This Day in Wrestling History (Apr. 26): Sting Wins WCW Title, Loses WCW Title

40 years ago today in New York City, Stan Hansen defeated WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino via referee stoppage due to excessive bleeding. The title did not change hands due to the match not being won by pinfall or submission. During the match, Hansen accidentally breaks Bruno's neck on a bodyslam; however, the storyline carries on that Hansen's lariat broke Bruno's neck.

30 years ago today in Detroit, Michigan, Hulk Hogan defeated Randy Savage to retain the WWF Championship. Savage's Intercontinental championship was not at stake. Tickets for the blockbuster event sold out in advance at Joe Louis Arena, but thousands more tickets were sold for a closed circuit showing at Cobo Hall.

28 years ago today, The Fantastics defeated The Midnight Express to win the NWA United States Tag Team Championship.

24 years ago today in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Johnny Hotbody defeated Jimmy Snuka to win the ECW Heavyweight Championship. The win comes just one day after Snuka defated Sal Bellomo to become the first champion.

24 years ago today in Boston, Massachusetts, The Ultimate Warrior defeated Sid Justice by disqualification. Shortly after the bout, Sid walked out on the WWF due to a disputed drug test result; the walkout comes less than a month after Sid was in the main event of Wrestlemania VIII against Hulk Hogan. Sid would not return to the WWF until 1995.

22 years ago today, AAA presented Triplemania II-A from Aguascalientes Baseball Stadium in Aguascalientes, Mexico. This would be the first time Triplemania would be presented as a series of events (this practice would continue until 1997).

• Rey Misterio, Rey Misterio, Jr., and Winners defeated Los Destructores (Tony Arce, Vulcano, and Rocco Valente.
• Mascarita Sagrada, Octagóncito, and Super Muñequito defeated Espectrito, Jerrito Estrada, and Fuercito Guerrera by disqualification.
• El Satánico, Espectro, Jr., and Psicosis defeated Tinieblas Jr., Lizmark, Jr., and Lizmark.
• Misterioso, Fuerza Guerrera, and Juventud Guerrera defeated Latin Lover, Volador, and El Mexicano.
• Tiger Mask III, Konnan, and Máscara Sagrada defeated La Parka, Blue Panther, and Fishman.
• Los Payasos (Coc Rojo, Coco Verde, and Coco Amarillo) defeated Los Hermanos Dinamita (Cien Caras, Máscara Año 2000, and Universo 2000) to win the Mexican National Trios Championship.
• El Hijo del Santo, Octagón, and Perro Aguayo defeated Los Gringos Locos (Love Machine, Black Cat, and Eddy Guerrero) by disqualification.
• Heavy Metal defeated Jerry Estrada 2-1 in a best of three falls Lucha de Apuestas hair versus hair match.

22 years ago today at a Monday Night RAW taping in Burlington, Vermont (WWE Network link), The Headshrinkers (Fatu & Samu) defeated The Quebecers to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. This would be the fifteenth and final team managed to the WWF tag titles by legendary manager Captain Lou Albano. At the same taping, Earthquake defeated Yokozuna in a sumo match.

WWF ACTION ZONE Bob Holly vs Jeff Jarrett IC... by Yosihait

21 years ago today at a WWF TV taping in Moline, Illinois, Bob Holly defeated Jeff Jarrett to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship... or does he?

Jarrett's feet were on the ropes, invalidating the pin. Jarrett earlier in the match used the ropes for leverage and that pin was invalidated. The belt is held up pending a rematch. The rematch happens during the same taping (but airs a week later), and again Jarrett has an invalid pin when he used the ropes for leverage. Jarrett finally wins via rollup to win the held-up Intercontinental Championship. During the same taping, Paul Levesque makes his WWF television debut as Hunter Hearst Helmsley, defeating Buck Zumhoff.

18 years ago today, WWF presented In Your House 21: Unforgiven (WWE Network link) from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. 21,427 were in attendance, with 309,000 homes watching on PPV. That's up from 176,000 homes for the April 1997 event, In Your House: Revenge of the Taker.

• Faarooq, Ken Shamrock, and Steve Blackman defeated The Nation (The Rock, D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry).
• Triple H defeated Owen Hart to retain the WWF European Championship.
• The New Midnight Express (Bodacious Bart and Bombastic Bob) defeated The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton) to retain the NWA World Tag Team Championship.
• Luna Vachon defeated Sable in an Evening Gown match.
• The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn defeated Legion Of Doom 2000 (Animal and Hawk) to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship.
• The Undertaker defeated Kane in an Inferno match.
• Dude Love defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin by disqualification in a WWF Championship match.

17 years ago today on WCW Monday Nitro from Fargo, North Dakota (WWE Network link), Sting defeated Diamond Dallas Page to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship... only to lose it less than two hours later back to Page in a fatal four way match that included Kevin Nash and Bill Goldberg. On the same show, Rey Mysterio, Jr. defeated Psychosis to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.

