Two days after 9/11, the country--and the world at large--were still trying to pick up the pieces. WWF decided to go back to work.
1938: John Pesek was awarded the National Wrestling Association Heavyweight Championship after the champion at the time Everett Marshall refused at their annual meeting to post a $1,000 bond ($17,360 today when adjusted for inflation) for a proposed tournament. Pesek was the only contender willing to post the bond, so he was awarded the title.
Pesek is soon stripped of the title when he refused to take on the top contenders to the championship. Three months later, Lou Thesz won the vacated title when he defeated Everett Marshall.
It wouldn’t be the only time Pesek was stripped of a championship; in 1940, he was stripped of the Midwest Wrestling Association championship for refusing to face top contenders.
1986: WWF taped the seventh edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event from the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio.
The show did not air on NBC until October 4, a full three weeks later. At the time, it’s the longest gap between the show’s taping and its original airing in the series (the longest would end up being 32 days for the 21st edition; it was taped April 25, 1989, but did not air until May 27).
Hulk Hogan defeated Paul Orndorff by disqualification to retain the WWF Championship.
Ricky Steamboat defeated Jake Roberts in a Snake Pit match.
Roddy Piper defeated The Iron Sheik.
The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith & The Dynamite Kid) defeated The Dream Team (Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine) 2-1 in a best of three falls match to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship.
Kamala defeated Lanny Poffo.
1993: On Monday Night RAW from New York City, The Quebecers (Pierre & Jacques) defeated The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott) via disqualification in a "Province of Quebec Rules" match to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.
This is the only time the tag titles have changed hands on a disqualification in WWE history.
1993: In Memphis, Tennessee, Tatanka defeated Jerry Lawler to win the USWA Unified Heavyweight Championship.
1998: In Guadalajara, Mexico, Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. defeated Universo 2000 to win the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship. The win made Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. the first two-time CMLL World Heavyweight Champion.
As CMLL emphasizes lower weight classes (out of necessity as there aren’t as many heavyweight wrestlers on their roster), anyone who holds their heavyweight title is bound to have a long title run; in fact, only three out of 19 total title reigns (including the current reign of champion Marco Corleone) lasted less than 200 days.
Universo 2000 would become the second two-time CMLL heavyweight champion when he defeats Rayo for the title in December 1999. He goes on to hold it for a record 1,225 days, or over three years.
Another side note: Sean Morley, who is most remembered as Val Venis from late 1990s and early 2000s WWF/E, held the CMLL heavyweight title in for five months in 1997 as Steele.
1998: WCW presented Fall Brawl: War Games from the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. 11,528 were in attendance, with 275,000 watching on PPV, which was up 80,000 from 1997's edition.
The main event makes history on multiple levels: it’s the last time the match is contested in a double cage, it’s the last time WarGames is contested on PPV, and for the first time, pinfalls were allowed.
It was also a three-team WarGames match, but in reality, it was a nine-man, every-man-for-himself free-for-all, as only the man who got the decision got the spoils; in this case, the winner got a WCW World Heavyweight Championship match at Halloween Havoc. The match could be won at any time, even if all the participants weren’t in the match.
Jim Neidhart & The British Bulldog defeated Alex Wright & Disco Inferno. During the bout, Bulldog took an awkward bump on a trap door meant to be used for Warrior later in the show. Bulldog would actually wrestle for another month before being diagnosed with a nearly-paralyzing spinal infection.
Chris Jericho defeated “Goldberg” to retain the WCW World Television Championship.
Ernest “The Cat” MIller defeated Norman Smiley.
Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner fought to a no contest.
Juventud Guerrera defeated Silver King to retain the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship.
Perry Saturn defeated Raven in a Raven's Rules match. Had Saturn lost, he would have had to rejoin the Flock. As a result of the win, the Flock was disbanded.
Dean Malenko defeated Curt Hennig by disqualification.
Konnan defeated Scott Hall.
Team WCW (Diamond Dallas Page, Roddy Piper, and The Warrior) defeated The nWo Hollywood (Bret Hart, Hollywood Hogan, and Stevie Ray) and The nWo Wolfpac (Kevin Nash, Lex Luger, and Sting) in a three-team War Games match. Diamond Dallas Page got the pinfall over Stevie Ray; as a result, he would be the #1 contender to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. In a side note, this is the first time since 1995 that a face team won the War Games match.
