This Day In Wrestling History – July 13th

Trivia

1995 – Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit) won the NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Tournament, defeating Shinjiro Otani in the final

1998 – The Monday Night War continued: WWF Monday Night Raw defeated WCW Monday Nitro: 4.7 to 4.5 in the ratings

2007 – Memorial services for Nancy “Woman” Benoit & her son Daniel were held in Daytona Beach, Florida

2009 – WWE dropped the Cyber Sunday PPV name, replacing it with Bragging Rights, which would debut in October of that year

2011 – Ring of Honor announced they signed Tomasso Ciampa to a contract

2011 – “Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity” playwright Kristoffer Diaz received The New York Times‘ Outstanding Playwright Awards for 2011.

Events

In 1996, ECW Heat Wave was held live at the ECW Arena, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With an attendance of 1,500. This was an internet only show:

– The Gangstas (New Jack & Mustafa Saed) fought Samoans Gangstas Party (L.A. Smooth & Sammy The Silk) to a no contest
– Mikey Whipwreck defeated Paul Lauria
– The Eliminators (John Kronus & Perry Saturn) defeated Sabu & Mikey Whipwreck to retain the ECW World Tag Team Titles
– The Dudley Boyz (Buh Buh Ray & Big Dick Dudley) defeated The Full Blooded Italians (JT Smith & Little Guido)
– Tarzan Goto defeated Axl Rotten
– Shane Douglas defeated Chris Jericho, Pitbull #2, & 2 Cold Scorpio to win the ECW World Television Title
– Sabu defeated Louie Spicolli
– The Sandman, Terry Gordy, & Tommy Dreamer defeated Brian Lee, Stevie Richards, & Raven in a Steel Cage Match

In 1997, WCW Bash At The Beach was held at the Ocean Center, in Daytona Beach, Florida. With an attendance of 6,354:

– Mortis & Wrath (with James Vandenberg) defeated Glacier & Ernest Miller. This was Glacier’s 1st defeat in WCW
– Chris Jericho defeated Ultimo Dragon to retain the WCW Cruiserweight Title
– The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott) defeated The Great Muta & Masahiro Chono
– Juventud Guerrera, Lizmark Jr., & Hector Garza defeated Psychosis, La Parka, & Villano IV
– Chris Benoit defeated The Taskmaster (with Jacqueline) in a Retirement Match
– Jeff Jarrett defeated Steve McMichael (with Queen Debra) to retain the WCW United States Title
– Scott Hall & Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth) defeated Diamond Dallas Page & Curt Hennig (with Kimberly Page)
– Roddy Piper defeated Ric Flair
– Lex Luger & The Giant defeated Dennis Rodman & Hollywood Hogan (with Randy Savage)

In 2008, TNA Victory Road was held at Reliant Arena, in Houston, Texas. With an attendance of 3,000:

– Team TNA (Curry Man, Alex Shelley, & Chris Sabin) defeated Team International (Alex Koslov, Doug Williams, & Tyson Dux), Team Japan (Milano Collection AT, Masato Yoshino, & Puma), & Team Mexico (Ultimo Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, & Averno) in an Elimination Tag Team Match in the World X Cup Tournament
– Gail Kim defeated Angelina Love (with Velvet Sky)
– Sonjay Dutt defeated Jay Lethal (with SoCal Val)
– The LAX (Homicide & Hernandez) (with Salinas & Hector Guerrero) defeated Beer Money Inc (James Storm & Robert Roode) (with Jackie Moore) in a Fans Revenge Lumberjack Match to retain the TNA Tag Team Titles
– Taylor Wilde defeated Awesome Kong (with Raisha Saed) to retain the TNA Knockouts Title
– Volador Jr. defeated Kaz, Naruki Doi, & Daivari in in an Ultimate X Match to win the World X Cup for Team Mexico
– Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon), & Kurt Angle defeated AJ Styles, Christian Cage, & Rhino in a Full Metal Mayhem Match
– Samoa Joe fought Booker T to a no-contest to retain the TNA World Title. Booker pinned Joe but, due to outside interference, was stripped of the title on Impact. He still held the physical belt until Hard Justice in August

In 2013, WWE Money In The Bank was held at the Wells Fargo Center, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With an attendance of 15,000:

– The Shield (Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) defeated The Usos (Jimmy & Jey) to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles
– Damien Sandow defeated Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Fandango (with Summer Rae), Dean Ambrose, Jack Swagger, & Antonio Cesaro (with Zeb Colter) in a Money In The Bank Ladder Match to earn a World Title Match contract
– Curtis Axel (with Paul Heyman) defeated The Miz to retain the WWE Intercontinental Title
– AJ Lee (with Big E Langston) defeated Kaitlyn (with Layla) to retain the WWE Diva’s Title
– Ryback defeated Chris Jericho
– Alberto Del Rio defeated Dolph Ziggler via DQ to retain the World Heavyweight Title
– John Cena defeated Mark Henry to retain the WWE Title
– Randy Orton defeated Rob Van Dam, Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Christian, & Sheamus in a Money In The Bank Ladder Match to earn a WWE Title Match contract

Title Changes

1945 – Dave Levin defeated Bobby Managoff to win the NWA Texas Heavyweight Title in Houston, Texas

1970 – Sputnik Monroe defeated Danny Hodge to win the NWA Junior Heavyweight Title

1979 – Dick Murdoch defeated Dick The Bruiser to win back the NWA Missouri Heavyweight title in St. Louis, Missouri

1982 – Mr Fuji & Mr Saito defeated Jules & Chief Jay Strongbow to win the WWF Tag Team Titles

1989 – Riki Choshu & Takayuki Iizuka defeated George Takano & Super Strong Machine to win the IWGP Tag Team Titles

1991 – The Lightning Kid (Sean Waltman) defeated Jerry Lynn to win a tournament to crown the 1st Global Wrestling Federation Light Heavyweight Champion in Dallas, Texas

1992 – Ricky Morton defeated Eddie Gilbert to win the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Title

1995 – Junji Hirata & Shinya Hashimoto defeated Mike Enos & Scott Norton to win the vacant IWGP Tag Team Titles

1997 – Doomsday (WWE’s Kane) defeated Spellbinder to win the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee

1998 – on Raw, Kane & Mankind defeated The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn & Road Dogg) to win the WWF Tag Team Titles

1999 – Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa defeated Jushin Liger & The Great Sasuke to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles

2002 – the 24/7 Rule on the WWE Hardcore Title sees the belt pass from Bradshaw to Justin Credible, to Shawn Stasiak, & back to Bradshaw

2007 – Ultimo Guerrero & Dr. Wagner Jr. defeated Negro Casas & Mistico to win the CMLL Tag Team Titles

2008 – Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki defeated KENTA & Taiji Ishimori to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles

2010 – AJ Styles defeated Rob Terry to win the TNA Global Title. Also, Madison Rayne is awarded the TNA Knockouts Title after threatening to sue TNA over the controversial finish to her title loss at Victory Road the previous Sunday

Birthdays

Happy birthday to indy hardcore star Necro Butcher (41), 2-time ECW Tag Team Champion Chris Michaels (54), former WWF & WCW Tag Team Champion Sean Waltman (43), Canadian midget Claude ‘Dink’ Giroux (59), former ROH star Grizzly Redwood (42), & one-time WCW Women’s Champion Akira Hokuto (48)

Also, today would have been the birthday of one-time CZW Tag Team Champion Chri$ Ca$h (32), & former NWA regular Tony Borne (89)