12 years ago today, Lance Storm announces in a statement that he was retiring from wrestling full-time and would work as a trainer going forward. This comes a week after wrestling Steven Richards at the Calgary Saddledome. His retirement wouldn't last long; 11 months later, Storm's back in the ring. Storm leaves the WWE in May 2005 and opens his own wrestling school in Calgary.

7 years ago today, WWE presented Backlash (WWE Network link) from the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island. About 8,500 were in attendance, with 182,000 homes watching on PPV. That's down from 200,000 homes for Backlash 2008.

• In a dark match, Kofi Kingston defeated Dolph Ziggler.
• Christian defeated Jack Swagger to win the ECW Championship.
• Chris Jericho defeated Ricky Steamboat.
• Kane defeated CM Punk.
• Jeff Hardy defeated Matt Hardy in an I Quit match.
• Santina Marella defeated Beth Phoenix.
• Legacy (Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase) defeated Triple H, Batista, and Shane McMahon. As Orton got the winning fall in the match, he won the WWE Championship.
• Edge defeated John Cena in a Last Man Standing match to win the World Heavyweight Championship.

6 years ago today, WWE presented the 2010 Draft Lottery on a special edition of RAW. Thought it was a three-hour show, just eight selections were made on television, and eleven more were made in the Supplemental Draft the next day.

Live Draft

Pick	Brand (to)	Employee	Role	Brand (from)
1	Smackdown	Kelly Kelly	Diva	RAW
2	Smackdown	The Big Show	Superstar	RAW
3	RAW	John Morrison	Superstar	Smackdown
4	RAW	R-Truth	Superstar	Smackdown
5	RAW	Edge	Superstar	Smackdown
6	Smackdown	Kofi Kingston	Superstar	RAW
7	Smackdown	Christian	Superstar	RAW
8	RAW	Chris Jericho	Superstar	Smackdown

Supplemental Draft

Pick	Brand (to)	Employee	Role	Brand (from)
9	RAW	The Great Khali and Ranjin Singh	Superstar & Manager	Smackdown
10	Smackdown	Chavo Guerrero	Superstar	RAW
11	Smackdown	Cody Rhodes	Superstar	RAW
12	RAW	Natalya	Diva	Smackdown
13	SmackDown	Chris Masters	Superstar	RAW
14	RAW	Ezekiel Jackson	Superstar	SmackDown
15	RAW	Goldust	Superstar	SmackDown
16	SmackDown	Hornswoggle	Superstar	RAW
17	SmackDown	Rosa Mendes	Diva	RAW
18	RAW	The Hart Dynasty	Tag-team	SmackDown
19	SmackDown	Montel Vontavious Porter	Superstar	RAW

In a bit of trivia, on the same night, TNA Impact recorded a 0.56 rating against the WWE Draft, at the time the lowest rating in the show's history. The startling low rating in part played in Spike TV's decision to abandon the Monday Impact and move it back to Thursday less than a month later.

4 years ago today, PWInsider.com reports that Florida Championship Wrestling would move their TV tapings to Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, a suburb of Orlando, beginning in May. The move would be the first step in rebranding of FCW, which would be renamed NXT Wrestling. They wouldn't actually begin taping there until the late summer.

2 years ago today, Marshall Aaron Mayer, best known to wrestling fans as Lee Marshall, dies of esophageal cancer in Santa Monica, California. He was 64.

Marshall was a longtime radio announcer, working in a number of radio stations around the country and in Canada, and he appeared in the West Coast Rap All-Stars video, "We're All in the Same Gang".

Marshall was for many years in the wrestling industry, hosting AWA on ESPN and calling many matches in the promotion's latter days, and was the ring announcer for the Los Angeles portion of Wrestlemania 2 (his only WWF appearance). In the mid- and late-1990s, he was a part of World Championship Wrestling's broadcast team. He's most notable for his "Road Report" segments where he always got a dig in at Bobby Heenan at the end of his segment. His last major wrestling gig came at 2001 where he worked alongside Heenan for Women of Wrestling's only PPV, Unleashed.

Post-wrestling, he secured one of the most sought-after gigs in voice acting: he succeeded Thurl Ravenscroft as the voice of Tony the Tiger in 2005.

It's a happy 49th birthday for Glenn Jacobs, best known to wrestling audiences as Kane.

Debuting on the independent circuit in 1992, he would wrestle for Smoky Mountain Wrestling and the United States Wrestling Association until debuting in the WWF in 1995. Initially debuting as Isaac Yankem, DDS, he was briefly the second Diesel before he was repackaged as his most well known gimmick, Kane, in late 1997. Kane is a three-time world champion, a 12-time tag team champion, and a 2010 Money in the Bank winner.