Today In Pro Wrestling History: September 16th

Now most of the major areas for wrestling are represented today, and if you don’t believe me, ROH was in their “working with NOAH” phase during that Glory By Honor. So there will be inclusion of wrestlers for a bunch of different fans today!

• AAA Verano de Escandalo: Lucha de Apuestas Elimination Match: El Zorro vs El Dandy vs Electroshock vs El Hijo de Perro Aguayo (2002)

This event tickled me a little bit because of the inclusion of El Dandy and most people know of the WCW Bret Hart promos that have become a meme. So even though El Dandy is a jam-up guy, he was a guy in a jam. Especially with the rules in this match, if you think the King of the Mountain rules are convoluted, do I have news for you. The rules are still effectively based on traditional 2 out of 3 falls structure and reverse elimination. So Hijo secured the first pinfall over El Dandy, but no one was safe yet, the scoreboard was just in Hijo’s favor. Seeing the situation, Electroshock submitted Hijo. The second fall guaranteed escape, so Electroshock was saved. Due to how the score was, Hijo was also granted “Final Escape” shortly after. Which left El Dandy and El Zorro in a “final fall”. However, our favorite jam-up guy was a heel in this match, so he tried to go for a cheap win with a Low Blow, but the referee actually had eyes for a change. Seeing the infraction, El Dandy lost the final fall because of DQ, so he got his head shaved in the middle of the ring.

• WWE SmackDown: WWE Championship 60 Minute Iron Man Match: Kurt Angle (c) vs Brock Lesnar (2003)

This is one of the most critically acclaimed episodes of SmackDown. Partly because the tag match between World’s Greatest Tag Team and Los Guerreros was a quality match as well, but the main event was the main reason. This was the first 60 Minute Iron Man Match on free broadcast television. The psychology started off great, with Brock intentionally throwing the first fall by hitting Kurt with a steel chair. Even though he gave up the early point, the damage Angle would have to struggle through over 50 minutes would pay off for Brock. Brock rattles off 3 unanswered falls in about 10 minutes to make the score 3:1. It’s at this point Kurt desperately connects with an Angle Slam for his second point. Lesnar than pulls off successive pinfalls with a Running Powerbomb and Superplex to go up 5:2. That was all Lesnar needed, because even a late attempted rally from Angle only closed the gap to 5:4. Lesnar won the match, the title and the match is considered one of, if not, THE best, 60 Minute Iron Man Matches ever.

• ROH Glory By Honor V (2006)

Many consider 2006 to be the peak of ROH’s in-ring pedigree, and it’s a hard position to argue. This event was no exception with Naomichi Marufuji successfully defending his recently won GHC Heavyweight Championship against Nigel McGuinness in a 23 minute match only upstaged by the main event. That main event being Bryan Danielson vs KENTA for the ROH World Championship. The psychology of the match was compounded with the fact that KENTA was undefeated in ROH up to this point and Danielson had his shoulder taped after suffering an injury against Colt Cabana. This was a technical and precision striking classic. The clash of styles worked masterfully, with KENTA’s aura leading in adding to more believable moments for an underdog and injured champion. After finding ways to avoid the GTS and hit his own variation of Avalanche Falcon Arrows and modified offense around his shoulder injury, KENTA finally caught him! The crowd audibly caught their breath (oxymoronic I’m aware, but you know the sound). No one kicked out of the GTS…until Danielson did. Desperation fire from both men led to a moment where Danielson worked a Crucifix Armbar regardless of his own physical limitations, transitioning it into Cattle Mutilation forcing KENTA to submit. A 33 minute classic.

• WWE Hell in a Cell (2018)

One of the most controversial events in recent history, and could also be why they finally decided against making this a standalone event. While one controversy was done on purpose, the other was just stupid. AJ Styles and Samoa Joe is the one that was done on purpose. We saw Joe lock in the Coquina Clutch, but AJ shifted his weight to turn it into a pinfall. So the referee was counting the pinfall, AJ tapped out on the side away from the referee. As the bell rang, Joe thought he won the WWE Championship, but was furious when he learned AJ retained via pinfall. Now the stupid one, I think most of us remember. Roman and Braun in the ugly red garbage cage, Brock Lesnar returns, kicks the door in and beats the hell out of everyone and just walks off. This was supposed to be for the Universal Championship as Braun Strowman’s MiTB cash in. So not only did they ruin a match that was supposed to be brutal with “no rules” they also ruined a cash in for a dumb finish. The mystic of Hell in a Cell was nearly dead, and the next year killed it completely. There were a few good things, Becky Lynch beat Charlotte for the SmackDown title to further establish “The Man” gimmick and Jeff Hardy had a great match with Randy Orton that saw the screwdriver in the ear spot, and Jeff missing a huge spot, crashing through the table. But the main event definitely ruined the impact of the event.

• CMLL 90th Anniversary Show (2023)

While this had a similar swerve as the 80th Anniversary with having a Relevos Suicidas to bypass what the fans wanted. Fans wanted a Hair vs Hair match between Averno & Ultimo Guerrero (oddly Ultimo was part of the drama a decade ago too). But since Angel de Oro and Volador Jr won the tag match, they had to participate in the Hair vs Hair match and Ultimo & Averno were safe. Unlike a decade ago though, Voldaor and Angel put on an amazing match that the crowd was very receptive to. So while they were unhappy, the quality of the match turned their rage into joy. Especially since Volador fought through legit injury to secure the victory and shave Angel bald. There was also Mask vs Mask, with Templario facing Dragon Rojo Jr a 22 year veteran. CMLL cleverly played with the Dirt Sheet rumors because Templario had buzz to be leaving and he was a fan favorite. So Rojo attacked early, often and brutally since he needed every advantage possible as an older veteran facing a fan favorite in his prime. But to the shock of most, Templario won with a Package Piledriver. Rojo was forced to unmask as Anselmo Rivas Castro, which garnered amazing sympathy from the fans even though he was a heel. Lastly, I would be remise to ignore that Inaugural Women’s Tag Team Champion history, given on half is one of the most popular women in wrestling right now. Stephanie Vaquer and Zeuxis defeated La Jarochita and Lluvia to become the inaugural champions!

A little bit of a Lesnar connection, even though the second event was not good history. A way to bring up El Dandy and Bret Hart memes is always fun in my book and CMLL finally having one of their dumb swerve tactics not blow up in their faces.