This Day in Wrestling History (April 4)

31 years ago today in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Jack and Jerry Brisco defeated Wahoo McDaniel and Mark Youngblood to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship.

22 years ago today, WWF presented Wrestlemania IX (WWE Network link) from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. 16,891 were in attendance, with 430,000 homes watching on PPV. That's up from 390,000 for Wrestlemania VIII. This was the first Wrestlemania to take place in an outdoor venue, which in reality was a constructed outdoor stadium made just for the event. The show is noted for the debut of Jim Ross, who came over after a buyout of his WCW deal. He would remain with the company for most of the next 20 years.

Star ratings are from Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Meltzer as recorded in the Internet Wrestling Database. All star ratings are out of five.

• In a dark match, Tito Santana defeated Papa Shango.
• Tatanka defeated Shawn Michaels by countout in a WWF Intercontinental Championship match. (3.5/5)
• The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) defeated The Headshrinkers (Fatu and Samu). (2.5)
• Doink the Clown (Matt Bourne) defeated Crush. (1.5)
• Razor Ramon defeated Bob Backlund. This was Backlund's first televised pinfall loss. Seriously. (-1)
• Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster) defeated The Mega-Maniacs (Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake) (w/Jimmy Hart) by disqualification to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship. (2)
• Lex Luger defeated Mr. Perfect. (1.25)
• The Undertaker defeated Giant Gonzales by disqualification. (1.25)
• Yokozuna defeated Bret Hart to win the WWF Championship. Post-match, Hulk Hogan came out to dispute the decision. Mr. Fuji on behalf of Yokozuna challenge Hogan to a WWF title match. (3)
• Hulk Hogan defeated Yokozuna in just 22 seconds to win the WWF Championship. This would be the fastest championship win in Wrestlemania history until Kane disposed of Chavo Guerrero in ten seconds for the ECW Championship at Wrestlemania XXIV. (0)

21 years ago today in Hiroshima, Japan, Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Shinya Hashimoto to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for a record fifth time. He would add to his record by winning it again in 1998. The record stood until late last year when Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated AJ Styles to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for a seventh time.

ECW 03 04 1998 - Bam Bam Bigelow Vs Rob Van Dam by RAWISKARIM

17 years ago today, Rob Van Dam defeated Bam Bam Bigelow to win the ECW World Television Championship. He would hold the championship for an even 700 days before being forced to vacate it due to injury in March 2000.

15 years ago today, Shawn Michaels comes out of retirement and defeats Venom to win the Texas Wrestling Alliance Championship in a street fight. Michaels immediately vacates the title and re-retires. He unretires again when he returns to WWE in 2002, then retired again in 2010.

4 years ago today Ring of Honor airs the final episode of ROH on HDNet. In the featured bout, Davey Richards and The Briscoes (Mark & Jay) defeat Roderick Strong and The Kings of Wrestling (Claudio Castignoli & Chris Hero).

4 years ago today, WWE signs Jonathan Good, aka Jon Moxley of Dragon Gate USA and CZW fame. Good today is known as Dean Ambrose.

4 years ago today on RAW from Atlanta, Georgia, The Rock and John Cena agree to a match at Wrestlemania XXVIII. It's the first time in company history a match has been confirmed a full year in advance. On the same show, Sin Cara makes his WWE debut, running in post-match following a bout between Sheamus and Daniel Bryan.

2 years ago today, Ring of Honor presented Supercard of Honor VII from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.

• ACH & Tadarius Thomas defeated QT Marshall & RD Evans.
• Mike Bennett defeated Shelton Benjamin.
• Michael Elgin defeated Jay Lethal to become the #1 contender for the ROH World Championship.
• SCUM (Cliff Compton, Jimmy Jacobs, Jimmy Rave, Rhett Titus & Rhino) defeated BJ Whitmer, Caprice Coleman, Cedric Alexander, Mark Briscoe & Mike Mondo .
• Karl Anderson defeated Roderick Strong
• Matt Taven defeated Matt Hardy (w/ Steve Corino) and Adam Cole in a three-way dance to retain the ROH World Television Championship.
  • Adam Cole eliminated Matt Hardy.
  • Matt Taven eliminated Adam Cole.
• reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) defeated The American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championship.
• Jay Briscoe defeated Kevin Steen to win the ROH World Championship.