Today In Pro Wrestling History: October 11th

A fair bit of puroresu history, a smattering of comedy and some Bloodsport to cap things off! Let’s see what we’ve got on the menu today!

• WAR Osaka Crush Night – J-Crown: Great Sasuke (c) vs Ultimo Dragon (1996)

This was a rematch from the J-Crown tournament. Great Sasuke won the tournament to crown the inaugural champion, and this became the most notable J-Crown reign due to Ultimo’s visibility in WCW. The J-Crown that Sasuke won was originally 8 belts, but with Ultimo’s victory in this match, he added the NWA World Middleweight Championship to make it 9 and then a roughly 2 months later, Ultimo won the WCW Cruiserweight Championship and became the Bill Russell of pro wrestling. Everyone has wanted to duplicate the success, and let’s be honest, no one is close. All of the belts of the J-Crown and the Cruiserweight title had prestige. Three belts that matter and five independent nobody straps are just cracker jack toys comparatively.

• NJPW Destruction (2010)

2010 was that fun crossroads of New Japan, steering out of the financial sinkhole that was Inoki-ism. Two of the big stories here were “outsiders” taking titles. The Golden Lovers (Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega) were representing DDT at the time, so when they defeated Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight titles, it was a shift in that division. Even winning Match of the Year from Tokyo Sports. Then we also had the main event with outsider implications. Satoshi Kojima, was technically in between homes. He started in NJPW, spent 8 years as a pillar of the post-NOAH Exodus AJPW, but came into the G1 as a Freelancer, and used this platform to establish himself as a presence in New Japan. Kojima defeated the champion at the time, Togi Makabe, and returned to NJPW and reunited with Tenzan.

• STARDOM Appeal the Heat (2015)

The title history here is applied to Mayu Iwatani winning her first High Speed Title when she defeated the champion La Rosa Negra. Dark Angel (aka Sarah Stock) lost her challenge against Io Shirai for the Wonder of Stardom title. As a fun nugget this was also the debut event for Starlight Kid, the adorable masked female Tiger wrestler. That is notable because it was her final match because she went to work in WWE. Yes, she made a brief return in Robles Promotions in 2022, but the implication of this match was an understood “retirement”. Finally, a bittersweet moment when Act Yasukawa fought Kairi Hojo for #1 Contender. It’s bittersweet because it was her first appearance since the “Ghastly Match”, and ended up being her last singles match with any real weight before she retired a few months later due to the injuries sustained because of the aforementioned Ghastly Match. Google it.

• WWE SmackDown: WWE Championship: AJ Styles (c) vs James Ellsworth (2016)

This was the time when we liked Ellsworth. Comedic Underdog who with Dean Ambrose’s help, had him get some entertaining wins. Giving a fugly jobber a short promo before Braun Strowman ate him, turned into a decent job guy run for the dude with two hands and no chin. This match ended in a DQ, so we didn’t get a goofball title change on the equivalent of Gillberg. But it was an entertaining run.

• GCW Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 3 (2020)

This was Moxley’s debut after a staph infection stopped him from participating in Bloodsport 2. But in an ironic turn of events Josh Barnett was unable to compete here because he didn’t feel like he had enough prep time to get in good enough shape since this was during the pandemic and a very frantic last second availability during the Collective. So they were like ships passing in the night again, but Moxley ended up beating Chris Dickinson in Barnett’s stead. What really makes this one stand out though, is that this event held the first ever Women’s Pro Wrestling Shoot-Style No Rope Tournament. The participants were Allysin Kay, Killer Kelly, Leyla Hirsch, and Lindsay Snow; Lindsay Snow won the tournament.

Memes, disasters, Bloodsport and a pivotal transition point for NJPW allow for some interesting events. Maybe not the most insane day, but memorable enough moments throughout.