Today In Pro Wrestling History: May 3rd

Yesterday was a little difficult to find things, and today is the opposite. We’ve got so many shows (a lot of NJPW shows happen on May 3rd), so I tried to cherry pick the best and see what we get. I think it’s a pretty decent list, if I say so myself.

• NJPW Wrestling Dontaku (1993)

A show with Sting, Jushin Thunder Liger, Brutus Beefcake and Tiger Mask…but that’s not the reason it’s on here. This event was The Great Muta vs Hulk Hogan match. A “Dream Match” at the time, and the fallout press conference makes this a historic event as well. Beyond the Dream Match, the press conference contained Hogan’s infamous line of calling the WWF Title a toy and IWGP Championship was the only one that mattered. A little inter-promotional magic and a newspaper headline, definitely checks the historic box to me.

• ECW Wrestlepalooza (1998)

We see ECW taking shots at WCW, much like WCW tried to encroach on WWF territory a few years before. The show took place in Georgia and was seen as the first real shot to make it a Big Three instead of a Big Two. The event had RVD and Sabu wrestle to a 30 minute draw, and this was when their chemistry was peak. It also had Shane Douglas defend the World title against Al Snow, even while claiming multiple fractures in his arm. Final note, this was Al Snow’s last ECW event before going to WWF to give everyone…head.

• WWE Monday Night Raw (2004)

This is mostly on the list for the classic World Title match between Shawn Michaels and Christ Benoit. But other pieces fell into place as well. Edge pinned Randy Orton in a six man match to set up his push up the card. This also contained the Boiler Room situation with Kane and Lita while Matt Hardy was trying to patch things up. A weird time in WWE, and remember, historic or memorable, doesn’t always mean for positive reasons.

• NJPW Wrestling Dontaku (2010)

A few pivotal moments on this show. Prince Devitt ascended to the top of the Junior Division after defeating Naomichi Marufuji for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title. We got the debut of Tama Tonga, and as much as I love him, he’s not the biggest moment. In a slight upset, we got Togi Makabe defeating Shinsuke Nakamura for his first and only IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The “Great Bash Heel” was a great indicator of NJPW pivoting out of the darkness of Inoki-ism and turning into it’s most profitable form.

• NJPW Wrestling Dontaku (2014)

I nearly put the main event as the only important thing, but that would do a disservice to something else major. The something else being, Yujiro Takahashi turned on CHAOS to join Bullet Club. This was pivotal because he was the first Japanese member, and the Tokyo Pimp changed the perspective from a “foreign heel” stable, to something with real staying power. But let’s not ignore the main event, the debut match of AJ Styles, challenging Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. AJ Styles not only won the championship in his debut match, he snapped Okada’s 391 day reign and established Bullet Club as the dominant faction in NJPW.

• TNA Under Siege (2024)

TNA events are always dangerous for if they’ll hold positive or negative information, but thankfully this one is pretty positive so far. This event saw the unofficial TNA debut of KC Navarro, since he was an unsigned replacement challenger for Laredo Kid’s Digital Media Championship. We also got to see the return of “Broken” Matt Hardy in the main event, as well as, Mustafa Ali continuing his undefeated streak and cementing his X Division reign as one of the very bright spots in TNA. However, that’s not all – The System established a near sweep. Alisha Edwards was half of the Knockouts Tag Champions, Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers were Tag Team Champions and Moose was World Champion. The System established themselves as the most dominant faction since the Main Event Mafia, and are still well positioned at the time of this article.

I never knew Wrestling Dontaku landed on May 3rd so many times, I think there were three or four other ones that I just didn’t want a wall of New Japan. But it is cool to see that there is a thread of factions establishing dominance on this date.

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!