On this day in wrestling history 12/23

[Guest Sassquatch]

From Dave Meltzer:

 

ON THIS DAY IN WRESTLING HISTORY 12/23

 

1953 - Hall of Famer and current New Japan President Tatsumi Fujinami was born. Fujinami was one of the top wrestlers of the 1980s before his career nearly ended due to a back injury. He recovered enough to come back as a headline wrestler for several, and even got some nostalgia pushes after that point to championship level, but he was never anyone one would consider as the best wrestler in the business after the late 80s.

 

1962 - Another New Japan superstar, Keiji Muto, was born. Muto was the company's best heavyweight wrestler of the 90s, headlining numerous Tokyo Dome shows and having several title reigns. With knees shot, his career is probably winding down, but he's still in the New Years Eve Osaka Dome main event. In 1989 with WCW, Muto was one of the hottest wrestlers in the profession, being one of the rare cases of a Japanese top wrestler who at one point was actually even hotter as a star in the United States. Despite Muto's success, no Japanese wrestler has received a serious push in the United States since with WWF or WCW.

 

1975 - Rocky Johnson pinned King Curtis Iaukea in Tampa, FL to capture the Florida heavyweight championship. Which technically Canadian, since Johnson, father of the Rock, grew up in Halifax, he was the first African American with the win to ever capture the Florida title which actually was a pretty big promotional step at the time, even if timing wise, it was years past being overdue.

 

1999 - Mike Awesome regained the ECW title from Masato Tanaka in a hot match in White Plains, NY as the two continued what was probably the best match quality feud over the ECW title in its history.