Today In Pro Wrestling History: August 31st

We get to end the month with an interesting spread of events. A few things from the 80s, a fair amount of Japanese moments, but we end on possibly the most important event in the last 10 years. Let’s get to it!

• AJPW Decisive Battle!: NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship: Kuniaki Kobayashi (c) vs Tiger Mask II (1985)

This had many layers of history. Kobayashi was known as the “Tiger Hunter” dating back to his NJPW tenure as a brutal rival against the first Tiger Mask Satoru Sayama. He would attack not only the man, but the mask. Kobayashi’s desire was to expose the man as well as win the match. Utilizing the bad blood from the previous Tiger, Kobayashi brought the same aggression to a much younger and leaner Mitsuharu Misawa (the man under the Tiger Mask II persona). A clash of styles with the aggressive NJPW style, and Misawa trying to survive with the aerial Tiger style. The survival was compounded by the fact that Misawa was returning from a knee injury, that gave the “Tiger Hunter” a target. In a gritty 15:36 match, Misawa managed to secure the pinfall via Tiger Suplex Hold ’85. About 8 months later Misawa vacated the title to move to the Heavyweight Division. The title was then absorbed into the new AJPW Junior Heavyweight Title, so that’s why the title disappears for about 20 years from history.

• CWA Memphis: AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship Steel Cage Bet Match: Don Bass (c) w/Downtown Bruno vs Jerry Lawler (1987)

This is one of those interesting end of the territory era kind of matches that seems crazy today. The Bet stipulations were as follows: Lawler put up his Hair, $5,000 and his brand new Corvette – Bass put up the AWA Southern Heavyweight Title, his Hair and Downtown Bruno’s career in Memphis. So it was like a Lucha de Apuestas match, with extra steps. This all culminated after a ref bump, Bruno throwing in a guitar, but Lawler getting his hands on the weapon, hitting Bass with it and winning the match. The victory gave Lawley a historic 50th reign with the title, and of course the sight of Don Bass getting shaved bald and Bruno getting ejected from the territory.

• NJPW Final Power Hall in Yokohama: IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Shinya Hashimoto (c) vs Kensuke Sasaki (1997)

This match signified a shift in the NJPW landscape. Hashimoto was the lead Musketeer and the “King” of New Japan, but Sasaki was on the rise. Hashimoto was enjoying his 480 day reign, and Sasaki earned this shot after winning the G1 Climax (this was before they starting turning it into the briefcase and WK, WWE style gimmick). A brutal match of strikes and ferocity took place. This was the epitome of the original Strong Style of grudge match stiff striking. Sasaki focused Hashimoto’s legs and wore down the battered champion. Utilizing his signature Northern Lights Bomb and a cavalcade of stiff Lariats, Sasaki finally kept Hashimoto down for the pinfall after 17 minutes. This was Sasaki’s first reign as IWGP Champion, and proved he was going to be a major player in the company through the new millennium.

• NJPW Royal Quest (2019)

We got to see KENTA’s first match as a member of the Bullet Club, where he defeated Tomohiro Ishii for the NEVER Openweight Championship. All while Aussie Open showcased their talent to a larger audience when they fell to the Guerrillas of Destiny, but it was a rough defense for G.o.D. Hiroshi Tanahashi also defeated Zack Sabre Jr for the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship after Sabre notably injured Tanahashi’s arm and forced the Ace to submit at the G1 Supercard Show in MSG. The main event, while not their most famous moment, was Minoru Suzuki trying to finish the Japanese Title Grand Slam and defeat Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight title. Unfortunately for Suzuki, this ended in defeat when Okada hit his Tombstone Piledriver, and Suzuki has never been able to rise back to the challenge for the one belt that eludes him from adding his name to history.

• AEW All Out (2019)

Now the whole event was important because it proved the brand could draw well enough to validate creating a television product. While it was never true competition to WWE in the terms of ratings, it did push salaries up and finally give wrestlers a valid option of exposure and good pay instead of the monopoly that wrestling was for nearly 20 years. The Ladder match for the AAA Tag Team Titles between the Lucha Bros and Young Bucks was the most talked about match from the hardcore circles, but the viral moments belong to the main event. Chris Jericho defeated Hangman Page to become the inaugural AEW World Heavyweight Champion, which immediately positioned the product at having a champion who’s name was known to lapsed fans and most casual fans. It also gave us a “A Little Bit of Bubbly”, both the Champagne and the catchphrase gimmick. This was a bright spot for wrestling history in general, because there was finally money to made outside of the WWE machine.

Even if we all know I can’t stand AEW in the current day, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t hopeful in that first year. I bought a “Little Bit of the Bubbly”, I really wanted it to succeed, but it eventually showed its inexperience and inability to learn. The beauty of history is we can look back and remember what the moments meant at the time, even if they’re complete jokes now.