This Day In Wrestling History – March 7th

Trivia

1999 – Cibernetico wins the AAA Rey de Reyes Tournament, defeating Octagon, Latin Lover & Electroshock

Events

In 1969, The WWWF held an event at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York:

– Irish Jackie & Little Beaver defeated Little Brutus & Sky Low Low in a two-out-of-three falls match
– Thunderbolt Patterson defeated Tom Branden
– Bulldog Brower defeated Louis Cerdan
– Johnny Rodz defeated Bob Harmon
– Baron Mikel Scicluna & John L. Sullivan (Johnny Valiant) fought to a draw
– WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino defeated Killer Kowalski via countout to retain the title

In 1973, Championship Wrestling from Florida held an event at the Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida:

– Scott Casey & Ron Starr fought to a draw
– Jose Azzeri & Treach Phillips fought to a draw
– NWA Florida Women’s Champion Bonnie Watson defeated Kathy O’Day to retain the title
– NWA Florida Tag Team Champions Mike Graham & Kevin Sullivan defeated Gorgeous George, Jr. & Ron Wright to retain the title
– Paul Jones defeated Florida NWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Mr. Kleen via DQ. Kleen retained the title
– NWA Florida Heavyweight Champion Buddy Colt defeated Mark Lewin to retain the title

In 1982, The Cadillac Tournament was held at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario:

First round:
– Jimmy Valiant defeated Tim Gerard
– Austin Idol defeated Jake Roberts
– Johnny Weaver defeated Jay Youngblood
– Jesse Ventura defeated Mike Rotundo
– Big John Studd defeated John Bonello
– Blackjack Mulligan, Jr. (Barry Windham) defeated The Destroyer (Dick Beyer) via DQ
– Ricky Steamboat defeated Adrian Adonis
– Roddy Piper defeated Dino Bravo
Quarterfinals:
– Jimmy Valiant defeated Austin Idol
– Jesse Ventura defeated Johnny Weaver
– Blackjack Mulligan, Jr. and Big John Studd fought to a double-countout
– Ricky Steamboat defeated Roddy Piper, however, Steamboat was assaulted and injured by Roddy Piper after the match, leaving Steamboat unable to continue in the tournament. This changed Valiant & Ventura’s semifinal match to the tournament final
Finals:
– Jimmy Valiant defeated Jesse Ventura to win the Cadillac Tournament

Title Changes

1939 – Dean Detton defeated Lou Plummer to win the San Francisco Pacific Coast Heavyweight Title in San Francisco, California.

1940 – Ray Steele defeated Bronko Nagurski to win the National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title in St. Louis, Missouri

1953 – Gorgeous George defeated Don McIntyre to win the Georgia NWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Atlanta, Georgia

1961 – Eddie Graham defeated Buddy Austin to win the Florida NWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Tampa, Florida

1963 – Buddy Austin & Great Scott defeated Buddy Rogers & Johnny Barend to win the WWWF United States Tag Team Titles

1967 – NWA International Heavyweight Champion Giant Baba fought WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino to a draw in a two-out-of-three falls match to retain his title. Each man 1 a fall each by pinfall with bodypresses, taking just over a half-hour in total. The match ended in a draw when the third fall reached the 60-minute time limit for the match. The WWWF title was not at stake In Tokyo, Japan

1969 – Alex Perez & Ramon Torres defeated Karl von Stronheim & Treacherous Phillips to win the TSW United States Tag Team Titles

1970 – Baron Von Raschke defeated Dick The Bruiser to win the World Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title in Chicago, Illinois

1981 – The Moondogs (Rex & King) defeated Tony Garea & Rick Martel to win the WWF Tag Team Titles

1983 – Dino Bravo defeated Billy Robinson to win the International Wrestling International Heavyweight Title in Montreal, Quebec

1983 – Stagger Lee (Koko B. Ware) defeated Bobby Eaton to win the NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee

1984 – Mark Youngblood wins a tournament to win the vacant NWA Television Title

1987 – Lazer Tron defeated Denny Brown to win the NWA Junior Heavyweight Title

1994 – Mike Furnas defeated Killer Kyle to win the SMW Television Title

1995 – Ricky Fuji & Hisakatsu Ooya defeated Yukihiro Kanemura & Mr. Pogo for the FMW World Brass Knuckles Tag Team Title in Iwate, Japan

1999 – Michael Hayes defeated Baldo (A-Train/Tensai) in a tag team match to win the Power Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Title, with Hayes & Brandon Baxter against Baldo & Randy Hales  in Jonesboro, Arkansas

1999 – Ringo Mendoza defeated El Satanico to end his 4+ year reign as CMLL World Middleweight Champion

2001 – Tommy Dreamer defeated Scott D’Amore & Rhino in a 3-way match to win the Border City Wrestling Can-Am Heavyweight Title, which was stripped from Sabu that day, in Oldcastle, Ontario

Birthdays

Happy birthday to one-time AJPW All Asia Tag Team Champion Nobutaka Araya (47), former WWE & TNA personality Bruce Prichard (52), former WCW personalities Sgt. Craig Pittman (56), & Tylene ‘Major Gunns’ Buck (43)

In Memoriam

On this day in 1989, the wrestling world lost famed promoter Paul Boesch at the age of 76. Boesch wrestled for a brief time, competing in the 1930′s, before enlisting in the army to serve in World War II. Upon his return to America, he resumed his wrestling career, only to suffer a serious car accident in 1947, which ended his in-ring career. He began his promoting career as an assistant to Houston promoter Morris Sigel, later becoming the promotion’s first television commentator. Upon Sigel’s death, Boesch bought the promotion & would go on to run it for over 20 years. Boesch became highly respected, both for his promoting ability & perhaps most notably, his honesty. He affiliated with major promotions such as the WWF, World Class, UWF & Mid-South, ensuring that his comparatively small promotion showcased some of the nation’s top stars, During the nationalisation of wrestling, Boesch began to lose many of his affiliates, either to the NWA, or through total closure, & eventually, he shut down the promotion & signed with the WWF. However, this arrangement didn’t last long, & Boesch retired just four months later. The WWF held a retirement show in his honor, which drew 12000 fans & featured the reading of a telegram from then Vice-President, George Bush, praising Boesch. After 2 years away from the spotlight, Boesch died of a heart attack at his home in Sugar Land, Texas. He has since been posthumously inducted into the Wrestling Observer & Professional Wrestling Halls of Fame, & Jim Ross has made repeated calls for him to be inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame. Interestingly, Boesch is credited with having invented mud wrestling, having booked Gus Sonnenberg & Harnam Singh into such a match in Seattle

In 2002, Troy Thompson, Jr., better known to Memphis wrestling fans as “Dream Machine” Troy Graham, dies of a heart attack at age 47