Today In Pro Wrestling History: October 8th

While some of the expected players are present with WWE and NJPW, I definitely did not have a 2005 NWA show on my BINGO card for this month. Let’s see why that became someone’s sneaky BINGO.

• WWF Raw (2001)

This episode is highly memorable because it marked the absolute end of an era for WWE’s biggest star, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. On this night, Austin won the WWF Championship for the sixth and final time in his legendary career. The match itself was pure drama; with all of Austin’s villainous Alliance teammates banned from ringside, he looked cornered, only for William Regal to shockingly cheat on his behalf. It stands as a historic milestone because it was the very last time fans would ever see the Austin capture a world title.

• NWA 57th Anniversary Show (2005)

So there’s an interesting wrinkle with this was actually the final Anniversary Show at the time, held as an annual event. Until Billy Corgan took it over, there was one in 2008 for the 60th Anniversary, but that still is sporadic. This however, is memorable for having a fair bit of TNA crossover since TNA was still part of the NWA. Most notably the main event, seeing The Naturals (Andy Douglas & Chase Stevens) defeat Cassidy Riley & Eric Young for the vacant NWA World Tag Team Titles. Another nugget, Fergal Devitt defeated Dru Onyx for the NWA British Commonwealth Championship, which he held for 155 days.

• NJPW Explosion: IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Yuji Nagata (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi (2007)

This was the true turning point match in navigating NJPW out of the Darkness of Inoki-ism. Nagata was one of the few “wrestlers” to survive the onslaught of weird Shoot and MMA era. Nagata became Mr. IWGP thanks to his 390 day reign from 2002-2003, which set the defense record at v10 (at the time). So with Nagata ending Tanahashi’s first reign earlier in the year, this became the definitive match. Can Tanahashi overcome the third generation Gatekeeper, and ascend to being the Ace to pull the company into modernity? Tanahashi won the G1 to earn this shot, and used what he learned in the loss, to dismantle the flag bearer and this is seen as a “passing of the torch” match. Tanahashi won, and went on to become the undisputed Ace that brought the company back to prominence.

• WWE Hell In A Cell (2017)

There is one major reason, but the secondary reason can’t just be forgotten. The secondary moment being, this show saw Shane McMahon versus Kevin Owens. In which, Sami Zayn made the save for Owens causing Shane to crash and burn and the Indie best friends, who have been bitter rivals in WWE, finally came together. More tag team memories were made here, because this was the epic Usos versus New Day match. It was the very first Tag Team Hell in a Cell, but even casual fans recognized the magnitude of the match. Easily, one of the best tag team matches of the modern era of wrestling. Any company, any continent, this is an amazing match.

• NJPW King Of Pro Wrestling (2018)

This was a very big moment in NJPW’s modern landscape as well as the groundwork for AEW. We saw the debut of Shinjo Takagi as “The Dragon” of LIJ. Then we also had a surprise Chris Jericho attack on EVIL. After EVIL made the save for Naito four months prior, Jericho didn’t forget the physical interference so he had a vendetta. Jay White and Gedo also joined the Bullet Club Firing Squad, thusly stabbing Kazuchika Okada in the back and kicking off a big storyline of Okada being responsible for the dissolution of CHAOS. But most will remember that Bullet Club is fine…so we have a three way IWGP Heavyweight Championship match. Kenny Omega vs Cody Rhodes vs Kota Ibushi. Not only was it pivotal for the Bullet Club and Golden Lovers story, it was also historically significant as only the third time the IWGP Heavyweight Championship was defended in a threeway, and first in 4 years (AJ Styles vs Michael Elgin vs Kazuchika Okada ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds 2014).

Pivotal championship reigns with the final Steve Austin and the one that really put Tanahashi on the trajectory to become the Ace. Fergal in the NWA was unexpected for me, so I wanted to share, the Usos vs New Day match is fantastic and 2018 was a great year in NJPW that many IWC members look at fondly. It was a harbinger for things that many will consider a…mixed bag. But in the moment it was awesome.