This Week In Wrestling History (Season 4 Episode 27: 7/2 – 7/8)

Enjoy this episode (Season 4 Episode 27) of This Week In Wrestling History covering the week of 7/2 thru 7/8. Running Time: 5 Hours 33 Minutes!

Hundreds of hours of wrestling memories, all featuring the ORIGINAL moments as they aired including ORIGINAL theme music! Enjoy this deep dive into pro wrestling's awesome history. You won't find history documented like this anywhere but here!

SYNOPSIS: SEASON 4 EPISODE 27 (7/2 - 7/8)
RUNNING TIME: 5 HOURS 33 MINUTES

• Forbidden Door: NWA Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair battles WWF Champion Bob Backlund to determine who is the true World Champion (from 1982)
• Audio: Gordon Solie interviews Ric Flair and Bob Backlund prior to their rare interpromotional match
• Looking back at WCCW Independence Day Star Wars 1983-1986
• Magnificent Muraco becomes the first-ever WWF King of the Ring
• Looking back at The Great American Bash 1985, 1987, 1990
• NWA features the first-ever WarGames match
• The curse of July 4th: The deaths of Adrian Adonis, Joey Marella, Pat Kelly, and Dave McKigney; the Brutus Beefcake parasailing accident; and Vince McMahon's motorcycle accident
• Vader makes his WCW debut
• Who remembers the Dudes with Attitudes?
• Audio: 20-year-old Rob Van Dam battles 26-year-old Sabu in the USWA
• Audio: Lex Luger bodyslams Yokozuna aboard the USS Intrepid and the Lex Express begins
• Audio: The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa Saed) make their Smoky Mountain Wrestling debut (Note: Fixed the tag team name spelling and capitalization)
• Audio: The challenge before his memorable heel turn: Bob Backlund challenges Bret Hart for WWF Championship
• Vader begins his infamous Roadkill Tour
• Audio: Ultimate Warrior battles Owen Hart in his last-ever match with the WWF/WWE
• Looking back at the odd way the WWF handled the Ultimate Warrior's suspension on Monday Night RAW
• Looking back at WCW Bash at the Beach 1996
• Audio: Hulk Hogan betrays WCW, and the New World Order (nWo) is created
• Looking back at WWF In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede
• Audio: Bill Goldberg battles Hollywood Hulk Hogan for the WCW Heavyweight Championship in the Georgia Dome on Monday Nitro (1998)
• Audio: Degeneration X mocks The Nation of Domination
• WWF Footbrawl: Looking back at the loaded WWF house show at Foxboro Stadium that never took place
• Jerry Lawler announces his candidacy for mayor of Memphis, TN
• Steve Austin takes batting practice with the Phillies and throws out the first pitch for the Mets
• Parents Television Council and L. Brent Bozell, III agree to pay WWF $3.5 million after being sued by WWF for defamation, libel and slander
• More on TNN dropping ECW programming after the first year of a three-year TV deal
• Audio: Johnny the Bull literally tears his ass during a Hardcore match against Terry Funk on WCW Monday Nitro
• Discovery Channel airs a memorable wrestling special featuring the very beginning of John Cena's wrestling career
• The WWF completes the deal to sign NCAA Champion Brock Lesnar (2000)
• Bam Bam Bigelow suffers burns to over 40% of his body after rescuing children from a house fire
• Looking back at the disaster that changed the WCW Invasion angle and its future in the WWF: Buff Bagwell vs. Booker T for the WCW Heavyweight Title on Monday Night RAW
• An XPW deathmatch between Kaos and Supreme goes horribly wrong
• The Jackie Gayda match
• Kevin Nash tears his quad during a main event on Monday Night Raw
• Audio: Billy and Chuck defend the WWE Tag Team championships against Edge and Hulk Hogan
• Ric Flair's autobiography, To Be the Man, debuts at #5 on The New York Times Best Seller list
• Audio: Chavo Guerrero denounces his Hispanic heritage and the Guerrero name to become Kerwin White
• Audio: Shawn Michaels turns on Hulk Hogan
• A wrong is made right, as The Blue Meanie battles JBL on SmackDown
• Looking back at the WWE PR nightmare after Daivari (w/ Muhammad Hassan) faces The Undertaker on SmackDown
• WWE releases Billy Kidman, Spike Dudley, Mark Jindrak, Maven, Shannon Moore, Akio, Gangrel, Mordecai, Kenzo Suzuki and Hiroko, Jackie Gayda, Matt Morgan, Dawn Marie, Joy Giovanni, Jim Cornette, Trevor Murdoch, and Armando Alejandro Estrada
