This Day in Wrestling History – June 26th

Trivia

2000 – The Monday Night War continued: WWF Monday Night Raw defeated WCW Monday Nitro:  6.4 to 2.4 in the ratings

2000 – Mick Foley was named WWF Commissioner during an edition of Raw

2007 – FCW promoted it’s 1st show as WWE’s new development territory

Events

In 2005, WWE Vengeance, held at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada. With an attendance of 9,850. It was a Raw-exclusive event, though it did feature Smackdown superstar Kurt Angle. At this point, Raw had both World Champions on it’s roster. However, 4 days later, Batista was drafted to Smackdown, taking the World Heavyweight Title with him:

Sunday Night Heat:
– Rosey & The Hurricane (with Super Stacy) defeated The Heart Throbs (Romeo & Antonio) to retain the WWE World Tag Team Titles
PPV:
– Carlito defeated Shelton Benjamin to retain the WWE Intercontinental Title
– Victoria defeated Christy Hemme
– Kane defeated Edge (with Lita)
– Shawn Michaels defeated Kurt Angle
– John Cena defeated Christian & Chris Jericho in a Triple Threat Match to retain the WWE Title
– Batista defeated Triple H in a Hell In A Cell Match to retain the World Heavyweight Title

In 2011, ROH Best In The World was held in New York City:

– Homicide defeats Rhino in a No Holds Barred Match
– El Generico defeats Christopher Daniels to win the ROH Television Title
– Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin) defeat The Briscoe Brothers (Mark & Jay), The All Night Express (Rhett Titus & Kenny King), & The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) in a Four-Way Elimination Match to retain the ROH Tag Team Titles
– Davey Richards defeated Eddie Edwards to win the ROH World Title

Title Changes

1961 – Hard Boiled Haggerty defeated his former partner, Gene Kiniski, for control of their AWA World Tag Team Title in St. Paul, Minnesota. Haggerty chose Bob Geigel as his new partner

1968 – Peter Maivia & Billy White Wolf defeated Curtis Iaukea & Ripper Collins to win the NWA Hawaii Tag Team Title in Honolulu, Hawaii

1973 – Johnny Valentine defeated Ron Fuller to win the Florida version of the NWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Tampa, Florida

1975 – Antonio Inoki defeated Tiger Jeet Singh to win the National Wrestling Federation World Heavyweight Title in Tokyo, Japan

1982 – Bret Hart defeated Leo Burke to win the  Stampede North American Heavyweight Title

1982 – Invader I & Pierre Martel defeated The Kangaroos (Don Kent & Johnny Heffernan) to win the WWC World Tag Team Title in San Juan, Puerto Rico

1983 – The Sheik’s Army (Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera) defeated The High Flyers (Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne) to win the AWA World Tag Team Title in Minneapolis, Minnesota

1987 – Frankie Lancaster & Eric Embry defeated The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers) to win the WCCW World Tag Team Titles

1988 – Bull Nakano defeated Yumiko Hotta in the finals of the fourth-annual AJW Grand Prix Tournament in Tokyo, Japan

1992 – The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott) defeated Big, Bad & Dangerous (Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow) to win the IWGP Tag Team Titles. Also, El Samurai defeats Jushin Liger to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title

1995 – Billy Jack Haynes defeated Brian Christopher to win the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee

2001 – on Smackdown, Albert defeated Kane in a No-DQ Match to win the WWF Intercontinental Title

2001 – Tom Howard defeated Tony Jones to win the UPW Southern California Title in Santa Ana, California

Birthdays

Happy birthday to WWE Hall of Famer JJ Dillon (73), 2-time WCW Tag Team Champion Mark Jindrak (38), ChickFight VIII winner Wesna Busic (32), former WWF wrestler & famed trainer ‘Pretty Boy’ Larry Sharpe (64), former WWE announcer Matt Striker (41), &  2-time AAA Reina de Reinas Lady Apache (45)

In Memoriam

On this day in 1992, the wrestling world lost the 1st WWWF World Champion Buddy Rogers at the age of 71. Rogers began wrestling at his local YMCA at age 9 and became a regular champion in several sports in Camden YMCA competitions. He joined the circus as a wrestler aged 17 before joining the promotion owned by Ray & Frank Hanley. His early career took him from his native New Jersey to Houston (where he gained the Buddy Rogers moniker) and from there to Columbus (where he became known as ‘The Nature Boy’). The dawn of the television era saw him competing for Sam Muchnick in St Louis, where he and Lou Thesz were billed as the top 2 competitors. In 1961, he defeated Pat O’Connor to win the NWA World Title & set a North American wrestling attendance record that would be unbeaten until 1984. However, controversy soon ignited. Rogers was seen to favor northeastern promoters over other territories and despite being the national champion, rarely competed in the south. The situation came to a head in 1963. Rogers was to lose the NWA World Title to Lou Thesz, but the northeastern promoters were not happy about the decision, as Thesz was not a popular wrestler in their territories. Soon after the match, Vince McMahon and Toots Mondt seceded from the NWA to form the WWWF and announced Rogers as their champion. However, Rogers suffered a mild-heart attack shortly after his crowning, and was forced to drop the title to Bruno Sammartino. With his health failing, he made only bit-part appearances until he broke his hip in a WWF match in 1978, forcing his total retirement. He remained an active figure behind the scenes in several promotions until the 1990′s, when his health took a turn for the worse. It was a series of strokes that ultimately claimed his life