Today In Wrestling History – October 6th & 7th

Liz takes a look at the historical elements of October 6th & 7th, including the birth of Bruno Sammartino, the passing of Gorilla Monsoon, and more.

So I was a little caught up at the New York Comic Con, and you get a double shot today!

Born on These Dates:

October 6th:

• 1935 – Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino
• 1959 – Barry Darsow (Smash)
• 1964 – Dixie Lee Carter-Salinas
• 1984 – Afa Anoa’i Jr.
• 1993 – Clark Connors

October 7th:

• 1975 – Terrence Romney Gerin (Rhino)
• 1986 – Celeste Bonin (Kaitlyn)
• 1987 – Matt Rehwoldt (Aiden English)

On These Days in History:

October 6th:

• 1997 – WCW Nitro defeated WWF RAW IS WAR in the ratings, however the WWF had two moments that created a lasting impression. Vince McMahon interviewed the widow of Brian Pillman, just one day after he was found dead in a hotel room. Melanie Pillman had hoped her husband’s death would serve as a wake up call to the dangers of prescription and other drug abuse among wrestlers (and others). In the other segment, Jim Cornette repeated grievances against WCW that he had previously voiced on his WWF audio show.
• 1999 –  Robert James “Gino” Marella, best known to the wrestling world as Gorilla Monsoon, died of heart failure brought on by complications brought on by diabetes in his home in  New Jersey. He was 62.
• 2007 – Nigel McGuinness defeated Takeshi Morishima to become the ROH World Champion.
• 2011 – Vince Russo was replaced as TNA’s head of creative by Bruce Pritchard. Pritchard would be promoted just over a year later to  senior vice president of programming and talent relations. He was released in 2013.
• 2012 – In his only MMA fight, Dave Bautista won  a first-round knockout victory over Vince Lucero at a CES MMA event.
• 2015 – The TNA Heavyweight title was vacated due to EC3 getting new champion Matt Hardy banned from Impact TV. A ‘World Cup’ style tournament to crown a new champion would eventually lead to Hardy and EC3 battling on the debut of Impact on Pop TV where Carter would regain the title.

October 7th:

• 1984 – Wahoo McDaniel defeated Manny Fernandez in a tournament final to win the NWA United States Championship. Other participants in the one-night tournament included Mike Rotunda, Assassin #1, Ivan Koloff, Brian Adidas, Dusty Rhodes, Don Kernolde, Ricky Steamboat, Ron Bass, Superstar Billy Graham, Carlos Colon, Mark Youngblood, Tully Blanchard, and Jimmy Valiant.
• 1988 – Rockin’ Robin defeated Sensational Sherri to win the WWF Women’s Championship. She was the final champion before the championship was deactivated in 1990.
• 2001 – Chris Adams was shot and killed during a drunken brawl with a friend at his home in Waxahachie, Texas. He was 46.
• 2005 – TNA resumed airing matches on Xplosion!, which also recapped Impact.
• 2008 – ECW aired the first vignette announcing the return of The Boogeyman.
• 2010 – Team 3D returned to TNA Impact to promise a major announcement at Bound for Glory.
• 2013 – On air, Stephanie McMahon fired The Big Show, in a refreshing change he did not cry.
• 2014 – The Rock made a surprise appearance on Monday Night Raw, timed to coincide with half time of Monday Night Football.
• 2018 – PAC (FKA Neville) made his first appearance in Dragon Gate since his WWE release to join up with the R.E.D. stable. It was announced PAC’s corkscrew shooting star press finisher will be known as Black Arrow, as opposed to Red Arrow in WWE.

Died On This Date:

October 6th:

• 1999 – Otto Marella (Gorilla Monsoon)
• 2010 – Yoshinori Kimura (Gran Naniwa)

October 7th:

• 2001 – Christopher Adams