This day in Pro Wrestling history - 8th April: Spike and Ziggler make their moves
Spike Dudley has quite a resume despite being the underdog in virtually every promotion he has been in. Having won thirteen titles in WWE/ECW, Spike aka Mathew Hyson is now a successful financial planner.
The former ‘Runt’ of the Dudley family had eight Hardcore title reigns during the infamous 24/7 era and famously defeated Rey Mysterio to win the WWE Cruiserweight title in what would be the second of the two non-Hardcore singles title victories in his WWE career.
But this edition of ‘This day..’ looks at Spike’s first solo victory – a European title win that came in just 3 seconds.
Also, we look at the last of the two World Heavyweight title wins for Dolph Ziggler. It would be four years ago today that Dolph Ziggler blew the roof off the WWE arena in East Rutherford when he cashed in his money in the bank briefcase on Alberto Del Rio.
Ziggler’s reign would be hampered by a concussion and he would drop the title back to Del Rio in his first title defence. In fact, across his two World title reigns, Ziggler has never had a successful title defence.
#1 Dolph Ziggler wins the World title – 8th April 2013
The day after WrestleMania 29 saw the World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio wrestle Jack Swagger for the title. Del Rio would pick up the victory despite a bad knee, only to hear Dolph Ziggler’s entrance music reverberating across East Rutherford.
Mr Money in the Bank Ziggler, who had failed to win the tag team titles alongside Big E the day before, came to the ring with AJ Lee and Big E in tow and announced his decision to cash in his briefcase for a world title shot. The pop that Ziggler – the heel – received was one of the greatest over the previous two years.
Also read: 5 ways WWE can fully maximise Dolph Ziggler’s heel run
Ziggler would take advantage of Del Rio’s injured knee to escape the Cross Armbreaker and connected with the Zigzag.
Three seconds later, the Showoff was the World Heavyweight Champion. Ziggler would lose the title back to Del Rio in his first title defence while successfully orchestrating a rarely-seen double turn with Del Rio during the match.