Today In Pro Wrestling History: April 13th

See, we get burned a little from a good portion of older WrestleManias being in March. While we don’t have a Mania, there is WWF content still on this list! Along with a few other goodies…

• Antonino Rocca Birthday (1921)

One of those classic names from the “before times” that people love to reference when trying to prove they’re more old school than others. A main stay in the territory days, an innovator of high flying moves and the inspiration for Antonio Inoki’s ring name. When one legend inspires another, that’s a pretty nice trickle down effect. I’m not 80, so I won’t try to talk about matches, but he’s in nearly every Hall of Fame relevant…so do the math, he’s important.

• AJPW/NJPW/WWF US/Japan Wrestling Summit (1990)

This was a beautiful exhibition of the 90s legends and the origination of that Vince McMahon and Jushin Liger picture. Bret Hart wrestled Tiger Mask II (Mitsuharu Misawa) to a time limit draw, Hulk Hogan beat Stan Hansen while Andre and Baba defeated Demolition. Jumbo Tsuruta, Haku, Kenta Kobashi, Mr. Perfect, Ted Dibiase and most of the major players were on this card. Fun to see the old days when WWF would still play nice with others.

• ECW Barely Legal (1997)

This is here because it’s the very first ECW PPV. Terry Funk went through The Sandman and the bWo to get a shot a Raven for the title, and ended up victorious! RVD and Lance Storm faced off, Taz submitted Sabu, The Eliminators also took the tag titles off the Dudleys. But you never forget your first, especially if you’re barely legal.

• TNA Lockdown: World Heavyweight Championship: Kurt Angle (c) vs Samoa Joe (2008)

This was Samoa Joe’s first and only TNA World Title. He had to put up his career, the presentation was MMA focused from what I remember. Frank Trigg was brought in for commentary and this was played up a big fight feel. Six Sides of Steel was a good house for a worked shoot fight, and the match lived up to the year and a half build. Kurt Angle was in his prime and Joe was one of the bigger deals in TNA and super indies for the last 5 or so years. Memorable, historic and badass.

• DEFY Vibes: Title vs Title: Austin Aries vs Shane Strickland (2018)

This was the last belt Aries won during his belt collector run. It was marred in a bit of controversy as was most of Austin Aries in 2018. Two restarts played into the crafty heel persona he had, which also stoked the flames for the eventual rematch. But even though Aries’ whole career came to a stop after his Bound For Glory tantrum later in the year, this was still a solid gimmick, good match and he started the belt collector gimmick before Kenny and Mercedes.

• AEW Dynamite: ROH Television Title: Minoru Suzuki (c) vs Samoa Joe (2022)

While not a ton of story here, the main draw was Samoa Joe, fresh off his WWE release and bringing some of the old ROH energy back to the new version being revitalized by AEW. Suzuki needs no introduction, so this was yet another “Dream Match” with no real story, as AEW is well known for. Suzuki is always a fun time, this was hard hitting but short, and the history here is the full circle moment of Joe returning to ROH after nearly 15 years.

A very mixed bag of promotions today. A crossover super show, ECW, TNA, AEW/ROH, and even DEFY. Digging is fun, but ya know, sometimes I like the easy WrestleMania heavy days. When do we get another one of them?

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!