Today In Pro Wrestling History: April 3rd

I think we understand the gimmick here, now that it’s the third day. Let’s see if I could find anything interesting outside of the WrestleMania events that coincide with the date!

• NWA Main Event – Debut Episode (1988)

While the card didn’t have anything ground breaking, Main Event was a main stay of wrestling programming from the late 80s through the late 90s. We got a classic debut episode here with the Four Horsemen taking on Sting, Lex Luger and Barry Windham as the main event. A nice established guys versus the upstarts. Dusty Rhodes, Ivan Koloff and The Road Warriors were also on the show. The TV Show arms race was in full gear even though JCP sold to WCW soon after and the show became WCW Main Event.

• WWF Monday Night Raw: Women’s Championship: Bull Nakano (c) vs Alundra Blayze (1995)

This is important for a multitude of reasons. The inclusion of the Joshi wrestlers in 90s WWF and WCW helped to open up attention to the harder hitting Japanese style of women’s wrestling. Alundra Blayze lost to Bull at an event in Japan, so this was her rematch. While it’s a relatively short match, Alundra regained the title and the significance of showing this harder style helped to get the gears moving (all be it slowly) on women’s wrestling being more than a gimmick within itself.

• WrestleMania XXI: Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels (2005)

A PWI Match of the Year and an overall technical gem. We had a simple story leading into it of two guys that thought they were the best with only one way to prove it. Kurt got the best of Shawn this day, forcing a tap out by Ankle Lock. But Shawn once again proves why he is Mr. WrestleMania with another amazing outing. Nearly 30 minutes of great professional wrestling, hard to ask for more.

• ROH The Big Bang!: ROH Tag Team Championship: The Kings of Wrestling vs Briscoe Brothers (c) (2010)

A full throttle, intense banger of a match. Anyone who watched wrestling outside of WWE from like 2005-2020 knows how good the Briscoes are. Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero brought just as much insanity and action to this as well. Being heels they won the match with a little assistance and a loaded Elbow Pad, proving he’s the Knockout Kid, rolling the elbow into Jay’s jaw. Just really great action, you expect nothing less from these four at the time, and this delivered big time.

• WrestleMania 32: Inaugural WWE Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair vs Sasha Banks vs Becky Lynch (2016)

Diva’s no more, and using three of the four Horsewomen to put a stamp on the belt. All three women had great moments, great break ups and Ric giving the assist to Charlotte to stop Sasha from breaking up the Figure Eight was a nice touch. Becky eats the loss, Charlotte is the first Women’s Champion in this new lineage and we get the official start to a more balanced presentation of women’s wrestling that we’ve become accustomed to for the past decade.

• WrestleMania 38: Winner Takes All: Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar (2022)

Let’s be honest, these two don’t have the best track record together. But Roman is enjoying his Universal title reign for about a year and a half, and Brock is the WWE Champion implying that Roman isn’t really champ until he beats him. This match began the true dominance of the OTC after Roman defeated Brock to unify the titles. But aside from storyline significance, this was probably their best match. Only 10 minutes, but it was frenetic, signatures and finishers flying, one hell of a spectacle match. Plus it’s hard to argue with Winner Takes All stipulations at Mania, they tend to have a history of being pretty pivotal.

While April 3rd did seem a little light, every day won’t be earth shaking. And for clarity, I’m aware AJ Lee retired in 2015 on April 3rd, but she’s back, so it seems kinda disingenuous to call it her “first retirement”. Which significant events did I miss? Which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments. And if you don’t do anything else today, remember, Always Use Your Head!