PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

April 14th

On this day in history in ....

1971 - Terry Funk defeats The Grappler (Johnny Walker) to win the Southern Heavyweight Title in Miami, Florida.

1973 - The Japan Wrestling Alliance shuts down operations. The JWA was founded by Rikidozan in 1953, and was the beginning of professional wrestling in Japan.  However, the formation of Antonio Inoki's New Japan Pro Wrestling and Giant Baba's All Japan Pro Wrestling pushed JWA out of the picture, with both major television outlets (NET and Nippon TV) dropping JWA for the new promotions.  The few remaining JWA stars joined with New Japan, except for top star Kintaro Ohki, and the promotion shut down.

1989 - Jerry Lawler defeats Kerry Von Erich to win back the World Class Heavyweight Title. The belt had been held up following a match between the two on April 5th.  Shortly after this match, Lawler, who was also the AWA Champion, began to carry a third belt, the "Unified World Championship" which would become the top title in the USWA when Lawler and the AWA would cease working together.

1997 - WCW Monday Nitro racked up a commanding victory over Raw, winning the ratings battle with a 3.5 to Raw's 2.2.

Results from Raw saw:
- The Godwinns defeated The Legion of Doom
- Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated Jesse James.
- Savio Vega defeated Intercontinental Champion Rocky Maivia in a non-title match.
- Goldust defeated The Sultan by DQ.
- Mankind & Vader defeated The Headbangers by DQ.
- Ahmed Johnson defeated Crush.

Results from Nitro saw:
- Chris Benoit defeated The Barbarian.
- U.S. Champion Dean Malenko defeated Hector Guerrero.
- Rey Mysterio Jr. defeated Juventud Guerrera.
- WCW TV Champion Ultimo Dragon defeated Lane Carleson.
- Cruiserweight Champion Syxx defeated Prince Iaukea.
- Public Enemy defeated High Voltage in a Street Fight.
- The Giant defeated Big Al (911).
- Diamond Dallas Page defeated Konnan.
- Jeff Jarrett & Steve McMichaels defeated Harlem Heat by DQ.
- Lex Luger defeated Kevin Nash by DQ.

2003 - The Great Sasuke won a seat in the Japanese Legislature, and did so without ever removing his trademark mask. Sasuke, real name Masanori Murakawa, had vowed to serve in the legislature with his mask on, and in fact, there was no law prohibiting him from doing so. At the time, Sasuke said "This is my face, I won support from voters with this face, and to take it off would be breaking promises." Sasuke won his seat in the Iwate prefecture of Japan.

2003 - Raw, live from Richmond, Virginia, earned a 3.8 rating. Here is Tim Whitehead's report on the show:

The 4/14 episode of RAW IS BORING aired live from Richmond. I thought this was one of the weakest and most boring episodes of RAW in a long time.

The show opened with Kevin Nash coming down to the ring. He got a good pop but the rest of this segment had little in the way of crowd heat. Nash said nine months is a long time to be out with an injury, and he's glad to be back. But he was also upset that his two old buddies and running mates, Triple H and Shawn Michaels, have been at war with one another. He wanted the three of them to get back together again as a group, insisting that nothing could stop them. He criticized Eric Bischoff for booking a match where they're on opposing sides. At this point, Jerry Lawler & Jonathan Coachman noted that Bischoff has booked a Nash & Michaels & Booker T vs. HHH & Ric Flair & Chris Jericho match for Backlash. HHH came down to the ring, where he and Nash hugged one another. HHH said he understands Nash's opinion, but that he hates Heartbreak Kid so much that he'll never be able to be friends with him again. He said even if HBK got down on his knees and kissed his ass (like father-in-law, like son-in-law) he'd never forgive him. This brought HBK out. HHH and HBK immediately got in each other's face and were about to come to blows, but Nash got between them and held them apart. Nash said he didn't come back to put up with this type of behavior. HHH said Nash would simply have to choose whether he wants to side with him or with HBK. HHH stated outright that if Nash allies with him, he'll have to accept that he (HHH) is the leader and calls the shots. He said he was being up front by telling him that. He added that if Nash sides with HBK, it'll be a big mistake because HBK will sneak around and undercut him and steal his spotlight. He noted that both he and Nash had their greatest success only after they left HBK behind. Surprisingly, Coach agreed with HHH on this point. The segment simply ended here, with the idea being put over that Nash had a big decision to make.

Backstage, Stacy Keibler was seen searching through Test's travel bag. She found an amazing variety of lotions in there, which led Lawler & Coach to later wonder (ahem) what they were for. Stacy then found the Torrie Playboy issue. Test caught her looking through his stuff and got mad. Stacy was equally mad about the magazine.

Lawler & Coach sent best wishes to Jim Ross, presumably back home in Oklahoma.

