This Day In History - June 27th
June 27th
On this day in history in ....
1935 - Danno O'Mahony defeats Jim Londos for the NWA (National Wrestling Associatoion) Heavyweight Wrestling Title in Boston, Massachusetts. He would later defeat Ed Don George to combine this belt with the Boston-based AWA World Title.
1972 - Professor Tanaka & Mr. Fuji defeat Chief Jay Strongbow & Sonny King for the WWWF Tag Team Title in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1998 - Rob Van Dam & Sabu defeat Chris Candido & Lance Storm for the ECW World Tag Team Title in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the ECW Arena. Results from the rest of the card saw:
- Tommy Rich defeated Chris Chetti.
- Bobby Duncum Jr. defeated John Kronus.
- Masato Tanaka defeated Balls Mahoney.
- Jerry Lynn & Mikey Whipwreck defeated Justin Credible & Jason.
- Axl Rotten defeated Jack Victory.
- Spike Dudley defeated Ulf Herman.
- The Dudleys (Buh-Buh Ray, D-Von & Big Dick) defeated The Sandman, Tommy Dreamer & surprise partner (and death match legend) Atsushi Onita when Onita turned on Sandman and Dreamer. This angle was supposed to lead to an Onita vs. Sandman exploding ring death match, and in fact, a press conference was held after this show to lead to the match. However, the bout never took place due to logistical reasons, and this was Onita's only appearance in ECW.
1999 - WWE held their King of the Ring Pay-per-view in Greensboro, North Carolina at the Greensboro Coliseum. Here are the results:
In matches shown on Heat:
- Meat (Shawn Stasiak) defeated Kurt Angle.
- Matt & Jeff Hardy vs. Edge & Christian ended in a no-contest.
- Mideon & Viscera defeated The Big Bossman in a Handicap match.
- Albert defeated Val Venis.
- Ken Shamrock defeated Shane McMahon via disqualification.
In matches shown on the PPV:
- In a King Of The Ring quarterfinal match, X-Pac defeated Bob Holly via DQ.
- In a King Of The Ring quarterfinal match, Kane defeated The Big Show.
- In a King Of The Ring quarterfinal match, Billy Gunn defeated Ken Shamrock when the ref stopped the match.
- In a King Of The Ring quarterfinal match, Road Dogg defeated Chyna.
- Matt & Jeff Hardy defeated Edge & Christian.
- In a King Of The Ring semifinal match, Billy Gunn defeated Kane..
- In a King Of The Ring semifinal match, X-Pac defeated Road Dogg.
- WWF World Champion The Undertaker defeated The Rock.
- Billy Gunn defeated X-Pac to win the King of the Ring Tournament.
- Shane & Vince McMahon defeated Steve Austin in a Handicap Ladder match for control of the company.
2000 - Steve Blackman defeats Crash Holly for the WWF Hardcore Title in Hartford, Connecticut, ending Crash's 10th reign.
2000 - The WWF-USA-Viacom Trial crawled to a close with things looking very good for the WWF as they were going into the closing arguments. The suit, brought forth by USA, was all about what "right of first refusal" actually means. Viacom's defense position was that USA had refused to match specific provisions that Viacom had offered the WWF in the contract that they had offered. Among the items USA wouldn't match were: a 3.5 million dollar yearly payment for 7 annual WWF specials; a $660,000 production fee for a new drama series that would run on UPN [The New York Post said it was $650,000]; A marketing fee of 8 million dollars, which would promote the movement of the five WWF series' from USA to TNN (4 shows) and MTV (the other); a $500,000 script-development fund for a possibly WWF-produced series. USA's claim was that their current deal's first-refusal clause allows them to renew the deal for five years without having to match the Viacom proposal in whole, only the part concerning wrestling.
USA senior vice president Stephen Brenner opened the trial's testimony and did not do well for himself. Brenner said that he was in hot water with USA currently because he was the one who negotiated the deal with the WWF that they are now trying to walk away from. It came out that last year, USA offered an extension to the WWFE that would almost double their weekly payments from $42,000 to $80,000 in 2001, to $85,000 in 2002 and to $90,000 in 2003. They also offered to up the payments for the weekend USA shows as well. Vince McMahon turned down the offer on 12/23/99. USA offered a better deal on 2/16/00, but the WWF instead chose to search for other deals in March. Brenner got flustered on the stand when WWF attorneys read a compensation agreement that Brenner had with USA from his promotion in the company. The real blow came the next day, when USA chief counsel Richard Lynn testified under cross examination that USA did a detailed financial analysis of the deal that was offered by Viacom to the WWF and they said that if they matched it, they would have lost 18 million dollars on it over three years. Industry insiders feel that by doing the analysis, it weakens USA's claim that they feel they should only have to match the wrestling part of the deal offered by Viacom. Vince McMahon testified at the trial, saying that he was insulted by USA's offer. The judge was expected to hear final arguments, and promised to make a decision by the end of the month, although he has urged both sides to settle before then.
On June 27th, in Wilmington, Delaware, USA Networks, Inc. lost in its case against the World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc. and Viacom Inc. That meant the WWF television product (Raw is War / War Zone, Livewire, Superstars) would be moving to the Viacom owned channels MTV and TNN in September. The WWF's contract with USA for Sunday Night Heat, a separate deal, expired soon, and it was expected that the WWF would also bring the show to Viacom.
Chancellor William Chandler, made the ruling after hearing both sides present their cases, and after giving them the opportunity to settle, promised to make his decision before the end of the month. USA apparently turned down a multi-million dollar settlement offer to instead hope for a decision in their favor, and now got nothing. The network went into a tailspin from the case, with executives leaving, being reassigned, and the whole network reorganizing.
This court case would allow the WWF to break away from their longtime cable home, the USA Network.
