This Week In Wrestling History (Season 3 Week 52: 12/24 – 12/31)

It's the Season Three Finale' of This Week In Wrestling History! Thank you for all your support and feedback during this memorable season. You inspired and pushed me thru the year and all the hard work and effort putting these together. Over TWO HUNDRED FIFTY HOURS of wrestling history revisited during Season Three! Will it be back for Season 4 in 2026? The answer is revealed at the very beginning of this episode.

Enjoy this episode of This Week In Wrestling History (Season 3 Week 52) covering the period of 12/24 thru 12/31. Running Time: 5 Hours 12 Minutes.

SYNOPSIS: SEASON 3 EPISODE 52 (12/24 - 12/31)
RUNNING TIME: 5 HOURS 12 MINUTES

• Audio: Iron Sheik def Bob Backlund to win WWF Heavyweight Title. Includes promos from both Iron Sheik and Bob Backlund
• Audio: Macho Man Randy Savage def Terry Taylor to win NWA Mid America Heavyweight Title
• Audio: Hulk Hogan abruptly leaves AWA and returns to WWF
• Mean Gene Okerlund makes his WWF debut
• Macho Man Randy Savage marries Miss Elizabeth (for real)
• Looking back at NWA and AWA 'Star Wars' 1985
• Madusa wins AWA World Women's Championship
• Vader defeats Antonio Inoki in his NJPW debut and almost causes a riot
• Audio: Vader speaks on NJPW debut and defeating Inoki
• Looking back at WCW Starrcade 1988, 1991-1998
• Lou Thesz wrestles last ever match at the age of 74
• The Christmas Creature (Kane) loses Mask vs Title match against Jerry Lawler
• Audio: Jerry Lawler, Kane, and Mad Man Pondo look back at the 'Christmas Creature'
• Audio: Macho Man's Holiday message to kids at 4th Annual George Steinbrenner Children's Holiday Concert For Underprivileged Kids Of Tampa (FL)
• Audio: Highlights of Ric Flair def Vader (Starrcade '93) to regain WCW Heavyweight Championship
• ECW makes their New York City debut
• Audio: Cactus Jack vs Sabu in NCAA Olympic Rules match (ECW Holiday Hell 1995)
• Akira Hokuto def Madusa in Tournament Final to win WCW Women's Championship
• Audio: Sting def Hollywood Hogan to win WCW Heavyweight Championship
• Audio: Kevin Nash ends Goldberg's 173-0 Undefeated Streak and wins WCW Heavyweight Championship
• DT looks back at WCW ratings before and after Goldberg's undefeated streak ended. Was it really the monumental mistake and ratings killer many have labeled it over the years?
• Audio: Moolah (age 76) and Mae Young (age 76) vs Crash and Hardcore Holly
• WWF tapes RAW and Mankind winning first WWF Heavyweight Championship (Airs on 01/04/1999 RAW; the date WWF recognizes)
• Audio: Chris Jericho and Chyna become Co-IC Champs after double pin: A three-week title reign not recognized by WWE
• Audio: Raven wins his first of 27 WWF Hardcore Title reigns
• Bonus Audio: Chris Jericho Taco Bell Commercial (2000) debuts
• Looking back at Ring Of Honor: Final Battle 2004 and 2008
• Audio: Austin Aries ends Samoa Joe 645-day reign as ROH World Heavyweight Champion
• Joanie Laurer hospitalized after being found unconscious due to an overdose of sleeping pills and alcohol
• WWE signs Tamina Snuka and Sin Cara (aka Hunico)
• TNA signs The Young Bucks' Nick and Matt Jackson
• WWE makes shocking announcement of Bret Hart returning to WWE after a ten-year absence 
• Tommy Dreamer wrestles last match for WWE ECW
• CZW wrestler Nick Gage arrested after robbing New Jersey Bank
• Brock Lesnar announces retirement from MMA one day after TKO loss to Alistar Overeem at UFC 141
• Audio: Daniel Bryan joins The Wyatt Family
• WWE announces strict enforcement of requirement that all WWE Superstars carry Medical Insurance
• Audio: Train wreck of a segment on RAW between Vince McMahon and Roman Reigns leads to Vince McMahon being arrested by New York Police Department
• Looking back at WWE Tribute To The Troops 2015
• Audio: Comedy and a Kiss? John Cena appears on Mike O'Brien's '7 Minutes In Heaven' YouTube series
• Mickie James and Nick Aldis get married
• Entire wrestling and entertainment world is duped for a few hours when a fake news story appears announcing the death of 'Big Show' Paul Wight from a car accident
• Becky Lynch fools Alexa Bliss wrestling as La Luchadora and Alexa Bliss fools Becky Lynch as being double jointed
• Audio: Shayna Baszler makes his NXT debut attacking Kairi Sane following a fun match between Ember Moon and Sonya DeVille
• Segment between AJ Styles and Vince McMahon on SmackDown leads to the memorable feud between AJ Styles and Shane McMahon
• Audio: WWE tries to shut down Botchamania by launching the web series 'Botch Club' hosted by Gallows and Anderson
• Audio: Santa Claus wins WWE 24/7 Championship only to lose it to R-Truth minutes later
• Audio: Austin Theory (vs Roderick Strong) and Shotzi Blackheart (vs Bianca Belair) make their NXT TV debuts
• Audio: Revisiting The Wedding of Lana and Bobby Lashley on RAW and the quickly dropped lesbian romance angle involving Liv Morgan and Lana
• Jon Heuber (aka Luke Harper, Brodie Lee) tragically passes away at 41
• Audio: Erick Rowan' makes a memorable appearance during the Brodie Lee: Celebration Of Life episode of AEW Dynamite
• Toni Storm abruptly requests and is granted her release from WWE
• Matt Hardy launches 'The Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy' Podcast (cohosted with Jon Alba)
• Audio: Hypocrite or Good Businessman? Less than three years prior to joining WWE and LFG, Bully Ray professed having 'zero interest' in watching the minor leagues of WWE
• Audio: Memorable Christmas segment on RAW with Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley visiting the Mysterio family which ends with Rhea Ripley slapped and Dominik Mysterio arrested
• Audio: Ric Flair reveals during WWE documentary on Peacock that his birth name was actually Fred Phillips
• Audio: The Acclaimed drop a memorable diss track and music video slamming Jeff Jarrett
• WWE signs Pat McAfee and Dragon Lee
• CM Punk wrestles his first match back with WWE after a ten-year absence
• Shotzi Blackheart gets married in Las Vegas and wrestles later the same night at WWE House Show in her Wedding Dress!
• WWE officially ends production of DVD and Blu-Ray in favor of digital and streaming media
• Kevin Dunn quietly retires from WWE after a forty-year career with the company
• Looking back at AEW: Worlds End 2023 and 2024
• The beginning of the end for an AEW storyline as The Devil (Adam Cole) and his masked men (The Kingdom, Wardlow, Roderick Strong) are revealed at AEW Worlds End
• Audio: Edge defeats Christian Cage for the TNT Championship, just to lose it back to Christian Cage minutes later
• Audio: Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada battle it out for the 2024 AEW Continental Classic Championship in one of the greatest matches in AEW history
• Audio: Looking back at the final episode of AEW Rampage and the creative way it went off the air
• And much more!

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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!

Thousands of hours of original wrestling clips & stories. Enjoy this deep dive into pro wrestling's awesome history.

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