This Day In Wrestling History – March 9th

Trivia

2001 – ECW officially cancelled the March 11th “Living Dangerously” Pay-per-view, which comes as little surprise, since there was no venue booked, no television to promote it, & obviously no tickets available. It had been well over a month since the last ECW show was held, & ECW owner Paul Heyman was appearing on WWE Monday Night Raw as color commentator

2008 – Chyna signed on to appear on NBC’s “Celebrity Circus” reality series

2009 – WWE released Kizarny & Afa Anoai, who had been working as a consultant for the company

2009 – WWE announced Koko B. Ware will be inducted into the 2009 class of the WWE Hall of Fame

2012 – Jerry Lynn announced that he intended to retire at the end of the year, although that is eventually pushed to March 2013 to coincide with the 25th Anniversary of his in-ring debut

Events

In 2008, TNA Destination X was the 1st PPV to feature the TNA Knockouts Title as opposed to the TNA Women’s Title. It was held at the Norfolk Scope, in Norfolk, Virginia:

– The Latin American Exchange (Hernandez & Homicide) (with Salinas) defeated The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley), & The Rock N’ Rave Infection (Lance Hoyt & Jimmy Rave) (with Christy Hemme) in a 3-way tag team match to determine the #1 contenders to the TNA World Tag Team Titles
– Jay Lethal defeated Petey Williams to retain the TNA X-Division Title
– Eric Young & Kaz defeated Black Reign (Dustin Rhodes) & Rellik
– Awesome Kong (with Raisha Saeed) defeated Gail Kim & ODB in a 3-Way Match to retain the TNA Knockout’s Title
– Curry Man & Shark Boy defeated Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon) (with Johnny Devine) in a Fish Market Street Fight
– Robert Roode (with Payton Banks) defeated Booker T (with Traci Brooks)
– Rhino defeated James Storm (with Jackie Moore) in an Elevation X Match
– The Unlikely Alliance (Samoa Joe, Kevin Nash & Christian Cage) defeated The Angle Alliance (Kurt Angle, AJ Styles & Tomko)

In 1996, Night two of ECW’s “Big Ass Extreme Bash” weekend took place at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

– JT Smith defeated Axl Rotten
– Bad Crew vs. El Puerto Ricano & Damien Stone ended in a no-contest when Brian Pillman & Philadelphia Eagle Harry Boatswain came out &  ran off both men. Pillman & Shane Douglas engaged in a verbal confrontation, but Pillman left when Douglas came to the ring
– ECW World Tag Team Champions The Eliminators defeated Buh Buh Ray Dudley & Hack Myers
– Chris Jericho defeated Taz via DQ when refused to release the Tazmission following a submission win. Taz finally released the hold when Brian Pillman ran in, although the two never locked up. Shane Douglas then ran out, & Pillman escaped through the crowd
– Rey Misterio Jr. defeated Juventud Guerrera in a best two-out-of-three fall match when Mysterio reversed Splash Mountain (second rope Razor’s Edge) into a rana for the win in the third fall.  It would prove to be the final ECW bout for both Mysterio & Guerrera
– In his final ECW match, Cactus Jack defeated Mikey Whipwreck with a piledriver on a chair. Following the match, Cactus was given a standing ovation from the crowd, then he gave a heartfelt speech about ECW, before fulfilling his “last wish”, which was strutting out of the arena with Stevie Richards & The Blue Meanie
– The Pitbulls vs. The Bruise Brothers ended in a no-contest after interference from Stevie Richards & The Blue Meanie, then interference from Tommy Dreamer
– Sabu defeated Big Titan
– ECW World Champion Raven defeated Shane Douglas after a DDT onto a chair. Post match there was a brawl with Raven & The Bruise Brothers facing off against Tommy Dreamer, Sandman, & Shane Douglas
– The Gangstas defeated The Sandman & 2 Cold Scorpio & The Headhunters in a 3 Way Dance

Title Changes

1988 – Footloose (Samson Fuyuki & Toshiaki Kawada) defeated Mighty Inoue & Takashi Ishikawa to win the AJPW All Asia Tag Team Titles

1991 – The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott) defeated The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin) to win the WCW Tag Team Titles. This title change was actually recorded on February 18th, 6 days before The Freebirds won the titles!

2002 – Dan Severn defeated Shinya Hashimoto to win the NWA World Title

2009 – on Raw, JBL defeated CM Punk to win the WWE Intercontinental Title

Birthdays

Happy birthday to former NWA US and Television Champion Nikita Koloff (56), tag team legend Rick Steiner (54), former WWF wrestler Tiger Ali Singh (42), 3-time CMLL Tag Team Champion Averno (38), one-time AJPW All Asia Tag Champion Koki Kitahara (51), & former WWE Women’s & Divas Champion Melina (36)

Also, today would have been the birthday of former AWA Tag Team Champion Tor Kamata (78)

In Memoriam

In 1993, Eddie Creatchman, best known for his work as a manager in Canada & Detroit, where he handled such stars as Abdullah The Butcher & The Sheik, passes away of a heart attack at the age of 66