Today In Pro Wrestling History: June 12th

Even if there was a little mental gymnastics yesterday, today is a pretty solid list both from different styles of historic and different companies. It’s about half Japan and half American promotions. So if you’ve been consuming too much of one, consider this your dietary supplement and grab some half & half.

• NJPW IWGP Tournament: IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Masa Saito vs Antonio Inoki (1987)

So I know I’ve mentioned that early IWGP tournaments weren’t officially recognized as IWGP title reigns. That all changed today! This tournament culminated at Sumo Hall, and was battled out in the two block Round Robin style most of us have become accustomed to. Inoki and Saito, two veterans, faced off in a brawl. Inoki came out on top and became the inaugural IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Should be noted it was his one and only title reign in the official lineage.

• AJPW Budokan Hall Show: Triple Crown Championship: Toshiaki Kawada (c) vs Kenta Kobashi (1998)

Come off of his first ever victory over Misawa for the Triple Crown title, Kawada was vindicated. In a move re-establishing memories of the Super Generation Army, AJPW decided to slate Kenta Kobashi as Toshiaki Kawada’s first challenger. This match showed an evolution in Kobashi’s character. Kawada legitimately broke his arm defeating Misawa, but pushed through the pain and refused to vacate the title. With a heavily taped arm, Kobashi tried to be the perfect babyface and not go after the arm. But eventually Kobashi gave into the desperation of the chance, locking in Arm Bars, whipping Kawada into the posts targeting the broken arm and even using Leg Drops on the arm. Kawada tried to power through it after his Dangerous Backdrop, but the arm caved during the Powerbomb attempt and Kawada fell victim to the Burning Lariat. This match jumpstarted the creation of his stable Burning, and that is a moniker that followed him for the rest of his career.

• WWE ECW One Night Stand (2005)

This was the first and honestly, the ultimate reunion show. The Dudleyz donned the tie dye again, The Sandman came out to Enter Sandman, and Paul Heyman embraced his Paul E Dangerously and fed into the ECW crowd. A card that had only ECW wrestlers. Everyone from Little Guido and Mike Awesome to Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit. We got a Balcony Moonsault from Super Crazy and the infamous close out brawl that caused the heat between JBL and Blue Meanie. It was one hell of a show for people who remembered ECW fondly.

• TNA Slammiversary IX (2011)

We saw the makeshift tag team of Alex Shelley and James Storm (calling themselves Gun Money), defend the tag titles against The British Invasion because Bobby Roode was hurt. Bully Ray surprisingly defeated the face of the franchise AJ Styles in a Last Man Standing Match. Crimson defeated Samoa Joe to continue his undefeated streak. We also had Kurt Angle defending his Olympic Medals for a #1 Contender shot, all during the height of the real life heat involving Kurt’s ex wife Karen becoming Jarrett’s new wife and how he used it against Angle during the promotions. The shock of the night was Sting losing to Mr. Anderson. Anderson was chiding and even dressed up as Surfer Sting for the psychological warfare…and it paid off. Solid match, solid show, one of those all around good memories while TNA was still riding high.

• WWE SmackDown: Intercontinental Championship: AJ Styles vs Daniel Bryan (2020)

Given the fact the taped date is slightly disputed, I decided to mention this during the airdate. Pandemic era is weird, but I wanted to make sure this match got on one of these lists. After the Intercontinental Championship was vacated because Sami Zayn was stripped of it, they began a tournament. Two of the best to do it in and out of WWE made the finals, so this was hype for everyone. Bryan tried to “outwrestle” Styles, and was doing a fairly good job of it. It wasn’t until a Running Knee got caught and countered into a Styles Clash, that we saw the opening for Styles. One Phenomenal Forearm later, and AJ Styles began his very first Intercontinental title reign.

• DDT/NOAH/TJPW CyberFight Festival: GHC Heavyweight Championship: Go Shiozaki (c) vs Satoshi Kojima (2022)

This was Go’s first title defense of his record breaking fifth reign as GHC Heavyweight champion. Coming out of his historic fourth reign which carried NOAH through the pandemic and created amazing matches and memories, there were big hopes that Shiozaki finally shook his “Fallen Ace” stigma and ascended to the Emerald throne. Satoshi Kojima however is heavily decorated in Japan and also in America. Kojima is a former NWA World Champion and while officially the second MLW World Champion, he’s the first one to have a real title reign. He started working with NOAH more after Wrestle Kingdom 16 when they had some cross promotional matches. To cut to the chase, this match is historic because after 21+ minutes and three Cozy Lariats, Kojima actually pulled off what was considered an upset. Shiozaki’s fifth reign crashed and burned, while Kojima became the fourth person in history to complete the Japanese Grand Slam (AJPW Triple Crown, NJPW IWGP Heavyweight Championship and NOAH GHC Heavyweight Championship).

Historically significant title reigns, shows that live in people’s minds as sterling memories…I like when the list lives up to the concept. Memorable moments and shows or objective historic situations, that’s what this is for. Easy days make me happy.

How tight were the nostalgia goggles? Am I ignoring companies that you’re passionate about? Make your thoughts known and Always Use Your Head!