Today In Wrestling History- April 12th

Trivia

1999 – The Monday Night War continued: WWF Raw defeated WCW Monday Nitro: 6.3 to 4.4 in the ratings

2009 – Minoru Suzuki wins the AJPW Champion’s Carnival, defeating Kaz Hayashi in the final

Events

In 1997, New Japan Pro Wrestling holds Battle Formation ’97 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. With an attendance of 60,500:

– Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Manabu Nakanishi
– El Samurai defeated Shinjiro Otani
– Chris Benoit defeated Kevin Sullivan
– Junji Hirata & Satoshi Kojima defeated Osamu Kido & Kazuo Yamazaki
– Shiro Koshinaka defeated Takashi Ishikawa
– J-Crown Champion Jushin Liger defeated The Great Sasuke to retain the titles
– Antonio Inoki defeated Tiger King
– Keiji Muto defeated Masahiro Chono
– Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki defeated IWGP Tag Team Champions Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura to win the title
– Naoya Ogawa, in his professional wrestling debut, defeated IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto

In The WWF held a live Monday Night Raw at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan:

– The Big Show defeated Christian
– Val Venis fought Billy Gunn to a no contest
– Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett (with Debra) defeated The Acolytes (Bradshaw & Faarooq) via DQ
– The Godfather defeated WWF Intercontinental Champion Goldust to win the title
– Hardcore Holly defeated D-Lo Brown (with Ivory)
– WWF Tag Team Champions Kane & X-Pac defeated Test & Triple H (with Chyna) to retain the titles

In 2003 – Combat Zone Wrestling held its third-annual Best of the Best event at Viking Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

– Sonjay Dutt and CZW World Junior Heavyweight Champion Ruckus defeated Chris Cash in a three-way falls count anywhere Best of the Best Tournament first round match
– CZW World Tag Team Champion Trent Acid & Ric Blade defeated Tony Mamaluke in a three-way Best of the Best Tournament first round match
– B-Boy & Lil’ Cholo defeated Deranged in a three-way Best of the Best Tournament first round match
– Jay Briscoe & Jimmy Rave defeated Jason Cross & A.J. Styles in a four-way Best of the Best Tournament first round match
– Nate Hatred won a 30-man battle royal, where the winner received a shot at the title of his choosing
– Sonjay Dutt defeated Mark Briscoe (replacing the injured Ruckus) in a Best of the Best Tournament quarterfinal match
– Trent Acid defeated Ric Blade in a Best of the Best Tournament quarterfinal match
– B-Boy defeated Lil’ Cholo in a Best of the Best Tournament quarterfinal match
– Jay Briscoe defeated Jimmy Rave in a Best of the Best Tournament quarterfinal match
– Sonjay Dutt defeated Trent Acid in a Best of the Best Tournament semifinal match
– B-Boy defeated Jay Briscoe in a Best of the Best Tournament semifinal match
– CZW World Heavyweight Champion The Messiah defeated Nick Gage to retain the title
– B-Boy defeated Sonjay Dutt to win the Best of the Best Tournament

In 2013, SHIMMER held it’s Volume 54 taping at the Eagles Club, in Berwyn, Illinois:

Dark Matches:
Angie Skye, Marti Belle, & Miss December defeated Leah Von Dutch, Pink Flash Kira, & Xandra Bale in a 6-women tag team match
Heidi Lovelace defeated Angelus Layne
Volume 54:
Santana Garrett defeated Miss Natural
MsChif defeated Rhia O’Reilly
– Eve defeated Kimber Lee
– Kalamity defeated Yuu Yamagata
– Shazza McKenzie & Veda Scott defeated Regeneration X (Allison Danger & Leva Bates)
– Kana defeated Jessie McKay
– Ayako Hamada defeated Melanie Cruise
– Jessika Havok defeated Serena Deeb
– Global Green Gangsters (Kellie Skater & Tomoka Nakagawa) defeated SHIMMER Tag Champions Canadian Ninjas (Nicole Matthews & Portia Perez) via count-out. As A results the Ninjas retain the titles
– Courtney Rush defeated Madison Eagles, Athena, & Saraya Knight in a 4-way #1 contenders match
– SHIMMER Champion Cheerleader Melissa defeated Mercedes Martinez to retain the title

 

Title Changes

1909 – Walter Willoughby defeated Ed Atherton to win the World Middleweight Title in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1947 – Tarzan Lopez defeated Black Guzman to win the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Title

1948 – Mike Kelly defeated Gory Guerrero to win the NWA World Middleweight Title in Mexico City, Mexico

1958 – Verne Gagne defeated Dick the Bruiser to win the Chicago/Detroit NWA United States Heavyweight Title, in Chicago, Illinois. Which carried over into the AWA. Gagne held the title until August 1960 when he won the AWA World Title

1967 – Ricky Romero defeated Stan Pulaski to win the California Heavyweight Title in Los Angeles, California

1968 – Mr. Wrestling defeated El Mongol to win the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Title in Atlanta, Georgia

1970 – Bill Watts defeated The Spoiler to win the TSW North American Title

1976 – Don Leo Jonathan & Jimmy Snuka defeated Gene Kiniski & Siegfried Steinke to win the Vancouver NWA Canadian Tag Team Title in Vancouver, British Columbia

1977 – Fritz von Erich defeated Bruiser Brody to win the WCCW American Heavyweight Title

1980 – The Wild Samoans (Afa & Sika) defeated Ivan Putski & Tito Santana to win the WWF Tag Team Titles

1980 – Bob Orton, Jr. & Tony Peters defeated Terry Gibbs & Bob Roop to win the International Championship Wrestling Southeastern Tag Team Title in Knoxville, Tennessee

1983 – Ron Bass & Stan Hansen defeated Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta to win the NWA International Tag Team Title in Matsuyama, Japan

1986 – Billy Jack Haynes defeated Bobby Jaggers to win the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title in Portland, Oregon

1987 – Rick Steiner & Sting defeated Terry Taylor & Chris Adams to win the UWF Tag Team Titles

1990 – Robert Fuller & Kendall Windham defeated Brian Knobbs & Hurricane Walker (subbing for Jerry Sags) to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Title in Tampa, Florida

1990 – The Lightning Kid (Sean Waltman) defeated Matt Derringer to win the Pro Wrestling America Light Heavyweight Title in Fridley, Minnesota

1991 – Eric Embry defeated Bill Dundee to win the USWA Texas Heavyweight Title in Dallas, Texas

1997 – King Reginald defeated Jerry Lawler to win the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Title

2008 – The Briscoe Brothers (Mark & Jay) defeated No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards & Rocky Romero) to win the ROH Tag Team Titles

2010 – on Raw, Eve Torres defeated Maryse to win the WWE Divas Title

Birthdays

Happy birthday to 3-time SMW Heavyweight Champion Tony ‘TL Hopper/Uncle Cletus’ Anthony (54), 3-time AAA Campeon des Campeones Cibernético (39), 5-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Champion Ryusuke Taguchi (35), one-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Nobuhiko Takada (52), & former CMLL Heavyweight Champion Damien el Terrible (38)

In Memoriam

In 1987, the 1st of 3 untimely deaths by suicide in the Von Erich family occurred when Mike Von Erich intentionally overdosed on Placidyl, a tranqulizer. The overdose occurred after Mike wrapped himself in a sleeping bag in the woods near his home. He was one-third of the World Class Six-Man Tag Team Champions at the time, along with Kevin & Lance Von Erich. Mike had replaced his brother Kerry in the team after he was injured in a motorcycle accident during the previous summer. Mike Von Erich was just 23 years old