Today In Wrestling History 7/11: Brock Lesnar Makes History, CM Punk Wants Ice Cream, Trial, More

* 21 years ago today, the steroid distribution trial of Vince McMahon continued after a weekend break. They opened by finishing the defense's cross-examination of Dr. George Zahorian (Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission doctor who was convicted of related distribution charges in 1991; McMahon was accused of conspiring with him) before moving onto other witnesses.

** Defense attorney Laura Brevetti tried to establish that there were, in fact, times where Zahorian acted as an actual doctor and more than just a drug dealer, like counseling King Kong Bundy and Gorilla Monsoon about their diabetes and Arnold Skaaland about his drinking. He went to the hospital with S.D. Jones when his appendix burst, answered wrestlers' medical questions and considered it privileged information, plus he did tell some wrestlers about the side effects of steroids. Remember, he always insisted he did what he did because he knew the wrestlers and his other customers were going to do all of these drugs regardless of what he did, so they were better off having the genuine article. McMahon never directly phoned him to order steroids, and they never spoke after the WWF elected not to hire Zahorian when the commission changed its rules so that the promoter hired the ringside doctor.

To close out Zahorian's three days on the stand, prosecutor Sean O'Shea questioned him on a redirect examination. He's been in solitary confinement for his own protection and was never told his conditions would improve based on his testimony. McMahon never complained about his dealing and never asked about his background or awards. He didn't recall what was in every Federal Express package he sent, but he definitely remembered that those sent to Emily Feinberg, McMahon's secretary, contained steroids.

** Rick Rood ("Ravishing" Rick Rude) was up next and made a point of giving short, vague answers. He was there primarily because of a story that he had told other wrestlers for years: In 1989, he went off steroids while he and his wife were trying to conceive. Vince told him at a TV taping that he "didn't look good," though his work and promos were on-point, and then Rude explained the situation to him. As Rude told the story i open court, McMahon asked him to "push himself," which he took to mean as getting back on steroids. On cross, defense attorney Jerry McDevitt noted that McMahon never told him to buy steroids from Zahorian, and that he also expressed concern about Rude's "partying" and smoking,

** Kevin "Nailz" Wacholz was next, as he claimed to have witnessed the McMahon-Rude conversation at a TV taping in Wisconsin since he was getting a tryout that night, which would place it as being on June 6, 1989. He swore that McMahon said that being that Rude was in a top spot against the Ultimate Warrior, he needed to be on the gas, specifically using that slang terminology for steroids. He added that McMahon also told him to get on steroids when he was hired for the Nailz role in January 1992.

This is when his testimony started to fall off the rails, and it got worse when McDevitt cross-examined him, pointing out that he never said McMahon asked him to go on steroids when he testified in front of the grand jury. Then Wacholz said the Nailz costume (actually a baggy prison uniform) showed off his physique. Oh, and that he still had an outstanding civil suit against McMahon. Laura Brevetti finished up for the defense with a bizarre exchange:

Brevetti: "Isn't it a fact you have personal animosity against Vince McMahon?"
Wacholz: "No."
Brevetti: "Do you hate Vince McMahon?"
Wacholz: "Yes."

** Pat Patterson was the last witness of the day. At the time of the trial, he was making $3,500 per week. When it came to the specifics of the case he gave a lot of short answers. He told Zahorian he didn't like him dealing pills to wrestlers, but didn't know that he was also dealing steroids. Zahorian told him he was just helping the wrestlers. On if he knew about the dangers of steroids: "Sometimes I heard they were bad and other times I heard it was okay if they were used right." He never really talked to anyone about steroids. He did tip Zahorian off about the investigation into him.

O'Shea showed Patterson the memo where Linda McMahon told him to warn Zahorian. Patterson told him he'd never seen it before. Then O'Shea asked a bunch of questions with Patterson unable to recall much of anything, and that was the end of the day.

Tomorrow: Pat Patterson finishes up his testimony, plus The Ultimate Warrior, Anita Scales (then Titan Sports' Director of Compliance and Regulations), and Margaret Sharkey (Scales' assistant).

* 6 years ago tpday. Brock Lesnar had perhaps his finest moment, headlining UFC 100 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. While not technically the 100th UFC card, it was the 100th numbered UFC pay-per-view event. To commemorate the occasion, the card was loaded up, including title matches with both Brock Lesnar and Georges St. Pierre on top. Lesnar defeated Frank Mir by TKO in the second round to unify his UFC Heavyweight Championship with Mir's interim title. This was a rematch of Lesnar's UFC debut, where he was on his way to a quick win before a questionable referee call gave Mir an opportunity to recover and catch him with a leglock.

The hype was epic, with a countdown show highlighted by Lesnar destroying a door in his own house after watching the first fight. He just hits the door in frustration and it comes tumbling down off its hinges.

Lesnar completely dominated the rematch, taking him down and using his giant fists to do violence onto Mir's face. His post-match interview also made headlines: "I'm gonna go home and drink a Coors Light?that's a Coors Light because Bud Light won't pay me nothin'. I'm gonna sit down with my friends and family?and hell, I may even get on top of my wife tonight!" Being that Budweiser is one of UFC's biggest sponsors, if not the biggest, he apologized at the press conference a few minutes later.

UFC President Dana White promised to jump off the roof of the Mandalay Bay casino if the card did more than 1.5 million buys on PPV. It did 1.6 million, making it easily the biggest non-boxing event in the history of the medium. Apparently, White did live up to his promise, but it involved an elaborate harness setup, of course.

* 4 years ago in 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts was the go-home edition of Monday Night Raw for the Money in the Bank pay-per-view in Chicago six days later. Yes, that one.

The big moment everyone remembers is the Vince McMahon/CM Punk "in-ring contract negotiation" that closed the show. It's a great segment, with hilarious moments like Vince asking if he can call Punk "Phil," Punk asking Vince to apologize, and the immortal line that is "I APOLOGIZE, YOU SON OF A b—h!" Of course there was also Punk's list of demands that you all remember like a personal private jet (not WWE's jet, his own), "CM Punk: The Movie," and of course the return of WWE Ice Cream Bars.

The last one picked up the most real life steam by far, but due to licensing holdups, never went anywhere, with an ice cream bar themed Punk t-shirt being all that came out of it. If you really want the delicious combination of vanilla ice cream sandwiched between a vanilla cookie and a layer of chocolate, then the Rugrats ice cream bars were the same basic product. But those may not exist anymore, either.

What most people don't remember is that after babyfacing himself the whole segment, Punk did finish the go-home show as a heel: He compared John Cena (who came out eventually) to the New York Yankees (in Boston!) and tore up the contract to end the show.