In late 1999, Triple H was the practically the target of everyone in the WWF. Practically everyone got a shot on this day 18 years ago when "The Game" fought five times on the same Smackdown.
1923: Salvador Lutteroth Gonzales promoted his first card professional wrestling card under the banner of Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre (EMLL, which translates to Mexican Wrestling Enterprise).
Today, the promotion is known as CMLL, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, which translates to World Wrestling Council (not to be confused with the Puerto Rico promotion of the same name). It has been the world’s oldest surviving promotion since Jim Crockett Promotions was sold in 1988.
The promotion is known in some circles as “the serious and the stable” for its conservative booking approach and lack of gimmick matches. Also, blood is more or less outlawed in the promotion (intentional bleeding is a no-no, and any match where a competitor bleeds intentionally is not aired; this does not apply to live telecasts), as is excessive violence and using profanity during a promo (both are fireable offenses; L.A. Park was fired for excessive violence during a match in 2008, and fired for a profanity-laced promo in 2015).
The 81st anniversary show in 2014, headlined by Atlantis defeating Ultimo Guerrero in a best-of-three falls mask versus mask match, became the first non-WWE show in the Americas to draw a $1 million gate. The 84th anniversary show was held this past Saturday, with Gran Guerrero defeating Niebla Roja in a best-of-three falls mask versus mask match in the show’s main event.
1989: WWF taped the 23rd edition of Saturday Night's Main Event from the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show aired on October 14.
Macho King Randy Savage defeated Jimmy Snuka.
Hulk Hogan defeated Ted DiBiase to retain the WWF Championship.
Roddy Piper defeated Haku.
Tito Santana and Rick Martel fought to a double disqualification.
The Bushwhackers (Luke & Butch) defeated The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques & Raymond).
1999: At a Smackdown taping in Dallas, Texas, Triple H wrestles a company record five times on the same show.
It was necessary because Vince McMahon put Triple H's spot at the upcoming Unforgiven PPV at stake in the match; Triple H had to win three out of five matches to hold on to his spot.
In a preshow dark match, Stevie Richards defeated Chaz.
In a preshow dark match, Khris Germany defeated Kevin Northcutt.
The Big Show defeated Triple H in a Chokeslam Challenge.
X-Pac defeated Mark Henry by countout in a WWE European Championship match.
Triple H defeated Kane in an Inferno match.
The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg & Billy Gunn) defeated The Rock 'n Sock Connection (The Rock & Mankind) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.
Mideon and Viscera (substituting for The Undertaker) defeated Triple H in a 2-on-1 handicap casket match. Triple H originally won the match until Shane McMahon amended the rules, forcing Triple H to put both men in the casket. Of note, this show would be the final appearance for The Undertaker until the following May when he took time off to heal various nagging injuries.
Hardcore Holly defeated Al Snow.
Triple H defeated Mankind in a Boiler Room Brawl.
Chris Jericho defeated Ken Shamrock in a first blood match. It would be Shamrock's final bout for the WWF, as he left the company to resume his MMA career.
Triple H defeated The Rock in a "Brahma Bullrope" match, giving him the three wins necessary to remain in the Six-Pack Challenge at Unforgiven.
2002: In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Xavier defeated Low Ki to win the Ring of Honor Championship.
2002: Ted Petty, best known to wrestling fans as Flyboy Rocco Rock, died of a heart attack while traveling to an event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was 49.
Born September 1, 1953 in Woodbridge Towship, New Jersey, the Rutgers University graduate wrestling began wrestling in 1978 as "The Cheetah Kid" after a brief boxing career. He wrestled as Colonel DeKlerk for the NWA in 1990 and appeared on the promotion's signature show, Starrcade.
In 1993, Petty along with Michael Durham became Flyboy Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge respectively, aka The Public Enemy, a pair of inner city hoodlums. Wrestling first for the Universal Wrestling Federation, they gained infamy in ECW with their frequent uses of tables. The duo captured the ECW tag team titles four times in 1994 and 1995 (only the Dudley Boyz have more tag title reigns in ECW, with eight).
