So there’s a decent mixture of companies today. Some big moments for the company, some fun memories for fans of the promotion, let’s see what we have to work with today!

• NJPW Summer Struggle: J-Crown: Jushin Thunder Liger (c) vs El Samurai (1997)

The J-Crown changed, but most internet age wrestling fans remember the iconic Ultimo Dragon with the 9 titles, that many people have tried to replicate, but their attempts have been pathetic utilizing titles with no prestige just looking for belt count. The J-Crown was the top 8 Light Heavy/Junior belts at the time. Granted a month before this match, Liger lost the WAR International Junior title to Yuji Yasuraoka, so that made the J-Crown reduce to 7 titles. Still prestigious, just one less. El Samurai was pushed over the course of his career by Liger, so with Samurai defeating Liger, while the J-Crown had one less title, it didn’t diminish the accomplishment much. Samurai also broke Liger’s reign, which was the longest reign in the history of the J-Crown at 183 days.

• WCW Nitro: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) vs Goldberg (1998)

In a similar vein to the previous entry, most internet age fans know this one. United States Champion Goldberg, got a shot at Hulk Hogan after dispatching Scott Hall earlier in the night. This was at the height of Goldberg’s undefeated streak, the run of 83 weeks where WCW was smoking WWF, and nWo was still not quite a diluted shell of ridiculous garbage. When Goldberg defeated Hulk Hogan, it was huge. The crowd came unglued, it was heralded as being a PPV quality match on free television, and the right guy went over. It was an epic moment to experience as a WCW fan.

• IWA-MS Summertime Black & Blues (2008)

While this could easily be on here as a showcase of names that have been huge in the current generation of wrestling like; Sami Callihan, Ricochet, Drake Younger, Mustafa Ali, Michael Elgin, Sara Del Rey and Chuckie T. But part of the history here is this was the first event after the “Mike Levy” incident, and the dominos started to really fall on IWA-MS here. Completely justified as well, look up the Mike Levy incident and watch how stupid decisions from people in charge ruined the reputation of the brand and ultimately killed the company even before the next like 3 hiatuses before the promotion closed in 2022.

• MLW Kings of the Colosseum (2019)

The height of MLW’s power, with Fusion going strong, a great reputation for action, lesser known great wrestlers and a dope option to WWE. Jacob Fatu ending up winning the MLW Heavyweight Championship from Tom Lawlor in relatively quick fashion. This was huge since Jacob and Josef Samael debuted CONTRA a few months prior, but this was the foundation point for the dominant heel faction, that is still relevant in MLW today. Jacob went on to carry this title for 819 days, a record that still stands as the longest singular reign and also, the most combined days as MLW Heavyweight Champion.

• WWE Money In The Bank (2024)

This is an oddly memorable show, but not exactly for the matches and more for the moments. This was the event where John Cena made a surprise appearance to announce his Retirement Tour. That had the internet buzzing, the clip alone garnered more than 60 million views in 24 hours. But another moment that makes the show memorable, is the very first failed same night cash in. Drew McIntyre won the Men’s MITB match, and ran in mid match between Damian Priest and Seth Rollins, declaring his intent and making it a Triple Threat. But, CM Punk jumped the barricade to cost Drew McIntyre allowing Priest to get the pin and retain, making an ass out of Drew McIntyre.

Some odd events that still qualify as memorable, even if the memories are negative or confusing. But just wait til we get to the day that WWF forgot about their Light Heavyweight title and forced the J-Crown to stop being a thing. Anyway, enjoy your sweltering heat…Autumn can’t come fast enough. I hate summer…

While this article doesn’t contain anything for WWE only fans, there’s still plenty of names that most modern wrestling fans should be aware of. I can only utilize events that happened on this day, so if your favorite company isn’t around, yell at them to spread out their shows better.

• WCW Great American Bash Tour at the Omni: WCW World Tag Team Titles: The Steiner Brothers (c) vs Miracle Violence Connection (1992)

Now the major point is the tags, but I didn’t want to miss the chance to mention Brad Armstrong defeated Scotty Flamingo (Raven) for the Light Heavyweight title on this same show. Random Scotty Flamingo facts amuses me. But back to the main dish, the Steiners and MVC collided a lot the last month or so. Prime stiff wrasslin style of tag team wrestling was what these teams brought to the table. And in this situation, the Miracle Violence Connection ended up getting the best of things and taking the titles off the Steiners.

