This Day In History - July 19th
July 19th
On this day in history in ....
1960 - Verne Gagne & Leo Nomellini defeat Murder Inc. (Tiny Mills & Stan Kowalski) to win the AWA World Tag team Title in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
1961 - Shoulders Newman & Ted Travis defeat Neff Maivia & Billy White Wolf for the NWA Hawaii Tag Team Title in Honolulu, Hawaii. Less than a month earlier, Newman & Travis (subbing for champion Tim Rice) had lost the belts to Maivia & Wolf. Neff Maivia is the uncle of the Rock.
1968 - Fritz Von Erich & Grizzly Smith defeat The Spoiler & Gary Hart in Houston, Texas to win the NWA American Tag Team Title (later renamed the World Class World Tag Team Title), ending the second reign for Spoiler & Hart.
1971 - Thunderbolt Patterson & Toru Tanaka defeat Johnny Valentine & Wahoo McDaniel to win the NWA American Tag Team Title (later renamed the World Class World Tag Team Title) in Ft. Worth, Texas.
1980 - Pierre Martel defeats Mr. Fuji to win the WWC North American Heavyweight Title in Caguas, Puerto Rico.
1981 - El Solitario defeats Eric Embry in Mexico City, Mexico to win the UWA World Junior Light-Heavyweight Title, beginning his second reign as champion.
1987 - Bruno Sammartino substituted for Jake Roberts in the main event of a WWF show at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, defeated Intercontinental Champion The Honky Tonk Man via countout.
1989 - WWF held a marathon television taping (which was the norm in those days) at the Centrum in Worcester, Massachusetts. The show had well over 20 matches taped for Superstars and Prime Time Wrestling, and also included the taping for the July 29th edition of Saturday Night's Main Event which saw the following results:
- Hulk Hogan defeated The Honky Tonk Man with a legdrop.
- Jimmy Snuka defeated Greg Valentine with a flying bodypress after referee Ronnie Garvin punched Valentine.
- Brutus Beefcake defeated Randy Savage via disqualification when Zeus interfered.
- The Brain Busters (Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson) defeated Demolition to win the WWF World Tag Team Championship in a three falls match when Anderson pinned Smash to win the third fall after Blanchard had hit him with a chair.
1996 - Aquarius (Yoshihiro Tajiri under a mask) defeats Dr. Wagner Jr. for the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Title in Tokyo, Japan on a Big Japan Pro Wrestling event. However, EMLL, the governing body for the title in Mexico, had never agreed to the title change. Wagner won the belt back before returning to Mexico, and the title switch was never recognized by EMLL.
1997 - Ian Rotten defeats Bull Pain in Louisville, Kentucky to win the IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Title.
1997 - ECW held their "Heatwave" event at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Here are the results:
- Mikey Whipwreck & Spike Dudley defeated PG-13.
- Axl Rotten defeated Tracy Smothers.
- John Kronus defeated Prodigy.
- Chris Candido & Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Balls Mahoney & Chris Chetti.
- ECW World Television Champion Taz defeated Lance Storm with the Tazmission.
- ECW World Champion Terry Funk defeated Shane Douglas via disqualification when Francine, Douglas' valet, attacked Funk and bit his ear, rendering Funk a bloody mess. It was heavily hyped on ECW television that the referee had no choice but to call for a DQ (a rarity in ECW) due to Francine's actions.
- The Gangstas (New Jack & Mustafa) defeated The Dudley Boyz (Buh Buh Ray & D-Von) to win the ECW World Tag Team Title in a Steel Cage Weapons match. This ended the Dudleys second title reign and began the second, and final, title reign for the Gangstas. The Gangstas would never defend the belts, as Mustafa would leave the company, and ECW would push a story that he was injured in this match.
- Rob Van Dam, Sabu & Jerry Lawler vs. Tommy Dreamer, The Sandman and their mystery partner never took place. Rick Rude, working as an announcer, came down to team with Sandman & Dreamer, but then turned on them, leading to a long brawl. This was also Jerry Lawler's last ECW Arena appearance (at least, last appearance in this building for ECW).
2000 - WWF taped Smackdown at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, New York, headlined by Triple H & Chris Benoit defeated The Rock & Chris Jericho via disqualification when Rock hit the referee. After the match, Rock put Benoit in a Crippler Crossface while Jericho but Triple H in the Walls Of Jericho.
2005 - WWE broadcast Raw from the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania featuring Edge defeated Kane in a steel cage match, John Cena defeating Snitsky in a lumberjack match, and Kurt Angle defeating Matt Striker.
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