Liz compiles your day in history for a very busy December 12! This day includes a monumental accomplishment by The New Day…

So much to review today. Multiple birthdays, history setting title reigns and Santa Claus being beat up by Kurt Angle..Ah wrestling, you crazy beautiful thing!

Born On This Day

• 1934 – Guadalupe Robledo (Jose Lothario)
• 1951 – Gary Michael Cappetta
• 1964 – Terry Michael Brunk (Sabu)
• 1966 – Yoshihiro Asai (Ultimo Dragon)
• 1974 – Chad Collyer
• 1976 – Jerome (Crony) Hatton
• 1981 – Edward Moore (Eddie Kingston)
• 1991 – Travis (Flip) Gordon Lopes Jr.

This Day In Wrestling History

1980 – Dewey Robertson (The Missing Link) & George Wells defeat The Sheepherders in Richmond, Virginia to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Title.

1985 – Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura defeat Antonio Inoki & Seji Sakaguchi in the finals of the IWGP Tag Team League, becoming the first IWGP Tag Team Champions. However, the two teams were actually tied for second place going into the finals of the tournament. The first place team, Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka, no-showed the event, supposedly due to a disagreement between Brody and Sakaguchi.

1986 – Steve “Dr. Death” Williams wins the first (and only) Pro Wrestling Illustrated Cup tournament in the UWF by defeating UWF Champion One Man Gang in the finals.

1987 – Mark & Chris Youngblood defeat The Samoans (Fatu & Samu) to win the WWC Caribbean Tag Team Title in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

1988 – Carlos Colon defeats Ron Garvin for the WWC Universal Heavyweight Title in San Juan, Puerto Rico to begin his eighth reign as champion.

1989 – Jerry Lawler defeats Kerry Von Erich for the World Class/USWA Texas Heavyweight Title in Dallas, Texas.

1989 – WWF taped No Holds Barred: The Match/The Movie from the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.   Airing December 27 on PPV, the No Holds Barred double feature began with the titular movie starring Hulk Hogan airing in its entirety. That was followed by the steel cage match, the first in WWF history that was billed as “no holds barred”. Also in a WWF first, the bout could be won by one pinfall, one submission, or both members of the team escaping the cage. This would be the final appearance of Tom Lister Jr., aka Zeus, in the WWF; he left the company shortly thereafter the event.

• In a dark match, Dusty Rhodes defeated Big Boss Man.
• In a dark match, The Ultimate Warrior defeated Dino Bravo to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
• In a dark match, The Colossal Connection (Andre the Giant & Haku) defeated Demolition (Ax & Smash) via countout in a WWF Tag Team Championship match.
• In a dark match, Mr. Perfect defeated Ron Garvin.
• Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake defeated Randy Savage and Zeus in a tag team steel cage match.

1990 – The AWA World Heavyweight Championship is retired when their champion Larry Zbyszko leaves for WCW. The American Wrestling Association had been inactive since the fall, but continued to air programming until 1991, when the promotion filed for bankruptcy and ultimately shut down.

1992 – Tracey Smothers defeats Tony Anthony in a tournament final to become the first Smoky Mountain Wrestling “Beat The Champ” Television Champion in Morristown, Tennessee. The title had unique rules, in that the champion would vacate the championship if he made five successful title defenses on television in a row.

1997 – Momoe Nakanishi defeats Sache Nishibori for the All Japan Singles Title in Chiba, Japan.

1999 – WWF held their Armageddon Pay-per-view in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

2007 – WWE releases A Jingle with Jillian on iTunes. The album plays up Jillian Hall’s gimmick of being a terrible singer. A second version of the album with two new tracks was released in 2010. The first version actually sold pretty well, breaking into the top 50 albums on iTunes in the UK, but in the US, it was largely a bust, peaking at just #120 on the Billboard 200.

2010 – Lucha Libre USA: Masked Warriors taping in Alberquerque, New Mexico, Lizmark, Jr. defeated Charly Malice, Marco Corleone, and RJ Brewer in a fatal four-way elimination match to become the first ever Lucha Libre USA Champion. The show doesn’t air until the following October for MTV2, by which point, Lizmark, Jr. had lost the title to Brewer.

2010 – Dutch Mantel announced the release of his second book “Tales From A Dirt Road.”

2011 – WWE broadcast a Slammy Awards edition of Monday Night Raw.  The show is noted for the return of a remasked Kane.

2012 – PWinsider.com reported that WWE was talking to focus groups online about ways to generate interest in the Divas division. The research and feedback would give birth to the reality series Total Divas.

2014 – Kyle O’Reilly defeated Ricochet via submission to retain the PWG World Championship… only to lose it moments later in a Guerrilla Warfare match to Roderick Strong.

2016 –  On RAW, The New Day broke the 28 year old record (held by Demolition) to become of any single-run with any tag team championship in WWE history. Demolition held this record with WWE’s original World Tag Team Championship and still hold the specific record for that version of the titles. At Roadblock, on December 18, The New Day’s reign ended at 483 days after they lost the championships to The Bar.

Died On This Day

• 1982 – Willard (Bill) Rowe Longson