This Day In History - November 29th
November 29th
On this day in history in ….
1962 - Two of the most important figures in the history of Florida wrestling face off, as Eddie Graham defeats Boris Malenko in Jacksonville, Florida for the NWA Southern Heavyweight Title, starting his third reign as champion.
1980 - Killer Karl Kox defeats The Grappler for the Mid-South Mississippi Heavyweight Title in Shreveport, Louisiana.
1986 - NBC airs the eighth WWF “Saturday Night’s Main Event” special, which was taped on November 15th in Los Angeles, California. The show, which scored a 9.7 rating, featured the following matches:
- WWF Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage vs. Jake Roberts ended in a double disqualification when both men hit referee Dave Hebner. After the match, Randy Savage went for a steel chair, but Jake Roberts put his snake Damian on Savage’s back, and Savage ran off. This was a very rare (at the time) heel vs. heel match, although the fans ended up siding with Jake Roberts during the match.
- WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Hercules Hernandez with a legdrop.
- Rowdy Roddy Piper defeated Cowboy Bob Orton with a rollup.
- The Killer Bees defeated The Hart Foundation when Jim Brunzell pinned Bret Hart with a small package. Hart had been wrestling B. Brian Blair at the time, but Blair and Brunzell switched places unbeknownst to Hart and the referee, as both were wearing masks.
- Koko B. Ware defeated Nikolai Volkoff with a cradle from behind.
- Magnificent Muraco defeated Dick Slater with a clothesline after Mr. Fuji tripped Slater.
1986 - Al Perez defeats The Mighty Igor in San Juan, Puerto Rico to win the WWC Puerto Rican Heavyweight Title.
1992 - Smoky Mountain Wrestling held their “Thanksgiving Thunder” card at the City Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee, drawing over a thousand fans. Here are the results of the show:
- The Night Stalker defeated Robbie Eagle.
- Tracey Smothers defeated Dutch Mantel.
- Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden defeated Bobby Fulton & Dixie Dynamite.
- Ronnie Garvin & Danny Davis defeated Paul Orndorff in a Handicap match.
- SMW Heavyweight Champion Tony Anthony defeated Tim Horner in a lumberjack match.
- The Mongolian Stomper defeated Kevin Sullivan via disqualification.
- Ronnie Garvin won a battle royal.
- The Rock N’ Roll Express defeated The Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane & Tom Pritchard) in a Steel Cage match to win the SMW Tag Team Championship for the third time. This victory ended Lane & Pritchard’s fourth reign after only one day, and ended four straight days of title changes between the two teams.
1994 - Tito Santana defeats Cowboy Bob Orton Jr. in Chicago, Illinois to become the first American Wrestling Federation World Champion. With the exception of a brief exchange with Orton in 1996 (Orton wins the title, but is stripped due to interference, and Santana wins it back in a rematch the same night), Santana would be the champion for the entire existence of the AWF.
2003 - Gedo & Jado defeat Hiroki Goto & Ryusuke Taguchi in a tournament final to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in Miyagi, Japan. The belts had been vacated by former champions Jushin Liger & Koji Kanemoto when Kanemoto was unable to defend the belts after fracturing his cheekbone. Liger teamed with El Samurai for the tournament, but lost to Gedo & Jado in the semifinals.
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