference to Scott Hall (since overt references have been banned).
BILL GOLDBERG defeated LEX LUGER in 7:17. Good heat but the match was pretty bad. Goldberg dominated as Lex kept trying to walk out. Lex tried to use the ref as a shield again. Dwayne Bruce (the former Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker) came out but Lex used brass knux on him and on Goldberg, too. Goldberg kicked out at two. Buff Bagwell showed up and acted like he was wanting to put the Blockbuster on Luger but "accidentally" did it to Goldberg. Lex tried for the rack but Goldberg blocked it, hit the spear, pointed to the sky like Sabu, and hit the jackhammer for the pin. Bagwell completed his turn by hitting Goldberg with a chair afterward. On his way out, Goldberg hoisted a kid on his shoulders who had expressed meeting Goldberg as his greatest wish.
SCOTT STEINER beat SID VICIOUS in 10:12 to retain the WCW World Title. Lots of power moves and brawling. Basic stuff but it got great heat. Sid started to take command but Midajah hit him with a pipe. Steiner used the "F" word. Scott hooked the recliner but Sid made the ropes. Midajah went for a crossbody but Sid ducked and Steiner took it. Sid hooked the cobra, with Steiner slugging the ref while locked in the hold. Midajah distracted Sid, allowing Steiner to hit him with the pipe for a near fall. Jarrett ran in an swung at Sid with a guitar but hit Steiner instead. Sid went for the cover but Jarrett broke it up. Scott then hit Sid with a low blow and won with the recliner.
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