This day in Pro Wrestling history - 30th November

Kaitlyn would win Season 3 of NXT on this day

30th November would see Antonio Inoki wrestle Bob Backlund for the WWE Championship in Japan. It was highly unlikely to see the WWE Championship exchanging hands on foreign soil, but Inoki would win the title to begin a reign not recognised by the WWE.

Also on the same date in 1997, Shane Douglas reasserted his claim to be the ‘Franchise’ of ECW by winning his fourth ECW title whereas, in 2010, Celeste Braun aka Kaitlyn would win the third season of WWE NXT.

Let’s take a look at these incidents in detail:


#1 Antonio Inoki becomes the WWF Champion – Or did he? – 1979

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On November 30th,1979, Antonio Inoki – wrestler and owner of NJPW – took on WWF Champion Bob Backlund in Tokushima, Japan. Surprisingly, Backlund would be beaten by Inoki and the Japanese legend would become the WWF Champion.

Six days later, Inoki would defend the title against Backlund in a rematch and would remain Champion due to interference from Tiger Jeet Singh. However, Inoki would refuse to hold the title on the same day.

Backlund would reclaim the Championship with a victory over Bobby Duncum on December 12. WWE doesn’t recognise Inoki’s title run due to him refusing the title and consider Backlund’s reign as uninterrupted from 1978-83.

#2 ECW Presents November to Remember - 1997

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ECW would present its November to Remember PPV on November 30th, 1997. The card included the likes of the Dudley Boyz, Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer and Sabu.

The main event would see Shane Douglas beat Bam Bam Bigelow to win the ECW Championship. This would start the longest ECW World title reign in history with Douglas holding on it for 405 days.

Douglas’ victory at November to Remember would also kickstart his fourth and final reign – He would be beaten by Taz in 1999, losing the Championship in the process.

#3 Kaitlyn wins NXT Season 3 – 2010

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Season 3 of NXT would have an all female cast that included the likes of AJ Lee, Naomi and Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn would win the competition and earn a WWE contract, though AJ and Naomi would follow her to the main roster soon enough.

Kaitlyn wasn’t even supposed to be a part of NXT, but she was brought in to replace Aloisia (also known as Isis the Amazon). Aloisia was released following a controversy about her revealing pictures on the internet.

Kaitlyn would go on to win the Divas title on the main roster before leaving the company in 2013 in order to focus on her bodybuilding career.


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