Today In Pro Wrestling History: August 3rd

Now we’ve got a decent amount of things for today, and yes I had to cherry pick a two SummerSlams because I don’t like having tons of the same show. But there’s at least events to pick from now instead of scrape through.

• WWF SummerSlam (1997)

A few notable moments from Mankind’s Elbow Drop off the cage and then we have the match that changed Stone Cold’s style forever. The Intercontinental Championship match between Austin and Owen Hart, where the errant Piledriver ended up breaking Stone Cold’s neck. Austin won the match and became Intercontinental Champion, but the injury changed his style forever. Another notable moment that sticks with people is the Shawn Michaels chairshot that helped Bret Hart defeat Undertaker for the World Heavyweight title match.

• ROH All Star Extravaganza V: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Forever Hooligans (c) vs American Wolves (2013)

This was a 26 minute Junior style masterclass. Rocky Romero and Alex Kozlov took the titles off of reDragon the week before, and this was one of the more hot potato moments for the ROH tag titles. The Wolves took the titles off the Hooligans, but dropped the belts two weeks later back to reDragon and it was the last time the Wolves held the ROH tag belts.

• AAA TripleMania XXVII (2019)

This was a huge moment for the AEW and AAA cross promotional relationship and had some fairly historic moments. Tessa Blanchard won the vacant Reina de Reinas Championship in a 7 way against decorated opponents like Ayaka Hamada, La Hiedra, Faby Apache, Chik Tormenta, Lady Shani and Taya Valkyrie. Cain Velasquez made his wrestling debut in a trios match, teaming with Cody Rhodes & Psycho Clown against Killer Kross, Black Taurus and El Texano Jr. The marquee match was the historic battle between Blue Demon Jr and Dr Wagner Jr. It was a Lucha de Apuestas Mask vs Hair bloodbath. This was two years after Wagner lost his mask to Psycho Clown, and was on a new chapter of his career. The blood feud goes back to the original Blue Demon and Doctor Wagner, and started to explode over the previous year when Blue Demon Jr returned to AAA. Interference from the next generation of family, weapons…and the match was punctuated when Blue Demon Jr used a cement brick to defeat Wagner. It was one hell of a moment.

• WWE SummerSlam (2024)

We got a very consistent show that helped to keep the excitement for the Triple H era towards the peak. LA Knight had a great match, defeating Logan Paul. Drew McIntyre edged out CM Punk in a grudge match, with special referee Seth Rollins. Gunther put an end to Damian Priest’s World Heavyweight title run. Which at the time was well received because Priest wasn’t really living up to what was expected of him from holding the belt, having obvious issues and telegraphing moments in matches that just made him look weak and incompetent. The biggest moment didn’t involve a title change though, when Roman Reigns returned during the Bloodline Rules match to even the playing field, laying out Solo and giving Cody a respectful nod, as Cody hit the Crossroads to retain the Undisputed Championship. This was just a great show from top to bottom, and Roman’s return was huge for the Bloodline story and main event scene moving forward.

• AJPW Nettou Summer Action Wars (2025)

A title change and a tournament finals round out our history today! Kento Miyahara and Yuma Aoyagi were the AJPW World Tag Team Champions, defending against the veteran duo of Hideki Suzuki and Kengo Mashima. In a 25 minute bout, Suzuki actually got the pinfall on Kento, to win the tag team titles. This would mark both Kengo and Hideki’s second time as tag team champions, but their first reigns were with different teammates. As for the tournament finals, the Zennichi Junior Festival, saw Atsuki Aoyagi (Yuma’s brother) face off against fellow AJPW junior star Rising HAYATO. They are the classic rivals and teammates as they have tagged together in the Jr Tag Festival, reaching the finals twice up to this point, only to fall as Runner-Up. But Aoyagi won this singles tournament in 2022, so he’s looking to join rarefied air as a two time winner. After a nearly 30 minute war of attrition and numerous counters and reversals, Aoyagi finally caught HAYATO. Once he caught him, Aoyagi landed his Firebird Splash, and that was all, cementing Aoyagi as a two time winner. Joining the likes of: Koji Iwamoto, Kaz Hayashi, Shuji Kondo and Kotaro Suzuki.

Yes, I chose 2024 SummerSlam over 2025, because at the point when Cody beat Cena, it wasn’t nearly as epic as Roman’s return and that whole storyline. As Cody and Cena even said on the “What Do You Want to Talk About” interview…they were left with their dicks in the dirt and had to make things work after the whole angle fell apart. And I always enjoy finding some random Japanese stuff to throw in, especially during a casual friendly article, because it can help possibly peak interest.