Today In Pro Wrestling History: July 9th

This is definitely an article for the American crowd. We start with a touch of 80s nostalgia, then some peak wrestling time and end more recently. We aren’t heading south of the border or north or across any bodies of water. Let’s see what happened!

• MACW TV: NWA World Tag Team Championship: Ivan Koloff & Krusher Khrushchev (c) vs Rock ‘N’ Roll Express (1985)

This match kicked off the legend of the Rock ‘N’ Roll Express. Beating the Russians, gave Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson their first NWA World Tag Team Championship reign. It should also be noted that even though their first reign was only 96 days, there was 46 successful title defenses, 48 matches counting this win and their eventual loss of the title.

• WCW Bash at the Beach (2000)

This was the infamous Hogan vs Russo shoot promo clash. Russo and Hogan disagreed on things, Jeff Jarrett, the champion at the time, laid down in the middle of the ring for Hogan to win. Hogan pinned him, refused to celebrate and then cut the promo. Hogan punctuated it with “This is why the company is in the damn shape it’s in”. Russo clapped back by firing Hogan on the show and then declaring Booker T vs Jeff Jarrett was the real championship match. Which lead to Booker’s first World Heavyweight Title reign.

• WWF Monday Night Raw (2001)

Stephanie revealed herself as the owner of ECW, and they officially joined together with Shane’s WCW roster to create The Alliance officially. The reveal of the Alliance was a great moment when Dreamer and RVD jumped the guardrail to attack Kane and Chris Jericho, we saw a bunch of other WWF newer faces run down for the supposed save, but since the faces were the Dudleyz, Raven, Tazz, Rhyno and Justin Credible, it wasn’t shocking for fans of ECW to see where it was going. While the Invasion Angle was fumbled hard, this initial reveal and concept were a big moment for this transitional monopoly period of WWF.

• WWE Great Balls of Fire (2017)

This is memorable for two separate reasons. Initially, the IWC mocked and lambasted the name of the show, thinking it was hilariously stupid. But to their chagrin, it turned out to be a really good show, with some fun and memorable moments. Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns’ Ambulance match was surprisingly good. The Bar retaining the tag titles over the Hardyz in an Iron Man match was great. The main event of Brock Lesnar vs Samoa Joe for the Universal Championship turned out to be a really good match. Even though the match was only about 6 minutes long, it was hard hitting and pretty solid. Sure, some people complained that Joe lost, sure. But that doesn’t stop the show from over performing the expectations and turning one of the most ridiculed show names into a fun memory.

• Pro Wrestling Revolver Cage of Horrors (2022)

The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) defeated the Forgotten Sons (Wes Blake & Steve Maclin) for the PWR Tag titles. Mike Bailey actually defended the X Division title on this show against Manders. We got The Switchblades (Moxley & Sami Callihan) reforming to take on The American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) in a solid match with teams who weren’t working together super often at the time. The main event being the Cage of Horrors, was a well received match, where JT Dunn, Tyler Matrix & Logan James defeated Matt Palmer, Swerve & Rich Swann. So the whole event was pretty big for independent stars, an X Division title shot on a show that wasn’t Impact branded and a solid title change.

Fun events, first title reigns, and airing dirty laundry on live PPV, which signaled the inevitable end for WCW. So it’s a generally unexpected mixture of companies and moments. Always fun to see what memorable moments align with the day we happen to be covering. Find out if tomorrow is as weird as today!