On this day in wrestling history 12/17

[Guest Sassquatch]

ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY 12/17

 

1906 - Frank Gotch regains his American heavyweight title beating Fred Beel in Kansas City in the rematch of their strange match 16 days earlier in New Orleans where Gotch suffered the last defeat of his pro career.

 

1978 - Ricky Steamboat pins Ric Flair at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto to win the United States title for a second time. Steamboat and Flair had one of pro wrestling's all-time most legendary series of matches, continuing until Steamboat's career ended after a back injury in 1994.

 

1994 - Pancrase concluded a two-day tournament to crown the first King of Pancrase before a sellout of 11,500 at Tokyo Sumo Hall, with Wayne Shamrock (Ken Shamrock) coming out on top. At this point in time, Pancrase was totally marketed as real pro wrestling, as opposed to the term Mixed Martial Arts, which would be created a few years later, and drew totally based on wrestling fans. This would have to be a milestone as it was likely the first shoot tournament to crown a pro wrestling world heavyweight champion in history, and the first champion and championship, probably dating back to Frank Gotch days, that actually was regularly defended in non-predetermined contests. Over the two days, Shamrock beat Alex Cook, Maurice Smith, Masakatsu Funaki and Manabu Yamada. Shamrock's knee was blown out and the final saw him take Yamada down and control him on the ground for 30:00 in a boring match, winning via decision.

 

1995 - Bret Hart pinned Davey Boy Smith to retain the WWF title in 21:09 of a ****1/2 match before 7,289 fans in Hershey, PA at the In Your House PPV which drew a poor 0.3 percent buy rate. The show drew a mixed reaction with 49% thumbs up as there was a fantastic main event and every match on the undercard was below average.

 

1999 - Masato Tanaka pinned Mike Awesome to win the ECW heavyweight title at a TV taping in Nashville, TN

[Guest bob_barron]

I love DBS v. Bret from IYH5- poor Davey he was sooooooooo close to winning the title

[Guest godthedog]

i too have much love for the IYH match. that powerslam on to the floor was unreal.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

As was the four-alarm bloodbath that ensued for the Philly fans' amusement.

[Guest NoSelfWorth]

Don't forget he chant of "He's harcore, he's hardcore".