On this day in wrestling history 11/28

[Guest Sassquatch]

From Dave Meltzer:

 

ON THIS DAY IN WRESTLING HISTORY 11/28

 

1963 - The Crusher wins the AWA heavyweight title for the second time in his career beating Verne Gagne at the Minneapolis Auditorium

 

1972 - Jack Brisco wins the Florida heavyweight title, beating Paul Jones, enroute to his winning the NWA world title the following summer.

 

1985 - The first attempt at a dual feed pro wrestling event in history took place as Starrcade '85, "The Gathering," took place with matches at both the Omni in Atlanta and the Greensboro Coliseum. Greensboro was totally sold out with about 15,500 fans while the Omni was 500 shy of capacity, drawing about 16,000 fans. In the Atlanta main event, Dusty Rhodes apparently pinned Ric Flair to win the NWA title. The show went off the air and the card ended with Rhodes announced as champion. However, Flair continued to defend the title and it was announced on TV that before the pinfall, due to outside interference of the Four Horseman, that Flair was DQ'd, and thus kept the title. Greensboro was headlined by Magnum T.A. beating Tully Blanchard in a cage I Quit match to win the U.S. title in what became the classic I Quit match in wrestling, at least until Flair and Terry Funk did it four years later. Generally, that match was considered the show stealer and a match of the year candidate. The Rock & Roll Express also won the NWA tag titles over Ivan & Nikita Koloff. Between the two live events and more than a dozen closed-circuit locations around the Carolinas, the show grossed $936,000. While not the numbers Wrestlemania did, or even close, earlier that year, it was considered the most successful non-Wrestlemania pro wrestilng event ever in the United States. While the Dusty finish is often mocked because it was one of the reasons the Crockett territory was killed, in its infancy, it wasn't a bad idea, as coming off this finish, Rhodes and Flair played to huge houses throughout the United States for several months.

 

1989 - At a television taping in Atlanta during a match with Mike Rotundo vs. Tommy Rich, ref Tommy Young suffered a whiplash on the ropes. Young, the most respected and famous referee in the industry because of his dramatic near fall counts, particularly in Ric Flair title matches, was forced to retire and eventually sued WCW for the injuries. Young is currently living in Charlotte and working as a car salesman.

 

1991 - The annual Survivor Series took place at the Joe Louis Arena before 17,500 fans and drawing a 2.2 percent buy rate. Undertaker pinned Hulk Hogan in 12:43 to win the WWF title in a disputed decision to set up a PPV show one week later, the first and last time WWF ever attempted two PPV shows in consecutive weeks. Hogan was hospitalized legit after the match because Undertaker jammed Hogan's neck with his knee delivering the tombstone piledriver. Sean Mooney had to do a promo that Hogan was supposed to do, vowing revenge for the next week. Match was terrible. Best match on the show, rated as ***1/2, saw Beverly Brothers & Nasty Boys beat The Bushwhackers & The Rockers, and you can probably imagine just how good Shawn Michaels must have been. He couldn't save the show because in the Observer post-show poll, it was 10% up, 88% down and 2% in the middle, with Hogan vs. Undertaker being voted worst match by a large margin. WCW's traditional Thanksgiving spectacular at the Omni in Atlanta was down to 3,800 fans, headlined by Lex Luger over Rick Steiner to retain the WCW title. The world title wasn't able to get any heat after a hot 45:00 draw in a tag team title match with Ricky Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes retaining the belts they had just won in a match against Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton.

[Guest bob_barron]

I always heard the best match at SurS91 was the opener

[Guest DeputyHawk]

yeah, series 91 was one of the first events i watched and i thought the opener was the best match on the card too. bret, piper, bulldog & virgil vs. flair, dibiase, rougeau & warlord kicks the crap out of anything involving the bushwhackers, shawn or no shawn. aside from the cheap protective finish, that match ruled all.

[Guest dreamer420]

I thought the first match was the best of Survivor Series that year too. Virgil and the Warlord are the only weak links in that match.

[Guest The Hollywood Fashion Plate]

I thought SurSer '91 was on 11/27, not 11/28. I only remember that because 11/27 is my birthday.

[Guest bob_barron]

prowrestlinghistory dates it at 11.28

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

I actually heard from Paul Bearer on a recent edition of the LAW, that Hogan wasn't actually injured, but he took an ambulance anyway, saying Undertaker didn't give him the Tombstone properly, thus injuring his neck in the process. This would be an obvious political move. I don't whether it's true, but Percy hesitated in admitting it, as he is one of Hogan's friends, so it would be odd for him to lie about it. Still, Hogan got the title back in two days, and Undertaker didn't for about 5 1/2 years. Draw your own conclusions...

 

Dave actually gave that Nasties match ***1/2, allowing me to feel that he isn't as reputable a wrestling critic as he is a groundbreaking journalist.

 

I'm surprised more people talked about one of the worst PPVs ever, as opposed to the stellar I Quit match. Than again, I did too, so feh...