Today In Pro Wrestling History: April 14th

Creative accounting continues! The spotlights get turned onto a few companies that have yet to be mentioned. But if I didn’t think they had some significance, they wouldn’t be here. Let’s see what the day has to offer!

• Japanese Wrestling Association Closes (1973)

The closure was a sad inevitability. With Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki leaving to create their own companies, the main draws of JWA were gone, as was the allure of being the first Puroresu company started by Rikidōzan. Established in 1953, it was three months short of a 20th anniversary.

• WCW First Ever NYC Event (1993)

While the event is considered a financial failure, it was held at Madison Square Garden’s Paramount Theater. Straight in the heart of WWF territory, and an obvious shot across the bow for what the rest of the 90s would become. The end of the Bill Watts era and the beginning of what would become the Attitude Era/Monday Night wars in a couple of years. Everything starts somewhere, and this was the first real shot WCW tried.

• CMLL Aniversario de Arena México 44: Lucha de Apuestas Hair vs Hair: Perro Aguayo vs Beastia Salvaje (2000)

A classic set up of an older babyface legend versus the violence incarnate heel. Even though the match itself wasn’t exactly fantastic, Beastia had an impressive Lucha de Apuestas record, and this would go on to be Aguayo’s last major Apuestas victory before he began his retirement tour the following year.

• Dragon Gate: Champion Gate (2011)

The story coming into this was Blood Warrior vs WORLD-1. The main event was for the Triangle Gate (Trios) Titles, with a stipulation that if WORLD-1 didn’t win, they would disband. Blood Warriors retained, WORLD-1 was forced to disband, leaving Kamikaze as the main faction to quell the heels. But this event also saw Masaaki Mochizuki rise to #1 Contender for the Dream Gate title. Where he would cement himself as the main event player for the next decade.

• STARDOM Rebirth: Wonder of Stardom Championship: Io Shirai (c) vs Mary Apache (2018)

This was a fun student versus senior style of match. Io was finishing out her time in STARDOM before heading to WWE, and Mary & Faby Apache had a stint in STARDOM. Io spent time in Mexico using the name Viva Kasai and the Apache sisters helped her learn the Lucha ropes. So with only a few dates left for Io, she got to wrestle one of her teachers. Solid hard hitting combination of Joshi and Lucha, but this is more of the Io centric history and the fact that the STARDOM draft the next day caused some shake ups that would set the stage for the next few years without Io.

• ROH Masters of the Craft Tag Team Championship Iron Man Match: Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham (c) vs Lifeblood (Mark Haskins & Tracy Williams) (2019)

Lifeblood was a faction completely built around bringing wrestling back to technical purity, and we’re all familiar with Jonathan Gresham’s game, so this was his wheelhouse. Jay Lethal was fresh off losing the ROH World Title at G1 Supercard, so he’s still arguably the top of the food chain. This was a low scoring, defensive, technical competition. If you enjoy Iron Man pacing, especially with low scoring and a lot of technical joint attacks and mat work, check this one out, it’s great if you enjoy the style.

I like to think this covered a few companies and aspects we haven’t touched yet. A few repeat players with ROH turning up clutch a lot of the times when there is no WrestleMania moments. Time to see how deep into filing cabinets I need to dig for tomorrow!

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!