This Week In Wrestling History (Season 3 Week 49) covering the period of 12/3 thru 12/9. Running Time: 5 Hours 39 Minutes!

This Week In Wrestling History hosted by Don Tony first aired in 2018 and spanned two seasons. After much demand, these retro episodes return REMASTERED and UPDATED FOR 2025. Wrestling history up to and including 2024 has been added!

Hundreds of hours of original wrestling clips & stories. Enjoy this deep dive into pro wrestling’s awesome history!

SYNOPSIS: SEASON 3 EPISODE 49 (12/3 – 12/9)
RUNNING TIME: 5 HOURS 39 MINUTES

• Terry Funk makes his pro wrestling debut (1965). DT researches and clears up inaccuracies previously reported about his debut match
• Bruno Sammartino def Stan Stasiak to win WWWF Championship
• Terry Funk def Jack Brisco to win NWA Heavyweight Championship
• Legendary December feuds of The Funks vs Abdullah The Butcher and The Shiek
• Antonio Inoki vacates WWWF Heavyweight Championship after rematch against Bob Backlund ends in a no contest
• Audio: After Grand Wizard ‘sells’ his contract for $100,000, Pat Patterson ‘turns’ and is attacked by Captain Lou Albano and Wild Samoans
• Cowboy Ron Bass loses a Hair vs Hair match against Brutus Beefcake at SNME
• Looking back at Clash Of The Champions IV: Season’s Beatings (1988)
• Audio: Jack Tunney strips Hulk Hogan of WWF Championship and announces Royal Rumble will determine the new champion
• Gorilla Monsoon fires Bobby Heenan on Monday Night RAW
• Audio: Bobby Heenan speaks about his friendship with Gorilla Monsoon
• Audio: Steve Austin vs Mikey Whipwreck vs Sandman: Three Way Dance for ECW Heavyweight Title
• Looking back at ECW December To Dismember 1995 and Holiday Hell 1996
• Looking back at In Your House: D-Generation X PPV (1997)
• D-X play strip poker at ringside and HBK makes an obscene gesture with his penis
• Audio: Taka Michinoku calls Jerry Lawler a jackass, and is then attacked by ‘El Unico’
• Audio: Steve Austin forfeits IC Title to The Rock, then takes the belt hostage
• Ian Rotten and Corporal Robinson memorable battle from IWA Mid-South. Memorable for all the wrong reasons
• Audio: Undertaker ‘crucifies’ Steve Austin on Raw and USA Network along with religious groups are not happy
• Looking back at WWF UK Exclusive PPV: Capital Carnage
• Audio: WWF debuts Attitude Cologne for men and women
• The night Vince McMahon took the finishers of all the main event names on roster
• Audio: Memorable Raw Promo (2000) of The Rock making fun of Kurt Angle, Rikishi, Undertaker, HHH, and Steve Austin
• Audio: TNA at WWF NY. TNA! TNA! TNA!
• Audio: The Rock ‘ends’ Vince McMahon ‘Kiss My Ass Club’
• Looking back at WWF Vengeance PPV (2001)
• Audio: Chris Jericho becomes WWE Undisputed Heavyweight Champion def The Rock and Steve Austin
• Audio: Percy Pringle III aka Paul Bearer (RIP) makes his TNA debut
• Looking back at World Wrestling All-Stars ‘The Retribution’ PPV from Scotland
• Audio: Lita def Trish Stratus in main event cage match on RAW to win Womens Title
• DT clears up lingering misconception that Lita broke her neck during RAW main event cage match
• Looking back at TNA Turning Point PPV (2004)
• Audio: The Trial Of Eric Bischoff
• Ric Flair arrested for Road Rage Incident
• Audio: WWE mocks Ric Flair arrest which included first ever ‘Cutting Edge’ segment Great exchange between Edge and Michael PS Hayes
• Stacy Keibler announced for upcoming Dancing With The Stars
• Looking back at one of the worst WWE PPV’s of all time: ECW December To Dismember (2006)
• Audio: A tearful Paul Heyman cuts his last promo before resigning and leaving WWE (2006)
• Looking back at WWE Tribute To The Troops 2006, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2015
• Audio: 15 Men Battle Royal from 15th Anniversary of Raw
• Looking back at WWE Slammy Awards: 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015
• Ron Killings leaves TNA after a six-year run
• Victoria announces her retirement from WWE and pro wrestling – just to emerge in TNA five months later
• TNA announces a special prime time airing of Impact (Jan 4), which will go head-to-head against WWE Raw
• DT looks back at the Raw vs Impact ratings from Jan 4, 2010
• Looking back at TNA Final Resolution PPV from 2010 which included infamous match between Jeff Hardy and Matt Morgan
• Dennis Rodman wins Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling
• Remembering the 2013 Raw which scored one of the lowest ratings ever (at that time)
• CM Punk poops his pants during Smackdown match against Dean Ambrose
