Today In Pro Wrestling History: August 22nd

Well now, we have the most WWE focused article I’ve ever written. Not just History…but anything. There is at least one very historic match, and the rest is still memorable and fun. Let’s find out what the 22nd brings us!

• WWF SummerSlam (1999)

This was an interesting intersection of things that affect wrestling history. This was the final Big Four booked by Vince Russo. Even though he left after Unforgiven the next month, this was the last PPV that markedly felt like a Russo show. We also got a major moment when it came to mainstream news sources, because Jesse Ventura returned to WWF while he was the sitting Governor of Minnesota. This tied into the big wrestling moment, since Ventura was the Special Guest Referee for the WWF Championship Match. Mankind won the WWF Championship, for his third and final WWF Championship reign.

• WWE Raw: WWE Tag Team Titles: David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty (c) vs Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston (2011)

This was a big turning point, Evan and Kofi were fan favorite high flying babyfaces, while McGillicutty and Otunga were the last gasps of the New Nexus. Evan and Kofi were victorious, with a digital vote naming them Air Boom, and giving Evan Bourne his only WWE title reign. This was also Kofi’s first WWE Tag Title reign (he held the World Tags with Punk, not the WWE).

• NXT TakeOver Brooklyn: NXT Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks (c) vs Bayley (2015)

This match, is looked at as the spark that ignited WWE’s Women’s Revolution. As a co-main event, it drew over 15,000 fans which also helped to cement moving away from the Divas style. Bayley also had one of the best payoffs from a story perspective since this match solidified her as the Ultimate Underdog, and her “Hugger” personality was over huge in NXT. After the match, which is regarded as a classic even outside of the WWE bubble, the Four Horsewomen embraced and this was a flashpoint in the evolution of mainstream women’s wrestling.

• NXT TakeOver XXX: NXT Championship: Keith Lee (c) vs Karrion Kross (2020)

Kross was enjoying a dominant push, being this sadistic harbinger of doom. Keith Lee defeated Adam Cole to become the first double champ only 52 days prior. As far as storylines go, this was huge for Kross as a world breaker. Defeating Keith Lee made him seem like such a massive threat and monster as he was just adding more bodies to his pile. However, the match quality suffered because Kross got injured. But since Keith Lee got was getting called up a few days later, the finish wasn’t going to change. Kross was injured, so he had to vacate the title, but his aura was intact given how everything was forced to play out. Kross’ aura wasn’t ruined until he went to the main roster…

• MLW Summer of the Beasts (2024)

A few big moments and debuts/redebuts here. Donovan Dijak debuted after his WWE run and Paul London returned to MLW for the first time in 21 years. The wrestling aspects had some major moments, CozyMAX (Satoshi Kojima & Okumura) lost the tag titles to Minoru Suzuki & Ikuro Kwon. But the finals of the Opera Cup helped to really highlight MLW’s partnership with CMLL. Mistico faced off with Atlantis Jr. Mistico ended up winning the tournament while also being the reigning Middleweight Champion.

Well, well, well…we got one huge historic moment with Bayley and Sasha, but the other events were still major moments either at the time or in the overarching narrative of where people’s careers have gone. I do still contend, that I don’t understand the Mistico hype. Be it Mistico, Caristico, Mysteziz or Sin Cara…I have never been impressed.