This Week In Pro Wrestling History (October 5 – 11): TLC IV, The Drozdov Incident, First NWA Title Match In Japan: Lou Thesz vs. Rikidozan

Major Wrestling Events

ECW Ultimate Jeopardy – October 5, 1996

Some of the matches on the card included:

• Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Terry Gordy
• D-Von Dudley vs. Bubba Ray Dudley
• Shane Douglas (c) vs. Pitbull No. 2 for the ECW World Television Championship
• Tommy Dreamer & The Sandman vs. Stevie Richards & Brian Lee for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship

Image Credit: vsplanet.net

This PPV will forever be remembered for having the first ever Hell In A Cell match, as well as being the place where Kane made his debut with the company.

Some of the matches on the card included:

• The Legion Of Doom vs. Nation Of Domination in a Handicap match
• The Headbangers (c) vs. The Godwinns for the Tag Team Championships
• Faarooq vs. Owen Hart in a tournament final for the vacant Intercontinental Championship
• The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels in a Hell In A Cell match to determine the #1 contender for the WWF Championship

Heroes Of Wrestling – October 10, 1999

This was the first of four events organized by promoter Bill Stone as a way to take advantage of the sudden rise in popularity of pro wrestling, largely due to WWF’s “Attitude Era.” The event failed to reach even 30,000 PPV buys, and as a result all future shows were canceled.

Some of the matches on the card included:

• The Bushwackers vs. The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff
• Tully Blanchard vs. Stan Lane
• Jimmy Snuka vs. Bob Orton, Jr
• Jim Neidhart & King Kong Bundy b. Jake Roberts & Yokozuna

This event, although deemed a failure by most, will always be remembered for one particular incident involving Jake “The Snake” Roberts. He was scheduled to wrestle in the main event of the night, but beforehand he was first supposed to do a promo where he taunted his opponent, Jim Neidhart. Instead, Roberts delivered an incomprehensible speech, with the only line of plain english being “You don’t want to play cards with me because I cheat. Okay? I cheat. You wanna play 21? I’ve got 22. You want to play Blackjack? I’ve got two of those too!”

NWA 55th Anniversary Show – October 10 and 11, 2003

Some of the matches on the cards for each night included:

• Night One: Fergal Devitt vs. Spyder
• Night One: Sinn w/ Traci Brooks vs. Mason Hunter
• Night Two: Roderick Strong (c) vs. Jerrelle Clark vs. Danny Doring for the X Division Championship
  
• Night Two: America’s Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm) vs. The Naturals (Andy Douglas & Chase Stevens)

NWA 57th Anniversary Show – October 8, 2005

Some of the matches on the card included:

• Abyss vs. Chris Michaels
• Dru Onyx (c) vs. Fergal Devitt for the NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship
• Lexie Fyfe (c) vs. Christie Ricci vs. Tasha Simone in a Triple Threat match for the NWA World Women’s Championship
• Cassidy Riley & Eric Young vs. The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens) in a Nashville Street Fight for the NWA World Tag Team Championships

ROH Undeniable – October 6, 2007

Although the event didn’t air until January 18 of the next year, it was taped on October 6, and as a result that is when the title reigns are effective from.

Some of the matches on the card included:

• Daizee Haze vs. Sarah Del Rey
• Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong
• The Briscoe Brothers (c) vs. No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards & Rocky Romero) in a Tag Team match for the ROH World Tag Team Championships
• Takeshi Morishima (c) vs. Nigel McGuinness for the ROH World Championship

Image Credit: vsplanet.net

WWE No Mercy – October 7, 2007

Three WWE Championship matches took place in one night for Triple , and he fought on bravely in each of those, but it was ultimately the main event match that would be his undoing.

Some of the matches on the card included:

• Mr. Kennedy, Lance Cade, and Trevor Murdoch vs. Jeff Hardy, Paul London, and Brian Kendrick in a six man tag team match
• Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay
• Batista (c) vs. The Great Khali in a Punjabi Prison match for the World Heavyweight Championship
• Triple H (c) vs. Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match for the WWE Championship

The highest rating match of the PPV by Canadian Online Explorer was, not surprisingly, the Last Man Standing match which was given a 9 out of 10. The PPV overall scored a decent 7.5 out of 10.

Title Changes and Other Significant Events

October 5

- El Dandy d. Emilio Charles, Jr. for the CMLL World Middleweight Championship (1993)

- The Sandman wins his fourth ECW Championship in a tag team match at the Ultimate Jeopardy PPV which also included Tommy Dreamer, Stevie Richards, and Brian Lee (1996)

- Owen Hart d. Faarooq in a tournament final to win the vacant Intercontinental Championship (1997)

- The Godwinns d. The Headbangers for the WWF Tag Team Championships. They held the belts for two days (1997)

- In a match with D’Lo Brown at the Nassau Coliseum, Darren Drozdov is involved in a botched move and becomes paralyzed as a result (1999)

- Carlito d. John Cena for the United States Championship at a taping of Smackdown (2004)

October 6

- Esther Moreno d. Xochitl Hamada to become only the second ever AAA Reina de Reinas or “Queen of Queens” (1999)

