The focus point of this edition of ‘This day..’ takes us nearly 70 years back to the nascent stages of the National Wrestling Alliance and the man who gave prestige to the organisation.
A three-time NWA Champion, with a combined reign of over 10 years, Lou Thesz is indeed one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. The originator of numerous wrestling holds including the German Suplex, the Powerbomb, the STF and the Lou Thesz Press, the legend had a 58-year career, eventually retiring in 1990.
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One year after the retirement of Thesz, The Undertaker would capture his first ever WWE title on the same date as Thesz won his first NWA title. Fourteen years later, he would appear at the main event of Survivor Series which included a match rated as the worst ever of that year.
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Read on!
#1 The Undertaker wins his first WWE Championship – 27th November 1991
Survivor Series 1991 was the first to feature a singles match in addition to the traditional elimination matches. The match saw Hulk Hogan put his WWE Championship on the line against The Undertaker. The match was third to last on the card and surprisingly the relative newcomer beat Hogan to capture the title.
He would be assisted by Ric Flair’s interference but would lose the title back to Hogan on 3rd December after yet another controversial finish.
Undertaker would capture the title once again from Hogan some 11 years later after the latter rejoined the WWE following the demise of WCW.
#2 Lou Thesz becomes NWA Champion – 27th November 1949
The 1940s saw professional wrestling in the United States widely scattered among various promotions and there had been no Undisputed Heavyweight Champion since the days of Frank Gotch and Georg Hackenschmidt.
In 1949, National Wrestling Alliance was formed in order to create one world champion for all wrestling territories throughout North America.
NWA named Orville Brown, the MidWest Heavyweight Champion as the first NWA Champion and he would defend the title against the National Wrestling Association World Champion Lou Thesz. Unfortunately, the match never happened as Brown was involved in an automobile accident that ended his career.
So on November 27, Thesz was handed the NWA Championship.
Thesz would bring credibility to the NWA Heavyweight Championship by uniting all major World Heavyweight Championships with the NWA title and by 1952, he was recognised as the Undisputed Champion.
Thesz would make Pro-wrestling popular in Japan by defending the NWA title in that country against Rikidozan and was a legitimate tough guy which meant that shooters who tried to deviate from the planned finish were put in their place.
This was never more apparent than in 1963 when Buddy Rogers was said to have second thoughts about dropping the title to Thesz. Thesz looked Rogers in the eye and said – ‘We could do this the easy way or the hard way’. The match went ahead without a scratch.
#3 Eric Bischoff and Teddy Long stink Survivor Series – 27th November 2005
Survivor Series 2005 had one of the most eagerly anticipated and well-promoted elimination tag team matches featuring Team Raw against Team SmackDown. But the match that took place before the main event threatened to drive people out of the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan.
The next to last match on the card saw Raw GM Eric Bischoff taking on SmackDown GM Teddy Long in a match that nobody wanted to see. Six minutes of clumsy in-ring action was accompanied by interferences from Palmer Cannon and the Boogeyman, resulting in Long picking up the victory.
The match, classified as the ‘Worst worked match of the year’ by Wrestling Observer Magazine in 2005, could have sunk the PPV had it not been for the stellar elimination match that happened next with the return of the Undertaker to close the show.
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