Today In Pro Wrestling History: August 18th

Okay, so this is a good article for fans who don’t look outside of North America or cross any oceans to enjoy their wrestling. But amusingly, even though there are two SummerSlams, I did have to dip into the 60s and it wasn’t for any experimental psychedelics. Let’s see what went on!

• AWA Winnipeg Show: AWA Heavyweight Championship Texas Death Match: Verne Gagne (c) vs Hard Boiled Haggerty (1961)

This match and one 10 days prior started to cause friction between the AWA’s top three stars, Verne Gagne, Gene Kiniski and Haggerty. The previous match was Kiniski facing Gagne in a Cage Match, but when Haggerty tried to get involved to help Kiniski, there was a malfunction at the junction and Haggerty struck Kiniski, allowing Gagne to retain the title. So now was Haggerty’s chance to dethrone Gagne. Due to Haggerty costing Kiniski, Kiniski never appeared during the match even though all three had issues. Gagne locked in his signature Sleeper Hold, which won the match since Haggerty passed out in the hold. So the Sleeper counted as the initial fall, and then Haggerty was still out cold, not responding to the 10 count.

• WCW Clash of Champions: THE SHOCKMASTER (1993)

Everyone should be aware of this ridiculous mess of a debut. During the Flair for Gold interview segment, Sting was introducing their mystery partner, and Shockmaster literally fell through a wall. His bedazzled Stormtrooper helmet came off, he tried to recollect himself as the pre-recorded ominous voice over played, and everyone involved either struggled to keep a straight face or just laughed at the laughing stock spot. This became a meme before the term was coined, and thankfully for Fred Ottman, he learned to embrace the botch and use it to his gain since that botch is one of the most well known moments in all of wrestling history.

• WWF SummerSlam: World Heavyweight Championship: Shawn Michaels (c) vs Vader (1996)

Vader is yet again on another infamous event, on the same date…just a different year. But this time the infamy involves him. Vader and Michaels did not get along stylistically or personality. Vader shone in realistic and stiff wrestling companies like older WCW or AJPW & NJPW. So Michaels wanting more protection and choreography, was just something Vader didn’t do well. The match was restarted twice after Vader won via Count out and Disqualification, but since Vader couldn’t win the title that way his manager, Jim Cornette, demanded the match restarted. Michaels eventually won when Vader missed the Vader-sault and Michaels hit his own Moonsault. It was after this match that Shawn went on his crusade against Vader to get him dropped down the card and eventually ousted from WWF.

• WWE SummerSlam (2013)

Two classic WWE matches and an infamous swerve keep this event very memorable. CM Punk vs Brock Lesnar was a 25 minute brutal No Disqualification match. Punk used Chairs and his speed to try and neutralize Brock’s power, but Heyman prevented Brock from ever really succumbing to anything. Out of frustration Punk attacked Heyman, locked him in the Anaconda Vise, but this gave Brock time to recover and eventually finish off Punk. The other match being Daniel Bryan vs John Cena, with Triple H as the Guest Referee. Cena and Bryan went nearly 27 minutes with Bryan debuting the Running Knee Strike finish to finally put away Cena. After the match, Cena raised Bryan’s hand and Triple H waited until the confetti was falling to hit the Pedigree on Daniel Bryan. The YES! movement crested, but it was bested. Randy Orton came down, cashed in the briefcase, won the title and The Authority story began. Daniel Bryan is currently one of the shortest WWE title reigns in history.

• NXT TakeOver Brooklyn 4 (2018)

One of the great and classic Black & Gold events during the times when NXT was the favored child of the IWC. There were two big title changes and the main event was epic storytelling. Ricochet defeated Adam Cole for the North American title. This was historic because it was the first title change in the North American titles’ history. Cole’s inaugural title reign ended at 133 days. In another first, Kairi Sane looked to continue her legacy as being the kryptonite of Shayna Baszler. In a very solid match, Kairi did indeed defeat Shayna during her dominant heel run, to give Kairi her first and only NXT Women’s title reign.  The main event, Tommaso Ciampa (c) vs Johnny Gargano in a Last Man Standing match for the NXT Championship, was also epic. This was 3 years of storytelling and 1 year of betrayal. Going from underdogs, to a thrown together team that became fan favorites, when Ciampa betrayed Gargano as Chicago (2017) was going off air, people couldn’t believe it. Gargano couldn’t get immediate revenge because Ciampa had a legit ACL during the show, so he was out with injury. Gargano spiraled a bit, but when Ciampa returned to screw Gargano out of an NXT Championship match against Andrade, we could finally get a chance for revenge. After nearly 34 minutes, Gargano though he had Ciampa dead to rights, handcuffed and looking finished. Gargano charged for his Knee Strike, but Ciampa managed to dodge causing Gargano to crash and burn into the production crates and equipment. Ciampa stumbled up, while Gargano incapacitated himself because of his obsession and rage. The story wasn’t over, but would set the stage for one of the most storied NXT feuds of the any era.

Vader being on two of the shows is amusing, Ciampa and Gargano having a match that was part of their storied feud is fantastic for more recent fans and meme fodder like the Shockmaster helped to give birth to Botchamania and other staple IWC media outlets. Workrate and memes, basically the entire language of the IWC in 2026.