THIS WEEK IN HISTORy

April 13th - April 20th  

On April 13, 1990 - All Japan, New Japan and the WWF put on a combined show at the Tokyo Dome. The top match sees Hulk Hogan pin Stan Hansen and Genichiro Tenryu pin Randy Savage.

On April 16^th - 1994 - New Japan Pro Wrestling hosted the first ever "Super J Cup" tournament, featuring the best junior heavyweight wrestlers in the world, and This would be an extremely important night in the career of Chris Benoit as he was crowned the first ever J Cup Champion defeating The Great Sasuke.

 On April 17^th - 1998 - WCW filed suit in Fulton County Superior Court against Ric Flair for breach of contract. Flair had requested a day off to go watch his son Reid compete in an wrestling tournament. WCW refused, but Flair went anyway. WCW suspended him and filed the lawsuit. Flair would eventually return to WCW, but the bad blood between Flair and Eric Bischoff, who was the WCW President at the time, remains to this day.

On April 18^th - 1982 - Hulk Hogan defeats Nick Bockwinkel in St. Paul, Minnesota to win the AWA World Heavyweight Title.  One week later, AWA President Stanley Blackburn announces on television that due to use of a foreign object (which manager Bobby Heenan brought in to use on Hogan, but Hogan used on Bockwinkel), the decision was reversed and the belt given back to Bockwinkel. The title win was never recognized by the AWA.  However, over two decades later, the current AWA is now claiming to recognize this as a title win, and Hogan as a former AWA World Champion.

On April 19^th - 1993 - Brian Lee defeats Bobby Eaton in Barbourville, Kentucky to win the Smoky Mountain Wrestling "Beat The Champ" Television Title.  As per the rules of the championship, if the title holder retains the belt for five consecutive weeks, he would then vacate it. Lee would become the first person to last the five weeks with the belt.

On April 20^th - 1998 - Bill Goldberg defeats Raven for the WCW U.S. Heavyweight Title in Colorado Springs, Colorado, ending Raven's reign after one day (Raven won the belt the night before from Dallas Page). This was Bill Goldberg's first wrestling championship. On the same show, Hulk Hogan defeated Randy Savage for the WCW World Heavyweight Title, also ending Savage's reign after one day.