On this day in pro wrestling history (Sept. 3): Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk Texas death match, Great Muta vs. Sting, Ted DiBiase and Stan Hansen wins AJPW tag titles
By Brian Hoops, WrestlingObserver.com
1944
Earl Wampler defeated Ken Fenelon in Waterloo, Iowa to win the Iowa Heavyweight Championship.
1948
Dave Levin defeated George Becker to win the California Heavyweight Title in Santa Monica, California.
1950
Sandor Szabo defeated Terry McGinnis for the NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Title in Honolulu, Hawaii
1953
Verne Gagne is awarded the first Chicago NWA United States Heavyweight Title in Chicago, Illinois.
1966
The Destroyer (Guy Mitchell) defeated Bearcat Wright to win the International Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Title in Melbourne, Australia.
1969
Ciclón Negro and Sam Steamboat defeated The Missouri Mauler and Hiro Matsuda for the NWA Florida Tag Team Title in Miami, Florida. At the same show, Beautiful Brutus (Bugsy McGraw) defeated Boris Malenko to win the NWA Florida Brass Knuckles Title.
1970
In Kansas City; Harley Race defeated Steve Bolus, Baron Von Raschke defeated The Viking and Danny Little Bear defeated Roger Kirby by winning the first fall of a scheduled three falls match.
1973
In Waterloo, Iowa; in a Cage match, The Crusher & Wahoo McDaniel beat Superstar Billy Graham & Ivan Koloff, Billy Robinson beat Nick Bockwinkel, Ken Patera beat Larry Heiniemi, Geoff Portz drew Buddy Wolff and Reggie Parks beat Ric Flair
1974
Mariko Akagi and Jumbo Miyamoto won the WWWA World Tag Team Title in Hiroshima, Japan, defeating Panama Franco and Jackie West.
1976
Dory Funk, Jr. defeated Dennis Stamp for the Amarillo NWA Brass Knuckles Title in Lubbock, Texas.
The Black Bombers (Porkchop Cash and Tom Jones) defeated The Valiant Brothers (Jimmy and Johnny) to win the NWA Georgia Tag Team Title in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Hangman defeated Chavo Guerrero for the NWA Americas Heavyweight Title
1979
Mr. Fuji defeated Peter Maivia to win the New Zealand NWA British Empire Heavyweight Title in Auckland, New Zealand.
Greenville, SC: In a Texas Death Match; Ric Flair beat Paul Jones, Wahoo McDaniel beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq, Pedro Morales & Tony Garea beat Brute Bernard & Jacques Goulet, Dewey Robertson beat Steve Muslin and Rick McGraw beat Charlie Fulton
1980
Barry Windham defeated The Super Destroyer for the NWA Florida Television Title in Miami, Florida.
Don Fargo and Robert Gibson defeated The Blond Bombers (Larry Latham and Wayne Ferris) for the NWA Mid-America Tag Team Title in Nashville, Tennessee.
Stanley Lane defeated Kevin Sullivan for the NWA Georgia Junior Heavyweight Title in Columbus, Georgia.
1982
Bad News Allen defeated Bret Hart in Calgary, Alberta to win the Stampede North American Heavyweight Title
Tony Atlas defeated The Mongolian Stomper for the Southwest Championship Wrestling Southwest Brass Knuckles Title in Houston, Texas.
1984
Genichiro Tenryu and Jumbo Tsuruta defeated Crusher Blackwell and Bruiser Brody in Hiroshima, Japan to win the vacant NWA International Tag Team Title in Hiroshima, Japan.
In Fort Worth, Texas, Kerry and Kevin Von Erich defeated WCCW Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Fabulous Freebirds (Terry Gordy, Michael Hayes and Buddy Roberts) in a Handicap Elimination Loser Leaves Town match to win the title. Also, WCCW Texas Brass Knuckles Champion Chris Adams defeated WCCW Television Champion Jake Roberts to win the title and WCCW Texas Heavyweight Champion Gino Hernandez defeated WCCW American Heavyweight Champion Mike Von Erich to win the title.
In Memphis, Tennessee, Jimmy Valiant defeated King Kong Bundy to win a one night tournament and a new Cadillac.
1987
Ashura Hara and Genichiro Tenryu defeated Stan Hansen and Austin Idol to win AJPW’s PWF World Tag Team Title in Nagoya, Japan.
1988
The Beach Boys (Buddy Rose and Avalanche (PN News)) defeated The Southern Rockers (Steve Doll and Scott Peterson) for the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Title in Portland, Oregon
1989
The Great Muta defeated Sting to win the vacant NWA World Television Title in Atlanta, Georgia. Also on the card, NWA World Tag Team Champions The Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes) defeated The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) to retain the title, NWA United States Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger defeated Tommy Rich to retain the title and NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair defeated Terry Funk in a Texas Death match to retain the title.
1990
Jeff Gaylord and Jeff Jarrett defeated Chuck Casey (replacing Don Harris) and Brian Lee in Memphis, Tennessee for the vacant USWA Tag Team Title.
1993
Ted DiBiase and Stan Hansen defeated Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue in Tokyo, Japan to win the AJPW Unified World Tag Team Titles.
In Dallas, Texas; Steven Dane and Chaz Taylor defeated The Sicilian Stallions (Guido Falcone and Vito Mussolini) to win the GWF Tag Team Title and King Parsons defeated Chris Adams by disqualification for the vacant GWF North American Heavyweight Title.
1996
Bill and Jamie Dundee defeated The Moondogs (Rover and Spot) for the USWA Tag Team Titles in Louisville, Kentucky.
2001
On a WWE RAW from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, WCW Champion The Rock pinned Christian to retain the title, WWF Intercontinental Champion Edge pinned Lance Storm to retain the title and Jeff Hardy and Chris Jericho defeated Rhyno and Rob Van Dam.