This Day In History - April 11th
April 11th
On this day in history in ....
1945 - Earl McCready defeats Dean Detton for the San Francisco Pacific Coast Heavyweight Title in San Jose, California, ending Detton's sixth reign.
1955 - Ed Francis defeats Baron Michele Leone in Tulsa, Oklahoma to win the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title.
1955 - Black Butcher Johnson defeats Norman Wash for the United Kingdom's World Light Heavyweight Title in Edinburgh, Scotland, ending Wash's second reign.
1955 - Jack Allen and John Simms win the Rocky Mountain Tag Team Title in Albuquerque, New Mexico, possibly by winning a tournament.
1956 - George Gordienko defeats Lou Newman to win the Calgary NWA Canadian Heavyweight Title in Regina, Saskatchewan.
1957 - Don Curtis and Dizzy Davis defeat Great Bolo and Kurt Von Poppenheim for the Amarillo NWA North American Tag Team Title in Amarillo, Texas.
1963 - Buddy Rogers is officially presented the WWWF World Heavyweight Title belt in Washington, D.C., after his having won a fictitious tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rogers had been billed as "World Champion" since the Northeast office of the NWA, headed by Vince McMahon, Sr. and Joseph "Toots" Mondt, left the NWA and became the World Wide Wrestling Federation.
1967 - Frank and Jack Dalton defeat Danny Little Bear and Bobby Fields to win the Gulf Coast NWA United States Tag Team Title in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, beginning the Daltons' fourth reign.
1967 - Enrique and Ramon Torres defeat Gene and Lars Anderson for the Georgia NWA Southern Tag Team Title in Savannah, Georgia.
1969 - Dustin Rhodes is born in Austin, Texas.
1969 - Alfonso Dantés and Mil Máscaras defeat The Black Angels for the NWA Americas Tag Team Title in Los Angeles, California.
1969 - Raul Mata defeats Dr. Wagner to win the vacant Mexican National Light Heavyweight Title.
1970 - Dale Lewis defeats Bob Orton for the Florida NWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Jacksonville, Florida, ending Orton's fourth reign.
1972 - Balls Mahoney is born in Nutley, New Jersey.
1972 - Teri Byrne, better known as WCW Nitro Girl Fyre, is born in Pensacola, Florida.
1973 - Don and Ron Wright defeat The Fabulous Kangaroos (Al Costello and Don Kent) to win the Mid-America NWA World Tag Team Title in Knoxville, Tennessee, ending the Kangaroos' second reign.
1976 - Dr. Wagner defeats Alfonso Dantés for the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Title in Guadalajara, Mexico, beginning Wagner's second reign.
1977 - Jerry Lawler defeats Rocky Johnson to win the Mid-America NWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning his ninth reign.
1977 - Shinobu Aso and Yumi Ikeshita defeat The Beauty Pair (Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda) to win the WWWA World Tag Team Title in Hiroshima, Japan. This was a rematch of their match on March 18, when the Beauty Pair were champions.
1979 - Perro Aguayo defeats Gran Hamada for the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Title in Mexico City, Mexico.
1981 - Jay Youngblood wins his third NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title, ending Buddy Rose's fourth reign.
1982 - Sangre Chicana defeats Atsushi Onita for the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title in Guadalajara, Mexico.
1982 - Bruce Reed and Sweet Brown Sugar defeat Dory Funk, Jr. and David Von Erich to win the Florida NWA North American Tag Team Title in Orlando, Florida.
1982 - King Kong Bundy and Bugsy McGraw defeat Kerry Von Erich and Al Madril for the World Class American Tag Team Title in Dallas, Texas.
1983 - Bob Armstrong defeats Ken Lucas for the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Title. This ended Lucas' third reign and began Armstrong's fifth.
1985 - Bruiser Brody jumps from All Japan Pro Wrestling to New Japan Pro Wrestling.
1987 - Tui Selinga defeats Strong Machine I to win the NWA Polynesian Pacific Heavyweight Title in Honolulu, Hawaii, beginning his fourth reign. Selinga was the final champion, as the title was abandoned in 1988 when NWA Polynesian Wrestling closed.
1992 - Doug Masters and Ron Starr defeat El Bronco and Ciclón Salvadoreño for the WWC World Tag Team Title in Caguas, Puerto Rico.
1993 - Dynamite Kansai and Mayumi Ozaki defeat Manami Toyota and Toshiyo Yamada for the WWWA World Tag Team Title in Osaka, Japan.
