Today In Pro Wrestling History: July 21st

Well much like an role playing game, the article starts off with easy events that most people are probably aware of, and then we ramp up the difficulty a bit. Nothing super obscure, just a reach for the general IWC audience. Let’s check it out!

• ECW Tampa Show (1995)

Lots of very ECW stuff happened during this show. We had a 15 minute match between Eddy Guerrero (c) and Dean Malenko for the ECW TV Championship, which resulted in Malenko winning and becoming the new champion in a match that is often heralded as one of the best in ECW history. Now we get to two controversial moments. First one being Sandman versus Mikey Whipwreck for the ECW World title. While the match itself wasn’t crazy, when Sandman gave Whipwreck the 10 Singapore Cane shots, Sandman’s manager Woman, seemed to be getting turned on. So the provocative angle actually caused ECW to be banned from the Sunshine Network for a short period of time. Then we get the celebration riot! Public Enemy defeated The Gangstas, which lead to the dozens of fans rushing the ring to celebrate. The ring itself collapsed under the weight, and it was used as opening footage for ECW Television program for years.

• WWE Vengeance (2002)

While not as spicy as the ECW show, this has two very important moments. Firstly being, this was John Cena’s PPV debut where he faced Chris Jericho. Which also resulted in his first ever PPV when he countered the Walls of Jericho into a Roll-Up for the shocking victory. The second moment was the triple threat for the WWE Championship. Undertaker (c) vs Kurt Angle vs The Rock. Rock winning the triple threat, gave him his 7th reign as WWE Champion, officially passing Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold, to be number one in the record books…at the time.

• TNA Impact (2009)

Now this show, we saw two titles change. Mick Foley was crowned the new Legends Champion in a unique way. Mick Foley and Bobby Lashley were tagging together against the Legends & Heavyweight Champion team of Kevin Nash & Kurt Angle. So if the champion team lost, the person to eat the pinfall would lose their title. Lashley hit Nash with the Spear and Foley covered him to win the Legends title. We also had the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles on the line, in a normal match. Team 3D (c) took on the British Invasion. Doug Williams and Magnus (aka Nick Aldis) ended up defeating the Dudleys for their first and only IWGP tag title reign.

• Dragon Gate Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival (2019)

This was the year that Ultimo Dragon officially returned to Dragon Gate, which was a huge moment. But the show itself had 3 title changes. The Open the Triangle Gate titles were won by the Strong Machines and as soon as the heel faction R.E.D. lost one belt, they gained the Twin Gate titles. when Big R Shimizu & Eita defeated both Tribe Vanguard and Kaito Ishida & Naruki Doi. While the Triple Threat tag match is more heavily praised from critics, the main event isn’t far behind and was a big moment for Dragon Gate. Ben-K, was being pushed well, but never given the rocket. So most people expected PAC to defeat Ben-K, since he never got the push. In a 26+ minute match, the coronation finally happened. Ben-K caught PAC and hit the Ben-K Bomb! He shattered PAC’s 229 day reign, and finally got pushed to the forefront of the new generation Ace.

• CMLL 72nd Anniversary De Arena Puebla (2025)

The show happened in Arena Puebla, which is one of the most storied buildings in Mexican wrestling history, opening its doors July 18, 1953, and being affectionately known as the “Temple of Pain”. Since they were in Puebla, they had a tournament for local talent leading up to the show and the finals were held during this event. Blue Shark faced Robin, and won the Campeonato Barroco, solidifying him as a premiere rising star of the Puebla region. The main event was a classic for CMLL fans with history and hatred. Gran Guerrero & Ultimo Guerrero were teaming with Mistico to battle Los Infernales (Esfinge, Mephisto & Averno). The heels were targeting Mistico, so the Guerreros Laguneros came to his assistance. Let’s also remember that Averno and Mistico have had a rivalry for over 20 years at this point. So the bad blood was insane, in a historic arena, just a great culmination of hatred and palpable determination. Mistico’s team did manage to send the crowd home happy when they won the third fall thanks to a clutch La Mistica. But a lot of this set up was classic Lucha long term, deeply ingrained disdain.

It is a little amusing that a bunch of fans bum rushing the ring and causing something that could’ve been dangerous, is heralded and used as reel footage but Woman being a sadist is a bridge too far. But aside from 90s backwards logic, see, the article had fairly relevant and memorable moments. Like I said, it got a little more niche, but at least it wasn’t anything truly innocuous.