Wrestling History

April 17th – On This Day In Wrestling History

April 17th - On This Day In Wrestling History

Our full On This Day In Wrestling History section can be found here.

1984 – The North-South Connection (Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch) defeated Soul Patrol (Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship belts.

1992 – The New Japan Pro Wrestling Champion Carnival came to a conclusion. The tournament took place from March 20 to April 17, featuring 20 wrestlers and was won by Stan Hansen (the reigning Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion) defeating Mitsuharu Misawa in the final by pinfall.

1994 – WCW held their Spring Stampede PPV at the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois in front of 12,200 fans. On the show:

  • Johnny B. Badd defeated Diamond Dallas Page by pin fall.
  • Lord Steven Regal and Brian Pillman fought to a 15-minute time limit draw for the WCW World Television Championship, meaning Regal retained the belt.
  • The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) defeated Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne in a Chicago Street Fight to retain the WCW World Tag Team belts after Sags Piledrives Foley through a table and gets the pin.
  • ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin defeated The Great Muta by disqualification to retain the WCW United States Championship. The DQ happened when Muta sent Austin over the top rope to the outside which at the time was illegal in WCW.
  • Sting defeated Rick Rude to win the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship.
  • Bunkhouse Buck defeated Dustin Rhodes in a ‘Bunkhouse’ match (a match with no rules).
  • Vader defeated The Boss by pin fall after a Moonsault from the top rope.
  • Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat fought to a draw for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The match ended in a double pin so the title was declared vacant. Flair went on to win the rematch on April 21st to regain the belt.

1999 – ECW Hardcore TV was taped in the Flickinger Center, in Buffalo, New York in front of 3,900 fans. On the show D-Von Dudley defeated Rob Van Dam in a singles match to win the Tag Team titles for himself and Buh Buh Ray Dudley. The title change was aired on TV April 23rd.

2000 – WWF Monday Night Raw was held in Pennsylvania and the show opened with Chris Jericho taking on Triple H. Before the match Jericho goaded Triple H into putting the WWF World Title on the line and HHH agreed, then Jericho announced that he’d got some protection for the bout and brought out the APA (Faarooq and Bradshaw). During the match the referee got knocked out and then Shane McMahon tried to interfere but was chased away by the APA. Earl Hebner ran into the ring to take over refereeing duties and got into a shoving match with Triple H. Jericho took advantage and hit Triple H with a Spinning Heel Kick then a Lionsault and got the pin with Hebner hitting a fast count, making Jericho the new WWF World Heavyweight Champion. After the match both referees were brought into the ring and threatened by HHH and Shane McMahon and Mike Chioda (the original referee) said it was a fast count by Hebner. The match was overturned and not official counted as a win for Jericho and the belt was given back to Triple H. (Also on the show Scotty 2 Hotty won the WWF Light Heavyweight Title after pinning Dean Malenko.)

2001 – WWF Smackdown! was held in Nashville, Tennessee. The opening match of the night saw Kane lose the WWF Hardcore Title to Rhyno but then in the main event the Brothers of Destruction (Kane and the Undertaker) won the WWF Tag Team titles after beating Edge and Christian in a No Disqualification Tag Team match.

2004 – PWG: The Musical took place at the Elks Lodge in Santa Ana, California. On the show Excalibur and Super Dragon became new PWG Tag Team champions after beating Chris Bosh and Quicksilver.

2007 – WWE SmackDown! was held for the first time in Milan, Italy. On the show Deuce ‘n Domino defeated Paul London and Brian Kendrick to win the WWE Tag Team Championship, ending the reign of London and Kendrick at (an officially recognised) 334 days as champions.

2010 – FIP Southern Stampede was held at the National Guard Armory in Crystal River, Florida. In the main event of the night Jon Moxley defeated Roderick Strong to win the vacant FIP World Heavyweight Title and would go on to hold the title for the next 360 days.

2011 – In front of 4,000 fans at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio, TNA held their Lockdown PPV where every match was inside a steel cage. On the show:

  • Max Buck outlasted Amazing Red, Brian Kendrick, Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal, Jeremy Buck, Robbie E and Suicide in an ‘8-Way Xscape The Cage’ match to become the #1 contender for the TNA X Division Championship. In the match all decisions were by pinfall or submission until two men remained, then the first man to escape the cage won.
  • Ink Inc (Jesse Neal and Shannon Moore) defeated Crimson and Scott Steiner, Eric Young and Orlando Jordan, and the British Invasion (Douglas Williams and Magnus) in a four corners tag team match.
  • Mickie James defeated Madison Rayne by pinfall in a hair versus title match in just 34 seconds to win the TNA Knockouts Championship.
  • Samoa Joe defeated D’Angelo Dinero by submission.
  • Matt Morgan defeated Hernandez via pinfall following the Carbon Footprint.
  • Jeff Jarrett defeated Kurt Angle in an ‘Ultra Male Rules 2 Out Of 3 Falls’ match. The first fall was Submission Only (won by Angle), then Jarrett won the Pinfall Only match to tie at 1-1. The last fall was an Escape The Cage match and was won by Jarrett, giving him a 2-1 victory.
  • Sting defeated Mr. Anderson and Rob Van Dam in a Three Way match to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.
  • Fortune (Christopher Daniels, James Storm, Kazarian, and Robert Roode) defeated Immortal (Abyss, Bully Ray, Matt Hardy, and Ric Flair) in a ‘Lethal Lockdown Eight-Man Tag’ match when Storm locked in the Fujiwara Armbar on Flair, causing him to submit.

2017 – The Monday Night Raw main event between The Big Show and Braun Strowman went to a no-contest when a top rope suplex resulted in the ring collapsing.

2019 – Defiant: Lights Out was held at the O2 Academy in Leeds, England. On the show Lizzy Styles won the Defiant Women’s Title after beating Lana Austin and then in the main event Rampage defeated Rory Coyle to become the new Defiant World Champion.

2020 – On WWE Friday Night Smackdown the main event was for the WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship titles. This was a triple threat match between Big E (representing The New Day), Jey Uso (representing The Usos), and The Miz (representing himself and John Morrison). Big E pinned The Miz to win the titles for his team.

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