Today In Pro Wrestling History: May 21st

Not exactly the deepest of days when it came to big moments outside of the televised American content but, everything at least feels memorable. We kick off with a splash of classic puroresu action involving the Four Pillars of Heaven!

• AJPW Super Power Series: Holy Demon Army (Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada) vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi (1994)

The perfect match of psychology explaining each man’s position in the company and motivations. Kawada has been stuck in Misawa’s shadow, so when Taue and Kawada became heels, this was the perfect ramp up to take down the Ace. Kobashi still wasn’t established as a true main eventer, seen mostly as Misawa’s junior or little brother. The early portion of the match told that story with Kobashi being isolated and saved frequently by Misawa. Until the end, when Kobashi came to the aid of Misawa. The match set the stage for the epic battle between Misawa and Kawada in two weeks for the Triple Crown, and finally saw Kobashi ascend to his rightful position with the Pillars.

• WCW Slamboree (1995)

A weird night all things considered. Great Muta defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Paul Orndorff, Wahoo McDaniel defeated Dick Murdoch and Ric Flair teamed with Vader to face the Mega Powers. While the biggest wrinkle should’ve been Flair returning from injury, it was actually the final WCW Hall of Fame class. After being inducted into the WCW Hall of Fame, Gordon Solie resigned from the company because he didn’t agree with Angelo Poffo going in as well.

• WWF Judgment Day: American Badass Debut (2000)

After an eight month hiatus, the Deadman returned, but reincarnated with the American Badass gimmick. Kid Rock blaring, motorcycle riding, ready to screw over the McMahon-Helmsley core. While debuting with the best of intentions, American Badass caused The Rock to get disqualified in the decisive fall of his Ironman match with Triple H. A shaky start to a reimagined Undertaker, but as we know, it worked itself out in the end.

• WWE Judgment Day (2006)

A bunch of interesting and memorable things happened at this event. LonDrick defeated MNM for their first title reign that lasted 331 days. Great Khali made his PPV debut, dominating Undertaker and finishing him off in fairly short order. Lastly, the Finals to the King of the Ring happened, Booker T defeated Bobby Lashley, and we got the birth of King Bookah!

• ROH Supercard of Honor VI (2011)

While the card was expected solid action with, the Briscoes beating the All Night Express (Kenny King & Rhett Titus) in a Chicago Street Fight, as probably the most noteworthy match, the history comes from the corporate dealings. The Cary Silkin era was over, Sinclair Broadcast Group purchased ROH and their distribution rights. This officially moved them from a Super Indie, to having a corporate entity behind them. In hindsight, we know this schedule was awful since it was inconsistent based on what region you were in and what channels you had access too. So while one person could watch ROH Saturday a 1pm, someone else wouldn’t be able to see it until Sunday at 11am. Awful distribution structure, but history ain’t always pretty.

• WWE Backlash: WWE World Championship: Randy Orton (c) vs Jinder Mahal (2017)

In what may be the biggest title shock of the modern era, the Modern Day Maharaja claimed the win over Randy Orton. With help from the Singhs, who Randy loved to fling, Jinder helped to appeal to a mostly unexplored Indian market. While some scoff at the win and only see it as a PR stunt, somewhere, Greg Demarco would be mad if I hindered the Jinder by not respecting his title win as history.

This was an interesting pile of events, if I do say so myself. A lot of contentious history between Gordon Solie, Sinclair and Jinder. So at least it’s not a straightforward and boring choice of moments.

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!