Today In Wrestling History 6/23: Austin 3:16 Is Born, Kane Unmasks, WCW Unifies World Titles, & More
* 21 years ago in 1994, WCW had Clash of the Champions 27 live on Superstation TBS from the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, South Carolina. It was a solid show, and really one of the lash Clash specials that actually felt worthy of the name.
The main event saw WCW finally unifying its two world titles, as WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair defeated WCW International World Heavyweight Champion Sting. Now, that's not "WCW International Champion Sting," but Sting being the champion of "WCW International." This was a group of non-existent promoters (patterned after the real life NWA Board of Directors) who were created to keep the spot reserved for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship alive when WCW and the NWA split up in late 1993. The match was really good and included cemented Flair's heel turn to join manager "Sensuous" Sherri Martel and to feud with the debuting Hulk Hogan.
The match with the most interesting story behind it is probably the return of Ray Traylor in the guise of The Guardian Angel. When he left the WWF in 1993 after over five years as the Big Bossman, he did a tour for All Japan Pro Wrestling as Big Bubba Rogers and then started in WCW in December as The Boss, all in the very recognizable Big Bossman outfit. The coloring of the costume was changed around a bit but the WWF was rightfully annoyed. At April's Spring Stampede, The Boss beat the hell out of Harley Race with his nightstick, which forced WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel to outright say he was stripping him of the persona of "The Boss."
What do you make him when he can't be a cop or a prison guard? A member of Curtis Sliwa's well-known Guardian Angels vigilante group, apparently. Sliwa had been around wrestling a bit via his ex-wife (best known know as New York TV reporter Lisa Evers), who had a blink and you'll miss it run with the WWF in the mid-'80s, so somehow the idea got planted in someone's head. Unfortunately, Traylor looked ridiculous in a red beret, red satin jacket, and ill-fitting white t-shirt, but he didn't turn heel and go back to being Big Bubba Rogers for seven more months.
Top to bottom, the show is very solid. Lord Steven (William) Regal vs. Larry Zbyszko and Steve Austin vs. Johnny B. Badd are both very good and Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan vs. The Nasty Boys is a solid opener, albeit not nearly as wild as their Slamboree match.
* 19 years ago in 1996, the WWF produced King of the Ring live on pay-per-view from the MECCA Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Yes, the Austin 3:16 show.
This was the first year where the free TV matches in the tournament were the first round and quarterfinals instead of being qualifiers where another match would take place in the event of a draw and the winner got to the quarterfinals on PPV. This meant the PPV had just the semifinals and finals, with more room for non-tournament matches on the card.
On the PPV, Steve Austin's night started with a really strong opener against Marc Mero. During the match, Mero accidentally kicked Austin in the mouth trying a rolling clutch/rolling prawn hold, busting him open and necessitating a quick trip to the hospital for stitches. Jake Roberts won the other half of the bracket when Vader was disqualified, but got beaten up badly for his troubles, and Austin made short work of him in the finals. You know where it went from there: "You talk about your psalms, you talk about John 3:16...well, Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!" Between the promo/catchphrase catching on and Austin's performance being perceived as gutsy since the injury was explained on TV, Austin was poised to be wrestling's most unlikely babyface star.
One of the other highlights of the show was Owen Hart, who sat in as a color commentator the whole night. He was hilarious all night, with great lines throughout, but especially during Ahmed Johnson's Intercontinental Championship win over Goldust, where he admonished Goldust for not waiting until after the match to fondle Johnson. He also added to the main event, where his brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith got a shot at WWF Champion Shawn Michaels and his sister Diana was a major part of the storyline. That match is probably the most underrated main event of Michaels' first run as champion and totally makes up for their lackluster effort the prior month at "Beware of Dog."
The show also features The Ultimate Warrior's last ever WWF pay-per-view match, as he defeated Jerry Lawler. In the next week or so, Warrior had a terrible falling out with the WWF that we'll detail when we get there.
* 12 years ago in 2003, on a live Monday Night Raw from Madison Square Garden in New York, New York, World Heavyweight Triple H defeated Kane in a mask vs. title match. The unmasking was drawn out, until Kane finally did it, revealing a combination of terrible makeup and goofy hair, and turned heel on his friend/tag team partner Rob Van Dam. It's never really been clear if WWE had more confidence in the makeup than they should have or what, but instead of anything resembling a burn victim, they gave Kane black char marks(!?!?!) and some small scars.
The next week, they reversed course. Even though Kane's unmasking would be replayed a lot in montages for years, they pretended that he never looked the way he did at MSG. Instead, he was like Dr. Doom in the Fantastic Four franchise: A guy with very minor disfigurements that thought he was hideous. Even that was dropped quickly, used as more of an excuse than anything else.
* 11 years ago in 2004, the Pride Fighting Championships held Pride 21: Demolition at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The card featured one of the most famous match in the promotion's history, and one that involved an active pro wrestler, as Don Frye took on Pro Wrestling Noah's Yoshihiro Takayama.
Takayama had been developing a big following for the punishment he was taking in both works and shoots. Well, he didn't disappoint those fans here, as he and Frye immediately clinched up, grabbed single collar ties, and started unloading with sloppy hooks as if they were in a hockey fight. When they gassed out, Frye, who was still a much better real fighter, even in his diminished form, was still the better fighter and picked up an easy win. In Japan, the opening of this fight is referred to as "the Frye-Takayama spot" and is an easy way t get a pop.
Takayama was a huge star coming out of this fight, but it was the beginning of the end of him being a viable headlining pro wrestler. He had taken a long time to get really good, but by 2003, he was one of the very best pro wrestlers in the world. He took way too much abuse, though, and just a couple months after the Frye fight, he suffered a cerebral thrombosis (a form of a stroke) after a brutal NJPW match with Kensuke Sasaki. He had already suffered some form of facial paralysis years earlier, but this was much more serious, and while he did eventually return to the ring after a long recovery, he was never the same.