Today In Pro Wrestling History: September 29th

Today gives us more classic Attitude Era segments that live rent free in minds, a few pivotal moments in Puroresu, and a STARDOM event that helps to mold their current upper card. Time to get to the history!

• WWF Raw is War (1998)

After the zamboni attack, Mr McMahon broke his ankle, so he was in the hospital. And I’m pretty sure everyone knows what this moment is with the hospital mention. But some may forget, this segment was the birth of Mr Socko. Mankind wanted to try and cheer up the injured boss, and Vince hated every second of it. But that wasn’t the end of tormenting everyone’s most hated heel, Stone Cold showed up pretending to be a doctor and starting beating the holy hell out of Vince with a bed pan. While the episode aired on Oct 5th, it was taped today.

• WWE Monday Night Raw: Intercontinental Championship: Christian (c) vs Rob Van Dam (2003)

As many have seen that Christian is still doing ladder matches, since he became synonymous with matches including ladders, chairs or tables; this is still a match that people remember. In a solid match, the big moment that was replayed for a while and burned into memory was RVD flying from the ladder, hitting his signature Five Star Frog Splash and then reclimbing the ladder to grab the title. This match began RVDs fourth reign as Intercontinental Champion.

• NOAH The Navigation Saturday (2012)

The undercard of this event was pretty impressive with the TMDK members in singles action. Mikey Nicholls took on Zack Sabre Jr and Shane Haste fought Kotaro Suzuki. A young Kento Miyahara was in trios action with Kensuke Sasaki and Masa Kitamiya under the Diamond Ring faction. Satoshi Kojima defeated Marufuji in singles action, but that wasn’t the big story. For people who only know Yoshinobu Kanemaru as the Suntory Whiskey heel from Suzuki-Gun and House of Torture, he is still the unchallenged king of the GHC Junior Heavyweight division. 7 total reigns, 1,876 days as champion (more than twice the amount of the second longest Daisuke Harada). So his match with Shuji Kondo was an inter-promotional match of one of AJPW’s top Juniors against the Ace of NOAH’s division. It was a clash of styles since Kondo is a bruiser and Kanemaru is a technical wrestler. The invading Kondo managed to surprise Kanemaru with his power, and Kanemaru didn’t have enough tricks to evade the haymakers. Shuji Kondo defeated Kanemaru but overwhelming him and finishing him with the King Kong Lariat.

• NJPW Destruction (2013)

We have a show that brings a few wrinkles that would shape the landscape for years. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Prince Devitt had their Lumberjack Death Match, which Tanahashi won, but it was the blow off of their feud angle. Rob Conway defended the NWA World Title against Jushin Thunder Liger successfully. Tetsuya Naito defeated Masato Tanaka for the NEVER Openweight title, and also defended his G1 Title Shot. While the match was a good match, this was a precursor to Naito being completely rejected by the fans in a few months. Kazuchika Okada was in the main event, defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Satoshi Kojima, to avenge his loss in the G1 Tournament. This plays into the Naito rejection since Tanahashi walked out to challenge Okada. Their head to head record was tied at 2-2-1 at the time. Tanahashi was still the beloved Ace, so people were excited at the challenge. The result of the King of Pro Wrestling match in two weeks, played a heavy role in the rejection of Tetsuya Naito, and birth of Los Ingobernables de Japon.

• STARDOM New Blood 11 (2023)

In the opening I said this set the landscape of current STARDOM, and that wasn’t an overstatement. This event had a showcase for Rina and Hanan, two of the newer generation that are doing great work and creating their own legacies. Rina was the Future of Stardom champion, and as the name implies, it’s for younger wrestlers. This had beautiful symmetry because the very first outsider to challenge for the title was Tomoka Inaba, the current challenger Azusa Inaba’s older sister. It’s symmetrical because the Future of Stardom champion during Tomoka’s challenge was Rina’s older sister, Hanan. That match went to a time limit draw, so the pressure was on both little sisters. If Rina lost, Azusa would be the first ever outsider (from Just Tap Out), to take the Future of Stardom title. It was a very good 12 minute match, where Rina managed to secure the pinfall with her Pink Devil finisher. Talking about Hanan though, she made some history as well. Starlight Kid & KARMA were the inaugural New Blood Tag Team champions, holding the titles for over 6 months now. The triple threat between AZM & Miyu Amasaki and Hanan & Saya Iida was the biggest challenge to date. Hanan actually won the match with her Bridging Fallaway Suplex Hold she calls the Hanan Special, pinning Starlight Kid, and going down as the first ever title change for the New Blood Tag titles.

The birth of a fan favorite gimmick, a little bit of scope for a Japanese legend whose impressive track record is often overlooked from being a gimmick most of the last decade, the slow burn culmination of why Naito was rejected in 2013, and the amazing rise of Hanan, Rina and Hina in STARDOM being a trio of sisters, who aren’t a faction, and trying to carve their own paths in unique ways.