Today In Pro Wrestling History: August 25th

This is the most variety in a hot a minute and nothing needed a SuperShow to fill out the list! These are all major companies with some significant events today!

• ECW Jim Thorpe Show: ECW TV Title: Eddie Guerrero (c) vs Too Cold Scorpio (1995)

This was a big moment since Eddie Guerrero was leaving after the next day. So given that Eddie was on the move to WCW, the crowd chanted and begged him to stay, but when Scorpio won the match, it was obvious he was leaving. Scorpio won with his signature Tumbleweed into Pumphandle Gutbuster. After the match, Scorp took the mic and declared that ECW was superior to WCW, while Guerrero said he wasn’t leaving forever and would return one day. The victory also gave Scorpio his third Television Title reign, giving him the most in company history.

• WWE SummerSlam (2002)

This was a fantastic card of returns, PPV debuts and history. Shawn Michaels and Triple H’s feud came to a head during this show. Coming back from a 4 year retirement due to his back injury, the crowd loved that Shawn returned. Shawn managed to overcome Triple H’s personal betrayal showing his resilience. We saw Rey Mysterio’s PPV debut against Kurt Angle. It was a great clash of styles, Rey’s fast pace and Kurt’s technical prowess was something that captured people’s imagination. Kurt won with the Ankle Lock, but Rey started to awe the WWE crowd. Another match that was technically great was Eddie Guerrero vs Edge, in which Edge won. Rob Van Dam also defeated Chris Benoit for the Intercontinental Championship. The largest title change was Brock Lesnar defeating The Rock, to become the youngest WWE Champion in history.

• ROH Manhattan Mayhem II (2007)

This was a show with two amazing moments that helped to keep the aura of ROH as the pinnacle of independent wrestling. The main event was a 2 out 3 Falls match for the ROH Tag Titles between El Generico & Kevin Steen against the champions and most decorated ROH team, The Briscoes. In a surprising turn of events, the Briscoes won the nearly 25 minute war, 2-0. Not very often that 2 out of 3 fall matches don’t go to the third fall. But the most memorable match was probably between Takeshi Morishima and Bryan Danielson for the ROH title. Morishima was on a dominant reign, as he was the powerhouse from Pro Wrestling NOAH, and we all know Danielson’s prowess. This match was technically amazing, but also became infamous because the stiff strikes of Morishima gave Danielson a detached retina. While he fought through the injury, it added to the hard hitting fight aspect, but Morishima managed to defeat the now injured Danielson after a Lariat rocked Bryan and the Backdrop Driver finished him off after about 20 minutes.

• AAA TripleMania XXVI (2018)

Two huge moments went on during this show. Fenix won the Mega Championship in a 4-Way over Brian Cage, Rich Swann and Jeff Jarrett. That might’ve ended up being one of the biggest moments if it wasn’t for the main event, Poker de Ases match. Mask vs Mask 4-Way Cage Match between L.A. Park, Psycho Clown, Pentagon Jr and El Hijo del Phantasma. L.A. Park, defeated Phantasma, which caused him to unmask and reveal himself as Jorge Luis Alcantar Bolly, who would later become Santos Escobar in WWE.

• AEW All In London (2024)

A bunch of returns and debuts filled this show, along with a memorable main event. Ricochet debuted in the Casino Battle Royal, Nigel McGuinness came out of retirement to join the Gauntlet as well, and Jamie Hayter finally returned to AEW after around 15 months on injury hiatus. Bryan Danielson faced Swerve Strickland in a Title versus Career match.  After a 26 minute match, heralded by many, Bryan Danielson managed to successfully defeat Swerve and not lose his career.

Eddie Guerrero and Bryan Danielson ties across different events is interesting, but at least every event is something that fans hold dear. Also nice to see back to back days with Takeshi Morishima’s impact on the wrestling world. I’m always amused when we can get solid variety and events that matter on a larger scale than a storyline.