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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: RICK RUDE'S FINAL MATCH, A WOMAN WINS THE WWE CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE AND MORE

By Buck Woodward on 2009-05-04 08:00:00

May 4th

On this day in history in ....

1987 - The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers) defeated The RPMs in a tournament final in Lubbock, Texas to win the World Class Tag Team Title.  

1994 - New Japan Pro Wrestling holds their "Wrestling Dontaku" at the Fukuoka Dome in Fukuoka, Japan, drawing 53,500 fans.  Results of the show: 
- Satoshi Kojima defeated Yuji Nagata.
- Tokimitsu Ishizawa & El Samurai defeated Shinjiro Ohtani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa when Samurai pinned Takaiwa.
- Akira Nogami, Takayuki Iizuka, & Osamu Kido defeated Akitoshi Saito, Michiyoshi Ohara, & Tatsutoshi Goto when Kido forced Ohara to submit.
- Kuniaki Kobayashi, The Great Kabuki, & Kengo Kimura defeated Norio Honaga, Hiro Saito, & Shinichi Nakano when Kimura pinned Honaga.
- El Gigante defeated Tadao Yasuda.
- Jushin Liger vs. Satoru Sayama (the original Tiger Mash) fought to a ten-minute draw.
- Shiro Koshinaka defeated Yoshiaki Yatsu.
- IWGP World Tag Team Champions The Hellraisers (Road Warrior Hawk & Power Warrior Kensuke Sasaki) defeated Rick & Scott Steiner when Hawk pinned Scott.
- Rick Rude defeated Sting to win the WCW International World Heavyweight Title (the big gold belt).  This would be Rick Rude's final match, as Rude severely injured his neck during the bout, ending his in-ring career. Rude would be stripped of the title on a technicality, and Rude would disappear from the wrestling scene until resurfacing in ECW in 1997.
- Masahiro Chono defeated Yoshiaki Fujiwara.
- Riki Choshu defeated Hiroshi Hase.
- Shinya Hashimoto defeated Tatsumi Fujinami to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Title.
- Antonio Inoki defeated The Great Muta.

1995 - Atsushi Onita defeats Mr. Pogo in Nagoya, Japan to win the FMW World Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Title for the fourth time.  Onita would vacate the title the next day after defeating Hayabusa in his retirement match.  The retirement didn't last, with Onita coining the nickname "Mr. Liar" for breaking his vows to retire.

2001 - John Zandig defeats Kintaro Kanemura in a tournament final to win the Big Japan Pro Wrestling Death Match Heavyweight Title in Sapporo, Japan.  The belt had been vacated when Tomokai Honma walked out of the promotion.

2004 - During an edition of Smackdown in Tucson, Arizona, Jacquelyn (aka Jackie Moore) answered an open challenge from WWE Cruiserweight Champion Chavo Guerrero, defeating him with a low blow inside of three minutes to win the Cruiserweight Title, the first woman to do so since the belt became a WWE property.

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