Jericho defeated Test in 6:43. Stacy came out with Test and got a good pop, which seemed to make Test jealous. Test hit some chops and a lariat. Jericho got hurled over the top, but skinned the cat to come back in, where Test nailed him. Test crashed into the post and Stacy actually giggled about it. Stacy was sufficiently mad at Test that she didn't care if he won or not. She even went over and autographed a fan's poster, instead of being at ringside for Test. Test and Jericho continued to battle, each scoring some twos. Stacy began wiggling her ass to get a pop from the crowd. Her activities were disorienting and distracting Test. This led to Jericho hitting a bulldog and the lionsault and scoring the pin. Test was pissed off at Stacy afterward, but she simply walked out on him. Test took out his frustrations by beating up the fan whose poster Stacy had autographed (he was actually a local indie wrestler). I kind of enjoyed this and thought it was one of the show highlights.

Bischoff did a promo where he said he's been flooded with phone calls, faxes, and e-mails requesting that he re-hire "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. He promised to listen to the voice of the people and to do something to make Austin's fans happy.

Test accused Stacy of distracting him and causing him to lose. Stacy said Test is distracted enough with his obsession with Torrie. Test tried to calm her down by telling her she has nicer legs and a prettier face than Torrie. However, when he started discussing boobs, he sort of hinted that Torrie's were better, but then said Stacy should be happy since she beat Torrie in two out of three categories. Stacy stormed off in anger again. I guess Test will need that lotion more than ever this week.

Victoria & Jazz defeated Trish Stratus & Ivory in 4:42. Steven Richards was at ringside with Victoria, but the focus was on Theodore Long. Long did color commentary and kept claiming Jazz had been victimized by racial bigotry. Lawler & Coach disagreed, causing Long to mention that one of Memphis' suburbs is called Whitehaven, and to tell Coach that he only got his announcing gig because the white guy walked out. The match was the usual all action, but brief, women's bout. Trish went for a huracanrana on Jazz but hurt her own knee, and Jazz forced her to submit to the STF.

A female ring crew member informed Goldberg that a relative had arrived to visit him. The "relative" turned out to be Goldust. Goldust began praising Goldberg and welcoming him to RAW. He pulled out a blond wig and put it on Goldberg. Goldberg didn't like it, and warned Goldust to never put that wig on his head again. After Goldberg left, Goldust acted like he had wet his pants in excitement.

Nash was shown sitting alone in his locker room, pondering whether to side with HHH or HBK.

Austin's music began playing, but like last week, it was all a Bischoff ruse. Bischoff came out and said due to the big pro-Austin fan response, he was going to make some Austin merchandise available. This was done like one of those shopping channel promos where the salesman keeps hyping the product and offers to throw in various bonus items to the first callers, etc.. Bischoff hyped a package of Austin T-shirts and said the very first caller (they gave out the ShopZone number and e-mail address) would also get a free bottle of JR's barbeque sauce with a little black cowboy hat on top of it. The package also included the program for the recent WrestleMania, which Bischoff said would be a collector's item since it was Austin's last 'Mania appearance ever. Bischoff said all this could be yours, not for $100, or $75, but for the incredibly low price of $39.95 tonight only! Booker T came out and said he had a deal for Bischoff. That turned out to be a request for a title shot against HHH. Booker called Bischoff a "sucka" and walked off. Booker's request didn't quite seem relevant at the time, but whatever.

Hour two began with Kane & Rob Van Dam defeating Chief Morley & Lance Storm in 15:19 to retain the RAW Tag Titles in a no-DQ match. Kane & RVD cleared the ring of Morley & Storm right at the start. Storm bumped for a boot from Kane that missed by a mile. Storm caught Kane with a flying lariat. RVD hit a series of kicks on both opponents. Storm hit RVD with a trash can and Morley nailed him with a DDT. Kane made the save and tried to use the stairs but Storm kicked them back into his face. They cut to a commercial break, after which RVD got tied up in the heel corner for a while. Kane hot tagged and cleaned house. The heels bumped out and RVD did a somersault plancha onto them. Back in the ring, Kane went for a chokeslam on Morley, but Bubba Ray Dudley ran in and flattened both Kane & RVD. D-Von ran in and objected to Bubba doing Morley's dirty work for him. Morley got a chair and was about to hit D-Von when Bubba saved his partner by grabbing the chair from him. Morley ordered Bubba to give him the chair back. Bubba handed it back just in time for RVD to nail Morley with a Van Daminator. Kane then chokeslammed Storm and RVD delivered a Van Terminator on him, with Kane scoring the pin. The first part of this match was heatless but the part after the commercial break was decent.

