Today In Pro Wrestling History: June 16th

A mixture of promotions and styles today! We’ve definitely got plenty of household names, and large scale events that are lodged in someone’s memory banks. Let’s see if we struck nostalgia gold for anyone, shall we?

• WCW Clash of the Champions XIX: The Miracle Violence Connection (Steve Williams & Terry Gordy) vs Steiner Brothers  (1992)

This Clash was the beginning of the Bill Watts era, you know, that silly no brawling and no top rope moves ruleset. We also got the opening rounds of the tag team unification tournament! A tournament that saw Jushin “Thunder” Liger team with Brian Pillman and tag veteran Arn Anderson tagging with another specialist, Bobby Eaton. The main event of the show however was the Quarter-finals match with the Steiners and Miracle Violence connection. The Steiners were the reigning WCW Tag team champions at the time, so calling them a tournament favorite was an understatement. In a stiff old school match, where both teams adhered to the new Watts rules, the shock came from the finish. Scott was in the middle of a Belly to Belly, but taking advantage of the referee positioning, Gordy hit Scott with a Chop Block, causing him to buckle and Williams to fall on him into the match winning pinfall. A unique finish, that saw fan favorites and the tournament favorite, eliminated much earlier than expected.

• NJPW Dominion: IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi (2012)

This was the rematch of the “Rainmaker Shock” at New Beginning Osaka. Tanahashi was not ready to take a backseat to the rise of a new Ace, and took his time to study how to attack the young champion. Tanahashi tapped into a little bit of that desperation we saw later in his career. More joint focus, like attacking Okada’s knees to take away his leverage for the Rainmaker and the general height advantage. Tanahashi had answers this time, since he was taking the match seriously. He countered the Rainmaker and a German Suplex with Sling Blades. Tanahashi nearly won with a Dragon Suplex Hold, but when Okada barely kicked out, a High Fly Flow was all that was still needed. Tanahashi regained the title, but this would be a rivalry that defined that ascent of NJPW in the global eye.

• WWE Payback (2013)

We see with this event, more of a collection of smaller notable moments. CM Punk’s hometown return defeating Chris Jericho. A massive double turn for the World Heavyweight Championship when Alberto Del Rio went full vicious heel attacking Ziggler’s head right after a known concussion, and Ziggler trying to valiantly fight from beneath earned him the babyface sympathy. While Del Rio won, the shift in personas gave each a new angle to pursue. The main event was a 2 out 3 Falls, 3 Stages of Hell match, between Ryback and John Cena. While the match may not be remembered as a wrestling gem, the image of Cena hitting the Attitude Adjustment on Ryback, sending him through the ambulance roof to retain, is memorable enough.

• STARDOM Premium Stars (2016)

2016 Stardom was a lot of setting up the new generation of stars. Mixing in veterans and established faces, which was smart since Kairi would leave in 2017 and Io in 2018. So their focus on building while they still had both icons, was smart. Speaking of building, we saw the opening match involve current Champions in their Rookie forms (yes I went for Digimon terminology, so sue me). Azumi (AZM), Natsumi Maki (Nastupoi) and Starlight Kid were involved. Kairi Hojo defeated Yoko Bito in a solid match, and the main event of course involved the rest of Threedom. Thunder Rock (Io Shirai & Mayu Iwtani) versus Oedo Tai (Kyoko Kimura & Kagetsu) for the Goddesses of Stardom titles. With Oedo Tai utilized their numbers, frequent interference and heel tactics to attack the Iconic duo and interrupt their tag team momentum. Kagetsu picked up the win via Avalanche Ebisu Drop on Mayu for the victory!

• AAA Verano De Escandalo (2019)

This served as an early display of the AEW and AAA partnership. Some of the notable matchups were the mixed tag bout between Daga & Tessa Blanchard vs Laredo Kid & Taya, which was won by Laredo Kid after Daga missed Laredo and accidentally hit Tessa with brass knuckles. Psycho Clown and Dr Wagner Jr faced off against Blue Demon Jr and Taurus, a match where the finish would lead to more. Blue Demon Jr’s victory, catapulted the feud between him and Dr Wagner Jr to culminate in the Mask vs Hair match most of us know of from Triplemania XXVII. Many people probably remember the last match to mention, Lucha Bros vs Young Bucks for the AAA Tag Team titles. Considered by many to be the show stealer, the Lucha Bros ended up winning back their AAA Tag titles from the Bucks, which would lead to further stories in AEW.

• NOAH Grand Ship In Yokohama (2024)

The largest scale event in the newly built Yokohama Buntai venue, saw a couple memorable moments for NOAH. Daga, on his quest to shatter the Junior Heavyweight defenses record, defeated Starboy Charlie, for his 6th successful defense. He was chasing Taiji Ishimori’s record of 10, but sadly, his next challenger would stop his quest. Takashi Sugiura & Naomichi Marufuji also managed to win the GHC Tag titles from Jack Morris & Anthony Greene as a nice historic moment for two beloved veterans. We also got the culmination of Gabe Kidd’s aggressive attacks on Kaito Kiyomiya over the past year. Kidd started with verbally assaulting Kiyomiya and NOAH at the G1 in 2023, then during the All Together cross-promotion show, Kidd attacked Kiyomiya and even stole the GHC title. Kiyomiya accepted the challenge and teamed up with Kenoh and others to protect NOAH from any Bullet Club invasion, as to not relive the awful days of Suzuki-Gun. This was a brutal and bloody match which saw Kiyomiya snap into a flurry of strikes, an Avalanche Tiger Suplex and hits the Shining Lancer for the victory! The blood crazed defense of the title and NOAH, was the birth of his newest moniker…the Mad Prince.

A fair bit of tag team moments today, so you can tell there wasn’t a lot of WWE on this list. We’ve slightly crested the halfway point of the month and there haven’t been a ton a struggle days. I wonder if that changes…let’s hope not.

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