This Day In History - June 20th

June 20th

On this day in history in ....

1953 - Sugi Sito defeats Tarzan Lopez to win the NWA World Middleweight Title in Mexico City, Mexico, beginning his second reign and ending Lopez's fourth.

1957 - James "Koko B." Ware is born in Union City, Tennessee.

1960 - Tor Yamata and Mr. Moto defeat Mike Clancy and Oni Wiki Wiki for the Mid-America version of the NWA World Tag Team Title in Birmingham, Alabama.

1969 - Pat O'Connor defeats Dick Murdoch to win the NWA Central States Heavyweight Title in St. Joseph, Missouri, beginning his third reign.

1969 - The Chain Gang (Jack and Frank Dillinger) defeat Dick the Bruiser and The Crusher for the WWA World Tag Team Title in Indianapolis, Indiana, ending Bruiser and Crusher's third reign.

1970 - Beauregard and The Claw defeat Moondog Mayne and Frankie Laine for the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Title.

1971 - Aiko Kyo and Jumbo Miyamoto defeat Masked Killer and Masked Lee to win the American Girls' Wrestling Association International Tag Team Title in Toride, Japan. This began Kyo and Miyamoto's sixth reign and ended Killer and Lee's fifth.

1978 - Dos Caras defeats Canek for the Mexico National Light Heavyweight Title in Pachuca, Mexico.

1979 - Ricky and Robert Gibson defeat The Twin Devils to win the NWA Americas Tag Team Title, ending the Devils' third reign.

1981 - The WWF runs at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The results:
- Johnny Rodz and Curt Hennig fought to a draw.
- Larry Sharpe defeated Tony Altimore.
- Strong Kobayashi defeated Baron Mikel Scicluna.
- Angelo Mosca defeated Tony Garea.
- Sgt. Slaughter defeated Rick McGraw.
- WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund defeated George Steele.
- The Moondogs defeated Dominic DeNucci and Special Delivery Jones.
- Don Muraco defeats Pedro Morales to win the WWF Intercontinental Title.

1981 - Les Thornton wins his third NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title, defeating Terry Taylor in Richmond, Virginia.

1982 - Paul Orndorff defeats Buzz Sawyer for the Georgia National Heavyweight Title in Atlanta, Georgia. A month later, Orndorff would vacate the title so he could "train" for a NWA World Title match with Harley Race (which he ended up losing).

1982 - Halcon Ortiz defeats Herodes to win the Mexico National Heavyweight Title in Guadalajara, Mexico.

1983 - Man Mountain Link defeats Jerry Lawler in Memphis, Tennessee for the AWA Southern Heavyweight Title, ending Lawler's 25th reign.

1986 - Wayne Farris defeats Bad News Allen in Calgary, Alberta to win the Stampede North American Heavyweight Title, ending Allen's fourth reign. The title would be vacated on August 29 when Farris left Stampede Wrestling for the World Wrestling Federation, where he would become known as The Honky Tonk Man.

1987 - Bill Watts' UWF holds a tournament to crown the first NWA Western States Heritage Champion in Houston, Texas. The results:
- Barry Windham defeated Chris Adams in a first round match.
- Shaska Whatley and Buddy Roberts fought to a draw in a first round match. This gave Windham a bye to the finals.
- Rick Steiner and Terry Gordy fought to a double disqualification in a first round match.
- Black Bart defeated Sting in a first round match to receive a bye to the finals as a result of Steiner and Gordy's double DQ.
- No semifinal matches occurred.
- Barry Windham defeated Black Bart to become the first NWA Western States Heritage Champion.

1987 - The Hunters (Dale Veasey and Bob Brown) defeat Miguel Perez, Jr. and Tony Atlas in San Juan, Puerto Rico to win the WWC North American Tag Team Title.

1991 - The Bruise Brothers (Ron and Don Harris) win their second NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Title, defeating Steve Doll and Jimmy Jack Funk in Portland, Oregon.

1992 - WCW's Beach Blast Pay-per-view took place at the Civic Center in Mobile, Alabama, earning a 0.4 buyrate. There would be two Beach Blast events, then Beach Blast would be replaced with Bash at the Beach in 1994. This Pay-per-view is best remembered for several very good matches, and the ridiculously stupid Bill Watts rule that top rope maneuvers were an automatic disqualification. Watts, who was the WCW Vice President at the time, has since claimed that he was banning the moves to make them seem "more special" when he would later allow them. His claim was that top rope moves were not "special" because they were overused. Coming on the heels of a great series of matches between Brian Pillman and Jushin Liger, the decision to ban the top rope just came across as dumb. Here are the results:
- In a match not shown on the Pay-per-view broadcast, Junkyard Dog, Tom Zenk & Big Josh defeated Tracey Smothers, Richard Morton & Diamond Dallas Page.
- Scotty Flamingo (Raven) defeated Brian Pillman to win the WCW Light Heavyweight Title when Pillman missed a dive from the ring, crashing into the entrance ramp, and Flamingo rolled Pillman back into the ring and hit a second rope kneedrop for the win.
- Ron Simmons defeated Terry Taylor with a powerslam.
- Greg Valentine defeated Marcus Bagwell via submission with the figure four leglock.
- WCW World Champion Sting defeated Cactus Jack in a non-title Falls Count Anywhere match with a top rope clothesline from the ring to the entrance ramp. This was Cactus' favorite match during his WCW run.
- Ricky Steamboat defeated Rick Rude in a 30-minute Ironman Match.
First Fall: Rude pinned Steamboat after a knee to the face of a charging Steamboat.
Second Fall: Rude pinned Steamboat with a Rude Awakening neckbreaker.
Third Fall: Rude is disqualified for jumping off the top rope to hit a kneedrop (top rope moves were now a DQ in WCW).
Fourth Fall: Rude pinned Steamboat with a small package immediately after the top rope DQ.
Fifth Fall: Steamboat pinned Rude with a tombstone piledriver.
Sixth Fall: Steamboat pinned Rude with a backslide.
Seventh Fall: With thirty seconds remaining, Steamboat kicked off the turnbuckles as Rude applied a sleeper and rolled Rude into a pinning position.
- Dustin Rhodes, Barry Windham & Nikita Koloff defeated Arn Anderson, Steve Austin & Bobby Eaton via disqualification when Anderson was disqualified for hitting a top rope axhandle on Windham, who had just superplexed Austin (from the second rope).
- Missy Hyatt defeated Madusa in a bikini contest. Missy's bikini was missing when she went to change, so she took Jesse Ventura's scarves and "made" a new suit.
- WCW World Tag Team Champions Rick & Scott Steiner vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams ended in a 30-minute draw.

