History has been made!: The Title Changes I've Seen

After every title change in the WWE if the late great Gorilla Monsoon was calling the action he would annotate the change by declaring "History has just been made!"  Back then it really was because title changes were few and far between.  Now, not so much.

Here you find those times that I was there live for history in the making:

June 9, 1997 The FleetCenter, Boston, MA
WCW Monday Nitro

Jeff Jarrett defeated WCW United States Champion: Dean Malenko by submission with the figure four leg lock ending Malenko's 85 day reign. Eddie Guerrero made his return from injury hitting a frog splash on Malenko while his back was turned.  Malenko has defeated Guerrero for the title and had been the one that injured him.

I was torn, excited because this was my first time seeing a title change in person in one of the big companies, pissed because I wasn't a Jarrett fan and I'm a big Dean Malenko fan, so to see Dean drop the belt wasn't fun, especially to Jarrett.  On the other hand my buddy Jay, who I went with, was a HUGE Jarrett fan and was so excited!

March 29, 1998 The FleetCenter, Boston, MA
WWF WrestleMania XIV

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin defeated WWF World Heavyweight Champion: "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michael to win the Championship.  "Iron" Mike Tyson was the special guest enforcer and made the three count awarding Austin the championship.

This was special for many reasons.  It was my first WrestleMania, my first PPV event, I was witnessing one of my favorites from back in his WCW days win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. and I got to hear Howard Finkel say, in person, "and NEEEEEEEEEEWWW World Wrestling Federation Champion..." I truly felt like I was witnessing wrestling history in person this day because it was the dawn of the Austin Era.

May 1, 2005 Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, NH
WWF Backlash

Tag Team Turmoil: The Hurrican & Rosey defeated Tag Team Champions: William Regal & Tajiri, The Heart Throbs: Romeo & Antonio, La Resistance: Rob Conway & Sylvain Grenier, and Maven & Simon Dean to win the titles.

My second PPV and the only PPV to date in New Hampshire.  Rood and I had sixth row on the floor next to the entrance ramp.  I'm a Regal fan so I would have like to see him retain.

March 30, 2008 Citrus Bowl, Orlando, FL
WWE WrestleMania XXIV

Kane pinned ECW Champion: Chavo Guerrero Jr. with a chokeslam to win the title in 11 seconds

The Undertaker defeated World Heavyweight Champion: Edge via submission to win the championship.

Two title changes in one event!  This event was amazing, this weekend was amazing!  Even though I missed the Kane vs. Chavo match, I was dealing with a Coke vendor buying my least favorite soda, because I was that thirsty.  I thought I'd have time during Kane's entrance, but he was hiding under the ring and the next this I know the friggin match was over!

Seeing an Undertaker WrestleMania entrance live was amazing!  As this was an outside venue the presentation of the event was unbelievable and the size of the flames that shot up was intense!  I could feel the heat from my seat.  This was a great match and witnessing the Undertaker not only continue the streak but win the championship was cool.

November 23, 2008 TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, MA
WWE Survivor Series

NO DQ Triple Threat: Edge defeated WWE Champion: Triple H & Vladimir Kozlov pinning Triple H

John Cena pinned World Heavyweight Champion: Chris Jericho to win the championship

My second PPV in the same year that also featured two championship title changes.  Incidentally 2008 was a great year in wrestling for me.

Edge replaced Jeff Hardy who was storyline injured and unable to compete, even though he did a run in at the end.  Triple H & Kozlov wrestled a singles match for 12 minutes before Vickie Guerrero came out and announced it would be a triple threat then Edge made his return from an injury he suffered in July.  The match ended about two minutes after Edge joined the action.

This was Cena's big homecoming, all the previous times I had seen Cena in Boston he was booed out of the building.  This time though he was cheered feverishly by those in attendance.  This was Cena's first time winning this version of the World Heavyweight Championship, he would go on to hold it three times before it was unified with the WWE Championship.

January 30, 2011 TD Garden, Boston, MA
WWE Royal Rumble

Fatal Four-Way: Eve defeated Michelle McCool, Layla, & Diva's Champion: Natalya pinning Layla after a moonsault to win the championship.

This biggest Royal Rumble of them all with 40 participants.  I met Jim Duggan at a free signing before the show. I was surprised to see Eve get the win in this match.  Also glad I got to see a Royal Rumble match live!

September 30, 2016 Memorial Auditorium, Lowell, MA
Ring of Honor: All Star Extravaganza VIII

Ladder Wars VI: IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions: The Young Bucks: Nick & Matt Jackson defeated ROH Tag Team Champions: The Addiction: Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian and The Motor City Machine Guns: Alex Shelly & Chris Sabin to win the championships

DAMN! This is the greatest match that I have ever seen live, hands down! We had front row, there was six of us that went down and it was amazing!

