August 31st in the Time Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Karl "Doc" Sarpolis 1897
Jos LeDuc 1944
Happy Birthday:
Heigo "Animal" Hamaguchi (78)
Jeff Hardy (48)
Mickie James (46)
Adrienne Palmer\Athena (37)
RIP Memorial: We stop & remember those who have passed on this day and gave themselves to the business for us, the fans. We salute you and thank you.
George "Farmer" Bailey 8-31-1950 0at the age of 67
Billy Raborn 8-31-1968 at the age of 50
Bert Assirati 8-31-1990 at the age of 82
Karloff LaGarde 8-31-2007 at the age of 79
Lawrence Johnson\Sonny King at the age of 79
75 Year Flashback
8-31-1950: Chief Don Eagle defeated Gorgeous George for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Boston) in Columbus, Ohio
If you are keeping score with us here at The Daily Chronicle on the series between these two, then you know that Don Eagle defeated Frank Sexton on May 23rd, 1950, at the Public Hall in Cleveland, Ohio. Then came the famous "short count" screwjob happened between Eagle and Gorgeous George on May 26th in Chicago at the International Amphitheater. Eagle took the first fall, in the second fall, Eagle is thrown out of the ring, cray events occur and he is counted out. The match continued with one fall each, then George won the match in the third fall with Eagles shoulders counted down in a fast count while his right shoulder was not on the mat.
The match we are time tunneling back to today was a match intended to eliminate any claim Gorgeous George might have to the title, even though he was never pinned for it, it was just given back to Eagle after the Chicago match as if it never happened. Promoter and owner of the WA of the times then presented Don Eagle with the World Title belt.
The entire screwjob in Chicago was to kill off any chance of Eagle being a draw by Fred Kohler against his Chicago promotional rival Leonard Schwartz. The match in Columbus was an attempt by Bowser and Al Haft to restore some of Chief Don Eagle's credibility with the title.
40 Year Flashback
8-31-1985: Tiger Mask (Misawa) defeated Kuniaki Kobayashi for the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship at Yogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan
Kobayashi had held the title since June 13th when he defeated the Dynamite Kid for the belt after Kid had only held it for 5 days. The previous champion, Mighty Inoue had held the belt for an amazing 468 days from February 26th, 1984, through June of 1985.
Kobayashi was on his 79th day as champion when he ran into Mitsuharu Misawa, playing the second round of the Tiger Mask character. Tiger Mask would vacate the title in June of 1986 when he moved to the heavyweight division. The title was then replaced by the All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Championship, and the NWA International Junior Title would be vacant until the year 2007.
Here is the finish to the match:
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History
Billy Raborn was a former NWA Pacific Coast Light Heavyweight Champion, NWA World Light Heavyweight Champion and NWA Texas Junior Heavyweight Champion. He was booked most of the time by LeRoy McGuirk from the Tulsa Booking Office. After he retired from wrestling, he lived in Cleveland, Oklahoma until he passed away in 1968.
Thank You for Reading
I'm Tony Richards, Pro Wrestling Historian, Author and Storyteller. I share pro wrestling historical items in each issue of the Time Tunnel Pro Wrestling History Newsletter. Thanks for reading! If you enjoy my information on select events, matches and insights, please share it with folks you think might like to be a subscriber!
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