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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: THE FINAL WWF SHOW, FMW ANNIVERSARY, A WWE STAR DEBUTS THAT WE STILL HAVEN'T SEEN WRESTLE ON TV AND MORE

By Buck Woodward on 2007-05-05 08:00:00
May 5th 

On this day in history in .... 

1905 - Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion George Hackenschmidt defeats American Heavyweight Champion Tom Jenkins in two straight falls in Madison Square Garden in New York City to become the World Catch-as-Catch Can Heavyweight Champion.  This is considered the root of the World Heavyweight Title in the United States.

1978 - Bruno Sammartino defeats Gorilla Monsoon in San Juan, Puerto Rico to win the WWC North American Heavyweight Title. 

1982 - Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia defeat The Samoans (Afa & Sika) in Jackson Mississippi to win the Mid-South Wrestling Tag Team Title, ending the third and final reign for the Samoans.  

1985 - World Class Championship Wrestling held their second annual David Von Erich Memorial Parade Of Champions event at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas, drawing a crowd of 26,000 fans.  Here are the results: 
- Johnny Mantell vs. Skip Young ended in a draw.
- Scott Casey & Brian Adias defeated Nick & Kelly Kiniski. 
- Terry Gordy defeated Kamala via disqualification. 
- Mike Von Erich defeated Rip Oliver.
- Chris Adams & Gino Hernandez defeated The Great Kabuki & Scott Casey. 
- The Fantastics defeated The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey) in a Two-Ring, No Disqualification match to win the American Tag Team Title. 
- The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts) & The Von Erichs (Mike, Kevin & Kerry) defeated Chris Adams, Gino Hernandez, Rip Oliver, Kamala, One Man Gang & Steve Williams in a five fall, two ring match. 
- NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs. Kevin Von Erich ended in a double countout. 
- Kerry Von Erich defeated The One Man Gang in a match where Kerry's hair was on the line against the hair of manager Gary Hart. 

1986 - Bill Dundee defeats Billy Travis in Memphis, Tennessee to win the AWA International Heavyweight Title. 

1988 - El Canek defeats Perro Aguayo in Mexico City, Mexico for the UWA World Heavyweight Title, the ninth of an eventual 15 title wins for Canek. 

1990 - Jerry Lawler defeats Jimmy Valiant to win the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee, starting his sixth reign as champion.

1993 - FMW celebrates their fourth anniversary with a show at Kawasaki Stadium in Kawasaki, Japan, drawing 41,000 fans.  Here are the results of the show: 
- Eiji Ezaki (who would become Hayabusa the following year) defeated Koji Nakagawa.
- Rie Nakamura defeated Keiko Iwame.
- Eagle Sawai, Utako Ozumi, Yasha Kurenai, Midori Saito & Mikiko Futagami defeated Miwa Sato, Erica Tsuchiya, Yoshika Maedomari, Kumiko Matsuda & Yukie Nabeno in an Elimination match.
- The Sheik & Sabu defeated Dr. Looser & Dr. Hannibal when Sabu pinned Looser.
- Great Sasuke, Kendo & Battle Ranger defeated Super Delfin, Espantos IV, & Espantos V when Kendo pinned Espanto V.
- Shinobu Kandori defeated Victoria Kazumiya via submission.
- Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo defeated Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota when Kudo pinned Toyota.
- Ricky Fuji, Big Titan & Gladiator (Mike Awesome) defeated Katsuji Ueda, Great Punk & Tarzan Goto in a Loser Leaves Town No Rope Barbed Wire Tornado Street Fight Death Match when Fuji pinned Punk. 
- Gregori Veritchev defeated Leon Spinks in the third round of a "Wrestler vs. Boxer" match via submission.
- Atsushi Onita defeated Terry Funk in an Exploding Ring Barbed Wire Land Mine Match.

1993 - Miss Texas (Jacqueline) defeats Leslie Belanger in Memphis, Tennessee to win the USWA Women's Heavyweight Title for the fifth time. 

1994 - FMW celebrates their fifth anniversary with a show at Kawasaki Stadium in Kawasaki, Japan, drawing 52,000 fans.  Here are the results of the show: 
- Tetsuhiro Kuroda defeated Gosaku Gashogawa.
- Battle Ranger, Koji Nakagawa & Masato Tanaka defeated Great Sasuke, Hanzo Nakajima & Shiryu when Ranger pinned Nakajima.
- Combat Toyoda, Crusher Maedomari & Shark Tsuchiya defeated Eagle Sawai, Noriyo Tateno & Mitsuko Endoh when Maedomari pinned Endoh.
- Sambo Asako & Mr. Gannosuke defeated Goro Tsurumi and Hideki Hosaka when Gannosuke pinned Hosaka.
- Katsuji Ueda defeated Katsutoshi Niiyama by knockout in the third round of a Martial Arts match. 
- Sabu & Damien defeated Dr. Luther & Yone Genjin when Damien pinned Genjin.
- WWA and Independent World Women's Champion Megumi Kudo defeated Yumiko Hotta. 
- Big Titan, Gladiator (Mike Awesome) & Ricky Fuji defeated Gedo, Jedo & Hiromichi Fuyuki when Gladiator pinned Gedo.
- Terry Funk defeated The Sheik. 
- FMW World Brass Knuckles Tag Team Champions Mr. Pogo & Hisakatsu Oya defeated Tarzan Goto & Mitsuhiro Matsunaga in a Street Fight match when Oya pinned Matsunaga.
- Genichiro Tenryu defeated Atsushi Onita in an Explosive Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match.