- Nigel McGuinness d. Takeshi Morishima for the ROH World Heavyweight Championship at the Undeniable event. This was the start of a 545 day reign, the second longest in the title’s short history (2007)

- Makoto Hashi d. Kishin Kawabata for the GHC Openweight Hardcore Championship (2008)

October 7:

- Yvon Robert d. Bill Longson for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1942)

- Lou Thesz and Rikidozan wrestled to a one hour time limit draw in the first ever NWA World Heavyweight Championship match in Japan (1957)

- Wahoo McDaniel d. Manny Fernandez in a tournament final for his fifth NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (1984)

- Rockin’ Robin d. Sensational Sherri for the WWF Women’s Championship at an event in Paris, France (1988)

- Raven & Stevie Richards d. The Pit Bulls for the ECW Tag Team Championships, only to be beaten for the same titles later in the event by The Public Enemy in a Three Way match that also included The Gangstas (1995)

- The Legion Of Doom d. The Godwinns for the WWF Tag Team Championships (1997)

- Juventud Guerrera was arrested after being found in a hotel hallway naked and in a rage. He then attacked police when they arrived on the scene. It was later revealed that he was under the influence of PCP. As a result of what happened, Guerrera was sent home early from the WCW tour that he was on and was later let go from the promotion (2000)

- Shocker d. Villano III for the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship (2001)

- TLC IV takes place on an episode of RAW where Kane defends the Tag Team Championships by himself against three other tag teams (2002)

- Beth Phoenix d. Candice Michelle for the WWE Women’s Championship at the No Mercy PPV (2007)

October 8

- Evelyn Stevens ended the 947 day reign of Fabulous Moolah and won the NWA World Women’s Championship. This title change isn’t recognized by WWE, and she only held the belt for two days (1978)

- The York Foundation (Ricky Morton, Tommy Rich, & Terrance Taylor) b. Big Josh, Dustin Rhodes, & Tom Zenk for the WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. They ended up being the last champions before the title was retired the next month (1991)

- The Hardy Boyz d. Test & Booker T for the WCW Tag Team Championships (2001)

- Steve Austin d. Kurt Angle for the WWF Championship on an episode of RAW (2001)

- The Naturals d. Eric Young & Cassidy Riley for the NWA World Tag Team Championships at the NWA 57th Anniversary Show (2005)

- Christie Ricci d. Lexie Fyfe for the NWA World Women’s Championship (2005)

October 9

- Jack Brisco d. Terry Funk in a tournament final for the Georgia National Heavyweight Championship (1980)

- Triple H vacated the Intercontinental Championship because of injury (1998)

- Corporal Cajun & Lt. Loco d. Mark Jindrak & Sean O’Haire for the WCW Tag Team Championships, only to be beaten by the original champions later that night (2000)

- Billy Kidman d. X-Pac for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship (2001)

- Syxx-Pac won a seven man Ladder match for the vacant X Division Championship (2002)

- Juventud Guerrera d. Nunzio for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship at the No Mercy PPV (2005)

October 10

- Ed “Strangler” Lewis d. Jack Sherry for the New York World Heavyweight Championship (1932)

- Fabulous Moolah d. Evelyn Stevens to start a 2113 day reign with the NWA World Women’s Championship (1978)

- Nick Bockwinkel d. Otto Wanz for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1982)

- La Diabolica d. Xochitl Hamada for the CMLL World Women’s Championship (1993)

- Chris Benoit d. Mr. Kennedy at a taping of Friday Night Smackdown to win his fifth United States Championship, which turned out to be his last ever title belt (2006)

October 11

- Ronnie Garvin d. Ted DiBiase for the Georgia National Heavyweight Championship (1984)

- Bill Dundee & Jerry Lawler d. Doug Somers & Soldat Ustinov for the AWA Tag Team Championships (1987)

- America’s Most Wanted (James Storm & Chris Harris) d. The Naturals for the NWA World Tag Team Championships (2005)

Birthdays

El Faraon - October 5, 1947 (Source: Wrestlezone)

Terri Runnels - October 5, 1966 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

Bruno Sammartino - October 6, 1935 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

Barry Darsow - October 6, 1959 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

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Dixie Carter - October 6, 1964 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

Rhino - October 7, 1975 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

Paul Burchill - October 8, 1979 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

The Miz - October 8, 1980 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

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Stevie Richards - October 9, 1971 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

Sam Houston - October 11, 1963 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

Rikishi - October 11, 1966 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

Scorpio, Jr. - October 11, 1966 (Source: Luchaworld)

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Tony Chimel - October 11, 1967 (Source: WWE)

Taz - October 11, 1967 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

Andy Douglas - October 11, 1978 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

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Posthumous Birthdays

Yvon Robert - October 8, 1914 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

Art Barr - October 8, 1966 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

Eddie Guerrero - October 9, 1967 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

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Deaths

Brian Pillman - October 5, 1997 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

Antonio Pena - October 5, 2006 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

Gorilla Monsoon - October 6, 1999 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)

Chris Adams - October 7, 2001 (Source: Online World Of Wrestling)