On This Day In Wrestling History: Wrestlemania V

Craig Wilson

25 years ago on this day Trump Plaza was the venue, for the second consecutive year, for Wrestlemania 5. Plenty on the go here, The Mega Powers explode in the main event as Macho Man Randy Savage defends against Hulk Hogan,

On This Day in Wrestling History: Wrestlemania XX

Gary Henderson

It’s been ten years since Wrestle Mania XX – where it all began again.

WMXX (this is what I’m calling it from now on because I’m laze with typo) was a strange and wonderful clusterfuck of an event that involved about 300 wrestlers, 70 matches and one main-eventer who went on to murder his family. It had everything.

I remember I never used to really rate this show that much but as the years have gone on – and marked against the curve of the last three or four woefully underwhelming Wrestlemania’s – it actually stands up pretty well. Let’s do it;

15 Years Ago Today: St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

Jamie Lithgow

Not only is today International Love Day, aka Valentine’s Day, but it is also a very important anniversary. Yes, today is the 30^th anniversary of Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean’s gold medal triumph at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. However, not to take anything away from ice skating, but we hardly care about that kind of nonsense on this blog. Therefore I am celebrating another important date in history: The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. No, not the gang land shooting involving Al Capone, I am of course referring to the professional wrestling PPV featuring Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, The Blue Meanie and many more of the Attitude Era’s top players.

30 Years Ago Today: Hulk Hogan wins the WWF title

Brian Damage, Jamie Lithgow & Craig Wilson

Hulk Hogan wearing the original Big Green WWF
Championship belt shortly after winning it in 1984 (Image courtesy of http://www.wildcatbelts.com/)

On this day in 1984 one of the most significant moments in WWE history took place when Hulk Hogan pinned The Iron Sheik to become the new champion. It was a moment that gave birth to Hulkamania and saw the then WWF go from a North-East territory to a global phenomenon.

This month we’ve counted down to that momentous occasion and with it being the 30th anniversary of that match Craig, Brian and Jamie share their take on the match and its significance.

20 Years Ago Today: Bret Hart and Lex Luger win the Royal Rumble

Craig Wilson

(Image courtesy of http://www.movieposterdb.com)

Recently on here we’e looked ahead to the 30th anniversary of Hulk Hogan’s first WWF title win and the birth of Hulkamania. However, it would be remiss not to focus on an event that happened exactly 20 years ago today in the WWF.

On this day in 1994 the Providence Civic Center, Providence Rhode Island, played host to the Royal Rumble with 30 men vying to be the man to take on the reigning WWF Champion Yokozuna. In a surprise twist, it would be two superstars that won that opportunity: Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart and Lex Luger.

On This Day in Wrestling History: WWF One Night Only

Craig Wilson

(Image courtesy of wikipedia.org)

On this day in 1997 the WWF hosted the UK PPPV ‘One Night Only’ headlined by the European Champion British Bulldog defending against Shawn Michaels. UK based WWF PPVs tend to largely to average at best but this is a fantastic show, a solid 4.5 out of five show and that’s despite three matches in the middle that were poor.

Elsewhere on the show, Bret Hart defended the WWF title against The Undertaker, The Headbangers put their titles on the line against Los Boricuas, Vader met Owen Hart and LOD fought The Godwinns,

Champion Roll Call:

WWF Champion: Bret Hart
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Vacant
WWF Tag Team Champions: The Headbangers
WWF European Champion: The British Bulldog

On This Day in Wrestling History: Summerslam 1997

Craig Wilson

Summerslam 1997 poster (Image courtesy of Bleacher Report)

Our Summerslam hype begins in earnest today as I look at Summerslam 1997, the event that took place 16 years ago today. This continues the 1997 timeline that I’m working through as part of my Raw Rewind.

The primary feud going into this was between Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart and WWF Champion The Undertaker leading to their main event – and stipulation heavy – at Summerslam with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee. Elsewhere, Stone Cold takes on IC Champion Owen Hart, LOD take on The Godwinns and Los Boricuas meet DOA in an 8 man tag.-

On this Day in Wrestling History: WWF In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede

Craig Wilson

(Image courtesy of Wikipedia.org)

On this date in 1997, the WWF hosted ‘In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede’ which is widely regarded as the best IYH event and one of the best ever WWF PPVs. The show was headlined by a talent heavy ten man tag pitting the entire Hart Foundation against Stone Cold and his reluctant partners Goldust, Ken Shamrock and The Legion of Doom.

Elsewhere, 1997 King of the Ring winner Triple H faced the man he defeated in the final Mankind, The Great Sasuke took on Taka Michinoku and WWF Champion The Undertaker defended his title against Vader.

Those keen to read more about 1997 WWF should check out my #Rawrewind pieces where I review every Raw from 1997. They can be located here.

Champion Roll Call:

WWF Champion: The Undertaker
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Owen Hart
WWF Tag Team Champions: Stone Cold Steve Austin & Shawn Michaels
WWF European Champion: The British Bulldog

On This Day in Wrestling History: A Monday Night Raw special

Jamie Lithgow & Craig Wilson

The 1-2-3 Kid is thrown across the ring by Ramon (pic courtesy of Photobucket.com)

Episodes of WWF Raw in 1993 were completely different to what we witness every Monday. Firstly, the shows were a lot shorter – coming in at around the hour mark and largely featured squash matches on the undercard and a main event pitting established stars against each other. That’s not to say that the early Raw’s didn’t generate any big moments. We were treated to a classic bout between Mr Perfect and Ric Flair in a ‘loser leaves town’ match with Flair making his first departure from the WWF as he returned to WCW.

Another memorable early moment was the battle between the two former Rockers with Marty Jannetty pinning his former tag team partner Shawn Michaels to win the Intercontinental Title. Another important moment from Raw history also came from that very episode when perenial jobber the 1-2-3 Kid defeated Razor Ramon and that is the focus in this ‘On This Day in Wrestling History’ as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of that episode of Raw.