1999: On Nitro from Charlotte, North Carolina, Chris Benoit defeated Rick Steiner to win the WCW World Television Championship.
2001: WWF presented a live episode of Smackdown (WWE Network link) from the Compaq Center in Houston, Texas.
The show, originally scheduled to tape two days earlier, was postponed due to the terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania. This was the first live televised sporting event in the United States since the 9/11 attacks.
The show opened with Vince McMahon addressing the crowd and Lilian Garcia delivered a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem. In between matches, superstars and divas gave a few words about the tragedy. As for the show itself, storylines were put on hold.
The Hardy Boyz (Matt & Jeff) defeated The Hurricane & Lance Storm.
Rob Van Dam defeated Spike Dudley.
Chris Jericho defeated Christian.
The Rock defeated Shawn Stasiak in just three seconds.
The Acolytes (Faarooq & Bradshaw) defeated X-Pac & Albert.
Booker T defeated The Big Show.
Lita defeated Ivory.
Test and The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) defeated Tajiri, William Regal, and Scotty 2 Hotty.
Kurt Angle defeated Rhyno.
In a post-show dark match, WCW Champion The Rock defeated WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin by disqualification.
2005: Mike Bucci made his WWE debut as fitness guru Simon Dean.
His debut was a commercial for a fitness product known as the Simon System. The vignette was so well-done, people legitimately called the number to "order it". In reality, the number linked to WWE Headquarters in Stamford; people calling it got a pre-recorded promo from Dean.
Bucci was most famous as Nova of ECW fame, but after the promotion shut down, worked the independent circuit before landing in Ohio Valley Wrestling in 2002. He worked under Jim Cornette as an assistant booker before being called up to WWE.
Bucci as Dean didn’t do much; after serving as a lower-card wrestler, he was traded to Smackdown in June 2005. After a one-shot as Nova of the Blue World Order, Bucci returned to the fitness guru gimmick and was largely a jobber until retiring from the ring in August 2006 and took over WWE’s developmental program. Bucci was released in August 2007 after he was found to be in violation of WWE’s Wellness Policy for obtaining performance-enhancing drugs online.
Bucci occasionally wrestles to this day, last appearing as both Hollywood Nova and Simon Dean in the Chikara King of Trios tournament weekend in 2015.
2005: Million Dollar Tough Enough winner Daniel Puder was released just one year into his four-year deal with WWE, with the company citing budget cuts.
In November 2004, Puder made headlines when he nearly defeated (and nearly broke the arm of) Kurt Angle in a shoot bout on Smackdown. Puder rode that momentum of near-victory to actual victory when beat Mike Mizanin by popular vote in the final.
Daniel appeared in just one match on the main roster, in the 2005 Royal Rumble. He was chopped heavy by Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and Hardcore Holly before Holly eliminated him. Puder was sent to developmental, and was offered to stick around before being released, but with reduced pay. Daniel declined. Puder gave a statement to defunct website FightSports following his release:
I'm proud of winning the very first ever Million Dollar Tough Enough. I'm proud that I adapted from MMA to WWE. I'm proud of my work in the ring with my pro wrestling trainers Lance Storm and more recently Al Snow, who was my Tough Enough trainer too. I am proud of my association with a man like Danny Davis. I am proud to have worked with Tommy Dreamer. I am proud and have enjoyed working with and learning from Paul Heyman, and all the opportunities this experience has presented. And I know I will use this experience to my advantage when I make my next long term career move.
...
And I'm going to show the world that at 23 years old, WWE thought short term and not long term with me. But I won't brag about it in advance. I'll prove it to everyone!!!!!!!! Thanks for all of your support.
Puder would dabble in mixed martial arts and wrestle briefly for both Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2007 and 2010 respectively. He retired from combat sports in 2011 and founded an anti-bullying and youth development program.
2009: WWE presented Breaking Point from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The event's hook was that the main event matches would be contested under submission rules. About 12,000 were attendance, with 169,000 homes watching on PPV. That's down from 211,000 homes for the September 2008 PPV Unforgiven.