1995 - FMW celebrates their sixth anniversary with a show at Kawasaki Stadium in Kawasaki, Japan, drawing 50,000 fans.  Here are the results of the show: 
- Rikio Ito defeated Gosaku Goshogawara.
- Katsuji Ueda defeated Tetsuhiro Kuroda in the third round of a Kickboxer vs. Wrestler match.
- Amigo Ultra & Ultra Taro defeated Battle Ranger & Mach Hayato when Amigo pinned Hoyato.
- Crusher Maedomari, Shark Tsuchiya & Kaori Nakayama defeated Combat Toyoda, Miwa Sato & Yukari Ishikawa in a Street Fight match when Tsuchiya pinned Ishikawa.
- Judge Dread & Koji Nakagawa defeated Ryo Myoke & Douktare when Dread pinned Myoke.
- The Sheik defeated Damien.
- Takashi Ishikawa, Apollo Sagawa & Kishin Kawabata defeated Mitsuhiro Matsunaga, Hideki Hosaka & Hido when Ishikawa forced Hido to submit.
- Megumi Kudo defeated Bad Nurse Nakamura to win the FMW Unified Women's Championship. 
- Katsutoshi Niiyama & Masato Tanaka defeated Horace Boulder & The Gladiator (Mike Awesome) when Niiyama pinned Boulder.
- Ricky Fuji & Hisakatsu Oya defeated Mr. Pogo & Yoshihiro Kanemura to win the FMW World Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship.
- FMW World Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champion Atsushi Onita defeated Hayabusa in an Exploding Ring Explosive Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match.  Onita announced prior to the show that this would be his retirement match.  A little over a year later, "Mr. Liar" would return.

1996 - FMW celebrates their seventh anniversary with a show at Kawasaki Stadium in Kawasaki, Japan, drawing 33,231 fans.  Here are the results of the show: 
- Jason The Terrible defeated Hayato Nanjyo.
- Chaparita Asari & Yumi Fukaba defeated Kayori Nakayama & Aki Kanbayashi when Asari pinned Kanbayashi.
- Kamikaze, Katsutoshi Niiyama & Wild Shooter defeated Daisuke Ikeda, Shoichi Funaki & Tetsuhiro Kuroda when Niiyama pinned Kuroda.
- The Rock N' Roll Express & Ricky Fuji defeated Crypt Keeper, Boogie Man & Freddy Krueger when Morton pinned Boogie Man.
- Ryuma Go and Samurai Max defeated I. Majin and Silver X when Go pinned Silver X.
- Taka Michinoku defeated Koji Nakagawa to win the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Title.
- Chigusa Nagayo defeated Shark Tsuchiya.
- Mitsuhiro Matsunaga, Hido & Hideki Hosaka defeated Toryu, Miguelito Perez & Shoji Nakamaki when Matsunaga pinned Toryu.
- The Headhunters & Super Leather defeated Horace Boulder, Hisakatsu Oya & The Gladiator (Mike Awesome) when Leather pinned Boulder to win the FMW World Six-Man Street Fight Tag Team Championship.
- Cactus Jack (who had already debuted as Mankind in WWF) defeated Wing Kanemura in a Barbed Wire Barricade Spider Net Broken Glass Death Match.
- Megumi Kudo defeated Combat Toyoda in a No Rope Explosive Barbed Wire Match to win the FMW Unified World Women's Championship.
- Terry Funk & Mr. Pogo defeated Hayabusa & Masato Tanaka in a No Rope Explosive Barbed Wire Time Bomb Land Mine Double Hell Death Match when Funk pinned Hayabusa.

2001 - Scoot Andrews defeats Billy Fives to win the vacant ECWA Heavyweight Title in Wilmington, Delaware.  Andrews and Fives both won six-way matches to advance to the finals.

2002 - C.W. Anderson defeats Chris Hamrick in Pottstown, Pennsylvania to win the vacant Premier Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Title.  The belt had been vacated by former champion Steve Corino due to injury.

2002 - WWF runs a Smackdown house show in Worcester, Massachusetts at the Centrum, headlined by WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeating Chris Jericho with a legdrop.  This would be the final show under the "WWF" name, as the change from World Wrestling Federation to World Wrestling Entertainment would take place the next day.

2003 - During an edition of Raw from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Jerry Lawler defeats Chief Morley (Val Venis) to win back Jim Ross' job as a color commentator.  He had been removed from the position by General Manager Eric Bischoff.

2006 - Oleg Prudius makes his WWE in-ring debut on a house show in San Jose, California, defeating Rob Conway with a powerslam.  Oleg would be renamed Vladimir Kozlov, and would make several WWE TV appearances sitting in the front row in December of 2006 and January of 2007, with the storyline that he was an MMA fighter negotiating to come into WWE.  He still hasn't wrestled on WWE television, and the storyline has since been forgotten. Prudius/Kozlov is still wrestling in Ohio Valley Wrestling.

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