A look back at the past week in wrestling history, including Dusty Rhodes’ Hard Times promo, The Rock’s debut and more!

Liz returns from getting her time machine fixed to recap the happenings from October 29th to November 4th in professional wrestling history.  Highlights include Dusty Rhodes greatest promo (Hard Times), the debut of Dwayne Johnson, the death of The Fabulous Moolah and so much more!

Born On These Dates:

October 29th

• 1949 – Paul Orndoff

October 30th

• 1973 – Adam Joseph Copeland (Edge)
• 1985 – Karl Kramer (Sean Carr)

October 31st

• 1964 – Martin Wright (The Boogeyman)
• 1966 – Koji Kanemoto (Tiger Mask III)

November 1st

• 1944 –  Raymond Louis (Bobby) Heenan
• 1971 – Akikazu Maruyama (Kaiser)
• 1978 – Gabriel Allan Tuft (Tyler Reks)
• 1980 – Cody Croslin (Tyler Bateman)

November 2nd

• 1966 – Yoshinari Ogawa
• 1974 – Sharmell Sullivan-Huffman
• 1979 – Cliff Compton
• 1987 – Harvinder Sihra (Samir Singh)

November 3rd

• 1970 – Dawn Marie Psaltis (Dawn Marie)
• 1980 –  Jackie Suzanne Gayda-Haas
• 1987 – Ariane Nicole Andrew (Cameron)
• 1989 – Manuel Alfonso Andrade Oropeza (Andrade)

November 4th

• 1973 – Jason Myers (Cody Hawk)

On These Dates in Wrestling History:

October 29th

1985 – Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, Dusty Rhodes delivered what would be his most famous promo: the “Hard Times” promo, which spoke to what NWA world champion Ric Flair did when he took Dusty Rhodes out of action.

1988 – The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal) defeated The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane) to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship.

1990 – WWF taped Survivor Series Showdown ‘90 from the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, Indiana. The show aired November 18, just four days before Survivor Series. The show featured singles matches with one member of each of the ten teams competing on the PPV.

• Sgt. Slaughter defeated Tito Santana.
• Rick Martel defeated Marty Jannetty.
• Earthquake defeated Big Boss Man.
• Bret Hart defeated The Honky Tonk Man.
• The Texas Tornado defeated Smash by disqualification to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship.

1995 – WCW presented Halloween Havoc  from the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan.  The show featured the in-ring debut of The Giant. In a previously taped match on t.he roof of Cobo Hall, Hulk Hogan defeated The Giant in a monster truck Sumo match. The two would come to blows and Hogan knocked The Giant off the roof, supposedly plunging to his death. However, he returned for a match at the PPV completely unscathed from a five story fall.

2000 – Another Halloween Havoc from Nevada. It was voted as the worst show of the year by Wrestling Observer. The PPV also pretty much signaled the end of the Russo era at WCW. This would be the final Halloween Havoc.

2012 – Hulk Hogan and Bubba the Love Sponge settle their lawsuit over a leaked tape that had Hogan and Bubba’s wife at the time Heather Clem.

2013 – WWE 2K14, the first WWE game to be released under the 2K banner, is released in North America.

2014 – Lucha Underground debuted on The El Rey Network.

October 30th

1969 – Antonio Inoki & Michiaki defeat Buddy Austin & Mr. Atomic to win the vacated JWA All-Asian Tag Team Championship. This would be Inoki’s last title reign in JWA.

1990 – In a match filmed but never aired, The Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty) defeated The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) 2-1 in a best of three falls match to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. Neidhart was on his way out of the company at the time of the match, but just a short time after reached a new deal with the company. The Rockers defended on the house shows, but the titles would return to the Hart Foundation. The Rockers would never win the championship before being broken up a year later.

2007 – Solofa Fatu, Jr., (Rikishi/Junior Fatu) leaves TNA just six weeks after making his debut due to a financial dispute.

2007 – Mark Henry defeated Big Daddy V, Kane, and The Great Khali in a “Monster Mash” battle royal at an ECW taping. The bout was voted by Wrestling Observer Newsletter readers as the sixth worst of 2007.

2012 – WWE ’13 is released in North America. It’ was the last WWE video game to be released on the Nintendo Wii and the last to be released by THQ, as the company would file for bankruptcy just three months after its release. Copies of the game were temporarily recalled, but re-released when Take-Two Interactive acquired the WWE game license.

