This Day In Wrestling History – April 25th

1980 – Ken Patera defeats Kerry Von Erich, to win the NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship.

1984 – Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen defeat Giant Baba & Dory Funk, Jr., in a tournament final, to become the first AJPW/PWF World Tag Team Champions.

1989 – Jerry Lawler defeats Master of Pain, to win the USWA Unified Heavyweight Championship.

1992 – Jimmy Snuka defeats Salvatore Bellomo, in a tournament final, to become the very first ECW Heavyweight Champion.

1999 – Judo Suwa defeats Dragon Kid, to win the NWA World Welterweight Championship.

1999 – WWF Backlash: In Your House, is held in Providence, RI in front of 10,939 fans.  This would be the final pay-per-view to carry the ‘In Your House’ tagline.
Sunday Night Heat:
– Val Venis & Nicole Bass defeat D’Lo Brown & Ivory in a Mixed Tag Team Match.
– Droz & Prince Albert defeat Too Much (Brian Christopher & Scott Taylor).
– Kane defeats The Big Boss Man.
– Viscera defeats Test.
PPV:
– In a Six-Man Tag Team Match, The Ministry of Darkness (Bradshaw & Faarooq, & Mideon) defeat The Brood (Gangrel, Christian, & Edge).
– Al Snow (with Head) defeats Hardcore Holly, to win the WWF Hardcore Championship.
– The Godfather defeats Goldust (with The Blue Meanie), to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
– The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg & Billy Gunn) defeat Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett (with Debra), to become the #1 contenders for the WWF Tag Team Championship.
– Mankind defeats Paul Wight, in a Boiler Room Brawl.
– Triple H (with Chyna) defeats X-Pac
– The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) defeats Ken Shamrock
– In a No Holds Barred Match, Stone Cold Steve Austin defeats The Rock, to retain the WWF Championship. Shane McMahon was the special guest referee.  At the end of the pay-per-view, The Undertaker abducted Stephanie McMahon, after he drove off in a limo with her in the backseat.

2002 – Randy Orton makes his WWF television debut on this evening’s SmackDown, defeating Hardcore Holly.

2010 – WWE Extreme Rules is held in Baltimore, in front of 12,278 fans.
Dark Match:
– Kofi Kingston defeats Dolph Ziggler
PPV:
– The Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd & David Hart Smith) (with Natalya & Bret Hart) defeat ShoMiz (The Miz & Big Show), John Morrison & R-Truth, and The World’s Strongest Tag Team (Mark Henry & MVP), in a Tag Team Gauntlet Match, to earn a future Unified Tag Team Championship Match.
– CM Punk (with Serena & Luke Gallows) defeats Rey Mysterio in a Hair Match.  Had he lost, Punk would have been required to get his head shaved.
– JTG defeats Shad Gaspard, in a Strap Match.
– Jack Swagger defeats Randy Orton, in an Extreme Rules Match, to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.
– Sheamus defeats Triple H in a Street Fight.  Triple H took the rest of the year off, to recover from a lingering neck injury.
– Beth Phoenix defeats Michelle McCool (with Vickie Guerrero & Layla), in an Extreme Makeover Match, to win the WWE Women’s Championship.
– Edge defeats Chris Jericho, in a Steel Cage Match
– John Cena defeats Batista, in a Last Man Standing Match, to retain the WWE Championship. Cena wins after tying Batista’s feet around a ring post with duct tape, preventing him from answering the ten count.

2011 – The WWE Draft is held on this evening’s RAW. There was a supplemental draft on WWE.com the following day. This was the final WWE Draft to occur under the Brand Extension of 2002.
– John Cena was drafted to SmackDown.
– Rey Mysterio was drafted to RAW.
– Randy Orton was drafted to SmackDown.
– Mark Henry was drafted to SmackDown.
– Sin Cara was drafted to SmackDown.
– Big Show was drafted to RAW.
– Alberto Del Rio (and Ricardo Rodriguez) were drafted to RAW.
– John Cena was drafted back to RAW.

2013 – Atsushi Aoki & Kotaro Suzuki defeat Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka, to win the AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship.

2014 – Connor ‘The Crusher’ Michalek, who was granted his wish of meeting Daniel Bryan in person after a social media campaign, dies at the age of 8. Connor had been battling cancer of the spine and brain since age 3. Connor initially met Bryan in December 2012, when Monday Night RAW was held Connor’s home town of Pittsburgh. They met again ten months later, when RAW came to Pittsburgh again. Connor also attended the 2014 Royal Rumble in Pittsburgh, where he and his family became acquainted with ring announcer Justin Roberts. Before Monday Night RAW in Washington, D.C. the week before WrestleMania XXX, Connor was invited into the ring and scored a pinfall victory over Triple H. Nineteen days before he passed away, Connor was in the front row at WrestleMania XXX, to see Daniel Bryan win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
A couple month’s after Connor’s passing, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon founded Connor’s Cure, a non-profit for pediatric cancer research. The organization is run by Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation.
Connor Michalek was posthumously named the inaugural recipient of The Warrior Award, given to for those who have “exhibited unwavering strength and perseverance, and who lives life with the courage and compassion that embodies the indomitable spirit of The Ultimate Warrior.” The award was presented by Dana Warrior and Daniel Bryan, to Connor’s brother (Jackson) and father (Steve).

2015 – Akebono defeats Swuama, to win the AJPW Champion Carnival.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: 9-time CZW World Tag Team Champion Sabian aka ‘BLK Jeez’ (40 years old); 2-time Zero 1 United States Champion Ricky Landell (37 years old); and 5-time OVW Southern Tag Team Champion Ted McNaler (34 years old).

Today would’ve been the 77th birthday for Stampede Wrestling Hall of Famer Mr. Hito.