Today In Pro Wrestling History: October 21st

Today is actually…a pretty good day for memorable moments. A little classic WWF and a few more recent moments that still create talking points in the modern IWC.

• WWF Superstars: Lucifer Bites Macho Man (1991)

Today, the iconic moment was filmed even though it wasn’t broadcasted until November 23rd. Before the segment, Randy Savage told Jake the Snake to have Lucifer bite him, to prove it was de-venomized. So Jake obliged but also made sure to kick the bag and piss off the snake before the segment. So when the segment came and Macho Man was tied up in the ropes, the angry cobra latched on and refused to let go for several minutes. Macho was bleeding, apparently caught a fever after.

• WWF No Mercy: WCW World Championship: The Rock (c) vs Chris Jericho  (2001)

One of the few internal same side conflicts of the Alliance that actually worked. Team WWF was very anti Alliance of course, so they took turns verbally eviscerating Stephanie McMahon. This however, caused tension because Jericho was always second fiddle. The Cruiserweight and mid-card act on the come up. Stephanie tried to interfere in this match introducing a steel chair, Jericho chased her off, The Rock hit her with a Rock Bottom. But being opportunistic, Jericho hit The Breakdown (remember that?), slamming The Rock into the chair and winning his first ever World Championship title.

• AJPW Raising an Army Memorial Series: Triple Crown Championship: Zeus (c) vs Kento Miyahara (2018)

While my personally, I hate the outcome of this match, it was still great and helped to showcase a great rivalry. Zeus beat Kento a few months prior during the Summer Action Series tour, and this rematch happened because Kento won the Royal Road Tournament. Zeus was the body builder look, the pride and joy of Osaka, but Kento had to reestablish himself as the Ace. Kento survived the Jackhammer and hit the Shutdown Suplex to regain the Triple Crown.

• NWA 70: NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship 2 Out of 3 Falls Match: Cody Rhodes (c) vs Nick Aldis (2018)

This was another huge moment in 2018 wrestling, the 10 Pounds of Gold series helped to put the NWA back on the map, before the Powerrr Series began. Cody and Dusty became the first even Father and Son duo to hold the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship. This match had added historic weight because Tony Schiavone and Jim Cornette were on commentary for this. Nick Aldis won the NWA title back after 37 minutes by a score of 2 to 1. Great storytelling leading in, great storytelling during the match, classic wrestling style.

• Impact Wrestling Bound For Glory (2023)

This was a fun show, that also marked the end of the Impact Wrestling brand. Scott D’Amore announced that after this, they’d go back to TNA, which opened some eyes. As for the show, we saw Mike Tenay and Don West get inducting into the TNA Hall of Fame. Alex Shelley retained the World Title against Josh Alexander. But the best moments were ABC defeating The Rascalz for the Tag Team titles, which was a nice moment. And the match that had the IWC popping off was Mike Bailey versus Will Ospreay. Ospreay won, but it also became the first match in 18 years to earn 5 or more stars from Meltzer. So for the first time since 2013, Impact/TNA had everyone’s attention.

Big title wins, snake attacks and the return of TNA on the horizon. Interesting how Jericho, Nick Aldis and Kento Miyahara have some intersecting history. Not names I would’ve expected.