2013 – Chris Jericho launches his own web comedy series, But I’m Chris Jericho. The series starring Jericho is loosely based on his life as an ex-wrestler struggling to make it as an actor.

October 31st

1979 – Giant Baba defeated Harley Race to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

1985 – WWF tapes the third episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event  from the Hersheypark Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The show featured the premiere of the “Land of 1000 Dances” music video from The Wrestling Album, plus a Halloween party.

1990 –  The final match ever for Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard as a tag team, whose partnership went back to the days of the Four Horsemen in NWA took place on Saturday Night Main Event.

1998 – Mitsuhara Misawa defeated Kenta Kobashi to win the All Japan Triple Crown Championship for the fourth time.

2000 – Ivory defeated Lita, Jacqueline, and Trish Stratus in a four corners match to win the WWF Womens Championship for the third time.

2005 – Jay Reso, best known to wrestling fans as Christian, leaves WWE after seven years with the company.

November 1st

1949 – NWA World Heavyweight Champion Orville Brown is injured in an automobile accident. The injury not only cancels an upcoming unification world title match between Brown and Lou Thesz, Brown is forced to retire. The National Wrestling Alliance’s world title held by Brown is forfeited to the National Wrestling Association’s world champion Lou Thesz.

1990 – Jushin “Thunder” Liger defeated Pegasus Kid (a masked Chris Benoit) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship for the third time.

1997 – WWF Champion Bret Hart officially signs with WCW.  Hart revealed his contract was for $2.5 million a year  for three years, a lighter schedule, and reasonable creative control. A confidentiality agreement is made to keep mum of Hart’s decision until after Survivor Series in Montreal, but the news gets out anyway. By the time the show airs on November 9, Hart’s departure from the company is a hot topic throughout the show and in the weeks thereafter.

1998 – ECW presents November to Remember from the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana.

• Super Nova & The Blue Meanie defeated Danny Doring & Roadkill. Terry Funk was the special timekeeper.
• Tommy Rogers defeated Tracy Smothers.
• Spike Dudley defeated Ulf Herman in just five seconds
• Lance Storm defeated Jerry Lynn. Tammy Lynn Sytch and Mikey Whipwreck were both special referees.
• Balls Mahoney & Masato Tanaka defeated The Dudley Boyz (Buh Buh Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley) to win the ECW Tag Team Championship.
• Jake Roberts & Tommy Dreamer defeated Jack Victory & Justin Credible
• Rob Van Dam, Sabu, and Taz defeated The Triple Threat (Bam Bam Bigelow, Chris Candido, and Shane Douglas).

1998 – WWF tapes the debut episode of the short-lived Super Astros from the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. In the show’s featured bout, El Hijo de Santo defeated Super Loco. The show lasted less than a year before being cancelled in September 1999.

2003 – The Briscoes (Jay & Mark) defeat Special K (Izzy & Dixie) to win the Ring of Honor Tag Team Championship.

2004 – La Resistance (Rob Conway & Sylvain Grenier) defeated Edge & Chris Benoit to win the World Tag Team Championship.

2007 – WWE announces that effective immediately, all violations of the company’s Wellness Policy will be made public. Chris Masters is the first man publicly outed under the new rules; he was suspended for two months the next day.

November 2nd.

2000 –  The WWF Hardcore Championship is introduced on RAW is WAR from Houston, Texas, with Mankind being awarded the title. Mankind would lose the championship for just four weeks later to the Big Boss Man and never win it back.

2002 – WWF issues a statement that they have settled their wrongful death lawsuit with the Hart family.

World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. Announces Settlement in Owen Hart Case

STAMFORD, Conn.–Nov. 2, 2000–World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWF) announced today that it has agreed to a settlement in a previously disclosed lawsuit filed by the members of the family of Owen Hart, a professional wrestler, whose accidental death occurred while performing under contract with the Company. Under the terms of the agreement, the WWFE will receive a full release from any further liability in the case.

`It has always been our intention to settle this case and we tried to do what we felt was in the best interest for all those involved, particularly for the family of Owen Hart,” said Linda McMahon, CEO.

As a result of the settlement, the WWFE will take a charge of $7 million which is net of its insurance recoveries and will retain the right to pursue contribution and indemnity from the companies that manufactured and sold the equipment involved in the accident. The charge will be recorded in selling, general and administrative expenses for the quarter ended October 27, 2000.

