Today In Pro Wrestling History: May 23rd

There’s a bit of dark history on today, so if you’re not in the mood for events around people passing away, you may want to skip today. Doesn’t really feel right to do any kitschy intro, so let’s just get to it.

• WCW Slamboree (1993)

We see the inaugural WCW Hall of Fame induction class this event, including names like Lou Thesz and Verne Gagne, as well as, this is the first PPV with Eric Bischoff as a producer. The event itself was peak Southern wrasslin, the Four Horsemen reformed this time with Paul Roma (ya…no one liked that), Sid Vicious returned to destroy Van Hammer and the main event was a slugfest. Big Van Vader versus Davey Boy Smith, ended after Vader’s manager, Harley Race pulled him out and then a steel chair was used to give Davey Boy the disqualification victory. The NWA Heavyweight Title was also defended by Barry Windham against Arn Anderson, so like I said, ole school wrasslin.

• AJPW Super Power Series: AJPW Tag Team Championships: Holy Demon Army (c) vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama (1996)

A little bit of an appetizer, the day before Akira Taue challenged Misawa for the Triple Crown title. Jun Akiyama was one of Misawa’s favorite proteges. Since Kobashi officially elevated himself to an equal, Misawa needed a new tag partner and chose Jun. In a match that pushed Jun to match 3 of the biggest names in wrestling at the time, he rose to the occasion. Taue and Misawa focused on one another because of their title match tomorrow, so Jun had a breakout moment when the pinned Kawada after three Exploder Suplexes and won his first prestigious title in AJPW!

• WWF Over the Edge: Owen Hart (1999)

Sadly, the wrestling event is irrelevant given what happened during. Losing Owen to a freak harness accident was a huge blow to the world. The fact the show went on is a testament to the roster’s professionalism, but will always remain a question of ethical necessity to many people. Owen will be forever appreciated and beloved in the wrestling sphere, as is evident from AEW’s creation of the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament.

• STARDOM Gold Star: Wonder of Stardom Title: Io Shirai (c) vs Momo Watanabe (2018)

This was a passing of the torch match. Io only had about 3 weeks left before leaving to WWE, but she was a fairly dominant Wonder of Stardom Champion. Momo won the Cinderella Tournament which granted her a shot against her faction’s leader Io Shirai. Queen’s Quest was the faction for the stronger more legit babyface women, and Momo was seen as Io’s protege with the most potential. This match did a great job showing that Momo could hang and absorb the pressure. Only being 18, she was the youngest to win the Wonder of Stardom title at the time, since she did indeed defeat Io. This was her first major title for Momo and symbolized Io passing the title and faction over to Momo.

• AEW Double or Nothing (2020)

Lots of big things happened during this show as the pandemic was still fairly new, so wrestling was adjusting to the new environment. Brian Cage made his surprise debut at the Casino Ladder Match. We also had the inaugural TNT Champion crowned as Cody Rhodes defeated Lance Archer, getting handed the belt by Mike Tyson. Hikaru Shida beat down Nyla Rose for the Women’s Championship in a NoDQ match, which led to her year long title reign. But the main reason its here, is the Stadium Stampede match. Between Hangman’s horse, Matt Jackson’s Football Field Northern Lights Suplexes, Jericho’s Challenge Flag or the water from the Lake of Reincarnation being in the pool, causing multiple versions of Matt Hardy, this was a 45 minute spectacle. While it may not be everyone’s favorite, it’s still historic.

• Hana Kimura Memorial Show ~ Matane (2021)

Most of us are aware Hana passed away May 23, 2020, and every year since 2021, Kyoko Kimura, her mother, has organized memorial shows promoting anti-bullying and to raise funds for advocacy. This was the first memorial show, which holds slightly more significance because both Hazuki and Kagetsu came out of retirement for this show. They were featured in an 8 woman tag which saw Oedo Tai (Hazuki & Kagetsu) team with Tokyo Cyber Squad (Death Yama-San & Konami) against VENY, Nastupoi, Syuri & Mio Momono. This then spun into VENY and Kagetsu having a singles match afterwards. Two of Hana’s closest friends, and both being trans individuals, they exemplified Hana’s beliefs of “Everyone is different, everyone is special”. Currently, this still marks Kagetsu’s, now known as Yu Ishino, last pro wrestling match.

I know I’ve said in previous articles that not all the history is gonna be positive, but this was a particularly heavy day. Hug the people you care about, tell them you love them, don’t take any day for granted.