This Day In Wrestling History – April 14th

Apr 14, 2015 - by staff

Trivia

1973 – The 1st Japanese wrestling promotion, the JWA, goes out of business having lost it’s 2 main draws (Antonio Inoki & Giant Baba) who left to form their own promotions, taking many of the talent with them

1997 – The Monday Night War continued: WCW Monday Nitro defeated WWF Monday Night Raw: 3.5 to 2.2 in the ratings

2011 – WWE moved Superstars to WWE.com domestically after it was dropped by WGN

Events

In 1975, The WWWF held an event at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, which was televised on HBO:

– Mike Paidousis defeated Tony Altimore
– Greg Valentine defeated El Olímpico. The Garden didn’t allow wrestlers to be fully masked at that time, so Olímpico wore a faceless mask
– Waldo Von Erich defeated Chief Jay Strongbow via countout
– Lord Littlebrook & Little Tokyo defeated World Midget Tag Team Champions Sonny Boy Hayes & Little Louie in a best-of-three falls match
– WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino (with Arnold Skaaland) defeated Spiros Arion (with Fred Blassie) in a Greek Death (submission only) match to retain the title
– Édouard Carpentier defeated Joe Nova
– WWWF World Tag Team Champions The Valiant Brothers (Jimmy & Johnny) defeated Pete Sanchez & Manuel Soto
– Bobby Duncum (with The Grand Wizard) & Victor Rivera fought to a draw, due to the 11:00pm curfew

In 1976, Championship Wrestling from Florida held an event at the Miami Beach Convention Hall in Miami Beach, Florida:

– Jeff Ports defeated Abe Jacobs
– Hiro Matsuda defeated Mr. Hayashi
– Darling Dagmar defeated Marie LeBeaux
– Bob Orton, Sr. defeated Bill Dromo
– Eddie Graham defeated Ali Pasha
– NWA Florida Tag Team Champion Bob Orton, Jr. defeated Steve Keirn via DQ
– NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight Champion The Assassin & The Missouri Mauler defeated Mike Graham & Billy Robinson
– Dusty Rhodes defeated NWA Florida Heavyweight Champion Pak Song via DQ. Song retained the title

In 1993 – WCW held its 1st-ever event in New York City, New York, at the Paramount Theatre at Madison Square Garden:

– Johnny B. Badd defeated Tex Slazenger
– Maxx Payne defeated Steven Regal
– Chris Benoit & Ron Simmons fought to a double-countout
– Van Hammer defeated Vinnie Vegas
– NWA and WCW World Tag Team Champions The Hollywood Blonds (Steve Austin & Brian Pillman) defeated Marcus Alexander Bagwell &  2 Cold Scorpio to retain the titles
– Rick Rude defeated Cactus Jack
– WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Dustin Rhodes defeated WCW World Television Champion Paul Orndorff via DQ, to retain his title. Orndorff’s title was not on the line
– NWA World Heavyweight Champion Barry Windham defeated Ricky Steamboat to retain the title
– Sting defeated WCW World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader via DQ. Vader retained the title

In 2004, TNA held its 93rd weekly pay-per-view event at the TNA Asylum in Nashville, Tennessee:

Xplosion:
– The 3Live Kru (B.G. James, Ron Killings & Konnan) defeated Ryan Boz, Scotty Matthews & Chance Prophet
– Christopher Daniels defeated Gabriel
– Jerry Lynn & Elix Skipper defeated Chris Hero & Nate Webb
– The Amazing Red defeated Seth Delay
PPV:
– NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett defeated James Storm
–TNA X Division Champion Frankie Kazarian defeated Sonjay Dutt to retain the title
– Simon Diamond defeated Johnny Swinger
– Monty Brown defeated Sabu in a falls count anywhere match
– Apolo & D’Lo Brown defeated NWA World Tag Team Champions Kid Kash & Dallas via DQ to win the titles
– Chris Harris defeated Raven to become #1 contender to the NWA World Heavyweight Title

Title Changes

1959 – Ben & Mike Sharpe defeated Chief Big Heart & Little Eagle to win the NWA Texas Tag Team Title in Dallas, Texas

1971 – Terry Funk defeated The Grappler (Johnny Walker) to win the Florida NWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Miami, Florida

1980 – Toru Tanaka defeated Bruiser Brody to win the Texas Brass Knuckles Title

1989 – Jerry Lawler defeated Kerry von Erich to win the Unified World Title, though there is argument as to whether this was a legitimate ‘Unified’ Title Match

1996 – Rayo de Jalisco Jr. defeated Apolo Dantes to win the CMLL World Heavyweight Title

2001 – Tony Jones & Robert Thompson defeated The Ballard Brothers (Shane & Shannon) to win the All Pro Wrestling Tag Team Title in Vallejo, California. The title had been vacated in March when Boyce LeGrand & Robert Thompson had left the promotion

2002 – The WWF Hardcore Title 24/7 Rule sees the belt pass from Bubba Ray Dudley to William Regal, to Spike Dudley, to Goldust, & back to Bubba Ray. Each counts as a separate reign

2006 – Negro Casas & Mistico defeated Averno & Mephisto to win the CMLL Tag Team Titles

2008 – on Raw, Mickie James defeated Beth Phoenix to win the WWE Women’s Title

2010 – Bison Smith & Keith Walker defeated Takeshi Rikio & Mohammed Yone to win the GHC Tag Team Titles

Birthdays

Happy birthday to former WCW & NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett (48), former WCW, WWF, ECW & TNA wrestler Julio Dinero (43), one-time WCWA Tag Team Champion Jesse Barr (56), 4-time WWF/E Women’s Champion Lita (40), &  Joshi star Toshie Uematsu (41)

Also, today would have been the birthday of 2-time WCW Tag Team Champion Brian Adams (51)

In Memoriam

On this day in 2010, the wrestling world lost former AWA and NWA World Champion Gene Kiniski at the age of 81. In 1949, Kiniski began playing for the Edmonton Eskimos then of the WIFU (one of the precursors to the CFL). Stu Hart, Joe Blanchard, & Wilbur Snyder were all also members of the team, and it has been regularly stated that a combination of the three encouraged Kiniski to take up the sport of wrestling. In the first football game of the 1952 season, Kiniski suffered a torn patella, which would later force his retirement and therefore, begin his wrestling career. Kiniski was a main eventer almost from the dawn of his career; during the 1950′s, he won championships all across Canada and the southern USA, finding most success in Vancouver and San Francisco. At the turn of the decade, he joined the AWA and within a year he had defeated Verne Gagne to win their world title, though would hold it for less than a month. Later in the decade, Kiniski competed in Japan, winning the JWA All Asia Tag Team Titles, & the WWWF, where a storyline saw him walk away with the WWWF Title having mistakenly thought he had defeated Bruno Sammartino, but went on to lose the rematch. Only a few current title histories make any reference to this ‘change’. Arguably the peak of his career came in 1966, when he defeated Lou Thesz to win the NWA World Title. He would hold the title for 3 years, but by his own admission, took on too heavy a schedule & was relieved to eventually lose the championship to Dory Funk Jr. Kiniski continued to wrestle successfully into the 70′s and early 80′s, but it was clear that he was winding down his career. He acquired an ownership share of the All Star Wrestling promotion, controlling it until 1983. He wrestled his last match in 1992, teaming with Lance Storm and Chris Jericho against Bob Brown, Don Callis, & Gerry Morrow. Kiniski retained an active interest in the wrestling business, including serving an interim term as president of All Japan’s governing body. He died at his home in Washington after a lengthy battle with cancer

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