Today In Wrestling History- April 4th

Trivia

2001 – ECW is declared bankrupt

2011 – WWE signed Dragon Gate USA star Jon Moxley to a developmental deal.  Moxley is now known as The Shield’s Dean Ambrose

Events

In 1993, WWF Wrestlemania IX, held in Las Vegas, Nevada, was the 1st to take place outdoors. It is also remembered for the event being themed as ‘The World’s Largest Toga Party’, as it took place at Caesar’s Palace. With an attendance of 16,891:

Dark Match:
– 
Tito Santana defeated Papa Shango
PPV:
– Tatanka (with Sherri Martel) defeated Shawn Michaels (with Luna Vachon) via countout (Michaels retains the WWF Intercontinental Title)
– The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott) defeated The Headshrinkers (Fatu & Samu) (with Afa)
– Doink The Clown defeated Crush
– Razor Ramon defeated Bob Backlund
– Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & IRS) defeated The Mega-Maniacs (Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake) (with Jimmy Hart) via DQ to retain the WWF Tag Team Titles
– Lex Luger defeated Mr. Perfect
– The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) defeated Giant Gonzalez (with Harvey Wippleman) via DQ, in a match considered 1 of the worst in WWF/E history
– Yokozuna (with Mr. Fuji) defeated Bret Hart to win the WWF Title, only to lose it almost immediately to Hulk Hogan, who becomes the 1st 5-time WWF Champion

In 2009, the WWE Hall Of Fame Ceremony is held at the Toyota Center, in Houston, Texas. I was at this this ceremony live in person. It was my 2nd HOF ceremony. The class of 2009 were:

– “Stone Cold” Steve Austin (inducted by Vince McMahon)
– Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat (inducted by Ric Flair)
– “Cowboy” Bill Watts (inducted by Jim Ross)
– Koko B Ware (inducted by Honky Tonk Man)
– Terry Funk (inducted by Dusty Rhodes)
– Dory Funk Jr (inducted by Dusty Rhodes)
– The Von Erich Family (inducted by Michael Hayes)
– Howard Finkel (inducted by Gene Okerlund)

Also in 2009, ROH Take No Prisoners PPV was held at the George R. Brown Convention Center, in Houston, Texas. With an attendance of 2,700:

Dark Match:
– 
Ernie Osiris defeated Grizzly Redwood
– Bobby Dempsey, Andy Ridge, & Alex Payne defeated Darin Childs, Don Juan, & Mike Dell
– Rhett Titus defeated Bushwhacker Luke
PPV:
– Colt Cabana defeated Ace Steel
– Jay Briscoe, El Generico, Magno, & Kevin Steen defeated Sweet n’ Sour Inc. (Davey Richards, Chris Hero, & Eddie Edwards) & Incognito in an 8-man tag team match
– Necro Butcher defeated Jimmy Jacobs in a No-DQ Match
– Brent Albright defeated Claudio Castagnoli & Blue Demon Jr in a Triple Threat Match
– Roderick Strong defeated Alex Koslov
– Jerry Lynn defeated Bryan Danielson, Erick Stevens & D-Lo Brown in a Four Corners Survival Match to retain the ROH World Title
– KENTA & Tyler Black defeated Austin Aries & Katsuhiko Nakajima

Title Changes

1969 – The Assassins (Jody Hamilton & Tom Renesto) defeated El Mongol & Louie Tillet in a tournament final to win the NWA Georgia Tag Team Title in Atlanta, Georgia

1977 – Ric Flair defeated Rufus R Jones to win the NWA Television Title

1983 – David von Erich defeated Jimmy Garvin to win the Texas Heavyweight Title

1984 – Jack & Jerry Brisco defeated Wahoo McDaniel & Mark Youngblood to win the NWA World Tag Team Title in  Spartanburg, South Carolina

1994 – Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Shinya Hashimoto to win the IWGP Heavyweight Title

1994 – Bruiser Bedlam defeated Mike Furnas to win the SMW Television Title

1998 – Rob Van Dam defeated Bam Bam Bigelow to win the ECW World Television Title, beginning the longest ECW Title reign of any kind ever (one year, eleven months) in Buffalo, New York

1998 – Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Kensuke Sasaki to win the IWGP Heavyweight Title

2000 – Shawn Michaels comes out of retirement & defeated Texas Wrestling Alliance Champion Venom in a streetfight, the culmination of a long storyline between the 2.  Michaels would immediately vacate the belt & go back into retirement

2001 – Nick Gage & Nate Hatred defeated Wife Beater & Justice Pain to win the Combat Zone Wrestling Tag Team Titles

Birthdays 

Happy birthday to former ECW wrestler Ulf Herman (48), joshi regular Yumi Ohka (35), & CZW founder John Zandig (43)

Also, today would have been the birthday of the first multiple-time World Heavyweight Champion Joe Stecher (111)