Today In Pro Wrestling History: October 18th

A few newer events that some may not be aware or might have forgotten had some memorable aspects attached. Let’s check em out!

• WWF Judgment Day: In Your House (1998)

A few points of order. Some trivia that might get missed, is that Christian made his in-ring debut for WWF/E at this event, challenging Taka Michinoku for the WWF Lightheavyweight Championship. Christian won the match, putting him on a rather short list of wrestlers who won a title on their debut matches. And while this was part of the In Your House series, technically this is the first event called Judgment Day in WWF/E history. This was also the event with the vacant World Heavyweight Championship match between Kane and Undertaker with Stone Cold as the Special Guest Referee. Stone Cold took out Kane and Undertaker, flipped of Mr McMahon and declared himself the winner. So the title picture was still in flux with nothing decided.

• TNA iMPACT!: TNA World Championship: Kurt Angle (c) vs James Storm (2011)

While now looked back on as a waste because Storm only held the title for 8 days, the moment itself was huge. James Storm was a TNA original, beloved tag team wrestler who started to finally find success in the single division. Bobby Roode failed to take the title from Angle at Bound For Glory a few days prior, so Sting was the authority figure at the time, and gave the next opportunity to Roode’s Beer Money tag partner, James Storm. The reality of the situation was that Kurt had a hamstring injury and hand picked Storm for the surprise moment. So Kurt Attacked Storm at the bell, pummeled him early, but Storm hit the Last Call Superkick for the shocking upset after only about 1 minute and the crowd went ballistic because Storm was beloved. So the win itself, is a huge moment in TNA history for long time fans.

• NJPW G1 Climax: Finals: Kota Ibushi vs SANADA (2020)

Now this was historic and also lead to history. Kota Ibushi defeated SANADA to become the first person in 16 years to win back to back G1 Finals (since Hiroyoshi Tenzan). This also lead to history, because Ibushi lost the briefcase to Jay White at Power Struggle, so it lead to Naito still giving them both matches at the two day Wrestle Kingdom. Kota Ibushi won the Heavyweight and IC titles on Day 1. Then he defeated Jay White Day 2 and pissed everyone off and helped to lead to the falling star of NJPW when he combined the Intercontinental Championship and Heavyweight, killing their lineages and creating the most cursed little idiot belt in history.

• Natsu Sumire 10th Anniversary Produce Decade Of Queens (2023)

Now you may be wondering why a solo produced Anniversary show is on here. It’s because it wasn’t just Sumire’s anniversary, she got a bunch of joshi wrestlers across multiple promotions who debuted in 2013. Rina Yamashita, Kaho Kobayashi, Takumi Iroha, Saki Akai and AZM. So it was a rare moment where wrestlers from Marvelous, DDT, Stardom and other indies could mix it up. Plus a final note is, it was one of the final high profile appearances for Saki Akai before she retired in DDT.

• NWA Chicago Super Smashing Halloween: vacant Women’s World Television Championship: Hollyhood Haley J vs Big Mama vs Natalia Markova vs Tiffany Nieves (2024)

The title was vacant for roughly four months since Max the Impaler cashed in the Lucky Seven Rule. For those who don’t know, that is very similar to Option C in TNA, but the caveat is defend the title seven times successfully and then cash it in for a World title shot. The relevance in this article though, is because Big Mama, a 16 year veteran, was given her first major title victory of her career.

Natsu Sumire’s class reunion was kind of a neat nugget, Big Mama with a long deserved moment for her career, James Storm also with a much deserved moment and Christian debuting into a title win, doesn’t get much better than that. Kota Ibushi’s entire garbage moron situation…I’m so glad the title reverted because whoever thought of the idea to kill the two most beloved belts in modern Japanese wrestling for a cheap gimmick and a belt that looked like a Power Ranger’s morpher needs to be fired from wrestling forever.