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!

A weird weird day, when it comes to Pro Wrestling events. I tried to give my mental gymnastics a small break, because if I was looking for anything recent I would’ve had to comb through the indies and really stretch the concept of historic and memorable. Time to see what I landed on!

• Dwayne Johnson Birthday (1972)

The most electrifying wrestler and the largest star to come out of pro wrestling, I can’t just overlook this. A 10 time champion, the head of the board in TKO, more wrestling accolades than you can shake a stick at and of course a lucrative acting career. Opinions on his more recent ventures are irrelevant because he’s still the most recognizable figure in the wrestling sphere and making more money than most of us, even in a flop. The Brahma Bull surpassed Hulk Hogan in cultural relevance, so that alone is historic.

• AWA SuperClash II (1987)

A disappointing gate at the Cow Palace, of only 2,800, coupled with a main event that fans hated, signaled why AWA was losing the war in the 80s. The real shame here, is that this is Curt Hennig’s only World Title win after he beats Nick Bockwinkel with some help from Larry Zbyszko. The World title was also in the middle of the card behind a 6 man, an awful Jerry Blackwell match and the show was main evented with a tag match involving former NFL player Russ Francis, and it was miserable. AWA was out of touch and running out of talent, and this show was a harbinger for the end a few years later.

• AJPW Giant Baba Memorial Show (1999)

For as beautiful as the event was to see wrestlers pay deference to Baba’s memory, this also shows why the NOAH exodus was so impactful. The show saw a 19 year old Naomichi Marufuji in the opener, Hayabusa, Gedo, The Road Warriors, all of the Four Pillars, Hakushi and Stan Hansen, Baba’s passing caused a major rift in the company. While Mitsuharu Misawa defeated Vader in the main event for the Triple Crown, only a year later, would Misawa walk away with 92% of the roster.

• WCW Thunder (2000)

While it’s odd to put a Thunder taping in here, there’s a good reason. WCW was in desperation mode, so the main event was a 41 person Battle Royale for #1 contender to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Ric Flair won, which somewhat lead to his “16th” recognized title win. But this is on here more because it was Macho Man Randy Savage’s last appearance in WCW. He was a surprise in the Battle Royale, siding with the Millionaire’s Club. This was also his second to last match in his career.

• NJPW Ultimate Crush (2003)

This is PEAK Inoki-ism. We saw a huge card filled with a mixture of MMA style shoot fights and pro wrestling. The Shoot Style that Inoki was pushing really exposed a lot of NJPW’s top talent at this time, so this was the dark period that many people say Hiroshi Tanahashi pulled NJPW out of. The major points here are, we saw the GHC Heavyweight Championship defended outside of NOAH, with Kenta Kobashi defeating Masahiro Chono. We saw Lyoto Machida debut with a victory followed by the infamous “Toukon Binta” slaps of courage and fighting spirit what Inoki gave to Lyoto afterwards. The main event saw a winner takes all match with the NWF Heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama defeating IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata. This period of time is what mars Nagata’s legacy in the grand scheme of IWGP legends.

• AJW Tokyo Show: WWWA World Championship: Amazing Kong (c) vs Ayako Hamada  (2004)

This has bittersweet significance. AJW was in the throes of bankruptcy, the premiere Joshi brand, was running out of steam, and as many of us can remember, the 00s were a weird time for wrestling and many global economies hit different recession points. This is on here because Amazing Kong (Awesome Kong or Kharma for some people), made her name in Japan before ever coming to TNA. This match saw Hamada win the most prestigious belt in Joshi, and she would be one of the last to hold title when AJW went out of business in 2005.

Kind of a sad Saturday, ain’t it? Beginning of the end for AWA, Baba’s passing, WCW on life support, Inoki-ism killing NJPW and the death knell of AJW. Yikes. Hopefully the history I find gets out of it’s Emo phase and decides to shop other places aside from Hot Topic and Spencer’s.

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!