Today In Pro Wrestling History: April 9th

Well looky here, we landed on a day that has never had a WrestleMania. So you know that means I need to take the shovel from Triple H and start digging for reasons to make this article. Let’s see what is found:

• Bianca Belair Birthday (1989)

An All-American Athlete, WBFF competitor and heavily decorated wrestler who has done wonderfully at elevating the WWE women’s division. She’s become a force, a main stay and one of the biggest draws in the division over her decade in WWE. Not to mention she is the longest reigning champion in the current iteration of the WWE Women’s Championship at 420 days. Bianca is a history maker, earth shaker and the EST of WWE. What more needs to be said?

• NJPW Strong Style: IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Scott Norton (c) vs Kazuyuki Fujita (2001)

The match itself was the pinnacle of the Inokism shoot-style he was pushing heavily. Fujita wins via referee stoppage. Headbutts and Ground and Pound gave Fujita the TKO to solidify his Pride FC pedigree. This resulted in his first reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion. While that era of NJPW is not looked at fondly, Fujita established himself as a force in the Japanese puroresu scene. And it’s definitely a pivotal point in puro history.

• Sendai Girls: Chihiro Hashimoto & DASH Chisako vs Hikaru Shida & Rina Yamashita (2017)

This was a simple match, with a ton of interconnecting aspects. Chihiro is in her second reign as Sendai Girls champion beating Aja Kong. Rina is a freelancer known as the “Death Match Amazon” and had designs on defeating Chihiro like she did in Pro Wrestling WAVE. DASH was in her failure arch, recently losing a tag team championship bid against Hikaru and her normal partner Syuri. Chihiro and DASH are friends, so we get a solid match that furthers both stories. Rina and Chihiro would clash a few times in different promotions as this was the beginning of their positioning as respective Aces. DASH and Hikaru wouldn’t be done, after Chihiro and DASH pick up the win, DASH would find a new tag partner to eventually defeat Hiakru and Syuri. This was a nice set up match, and as most people are aware of Hikaru, we know it’s not a slapfest.

• NJPW Sakura Genesis: IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Katsuyori Shibata (2017)

YUP – it’s THE headbutt match. Historic for many reasons, this was an amazing match, where in a vacuum would’ve catapulted Shibata to being a legit main eventer, his negative crowd reaction was gone, in fact the crowd was split between the two during the near falls, and this was Okada at the height of his power. Okada was pumping out classics with everyone and putting them away during this 720 day reign. Now that we’re 9 years removed and we know Shibata recovered and is wrestling again, the history can reflect as concerning but at least nothing dark. We can look back and wonder how things would’ve been different, but at least now people can enjoy the hard work they exhibited without the specter of mortality looming over the aftermath.

• NJPW Hyper Battle: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: El Desperado (c) vs SHO (2022)

The match with Okada and ZSJ could’ve been here too, but it was honestly just yet another, really good Okada defense. THIS however, was fun. With Hiromu getting hurt in 2021 and having to vacate the Junior title, we saw Despy step up in ways we’ve never seen him step up before. He became a force in the Junior division. SHO was still getting his legs with House of Torture after breaking up Roppongi 3k after numerous loses in a row. For historical context, prior to Hirmou’s 2021 injury, Despy was barely a blip on the Junior Heavyweight singles radar. As of writing this, he is a 5 time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. When people step up, it’s always nice to give them their flowers.

This was definitely more of a day for Japanese wrestling enthusiasts, but I take what the day gives me. No one wanted random Raw, ECW Hardcore TV or WCW Thunder moments. I’m fairly sure I saw a few more things for our regularly scheduled WrestleMania hype. But I don’t make the calendar, blame…Pope Gregory XIII.

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!