This would be the one and only Breaking Point event, though the name lived on-somewhat-for a few years in WWE video games as the name of their submission system. However, the system was scrapped with the release of WWE 2K15.
Chris Jericho & The Big Show defeated Montel Vontavious Porter & Mark Henry to retain the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship.
Kofi Kingston defeated The Miz to retain the WWE United States Championship.
The Legacy (Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase) defeated D-Generation X (Triple H & Shawn Michaels) in a submissions count anywhere match.
Kane defeated The Great Khali in a Singapore Cane match.
Christian defeated William Regal to retain the ECW Championship.
John Cena defeated Randy Orton in an "I Quit" match to win the WWE Championship.
CM Punk defeated The Undertaker in a submission match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. In true WWE fashion, they remixed the Montreal Screwjob yet again. Undertaker had Punk defeated with Hell's Gate, but the submission hold was deemed banned, so the match continued. Punk moments later hooked Undertaker in the Anaconda Vice and Scott Armstrong rang the bell, though the Undertaker did not submit.
2010: WWE presented RAW Roulette IV from the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. As with previous editions of the show, the hook was that every match’s stipulation was determined by the spin of a wheel.
Daniel Bryan and The Miz fought to a no contest in a submission match.
Daniel Bryan defeated Alex Riley in a submission match.
Edge defeated Evan Bourne in a bodyslam match.
Mark Henry defeated Edge in a bodyslam match.
R-Truth & Eve Torres defeated Ted DiBiase & Maryse in a song & dance contest.
Sheamus defeated John Morrison in a falls count anywhere match.
Chris Jericho defeated David Hart Smith & Tyson Kidd in a handicap steel cage match.
Goldust defeated William Regal in a "Trading Places" match.
Randy Orton defeated John Cena in a tables match.
It’s a happy 33rd birthday to Thomas Pestock, though wrestling fans know him these days as Baron Corbin.
Before getting into wrestling, the Kansas-born Pestock was an offensive guard for the Division II Northwest Missouri State Bearcats; the team went to four consecutive NCAA Division II National Championship games from 2005 to 2008.
Pestock joined the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2009, but would be released by the club twice that year prior to the season. He was signed to a futures deal by the Arizona Cardinals in 2010, but again would not make the team roster before being released in September 2011.
Pestock signed with WWE in August 2012 and joined their developmental territory, NXT, as Baron Corbin. His stock rose when he defeated enhancement talents in quick order. He would go on a five-month undefeated run before being knocked off by Adrian Neville in the semifinals in a #1 contender’s tournament for the NXT Championship.
Corbin would primarily feud with Bull Dempsey, Samoa Joe, Apollo Crews, and Austin Aries until leaving NXT for WWE’s main roster in April 2016.
Corbin’s debut came at Wrestlemania 32 as an unannounced entrant in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He would last eliminate Kane to win the trophy. His first singles match came the next night on RAW when he fought Dolph Ziggler to a double countout.
In June 2017, Corbin won the Money in the Bank ladder match, enabling him to challenge for the WWE Championship at any time for up to one year. Last month, he cashed in his briefcase, but was quickly defeated by champion Jinder Mahal. The loss put him in dubious company: he joined Damien Sandow as the only men to be pinned in their cash-in match.
It’s a happy 36th birthday today to Lauren Richards. Known once upon a time as Angel Williams, Lauren is best remembered as Angelina Love.
The Toronto-born Richards is arguably the most successful female wrestler in TNA history, winning their Knockouts title six times from 2009 to 2014 (a company record) and their Knockouts tag titles with Winter in 2010. Before joining TNA in 2007 as a charter member of their Knockouts division, Williams was a part of WWE’s developmental system for about three years.
In January 2015, Lauren began dating fellow TNA wrestler Davey Richards. The couple married after just six months together in June 2015, and had their first child, David Vincent Richards, in March 2016. Just three months after giving birth, she returned to the ring.
Lauren had one more run with the renamed TNA, known today as Global Force Wrestling, in the first half of 2017. She was granted her release from GFW in August 2017.