2006 – During a $1,000,000 Tough Enough competition, two of the contestants took on Kurt Angle in a shoot-style wrestling match. After quickly disposing of Chris Nawrocki, Daniel Puder volunteered. Puder put Angle in a keylock and was in danger of submitting Angle (or worse, breaking his arm), when the referee fast-counted Puder’s shoulders down, though one of them appeared to be up.

2009 – Harry Smith (aka David Hart Smith) and Chris Mordetzky (aka Chris Masters) were suspended after they were found to be in violation of the WWE’s wellness policy. They’re the first performers to be publicly named in violation of the policy following a change in the policy instituted just a day earlier that anyone caught would be publicly identified. Smith was suspended for a month, while Mordetzky was suspended for two months following a second violation. Chris would subsequently be released.

November 3rd

1997 – Perry Saturn in his WCW television in-ring debut defeated Disco Inferno to win the WCW World Television Championship.

1998 –  Jesse “The Body” Ventura, running as an Independent candidate, is elected the thirty-eighth Governor of Minnesota.

1998 – Mankind defeated Ken Shamrock to retain the WWF Hardcore Championship.

2001 – WWF presented Rebellion  from the Manchester Evening News Arena in Manchester, England.

• In a dark match, Billy and Chuck (Billy Gunn & Chuck Palumbo) defeated Lance Storm & Justin Credible.
• Edge defeated Christian in a steel cage match to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
• Scotty 2 Hotty defeated The Hurricane.
• The Big Show defeated Diamond Dallas Page.
• The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) defeated The APA (Faarooq and Bradshaw) & The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff) in a Triangle match to retain the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
• William Regal defeated Tajiri.
• Chris Jericho defeated Kurt Angle to retain the WCW Championship.
• Torrie Wilson and Lita defeated Stacy Keibler and Mighty Molly. Trish Stratus was the special guest referee.
• Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated The Rock to retain the WWF Championship.

2003 – Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Yoshihiro Takayama to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

2008 –  Chris Jericho defeated Batista in a steel cage match to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.

2014 –  WWE announces the WWE Network in the United Kingdom is delayed indefinitely less than a half hour before it was set to launch.  The Network finally launched on January 19, 2015 in the UK and Ireland, just in time for the Royal Rumble.

November 4th

1982 – Greg Valentine defeated Wahoo McDaniel to win the NWA United States Championship.

1988 – They Live is released in theaters. The movie, directed by John Carpenter, is Roddy Piper’s first starring role in a featured film. Piper plays John Nada, an unemployed drifter who discovers after putting on a pair of sunglasses, he is surrounded by aliens manipulating the world around them to their benefit through subliminal advertising. The movie has gone on to become a cult classic among fans and critics alike.

1996 – Dwayne Johnson makes his WWF debut as third-generation wrestler Rocky Maivia. He runs in following a Goldust versus Stalker match as members of both Survivor Series teams get involved in a post-match melee.

1996 – On the same episode as above one of the most controversial moments ever took place. Brian Pillman, recovering from an ankle injury at the hands of Stone Cold Steve Austin, was to be interviewed by Kevin Kelly at his home in Walton, Kentucky, about 20 miles southwest of Cincinnati. In the early moments of the interview, Brian, his wife Melanie, and Kelly were informed that Stone Cold Steve Austin was heading to Pillman’s home. Pillman, as it turned out, was ready for him just in case. In his words, “when Austin 3:16 meets Pillman 9mm Gun, I’m gonna blow his ass straight to hell!” Brian was indeed brandishing a legit 9mm gun. The segment continued, and since it was aired live, there was no chance to edit cursing. Both Pillman and the WWF were forced to issue on-air apologies for the incident later in the week under threat that they would be cancelled by USA Network.

2002 – Dave Batista makes his RAW debut with an 85-second victory over Justin Credible.

2015 – WWE Champion Seth Rollins is injured during a no-disqualification match against Kane. The injury came late in the match when his right knee buckled during a sunset flip powerbomb. The injury was a pretty severe one: torn ACL, torn MCL, torn medical meniscus. With a recovery time of six to nine months, Rollins vacates the WWE World Heavyweight Championship the next day, with a new champion to be crowned in a tournament final at Survivor Series.

Died On These Dates:

November 1st

• 1985– Richard McGraw
• 2012 – Robert Bradley James (Brad Armstrong)

November 2nd

• 2007 – Mary Lillian Ellison (The Fabulous Moolah)