Today In Pro Wrestling History: May 10th

Now in a surprising turn of events for today, two companies make their debut in this series. One I never expected to list, but when even I was aware of it was a memorable event…I had to add them for integrity. Another mixture of events, western, eastern and extreme, so a little something for most people, except Lucha enthusiasts.

• WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event (1985)

The first episode of this fan favorite show was taped on this day in 1985. A few notable moments were Wendi Richter defending her title from Fabulous Moolah and Hulk Hogan retained the World Heavyweight title against Bob Orton via disqualification. Given the fact the WWE brings it back every so often and we’re in an era where they’ve done a few since 2024, it’s safe to say this name means a lot to many people.

• ECW Chapter Two (1997)

This is remembered for a few things. One being the Beulah moment where she was stretchered out after Louie Spicolli hit her with the Spicolli Driver. We also got to see the rise of the Dudleys and the tag finish 3D, but for the nugget of fun…it wasn’t D-Von and Buh-Buh here, it was first done with D-Von and Big Dick Dudley. The event was also during the height of the first ECW Invasion angle. Lastly, to not overlook the main event, it was a 4-Way Dance where Terry Funk retained against, Raven, Sandman and Stevie Richards. This was a classic ECW event, with most of the originals ECW know and love.

• WWF Raw is War: The Stooges vs Mean Street Posse (1999)

You may be asking why a 2 minute goof match is on this. But at the same time, I’m sure 90% of you remember it, hell, I remember this match and I was primarily a WCW fan. This match, is one of the highest rated segments in televised pro wrestling HISTORY. Not just the year, not just the attitude era. It garnered a 8.61 Nielsen rating, which equates to around 8.7 million people watched this segment. So there, the numbers back up the inclusion.

• HUSTLE PPV 9 (2005)

Think of HUSTLE as a Japanese comedy version of Lucha Underground. Legends in Japanese wrestling joined the cast, and two of them, are the reason why its on here. Toshiaki Kawada, the vicious kicker of the Four Pillars of Heaven, turned heel and joined the Monster Army, led by Generalissimo Takada (dressed like M Bison from Street Fighter) and Yinling the Erotic Terrorist (yes, you’re reading this right). The other legend, Masato Tanaka, was in a Hardcore 6 Man Battle Royal, defending his Hardcore Hero Championship. Which has similar rules to most Hardcore titles, but the difference is, it’s not a belt, it’s a Gold and Black spiked baseball bat. This entire fever dream of a company is a trip…it may make a couple of other articles.

• CZW Proving Grounds: World Heavyweight Championship: Drew Gulak (c) vs Biff Busick (2014)

There were a surprising amount of names that are still relevant to the mainstream landscape of wrestling like Swerve Strickland, Candice LeRae, Alex Reynolds & John Silver of later Dark Order relevance and Mickie Knuckles was also on this card. But this match has a few wrinkles, it was supposed to be a 4 way with Masada and Chris Dickinson, but since Masada wasn’t there, Dickinson was given the night off in the interest of “fairness”. So while the live crowd was pissed that Dickinson wasn’t involved, the in-ring work was solid stiff strikes and good technical wrestling. But that’s not what CZW fans like, so they refused to engage in a really solid match. Biff (later known as Oney Lorcan) won via a Rear Naked Choke, and snapped Gulak’s 273 day reign.

• WWE Backlash (2025)

While the obvious reason this is here is because it’s the last match between John Cena and Randy Orton, but it was hindered slightly from the fact everyone knew Cena wasn’t dropping his 17th title in his first defense. Is it historic? Yes, but only because the rivalry with Orton and Cena will go down as one of the classic rivalries in WWE history. The show also saw a debut from JC Mateo to help Solo Sikoa beat Jacob Fatu and El Grande Americano helped Dirty Dom defend his title from Penta, to help tie together the run in moments. Also, this was the first PLE where the Women’s Intercontinental Championship was defended. Lyra Valkyria retained over Becky Lynch.

While I do personally like my choices, some were definitely more for amusement or just to mix things up. HUSTLE doesn’t get enough love in general for being unique at the time. CZW, while I generally detest, being a Jersey person myself, I was aware there was content in that one. Plus can’t really go wrong with anything from the Cena retirement tour, because even if the match wasn’t great, historical significance is not reliant of quality ratings.

Did I miss anything? How far did I stretch the events today? 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!