Today In Pro Wrestling History: June 25th

While we do have a golden oldie to lead off the list, the rest of the list should resonate fairly well with the current generation of IWC. High stakes, beloved wrestlers and an official reunion! Check out what I mean!

• JWA Golden Series: NWA International Championship 2 out of 3 Falls Match: Giant Baba (c) vs Bobo Brazil (1968)

Baba was on a dominant 944 day title run. This was a grueling match, Bobo was one of the gaijins at the time known for hammering shots and wearing down the home country heroes. In a shocking upset, Bobo hit his Leaping Headbutt (Coco Butt), and won the International Championship 2 falls to 1! Baba didn’t lose often, even though records are spotty from that era, it’s estimated Baba had around an 80% win rate and only lost around 10% of his matches (draws were really popular in the old days). So this was a huge moment for Bobo.

• WWE King of the Ring (2000)

While the PPV itself is critically panned as garbage, especially with the Briscoe vs Patterson Evening Gown Match. The importance here is still the King of the Ring. Kurt Angle faced off against Rikishi in the finals of the deepest tournament in regards to talent and the largest tournament based on sheer numbers. 32 entered, and it was down to the final two. While not a calendar year, this was still technically Angle’s rookie year since he debuted in November of 1999. In a fairly quick match, Kurt Angle added a huge feather in his cap to his Super Rookie resume becoming King of the Ring. The questions will never cease of exactly how legendary Kurt could’ve been, if he didn’t spend his prime in TNA.

• WWE Vengeance (2006)

Vengeance had a few interesting and memorable notes, Imposter Kane defeated the real Kane, Randy Orton beat Kurt Angle with the help of an exposed turnbuckle and Mr. McMahon yeeted a kid in a wheelchair down the backstage hallway. We also got a 2 out of 3 Falls Match between Ric Flair and Mick Foley, which surprisingly ended in two straight falls for Flair. But I suppose the biggest of the moments, was the return of Degeneration X, after nearly 4 years, Shawn Michaels and Triple H decided to bury the hatchet and bring back DX in comedic domination of the Spirit Squad.

• TNA iMPACT!: TNA World Heavyweight Championship: Kurt Angle (c) vs Ethan Carter III (2015)

Lots of Kurt Angle today, isn’t it? While the episode didn’t air until July 1st, the show was taped today and goes down as the start of Ethan Carter III’s first TNA World title reign. While this time period is also considered the beginning of the dark ages, EC3 was one of the few bright spots that Dixieland era gave us. A small footnote from this episode was Jeff Jarrett also deciding to reactivate the old Legends/Global/Television title and rebrand it as the King of the Mountain championship leading towards Slammiversary.

• AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door (2023)

This show was a first for both companies. The first AEW PPV outside of the United States and the first traditional PPV in Canada for NJPW. The show had a few memorable moments for fans, like Jungle Boy attacking Hook after their tag loss. Bryan Danielson using Europe’s Final Countdown for his entrance to his match against Kazuchika Okada, which Bryan won via LeBell Lock. With most people enraptured by the IWGP United States Championship Match between Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega (c). While star ratings are a joke at this point, it doesn’t take away the fact that fans buzzed about this match and still look at it fondly as a modern wrestling classic with Ospreay officially surpassing Omega, just a few months before making the jump to AEW himself.

As I mentioned during the article, a lot of Kurt Angle today. It is a little crazy to have 55 years between the first event and the last one on this list. It’s always fun for me to see a wide array of dates and companies.

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