Petty and Durham left the next year for WCW, feuding primarily with The Nasty Boys and Harlem Heat and winning their tag titles briefly in September 1996. After a one-off return to ECW, a two-month stint in the WWF, and an even briefer stint back in WCW, and an even briefer stint than that in ECW (all in 1999), Petty competed largely as a singles wrestler on the independent circuit, most notably for i-Generation Superstars of Wrestling and Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling.
On September 21, 2002, Petty died of a heart attack en route to a Pro-Pain Pro Wrestling (3PW) event. That evening, he was schedule to face the former Pitbull #1, Gary Wolfe, for the promotion’s heavyweight championship. Petty was 49.
Posthumously, IWA-Mid South renamed its annual Sweet Science Sixteen the Ted Petty Invitational, a tournament showcasing the top independent wrestlers in the world. Past tournament winners included AJ Styles, BJ Whitmer, Drake Younger, Low Ki, Matt Sydal, and Chris Hero.
Kongo Kong won the 2015 tournament, the first one contested in seven years. Chris Hero won it last year, making him the first multiple-time winner of the tournament.
This year’s tournament took place last week, with IWA Mid-South heavyweight champion Aaron Williams defeating Johnathan Gresham and Jake Crist in the final to win the tournament.
2003: WWE presented Unforgiven from the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. 10,347 were in attendance, with 360,000 homes watching on PPV. That's up from 300,000 for the 2002 event.
In a Sunday Night Heat preshow match, Maven defeated Steven Richards.
The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley) defeated La Resistance (Rene Dupree & Sylvain Grenier) & Rob Conway in a 2-on-3 handicap tables match to win the World Tag Team Championship.
La Resistance eliminated D-Von Dudley.
Bubba Ray Dudley eliminated Sylvan Grenier.
Bubba Ray Dudley eliminated Rob Conway.
The Dudley Boyz eliminated Rene Dupree.
Test defeated Scott Steiner. With the win, Test won the services of Stacy Keibler.
Randy Orton defeated Shawn Michaels.
Lita & Trish Stratus defeated Gail Kim & Molly Holly.
Kane defeated Shane McMahon in a last man standing match.
Christian defeated Chris Jericho and Rob Van Dam in a triple threat match to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
Al Snow & Jonathon Coachman defeated Jerry Lawler & Jim Ross. The win gave Snow and Coachman the announcing spots for RAW.
Goldberg defeated Triple H to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Had Goldberg lost, his career would have been over.
2004: At a TNA Impact taping at Universal Orlando, Christopher Daniels and James Storm defeated Chris Harris & Elix Skipper to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship.
2005: WWE announces via a press release on their website that they have released Mark Copani, who worked under the gimmick of Muhammad Hassan.
The gimmick had caused quite the uproar following a terrorist angle played out on the day of the London bombings. UPN then demanded that his character be removed from their programming, and it was essentially written off following The Great American Bash in July.
Once Copani saw that his future in WWE was bleak, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. One story alleges that Copani turned down an offer to go to Ohio Valley Wrestling as playing a contributing factor to his release.
Copani, who went into teaching after his acting career went bust, is now a principal at a high school in Fulton, New York.
2006: WWE signs Charles Scaggs.
Best known as 2 Cold Scorpio during his time in WCW and ECW, Scaggs briefly wrestled in the WWF in the late 1990s as Flash Funk before reverting to his more famous ring name (before it was shortened to Scorpio). He asked for time off to deal with some personal issues in early 1999, but was instead outright released (he would later admit he was into hard drugs during his time in ECW and WWF)
In the interim, he made a few appearances for ECW and All Japan Pro Wrestling, but he was among the two dozen or so roster members that defected to upstart Pro Wrestling NOAH, where he would remain until rejoining the WWF.
He wrestled as Flash Funk for WWE developmental territory Deep South Wrestling, but would be released in May 2007 without ever appearing on WWE programming. He would make one last appearance for the company late in 2007 during the RAW 15th Anniversary battle royal.
In November 2016, Scaggs joined a class action lawsuit against WWE regarding head trauma and their treatment. Scaggs still wrestles to this day, wrestling most recently at the WrestleCon Supershow in March 2017.
