Today In Pro Wrestling History: July 30th

July is winding down and we’re slowly reaching that tipping point where I might just have to pick the most obscure avant-garde shows for the 31st unless business picks up. Today is only a slight stretch, but if we get an insert for Valhalla Championship Wrestling or Borat’s Three Count House Party…then you all know why. But let’s get through today first.

• WWF Monday Night Raw: WCW Heavyweight Championship: Kurt Angle (c) vs Booker T (2001)

This was a week after Stone Cold made his turn on WWF known after InVasion. Even though the match itself was only 8 minutes, and it ended because of…well…exactly the same reason why Team Alliance beat Team WWF, I think we all know why this is on here. Without this victory we wouldn’t all remember the “5 Time, 5 Time, 5 Time, WCW Heavyweight Champion” Booker T. Between this, NWO and Degeneration X…Highschool teachers hated wrestling fans.

• CZW Tournament of Death IV: Ultraviolent Boxes, Barbed Wire Canvas, Light Tubes, Squared Circle Of Fear, & Whatever The Fuck Is Left Elimination Death Match: Nick Gage vs Necro Butcher vs Zandig (2005)

In typical CZW fashion, the match concept is crazy and some of the moments are pure chaos. Nick Gage is the first one eliminated because he was set on fire and then thrown into a stack of light tubes. I mean, that’s definitely a way to eliminate someone. Then when it came down to Necro and Zandig, BLKOUT (Eddie Kingston & Robbie Mireno) came out to get revenge on Zandig for eliminating them earlier. Necro pinned Zandig on the barbed wire as Gypsy Joe counted the pinfall, and Necro was cemented as a Death Match icon.

• NOAH NTV G+ Tag League Series: GHC Heavyweight Championship Lumberjack Match: Go Shiozaki (c) vs Takashi Sugiura (2016)

Now this is memorable for many awful reasons if you’re a NOAH fan. Takashi Sugiura, was a NOAH wrestler who betrayed the company to join Suzuki-Gun during this invasion angle, which honestly almost bankrupted the company. Shiozaki was the NOAH born, Kobashi’s trainee and one to carry the spirit of Misawa…but he was still very much in his Fallen Ace era. The weight of a crumbling company and the overwhelming heel tactics of Suzuki-Gun were too much for him to bear. After taking the title off of Sugiura 63 days prior, he lost, and it was back in control of Suzuki-Gun.

• Dragon Gate Kobe World ~ Ultimo Dragon 35th Anniversary (2022)

As the name suggests, this was a celebration of Ultimo Dragon’s 35 years in pro wrestling, along with Dragon Gate’s biggest show. To further punctuate Ultimo Dragon’s career, he was set to face El Hijo del Santo. As the match starts off exactly how you would expect two 55+ veterans, they were attacked by NOSAWA and Eita of Los Perros del Mal de Japon. So it went from a singles to an “impromptu” tag match, with Dragon and Santo going over. It was a symbolic match, it wasn’t intended to set the ratings charts on fire. The Open the Dream Gate match saw a title change. The champion going in was KAI, who is a more well known freelancer, but found a nice rhythm in Dragon Gate during his time with R.E.D. and Z-Brats. While respected, KAI is never gonna get the crowd moist, so it was smart to have him drop it Yuki Yoshioka, a relatively new and younger name, because Dragon Gate needed to start pushing its younger talent at this time. The youth movement being necessary was on full display for the standout match of the night. The Open the Twin Gate championship match between Diamante & Shun Skywalker (c) vs Funky Jacky Kamei & Jason Lee. When Jacky beat Shun (a former Dream Gate) champion in a singles match, he earned the right to challenge for the tag titles. In an 18 minute affair, Jacky made lightning strike twice, hitting Project A on Shun, and giving the underdog team the victory! This match was a spectacle to watch, is highly rated and heavily touted as the show stealer.

• WWE SummerSlam (2022)

Well this was a memorable turning point for WWE. SummerSlam as the first PLE in the post-Vince era, as well as, the first and only SummerSlam that wasn’t in August. Coming off the miserable PG era and the awkward Thunderdome covid years, this reignited people’s imagination and interest in WWE. While no titles changed hands, there was a pretty epic return from Edge to help Dom Mysterio against the Judgement Day and then one of everyone’s favorite moments in the main event. Big Boy Brock, driving his tractor down to the ring while Roman is recovering, colliding with the ring, only to then lift it up, causing Roman to literally fall and slide out to the floor, causing the referee to have to start the Last Man Standing count. Brock is laughing his ass off, the crowd is chanting “Holy Shit”, that is a memorable moment and a half.

Hey, memorable history doesn’t always involve a title change. No one can tell me that the tractor moment isn’t memorable…and setting a dude on fire and throwing him into light tubes is also something that sticks with people. Not all history is pretty, but all that matters is that it’s worthy of being remembered.