This Day In Wrestling History – June 11th

Jun 11, 2017 - by Bill Fenbers

1966Wilbur Snyder & Dick the Bruiser defeat The Assassins (Guy Mitchell & Joe Tomasso) to win the World Wrestling Association Tag Team Championship.

1975The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Gene & Ole Anderson) defeat Paul Jones & Wahoo McDaniel, to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship.

1976 – WWWF co-promoter Toots Mondt passes away at age 82.  He posthumously received the Legacy Award, at the 2017 WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.

1981Takashi Ishikawa & Akio Sato defeat The Von Erichs (David & Kevin), to win the AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship.

1983King Tonga & Gran Apolo defeat Buddy Landel & Terry Gibbs, to win the WWC North American Tag Team Championship.

1984Rick Rude defeats Jerry Lawler, to win the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship.  Elsewhere, Chris Adams defeats Kelly Kiniski, to win the vacant WCCW Television Championship.

1985Andre the Giant wins the NJPW International Wrestling Grand Prix Tournament, defeating Tatsumi Fujinami in the final.  Andre also won the tournament in 1982 when it was known as the MSG League.

1989The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) defeat The Southern Force (Black Bart & Tony Anthony), to win their third NWA Florida Tag Team Championship.

1993 – In Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Tracy Smothers defeats Tony Anthony, to win the vacant SMW Heavyweight Championship.

1998 – The third annual Ilio DiPaolo Memorial Show is held in Buffalo, NY in front of 15,395 fans.  The show was promoted by Ilio’s son Dennis in association with WCW.  All proceeds from the show were donated to local children’s charities.

Dean Malenko defeats Scotty Riggs, to retain the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.
Juventud Guerrera defeats Billy Kidman.
Booker T defeats Chris Benoit via disqualification.
Konnan defeats Scott Putski.
Saturn defeats Glacier.
The Giant & The Disciple fought Randy Savage & Lex Luger to a no-contest.
Bill Goldberg defeats Konnan, to retain the WCW United States Championship.
Kevin Nash & Diamond Dallas Page defeat Hulk Hogan & Bret Hart.

1999 – The annual Ilio DePaolo Memorial Show is held in Buffalo, NY in front of 10,034 fans.  This was the fourth and final event.  The show was promoted by Ilio’s son Dennis in association with WCW.  All proceeds from the show were donated to local children’s charities.

Jim Duggan defeats The Barbarian.
– In a Six Man Tag Team Match, La Parka, Psicosis, & Damien defeat Silver King, El Dandy, & Villano V.
Konnan defeats Disco Inferno.
Johnny Swinger defeats Evan Karagias.
Rey Misterio, Jr. & Billy Kidman defeat Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko.
Randy Savage defeats Ric Flair.
Sting defeats Diamond Dallas Page.

2000 – WCW’s annual Great American Bash is held in Baltimore in front of 7,031 fans.  This was the final Bash produced by WCW, though it would later be revived as a WWE pay-per-view.

Lt. Loco defeats Disqo, to retain the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.
KroniK (Brian Clark & Bryan Adams) defeat The Mamalukes (Big Vito & Johnny The Bull), to become #1 contenders for the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
Mike Awesome defeats Diamond Dallas Page (with Chris Kanyon), in an Ambulance Match.
GI Bro defeats Shawn Stasiak, in a Boot Camp Match.
Shane Douglas defeats The Wall, in a Best of Five Tables Match (Douglas put The Wall thru three tables all at once).
Scott Steiner (with Shakira & Midajah) defeats Rick Steiner & Tank Abbott, in a Handicap Asylum Match.
– In a match to determine the #1 contender for the World Heavyweight Championship.  Hollywood Hogan defeats Billy Kidman, with Horace Hogan as special guest referee.  Had Hogan lost, he would have been forced to retire.
Ric Flair defeats David Flair (with Vince Russo).  Had Ric lost, he would have been forced to retire.
Vampiro defeats Sting, in a Human Torch Match.
Jeff Jarrett defeated Kevin Nash, to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.  Ernest Miller as special guest enforcer.

