Today In Pro Wrestling History: October 15th

A few unexpected shows, a little bit of a gap in the years, but an interesting list. Let’s get to it!

• WCWA 5th Cotton Bowl Extravaganza (1988)

This was the final Cotton Bowl event, which was the death knell for World Class Wrestling Association. An event that used to draw over 12,000 fans only drew 4,500. Iceman King Parsons retained the Texas Heavyweight title, Jeff Jarrett won the World Class World Light Heavyweight title, Michael Hayes & Steve Cox defeated the Samoan SWAT Team for the tag titles. Kerry von Erich faced Jerry Lawler in the main event, champion versus champion. World Class vs AWA. Kerry won the match thanks to a fast 10 count because it was a Texas Death Match. So while Kerry won the match on the show, AWA reversed the finish a few days later because of the controversy.

• TNA iMPACT!: TNA World Heavyweight Championship: Sting (c) vs Kurt Angle (2007)

This took place right after Bound For Glory where Sting won, and this time, the Kevin Nash interference didn’t backfire. Ref bumps, cheap shots a second referee and an Angle Slam did the trick. While TNA title reigns are never very long, this was surprisingly short given the nature of who was holding the belt. It solidified Kurt as the Ace of TNA.

• WWE Raw: Shield Reformed (2018)

Throughout the episode, tense arguments broke out between the stars during individual tournament qualifying matches, making resolution seem impossible. However, during the final six-man tag team match, the “Hounds of Justice” appeared to pop the fans hard. Working together, they defeated Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler, and Drew McIntyre to seal the victory and give the fans the feel good reunion they wanted, since the group broke up four years prior.

• NEW The Show With No Name: NEW Heavyweight Championship Singapore Cane Match: Dan Maff (c) vs Traevon Jordan (2022)

This was a pretty big moment at the time for Dan Maff because his title reign was on day 984, the record was held by Brian Anthony at 1051 days. So if he could overcome this match, there was a good chance he’s get the record. Given the fact the record was in Maff’s sights, Brian Anthony actually showed up during the match to attack Maff and cost him the title. Traevon Jordan won the match and smashed Maff’s hopes of reaching that 1051 day mark. Notably, Matt Taven was the opener of this show, and that’s notable because he is currently the NEW Champion as of writing this article, and broke the record since he’s on day 1,397.

• AAA TripleMania XXX: Mexico City (2022)

Now since we talk about historic or memorable, this show has two major moments. Firstly, for the workrate ninjas in the crowd, the AAA Mega Championship match between El Hijo del Vikingo and Rey Fenix, was one of the best matches all year. Vikingo retained his title, but it was an electric high flying modern masterpiece. However the moment that eclipses it, is more thanks to the picture than the match, but the beauty of the internet is you never know what will keep a moment alive forever. Pentagon Jr faced Villano IV in a Lucha de Apuestas match, mask vs mask. The Villano family is classic in lucha history, and many Attitude era fans would know of IV since he spent a fair amount of time in WCW at the height of the Monday Night War. The over 40 year old veteran and Pentagon had a brutal match, a classic Lucha de Apuestas style match with emotion, blood and brutality over the acrobatics of the Mega Championship before them. Anyone that doesn’t already know, the thing that lets this match live forever is the Mortal Kombat style picture of a bloody Penta, holding the mask like a head, pure Fatality energy. So for whoever didn’t know, the mask Pentagon is holding, is Villano IV’s mask.

Sting, Jerry Lawler, Matt Taven, The Shield and Villano IV involved in the same article…who had that on the BINGO card? Days like this are always kinda fun to find since it’s such a weird cornucopia of events, but you should enjoy all flavors of the wrestling buffet.