This Day In Wrestling History – April 18th
Happy birthday to The Brooklyn Brawler! (Photo credit: World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.)
1939 – Ed Don George defeats Steve Casey, to win the Boston AWA World Heavyweight Championship.
1958 – Karl Heinkler & Kurt Von Brauner defeat Don Lee & The Mighty Yankee, to win the Georgia NWA International Tag Team Championship.
1966 – Buddy Austin & El Mongol defeat Thunderbolt Patterson & Alberto Torres, to win the World Wrestling Association’s World Tag Team Championship.
1978 – The Iron Sheik & Bull Ramos defeat Jerry Oates & Jesse Ventura, to win the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship.
1979 – Lizmark defeats Americo Rocca, to win the Mexican National Welterweight Championship.
1981 – The Grappler & The Super Destroyer defeat Junkyard Dog & Dick Murdoch, to win the vacant Mid-South Wrestling Tag Team Championship.
1982 – The first of Hulk Hogan’s two unrecognized AWA World Heavyweight Championship victories took place in St. Paul, Minnesota. Hogan had won the title from Nick Bockwinkel. Both men used foreign objects during the match, with the referee declaring Hogan the winner and new champion. However, AWA President Stanley Blackburn voided the title change and returned the title to Bockwinkel, because of said foreign object use.
1985 – Bruiser Brody wrestled Antonio Inoki in his first singles match for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
1988 – Jumbo Tsuruta defeats Bruiser Brody, to win the NWA International Heavyweight Championship. This would be the final reign before the belt became part of the AJPW Triple Crown Title exactly one year later.
1989 – Jumbo Tsuruta defeats Stan Hansen, to unify the NWA International Championship, the PWF Heavyweight Championship, and the NWA United National Heavyweight Championship. The three titles combine to become the AJPW Triple Crown Championship.
1991 – Stan Hansen & Danny Spivey defeat The Miracle Violence Connection (Steve Williams & Terry Gordy), to win the AJPW World Tag Team Championship.
1996 – Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. defeats Apolo Dantes, to win the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship.
1997 – Exactly one year later, Steele (Sean Morley) defeats Rayo de Jalisco, Jr., to win the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship. Morley was the first Canadian to win the title.
1998 – Mitsuharu Misawa wins the AJPW Champion Carnival, defeating Jun Akiyama in the tournament final after both men tied on 19 points.
1999 – Nick Dinsmore defeats Rod Steele, to win his second OVW Heavyweight Championship for the second time.
1999 – Brandi Alexander defeats Malia Hosaka to win the World League Wrestling Ladies Championship.
2002 – WCW Hall of Famer Wahoo McDaniel dies at the age of 63, after complications from diabetes. He was into the WCW Hall of Fame in 1995, and posthumously inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame in 2011.
2003 – Mr. Niebla defeats Universo 2000, to win the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship. Universo 2000 had held the title since December 10, 1999 – a span of 1,225 consecutive days as champion.
2004 – WWE Backlash, a RAW-exclusive pay-per-view, is held in Edmonton, Alberta in front of 13,000 fans.
Sunday Night Heat:
– Val Venis defeats Matt Hardy.
PPV:
– Shelton Benjamin defeats Ric Flair.
– Jonathan Coachman (with Garrison Cade) defeats Tajiri.
– Chris Jericho defeats Christian & Trish Stratus, in a Handicap Match.
– Victoria defeats Lita, to retain the WWE Women’s Championship.
– In a Hardcore Match, Randy Orton defeats Cactus Jack, to retain the Intercontinental Championship.
– Rosey & The Hurricane defeat La Resistance (Rob Conway & Sylvain Grenier).
– Edge defeats Kane.
– In a Triple Threat Match, Chris Benoit defeats Shawn Michaels and Triple H, to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. Benoit wins after forcing HBK to submit to the sharpshooter.
2007 – WWE severed ties with it’s developmental territory, Deep South Wrestling.
2010 – TNA Lockdown is held in Saint Charles, Missouri in front of 3,023 fans. Each match was held inside a steel cage.
– Rob Van Dam defeats James Storm.
– In an XScape Match, Homicide defeats Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, and Brian Kendrick, to earn a spot in the evening’s X Division Title Match.
– The Beautiful People (Madison Rayne & Velvet Sky) defeat Angelina Love & Tara. Rayne scored the pin to retain the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Titles AND win the TNA Knockouts Championship.
– In a Three-Way Match, Kazarian defeats Shannon Moore and Homicide, to win the vacant X Division Championship. The title had been stripped from Douglas Williams, after he had been unable to catch a flight out of the United Kingdom to St. Louis, due to the massive worldwide flight cancellations (which went into effect after the volcanic ash eruption in Iceland).
– Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon) defeat The Band (Scott Hall & Kevin Nash) in a St. Lois Street Fight Steel Cage Match. Nash replaced Syxx-Pac, who had no-showed the event.
– Kurt Angle defeats Mr. Anderson, in a match where escaping the steel cage was the only way to win.
– AJ Styles defeats D’Angelo Dinero, to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.
– In a Lethal Lockdown Match, Team Hogan (Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Jeff Hardy, & Rob Van Dam) defeat Team Flair (Sting, Desmond Wolfe, James Storm & Robert Roode). Had Team Hogan lost, Hulk Hogan would have been forced to leave TNA Wrestling.
2012 – Derrick Bateman was crowned unofficial winner of NXT Redemption (despite the fact that it stopped being a competition in late 2011). This was due to him being the only non-eliminated competitor left on the show.
2015 – At EVOLVE 42, Johnny Gargano & Rich Swann defeat Anthony Nese & Caleb Konley, to win the Open the United Gate Championship. Gargano & Swann are the last titleholders; Gargano vacated and retired the titles at the end of May.
2018 – After a period of declining health, WWE Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartino passes away at the age of 82. Also, Paul Jones, who held 23 championships in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, passes away at the age of 75.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: legendary WWF/E jobber, The Brooklyn Brawler (57 years old); 3-time NWA World Women’s Champion, Debbie Combs (59 years old); and 3-time CMLL Heavyweight Champion, Universo 2000 (55 years old).
Today would have been the 53rd birthday for former Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Champion, Biff Wellington.
