On this day in wrestling history 12/08

[Guest Sassquatch]

From Dave Meltzer:

 

ON THIS DAY IN WRESTLING HISTORY 12/08

 

1963 - In one of wrestling's great ironies, on the same day that the biggest star in the history of Japanese wrestling, Rikidozan, was stabbed gangland style while at a night club, the current wrestler whose in-ring style of hard punches and kicks most resembles him, Toshiaki Kawada, was born. Rikidozan died one week later.

 

1969 - Victor Rivera & Tony Marino won the WWWF International tag team titles in Madison Square Garden from Toru Tanaka & Mitsu Arakawa. The show, which drew 10,878 fans paying $42,234, was headlined by Ivan Koloff beating WWWF champion Bruno Sammartino in a match stopped because of blood, setting up a rematch at the next show.

 

1980 - Pedro Morales wins the IC title from Ken Patera in Madison Square Garden in 18:51. The main event before a sellout of 20,011 fans saw Bruno Sammartino in one of his final MSG appearances before his first retirement win over Sgt. Slaughter via count out.

 

1991 - KPTV, Ch. 12 in Portland, OR announced the cancellation of Portland Wrestling, a Saturday night institution on the station for 38 consecutive years. The final episode ran on December 28, 1991. The program, which had a history of strong ratings and a loyal cult following, fell victim to high production costs, which the station was paying for, and declining ratings. The ratings, as usual, were the main factor as well as the station not wanting to have its production facilities tied up every Saturday night. The third key reason was that Tom Peterson, the long-time sponsor of the show having filed for bankruptcy leaving the show without a sponsor. Shortly after this announcement, the oldest wrestling promotion in the world, Owen Promotions, which dated back to Don's father Herb Owen in the 1920s, closed down shop.

 

1994 - Harlem Heat won the WCW tag team titles for the first time beating Marcus Bagwell & The Patriot (Del Wilkes) in Atlanta at Center Stage before 400 fans.

 

1997 - Masahiro Chono & Keiji Muto defeat Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi to win the New Japan Super Grade Tag League tournament in Osaka before a sellout crowd of 6,500 at Furitsu Gym. Perhaps even more importantly, this was the night where the Vince Russo touch on Raw started being noticed. Marc Mero did an interview calling Sal Sincere a "jobber" and a "jabroni." It was said on the air that Sal Sincere was a bad marketing gimmick and his real name was Tom Brandi. Shawn Michaels mooning the live crowd and jumping up and down, with no clothes on with his hand covering his penis while smoking a cigar, Goldust "flashing" Vader and Sable wearing a skimpy swimsuit after taking off a potato sack. It was also Vince McMahon's first appearance as a heel stemming from the reaction to his interview a few weeks earlier where he gave his side of the Bret Hart controversy and was so poorly received. To get the heel character over, McMahon ordered Austin to give up the IC title belt or defend it against Rock. Austin refused (in real life backstage, Austin was asked to drop it in the ring, but refused to put Rock over, with the feeling that since he was going to challenge for the WWF belt and win it at Wrestlemania, it made no sense to do any jobs before that time and McMahon reluctantly agreed) and the belt was handed to Rock. During this segment, Austin accidentally fell into the ropes, knocking McMahon off the apron and he took his first pro wrestling bump. Nitro, from Buffalo, NY before a sellout of 16,848 fans, drew a 4.24 rating for a show headlined by DDP vs. Scott Hall (4.6 rating) while Raw did a 2.99 rating (3.7 main event for Rock vs. Austin match that never took place).