This Day In Wrestling History – April 20th
1980 – Toru Tanaka defeats Kevin Von Erich, to win the NWA / WCCW American Heavyweight Championship.
1986 – AWA’s WrestleRock ’86 is held at the Metrodome in Minneapolis in front of 23,000 fans.
– Brad Rheingans defeats Boris Zhukov.
– In a Tag Team Match, Little Mr. T & Cowboy Lang defeat Lord Littlebrook & Little Tokyo.
– Colonel DeBeers defeats Wahoo McDaniel via disqualification.
– In a Tag Team Match, Buddy Rose & Doug Somers defeat The Midnight Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty)
– Tiger Mask defeats Buck Zumhofe.
– In a Tag Team Match, Barry Windham & Mike Rotunda defeat The Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn & Stan Lane)
– Rick Martel and Harley Race fight to a double countout
– Sherri Martel wins a 10-Woman Battle Royal, defeating Luna Vachon, Joyce Grable, Kat LeRoux, Rose Divine, Taylor Thomas, Despina Montega, Misty Blue Simmes, Debbie Combs, and Candi Divine.
– Sgt Slaughter defeats Kamala via disqualification, to retain the AWA America’s Championship.
– Curt Hennig & Scott Hall defeat The Long Riders (Bill & Scott Irwin), to retain the AWA World Tag Team Championship.
– In a Boxing Match, Scott LeDoux defeats Larry Zbyszko via disqualification. Larry Hennig was the special guest referee.
– Nick Bockwinkel defeats AWA World Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen via disqualification; Hansen retains the title.
– In a Steel Cage Tag Team Match, Jimmy Snuka & Greg Gagne defeat Nord The Barbarian & King Kong Brody.
– In a one-on-one Steel Cage Match, Verne Gagne defeats Adnan Al-Kaissie.
– In a third Steel Cage Tag Team Match, The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal) defeat The Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes).
1988 – Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard defeat Lex Luger & Barry Windham, to win the NWA World Tag Championship. This comes after Windham turned on Luger, leaving him for dead. Windham immediately joined The Four Horsemen, creating the most remembered version of that group.
1992 – The Dirty White Girl defeats Lauren Davenport, to win the USWA Women’s Championship.
1996 – Jeff Jarrett defeats Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler, to win the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship.
1997 – WWF In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker is held at the War Memorial Auditorium, in Rochester, NY, in front of 6,477 fans.
Free For All Show:
– The Sultan defeats Flash Funk.
PPV:
– The Legion Of Doom (Hawk & Animal) defeat Owen Hart & The British Bulldog via disqualification (Hart & Bulldog retain the WWF Tag Team Championship).
– Savio Vega (with Crush) defeats Rocky Maivia via countout (Maivia retains the WWF Intercontinental Championship).
– Jesse James defeats Rockabilly (with The Honky Tonk Man).
– The Undertaker defeats Mankind (with Paul Bearer) to retain the WWF Championship.
– In a match to determine the #1 contender for the WWF Championship, Stone Cold Steve Austin defeats Bret Hart via disqualification. Hart is disqualified after The British Bulldog ran down to the ring and hit Austin with a steel chair.
Dark Matches after the PPV:
– Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon defeat The Godwinns.
– Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeats Goldust.
1998 – In the Monday Night Wars, WCW Monday Nitro (5.1 TV rating) beats WWF RAW IS WAR (4.4 rating). There were two title changes on Nitro. Goldberg defeats Raven, to win the United States Championship. Hollywood Hulk Hogan defeats Randy Savage, to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Savage had just won the title one night earlier at Spring Stampede, defeating Sting.
1999 – Three-time WCW International World Heavyweight Champion ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude dies at the age of 40, after suffering from heart failure. He was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, in 2017.
2000 – In a Champion vs Champion Match on SmackDown, Triple H (WWF Champion) defeats Tazz (ECW Champion). Tazz had beaten Mike Awesome for the ECW Title a week earlier, “on a day off” from the WWF. Neither title was on the line in the Triple H / Tazz match.
2002 – At a house show in Des Moines, Iowa, the WWF Hardcore Title 24/7 Rule sees the belt pass from Bubba Ray Dudley to Goldust, to Raven, & back to Bubba Ray.
2004 – Keiji Mutoh defeats Kensuke Sasaki, to win the AJPW Champion Carnival.
2005 – Kensuke Sasaki defeats Jamal, to win the AJPW Champion Carnival.
2006 – Taiyo Kea defeats Suwama, to win the AJPW Champion Carnival.
2007 – On this evening’s SmackDown, Deuce & Domino defeat Paul London & Brian Kendrick, to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.
2016 – Former WWF Intercontinental & Women’s Champion Chyna passes away at the age of 45, after a drug overdose. Chyna is the first and only female to ever hold the Intercontinental Championship.
2017 – In a Six-Way Match on Impact Wrestling, Low-Ki defeats Trevor Lee, Suicide, Sonjay Dutt, Dezmond Xavier, and Andrew Everett, to win the Impact X Division Championship.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: 3-time WWE Hardcore Champion & 2-time WCW World Tag Team Champion, Johnny ‘The Bull’ Stamboli (41 years old); former TNA wrestler Garett Bischoff (34 years old); and the loser of 195 straight (and counting) WWE matches, Curt Hawkins (33 years old).