An article bookended by Joshi moments. I mean, I can’t say I’m surprised by myself, but I just take what the history gives me. While nothing is overtly WWE, there are a few names and moments that will still resonate with people who don’t venture too far from the beach.

• AJW Fresh Power Series: AJW Junior Championship: Chigusa Nagayo vs Itsuki Yamazaki (1982)

This match was pivotal for both women, who carry a ton of history for women’s wrestling in general, not just Joshi. Many may not know Itsuki by name, but she eventually became on half of the Jumping Bomb Angels. In this context, Junior titles mean under 20 years old (some do it by wrestling experience, but consider it a rookie style title). The tournament style to get to this match helped to showcase both women, Chigusa ended up defeating Itsuki here, but this helped to set up foundation of the rivalry between the Jumping Bomb Angels and Crush Gals.

• WCW Monday Nitro (2000)

This show was filled with a few interesting notes, that’s why I didn’t just focus on one match. Daffney became Cruiserweight Champion (making her only the second woman to hold the title, after Madusa) after he and Crowbar won a mixed tag against Chris Candido and Tammy Sytch. Sting faced Vampiro in the House of Pain match, and the spectacles didn’t stop there, because the ambulance match with Nash and Mike Awesome happened here too. The most important wrinkle though, Ric Flair defeated Jeff Jarrett for the WCW World Title. It was his final real match way of obtaining the title. For clarity, it was only his 15th, the 16 happens because Russo stripped Flair of the title the next week, but after Kevin Nash won the belt, he handed it over to Flair because he disagreed with Flair getting stripped of the title previously. So 16 was kind of a joke, thusly, this is his last real World Championship victory.

• Triplemania XIII (2005)

Plenty of grudges and a little cross promotion were present here. Psicosis and Psicosis II had a steel cage match over rights to the name (it wasn’t just La Parka that Antonio Peña recasted under the mask). Dragon Gate had some cross promotion, and this was a year after Ultimo left the promotion so it became Dragon Gate and this was a little bit of shot to establish the new name. The match with the most fan investment was Konnan versus Vampiro. Their decades long rivalry that spilled into WCW for a bit had a new chapter here. While Konnan won via TKO here, the rivalry was relevant for nearly the next 20 years.

• TNA Hard Justice (2005)

This was the inaugural Hard/Hardcore Justice event. Aside from the somber start for Chris Candido after he passed away two weeks prior, this was a very classic TNA event. Sean Waltman and Raven had a Clockwork Orange House of Fun Match, The Naturals surprising retained the tag titles over America’s Most Wanted and Abyss won the #1 Contender Gauntlet for the Gold. Main event was a solid match that ended in a way to send the people home happy, as AJ Styles defeated Jeff Jarrett to start his third reign as NWA World Champion.

• TNA Sacrifice: Kurt Angel & Chyna vs Jeff & Karen Jarrett (2011)

Some moments speak for themselves, and this one definitely fits that bill. This was Chyna’s final match and also, a legitimate surprise at the time. Chyna’s last time as an active wrestler was 2002 in NJPW. So when she showed up as Kurt Angle’s backup, Karen’s face went white as a sheet and the Impact Zone popped hard. It was definitely a great moment for TNA, and there was hopes she’d be back for at least a short run. Bittersweet given what we know, but Chyna’s impact on wrestling can never be erased or ignored.

• Stardom Gold (2016)

“Threedom” (Io Shirai, Kairi Hojo & Mayu Iwatani)  era was full established here. Kairi finally won the Wonder of Stardom title, which is Stardom’s second highest belt, but this was after a substantial losing streak. So the Pirate Princess had to navigate rough waters to finally take out Santana Garrett for the title. As for the other two in “Threedom”, they were fighting each other for the World of Stardom red belt. Io managed to beat Mayu and rebuff the challenge; taking her rightful place as the Ace of Stardom. We also had the rumblings of greater heel things in the mix. Kyoko Kimura’s Kimura Monster-Gun, recently added Kagetsu, and their undercard victory was a harbinger for things to come.

Quite a few interlocking pieces scattered in these events. Chris Candido, Jeff Jarrett, WCW, Joshi influences on the WWF/E universe and matches with pop culture reference names. I’m not really mad at any of these being on the list.

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!

Now to give fair warning, I don’t really think there’s too much stretching in this article. A bit of a mixture of continents, decades and relevance…but the mental gymnastics aren’t really present. The oldest event was also only in the early 90s, so it’s nothing super crazy. Time to see what was found!

• AAA Sin Limite: WWA World Welterweight Championship: El Hijo del Santo (c) vs Heavy Metal (1993)

This was a good establishing point for the younger generation of AAA’s roster. Heavy Metal, Rey Misterio Jr and Psicosis were the stars of tomorrow and the way for AAA to distinguish themselves from CMLL who focused more on tradition and older wrestlers. Heavy Metal won the title, and began the shift in AAA that would also lead to the shift in the general North American wrestling perception.

• WWF In Your House 1 (1995)

There’s actually a bit packed into the first ever monthly concept for WWF pay-per-views. The concept was created to stifle WCW’s growing footprint, and also promoted at a cheaper price point than the “Big 5” events (the fifth being King of the Ring). As for the show, it was the typical mixed bag of early to mid 90s WWF. Bret Hart pulls double duty having a tremendous match defeating Hakushi, but then losing to shenanigans against Jerry Lawler. Savio Vega unofficially debuted to save Razor Ramon after his match, and the bad being the main event. Which not only was flat, it ended in a legit elbow injury to Diesel.

• ECW It Ain’t Seinfeld (1998)

A tongue in cheek show title, tied together with Joey Styles making fantastic jokes, Jerry Lynn showing off why he’s such a generally underrated wrestler and a brutal 6 Man Tag Street Fight. One of those classic ECW car crash matches that was the main draw of their “counter culture” approach. But the real history, is this was the event where Taz introduced the FTW (Fuck the World) Title. With Shane Douglas injured, Taz couldn’t challenge for the title, so took it upon himself to declare himself the uncrowned king as an act of defiance. It was an unsanctioned title, as it should’ve stayed (looking at you AEW). It was a symbol of Taz’s rebellion against the red tape that was keeping the actual world title from him, so the name of the title was supposed to evoke the feeling of not needing that belt, because he was more important than the strap. Perfect gimmick for the man who used to say, “Beat me if you can, Survive if I let you”.

• TNA Sacrifice (2006)

Another show with Double Duty. Petey Williams lost a match to Jushin Thunder Liger before winning the 15 Man X-Cup Gauntlet after hitting the now overused Canadian Destroyer on Puma. Following that match, Nash showed up to Jacknife Puma and cut his promo about a “mediocre big man can still beat the best little guy”. An extension of Nash’s Vanilla Midget label against Cruiserweights and the X Division, that lead to a solid long running storyline in the early Spike era TNA shows. The rest of the shows had great matches like America’s Most Wanted versus AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels, as well as, the main event Full Metal Mayhem match between NWA World Champion Christian Cage and Abyss. But as far as memorable, the lead up to this event was highlighted with Sting screwing with Scott and Jarrett. He brought back Buff Bagwell, Rick Steiner and Lex Luger, all as potential mystery partners for a few weeks of TV just to leave the Planet Jarrett duo guessing. The best part to the twist, was that Sting chose Samoa Joe, the Samoan Submission Machine who was been terrorizing TNA for quite some time, setting up a dream team of the Icon Sting, and a rising younger talent in Joe.

• WWE SmackDown: Women’s Tag Team Championship: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler (c) vs Natalya & Tamina (2021)

This may seem event more left field than what I usually grab, but there’s good reason here. The entire point I listed this, was to highlight Tamina’s only “real” championship win. The 24/7 title was a comedy title held by actors, pregnant women, commentators, and anything effectively to pop Vince. So while many look back at the title more fondly than when it was revealed, it is somehow less prestigious than the Hardcore title, which was literal trash duct taped together. At this point, Tamina was with WWE for about 12 years, and with no real accolades. This moment was nice for Nattie, since we all acknowledge she’s often overlooked in the grand scheme of things, but this was Tamina’s first and only true title reign.

• NJPW Capital Collision: IWGP US Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs Jon Moxley vs Will Ospreay vs Juice Robinson (2022)

While there were a few smaller things here, Okada’s involvement in the angle with Jay White as he was on his way out of New Japan, Brody King picking up a win over Minoru Suzuki and Tomohiro Ishii slugging it out with Eddie Kingston, the main event is the real moment. Juice turned heel for the first time two weeks prior to join Bullet Club. His new “Rock Hard” heel persona was immediately rewarded with a major upset if you zoom out and look at who was involved in the match. This was his first singles reign in over 3 years, granted he only held the title for 4 weeks because appendicitis forced him to vacate the title because he couldn’t make it to a scheduled defense at Dominion, this event still justified the heel turn.

Threads of double duty and Kevin Nash, but not double duty from Kevin Nash, we all know better than that. Jokes aside, we had a little bit of individual history, things that have changed wrestling permanently from the PPV/PLE frequency and some more fun moments that appeal to nostalgia. All in all, a solid day if I do say so myself.

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!