On this day in wrestling history 12/24

[Guest Sassquatch]

From Dave Meltzer:

 

ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY 12/24

 

Almost nothing happened. In the old territorial days, Christmas was one of the best drawing dates of the year, since people had received money as gifts and parents would buy their kids wrestling tickets as presents. But they would get the gifts Christmas morning and traditionally the week before Christmas did no business, so most companies just shut down, usually doing double shots on Christmas day to maximize the income and running loaded shows in other cities the rest of the week. The entire economics of wrestling are different, as is the psychology of ticket buying, and nights like Thanksgiving and Christmas, that used to do record business all over the country, don't even run major shows.

 

1971 - The wrestler expected to become the top high flier in the sport, Oro, was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. He debuted at the age of 18, and while only 19 years old, he and his brother, who wrestled as Plata, captured the Mexican tag team titles in Acapulco from Tony Arce & Vulcano, but only held them for two weeks, dropping them back in Mexico City. A few months later, he became a bit hit in Japan (April 1992) during his first four for the old Universal promotion. His reputation grew so quickly that the booked a trio of Mil Mascaras & Ultimo Dragon & Oro as a main event group, billing the team as the best high flier of the 70s, the 80s and the 90s on the same time. He captured the NWA world middleweight title from Mano Negra on May 23, 1993, but was dead a few months later, dying after a match on October 26, 1993 at Arena Coliseo in Mexico City. While he was compared with Rey Misterio Jr. as a high flier at that time, it was thought, because he was 5-10 and 195 pounds, that he had far more international potential. The death didn't come from missing on a high flying move, but he simply took a routine bump off a chop and had a brain aneurysm. His death literally aired on television, as he passed out in the first fall of a match and was stretchered out during the second fall of a match that continued because nobody realized how serious the situation was. He was pronounced dead in the hospital later that evening. No autopsy was ever performed confirming the cause of death.