• Current WWE and ECW Champion Rob Van Dam and Sabu are arrested for narcotics possession following a traffic stop
• Audio: Rare Police bodycam footage of the traffic stop of Rob Van Dam and Sabu which led to their arrests
• Audio: Rob Van Dam defends the WWE Championship against Edge and John Cena
• Audio: Rob Van Dam defends the ECW Championship against The Big Show
• Mickie Knuckles suffers a broken leg during an IWA Mid-South match against Sara Del Rey
• Ric Flair Finance files for bankruptcy less than one year after launching
• GLAAD puts the heat on WWE after a cellphone video shows CM Punk using homophobic slurs against a fan during a WWE house show
• Looking back at TNA Destination X from 2012
• Audio: Bray Wyatt and The Wyatt Family make their WWE RAW debut
• WWE suspends Ricardo Rodriguez for violating the WWE Wellness Policy
• TNA releases Joey Ryan, Taeler Hendrix, Christian York, and Crimson
• Pennsylvania District Attorney agrees to re-examine the 1982 death of Nancy Argentino after discrepancies are found in Jimmy Snuka's recently written autobiography
• Looking back at the TNA One Night Only: Hardcore Justice 2 event
• WWE fires, then rehires Emma after an alleged shoplifting incident at a Walmart
• Looking back at the TNA One Night Only: Global Impact Japan event
• Looking back at the NJPW Dominion 7.5 event
• TNA airs The Final Deletion: Broken Matt Hardy vs. Brother Nero Jeff Hardy
• Audio: The infamous rap battle between The Usos and The New Day on SmackDown
• Looking back at Global Force Wrestling Slammiversary 2017
• Audio: WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar confronts newly crowned UFC Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 226
• Looking back at Impact Wrestling: Slammiversary 2019
• Looking back at the memorable two-week, head-to-head ratings war between NXT Great American Bash and AEW Fyter Fest in 2020
• Taz introduces the FTW World Championship to AEW and crowns its first champion
• Audio: Keith Lee vs Adam Cole: Winner Take All match for the NXT North American and NXT World Championships
• Indus Sher's Saurav Gurjar spoils Keith Lee's memorable and historic NXT Championship win on Instagram
• WWE purchases EVOLVE from Gabe Sapolsky
• Audio: Malakai (Aleister) Black makes his memorable AEW debut
• Jimmy Uso is arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) for the second time in two years and the fourth time in ten years
• Audio: Police bodycam footage of Jimmy Uso's 2021 DUI arrest in Florida
• Looking back at NXT Great American Bash 2021, 2022
• Audio: Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly from NXT: The Great American Bash 2021
• Looking back at WWE Money in the Bank 2022, 2024
• Audio: Liv Morgan cashes in her newly won MITB briefcase on Ronda Rousey at WWE MITB 2022
• Looking back at Impact Wrestling: Against All Odds 2022
• Dominik Mysterio gets a new nickname: "Dirty Dom"
• The AEW: Fight Forever video game is released worldwide to mixed reviews
• Audio: Is the AEW: Fight Forever video game commercial a blatant copy of a wrestling game commercial released 15 years earlier?
• Looking back at the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) Independence Day event from 2023
• Audio: Tribal Court: The Trial of the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns
• Audio: "I Set Them Free": The memorable first-ever, face-to-face sit-down between Bo Dallas and Uncle Howdy
• Looking back at NXT Heatwave 2024
• Audio: John Cena announces his WWE retirement and that 2025 will be his final year in the ring
• Stalker of Liv Morgan, later deemed mentally insane, is jailed for breaking into her home and then showing up at the WWE Performance Center
• Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch fall victim to home break-in
• Bret Hart wearing a thong? WWE Vault reveals 1996 concept art proposing bizarre new ring attire for The Hitman
• 20 Years to the day of Kerwin White's debut, Kevin Nash sparks outrage with American fans on Independence Day or as he called it: 'Happy Wealthy White 1% Day'
• And so much more!

