On this day, June 5th, in pro wrestling history…
1963: Bruno Sammartino defended the WWWF World Heavyweight title against Skull Murphy in White Plains, NY.
1982: Bob Backlund defended the WWF title against Jimmy Snuka at Madison Square Garden. Andre the Giant also fought Blackjack Mulligan to a no-contest.
1987: Hulk Hogan defended the WWF title against the Honky Tonk Man at the Rosemont Horrison (now the Allstate Arena).
1989: Genichiro Tenryu defeated Jumbo Tsuruta to become the new AJPW Triple Crown Champion at Budokan Hall, in a match rated 5-stars by the Wrestling Observer.
1997: El Samurai defeated Koji Kanemoto to win the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in a match rated 5-stars by the Wrestling Observer.
1998: Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masa Chono became the new IWGP Tag Team Champions at Budokan Hall. Brand new WWE Hall of Famer Tatsumu Fujinami successfully defended the IWGP Heavyweight title against Shinya Hashimoto.
1998: Steve Austin and The Undertaker teamed together to defeat Kane and Mankind in a Madison Square Garden main event. Triple H also defeated Vader, and the New Age Outlaws defended their titles against the Legion of Doom.
2000: Today in “What Killed WCW”, Vince Russo defeated Ric Flair in a steel cage match, while Eric Bischoff defeated Terry Funk to become the new Hardcore Champion on an episode of Nitro.
2001: Jeff Hardy defeated Jerry Lynn to become the WWF Light Heavyweight Champion at a Smackdown TV taping. The main event saw Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho run a gauntlet against the APA, Rhyno and Big Show, and the strange team of Vince McMahon and Steve Austin.
2007: In one of the best matches in Smackdown television history, Edge defeated Chris Benoit in a nearly 20-minute match. This was Benoit’s last match on the Smackdown brand, as he was drafted to ECW the next week, before the infamous events of his death on June 24th.
