Today In Pro Wrestling History: October 23rd

A mixture of events, even though it’s another day that isn’t exactly filled to the brim with events. We’ve got moments that lead to bigger moments and the revival of a championship!

• WWF Raw: WWF Women’s Championship: Bertha Faye (c) vs Alundra Blayze (1995)

Now this match itself isn’t memorable or crazy. But this is still very important. Alundra Blayze wins the title from Bertha Faye, and then the title kinda fades into obscurity. That is until Alundra Blayze shows up on WCW Monday Nitro to dump it in the trash. So this match matters because it’s the match that gave Alundra the title to throw in the trash.

• TNA Bound For Glory (2005)

The inaugural Bound For Glory with a bit of a scramble because Kevin Nash had cardiac issues the day before, so we got a bit of a shuffle. Samoa Joe faced Jushin Thunder Liger in the opening match, so that’s a trivia note. The most notable matches were the 4-Way Monster’s Ball between Jeff Hardy, Abyss, Sabu and Rhino, was one hell of a match, where Rhino ended up winning. There was a 30 Minute Iron Man Match between AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels for the X-Division title, which didn’t happen until right at the end, with AJ Styles defending his X-Division title. Rhino then won the Gauntlet to face Jeff Jarrett. And after two matches, Rhino went for the Hat Trick, and thankfully put Jeff Jarrett away in roughly 5 minutes to win the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship.

• WWE Vengeance (2011)

This show has a couple big moments that people remember. Big Show versus Mark Henry ended in a No Contest Ring Implosion spot, akin to the Brock Lesnar and Big Show ring collapse spot. The second match, was actually assisted by this match. Alberto del Rio defended his WWE Championship against John Cena in a Last Man Standing Match. The busted ring helped the visual of the Last Man Standing, the match went 27 minutes and was a very good match, with visuals that helped to sell the gimmick.

• NOAH Monday Magic (2023)

We got two…revivals of sorts on this episode. Firstly we got the official revival match of the little White Belt. The GHC Hardcore Openweight Title was retired in December 2009 after Kenta Kobashi vacated it due to injury, and the fact that NOAH was reeling after Misawa’s passing and other internal crisis, the concept was no longer a priority. With NOAH recovering under CyberFight, and arguably returning to status of number 2 puroresu company in Japan, they decided to revive the title. Masato Tanaka defeated Ninja Mack to become the first champion in nearly 14 years. At the end of the show, Great Muta appeared to announce the impending arrival of his continued legacy, his (kayfabe) daughter, The Great Sakuya.

Liger being on the first Bound For Glory is a great trivia nugget, Muta’s kayfabe progeny, and Alundra getting the ammunition for the trash can spot are definitely memorable moments in wrestling history.