This Day In Wrestling History – March 24th
Happy birthday, Lana!!
1968 – George & Sandy Scott defeat Doc & Mike Gallagher, to win the American Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship.
1973 – One day before his 22nd birthday, Jumbo Tsuruta makes his professional wrestling debut in El Paso, Texas.
1978 – Dale Valentine defeats Al Madril, to win the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship.
1986 – Lance Von Erich defeats Buddy Roberts, to win the WCWA Television Championship.
1989 – Davey Boy Smith defeats Don Muraco, to win Stampede Wrestling’s North American Heavyweight Championship.
1990 – Abdullah the Butcher defeats TNT, to win the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship.
1991 – WrestleMania VII is held at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, in front of 16,158 fans. The event changed venues from the 92,000-plus seat Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, to the 16,740 seat Memorial Sports Arena. WWF stated that this was due to threats against the company over Sgt Slaughter’s Iraqi sympathizer gimmick during The Gulf War. The generally accepted reason is lower-than-expected ticket sales.
Dark Match:
– Koko B. Ware defeats The Brooklyn Brawler.
PPV:
– The Rockers (Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels) defeat Haku & The Barbarian (with Bobby Heenan).
– The Texas Tornado defeats Dino Bravo (with Jimmy Hart).
– The British Bulldog defeats The Warlord (with Slick).
– The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) (with Jimmy Hart) win the WWF Tag Team Championship, after defeating The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart).
– Jake Roberts defeats Rick Martel, in a Blindfold Match.
– The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) makes his first WrestleMania appearance, defeating Jimmy Snuka.
– The Ultimate Warrior defeats Randy Savage (with Queen Sherri); per match stipulation Savage is forced to retire from pro wrestling.
– Genichiro Tenryu & Koji Kitao defeat Demolition (Crush & Smash) (with Mr. Fuji)
– The Big Boss Man defeats Mr Perfect (with Bobby Heenan) via disqualification. Mr. Perfect retains the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
– Earthquake (with Jimmy Hart) defeats Greg Valentine.
– The Legion of Doom (Hawk & Animal) defeat Power & Glory (Hercules & Paul Roma) (with Slick).
– Virgil (with Roddy Piper) defeats Ted DiBiase via countout.
– The Mountie (with Jimmy Hart) defeats Tito Santana.
– Hulk Hogan defeats Sgt. Slaughter (with General Adnan) to win the WWF Championship for the 3rd time.
1992 – Triple H makes his professional wrestling debut, in Killer Kowalski’s International Wrestling Federation (IWF).
1994 – At Day 16 of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Hyper Battle 1994, Rick Rude defeats Hiroshi Hase, to win the WCW International Heavyweight Championship.
1996 – The Great Sasuke defeats Aero Flash, to win the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship.
1996 – WCW Uncensored is held in Tupelo, Mississippi for the second straight year. A crowd of 9,000 was on hand, a significant increase from the 5,782 for the 1995 event. In the main event, the reunited Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage) win the Doomsday Cage Match. Hogan & Savage defeat the eight-man team called The Alliance To End Hulkamania (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Meng, The Barbarian, Lex Luger, Z-Gangsta, Kevin Sullivan & The Ultimate Solution).
1997 – In the Monday Night Wars, WCW Monday Nitro (3.0 TV rating) beats WWF RAW IS WAR (2.5 rating).
2001 – In Ohio Valley Wrestling, Flash Flanagan defeats Randy Orton, to win the OVW Hardcore Championship.
2002 – In a tournament final, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Masahiro Chono defeat Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata, to win the vacant IWGP Tag Team Championship.
2003 – William Regal vacates his half of the World Tag Team Championship after suffering an injury. His partner, Lance Storm, keeps his half of the Title. Chief Morley awards the other half to himself.
2003 – Bill Goldberg, a two-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, signs a one-year contract with WWE. He would debut on RAW March 31st, one night after WrestleMania XIX.
2014 – On this evening’s Monday Night RAW, Scott Hall/Razor Ramon is announced as the seventh and final inductee, into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2014. While never holding the World Championship in WWF/E or WCW, he was a 4-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, and a 7-time WCW World Tag Team Champion.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: Ravishing Russian Lana (32 years old); former WWE World Heavyweight Champion, United States Champion, & ECW Champion Jack Swagger (35 years old); future WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker (52 years old); current ROH World Champion Christopher Daniels (46 years old); former WWE Tag Team Champion Epico (35 years old); and former WWF jobber Barry Horowitz (57 years old).
Today would’ve been the 102nd birthday for WWE Hall of Famer Gorgeous George.
SOURCES: Jumbo Tsuruta on Wikipedia, Scott Hall on Wikipedia, wrestlingdata.com, gerweck.net,