1995 - The NWA held an eight-team tournament to crown new NWA World Tag Team Champions at the Sportatorium in Dallas, Texas, during Jim Crockett, Jr.'s short-lived tenure as promoter there for the NWA Dallas promotion. The title had been vacant for 19 months, since Arn Anderson and Paul Roma were stripped of the title when WCW left the NWA in September 1993. The results were:
First round:
- The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton) defeated The Interns.
- Chavo and Hector Guerrero defeated Black Bart and The Scorpion.
- Al Perez and Greg Valentine defeated Killer Tim Brooks and Hercules.
- Dick Murdoch and Randy Rhodes defeated Sam Houston and The Masked Marvel.
Semifinals:
- The Rock 'n' Roll Express defeated Chavo and Hector Guerrero.
- Dick Murdoch and Randy Rhodes defeated Al Perez and Greg Valentine
Finals:
- The Rock 'n' Roll Express defeated Dick Murdoch and Randy Rhodes to win the vacant NWA World Tag Team Title. This began their fifth overall reign as champions, with the other four being the Mid-Atlantic/WCW version of the title. This was their first as "undisputed" NWA World Tag Team Champions, as this was now the only, and now, official NWA-controlled version of the title.
1997 - Big Van Vader is detained in Kuwait after he attacks Bossam Al Otham, host of Good Morning Kuwait, after taking offense to Otham's questions.
1998 - The James Gang (Hoss and Ricky) are awarded the Southern Michigan Championship Wrestling Tag Team Title in Michigan Center, Michigan, after Otis Apollo and Bobby Clancy had vacated it. SMCW was renamed NWA Michigan in May, during their reign.
1999 - WCW held the fourth, and third-annual, Spring Stampede pay-per-view before 17,690 fans at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. The show got a 0.6 buyrate, and the results were:
- Juventud Guerrera pinned Blitzkrieg, after a Juvi Driver from the top rope, to become #1 contender to Rey Misterio, Jr.'s WCW Cruiserweight Title.
- Bam Bam Bigelow pinned Hak (with Chastity) in a hardcore match, after a Death Valley Driver through a table.
- Scotty Riggs pinned Mikey Whipwreck after a Clothesline.
- Konnan pinned Disco Inferno after a Last Dance.
- WCW Cruiserweight Champion Rey Misterio, Jr. pinned Billy Kidman with a top rope hurricanrana to retain the title.
- Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko (with Arn Anderson) defeated Raven and Saturn, when Malenko pinned Raven after Benoit's diving headbutt.
- Scott Steiner pinned Booker T after hitting him with a foreign object to win the vacant WCW United States Heavyweight Title. This was a tournament final to crown a new champion after Scott Hall was stripped of the the title on March 18 due to injury. Steiner had defeated Chris Jericho and Meng on his road to the title match, and Booker had defeated Saturn and Jericho.
- Goldberg pinned Kevin Nash (with Miss Elizabeth and Lex Luger) after a Jackhammer.
- Diamond Dallas Page defeated WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan and Sting in a Fatal Four-Way match, by pinning Flair after the Diamond Cutter, to win the title, ending Flair's sixth reign. Randy Savage was the guest referee.
1999 - Tiger Mask (IV) defeats Jason Cross in London, England for the vacant British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Title.
2000 - The WWF taped the April 13 SmackDown! and April 18 Sunday Night Heat at the Ice Palace in Tampa, Florida. SmackDown! scored a 4.7 rating on UPN. The results were:
Dark matches:
- Scott Vick pinned Stevie Richards.
- Scoot Andrews pinned Mike Sullivan.
Heat:
- WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Dean Malenko pinned Scotty 2 Hotty with a roll-up and tights to retain the title.
- D-Von Dudley (with Bubba Ray Dudley) fought Test (with Albert and Trish Stratus) to a double-disqualification when Bubba Ray and Albert interfered.
- Taka Michinoku (with Funaki) pinned Essa Rios (with Lita) after the Michinoku Driver.
- The Godfather and Val Venis fought to a no-contest after both men left the ring to attack Kurt Angle, who had come out and said on the mic that both lacked morals.
- WWF Intercontinental Champion Chris Benoit pinned Hardcore Holly with a bridging German suplex to retain the title.
SmackDown!:
- Rikishi defeated WWF European Champion Eddie Guerrero (with Chyna) by disqualification. Guerrero retained the title.
- The Hardy Boyz (Jeff and Matt) defeated WWF Intercontinental Champion Chris Benoit and WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Dean Malenko.
- Perry Saturn defeated WWF Hardcore Champion Crash Holly to win the title, ending Crash's fourth reign.
