Today In Pro Wrestling History: June 17th

Today is a little ridiculous because I very literally HAD to add one event on here. Since my version of history articles focuses on not only historic but also just events burned into brains…there’s a particular HUSTLE moment that lives rent free in brains that are aware of it.

• TNA Slammiversary: Vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship King of the Mountain Match (2007)

The match was held between Chris Harris, Christian Cage, AJ Styles, Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe. This is also a weird history when we drill down. While TNA sortuv already acknowledged the inaugural title victory, due to the fact that the NWA stripped Christian the day of Sacrifice ’07 TNA decided to strip Angle of the victory on the following Impact, citing a double pinfall controversy. Also possibly due to the fact TNA didn’t have a physical belt for themselves yet, because NWA stripped Christian the same day of Sacrifice. So this match goes down as the official start of the TNA World Heavyweight lineage…however…they still recognize Angle’s initial wins because…reasons. It’s TNA, don’t over think it. But Kurt Angle won this match too, so he’s the inaugural champion twice.

• HUSTLE HustleAid: Tajiri & Yinling the Erotic Terrorist vs Great Muta & RG (2007)

So I know many people have probably seen the gif of the guy who’s on the ramp with the genie lamp, smashes it and Muta appears. That is RG, because his tag partner never showed up, so he summoned a new one. However that’s not the memory burning moment. Muta comes out and ends up defeating Tajiri after a Shining Wizard after his Spaceman Elbow and Flashing Elbow. Post match, Yinling, the mastermind of the Takada Monster Army, was cowering from Muta, when he misted her…I’ll say below the belt. Due to HUSTLE’s heavy Soap Opera absurdity…this lead to Yinling getting pregnant, and birthing an egg which led to Akebono becoming “Monster Bono” her son (Akebono was the Sumo wrestler from WrestleMania 21 that faced Big Show). So yeah, this was definitely a memory for people who enjoy the absurd Japanese humor and found joy in the HUSTLE promotion.

• CMLL Juicio Final: Lucha de Apuestas Mask vs Mask: Averno vs La Mascara (2011)

We’ve got some potentially salty history here. There was a heavy rumor with real legs at the time, that WWE was looking to bring in Averno to feud with Sin Cara, since Averno was one of Mistico’s greatest opponents. With Sin Cara struggling, they wanted to bring in a familiar face to help Sin Cara adapt. Fans got wind of that, so instead of a hyper bloodthirsty crowd, the crowd already expected Averno’s defeat and the mood turned more emotional, as they were expecting to lose a beloved luchador. Averno did lose, and there was a big emotional sendoff…however, shortly after this match, Sin Cara was hit with a 30 Day suspension for the Wellness Policy and WWE changed their minds. So Averno was prepared to jump, but the plug got pulled. Averno did stay in Mexico, jumped to AAA for a few years before coming back to CMLL, but you have to wonder how different things could be.

• AJPW 40th Anniversary Year Cross Over: AJPW Heavyweight Tag Championship: Joe Doering & Seiya Sanada (c) vs Takao Omori & Manabu Soya (2012)

This match was significant for Get Wild (Omori & Soya), and establishing them as a team for AJPW to believe in. After a heartbreaking loss to the current champions after barely holding the belts for 2 months, they invoked their desire for a rematch, 28 days after their loss. This was a clash of styles. Doering was pure power, Seiya Sanada (yes THAT SANADA) was a technical high flier with a great pedigree being trained by Great Muta. Omori and Soya used their deeper tag team experience and many desperation tandem attacks to neutralize Joe’s power while fighting back. In a blistering 16 minute affair, Get Wild managed to regain the tag titles. This would eventually push their momentum high enough to be crowned Toyo Sports’ Best Tag Team of 2012.

• WWE Friday Night Smackdown (2022)

A few things with this show. We got the weird and controversial Vince McMahon appearance, spouting the “Then, Now, Forever, Together” line. We had Brock Lesnar make a surprising return attacking Roman Reigns to set up for their Last Man Standing match at SummerSlam. And speaking of Roman, his inclusion here is one of the better television matches in SmackDown history. While Vince McMahon’s appearance will live longer in people’s minds than a somewhat random match, Roman Reigns vs Matt Riddle was still a big match at the time, during the height of Riddle’s RKBro popularity. With Orton being legitimately injured, when Riddle countered the Spear with an RKO, it was seen as a nice homage to his injured partner. Roman would get the last laugh by intercepting the Floating Bro with a mid-air Spear, to survive with both titles.

• CMLL Lunes Arena Puebla – Mistico 20th Anniversary Show: 2 out of 3 Falls: Mistico vs Averno (2024)

While not the originally planned main event, the classic rivalry renewed was a huge showcase for the CMLL fans and during the celebration of Mistico’s 20 years of the “King of Silver and Gold”, seems like a fitting main event. Averno played up the classic heel role, wearing down Mistico and taking advantage of an opportunistic first fall. With roaring support from the crowd, Mistico fought back with a multitude of aerial attacks, eventually securing the second fall for himself and tying up the bout. The third fall showed how well they knew each other, countering moves, trading near falls, locomotion cradles and pinfall attempts before Mistico sends the fans home happy, pulling of La Mistica, his Headscissors into Floating Armbar submission. Averno tapped and the crowd celebrated with the most over babyface in Mexico very possibly since El Santo.

A few anniversary moments, some Averno and Mistico connections through two events, Muta having influence in a few events…lots of small threads to draw a lose theme. Either way, yes, the HUSTLE inclusion was personal amusement, but no one can argue that is memorable. Absurd, negative or positive, memories last for many different reasons.

Make sure you stay away from Mist. That’s now two children, first he mists Yinling and then he feeds a baby mist on a mountain and she becomes Great Sakuya. IUDs don’t stop the Mist Daddy.