Wrestling History

April 26th – On This Day In Wrestling History

April 26th - On This Day In Wrestling History

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

1976 – Stan Hansen defeated Bruno Sammartino by referee stoppage in a WWWF Championship match at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The match was stopped due to excess bleeding by Sammartino but the title could only change hands via pinfall or submission so he remained champion. During the match, Hansen broke Sammartino’s neck accidentally with a body slam. This was then woven into a future storyline but with the wrinkle that it was actually a lariat by Hansen that did the damage.

1988 – The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) had their record setting 345 day NWA World Tag Team Championship reign ended by The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers) at an NWA World Wide Wrestling taping in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

1992 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the single day title reign of the first ever Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) Champion ‘Superfly’ Jimmy Snuka was ended by Johnny Hotbody.

1994 – At a Monday Night Raw taping, The Headshrinkers (Fatu and Samu) defeated The Quebecers (Jacques and Pierre) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. The duo became the fifteenth and final team to win a tag team title whilst managed by the late Captain Lou Albano.

1995 – At a WWF Superstars taping, Bob Holly defeated Jeff Jarrett to win the Intercontinental Championship. However, Jarrett’s feet were on the ropes for the pin so the title was upheld with a rematch ordered. That rematch took place the same night but was aired a week later. Jarrett won that rematch. At the same taping, Hunter Heart Helmsley made his WWF in-ring debut.

1998 – WWF In Your House: Unforgiven took place at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. In the main event, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin made his first defence of his WWF Championship against Dude Love. The match ended in a disqualification win for Love. Elsewhere on the card, The Undertaker defeated Kane in the first ever Inferno Match.

1999 – Title changes galore on an episode of WCW Monday Nitro in Fargo, North Dakota. In the first match of the night, Sting defeated Diamond Dallas Page to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, he lost it back to DDP in a fatal four way match that also included Goldberg and Kevin Nash. In addition, the WCW Cruiserweight Championship changed hands when Rey Mysterio Jr. defeated Psychosis.

2009 – WWE Backlash took place at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island. The major titles on all three brands changed hands on the night. The first change saw Christian defeat Jack Swagger for the ECW Championship. Secondly, Randy Orton won the WWE Championship in a six-man tag team match. His partners were Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase Jr. and they took on champion Triple H, Batista and Shane McMahon. Orton won the title as the stipulation of the bout said the person that scored the winning fall would take the belt. Finally, Edge defeated John Cena for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a Last Man Standing match.

2010 – WWE’s annual Draft Lottery special of Raw took place. The highlight moves saw Chris Jericho and Edge drafted to Raw.

2014 – Former NWA and WCW interviewer Lee Marshall died after a battle with esophageal cancer at the age of 64.

2015 – WWE’s Extreme Rules PPV took place at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois. The main event saw WWE Champion Seth Rollins defeat Randy Orton in a steel cage match in which Kane served as the ‘gatekeeper’ and Orton was banned from using the RKO. The only title change on the card saw The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) win their historic first WWE Tag Team Championship from Tyson Kidd and Cesaro.

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