Today In Wrestling History- April 11th

Trivia

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

1985 – Bruiser Brody jumps from All Japan Pro Wrestling to New Japan Pro Wrestling

1987 – The Super Powers (Nikita Koloff & Dusty Rhodes) win the Jim Crockett Sr Memorial Tag Team Tournament, defeating Lex Luger & Tully Blanchard in the final

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

2001 – The AJPW Champion’s Carnival reverted to the single-block round robin format for this year. This would be the final time this format would be used, as all subsequent tournaments have used a dual-block format. Genichiro Tenryu won the event in his first appearance since 1982, defeating Taiyo Kea in the final

2010 – Minoru Suzuki wins the AJPW Champion’s Carnival, defeated Masakatsu Funaki in the final

2011 – On tonight’s Raw, Edge announces his retirement from professional wrestling due to injury

Events

In 1995, The NWA held an 8-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 & Paul Roma were stripped of the title when WCW left the NWA in September 1993:

First round:
– The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) defeated The Interns
– Chavo & Hector Guerrero defeated Black Bart & The Scorpion
– Al Perez & Greg Valentine defeated Killer Tim Brooks & Hercules.
– Dick Murdoch & Randy Rhodes defeated Sam Houston & The Masked Marvel
Semifinals:
– The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express defeated Chavo & Hector Guerrero
– Dick Murdoch & Randy Rhodes defeated Al Perez & Greg Valentine
Finals:
– The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express defeated Dick Murdoch & Randy Rhodes to win the vacant NWA World Tag Team Title

In 1999, WCW held the fourth, & 3rd-annual, “Spring Stampede PPV” at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. With an attendance of 17,690:

– Juventud Guerrera defeated Blitzkrieg
– Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Hak (The Sandman) (with Chasity) in a Hardcore Match
– Scotty Riggs defeated Mikey Whipwreck
– Konnan defeated Disco Inferno
– Rey Mysterio Jr. defeated Billy Kidman to retain the WCW Cruiserweight Title
– Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko (with Arn Anderson) defeated Raven & Perry Saturn
– Scott Steiner defeated Booker T in the finals of a tournament to win the vacant WCW United States Title
– Goldberg defeated Kevin Nash (with Lex Luger & Miss Elizabeth)
– Diamond Dallas Page defeated “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan, Sting, & WCW World Champion Ric Flair in a 4-corners match with Randy Savage as the special guest referee to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title

Title Changes

1945 – Earl McCready defeated Dean Detton to win the San Francisco Pacific Coast Heavyweight Title in San Jose, California

1955 – Ed Francis defeated Baron Michele Leone to win the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title in Tulsa, Oklahoma

1957 – Don Curtis & Dizzy Davis defeated Great Bolo & Kurt Von Poppenheim to win the Amarillo NWA North American Tag Team Title in Amarillo, Texas

1976 – Dr. Wagner defeated Alfonso Dantes to win the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Title in Guadalajara, Mexico

1977 – Jerry Lawler defeated Rocky Johnson to win the Mid-America NWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee

1981 – Jay Youngblood defeated Buddy Rose to win the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title

1982 – King Kong Bundy & Bugsy McGraw defeated Kerry von Erich & Al Madril to win the WCCW American Tag Team Titles

1983 – Bob Armstrong defeated Ken Lucas for the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Title

1995 – The Rock n Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) defeated Dick Murdoch & Randy Rhodes to win the vacant NWA Tag Team Titles

2000 – on Smackdown, the WWF Hardcore Title passes from Crash Holly to Perry Saturn to Tazz and back to Crash

2011 – Brie Bella defeated Eve Torres to win the WWE Divas Title

Birthdays

Happy birthday to 3-time ECW Tag Team Champion Balls Mahoney (42), famed manager Bill Alfonso (57), WWE Hall of Famer Harley Race (71), 3-time WWF Intercontinental Champion Goldust (48), & former WCW Nitro Girl Fyre (42)

In Memoriam

In 2011, the wrestling world lost Chikara Young Lions Cup II winner & ROH regular ‘Sweet n Sour’ Larry Sweeney, real name Alex Whybrow aged just 29 (though some sources claim he was 30). He dabbled in wrestling in the early 2000′s, but didn’t take it seriously in 2004, when he began training at Chikara’s Wrestle Factory. He debuted for the promotion that summer, establishing the Sweet ‘n’ Sour International stable. Sweeney quickly made a reputation for himself as a solid in-ring competitor & an excellent talker. He soon began competing all across the United States, eventually leading to a moderately successful stint in Ring of Honor, spending most of his time in the promotion as a manager. He left ROH in April 2009, citing monetary issues, though would return at that year’s Final Battle for one night only. Following Final Battle, Sweeney took a hiatus from professional wrestling. In July 2010, Sweeney returned to Chikara, competing as the masked ‘Vökoder’ until he was unmasked in October. Sweeney claimed that he would return to Chikara full-time in 2013, but would not live to make a return, committing suicide by hanging at a wrestling school in Louisiana. Chikara held a memorial service at their King of Trios event and also named their Grand Champion Tournament ’12 Large: Summit’ in his honour. In addition, Sweeney’s brother Oliver would present the championship belt to the winner, Eddie Kingston