On this day in wrestling history 12/29

[Guest Sassquatch]

From Dave Meltzer:

 

ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY 12/29

 

1930 - The biggest drawing card of his era, Jim Londos delivered the second of four consecutive sellouts of Madison Square Garden with a win over Ferenc Holuban before 19,715 fans paying $44,878.

 

1937 - A 21-year-old local wrestler named Lou Thesz became the youngest world heavyweight champion in history with a victory over Everett Marshall before 8,000 fans in St. Louis. Thesz' first reign only lasted ten weeks, but he would go on to hold the title for more time than any wrestler in history, with a total of somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-20 total title reigns, the last one ending in 1978, when he was 52 years old.

 

1980 - In another international television taping in Madison Square Garden before a crowd a few thousand shy of capacity, Bob Backlund retained the WWF title pinning Killer Khan, while IC champion Pedro Morales pinned The Hangman (Neil Guay). New Japan stars Antonio Inoki (beating Bobby Duncum Sr.), Tatsumi Fujinami (beating Don Diamond) and Seiji Sakaguchi (NC with Sika) worked the undercard, which also included the pro debut of 1980 Japanese Olympian Yoshiaki Yatsu.

 

1985 - Stan Hansen wins the AWA world heavyweight title from Rick Martel at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, NJ on a combined NWA and WCW show which was headlined by Ric Flair beating Dusty Rhodes to keep the NWA title with, what else, the Dusty finish DQ.

 

1991 - Starrcade '91 took place at the Scope in Norfolk, VA before 9,000 fans paying $92,000 with a series of blind draw tag team matches, "The Lethal Lottery," ending in a Battle Royal won by Sting. The show was poorly received, garnering only 11 percent favorable response in the Observer poll.

 

1996 - The revitalized WCW sold out Starrcade '96 several weeks in advance, drawing a paid attendance of 8,327 paying $113,040 to the Nashville Municipal Auditorium and an 0.95 percent buy rate, making it at the time the most profitable PPV in company history featuring the in-ring debut of Roddy Piper, beating Hulk Hogan with a sleeper in a show that drew 86 percent favorable response. The show stealer was a ****1/2 match where Ultimo Dragon wound up with ten different title belts, pinning Dean Malenko. Dragon ended with the WCW cruiserweight title to go along with the NWA middleweight, IWGP jr. heavyweight, NWA jr. heavyweight, Great Britain jr. heavyweight, WWA jr. light heavyweight, UWA light heavyweight, NWA welterweight, WWF light heavyweight and WAR International jr. heavyweight title). Eddy Guerrero pinned Diamond Dallas Page to win the vacant U.S. title and in a battle of the best high flier of the early 90s against the best of the late 90s, Jushin Liger pinned Rey Misterio Jr.

 

1998 - Mick Foley captured his first WWF title beating Rock at the TV tapings in Worcester, MA, for the climactic scene in the later best selling book, "Have a Nice Day."

[Guest tpww7]

Foley winning the world title was such a great moment.