Wrestling History

April 21st – On This Day In Wrestling History

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

1980 – At the WWF MSG Show in New York Ken Patera defeated Pat Patterson to become the second ever WWF Intercontinental Champion.

1985 – AWA StarCage was held at the St. Paul Civic Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Every match on the card was a Tag Team match, with the main event being a Handicap Tag Team Steel Cage match in which Jerry Blackwell and Sgt. Slaughter defeated King Tonga, Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissy, and the Masked Superstar.

1999 – HWA Fort Mitchell Show was held at the Coyote’s Music and Dance Hall in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. In the main event of the night Bull Pain defeated Bunkhouse Buck to become the new HWA Bar Room Brawl champion.

2002 – WWF Backlash was held at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri in front of 12,489 fans. This was the last PPV under the WWF name as a court ruled that the initials ‘WWF’ belonged as trademark to the World Wildlife Fund. On Sunday Night Heat before the main show the Big Show defeated Justin Credible and Steven Richards in a Handicap match, then on the PPV:

Tajiri defeated Billy Kidman to win the WWF Cruiserweight Championship after he blew Red Mist in Kidmans’s eyes and got the pin.
Scott Hall defeated Bradshaw after hitting him with a low-blow when the referee was distracted.
Jazz defeated Trish Stratus by submission to retain the WWF Women’s Championship.
In his first ever televised match for the WWF, Brock Lesnar defeated Jeff Hardy after the referee stopped the match due to Lesnar hitting Hardy with multiple Powerbombs.
Kurt Angle defeated Edge by pinfall following an Angle Slam.
Eddie Guerrero defeated Rob Van Dam to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
The Undertaker defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin to become the number one contender for the Undisputed WWF Championship. Ric Flair was the special referee and when he made the three count he didn’t see that Austin had his foot on the ropes.
Billy and Chuck defeated Maven and Al Snow to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship.
Following interference from both Chris Jericho and the Undertaker, Hulk Hogan pinned Triple H to win the Undisputed WWF Championship. This was Hogan’s first WWF Championship since 1993.

2003 – FWA British Breakout Tour was in Morecambe, England. On the show Chris Hamrick defeated the Zebra Kid to win the FWA All-England Title.

2004 – At the Tennessee State Fairgrounds Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, A.J. Styles defeated Jeff Jarrett in a Steel Cage match to become the new NWA World Heavyweight champion.

2006 – IWA-MS April Bloodshowers was held in Plainfield, Indiana. Three titles were on the line on the show but only one changed hands, when Necro Butcher defeated both Ian Rotten and J. C. Bailey in a ‘Three-Way Elimination Texas Deathmatch.’

2008 – The WWE King of the Ring tournament was held on Monday Night RAW. The matches were as follows:

Quarterfinals:

Chris Jericho defeated MVP by submission with the Walls of Jericho.
CM Punk defeated Matt Hardy with a roll-up pin.
Finlay defeated The Great Khali by disqualification due to Khali repeatedly hitting Finlay’s knee against the ring post.
William Regal defeated Hornswoggle by submission in 18 seconds.

Semifinals:

CM Punk defeated Chris Jericho following a Go 2 Sleep.
William Regal defeated Finlay by knockout when Regal locked in the Regal Stretch.

Final:

William Regal defeated CM Punk with the Regal Stretch to win the King of the Ring tournament.

2016 – WWE NXT was in Lowell, Massachusetts. In the main event of the show Samoa Joe defeated Finn Bálor to win the NXT Championship.

2018 – Black Label Pro ‘Slamilton’ was held in Crown Point, Indiana. Jordynne Grace beat Tom Lawlor to become the new BLP Heavyweight champion.

2018 – In New Castle, Delaware, ECWA held their 22nd Annual Super 8 Tournament. On the show Frankie Pickard and Tahir James became the new ECWA Tag Team champions by getting the pin in a 10-Man Tag Team match and the tournament itself was won by Richard Holliday, outlasting seven other wrestlers.

2018 – WALTER became the new PWG champion at the PWG All Star Weekend 14 show after defeating both Jonah Rock and Keith Lee in a Three Way match.

2019 – OTT Contenders 14 was in Dublin, Ireland. Terry Thatcher defeated Mark Haskins to win the OTT Gender Neutral Title, but Haskins cashed in his Golden Briefcase contract on Thatcher immediately after losing and won the belt back.

2020 – In Nashville, Tennessee, Willie Mack beat Austin Aries to become the new Impact Wrestling X Division champion.

Notable Wrestling Birthdays: