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April 23rd
On this day in history in ....
1935 - Wildcat Pete defeats Tetsuo Higami in Honolulu, Hawaii to become the first NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Champion.
1976 - Bob Backlund defeats Harley Race for the Missouri Title in St. Louis, Missouri, ending Race's third reign as champion.
1978 - Paul Jones & Ricky Steamboat win the NWA World Tag Team Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, defeating Cyclon Negro & Baron Von Raschke, Gene & Ole Anderson, and Masked Superstar & Ken Patera in a tournament to win the belts.
1979 - The Assassins defeat Bill Dundee & Robert Gibson to win the AWA Southern Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee. On the same show, The Mongolian Stomper defeats Toru Tanaka to win the AWA Southern Heavyweight Title, ending Tanaka's second title reign.
1985 - Ox Baker defeats Carlos Colon in San Juan, Puerto Rico to win the WWC World Heavyweight Title, now known as the WWC Universal Heavyweight Title.
1988 - Sting & Lex Luger, managed by Magnum T.A., win the third, and final, Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup tag team tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina by defeating Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson. Sting & Luger defeated Ivan Koloff & Dick Murdoch, The Midnight Express, and the Powers Of Pain to reach the finals. Anderson & Blanchard defeated Kendall Windham & Italian Stallion and The Fantastics to reach the finals. The two-day tournament (day one was held in Greenville, South Carolina) was filled with bracketing problems, as there were 22 teams in the tournament, and for some odd reason, the Sheepherders wrestled twice in the second round, defeating Tim Horner & Brad Armstrong, but losing to the Midnight Express. So despite winning (and eliminating Horner & Armstrong) the Sheepherders didn't go to the next round. The tournament, which was started as a multi-promotional event but now was exclusively WCW, would be discarded when Turner Broadcasting purchased the company from the Crocketts.
1990 - Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig defeats Tito Santana in a tournament final in Austin, Texas to win his first WWF Intercontinental Championship. The tournament, which was held over the course of several TV tapings (with some matches held out of order), saw Hennig defeat Jimmy Snuka and Santana defeat One Man Gang in the first round, while the other first round matches ended with no winners (Roddy Piper vs. Rick Martel was a double DQ, Dino Bravo vs. Brutus Beefcake was a double countout), so Hennig and Santana went straight to the finals. The title had been vacated when the Ultimate Warrior won the World Title from Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania 6.
1992 - The Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane & Tom Pritchard) defeat The Fantastics (Bobby & Jackie Fulton) in a tournament final to become the first Smoky Mountain Wrestling Tag Team Champions. The Bodies had defeated Brad & Bart Batten and Joey Maggs & Danny Davis to reach the finals, while the Fantastics defeated Joel Deaton & Billy Black and Jack Victory & Rip Morgan to get to the finals.
2003 - Tiger Mask IV defeats Koji Kanemoto in Hiroshima, Japan to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title, ending Kanemoto's fourth reign as champion.
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