Bischoff went to HHH & Flair's locker room and told them Booker had a point about deserving a title shot. Both HHH & Flair disagreed. Hurricane came in and said Booker should get a title shot since he pinned HHH last week in a tag match and would have won the title at 'Mania if it hadn't been for Flair's interference. HHH told Hurricane this was an adult conversation and dismissed him as just a kid. He told Bischoff that Booker should have to beat someone on TV to prove he's worthy of another title shot. Hurricane suggested a Booker vs. Flair match. HHH suggested a match between himself and Hurricane, with Booker not getting a shot if he (HHH) wins. Bischoff finally ended the argument by scheduling HHH & Flair vs. Booker & Hurricane, with Booker getting a title shot if his team wins. Flair started doing one of his "kiss stealin', wheelin' dealin'" promos, and when he got to the part about "jet flyin'", Hurricane said he doesn't need a jet to fly, and did his grandiose exit.

Race driver Elliot Sadler was shown in the crowd.

Bradshaw & Ron Simmons visited injured troops from the Iraqi War at Walter Reed Army Hospital. They also visited Arlington National Cemetery and the Pentagon. These segments are a nice touch.

Coach said they had planned to have Rock and Goldberg do an interview segment together in the ring, but Rock announced that he couldn't make it to the arena. The implication was that he was scared to show up. So they did an interview with him via satellite. He claimed to be in Hollywood, and there were some silhouettes of palm trees behind him, which he said proved he was there. Rock feigned being sorry he couldn't be there to face Goldberg directly, and said he wished he could be there live in West Virginia. LOL! Rock displayed a new guitar, claiming Elvis once ate pie on it. He promised to do another concert next week when RAW is in Goldberg's hometown of Atlanta. Rock went off on Goldberg and denied being afraid of him. He said Goldberg has done nothing to deserve a match against him, but then reversed himself for no apparent reason and said he will fight Goldberg at Backlash. He called Goldberg a "whisker biscuit". Not the best Rock promo I've seen.

Christian called Rock on his cell phone. He praised him for wanting to fight Goldberg. He promised to use his new confidence against Goldust, whom he was scheduled to wrestle. A couple of crew guys were sitting nearby and Christian ran them off, saying they shouldn't be listening in when two superstars are talking to one another. Christian said the spear he took from Goldberg last week was nothing and he just laughed it off. He said Rock was lucky not to be in Richmond, since the pie there is nasty and has facial hair.

Goldust beat Christian by DQ in 0:47. The newly "aggressive" Christian was DQ'ed in less than a minute for delivering a low blow right in front of the ref. Afterward, Christian got on the mic and called Goldberg out. He bragged that he was "owning the room" and told Goldberg to take off his wig, bra, and panties and come out to fight. Goldberg came out. Christian tried to use a chair but Goldberg speared him and jackhammered him.

Up next, Scott Steiner debated Christopher Nowinski over Operation Iraqi Freedom. They had two podiums set up in the ring. Yes, this supposedly was a real debate. Lawler said any interruptions would result in a DQ. Nowinski started off with the usual anti-war speech, claiming the war is about oil and accusing the U.S. of being a bully. He said he has a right to free speech and a patriotic duty to speak out. Steiner then gave a typical pro-war speech putting over the troops, invoking 9/11, and going off on the Dixie Chicks and Hollywood loudmouths. Nowinski invoked the term "three minutes", and sure enough, Rosey & Jamal & Rico ran in. They laid Steiner out and splashed him. This was pretty lame. It got the expected wrestling fan pops for the pro-war position and boos for the anti-war position, but otherwise was heatless.

Sylvan Grenier & Rene Dupree did another mock French newscast, promising to bring their French attitude to WWE.

Lawler reported that he wanted to show a clip of what happened last week when JR quit, but Bischoff banned it from being shown.

Booker & Hurricane defeated HHH & Flair in 6:46. Pretty much an average match with not much heat. Booker worked over Flair to start things off. Hurricane gave HHH a huracanrana. Booker and Flair traded hard chops. Hurricane hit a shining wizard on Flair, with HHH breaking up the pin. Booker caught Flair with a scissor kick, but did a spinaroonie instead of going for the pin, which allowed HHH to blindside Booker and drag him from the ring. Hurricane tried to dive on Flair, but Flair moved clear. HHH laid Booker out on the floor. As referee Earl Hebner was arguing with HHH, HBK ran in and caught Flair with the sweet chin music. Hurricane pinned Flair as Hebner returned to action, so Booker gets his title shot. HHH attacked HBK. Jericho ran in and helped HHH. HHH gave Hurricane a pedigree and got the sledgehammer. Nash came out and acted friendly with HHH. Right at this time, Booker revived and came in after HHH. Nash slugged him, but it was unclear whether it was on purpose or because he thought it was Jericho coming up behind him. Booker got up swinging his fists and accidentally hit HBK. The show just sort of ended, with Nash, HHH, HBK, Booker, and the others unsure of who was allied with whom, and whether the blows landed were on purpose or by accident.