Today In Pro Wrestling History: October 16th

Five different companies, five different styles of history. While not the largest variety of countries, there’s some fun style differences. Let’s get to it!

• ROH Joe vs Punk II: ROH World Championship: Samoa Joe (c) vs CM Punk (2004)

Now I don’t care about the Meltzer stuff, but it is a notable nugget that this is the first US 5 Star match since Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker at Badd Blood in 1997. It was a great and gritty match that put ROH on the map, elevated CM Punk and Samoa Joe in the overall perspective of the wrestling community. It can’t be overlooked that this was a 60 minute Broadway. It proved that the style of match would still work during the onset of the modern wrestling environemnt.

• TNA Bound For Glory: Hulk Hogan vs Sting (2011)

This was Hulk Hogan’s final singles match in his career. We got to see a closure to the loop from the awful WCW Starrcade 1997 era. Sting was against Bischoff and Hogan the entire time, when Hogan took control away from Dixie Carter, Sting was the champion to help bring it back. Sting went through Ric Flair to get to Hogan, and while the match wasn’t a banger since, story wise it was still compelling and we saw Hulk tap out to the Scorpion Deathlock cleanly. After the match, Immortal attacked Sting, and Sting begged to Hulk to be Hulk Hogan again and not Hollywood. Hulk, Hulked up, and him and Sting fought off Immortal and stood tall together.

• Dragon Gate The Gate Of Destiny: Six Way Mask vs Hair Survival Cage Match (2011)

Even with Rich Swann, Ricochet and PAC in the undercard, the main draw of the show was the main event. The entire show, showcased the war between JUNCTION THREE and BLOOD WARRIORS, the main event was no different. Shingo Takgai, Cyber Kong, Akira Tozawa, Kagetora, BxB Hulk and YAMATO went to war. Part of the memorable aspect of this comes from how the BLOOD WARRIORS interfered and caused issues. Throwing tennis balls, using metal rods to stop the JUNCTION THREE members. It was a solid match where Cyber Kong and YAMATO were the final two. But thanks to the heavy heel tactics and fatigue of the entire match, Kong escaped, so YAMATO lost and had his head shaved.

• WWE SmackDown Live: 1000th Episode (2018)

A milestone episode that brought back a bunch of beloved wrestlers, moments and nostalgia. Rey Mysterio returned to in-ring action against Shinsuke Nakamura. Evolution had a reunion which also turned into the tease for Batista’s retirement match against Triple H. There was a Cutting Edge segment that resulted in Becky Lynch and Charlotte having a pull apart brawl, as well as, an appearance by Undertaker ahead of his match at Crown Jewel against DX.

• AJPW Champions ~ 49th Anniversary Show: Triple Crown Championship: Jake Lee (c) vs Kento Miyahara (2021)

While we could wax poetic about Izanagi’s late career surge in becoming the Junior Heavyweight champion, the show is mostly remembered for the main event. Jake is an interesting story, he retired from wrestling in 2011 after early injuries hobbled his young career 10 matches in. He tried his hand at MMA, expressing in interviews that retiring from wrestling broke his heart. After his brief MMA career (1-2-1 record), Jun Akiyama scouted him to return in June 2015 because the AJPW roster was old and needed an injection of youth. Shortly after he joined Kento’s faction called NEXTREAM, which essentially birthed most of the major players of AJPW for the coming years. At this point in Jake’s career, he was coming into his own, but very much in the shadow of Kento still. Almost paralleling the Kawada and Misawa dynamic, Jake only won the Triple Crown because of a Tomoe Battle since Suwama tested positive for Covid, thus resulting in a unique crowning match. This match served as a benchmark moment for Jake, to prove he finally reached Kento’s level…almost. It was a fantastic match, with striking, psychology and bursts of pace that kept you invested…but it was a Broadway. 60 Minute Time Limit Draw. Jake couldn’t get the monkey off his back yet, but Kento realized that Jake had truly come far enough to be a real threat.

Hogan’s last single’s match and two 60 Minute Broadways to start and end the article. Broadways and Hollywood…sounds like a memorable title to me.