On this day in wrestling history 11/30

[Guest Sassquatch]

From Dave Meltzer:

 

ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY 11/30

 

1928 - In one of the most famous matches of all-time, whether historically accurate or not, The Great Gama defeated Stanislaus Zbyszko in Paddulo, India before a crowd reputed to be 100,000 fans, the largest crowd ever to witness a pro wrestling event in history. There are reports of this match lasting anywhere from four seconds to five minutes. Zbyszko by this point in time was 53 years old. Although any history of wrestling dating back this far, and throw in the fact it was in a foreign country, is more conjecture than anything, but there were many historians who claim Gama as the greatest wrestler who ever lived and as the superior to Frank Gotch. The Indians wrestled a totally different style, and who is to say what was legit, and Zbyszko, while still a pro wrestling star in the U.S. at the time, was well past his prime by this point. Whenever you change the style, the expert at the style is always going to have the advantage.

 

1976 - In another chapter of one of the most heated feuds in Carolinas history, and the feud that put Ric Flair on the map as a major singles headliner, Wahoo McDaniel captured the old Mid Atlantic heavyweight title from Flair in Raleigh, NC

 

1979 - Antonio Inoki defeated Bob Backlund in Tokushima, Japan to capture the WWF heavyweight title. This title switch was never acknowledged by the WWF in the United States until some 15 years later. Backlund left Japan with the title after a match one week later with a disputed decision.

 

1997 - Shane Douglas defeated Bam Bam Bigelow to headline ECW's November to Remember PPV and capture the ECW heavyweight title for the fourth and final time in a match in the outskirts of his home town of Pittsburgh

 

1998 - Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, Bill Goldberg and The Undertaker are put on the cover of TV Guide, leading it to being one of the best selling issues of the magazine of the year. It was the first full pro wrestling cover of the best selling magazine in the country, but its success paved the way for several other sets of four covers over the next two years.

[Guest dreamer420]

1979 - Antonio Inoki defeated Bob Backlund in Tokushima, Japan to capture the WWF heavyweight title. This title switch was never acknowledged by the WWF in the United States until some 15 years later. Backlund left Japan with the title after a match one week later with a disputed decision.

The first screwjob in WWF history?

[Guest Sassquatch]

No.

 

The first screwjob finish in the (W)WWF(E) was the title switch between Pedro Morales and Stan Stasiak.

[Guest BAR]

I'm a huge ECW mark but N2R '97 sucked, especially that main event. Actually, I think Mikey had a decent match with Credible on the card.

[B. Brian Brunzell 0]

I'm a huge ECW mark but N2R '97 sucked, especially that main event. Actually, I think Mikey had a decent match with Credible on the card.

Boy did it ever suck.

[Guest dreamer420]

No.

 

The first screwjob finish in the (W)WWF(E) was the title switch between Pedro Morales and Stan Stasiak.

care to elaborate on that please?

[Guest DeputyHawk]

i have a bizarre image of the great gama as dhalsim from streetfighter, beguiling stanislaus with his queer stretchy limbs and crazy offbeat shenanigans as the crowd of 100,000 cheer him on wildly.

 

about morales-stasiak, all i know is the following from wrestlingclassics.com, so elaboration would indeed be welcome. here is that article though...

 

The Night Stan Stasiak Became World Champ

 

By Frank Dusek (as given by Stan Stasiak)

 

A lot of fans wonder what it’s like when wrestlers find out they are going to achieve one of the ultimate honors in this sport, to hold the World heavyweight championship.

 

Stan Stasiak was one of the fortunate few that had the combination of talent and opportunity to become World heavyweight champion.

 

In addition, Stan Stasiak was a great friend and someone that I truly miss. It’s kind of ironic that Stan was best known for his heart punch-finishing move because his heart was one of the biggest in wrestling. Despite drawing money for decades as a main event villain, he was one of the most genuine and nicest men you would ever meet. You can’t think of Stan without thinking of his laugh, which he did all the time. He was one of the funniest men I have ever known.

 

I got to meet up with Stan after he won and lost the WWF (in those days it was the WWWF title). I asked him about his brief title reign. He told me the story of when he found out he was going to be champion.

 

This was Stan’s second or third tour with the WWF. Every time he went to New York it was the same thing. Three weeks of TV matches and a tour around the house show circuit to collect a win to set up the main event for the next card in the town. After that, it was in the main event against Pedro Morales for the title. He wrestled Pedro dozens of times and never won. It didn’t bother Stan at all. He was main eventing in one of the Mecca’s of pro wrestling, getting paid very well and had no problem doing business.

 

He was sitting in the dressing room in Philadelphia and the road agent came to discuss the match. Stan considered this a formality as he had been having the same discussion, nearly verbatim, in every major city on the Eastern seaboard for the last two months. In fact, it was the same conversation that Stan had over and over the last couple of times he had wrestled in the territory.

 

Here is how Stan relayed the conversation:

 

WWF official: Pedro makes the big comeback and gives you a belly-to-back.

 

Stan (bored): Uh-huh

 

WWF official: The referee will go down to make the count.

 

Stan (paying about half attention while he tied his boots): Right…

 

WWF official: The referee will count "one, two…."

 

Stan (matter-of-factly): Of course….

 

WWF official: At two, you roll your right shoulder….

 

Stan now looks up to pay attention realizing this must be a false finish leading to another spot after which Morales would hit the top rope splash for the win.

 

WWF official (matter-of-factly): Pedro’s shoulders will still be down and the referee will hit three.

 

Stan completely stopped what he was doing as he took a long look at the official.

 

After a long pause that seemed like several minutes, the official offered nothing else so Stan spoke.

 

Stan (somewhat confused): You mean I win?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

 

WWF official (matter-of-factly): Yes.

 

Stan: Is this a title match?

 

WWF official (matter-of-factly): Uh-huh.

 

Stan was really confused now as the official just stared at him blankly.

 

Stan (in disbelief): You mean I win the title?

 

WWF official (somewhat impatiently): Yes.

 

Just like that, out of nowhere, Stan Stasiak was about to become the World Heavyweight Champion. And unlike today, they didn’t tell him until they went over the match in the dressing room.

 

Turns out the decision was made to pass the torch from Pedro Morales back to Bruno Sammartino. They wanted to put the title back on Bruno at the next Madison Square Garden card but didn’t want Bruno to beat Pedro.

 

For eight days, Stan Stasiak got to live out a dream most wrestlers never realize.

 

as for backlund-inoki, anyone know the politics behind that phantom title switch, and do the wwe now acknowledge inoki as a former champion and backlund as a three-time title-holder?

[Guest DeputyHawk]

just read this is sass' other today in history thread:

 

1973 - Stan Stasiak pins Pedro Morales at the Philadelphia Arena to win the WWWF title, ending the nearly three-year reign by Morales. What was unique about this match is they did a double pin finish, the match ended, and the ring announcer simply stated, "Let's hear it for a great champion, Pedro Morales." Stasiak's hand was never raised. Stasiak was never announced in the building as the new champion for fear of a riot and the fans at the arena live didn't know they had witnessed wrestling history until the following Saturday when the title change was announced on television.

 

i guess it was a screwjob on the fans rather than one of the workers, although i'm sure there are plenty of instances of the fans getting screwed by wrestling promoters before that one.