This Day In Wrestling History – April 27th

Trivia

1957 – The 1st ever tag team match involving women in the United States was held with June Byers & China Mira vs. Penny Banner & Bonnie Watson in St. Louis, Missouri

1962 – Dick Beyer wrestled as the masked Destroyer for the 1st time & defeated Seymour Koenig in San Diego, California

2007 – WWE Studios’ “The Condemned,” starring Steve Austin was released theatrically & promptly bombed at the box office, the weakest of the company’s films up until that point.  The film would rank 9th for the weekend & would only gross $8,642,858 worldwide

2009 – Lance Hoyt, formerly TNA star Lance Rock, announced he had signed a deal with WWE.  He would debut on the main roster as Vance Archer

Events

In 2003, WWE Backlash was held at the Worcester Centrum, in Worcester, Massachusetts. With an attendance of 10,000:

Sunday Night Heat:
– Scott Steiner defeated Rico
PPV:
– Team Angle (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin) defeated Los Guerreros (Eddie & Chavo) to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles
– Sean O’Haire (with Roddy Piper) defeated Rikishi
– Rob Van Dam & Kane defeated The Dudley Boyz with Chief Morley as special guest referee to retain the World Tag Team Titles
– Jazz (with Theodore Long) defeated Trish Stratus to win the WWE Women’s Title
– Big Show defeated Rey Mysterio Jr.
– Brock Lesnar defeated John Cena to retain the WWE Title
– Chris Jericho, Triple H, & Ric Flair defeated Kevin Nash, Booker T, & Shawn Michaels in a 6-man tag team match
– Goldberg defeated The Rock

In 2007, Ring of Honor held The Battle of St. Paul at the St. Paul Armory, in St. Paul, Minnesota:

– Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew (Rain & Lacey) defeated Dangerous Angels (Allison Danger & Sara Del Rey)
– Michael Elgin fought Rhett Titus to a no contest in a Do Or Die Match
– Jimmy Rave defeated Michael Elgin
– Shingo Takagi defeated BJ Whitmer
– The Briscoe Brothers (Mark & Jay) defeated Mitch Franklin & Pelle Primeau, Gran Akuma & Hallowicked, and Jigsaw & Mike Quackenbush to retain the ROH Tag Team Titles in an Ultimate Endurance Match
– Adam Pierce & Brent Albright (with Shane Hagadorn) defeated Colt Cabana & Homicide in an Anything Goes tag team match
– Rocky Romero defeated Delirious, Erick Stevens, & Jack Evans in a Four Corner Survival Match
– Roderick Strong defeated Christopher Daniels via countout to retain the FIP World Heavyweight Title
– Takeshi Morishima defeated Austin Aries to retain the ROH World Title

In 2008, WWE Backlash was held at the 1st Mariner Arena, in Baltimore, Maryland. With an attendance of 11,277:

Dark Match:
– WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz & John Morrison defeated Shannon Moore & Jimmy Wang Yang to retain the titles
PPV:
– Matt Hardy defeated MVP to win the WWE United States Title
– Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero Jr. (with Bam Neely) to retain the ECW Title
– Big Show defeated The Great Khali
– Shawn Michaels defeated Batista with Chris Jericho as special guest referee
– Victoria, Jillian Hall, Layla, Melina, Natalya, & Beth Phoenix defeated Cherry, Maria, Michelle McCool, Kelly Kelly,  Mickie James, & Ashley Massaro in a 12-diva tag team match
– The Undertaker defeated Edge to retain the World Heavyweight Title
– Triple H defeated Randy Orton, John Cena & JBL in a 4-Way Elimination Match to win the WWE Title

Also in 2008, New Japan Pro Wrestling held an untitled PPV in Osaka, Japan:

– Masato Tanaka & Shinjiro Otani defeated Koji Kanemoto & Ryusuke Taguchi
– Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono & Jushin Liger defeated Manabu Nakanishi, Tiger Mask IV & Tetsuya Naito
– Wataru Inoue defeated Christopher Daniels to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
– Togi Makabe & Toru Yano defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Takashi Iizuka to retain the IWGP Tag Team Titles
– Keiji Mutoh defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to win the IWGP Heavyweight Title

In 2010, WWE held it’s Supplemental Draft live on WWE.com. This was a continuation of the draft held the night before on WWE Raw:

– The Great Khali & Ranjin Singh were drafted to Raw
– Chavo Guerrero Jr. was drafted to Smackdown
– Cody Rhodes was drafted to Smackdown
– Natalya was drafted to Raw
– Chris Masters was drafted to Smackdown
– Ezekiel Jackson was drafted to Raw
– Goldust was drafted to Raw
– Hornswoggle was drafted to Smackdown
– Rosa Mendes was drafted to Smackdown
– The Hart Dynasty (D.H. Smith & Tyson Kidd) were drafted to Raw
– MVP was drafted to Smackdown

In 2014, “TNA Sacrifice PPV” was held at the Impact Zone, in Orlando, Florida. With an attendance of 1,400:

– The Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) defeated The BroMans (Jesse Godderz, Robbie E., & DJ Z (Zema Ion) to win the TNA World Tag Team Titles in a 3 on 2 Handicap Tag Team Match
– Mr. Anderson defeated Samuel Shaw in a Committed Match
– Kurt Angle & Willow (Jeff Hardy) defeated Ethan Carter III & Rockstar Spud
– Sanada defeated Tigre Uno to retain the TNA X-Division Title
– Gunner defeated James Storm in an I Quit Match
– Angelina Love (with Velvet Sky) defeated Madison Rayne to win the TNA Knockout’s Title
– Bobby Roode defeated Bully Ray in a Tables Match
– Eric Young defeated Magnus to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Title

Title Changes

1978 – Assassin #1 wins a tournament to win the vacant TSW Louisiana Title

1981 – Tommy Rich defeated Harley Race to win the NWA World Title

1981 – Junkyard Dog & Dick Murdoch defeated The Grappler & The Super Destroyer in a Cage Match to win the MSW Tag Team Titles

1990 – Keiji Mutoh & Masahiro Chono defeated Masa Saito & Shinya Hashimoto to win the IWGP Tag Team Titles

1992 – Lauren Davenport defeated Dirty White Girl to win the USWA Women’s Title

1992 – Barry Windham defeated Steve Austin to win the WCW Television Title

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

2000 – The Prototype (John Cena) defeated Smelly to win the Ultimate Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Title in San Diego, California

2008 – La Familia de Tijuana (Halloween & Extreme Tiger) defeated Mexican Powers (Joe Lider & Crazy Boy) to win the AAA Tag Team Titles

Birthdays

Happy birthday to one-time WWE Tag Team Champion Vladimir Kozlov (36), one-time TNA X-Division Champion Johnny Devine (41), & semi-retired indy regular Lacey (32)

Also, today would have been the birthday of one-time World Heavyweight Champion Frank Gotch (137)

In Memoriam

A year ago today, former WCW & WWF/E announcer Lee Marshall passed away.  Marshall started his wrestling career with AWA, would later go on to work for the WWF, doing commentary for the Los Angeles portion of Wrestlemania 2. He would later work for World Championship Wrestling until the company was bought out by the WWE in March 2001. He worked for numerous radio & television stations in the Los Angeles area. His most well known role was as the voice of Kellog’s Tony The Tiger