2003Kim Nielsen, wrestling for NWA-TNA as Desire, suffers a suffered a back injury during an Xplosion match at the NWA-TNA pay-per-view.  Nielsen completed the match, but collapsed in the dressing room and was treated on the scene by a TNA trainer.  An ambulance was called and she was taken to a local hospital.  Nielsen had suffered a compression fracture of her L1 vertebrae, an injury that eventually ended her in-ring career.  She retired from in-ring competition in 2005.  In 2012, after her third pregnancy, Nielsen had put on a great amount of weight and would audition for NBC’s The Biggest Loser.  After weighing in at 252 pounds at season’s beginning, Nielsen finished as the season’s runner-up, and by the season finale had lost 118 pounds.

2003Masahito Kakihara wins the NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Tournament, defeating Koji Kanemoto in the final.

2003 – On the weekly NWA-TNA pay-per-view, AJ Styles defeats Jeff Jarrett and Raven in a Three-Way Match, to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

2005Steve Corino defeats Takao Omori, to win the AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship.

2006ECW One Night Stand is held at the Hammerstein Ballroom, in New York City, in front of 2,460 fans.  Unlike the previous year’s event, this year also featured WWE wrestlers and matches.  The ECW brand debuted shortly after this event.

Tazz defeats Jerry Lawler via submission.
Kurt Angle defeats Randy Orton via submission.
The FBI (Little Guido Maritato & Tony Mamaluke) defeat Yoshihiro Tajiri & Super Crazy.
– In an Extreme Rules Match, Rey Mysterio fought Sabu to a no-contest in an Extreme Rules Match.  Mysterio retains the World Heavyweight Championship.
– In Inter-gender Extreme Rules Tag Team Match, Mick Foley, Edge, & Lita defeat Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer, & Beulah McGillicutty.
Balls Mahoney defeats Masato Tanaka, in an Extreme Rules Match
– In another Extreme Rules Match, Rob Van Dam defeats John Cena, to win the WWE Championship.  This was also RVD’s Money In the Bank Title Shot that he had opted to cash in.

2007 – The WWE Draft Lottery is held live on RAW.  Each choice was determined by nine matches.  All three WWE Brands were represented (ECW, RAW, and SmackDown).  At the end of the night, Vince McMahon’s limo exploded as he was shown leaving the arena.  The Supplemental Draft was held on WWE.com on June 17th.

The Great Khali (with Ranjin Singh) were drafted to SmackDown.
The Boogeyman was drafted to ECW.
Booker T and Sharmell were drafted to RAW.
Chris Benoit was drafted to ECW.
Torrie Wilson was drafted to SmackDown
Chris Masters was drafted to SmackDown
Bobby Lashley was drafted to RAW.  As a result, Lashley was stripped of the ECW World Championship and the title is considered vacant.
Ric Flair was drafted to SmackDown.
Snitsky was drafted to RAW.
Mr. Kennedy was drafted to RAW.

2010 – Nexus member (and Season One NXT contestant) Daniel Bryan is fired by WWE, for being too violent on the June 7th RAW.  Bryan and the rest of the NXT Season One competitors had torn up the entire ringside area and attacked John Cena, CM Punk, and Luke Gallows.  The rookies also attacked other WWE personnel sitting ringside.  Bryan, at one point, choked ring announcer Justin Roberts with his own tie;  WWE deemed this too violent for a TV-PG program.

2015 – WWE Hall of Famer ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes passes away at the age of 69, after battling stomach cancer.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO:  2-time NWA United States Champion Magnum T.A. (58 years old);  former AWA World Tag Team Champion Mike Enos (54 years old);  4-time Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) Deathmatch Heavyweight Champion Shadow WX (48 years old);  and semi-retired indy wrestler Johnny Candido (35 years old).

Today would’ve been the 91st birthday for 5-time NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Champion Ed Francis.

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