• AAA Triplemanía VIII (2000)

This was only the second Triplemania outside of Mexico, but the first one ever in Japan. While there was no epic Lucha de Apuestas match or emotional journey, this was more of a star studded crossover event. Heavy Metal teamed with Tiger Mask IV, there was a Four Corners Elimination Trios match with names like Naomichi Marufuji, Psicosis, Perro Aguayo Jr and Espiritu. The main event was an Atomoicos match with Hector Garza, Octagon, Latin Lover & Jushin Liger versus Cibernetico, Abismo Negro, CIMA & Electroshock. So it was a nice cross over with some established New Japan names, NOAH and future of Dragon Gate when they rebranded from Toryumon.

• NJPW New Japan Soul: IWGP Junior Tag Titles: Motor City Machine Guns (c) vs Apollo 55 (2009)

For the uninitiated, Apollo 55 is Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi. This was during the good years of TNA and NJPW getting along. MCMG took the Junior titles off of No Limit and were defending it on TNA television. Apollo 55 had an earlier title shot, but they were too fresh of a team and didn’t know how to wrestle together. This match was the Apollo 55 coming out party, a 21 minute tag team classic that holds up against anything at present and anything in the past. Apollo 55 winning was a feel good moment for the Japanese crowd and their first tag titles reign. A tremendous moment between two teams that helped to define the modern style of wrestling.

• NJPW Dominion (2015)

This was the culmination of a few things that would help mold NJPW for the next decade. This was their first show in Osaka-Jo Hall in 21 years and they sold it out. Tetsuya Naito began the Los Ingobernables de Japon attitude when he refused to help Tomoaki Honma in a mid card random tag match. While it wasn’t the official debut, the change was evident in the Stardust Genius, and this set the gears in motion. But the big draw from a wrestling perspective was Kazuchika Okada looking to avenge his Wrestle Kingdom loss to AJ Styles. While it wasn’t a pure wrestling classic because Bullet Club still polluted the first few minutes, we all know it was a great match given the participants. The counter wrestling towards the finish was fantastic, and with Okada winning the match and becoming heavyweight champion again, it kept The Rainmaker well positioned as the new Ace.

• Impact Wrestling: Final Deletion (2016)

What is regarded as the first ever cinematic match, we had the face off of Broken Matt versus Jeff Hardy at the Hardy Compound. This match put TNA/Impact’s name on people’s tongue for the first time in years. While the initial reception was confused and mixed, mostly because Impact was in obscurity, so what lead to this was relatively unknown and the cinematic overly scripted and reshot aspect had people curious if this helped or hurt the suspension of disbelief with people already knowing wrestling was scripted. As we know, it began a renaissance for the Hardys. Broke, Woke, Rejuvenated, or any and all in between, has been helping the Hardys stay relevant this last decade and surprisingly also became the blueprint for how wrestling evolved during the Pandemic.

• MLP Resurrection (2025)

So most people know that Scott D’Amore decided to become the spiritual successor to Maple Leaf Wrestling, by creating Maple Leap Pro-Wrestling in August 2024. This show was the first show in Montreal and an ambitious swing utilizing a lot of international talent. The Good Brothers defeated the Bullet Club War Dogs, Gisele Shaw retained her MLP Women’s Championship over Shotzi Blackheart, Thom Lattimer defended the NWA World Title against Matt Cardona successfully and Josh Alexander also defended his MLP Canadian Championship against Ace Austin. So this was a supercard of TNA, NJPW, AEW and NWA talent. The main event was Montreal’s own French Canadian Frankenstein PCO vs Dan Maff in a House of Pain match with Billy Gunn as the special guest referee. While titles didn’t change hands, it was still a fairly big Supercard for the first event in Montreal with the hometown guy going over. So it was definitely memorable, especially if you speak French.

A few supercards, two events with my top two tag teams of all time and the innovative but initially confusing Final Deletion. Kind of an odd list of shows, but kinda expected when you involve the cinematic Hardys stuff.