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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: STEVE WILLIAMS BECOMES THE FINAL UWF CHAMPION

By Buck Woodward on 2009-07-11 08:00:00

July 11th

On this day in history in ....

1958 - Angelo Savoldi defeats Dory Funk Sr. in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to win the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title for the second time. 

1961 - Gene Kiniski defeats Verne Gagne in Minneapolis, Minnesota to win the AWA World Heavyweight Title.

1987 - Two title changes took place at Great American Bash cards in separate locations.  At the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina, Lex Luger defeated Nikita Koloff for the United States Title. The referee was knocked out, and manager JJ Dillon tossed Luger a chair, which he used to knock out Koloff.  He then put the unconscious Koloff in the Human Torture Rack for the win.  In the main event of that show, NWA World Champion Ric Flair defeated Jimmy Garvin in a steel cage match when Garvin passed out while trapped in the figure four leglock.  As a result, Flair won a date with Garvin's valet, Precious.  When the date occurred, Ronnie Garvin went instead (dressed as a woman), and beat up Flair.

That same night, at a show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Steve Williams defeated Big Bubba Rogers with the Oklahoma Stampede powerslam to win the UWF Heavyweight Title.  Williams was the fourth, and final, UWF champion, as the company was absorbed by Jim Crockett Promotions and the title was later abandoned. Interesting to note, he was also the only babyface champion, as the three previous UWF champions (Rogers, One Man Gang, Terry Gordy) were all heels.

1989 - Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu defeat Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu in Hokkaido, Japan to win the All Japan Pro Wrestling World Tag Team Title. 

1992 - Thanks to Silent Bob for the following. ... World Wrestling Federation house show in Charlotte, North Carolina. This show is significant as it was, at the time, a very rare WWF show in the Queen City which was the long time home of Jim Crockett Promotions. This was Flair's one and only return to his hometown under the WWF banner as he was pulled off a subsequent show due to illness. This was the largest crowd to date at what was, at the time, the "new" Coliseum. Previous WCW shows only utilized half of the arena with a curtain dividing the arena in half.
- Ric Flair pinned WWF Champion Randy Savage, but the decision was later reversed when Flair dropped a foreign object he used to pin Savage in front of the referee.
- The Undertaker w/Paul Bearer pinned the Bezerker (complete w/rubber sword & shield that visibly bent when he got in the ring) w/Mr. Fuji after a tombstone.
- The Nasty Boys beat High Energy (Owen Hart & Koko B. Ware) when Sags pinned Owen.
- The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon) defeated the WWF Tag Team Champions Money Inc. ("Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase & Irwin R. Schyster) by CO when Money Inc. walked out rather than continue the match.
- Tatanka defeated Rick Martel.
- "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith pinned Repo Man after hitting him with a hook on the rope Repo brought to the ring.

1999 - Momoe Nakanishi defeats Chaparita Asari in Tokyo, Japan to win the WWWA Super Lightweight Title.

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