As America celebrates Thanksgiving, this edition of ‘This day..’ takes a moment to give thanks to one of the pioneers of women’s wrestling who called time on her career on this day 10 years back. Lita was beloved by the fans during the first part of her career owing to her athleticism and devil-may-care attitude.
She would be despised by a large section of the same fans after a love triangle involving two friends. Polarising she may have been, but Women’s wrestling would have been poorer without Lita.
This day also saw Diesel aka ‘Big Sexy’ or ‘Big Lazy’ – whichever moniker you may prefer – win his only WWE Championship. It also saw two companies going head to head on a PPV collision course
#1 Lita retires – 26th November 2006
2006 Survivor Series would be Lita’s final match in the WWE and it was only fitting that it turned out to be a Women’s title match. Lita would be the Champion going into the match against Challenger Mickie James, having won the vacant title at Cyber Sunday following Trish Stratus’ retirement while being Champion.
Unlike the happy send-off that Stratus received, Lita’s final match would see her lose to James courtesy of a Tornado DDT. Lita was a heel at the time and the WWE fans hadn’t gotten over her real life affair with Edge while still dating Matt Hardy a year earlier – hence the less than stellar send-off.
To add insult to injury, Cryme Tyme would show up after the match, throwing Lita’s personal belongings into the audience.
However gracelessly may she have bowed out of the company, neither the fans nor the management could deny the 4-time Women’s Champion’s impact on the business and how she transformed the perception of women wrestlers with her daredevil move set. She would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame soon after.
#2 Diesel wins the WWE Championship – 26th November 1994
22 years back today, Diesel aka Kevin Nash would win his only WWE Championship. The match was over in record time – It took ‘Big Daddy Cool’ only eight seconds to deliver a Jack Knife Powerbomb to Champion Bob Backlund and win the title.
Diesel would have a nearly one-year long reign as the Champion which included successful title defences against the likes of Shawn Michaels, Sycho Sid and Mabel before dropping the title to Bret Hart.
It would be the longest reign as WWE Champion until CM Punk’s historic run in 2011.
#3 Survivor Series vs Starrcade – 26th November 1987
In a prelude to the Monday Night Wars that would be less than a decade away, WWE would clash with Jim Crockett Promotions (Predecessor of WCW) on a PPV night. NWA, in association with JCP, would present its main PPV Starrcade on the same night as WWE presented Survivor Series.
Fans at home weren’t able to see both events though as Vince McMahon threatened the cable companies that whoever presented Starrcade would not be given the rights to telecast next year’s Wrestlemania. Most of the companies towed McMahon’s line.
Ultimately, Survivor Series had 21,300 fans in attendance and was seen in 325,000 homes. Starrcade had 8000 fans in attendance and was seen in just 20,000 homes.
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One of Samoa Joe's colleagues had harsh words for him HERE