I've never seen a title change in Maine, in fact in the history of the WWE the only time a title has changed hands in Maine was at the last Monday Night Raw in Maine on December 8, 1997 when "Stone Cold" Steve Austin forfeited the Intercontinental Championship to The Rock.  So it wasn't even an actual match.

I only included what I considered the major promotions on this list, I may do one later on independent promotion title changes I have seen live.

Also the FleetCenter, TD Banknorth Garden, and TD Garden are all the same venue.

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Re-Post: Bobby "The Brain" Heenan WWE DVD Review

Re-Posted from my original blog as I am removing all wrestling references off of it making it a family blog.

I recently watched the Bobby “The Brain” Heenan DVD.  I was very excited to pick it up as Heenan is arguably the greatest manager of all time.  Over the last few years the WWE’s documentaries have been outstanding.  No matter the topic WWE has always produced a first class documentary. 

I expected the same for The Brain, instead though, we get a paltry 50 minutes that was no where near good enough.  Probably because of his throat cancer, but The Brain wasn’t even interview for it. 

His entire career was covered, but in very quick fashion.  They glazed over his AWA, WCW, and wrestling career primarily focusing on his WWE time.  Even that though, was skimmed over.  It almost comes off as half-assed compared to what the WWE has become known for. 

The extras are decent, promos, interviews, matches, and him as a color commentator.  I would have liked to see some more interactions with Gorilla Monsoon. 

All in all it was rather disappointing. 

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The Last Match: 80's WWF Commentators

In this edition of The Last Match we take a look at former WWF Commentators from the 80's who had previously wrestled. 

Lord Alfred Hayes
December 8, 1982 Varoussac Promotions Peru, New York
was defeated by Edouard Carpentier

Lord Alfred Hayes began his in ring career in the late 50's coming to the United States to compete in 1972 touring the territories including St. Louis, Montreal, Florida, and the AWA.  He started with the WWF in 1982 becoming a commentator and interviewer.  He also was Vince McMahon's sidekick on Tuesday Night Titans.  He left the WWF in 1995 working briefly for the AWF as a heel commentator in 1996.  He died on July 21, 2005 in Dallas, Texas at the age of 76.

Gorilla Monsoon
September 17, 1983 WWC 10th Anniversary San Juan, Puerto Rico
defeated by Abdullah Tamba

Gorilla Monsoon debuted in 1959 in the New York area where he was based out of for the majority of his career.  He started with the WWWF in 1963 headlining Madison Square Garden against Bruno Sammartino, he would wrestle Hulk Hogan at The Garden June 16, 1980.  He would transition to the announce team in 1982 until 1995 when he became the "President" of the company until summer of 1997.  His last appearance on WWE TV was at WrestleMania XV as a judge for the Bart Gunn vs. Butterbean Brawl for All.  He died October 9, 1999 of heart failure at his home in New Jersey.

Jesse "The Body" Ventura
March 25, 1990 WWF House Show Los Angeles, California
with "Rowdy" Roddy Piper defeated The Orient Express: Sato & Tanaka

Jesse Ventura debuted in June 1974 after training with Eddie Sharkey.  He would tour around the territories before settling in the AWA teaming with Adrian Adonis as the East-West Connection.  He joined the WWF in early 1984 then in September 1984 Ventura joined the broadcast team wrestling occasionally until 1986.  He left the company August 1990.  Ventura returned to commentating in WCW February 29, 1992 at SuperBrawl II staying with them until July 1994.

Bobby "The Brain" Heenan
August 2, 1991 WWF House Show Nassau Coliseum, New York
defeated Mr. Fuji

Bobby Heenan began his in ring in 1960 in the Chicago area, he joined the AWA in 1974 where he first started using the "Brain" moniker, managing and wrestling.  He joined the WWF in 1984 as a manager and part time wrestler restarting the Heenan Family.  In 1986 Heenan began commentating forming a popular team with Gorilla Monsoon on Prime Time Wrestling.  He left the WWF on December 6, 1993 with Monsoon physically throwing Heenan and his bags out of the building.  Heenan would turn up in WCW January 27, 1994 as the lead color commentator on all the shows until the year 2000 when his roll started to be diminished until he was only commentating on World Wide until his release in November 2000.  Sadly one of the greatest voices in wrestling essentially lost his ability to speak after suffering from throat and tongue cancer.

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