2006: TNA rehires Vince Russo to their creative team, while kicking Mike Tenay and Scott D'Amore off the team.
Russo left the company following Victory Road in 2004. Tenay and D'Amore would be replaced by Dutch Mantel and Jeff Jarrett. Those two would leave the team in 2009 (Mantel was released, Jarrett resigned).
2008: Aat a Smackdown taping in Columbus, Ohio, Carlito & Primo defeated Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.
2009: TNA signs Lacey Adkisson, aka Lacey Von Erich.
The daughter of Kevin Von Erich and granddaughter of the late Fritz Von Erich had a brief stint in the WWE developmental system followed by a couple of years on the independent circuit. She also appeared for the short-lived Wrestilicious.
Lacey would win the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship as 1/3 of the Beautiful People before leaving the company—and the wrestling business altogether just over a year later.
2009: Longtime WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia leaves the company after ten years.
Plucked from her gig as a radio DJ, she debuted just before Summerslam 1999, and dabbled in other areas for the company, including singing the National Anthem before events and backstage interviewing. She'd just crossed the ten-year mark with the company before leaving, giving her the nickname of "The Decade Diva". Her actual final television appearance came three days later for WWE Superstars.
Lilian wouldn't be gone forever: she had a one-off appearance in 2010 when a volcanic eruption stranded most of the RAW staff in Europe, including Lilian's replacement, Justin Roberts.
She would return to the company in December 2011 as the ring announcer for Smackdown, and in October 2014, would replace Justin Roberts as RAW's ring announcer. She held the role until leaving the company a second time in August 2016 to care for her ailing father. He died on Christmas Day in 2016.
Today, she hosts a podcast, Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia for PodcastOne. She’s also since made sporadic appearances for WWE, singing the National Anthem for two WWE events and announcing the finals of the Mae Young Classic earlier this month.
2014: New Japan Pro Wrestling presented Destruction in Kobe from Kobe World Hall in Kobe, Japan.
Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov & Rocky Romero) & Tomohiro Ishii defeat BULLET CLUB (Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson & Yujiro Takahashi).
Alex Shelley, BUSHI & Maximo defeat Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Taichi & TAKA Michinoku) via disqualification.
Jushin Thunder Liger, TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) & Tomoaki Honma defeat Captain New Japan, Manabu Nakanishi, Tiger Mask & Yuji Nagata.
Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano defeat Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka).
Ryusuke Taguchi defeats KUSHIDA via submission to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
Kota Ibushi & Tetsuya Naito defeat BULLET CLUB (AJ Styles & Tama Tonga).
BULLET CLUB (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) defeat CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI).
Togi Makabe defeats Hirooki Goto.
Hiroshi Tanahashi defeats Katsuyori Shibata.
Shinsuke Nakamura defeats Bad Luck Fale to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.
2014: WWE presented Night of Champions from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. About 12,000 were in attendance, with 48,000 homes watching via traditional PPV outlets.
Goldust and Stardust defeated The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.
Sheamus defeated Cesaro to retain the WWE United States Championship.
The Miz defeated Dolph Ziggler to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
Seth Rollins defeated Roman Reigns by forfeit.
Rusev defeated Mark Henry by submission.
Randy Orton defeated Chris Jericho.
AJ Lee defeated Nikki Bella and Paige by submission in a triple threat match to win the WWE Divas Championship.
John Cena defeated Brock Lesnar disqualification in a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match. This was Lesnar's first disqualification loss since returning to the company in 2012 and Lesnar's final appearance until the new year.
2015: El Rey Network announces that Lucha Underground would get a second season.
The issue surrounding the show’s future was funding; the show costs a reported $100,000 to $400,000 an episode, and with minuscule ratings and viewership, ads for the show are cheap, making a return on investment virtually impossible.
Though the show would tape out of the same Boyle Heights neighborhood as it did in the first season, only 26 episodes were filmed for the second season (as opposed to 40 for season one).
The show’s third season kicked off in September 2016. The show is currently airing its likely series finale (the show’s future is once again in doubt), Ultima Lucha Tres, a four-part finale. The last of the four parts will air October 18.