Today In Pro Wrestling History: September 4th

Okay good, a better day when it comes to important events. I don’t have to stretch because the only thing awkward about this article is the jumps the dates make. But it should be a little something for most Western fans!

• WWF King of the Ring (1987)

While Macho Man Randy Savage won this year’s King of the Ring defeating King Kong Bundy. This was before the winner immediately adopted a monarchy gimmick, so while it wasn’t the adoption of the Macho King gimmick, Macho was still King. The physical crown and robe were in the possession of the Heenan family since King Harley Race. This event did however, set the groundwork for Macho’s main event push that would last for the next roughly 13 years and have him established to many fans as the number 2 guy in all of wrestling, only behind Hogan. As most of us know from interviews with wrestlers from that time period, being in a match or the same conversation with Hogan, drew money.

• WCW Monday Nitro (1995)

This was the very first episode of Nitro! Filmed from the Mall of America, and doing something WWF didn’t do at the time, televise Live. The very first match of the historic event was Brian Pillman versus Jushin Thunder Liger, where Pillman won with a Roll-Up. But it immediately showcased the Cruiserweight style that WCW had over WWF, the mall setting gave the show a crazy and chaotic look, then, after Hulk Hogan defends the WCW title against Bubba Rogers, Lex Luger appears. Lex was just on a WWF House Show and WWF fans just saw him on SummerSlam. Commentary for the first episode was Bobby Heenan, Eric Bischoff and Steve “Mongo” McMichael.

• WWF Raw: Intercontinental Championship: Chyna (c) vs Eddie Guerrero vs Kurt Angle (2000)

Now this was memorable for a the main reason of Eddie Guerrero and his dynamic with Chyna. For the previous, roughly 5 months, Latino Heat was pursuing his “mamacita” and trying to get her to give her the time of day. During the triple threat, there was a ref bump and Kurt grabbed the Intercontinental title and cracked Chyna with it. Eddie rushed into the ring before Kurt could capitalize and threw him out of the ring. “Checking on Chyna” by draping himself over her, he scored the winning pinfall. This match changed the dynamic from a cute comedic romance between Eddie & Chyna, to a gradually darker and more manipulative version. Also laid the foundation for the “Lie, Cheat and Steal” persona a few years down the line.

• AEW All Out (2022)

While MJF’s return might’ve been something that people remember, let’s all address the obvious thing. After winning the AEW World title for the second time, this is the infamous event where CM Punk said, ” I’m hurt, and I’m old, and I’m tired, and I work with fucking children”. This led to an actual fight between Punk, Ace Steel and The Elite. AEW was forced to hand out suspensions and firings. Ace Steel was fired, Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and CM Punk were all stripped of their respective championships and suspended. Even agents who tried to de-escalate the fight were suspended, Brandon Cutler, Christopher Daniels, Pat Buck and Michael Nakazawa. This was the start of AEW’s locker room culture going to crap, and heavy criticism of how they run their ship.

• NXT Worlds Collide (2022)

There is a level of amusing history here. NXT 2.0 officially ended with this event, which people were happy about, because 2.0 paled in comparison to the original Black and Gold era. However, NXT UK also was absorbed into NXT proper here. NXT UK had a tumultuous history. Initially, people hated that Triple H was playing his own version of Wrestling Risk, and trying to gobble up territories. So NXT UK gutted the Britwres scene at the time. But, NXT UK slowly became one of the best products under the WWE umbrella, especially when NXT 2.0 was a clown show, NXT UK still had grittier and harder hitting moments. So what started as a hated brand, became beloved, and people were sad to see it go. Pretty Deadly defeated The Creed Brothers, Brooks Jensen & Josh Briggs and Gallus to become the Unified NXT Tag Team Champions. Mandy Rose pinned Meiko Satomura in a triple threat with Blair Davenport to become the Unified NXT Women’s Champion. And in the main event, Bron Breaker defeated Tyler Bate to become the Unified NXT Champion. Though Tyler does have the distinction of being the First and Last United Kingdom Champion, as well as, the only 2 time holder of the title. Also amusingly, even with 2 reigns, Tyler has the shortest combined time as champion. I find that to be a very amusing stat line.

Well you certainly can’t say these weren’t memorable. Some…for all the wrong reasons, but still memorable moments! CM Punk slowly turning into the person that Pipe Bomb CM Punk hated, Eddie going from funny babyface to charismatic heel, NXT UK and NXT 2.0 dying on the same day, with very different feelings and Nitro starting the war that would shape the childhood of most of the IWC talking heads currently. So yeah, I would say it was a pretty historic day.