Today In Wrestling

1905 – Tom Jenkins defeated Frank Gotch to retain the American Heavyweight Championship in Madison Square Garden in New York City.

1961 – In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; AWA Tag Team Champions Hard Boiled Haggerty & Gene Kiniski beat Whipper Billy Watson & Wilbur Snyder and AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Stan Kowalski.

1963 – The Destroyer (Dick Beyer) defeated Rikidozan in Osaka, Japan,

1966 – In Kansas City, Kansas; Pat O’Connor defeated The Butcher via DQ and Bob Ellis & The Mongolian Stomper defeated Bob Geigel & Bob Brown in three falls.

1973 – In Peoria, Illinois; Dusty Rhodes won a 10 man battle royal by eliminating The Crusher; The Crusher beat Dusty Rhodes; Reggie Parks beat Dick Murdoch via DQ; Ken Patera beat Vic Rossitani; Ric Flair went to a time limit draw with Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell beat Khosrow Vaziri.

1977 – Bruno Sammartino defeated Larry Zbyszko in the main event of a WWWF event in Worcester, MA.

1980- In Madison Square Garden, Larry Zbyszko won a 16-man $15,000 battle royal; WWF World Champion Bob Backlund pinned WWF IC Champion Ken Patera in a Texas Death Match and Tony Atlas, Ivan Putski, & Pat Patterson defeated Peter Maivia & WWF Tag Team Champions the Wild Samoans in a Best 2 out of 3 falls match.

1981 – It was officially announced by the American Wrestling Association that, due to Verne Gagne retiring and vacating the AWA World Heavyweight Title, Nick Bockwinkel, the former champion and current number one contender, was being awarded the belt.

1981 – In Omaha, Nebraska; AWA Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell and Baron Von Raschke beat John Studd.

1986 – In Fayetteville, NC; NWA World Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express, Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey defeated Dusty Rhodes & NWA U.S. Champion Magnum TA.

1990 – In Washington, DC; The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane) defeated Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk to win the U.S. Tag Team Title and Doom (Ron Simmons & Butch Reed) defeated Rick & Scott Steiner to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship.

1991 – In St. Petersburg, FL at the SuperBrawl PPV; The Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin) defeated Tracey Smothers & Steve Armstrong to win the vacant United States Tag Team Title, Bobby Eaton defeated Arn Anderson to win the WCW Television Title and WCW World Champion Ric Flair defeated Tatsumi Fujinami to capture the NWA World Title.

1995 – Razor Ramon defeated Jeff Jarrett in Montreal, Quebec to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship in a Ladder match.

1996 – In Madison Square Garden, Henry & Phinneas Godwinn defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Skip & Zip to win the titles.

2002 – In Nashville, Tennessee; the Undertaker defeated Hulk Hogan to capture the WWE Undisputed World Title and Rikishi & Rico beat Billy & Chuck to capture the WWE World Tag Titles.

2011 – Abyss defeated Frankie Kazarian to win the TNA X Division Title.

2013 – At the Extreme Rules PPV; Dean Ambrose defeated Kofi Kingston to win the United States Title and The Shield defeated Bryan Danielson & Kane to win the WWE Tag Team Titles. Also, Brock Lesnar defeated Triple H in a steel cage match.

via On this day in pro wrestling history: Undertaker beats Hogan, Gagne’s first retirement match.