This Day In History - February 25th

February 25th

On this day in history in ....

1949 - Richard Fliehr is born. He would go on to become, arguably, the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Nature Boy Ric Flair.

1990 - The NWA held their WrestleWar Pay-per-view in Greensboro, North Carolina at the Greensboro Coliseum. Here are the results from the show:
- Kevin Sullivan & Buzz Sawyer defeated The Dynamic Dudes (Shane Douglas & Johnny Ace).
- Norman The Lunatic defeated Cactus Jack.
- The Rock N' Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) defeated The Midnight Express (Stan Lane & Bobby Eaton) when the Midnights went for a flapjack on Morton only to have Morton tackle Eaton, and Gibson rolled up Lane for the pin.
- The Road Warriors defeated The Skyscrapers (Mark Callous & Mike Enos, who was wearing a mask, subbing for Dan Spivey) in a Chicago Streetfight with the Doomsday Device on Enos. After the match, Doom and the Warriors brawled at ringside.
- United States Tag Team Champions Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk defeated The Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes) when Pillman hit a flying bodypress on Garvin for the win.
- NWA World Tag Team Champions Rick & Scott Steiner defeated Ole & Arn Anderson when Rick pinned Ole with a cradle.
- NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair defeated Lex Luger via countout. Luger had Flair in the torture rack, but the Andersons attacked the injured Sting at ringside. Luger went to help Sting, and was counted out.

1995 - ECW ran a show at the ECW Arena in South Philadelphia that would become known as "The Return Of The Funker", as Terry Funk returned to the promotion after a five month absence. Here are results from the show:
- The Pitbulls defeated Chad Austin & Joel Hartgood when Pitbull #2 pinned Hartgood with a superbomb.
- Joey Styles interviewed Raven & Stevie Richards, leading to a confrontation and brawl with Tommy Dreamer.
- Jason Knight & Paul Lauria defeated Mikey Whipwreck & Hack Myers when a masked man entered the ring and knocked out Hack, allowing Lauria to get the pin.
- 2 Cold Scorpio defeated Hector Guerrero with the 450 splash.
- Axl Rotten defeated Ian Rotten in a barbed wire baseball bat match.
- ECW World Champion Shane Douglas defeated Marty Jannetty when he turned a rana attempt into a powerbomb for the pin.
- The Public Enemy (including Rocco Rock in a wheelchair selling his injuries from the "Double Tables" show) come out for an interview, but are attacked by Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko.
- Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko defeated Taz & Sabu to win the ECW World Tag Team Title when Benoit pinned Sabu with a top rope powerbomb.
- Woman and the Sandman come out, and explain that Sandman cannot wrestle due to suffering a concussion against Cactus at the previous show. Instead, they have a large box with a mystery opponent, DC Drake, who Cactus defeats with a double arm DDT. Cactus and Sandman then start brawling, with Cactus knocking the Sandman into the box. Cactus pulls him back out, with the curtain from the box covering Sandman's head. Cactus pulls the curtain off to reveal Terry Funk, dressed in an identical outfit to the Sandman. Funk and Cactus start going at it, with Sandman joining in. Tommy Dreamer comes in to make a save, but just stares at Funk, his mentor, and gets beaten down by the Sandman. Shane Douglas comes in, and Woman tries to convince him to join with Funk and Sandman. He considers it, and appears to agree, but then runs off Funk and Sandman to help Cactus, since Douglas and Cactus had trained together at Dominic Denucci's school when they first broke into the business. This angle, called "Funk In A Box", is one of the most memorable in ECW history.

2001 - WWF held their No Way Out Pay-per-view at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Here are the results of the show:
- In a match that was broadcast on Heat, Rikishi defeated Matt Hardy via disqualification when Lita ran in and gave Rikishi a low blow while he was setting up for the Stinkface. Matt, Lita and Jeff Hardy then beat down Rikishi until Haku came to the ring for the save.
- Big Show defeated Raven to win the WWF Hardcore Title. During the match, Steve Blackman, Hardcore Holly, Crash Holly, Molly Holly and the masked lady ninja (Tori) all got involved. Billy Gunn pinned Raven at one point to win the title under the 24/7 rule, but Raven pinned him to win it back before Big Show chokeslammed Raven on a garbage can to win the title.
- Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and X-Pac in a four way match. Towards the end, with all four men down. Benoit hit Guerrero with a back suplex, then hit a top rope headbutt on him. X-Pac then hit Benoit with a back spin kick. Jericho then rolled up X-Pac from behind and bridged back (Backlund Bridge) to get the pin.
- Stephanie McMahon defeated Trish Stratus when William Regal gave Trish a neckbreaker with the referee down.
- Triple H defeated Steve Austin in a three fall match in which each fall had a different stipulation. The entire bout went almost 40 minutes.
* Austin won the first fall, a standard match, when Triple H jumped off the second rope, but Austin booted him in the gut and hit the stunner for the pin.
* Triple H won the second fall, a Street Fight match, when he hit Austin in the head with a sledgehammer and delivered the Pedigree for the win.
* Triple H won the third fall, a steel cage match, when Austin, with a 2x4, and Triple H, with the sledgehammer, hit each other at the same time. Both men fell to the mat, but Triple H fell on top of Austin, getting the pin.
- Steven Richards defeated Jerry Lawler when the Kat accidentally hit Lawler with the Women's Title belt.
- WWF World Tag Team Champions The Dudley Boyz defeated Edge & Christian and Undertaker & Kane in a Three Way Tables match. Towards the end, Rikishi & Haku ran out and started brawling with Kane & Undertaker in the aisle. In the ring, a table was propped in the corner, and Edge charged Buh Buh, missed, and slammed into the table, not breaking it. Edge fell to the floor, as Christian was exchanging punches with D-Von. D-Von lifted Christian and fell back, and Buh Buh grabbed him in a 3D through a table to win the match.
- The Rock defeated Kurt Angle to win the WWF World Heavyweight Title after delivering two Rock Bottoms.

2005 - WWE ran at Madison Square Garden in New York City headlined by Batista & Randy Orton defeating Ric Flair & Triple H in a steel cage match. However, the highlight of the show was an appearance by Superstar Billy Graham, who came out a huge ovation and knocked out Jonathan Coachman.

2006 - During a WWE show in Quezon City, Manila, Philippines, Ric Flair & Big Show defeat Triple H & Chris Masters when Masters submits to Flair's figure four. After the match, a surprise birthday cake was brought out for Flair, who was celebrating his 57th birthday.


PWI

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