This Day In Wrestling History – April 26th

1988 – At a taping for a future episode of World Wide Wrestling, The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers) defeat The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane), to win the NWA United States Tag Team Championship.  The title changed aired on television May 14th.

1992 – At the Boston Garden in Massachusetts, The Ultimate Warrior defeats Sid Justice, via disqualification, in less than five minutes.  This would be Sid’s last WWF appearance for over two years.  Due to controversy regarding a drug test, Sid walked out of the company, less than a month after headlining WrestleMania against Hulk Hogan.

1992 – Johnny Hotbody defeats Jimmy Snuka, to win the ECW Heavyweight Championship.

1998 – WWF Unforgiven: In Your House is held in Greensboro, NC in front of 21,427 fans.  This was the first pay-per-view to use the new ‘scratch’ logo in it’s promotional material;  WrestleMania XIV had used it on the ring apron, but all graphics featured the classic logo.  This event also saw the debut of both the Inferno AND Evening Gown Matches.

– In a Six-Man Tag Team Match, Ken Shamrock, Faarooq, & Steve Blackman defeat The Nation of Domination (The Rock, Mark Henry, & D’Lo Brown) (with Kama Mustafa).
– Triple H defeats Owen Hart, to retain the WWF European Championship.  Chyna was suspended above the ring in a cage.
– The New Midnight Express (Bodacious Bart & Bombastic Bob) (with Jim Cornette) defeat The Rock n Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) to retain the NWA World Tag Team Championship.
– Luna Vachon defeats Sable in the first-ever WWF Evening Gown Match.
– The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg & Billy Gunn) defeat LOD 2000 (Hawk & Animal) (with Sunny), to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship.
– The Undertaker defeats Kane (with Paul Bearer) in the first-ever WWF Inferno Match.
– With the WWF Championship on the line, Dude Love defeats Stone Cold Steve Austin via disqualification;  Austin retains the title.

1999 – In the Monday Night Wars, WWF RAW IS WAR (6.0 TV rating) beats WCW Monday Nitro (3.9 rating).  On Nitro, Rey Mysterio, Jr. defeats Psicosis, to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.  Sting defeats Diamond Dallas Page, to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.  Later in the night, though, DDP regains the title, after defeating Sting, Goldberg, and Kevin Nash, in a No Disqualification Four-Way Match.

2000 – On this evening’s Thunder, actor David Arquette pins Eric Bischoff in a tag team match, and wins the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.  Arquette’s tag partner was previous champion Diamond Dallas Page;  Bischoff partnered with Jeff Jarrett.  The championship was awarded to whomever scored the pinfall.

2001 – On this evening’s SmackDown, Matt Hardy defeats Eddie Guerrero, to win the WWF European Championship.

2009 – WWE Backlash is held in Providence, Rhode Island in front of 8,357 fans.  It was the last Backlash pay-per-view until it was brought back as a SmackDown-exclusive event, in 2016.

Dark Match:
– Kofi Kingston defeats Dolph Ziggler.
PPV:
– Christian defeats Jack Swagger, to win the ECW Championship.
– Chris Jericho defeats Ricky Steamboat via submission.
– Kane defeats CM Punk.
– Jeff Hardy defeats Matt Hardy in an ‘I Quit’ Match.
– Santina Marella defeats Beth Phoenix (with Rosa Mendes), to retain the title of Miss WrestleMania.
– In a Six-Man Tag Team Match with the WWE Championship on the line, The Legacy (Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase, Jr. & Cody Rhodes) defeat Triple H, Batista, & Shane McMahon. The championship went to whomever scored the pinfall.  Orton pins Triple H, to become the new WWE Champion.
– In a Last Man Standing Match, Edge defeats John Cena, to win the World Heavyweight Championship.  Edge receives an assist from The Big Show, who chokeslams Cena through a spotlight, that ends up exploding.

2010 – The annual WWE Draft is held live on Monday Night RAW.  The Supplemental Draft was held the next day, on WWE.com.

– Kelly Kelly was drafted to SmackDown.
– Big Show was drafted to SmackDown.
– John Morrison was drafted to RAW.
– R-Truth was drafted to RAW.
– Edge was drafted to RAW.
– Kofi Kingston was drafted to SmackDown.
– Christian was drafted to SmackDown.
– Chris Jericho was drafted RAW.

On the same RAW, The Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd & David Hart Smith) defeat ShoMiz (Big Show & The Miz), to win the Unified WWE Tag Team Championships.

2011 – One day after the 2011 WWE Draft aired live on RAW, the Supplemental Draft is held on WWE.com.  The following selections were made.

– Daniel Bryan was drafted to SmackDown
– Jack Swagger was drafted to RAW
– The Great Khali was drafted to SmackDown.
– Jimmy Uso to was drafted SmackDown.
– Kelly Kelly was drafted to RAW.
– JTG was drafted to RAW.
– Alicia Fox was drafted to SmackDown.
– William Regal was drafted to SmackDown.
– Yoshi Tatsu was drafted to SmackDown.
– Drew McIntyre was drafted to RAW.
– Natalya was drafted to SmackDown.
– Curt Hawkins was drafted to RAW.
– Chris Masters was drafted to RAW.
– Jey Uso was drafted to SmackDown.
– Kofi Kingston was drafted to RAW.
– Ted DiBiase, Jr. was drafted to SmackDown.
– Tyson Kidd was drafted to SmackDown.
– Tamina was drafted to SmackDown.
– Tyler Reks was drafted to RAW.
– Alex Riley was drafted to SmackDown.
– Beth Phoenix was drafted to RAW.
– Sheamus (the United States Champion) was drafted to SmackdDown, making the US Title exclusive to that show.

2015 – WWE Extreme Rules is held at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, in front of 14,197 fans.

Pre–Sh0w:
– Neville defeats Bad News Barrett.  Daniel Bryan was originally scheduled to face Barrett, but was injured.
Extreme Rules:
– Dean Ambrose defeats Luke Harper in a Chicago Street Fight.
– Dolph Ziggler defeats Sheamus in a “Kiss My Arse” Match
– The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) (with Xavier Woods) defeat Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (with Natalya), to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.
– John Cena defeats Rusev, in a Russian Chain Match, to retain the WWE United States Championship.
– Nikki Bella defeats Naomi, to retain the WWE Divas Championship.
– Roman Reigns defeats The Big Show, in a Last Man Standing Match.
– In a Steel Cage Match, Seth Rollins defeats Randy Orton, to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.  Orton’s RKO finisher was banned, and Kane was the gatekeeper.

2016 – Two title changes occur on this evening’s Impact Wrestling: Sacrifice.  Decay (Crazzy Steve & Abyss) defeat Beer Money, Inc. (James Storm & Bobby Roode), to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship (Valley of Shadows Match).  Bram defeats Eric Young, to win the King of the Mountain Championship (No Holds Barred Match).  This was the final TV appearance in TNA for Roode and Young;  both had left the company after this episode, which was taped on March 19th.

HAPPY BIRTHAY TO: WWE ‘Grand Slam’ Champion Kane (50 years old);  3-time TNA X Division Champion Amazing Red (35 years old);  former WCW wrestlers Tank Abbott (52 years old) and Ron ‘The Yeti’ Reis (47 years old);  and indy wrestler Shawn Riddick (34 years old).

Today would’ve been the 68th birthday for former AWA World Tag Team Champion Jerry Blackwell, and the 86th birthday for NWA legend ‘Killer’ Karl Kox.