Today In Pro Wrestling History: June 6th

Another day, another article. Today however, had a decent amount of things to pick from! This is definitely a odd mix of companies, and I would say leans more to the hardcore fans, but it’s an interesting cornucopia of promotions. Let’s check it out!

• AJPW Budokan Hall Show: Triple Crown Championship: Mitsuharu Misawa (c) vs Toshiaki Kawada (1997)

Pretty sure most people who aren’t fans of puroresu have begun to notice a theme with AJPW events in the 90s. It’s going to involve a Pillar of Heaven, very often Misawa, and very often it will be considered one of the best matches in the history of wrestling. This is another entry in that rolodex. Kawada actually won the Champion Carnival this year, which awarded him the title shot. His desperation to prove himself against Misawa was evident in the tournament and this match. The tournament had a rare 3 way points tie, Misawa, Kobashi and Kawada. Kobashi and Misawa started, by wrestling to a 30 minute grueling draw. Kawada took advantage of an exhausted Misawa and Ganso Bombing him six times to end the match in minutes. That heel desperation that helped him win the Carnival, bit him a little in this match. Kawada tried to overcome and surpass Misawa, but a flurry of Elbows actually caught Kawada and legitimately rocked him. He was the equivalent of out on his feet toward the end of the match. Misawa was aware that Kawada was out, so he did his best to protect him, ending the match with the rarely used bridging variation of the Tiger Suplex.

• ECW Wrestlepalooza (1997)

The major points here were Taz destroying Shane Douglas and winning the Television title in 3 minutes, Jerry Lawler also showed up to declare war on Extremely Crappy Wrestling. The biggest angle for ECW fans though was the Loser Leaves Town match between Tommy Dreamer and Raven. This was the 14th meeting, and Dreamer was 0-13. Dreamer finally got the cathartic victory, which allowed for a story reason for Raven to jump to WCW. So fans got closure for the sympathetic heartbeat of ECW, while also allowing for an easy re-spark whenever they bump into each other again.

• NOAH Navigation With Breeze (2003)

This was one of the more solid top to bottom cards in puro history. The major events were Mitsuharu Misawa facing Takuma Sano (formerly Naoki Sano), in a solid match, where Sano keeps trying his hand at legitimate Heavyweight competition after being a force in multiple Junior divisions. Yuji Nagata faced off with Akira Taue, this match helped to showcase the working relationship between NJPW and NOAH, as well as, help Nagata save some face during the Inoki-ism years when he wasn’t really up to par with the MMA guys. Nagata defeated Taue in a fantastic singles match and one of Taue’s best against a “non-pillar”. The main event saw Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda defeat Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito for the GHC Tag Team Championship. It was a 25+ minute war, which saw Kobashi establish himself as the Ace of NOAH, with Akiyama having yet to prove himself and rise to meet the excellence of the Pillars.

• AAA TripleMania XVIII (2010)

There was a huge international showcase during this event. Go Shiozaki and Akitoshi Saito from NOAH, Abyss, Beer Money and Christopher Daniels from TNA, and NOSAWA from AJPW. The show saw Jack Evans defeat Christopher Daniels, NOSAWA and Tigre Uno for the AAA Cruiserweight Championship. Dr. Wagner Jr also defeated Electroshock for the AAA Mega Championship. The main event saw L.A. Park face off against La Parka for the rights to the name La Parka. In the most dusty finish level of dumb, L.A. Park won thanks to interference from Perros del Mal and Tirantes being a rudo referee. But after waffling, Marisela Peña decided to go with the Mexico City Boxing and Wrestling Commission decision of throwing out the result of the main event, declaring it a no contest. So while L.A. Park won the match, the result was overturned and the names remained the same.

• DDT/NOAH/TJPW CyberFight Festival (2021)

This is a major joint show involving the different companies under the CyberAgent umbrella. We saw the three major championships of the respective promotions defended, as well as KONGOH officially declaring war of DDT’s comedy garbage, which ironically resulted in Kenoh, the leader of KONGOH, partaking in some comedy garbage with a straight face. For TJP, Miyu Yamashita retained the Princess of Princess title against Yuka Sakazaki. Jun Akiyama retained the KO-D Openweight Championship against Harashima. But the main event saw a title change. Keiji Mutoh, current GHC Heavyweight Champion, lost to the number one son of the ark, Naomichi Marufuji. Ending Mutoh’s history making reign at 114 days.

• NWA When Our Shadows Fall: NWA World Women’s Championship: Serena Deeb (c) vs Kamille (2021)

Remember when the Corgan era NWA still had good faith with the wrestling community? This was still around that point in time. Kamille was Nick Aldis’ impressive enforcer. She never spoke, and let her actions or just presence, do the talking for her. What we get here, was the culmination of Kamille’s aura when she defeated Serena Deeb. Kamille’s first title reign of her career, and it was a dominant 813 day reign. Regardless of how the mystique imploded, this was still a big moment and that title reign is one of the more impressive reigns of the modern era.

No matter how we feel about NWA now, or what it devolved into shortly after the event on this list, Kamille still made history and the IWC wasn’t upset with it at the time. A lot changes in five years, but that’s also the beauty of these articles, to act as a time capsule and reminder of intentions, not necessarily failed execution.

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