1997 - The Dudley Boyz (Buh-Buh Ray and D-Von Dudley) defeat The Eliminators (Perry Saturn and John Kronus) in Waltham, Massachusetts to win the ECW World Tag Team Title, ending the Eliminators' third reign and beginning the Dudleys' second.

1998 - The Brooklyn Brawler defeats Gene Austin in Tecumseh, Michigan to win the NWA Michigan Heavyweight Title, ending Austin's second reign.

2000 - At a SmackDown! taping in Memphis, Tennessee, Rikishi defeats Chris Benoit for the WWF Intercontinental Title, ending Benoit's second reign.

2000 - The Doc defeats Hyjinx in Hagerstown, Maryland to win the House of Pain Wrestling Federation Cruiserweight Title, ending Hyjinx's third reign and beginning The Doc's second.

2001 - Klondike Kate defeats Sweet Saraya to win the British Women's Title in Barking, England, ending Saraya's third reign and beginning Kate's fifth.

2002 - Two years after jumping to WCW with Ed Ferrara, Vince Russo returns to WWE as head television writer. He would leave the company again three weeks later, heading to the newly formed Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

2003 - Major League Wrestling holds "Hybrid Hell" at the Fort Lauderdale, Florida War Memorial Coliseum before 1,536 fans. The results:
- Jerry Lynn pinned Kid Romeo.
- Homicide pinned Michael Shane.
- The S.A.T. (Jose and Joel Maximo) defeated The Samoan Island Tribe.
- Christopher Daniels pinned Billy Fives.
- Kenzo Suzuki pinned Norman Smiley.
- C.W. Anderson and Simon Diamond defeated Steve Williams and D'Lo Brown, when Anderson pinned Brown, to retain the MLW Global Tag Team Title.
- Sabu defeated Mikey Whipwreck by submission.
- CM Punk pinned Raven.
- Mike Awesome pinned Satoshi Kojima to win the MLW World Heavyweight Title.
- Steve Corino pinned Mike Awesome to win the MLW World Heavyweight Title.
- Terry Funk pinned MLW World Heavyweight Champion Steve Corino in a non-title No-Rope Barbed Wire match.

2003 - Duke Durrango defeats Bruce Hart to win the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Title in Calgary, Alberta, ending Hart's seventh reign.

2003 - Octagon and La Parka, Jr. defeat Electro Shock and Chessman for the Mexico National Tag Team Title in Veracruz, Mexico.

2003 - Kory Williams defeats Mike Woods for the NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Title in Nashville, Tennessee, beginning his second reign. At the same event, Chris Sanders defeats Arrick Andrews to become the first NWA Mid-America X Division Champion.

2004 - AAA holds TripleMania XII at El Toreo in Naucalpan, Mexico. The results:
- Oscar Sevilla, Pimpinella Escarlata, Cynthia Moreno and Mascarita Sagrada defeated Gran Apache, Polvo de Estrellas, Fabi Apache and Mini Abismo Negro.
- Octagon, Heavy Metal and Intocable defeated Pirata Morgan, MS1 and Espectro, Jr. by disqualification
- Mr. Aguila pinned Zorro to win the UWA World Light Heavyweight Title.
- Latin Lover, Hector Garza and Gronda defeated Abyss, Chessman and Abismo Negro, when Lover and Gronda pinned Abyss.
- Charly Manson pinned Electro Shock in a Retirement match.
- La Parka pinned Cibernetico in a Hair vs. Hair match.

2004 - Puerto Rican IWA wrestler and then-Hardcore Champion Victor the Bodyguard dies of a heart attack at an IWA event in Yauco, Puerto Rico.

2005 - Carlito is drafted to WWE RAW via the Draft Lottery and defeats Shelton Benjamin to win the WWE Intercontinental Title in Phoenix, Arizona. This edition of RAW also featured the attempted wedding of Edge and Lita, which was thwarted by Kane.

2006 - Kohei Sato and Ryouji Sai defeated Y2P-160kg and Steve Corino to win their second NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Title in Kanagawa, Japan.

2006 - G.Q. Gallo defeats Khan Kussion in Tempe, Arizona for the Ultra Championship Wrestling Zero Ultra-X Title.
2007 - Konnan flies himself home from Orlando, Florida after skipping a scheduled appearance at a TNA Impact taping. Konnan had changed his scheduled flight home to an earlier flight, and while he had not yet received an official release from the company, was done with TNA. He had been making noises privately and publicly about his unhappiness with the company over a variety of issues. Konnan would later end up filing a lawsuit against the company over working conditions, which is still pending.