Wrestling History

April 3rd – On This Day In Wrestling History

April 3rd - On This Day In Wrestling History

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

1982 – Riki Choshu won the WWF International Heavyweight Championship in Tokyo, Japan with a victory over Tatsumi Fujinami.

1993 – Don Muraco defeated The Sandman in Radnor, Pennsylvania to win the Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) Heavyweight Championship.

1995 – Alundra Blayze won the WWF Women’s Championship at a Monday Night Raw taping in Poughkeepsie. She defeated Bull Nakano.

1999 – ECW’s Cyberslam PPV took place at the ECW Arena. In the main event, Mr. Mustafa and The Dudley Boyz defeated Axl Rotten, Balls Mahoney and New Jack in an ‘Ultimate Jeopardy’ steel cage match.

2000 – The night after WrestleMania 2000, two titles changed hands on Raw Is War in Los Angeles, California. Eddie Guerrero defeated Chris Jericho to win the WWF European Championship. Also, Crash Holly won back the WWF Hardcore Championship from his storyline cousin Hardcore Holly.

2000 – Ahead of a planned company-wide reboot the following week, WCW elected to run a ‘best of’ show in Monday Nitro’s timeslot rather than a regular edition of the show.

2001 – At a SmackDown taping in Oklahoma City, Triple H defeated Chris Jericho to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship.

2005 – WrestleMania 21 took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The double main event of the evening saw two new champions crowned as WWE officially crowned their new babyface superstars. John Cena defeated JBL to win the WWE Championship in the first of the two bouts. In the main event, Batista won the World Heavyweight Championship against Triple H.

The full card:

  • Rey Mysterio defeated Eddie Guerrero.
  • Edge won the first ever Money In The Bank match, defeating Kane, Shelton Benjamin, Christian, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit.
  • The Undertaker defeated Randy Orton.
  • Trish Stratus retained the WWE Women’s Championship with a win over Christy Hemme.
  • Kurt Angle made Shawn Michaels submit in a Raw vs. SmackDown inter-promotional dream match.
  • Akebono defeated The Big Show in a sumo match.
  • John Cena defeated John ‘Bradshaw’ Layfield to win the WWE Championship.
  • Batista defeated Triple H to win the World Heavyweight Championship.

2006 – On an episode of Raw in Chicago, Illinois, The Spirit Squad defeated Kane and The Big Show to win the World Tag Team Championship. All five members of the group would be recognised as champions and would defend it under the fabled ‘Freebird Rule’.

2010 – At Ring Of Honor: The Big Bang, The Kings Of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castignoli defeated Jay and Mark Briscoe for the ROH Tag Team Championship.

2011 – WrestleMania XXVII took place in Atlanta, Georgia in front of an announced crowd of 71,617. The main attraction of the night was The Rock’s return to WWE as the host of the event.

Full results:

  • Edge defeated Alberto Del Rio to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. This ended up being Edge’s last match before he retired due to a neck injury. He eventually returned from this injury at the 2020 Royal Rumble.
  • Cody Rhodes defeated Rey Mysterio.
  • Santino Marella, Kane, Kofi Kingston and The Big Show defeated The Corre (Wade Barrett, Ezekiel Jackson, Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater).
  • Randy Orton defeated CM Punk.
  • Michael Cole defeated Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler by disqualification. The match was refereed by ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and was originally won by Lawler. The decision was reversed after he refused to cease the attack on Cole. This was the only time Lawler wrestled at WrestleMania.
  • The Undertaker defeated Triple H in a ‘No Holds Barred’ match.
  • Trish Stratus, John Morrison & Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi defeated Michelle McCool, Layla El and Dolph Ziggler.
  • The Miz defeated John Cena to retain the WWE Championship. The match was originally deemed a double count-out before The Rock ordered the match to restart in his guise as the host of the event.

2012 – WWE Hall Of Famer Chief Jay Strongbow dies at the age of 84.

2016 – WrestleMania 32 took place at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The show was attended by the biggest crowd in WWE history with 101,763 announced as the crowd figure. The full card of the event:

  • Zack Ryder won a seven-man ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship. Also in the bout were Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Stardust, Sin Cara and The Miz.
  • Chris Jericho defeated AJ Styles
  • The League Of Nations (Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio and Rusev) defeated The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods)
  • Brock Lesnar defeated Dean Ambrose in a No Holds Barred match.
  • Charlotte Flair defeated Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks in a triple threat match to determine the new WWE Women’s Championship.
  • The Undertaker defeated Shane McMahon in a Hell In A Cell match.
  • Baron Corbin won the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal in his debut match on the WWE main roster.
  • The Rock defeated Erick Rowan in an impromptu six-second match. The shortest match in WrestleMania history.
  • Roman Reigns defeated Triple H to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

2018 – WWE taped the final of their Mixed Match Challenge tournament. The Miz and Asuka defeated Charlotte Flair and Bobby Roode.

Notable Wrestling Birthdays: