This Day In Wrestling History – April 23rd
1935 – Wildcat Pete defeats Tetsuo Higami, to become the first NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Champion.
1960 – Red & Lou Bastien defeat Jerry & Eddie Graham, to win the NWA Northeast United States Tag Team Championship.
1965 – Danny Hodge defeats Hiro Matsuda, to win the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship.
1966 – Ramon Torres defeats Lorenzo Parente, to win the TSW Missouri Junior Heavyweight Championship.
1976 – Bob Backlund defeats Harley Race, to win the NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship.
1978 – Paul Jones & Ricky Steamboat defeat Cyclon Negro & Baron Von Raschke, Gene & Ole Anderson, and Masked Superstar & Ken Patera, to win the NWA (Mid-Atlantic) World Tag Team Championship.
1978 – Ray Candy & Steven Little Bear defeat Ernie Ladd & The Assassin to win the TSW United States Tag Team Championship.
1981 – Giant Baba defeats Bruiser Brody, to win the AJPW Champion Carnival. Elsewhere, Antonio Inoki vacates the NWF Heavyweight Championship, and decides to enter what was then known as the MSG League (currently known as the G1 Climax). Inoki’s NWF Title would remain vacant for nearly 22 years.
1988 – Sting & Lex Luger (with Magnum T.A.) defeat Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard, to win what would be the last Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament; NWA will revive the tournament after a 31-year hiatus, later this month.
1990 – Mr. Perfect defeats Tito Santana, to win the vacant WWF Intercontinental Championship.
1991 – Danny Davis defeats El Grande Pistolero to win the USWA Junior Heavyweight Championship.
1992 – The Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane & Tom Pritchard) defeat The Fantastics (Bobby & Jackie Fulton), to become the inaugural SMW Tag Team Champions.
1994 – Chris Candido & Brian Lee defeat The Rock n Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson), to win the SMW Tag Team Championship.
2003 – Tiger Mask IV defeats Koji Kanemoto, to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
2006 – TNA Lockdown is held at the Impact Zone in Orlando, in front of 900 fans. As with all Lockdown events of this time, all matches were held inside a cage.
– Team Japan (Black Tiger IV, Minoru Tanaka & Hirooki Goto) defeat Team USA (Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal, & Alex Shelley).
– Senshi defeats Christopher Daniels.
– In an Arm Wrestling match, Bob Armstrong (with BG James & Kip James) defeats Konnan (with Hernandez & Homicide).
– In an XScape Match, Chris Sabin defeats Puma, Petey Williams (with Coach D’Amore), Shark Boy, Chase Stevens, & Elix Skipper (with Simon Diamond).
– Samoa Joe defeats Sabu, to retain the TNA X Division Championship.
– In an Anthem Match, Team 3D (Brother Run, Brother Devon, & Brother Ray) defeat Team Canada (Bobby Roode, A-1, & Eric Young) (with Coach D’Amore).
– Christian Cage defeats Abyss (with James Mitchell), to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
– In a Lethal Lockdown Match, Sting’s Warriors (Sting, AJ Styles, Ron Killings, & Rhino) defeat Jarrett’s Army (Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, Chris Harris, & James Storm).
2009 – Bobby Lashley makes his TNA Wrestling debut.
2012 – In a Lumberjill Match on Monday Night RAW, Nikki Bella defeats Beth Phoenix, to win the WWE Divas Championship.
2014 – On a taping of NXT, to be aired the following night, NXT General Manager John ‘Bradshaw’ Layfield strips Paige of the NXT Women’s Championship in order to give other NXT talent a shot at the title. At the time, Paige was also the WWE Divas Champion, having defeated AJ Lee, in her main roster debut no less, for the title on the Monday Night RAW following WrestleMania XXX.
2018 – Monday Night RAW airs its 1,300th episode.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: 16-time WWE World Champion, John Cena (42 years old); WWE Hall of Famer Tony Atlas (65 years old); two-time TNA World Tag Team Champion, Jessie Godderz (33 years old); 2-time Impact GRAND Champion, Moose (35 years old); former TNA backstage interviewer, Bubba the Love Sponge (53 years old); and AEW’s Britt Baker (28 years old, pictured at top).
Today would have been the 58th birthday for WWE Hall of Famer, Terry Gordy.