- Tazz pinned WWF Hardcore Champion Perry Saturn to win the title, beginning his third reign.
- Crash Holly pinned WWF Hardcore Champion Tazz to win the title, beginning his fifth reign.
- WWF Tag Team Champions Edge and Christian defeated Kurt Angle and Big Show by countout, after Show attacked Angle on the floor, to retain the title.
- Bubba Ray Dudley (with D-Von Dudley) pinned Albert (with Test and Trish Stratus) after a one-man 3D.
- The Kat and Mae Young defeated The Fabulous Moolah and Terri. when Mae pinned Moolah after an elbow drop.
- Road Dogg and X-Pac (with Tori) defeated Chris Jericho in a handicap match, when Road Dogg got the pin after X-Pac hit the X-Factor.
- The Big Bossman, Bull Buchanan and WWF Champion Triple H (with Shane McMahon and WWF Women's Champion Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) fought The A.P.A. (Bradshaw and Faarooq) and The Rock to a no-contest, after A.P.A. fought Bossman, Buchanan, Road Dogg and X-Pac out of the arena, Rock gave Shane a Rock Bottom through the announce table.
- The show also featured the debut, and only televised appearance of, WWF Women's Champion Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley's "personal trainer", Muffy Mower. Her gimmick was dropped in the coming weeks, and she was released from the WWF in September.
2000 - Leatherface defeats Moondog Manson for the ECCW Hardcore Title in Fraser Lake, British Columbia, ending Manson's second reign.
2001 - AJPW Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu defeats Taiyo Kea in Tokyo, Japan to win the annual Champion's Carnival tournament.
2002 - Brickhouse Brown and Brother Love defeat Porkchop Cash and John Saxon in Cleveland, Mississippi to win the NWA Southern Tag Team Title.
2003 - OVW held its second-annual Spring Breakout event at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, Kentucky. The results:
- Chris Cage and Mark Jindrak defeated Orlando Jordan and Mark Magnus, when Jindrak pinned Jordan.
- Nikita pinned Passion.
- Nova pinned Christopher Nowinski.
- OVW Southern Tag Team Champions A.P.A. (Bradshaw and Ron Simmons) defeated Lance Cade and René Duprée, when Bradshaw pinned Duprée, to retain the title.
- WWE World Tag Team Champion Kane pinned Matt Morgan.
- Chris Benoit, Nick Dinsmore and Johnny Jeter defeated Rob Conway, The Damaja and OVW Heavyweight Champion Doug Basham in a 30-minute Iron Man match, 2-1. Conway pinned Dinsmore, Benoit made Damaja submit, and Jeter pinned Basham.
2005 - WWE held a live RAW at the MARK of the Quad Cities in Moline, Illinois, which got a 4.1 rating on Spike TV. Sunday Night Heat was taped beforehand, and got a 0.8 on Spike on April 17. The results were:
Heat:
- Viscera defeated Val Venis.
- Simon Dean and Maven defeated CM Punk and Russell Simpson.
- World Tag Team Champions William Regal and Tajiri defeated La Résistance (Robért Conway and Sylvain Grenier) to retain the title.
RAW:
- Christy Hemme and Victoria defeated Molly Holly and Trish Stratus, when Christy pinned Molly. This was Molly's last match in WWE.
- Triple H defeated The Hurricane and Rosey in a handicap match.
- Chris Masters defeated Seth Skyfire.
- Daivari (with Muhammad Hassan) defeated Shawn Michaels.
- Christian (with Tyson Tomko) defeated Chris Benoit.
2006 - WWE taped the April 14 Friday Night SmackDown! and April 15 Velocity at the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin. SmackDown! got a 2.5 rating on UPN. The results were:
Velocity:
- Gunner Scott defeated Simon Dean.
- Orlando Jordan defeated Adrian Lynch.
- Vito defeated Chris Guy (Colt Cabana).
- The Pitbulls (Kid Kash and Jamie Noble) defeated Funaki and Scotty 2 Hotty.
SmackDown!:
- Brian Kendrick (with Paul London) defeated Johnny Nitro (with Melina and Joey Mercury).
- Paul Birchill (with William Regal) defeated Rasche Brown.
- Matt Hardy defeated The Road Warrior.
- WWE United States Champion JBL (with Jillian Hall) defeated Chris Benoit in a steel cage match to retain the title.
- The Gymini (Jake and Jesse) defeated The Mexicools (Psicosis and Super Crazy).
- Kurt Angle defeated Randy Orton in a King Of The Ring tournament first round match.
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