This Day In Wrestling History – April 8th

Trivia

1995 – Shannon Moore had his 1st match, against Jeff Hardy

2012 – Hirooki Goto wins the New Japan Cup, defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi in the final

Events

In 1990, the final “AWA SuperClash 4″ was held at the St. Paul Civic Center, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. With an attendance of 2,000:

– Jake Milliman defeated Todd Becker
– The Texas Hangmen defeated D.J. Peterson & Brad Rheingans
– Baron Von Raschke defeated Colonel DeBeers
– Tully Blanchard defeated Tommy Jammer
– John Nord defeated Kokina Maximus (WWF’s Yokozuna)
– Larry Zbyszko defeated Masa Saito to win the AWA World Title. With Nick Bockwinkel as the special guest referee
– The Trooper (The Patriot) & Paul Diamond defeated The Destruction Crew (Mike Enos & Wayne Bloom) in a Cage Match

In 1996, WWF Monday Night Raw aired on USA Network. RAW was taped on April 1 at the Orange Pavilion in San Bernardino, California. This was also the 1st episode of RAW to go on the air at 8:57pm:

– Ahmed Johnson defeated The British Bulldog in an arm wrestling match
– Vader defeated Yokozuna via referee stoppage, after Vader gave Yokozuna a Vader Bomb on 1 of his legs. After the match, Yoko was unable to make his way out of the arena under his own power, so he was taken from the ring & out of the arena on a forklift
– Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated Duke “The Dumpster” Droese
– WWF Champion Shawn Michaels (with Jose Lothario) defeated Jerry Lawler to retain the title

In 2013, WWE held Monday Night Raw live the night after Wrestlemania 29, at the Izod Center, in East Rutherford, New Jersey:

– Big E Langston (with AJ Lee & Dolph Ziggler) defeated Daniel Bryan (with Kane)
– Wade Barrett defeated The Miz to win the WWE Intercontinental Title
– Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez) defeated Jack Swagger & Zeb Colter in a 2 on 1 Handicap match
– Dolph Ziggler (with Big E Langston & AJ Lee) defeated Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez) to win the WWE World Title. Ziggler cashed in his Money In the Bank Briefcase to win the title
– The Undertaker came out to cut a promo on defeating CM Punk the night before, but was interrupted by The Shield. Team Hell No (Kane & Daniel Bryan) saved Taker from being attacked by the Shield
– R-Truth, Santino Marella, & Zack Ryder defeated 3MB  (Drew McIntyre, Jinder Mahal, & Heath Slater) in a 6-man tag team match
– Sheamus vs. Randy Orton ended in a no contest. The winner would have earned the right to face The Big Show
– Fandango defeated Kofi Kingston via DQ when Chris Jericho attacked Fandango
– Tons of Funk (Brodus Clay & Tensai) & The Funkadactyls (Cameron & Naomi) defeated Team Rhodes Scholars (Damien Sandow & Cody Rhodes) & The Bella Twins
– John Cena defeated Mark Henry via countout. If Mark Henry had won, he would have earned a WWE title shot

Title Changes

1908 – Americus (Gus Schoenlein) defeated Fred Beell to win the American Middleweight Title in Baltimore, Maryland.

1946 – The Swedish Angel defeats Everett Marshall to win the Rocky Mountain Heavyweight Title in Denver, Colorado

1957 – Michiaki Yoshimura defeated Mitsuo Surugaumi to win the Japanese Junior Heavyweight Title in Osaka, Japan

1957 – Rito Romero defeated Danny McShain to win the NWA Texas Junior Heavyweight Title in Fort Worth, Texas

1964 – Neff Maivia defeated Hard Boiled Haggerty to win the NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Title in Honolulu, Hawaii

1965 – Gorilla Monsoon & Bill Watts defeated Gene Kiniski & Waldo von Erich to win the WWWF United States Tag Team Titles

1968 – Jack Donovan & Ron Reed defeated Chati Yokouchi & Chuck Karbo to win the TSW United States Tag Team Titles

1971 – Bobby Duncum & Woody Farmer defeated The Beast & Bulldog Brower to win the NWA Western States Tag Team Title in Amarillo, Texas

1979 – Greg Valentine defeated Dino Bravo to win the Toronto NWA Canadian Heavyweight Title in Toronto, Ontario

1981 – Dory Funk, Jr. defeated Barry Windham to win the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title in Tampa, Florida

1988 – John Tatum & Jack Victory defeated Steve & Shaun Simpson to win the WCCW Texas Tag Team Titles

1989 – Chris Benoit & Biff Wellington defeated Makhan Singh (Mike Shaw) & Vokkan Singh (Gary Albright) to win the Stampede International Tag Team Title n Calgary, Alberta

1991 – The Lightning Kid (X-Pac) defeated Jerry Lynn to win the Pro Wrestling America Light Heavyweight Title in Fridley, Minnesota

1995 – Eddie Guerrero defeated 2 Cold Scorpio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the ECW World Television Title

1995 – Buddy Landel defeated Bobby Blaze to win the SMW Heavyweight Title

1995 – The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge & Rocco Rock) defeated Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko to win the ECW Tag Team Titles. Also, Eddy Guerrero defeated 2 Cold Scorpio to win the ECW Television Title

2002 – on Raw, Spike Dudley defeated William Regal to win the WWF European Title

2012 – Colt Cabana defeated Adam Pearce to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title

Birthdays

Happy birthday to Japanese hardcore regular Ryuji Ito (39), former Chikara regular Robbie Ellis (72), & 4-time GHC Tag Team Champion Akitoshi Saito (50)

In Memoriam

On this day in 2014, WWE Hall Of Famer “The Ultimate Warrior” James Brian Hellwig passed away at the age of 54. Just days before he been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, & had appeared live on Monday Night Raw 24 hours prior to his passing for the 1st time since June 1996. He collapsed while walking to his car with his wife in Scottsdale, Arizona, & was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. He left behind his wife Dana, & 2 young daughters