Today In Pro Wrestling History: June 26th

While I won’t claim this is a mind blowing day, it does at least contain quite a few memorable moments that were either general spectacles or firsts ever for the respective promotions. Let’s see where wrestling takes us today!

• NJPW War of the Worlds: Antonio Inoki vs Muhammed Ali (1976)

You could almost call this the genesis of Inoki’s love affair with MMA shoot style incorporation into pro wrestling. Yes many people have panned this exhibition because Inoki took advantage of the rules to avoid the standup game with Ali. That rule being, he was only allowed to kick if he was downed or on the canvas, so he spend most of the match flat on his back. If this was MMA, you try to avoid the person’s strength and counter, so it was counter wrestling at it’s finest. Even if the exhibition match isn’t much to speak of, the event is historic for blending real combat sports with pro wrestling. Pancrase and Pride FC can thank Inoki’s little experiment for existing.

• ROH Best in the World: ROH World Championship: Eddie Edwards (c) vs Davey Richards (2011)

While some younger fans may have forgotten, Eddie Edwards was a pretty big deal in ROH before his TNA residency. The American Wolves were arguably the second best tag team in ROH history, after the Briscoes. This was a culmination of “brotherly love”. Eddie had a lot of singles success, being the inaugural Television champion, winning Survival of the Fittest and when he beat Roderick Strong for the World title, he became the first ever ROH triple crown winner. Davey was the veteran of the two, and it was obvious he felt left behind, like Eddie’s star was rising, while his was fading. This was a 36 minute war. The ending flurry saw Eddie stay defiant, even during Davey’s kick assault, he goaded Davey, so the Yakuza Kick sent Eddie to sleep. Davey won the match, they embraced in the ring, to exemplify brotherly rivalry instead of childish betrayals.

• NOAH Abema Premium Match Cage War: Hair vs Hair Steel Cage Match: Masa Kitamiya vs Katsuhiko Nakajima (2021)

In the 20 years NOAH was around, up to this point, this is the first EVER cage match in company history. This tag team break up, went the betrayal route. After an errant kick from Nakajima hit Kitamiya, even though they retained their titles, Kitamiya lost his patience. Kitamiya hit a Saito Suplex on Nakajima and at the following press conference declared that he hated Nakajima for a decade since the first time he entered Kensuke Office. So he vacated his half of the GHC Tag Titles, and we lead to this bitter match. During the match, both men were bleeding, it was a brutal match. Kitamiya used all of his pent up aggression to execute a Senton from the top of the cage, followed by back to back Saito Suplexes, to win the match. Kitamiya grabbed Nakajima by the hair just to cut a few locks, symbolically winning, but refusing to do the full job. He walked off proud he overcame his demon, as Kenoh had to step in to finish shaving Nakajima’s head.

• AJPW Champions Night: Triple Crown Championship Tomoe Battle: Yuma Aoyagi vs Jake Lee vs Kento Miyahara (2021)

This is the first Tomoe Battle since the 1997 Champion Carnival when Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada finished tied. To explain, Tomoe battle is first wrestler to win 2 matches consecutively. This night, SUWAMA vacated the Triple Crown, and each competitor came out with a different championship that represents the Triple Crown for the lottery draw. Kento defeated Yuma first after an 18 minute match, so Kento had to remain in the right and fight the fresh Jake Lee. Jake defeated a tired Kento in 10 minutes, so he stayed for Yuma to return to the ring. Yuma and Jake went nearly 20 minutes, but Yuma couldn’t overcome Jake to force the Tomoe battle to continue. This marked Jake’s first reign as Triple Crown champion and he was really setting himself up as an impressive player in AJPW.

• AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door: AEW Interim World Championship: Jon Moxley vs Hiroshi Tanahashi (2022)

This was the first ever Forbidden Door event. While I personally still find it completely silly to have an interim championship in pro wrestling, the match was still must see because of Tanahashi. When Tanahashi challenged CM Punk, it made people buzz about two of the most influential wrestlers of their era facing off for the first time. Punk’s injury took a little steam out of the excitement, but it also allowed for curiosity to surround the booking instead of just assuming a defense, like many did. While it was only around 18 minutes (considered short by many people’s metrics), Tanahashi had a few spots where he nearly won the match, but Moxley pulled through with the high angle variation of the Death Rider. Setting up for the future CM Punk and Moxley feud.

We got a good amount of firsts, a few memorable fun matches and again, I always enjoy a good spread of promotions. Again, not a deep day, but an interesting day.

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