This Day In History - July 31st
July 31st
On this day in history in ....
1959 - Dick Gunkel defeats Fred Blassie for the NWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Atlanta, Georgia, ending Blassie's ninth reign with the title and starting his second reign.
1973 - Tim Woods defeats Paul Jones for the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title in Tampa, ending the second title reign for Jones.
1976 - Hurricane Castillo defeats Jose Lotario in Bayamon, Puerto Rico for the Caribbean Heavyweight Title.
1979 - Pampero Firpo defeats Abdullah The Butcher in Bayamon, Puerto Rico to win the WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Title.
1984 - Giant Baba defeats Stan Hansen to win the PWF World Heavyweight Title in Tokyo, Japan starting his fourth and final reign with the title.
1986 - All Japan Pro Wrestling ran a show at Budokan Hall, headlined by Stan Hansen defeating Jumbo Tsuruta for the NWA International Heavyweight Title. The card also saw Hiro Saito defeat Brad Armstrong in a tournament final to determine the first PWF World Junior Heavyweight Champion, and Riki Choshu defeat Killer Khan in a Death Match.
1988 - Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu defeat Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy in Hokodate, Japan to win the All Japan Tag Team Title for the second time.
1988 - WWF held their "Wrestlefest" event at the Milwaukee County Stadium in Wisconsin, drawing a crowd of 25,866 fans for a 15-match card. The show was later released on Coliseum Home Video. Here are the results:
- Big Boss Man defeated Scott Casey.
- Brutus Beefcake defeated Hercules Hernandez.
- Jacques & Raymond Rougeau defeated The Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell) when Raymond hit Brunzell with a low blow as he was about to slam Jacques, allowing Jacques to get the pin.
- Bad News Brown defeated Bret Hart by reversing a rollup and grabbing a handful of tights for the pin.
- Hacksaw Jim Duggan defeated Intercontinental Champion The Honky Tonk Man via disqualification when Jimmy Hart interfered.
- The Powers of Pain (Warlord and Barbarian) defeated The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zuhkov) after a flying headbutt by Barbarian on Zuhkov.
- Jim Niedhart defeated Lanny Poffo with a powerslam.
- WWF World Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage defeated Ted DiBiase.
- Curt Hennig defeated Terry Taylor
- Jake Roberts vs. Rick Rude ended in a double countout when Rude left the ring and Roberts chased after him.
- Haku defeated Sam Houston.
- Ultimate Warrior defeated Bobby Heenan in a "loser wears a weasel suit" match with a sleeper.
- WWF World Tag Team Champions Demolition (Ax & Smash) defeated The British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith) when Ax pinned Dynamite after hitting him with Mr. Fuji's cane.
- Dino Bravo defeated Ken Patera with a side slam.
- Hulk Hogan defeated Andre The Giant in a steel cage match when Hogan climbed out of the cage after hitting Andre with a legdrop (and throwing around Bobby Heenan).
1992 - The Ebony Experience (Booker T & Stevie Ray, later known as Harlem Heat) defeat Gary Young & Steve Dane to win the Global Wrestling Federation Tag Team Title in Dallas Texas. On the same show, Alex Porteau defeats Terry Simms for the GWF Light Heavyweight Title.
1997 - Bull Pain defeats Ian Rotten in Louisville, Kentucky for the IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Title.
1994 - Atsushi Onita & Mitsuhiro Matsunaga defeat Mr. Pogo & Hisakatsu Oya to win the FMW World Brass Knuckles Tag Team Title in Yokohama, Japan.
1999 - ECW ran a show at their home base, the ECW Arena, that saw Giant Kamala II (aka The Botswana Beast) debut, and shoot to the main event, all in one night. Kamala II wrestled and defeated David (Kid) Kash early in the card, then ended up being the surprise partner of Justin Credible & Jerry Lynn in a winning effort against the Dudley Boyz & Rob Van Dam later in the show. Kamala II would be renamed 'Uganda' for the remainder of what turned out to be a brief ECW run.