• Audio: CM Punk speaks on pooping his pants, Japan and during a marathon
• AJ Styles wrestles his last ever match with TNA Wrestling
• Audio: CM Punk speaks on signing multi fight deal with UFC
• Audio: Jake The Snake Roberts wants to sleep with Bray Wyatt
• RIP Jim Ross 1952-2015: Hackers take control of Jim Ross’ twitter account and announce JR’s death
• Alberto Del Rio attacked by a fan during a match in Puerto Rico
• Looking back at WWE TLC (Tables, Ladders & Chairs) PPV 2015, 2016
• Shinsuke Nakamura vs Samoa Joe for NXT Championship headline a rare NXT house show overseas from Osaka, Japan
• Memorable RAW moment featuring Lana luring Enzo Amore to her hotel room; just to get destroyed by Rusev
• Mickie James re-signs with WWE after a six-year absence
• “This Is Hope”: Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss make history by becoming the first women to perform in front of an audience at a WWE live event in Abu Dhabi
• Audio: An emotional Sasha Banks reflects on her historic match against Alexa Bliss in Abu Dhabi
• Audio: Matt Hardy becomes “Woken” on WWE RAW and gets into a memorable promo battle with Bray Wyatt
• Audio: Hilarious Mad Lib Theater with John Cena on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
• Dynamite Kid passes away on his 60th Birthday
• Jessika Carr makes WWE history as the first ever full-time referee on WWE main roster
• Audio: Roman Reigns gets covered in wet dog food by Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler on WWE SmackDown
• Audio: CM Punk has surprising comments on Roman Reigns ‘dog food’ segment from SmackDown (from WWE Backstage on FOX)
• WWE releases Luke Harper, Sin Cara and The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor)
• Batista and NWO announced as first inductees going in the WWE Hall Of Fame Class of 2020
• Audio: Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone first ever ‘Paid Advertisement’ airs on Impact Wrestling
• Audio: Tony Schiovane hosts a sit-down between Brandi Rhodes and Shaquille O’Neal on AEW Dynamite
• Looking back at WWE NXT Takeover: Wargames 2020 and 2021
• WWE reaches out to WWE universe to obtain rare wrestling memorabilia
• Jeff Hardy walks out mid-match during WWE House Show and is immediately released by WWE
• Audio: MSK’ Wes Lee and Zachary Wentz finally come face to face with the NXT Shaman
• Looking back at 30 WWE Nil signings from 2021 and 2023 that produced just two active wrestlers in NXT
• Audio: Dustin Rhodes announces at a wrestling show that 2023 is his final year as an active wrestler. He has wrestled 45+ matches since he ‘retired’
• William Regal requests and is granted his release from AEW (includes a statement from William Regal)
• Audio: Epic promo confrontation goes down between MJF and Ricky Starks on AEW Dynamite
• Audio: R-Truth wants to join the Judgement Day!
• Audio: Seth Rollins reacts to CM Punk’s return to WWE and reveals the reasons behind his disdain for Punk
• Looking back at NXT: Deadline 2023 and 2024
• WWE announces the return of Saturday Night’s Main Event after a sixteen-year hiatus
• Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura announces his WWE return to commentate SNME episodes
• WWE shakes up commentary teams announcing Pat McAfee return joining Michael Cole as commentary team for RAW on Netflix debut. It didn’t last long
• TNA begins airing cryptic ’23’ teasers which would lead to an interesting wrestler debut
• Big Bill (Big Cass) and Lexy Nair get married
• Lucha Bros dominate the news: Penta El Zero Miedo departs AEW while Rey Fenix remains. And he expresses his unhappiness by posting some controversial tweets
• Dustin Rhodes posts a passionate plea to fans on Twitter to ‘just enjoy wrestling and please stop the constant attacking and vitriol towards AEW’. It didn’t go well
• Audio: Want to join the Alpha Academy? WWE launches a campaign for fans to become ‘members’ of Alpha Academy.
• Audio: WWE Transfer Window officially begins with Chad Gable (RAW) confronting Cody Rhodes on SmackDown
• Looking back at the results of the first ever WWE Transfer Window featuring RAW, SmackDown and NXT
• Audio: Memorable RAW moment as Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods get nuclear heat from live fans for kicking Big E out of the New Day
• Audio: Rikishi makes a bold prediction: Solo Sikoa will be Undisputed WWE Champion or World Heavyweight Champion in 2025
• And so much more!

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