Today In Pro Wrestling History: August 12th

So even with SummerSlams not quite kicking up yet, G1 Climax is helping to do some of the heavy lifting…and of course some of my more random finds. Time to find out where the history and the mental gymnastic divide!

• NJPW G1 Climax: Vacant NWA Heavyweight Championship & Tournament Finals: Masahiro Chono vs Rick Rude (1992)

The second year of the G1 Climax was historic because there was quite a few WCW wrestlers in the tournament, but also the very first time the NWA World Heavyweight title was decided in a Japanese tournament. The title has been vacant for nearly a year after Ric Flair left to WWF, so we reached a peak finals. Chono was the defending Tournament Winner looking to be only the third person to go back to back in the complete history of NJPW’s annual tournament (Antonio Inoki won ’74 & 75, ’78-’81, ’86-’88 – Seiji Sakaguchi won ’76 & ’77). So when Chono won, not only was it huge because he became the recognized NWA World Heavyweight Champion, but it put his name in the same conversation as Antonio Inoki, who NJPW was trying to carve a path for the New Generation, and Masahiro Chono becoming “Mr. August” helped to really set the Three Musketeers rolling.

• JCW Bloodymania: JCW Tag Team Championship: 8 Tag Team Elimination Match (2007)

While now most of us know that Bloodymania is a big deal for the Juggalos, this was the very first one. Ultimo Dragon defeated Jimmy Jacobs, Justin Credible & 2 Cold Scorpio defeated NOSAWA & Great Muta, in a couple of the undercard dream matches. The JCW Heavyweight Title match was between Corporal Robinson and Scott Hall. This helped to solidify Robinson because it was only 150 days into his 1165 day reign. So a win over Scott Hall, no matter the year, helped to really add credence to his reign. The showcase match was the JCW Tag Team Title 8 team elimination match. Mad Man Pondo & Necro Butcher managed to overcome The Bashams, Pimp & Gimp Connection (Human Tornado & Zach Gowan), The Headshrinkers, Bad Breed (Ian & Axl Rotten), Original Dream Team (Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine), Tito & Jorge Santana and All Japan (Akira Raijin & Brute Issei). Pondo was one of the biggest draws for the JCW style and underground vibe and Necro is beloved as we all were reminded thanks to the VICE documentary series. This show really set the stage for JCW to become a legit independent promotion instead of just a grab ass parody like it was initially.

• NJPW G1 Climax: Finals: Kazuchika Okada vs Karl Anderson (2012)

2012 was Okada’s breakout year, from the Rainmaker Shock in February, to this moment, no one expected Okato from a bad TNA Green Hornet parody to become the cash cow for NJPW. Okada defeated Karl in the finals, which made him the youngest winner of the G1 at 24 years, a record that was previously held by Masahiro Chono after his first win when he was 27. But another historical moment that refers back to a Chono finals, was with Karl Anderson. Karl was the first gaijin since Rick Rude to make the G1 Climax Finals exactly 20 years after the fact. One last small note, this was the first G1 Climax to introduce the G1 Briefcase for the winner. So this show really was a turning point for New Japan.

• RevPro Summer Sizzler: Big Van Vader vs Will Ospreay (2016)

This was at the height of Will Ospreay taking over the IWC conversation. Vader was openly against all the hype the Ricochet & Ospreay match got. So the Twitter fingers got flying, and this was mostly old school heat where talking smack turned into a match. RevPro was Ospreay’s home company, which helped to create the RevPro and New Japan relationship. So we got a generational clash between one of the New Japan original gaijin monsters against the newer gaijin sensation in Japan. Pete Dunne interfered on Vader’s behalf, since he was more of an old school wrestler. Ricochet came out to help Ospreay, so it was new school versus old school. After a ref bump and Dunne distraction, Vader grabbed Ospreay and chokeslammed him twice and pinned Ospreay. Many people hated the fact that Vader won, and Ospreay even cut a bit of a “pipe bomb” after, but the match wasn’t really that bad given the limitations of Vader being over 60 years old at the time.

• AAA Triplemania XXXI: Mexico City (2023)

Nicho el Millonario and Negro Casas had a Legends match. Hijo del Vikingo retained the AAA Mega Championship over Jack Cartwheel, Daga and Mike Bailey. Q.T. Marshall won the vacant AAA Latin American Championship over Pentagon Jr, Dralistico and Texano Jr. The main event saw a Four Way Lucha de Apuestas match between L.A. Park, Rush, Psycho Clown and Sam Adonis. Psycho Clown pinned Sam Adonis, forcing Adonis to have his hair shaved.

There is some fun history around the G1 Climax tournament. Masahiro Chono’s tournament success was nearly paralleled by Kazuchika Okada, while he’s overall story was mirrored by Tetsuya Naito. Chono is a storied Japanese wrestler, but only held the IWGP Heavyweight title once, even though he was the most popular wrestler in New Japan for nearly a decade. Naito has more general title reigns, but the popular faction leader who often fell short against contemporaries was the overlap. So Chono, effectively helped to define the boom period of New Japan. Also, while there was general disdain for the Vader finish, Vader did go on to put Ospreay over. So in the grand scheme of things, it was still a positive moment that gave Vader one last mainstream draw.