Today In Pro Wrestling History: April 23rd

We’re getting into the home stretch of April, and this is an interesting list if I do say so myself. History is even slightly repeating itself when it comes to TNA and a certain talent embargo. Isn’t it funny how some people never learn from history?

• NJPW Sumo Hall Show (1981)

This show was the debut of Tiger Mask facing off against Dynamite Kid. The match that set a standard for the more “Cruiserweight” style that has been widely adopted. Often imitated but never duplicated, ya know? This also saw a rematch of Antonio Inoki versus Stan Hansen for the vacant NWF Heavyweight Title due to a no contest the previous week causing the belt to be vacated. Hansen was still in his “Killer Gaijin” era, so this was a huge moment at the time, which saw the national hero Inoki, defeat the Lariat throwing monster.

• ROH Reborn: Stage 1 (2004)

This was the show I alluded to in the opening. TNA banned certain contracted talent like AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels, so ROH was forced to pivot and focus on a rebirth angle. We saw the ROH debuts of Matt Sydal and Delirious here (yea Delirious potentially being TNA’s fault and now ruining TNA booking makes too much sense). This show also saw Ricky Steamboat returning to guest referee the CM Punk angle and it was the Homicide fireball moment with Samoa Joe. Interesting things, but I just found the TNA pulling talent portion, oddly topical.

• TNA Lockdown (2006)

This event was the debut for Christy Hemme and the roof for the six sides of steel. Many of us know the roof was debuted because AJ Styles hit the Splash from the ladder, to the gantry and onto James Storm on the table that was set up on the roof. Odd tidbit, this was also the wrestling show on the House episode Act Your Age. Plenty of fun to be had with this show and a few memorable moments.

• WWE Monday Night Raw: Shawn Michaels vs John Cena (2007)

Now we get to something neat. While the show itself isn’t amazingly history, this was one of the longest matches in Raw history. Shawn eventually won, but it was over 55 minutes, and it’s not very often that we get a match over 15 minutes on Raw at this point in time…so 55 is crazy. Let’s also note that today is John Cena’s birthday as well. So this was a good excuse to combine a birthday appreciation with a fairly memorable moment.

• Impact Wrestling Rebellion: World Championship: Moose (c) vs Josh Alexander (2022)

After Josh beat Christian Cage at Bound For Glory, Moose cashed in on him immediately and won the Heavyweight title. This was a great story of Moose getting his first official Heavyweight Title reign (since TNA has waffled on his resurrection of the TNA title during COVID) in the most heel way possible. Spearing Josh while his son and wife were in the ring was peak heel. This match however was fantastic, Josh had to fight back to getting his title back and Moose was in his prime heel form. Great story, great match, and crowning Josh worked well to keep him positioned perfectly as the workhorse and face of the brand.

Some positive and some negative TNA history abound. So this felt more balanced when I looked at the list, but being able to tie 60% of it to TNA in someway just amused me, for better or worse. These are amusing for me to see see what works together and exactly what happened. Odd when days just seem to have themes though.

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!