RIGHT CLICK AND SAVE to download the AUDIO episode of THIS WEEK IN WRESTLING HISTORY S4 E27 (7/2 – 7/8)

CLICK HERE to listen to COMMERCIAL FREE episode of THIS WEEK IN WRESTLING HISTORY S4 E27 (7/2 – 7/8)

CLICK HERE to listen to THIS WEEK IN WRESTLING HISTORY S4 E27 (7/2 – 7/8) online

CLICK HERE to access previous episodes for all the shows

====

Want to help promote our shows and get a special shout-out on the next show? Stop by Apple Podcasts (CLICK HERE) or SPOTIFY (CLICK HERE) and leave a review!

====

DON TONY *PATREON* AND *YOUTUBE CHANNEL MEMBERSHIPS:

You can send additional support for and help us grow in 2026 by becoming a member of our PATREON and/or YOUTUBE CHANNEL MEMBERSHIP FAMILY. Don Tony / Don Tony And Kevin Castle Show PATREON has been around for over eight years! You can access all eight years of BONUS CONTENT right now including:

• Ad-Free episodes of all of the weekly Non-Patreon shows
• Access to the ENTIRE Don Tony And Kevin Castle Show library (RIP KEV). THOUSANDS OF SHOWS going back to 2004 available immediately 
• Weekly Patreon Exclusive podcast hosted by Don Tony
• Don Tony's entire library (8+ years) of Patreon exclusive shows
• Kevin Castle's entire library (8+ years) of Patreon exclusive shows
• 2000+ hours of Patreon exclusive shows never released publicly! (Over 8 Years of Patreon Exclusive Content!)

CLICK HERE to access DT/KC Patreon now!

YOUTUBE CHANNEL MEMBERSHIPS:
Another option is to become a CHANNEL MEMBER on YouTube. Get exclusive enhanced versions of weekly shows, access to DT's weekly Patreon show, retro DTKC Show episodes, giveaways and more.

CLICK HERE for more details and to join The DT/KC YouTube Channel Member Family!

====

CLICK HERE for DTKC Pro Wrestling Tees Store

====

CHECK OUT OUR CONTENT ACROSS THESE PLATFORMS:

• CLICK HERE FOR APPLE PODCASTS
• CLICK HERE FOR SPOTIFY
• CLICK HERE FOR ANDROID
• CLICK HERE FOR AMAZON MUSIC
• CLICK HERE FOR GOOGLE PODCASTS
• CLICK HERE FOR PANDORA
• CLICK HERE FOR PODBEAN
• CLICK HERE FOR IHEARTRADIO
• CLICK HERE FOR DON TONY AND KEVIN CASTLE SHOW MERCHANDISE!

====

WEEKLY SHOW SCHEDULE (UPDATED: APRIL 2026):

• THE DON TONY SHOW AND WWE RAW RECAP: LIVE EVERY MONDAY NIGHT immediately following WWE RAW on YouTube (www.YouTube.com/DonTony)
• PRO WRESTLING NEWS UPDATES: Posted every WEDNESDAY evening at DonTony.com and across all podcasting platforms
• DT VIPATREON CHRONICLES: Patreon Exclusive Show hosted by Don Tony LIVE EVERY THURSDAY at 8:30PM on DTKC Patreon Channel (https://www.patreon.com/dontony)
• THIS WEEK IN WRESTLING HISTORY: Posted every SATURDAY MORNING at DonTony.com and available across all podcast platforms
• THE SIT-DOWN w/DON TONY: VIDEO PODCAST hosted by Don Tony LIVE EVERY SUNDAY at 8PM on YouTube (www.YouTube.com/DonTony)
• WWE/AEW PPV RECAP/REVIEW: Streaming LIVE on YouTube following every PPV

====

SOCIAL MEDIA / WEBSITE / CONTACT INFO:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/dontonyd
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/dontony
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/DTKCShow
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dontony