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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: STING'S SHORTEST TITLE REIGN, HANSEN BREAKS BRUNO'S NECK, THE FIRST INFERNO MATCH, TRIPLE H'S WWF TV DEBUT AND MORE

April 26th

On this day in history in ....

1976 - WWWF ran at Madison Square Garden in New York City with the following results:
- Louis Cerdan defeated Johnny Rodz.
- Tony Parisi defeated Baron Mikel Scicluna.
- Dominic DeNucci defeated Louis Cyr.
- Ric Flair defeated Frankie Williams.
- Bobo Brazil defeated Rocky Tomayo.
- Superstar Billy Graham & Ivan Koloff defeated Haystacks Calhoun & Pat Barrett by countout.
- Andre The Giant defeated Ernie Ladd via countout.
- Stan Hansen defeated WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino when the referee stopped the match due to excessive bleeding.  Because there was no pinfall or submission, Sammartino retained the title.  This was the bout where Hansen accidentally broke Bruno's neck with a bodyslam.  However, the storyline would be that Hansen broke Sammartino's neck with the Lariat clothesline.

1982 - WWF ran at Madison Square Garden with the following results:
- Johnny Rodz defeated Baron Mikel Scicluna via DQ.
- Bob Orton Jr. defeated Rick McGraw when McGraw couldn't continue.
- Blackjack Mulligan defeated Steve Travis.
- Jimmy Snuka defeated WWF World Champion Bob Backlund via DQ when Backlund refused to stop choking Snuka.  After the match, Snuka would injure Backlund with the Superfly Splash and Backlund would be carried out on a stretcher.
- Tony Garea defeated Charlie Fulton.
- Tony Atlas defeated Jesse Ventura.
- Adrian Adonis defeated Pete Sanchez.
- Andre The Giant, Pedro Morales & Ivan Putski defeated Mr. Fuji, Mr. Saito & Greg Valentine in a Three Falls match in two straight falls.

1986 - Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan sold out for a WWF event headlines by WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan vs. Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage in advance, so several thousand tickets were sold for fans to watch the match on closed circuit TV at nearby Cobo Hall.  The main event saw Hogan pin Savage when he kicked Savage in the face as he dove off the top rope for a flying elbowdrop.

1992 - Johnny Hot Body defeats Jimmy Snuka in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to win the ECW (Eastern Championship Wrestling, later to become Extreme) Heavyweight Title, only one day after Snuka defeated Sal Bellomo to become the first ECW champion. 

1992 - At the Boston Garden in Massachusetts, The Ultimate Warrior defeats Sid Justice (Vicious) via DQ in less than five minutes.  This would be Sid's last WWF appearance for well over two years.  Due to controversy regarding a drug test, Sid walked out of the company, less than a month after headlining Wrestlemania against Hulk Hogan.  Sid would be replaced on subsequent house shows against the Warrior by Papa Shango.

1994 - At a Monday Night Raw taping, The Headshrinkers, Fatu & Samu, defeated The Quebecers in Burlington, Vermont to win the WWF World Tag Team Championship.  This would be the last duo that Captain Lou Albano would lead to the WWF Tag Team Championship.  Also at the taping, Earthquake (who was a legit sumo wrestler at one time) defeated Yokozuna in a Sumo Match in which the ropes were taken down and the winner was the first wrestler to knock the other out of the ring.

1995 - At a WWF television taping in Moline, Illinois, Bob Holly defeats Jeff Jarrett with a top rope clothesline to win the WWF Intercontinental Title.  However, Jarrett's feet were on the ropes during the pin, and earlier in the match, Jarrett had pinned Holly with his feet on the ropes, but the match was restarted.  As a result of the controversy, the belt was held up and a rematch was held, and Jarrett pinned Holly with a rollup to regain the title (again, after a restart when Jarrett first pinned Holly with his feet on the ropes).  The two matches were shown a week apart on WWF Action Zone. Also at this taping, Hunter Hearst Helmsley made his WWF television debut with a win over Buck Zumhoffe for WWF Wrestling Challenge.

1998 - WWF held their Backlash PPV in Greensboro, North Carolina at the Coliseum with the following results:
- Faarooq, Ken Shamrock & Steve Blackman defeated The Rock, D'Lo Brown & Mark Henry when Faarooq pinned Rock with a Dominator.
- WWF European Champion Triple H defeated Owen Hart after X-Pac hit Hart with a fire extinguisher.
- NWA World Tag Team Champions The New Midnight Express defeated The Rock N' Roll Express when Bart Gunn pinned Robert Gibson.
- Luna Vachon defeated Sable in an Evening Gown match after Marc Mero distracted Sable.
- WWF World Tag Team Champions The New Age Outlaws defeated The Legion Of Doom when Hawk gave Road Dogg a back suplex but had his own shoulders down for the three count.
- The Undertaker defeated Kane in an Inferno match when Kane was set on fire.
- Dude Love defeated WWF World Champion Steve Austin via DQ when Austin hit Vince McMahon with a chair and Gerald Brisco ruled that Austin was disqualified for "striking a WWF official".

1999 - Raw defeated Nitro in the Monday Night Wars, although Nitro would prove to be more historically significant, as Sting "enjoyed" one of the shortest title reigns in WCW history. 

Nitro, doing a 3.9, saw Sting defeated Diamond Dallas Page for the WCW World Heavyweight Title during the first hour of the broadcast.  In the last match of the evening, Page won back the title from Sting in a four way match that also included Kevin Nash and Bill Goldberg.  Results from the rest of the show saw: 
- Konnan defeated Brian Adams via DQ.
- Scott & Steve Armstrong defeated Raven.
- Rey Mysterio Jr. defeated Psicosis to win the WCW World Cruiserweight Title.
- Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Erik Watts.
- WCW World Television Champion Booker T defeated Meng.
- Brian Knobs defeated Hardcore Hak (Sandman), Horace Hogan and Mikey Whipwreck in a four way Hardcore match. 
- Scott Steiner defeated Randy Savage via DQ. 

Raw, which did a 6.0, saw the following: 
- WWF World Tag Team Champions Kane & X-Pac defeated Edge & Gangrel.
- D'Lo Brown defeated Val Venis.
- Triple H defeated Billy Gunn.
- Mankind & Big Show defeated Test & Big Bossman.
- Intercontinental Champion The Godfather defeated Jeff Jarrett.
- Ken Shamrock vs. Bradshaw ended in a double DQ.
- The Rock defeated Shane McMahon vs. DQ.

2010 - WWE  held their annual draft, with the following moves being made: