Today In Pro Wrestling History: May 20th

Well there’s been a few articles where there are no more modern events, and this is the opposite. Everything is in the 2000s, so if the last article was for the Millennials, this one is for the Zoomers. So let’s see what’s popped up in the last 25 years to populate this list!

• WWF Judgment Day: 2 out of 3 Falls Match: Chris Benoit vs Kurt Angle (2001)

Many of us remember their technician face off storyline. Angle cheated in their initial match with a roll-up with tights, Benoit won the submission match, causing Benoit to steal the medals. When Angle got the medals, they smelled weird which allowed Benoit to apply the Crossface and set up this match. Pinfall, Submission and Ladder match for the medals. Angle ends up winning the match 2-1, retrieving his medals and this is one of the most lauded matches in WWF history.

• WWE Judgment Day (2007)

Oddly enough, this involved another 2 out of 3 falls Chris Benoit match. MVP beat Benoit 2-0 to secure the US title, John Cena forced Great Khali to tap out for the first time in his career and Bobby Lashley won his 3 vs 1 Handicap Match against the McMahon crew. No one match was as memorable as the previous Judgment Day, but still a few bigger moments in each wrestler’s respective history.

• STARDOM European Tour (2016)

This was Stardom’s first major international event. They showcased Threedom (Kairi Hojo, Io Shirai, Mayu Iwatani) and this set the stage for Toni Storm and Kay Lee Ray to spend some time in Stardom. Io defended the World of Stardom title and Mayu defended the High Speed title. Kairi challenged for the ABC Women’s title, but was unsuccessful in a triple threat. This event was pivotal in a lot of the UK wrestlers getting access to Stardom excursions.

• NXT TakeOver: Chicago (2017)

The Glorious era of NXT continued in this event when Bobby Roode defeated Hideo Itami. We saw the first ever title change for the NXT UK Championship when Pete Dunne beat Tyler Bate. Asuka’s domination was in full effect when she bodied Rudy Riott and Nikki Cross to continue her reign and also set the record for Takeover victories at the time. In typical Golden era of NXT, something else happened on an already packed card. After losing to the Authors of Pain, Tommaso Ciampa turned on Johnny Gargano. Which capped off a great match and great show with a shocking betrayal.

• PROGRESS Chapter 69: Be Here Now (2018)

Progress was one of the best smaller promotions before quarantine and the scandal. So regardless of sentiment nowadays, this was still a memorable event. Jinny took the Women’s title off of Toni Storm, Travis Banks retained the World title against Jack Sexsmith and WALTER chopped the life out of David Starr, continuing his legendary UK independents run that put him on WWE radar. The last thing of mention is the new Atlas Champion. WALTER vacated the title a few weeks prior to pursue the World Title, setting up this 4 way. Rampage Brown, Joseph Connors, Rob Lynch and Doug Williams battled it out for the Atlas championship. Doug won the match utilizing my favorite pro wrestling move, the Chaos Theory German Suplex.

• Marigold Fields Forever (2024)

This was the inaugural Marigold event I eluded to in the May 18th history article. A roster of former Stardom and Actwres girl’Z did big numbers on the Wrestle Universe streaming service, as the second most streamed event in the history of the service, only behind the CyberFight Festival 2022. The show utilized some measure of similar theory to Stardom. The Marigold World title was displayed with a red strap, and Nanae Takahashi was on this card, to draw parallels to the old WWWA championship. We also saw Giulia teaming with Utami Hayashishita to face Sareee and Bozilla. Giulia broke her wrist in this match, which caused the delay in her WWE appearance because she still felt obligated to fulfill her appearances after her recovery. Marigold made a big statement in their first event, and quickly positioned themselves as a contender in the Joshi landscape.

We get some Chris Benoit threads, Toni Storm and Rossy Ogawa (founder of both Stardom and Marigold). So a few interconnected threads, and apparently 2 out of 3 fall matches were popular too. And odd day, but it’s always fun to showcase smaller promotions and bangers from different women’s divisions.

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!