Thursday, April 12, 2012

Today In Wrestling History April 12th

1958 - Verne Gagne defeats Dick the Bruiser in Chicago, Illinois to win the Chicago/Detroit NWA United States Heavyweight Title, beginning his second reign, which carried over into the AWA. Gagne held the title until August 1960 when he won the AWA World Title.


1968 - Mr. Wrestling defeats El Mongol in Atlanta, Georgia to win the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Title, ending Mongol's fourth reign and beginning Mr. Wrestling's second


1980 - The Wild Samoans (Afa and Sika) defeat Ivan Putski and Tito Santana for the WWF World Tag Team Title in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.




1983 - Ron Bass and Stan Hansen defeat Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta for the NWA International Tag Team Title in Matsuyama, Japan, ending Baba and Tsuruta's fourth reign.


1987 - The first of three untimely deaths by suicide in the Von Erich family occured when Mike Von Erich intentionally overdosed on Placidyl, a tranqulizer. The overdose occurred after Mike wrapped himself in a sleeping bag in the woods near his home. He was one-third of the World Class Six-Man Tag Team Champions at the time, along with Kevin and Lance Von Erich. Mike had replaced his brother Kerry in the team after he was injured in a motorcycle accident during the previous summer. Mike Von Erich was just 23 years old.


1987 - Rick Steiner and Sting defeat Chris Adams and Terry Taylor to win the UWF World Tag Team Title in Atlanta, Georgia.




2002 - The WWF Hardcore Title changes hands four times at a house show in Amarillo, Texas. William Regal, the original challenger for the title, became a brief double-champion (he also held the WWF European Title) when he won the title from Bubba Ray Dudley, ending Bubba Ray's third reign and beginning Regal's third. Spike Dudley began his second reign as Hardcore Champion by defeating Regal. Spike then lost the title to Goldust, his fourth title win. Bubba Ray Dudley left with the title though, beating Goldust, and beginning his fourth reign


2003 - All Japan Pro Wrestling held the 13th and final event of its annual Champion's Carnival tour at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan with 16,000 fans in attendance. The results were:
- Gran Hamada pinned Gran Naniwa.
- Gigantes and George Hines beat Hiroshi Hase and Masayuki Kono, when Gigantes pinned Kono.
- Ryuki Ueyama defeated Ryuji Hijikata by submission.
- Kaz Hayashi and Jimmy Yang beat Omega Griffon and NWA International Junior Heavyweight Champion Low Ki, when Hayashi pinned Griffon.
- AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion Kendo Kashin defeated Carl Contini by submission to retain the title.
- Shinjiro Otani and Masato Tanaka defeated Hideki Hosaka and Shigeo Okumura, when Otani pinned Hosaka.
- AJPW All Asia Tag Team Champion Nobutaka Araya, Nobukazu Hirai and Genichiro Tenryu defeated Tomohiko Hashimoto, Tomoaki Honma and Kazushi Miyamoto, when Araya pinned Hashimoto.
- Keiji Muto and AJPW Unified World Tag Team Champion Satoshi Kojima defeated Masa Fuchi and Toshiaki Kawada, when Kojima pinned Fuchi.
- AJPW Triple Crown Champion Shinya Hashimoto defeated AJPW All Asia Tag Team Champion Arashi by TKO to retain his title.

No comments:

Post a Comment