On May 27th, 2005 TNA aired its last episode of Impact! On Fox Sports Network.
Only a year earlier TNA announced that they had negotiated a television deal with Fox Sports Net where they would get a one-hour timeslot on Fridays in most markets, putting TNA on unrestricted cable and satellite for the first time. After their short contract expired TNA began taping and airing webisodes before landing a deal with Spike TV 5 months later.
On May 26th, 1996 WWF attempts to air In Your House 8: Beware Of Dog, but a power outage during the 3rd match of the night cuts the feed. The event would be re-aired in full 2 days later.
On May 25th, 1997 the unlikely pair of Steve Austin & Shawn Michaels defeated The British Bulldog & Owen Hart to win the WWF Tag Team Titles.
On May 24th, 1984 in Yokosuka, Japan, Kerry Von Erich’s 18 day reign as NWA world champion came to an end to Flair in a bout that was marred by controversy. Von Erich’s feet were on the bottom rope following a reversed rollup, but the referee ignored this and made the count.
Kerry has the 12th shortest NWA World title reign in history. In reality, the NWA only allowed Kerry a short reign due to his substance abuse, and he was told to drop the belt to Flair before the May 29 encounter between Flair and Ricky Steamboat.
On May 23rd, 1999, WWF Over The Edge was held in Kansas City, Missouri. The event is infamous for the tragic death of Owen Hart, which I’ll cover later in the column. Vince McMahon made the decision to continue the show as ‘it’s what Owen would have wanted’. Jim Ross announced his death to the TV audience later in the show, but the live audience was never informed.
Owen had been reprising his late ‘80s gimmick as the masked wrestler The Blue Blazer. He would routinely repel from the cat walks of the arenas. On this day however, the stunt backfired and sent Owen plummeting to the ring. According to those in attendance his head hit the turnbuckle and he actually tried to pick himself up before collapsing. This differs from the official reports that claim he died on impact.
No actual footage exists of the fall, as this portion of the ppv was edited out for the video release and destroyed.
I apologize for not being up to date as of late. I have started a 2nd job and I’m trying to work in time to keep things up to date. As always, I greatly appreciate all my followers.
On May 22nd, 1994 WCW held their second annual Slamboree event headlined by Sting facing off against Big Van Vader for the vacant WCW international title.
Sting was able to overcome the mastodon and gain the rebranded large gold title, that was made famous by Ric Flair, that had recently arrived back in the company.
On May 21st, 1995 the final inductions were made into the WCW Hall of Fame at Slamboree in St Petersburg, Florida. The Class of ‘95 were Wahoo McDaniel, Angelo Poffo, Terry Funk, Antonio Inoki, Dusty Rhodes, Gordon Solie & Big John Studd
On May 20th, 2011 the wrestling world lost former WWF, WCW, AWA and USWA Champion ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage at the age of 58.
Savage actually started his sporting career in baseball, playing minor league in the St Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox farm systems. He began wrestling in the 1973 off-season, initially wrestling as ‘The Spider’ before adopting the ‘Randy Savage’ persona at the suggestion of promoter Ole Anderson. By 1974, he had abandoned his baseball career to wrestle full-time and soon began wrestling for his father’s ICW promotion, where he and brother Lanny became two of the top stars. After the demise of ICW, Savage moved to Jerry Lawler’s CWA promotion, quickly becoming a major star there as well. In 1985, the WWF came calling and he debuted as ‘the top free agent in pro wrestling’. Less than a year later, he had won his first and only WWF Intercontinental Title while also holding two countout victories over WWF Champion Hulk Hogan. From 1987 to 1989, Hogan and Savage teamed together as ‘The Mega Powers’, during which time he won his first WWF Title, holding it for a little over a year before losing it to Hogan (who he had recently turned on) at WrestleMania V. After two years of competing as ‘The Macho King’, Savage was defeated by The Ultimate Warrior in a Retirement Match at WrestleMania VII, following which he became an announcer. After his memorable in-ring wedding to Miss Elizabeth, Savage was goaded into a return by Jake Roberts who he defeated in a feud lasting through to February 1992. At that year’s WrestleMania, he won his second and final WWF Title by defeating Ric Flair, losing the title back to Flair in September. Savage began to wrestle less often, becoming a color commentator when Monday Night Raw began in January 1993, eventually leaving the promotion for WCW in 1994. On debut in WCW, Savage resumed his feud with Flair, trading the WCW World Title with him through to 1996. After initially fighting against the nWo, Savage joined the group in 1997, winning his third WCW Title, before joining Kevin Nash’s nWo Wolfpac. In 1998, Savage took time off, returning to lead his ‘Team Madness’ group to a fourth and final WCW Title before leaving the promotion in 2000. Savage took a break from wrestling, appearing in ‘Spider-Man’ and releasing a rap album before an ill-fated spell with TNA in 2004-5. Savage retired from wrestling in 2005 after several appearances for Harley Race’s WLW. Savage died after suffering a heart attack at the wheel of his Jeep. It was later discovered that he had advanced coronary artery disease.
On May 19th, 2006 WWE Studios releases it’s first feature film, ‘See No Evil’, starring Kane. It eventually grossed around $18.5 million worldwide.
More recently it was revealed by a former WWE writer that Vince Mcmahon had brought up the idea of Kane showing his penis in the film, which would be 3 feet long. Thankfully this stroke of brilliance was sidelined before filming started.
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