Today In Pro Wrestling History: November 7th

A few surprisingly symmetrical moments, comedic retirements and a title change that everyone except Greg DeMarco wanted to see! History gets rolling today!

• WWF The Wrestling Classic (1985)

This event became WWF’s first traditional PPV event in history. Where the event wasn’t distributed via closed circuit television and a physical ticket office. It was call in and order through home cable box set (or satellite provider). Having to get through an entire tournament in one night was exciting for fans at the time, but doesn’t hold up to modern scrutiny. The finals were between Macho Man Randy Savage and Junkyard Dog. Savage defeated Ivan Putski, Ricky Steamboat and Dynamite Kid on the way to the finals, where JYD beat the Iron Sheik, Moondog Spot and then had a bye because of Double Countout. Junkyard Dog won the tournament, but many people point back to the Dynamite Kid and Macho Man match as the match of the night.

• TNA Victory Road (2004)

Speaking of first evers, this was TNA’s first ever traditional 3 hour PPV after their first few years of weekly ppvs since they established a TV program. This also showcased the very first Monster’s Ball match, where Monty Brown defeated Raven and Abyss. Petey Williams managed to defend the X Division title against AJ Styles. And the only title to change hands was when 3 Live Kru defeated Team Canada for the Tag Team Titles.

• WWE SmackDown: WWE Championship: Jinder Mahal (c) vs AJ Styles (2017)

Now many people were shocked when Jinder won the title, and claimed it was purely performative because they were trying to expand into India and markets around there. But it was really one of the few surprises in WWE at the time, and it was an elevation of someone new into the main event scene. Love him or hate him, Jinder had presence and filled the boots well. But this match, was leading to Survivor Series where they were doing Champions vs Champions. The conventional logic is that Jinder lost this match, because Brock Lesnar knew the match wouldn’t be good or just didn’t want to work with Jinder, so the title got flipped to AJ Styles. AJ held the title for 371 days after this match, and had a damn good match with Brock at Survivor Series. So while Jinder was a surprise, this match lead to a lot of WWE fans finally accepting AJ Styles as more than just the “dude from TNA”.

• XPW Rebirth (2021)

This was the attempted return of XPW after an 18 year hiatus. This is the infamous company that mixed deathmatch wrestling with the adult entertainment industry. While this show had a lot of great Indie names at the time for their Heavyweight tournament. TJP, Willie Mack, Matt Cross, KC Navarro, Vincent, Masada, Brian Cage, SHLAK, as we all know, it can’t end without controversy. The owner Rob Black came out in the finals between Willie Mack and Brian Cage to count the pinfall because there were so many downed referees. Black then gets in an argument with the original referee when he’s up, allowing Cage the distraction to his Willie with the title belt and win the match. In a brief flicker of positivity, Kris Kloss returned to commentary, to help give a nostalgic feeling to a nearly 20 year break in activity.

• WWE Monday Night Raw: 24/7 Championship: Dana Brooke (c) vs Nikki Cross (2022)

Now it’s not the match that is the real reason we have this here. The match was the vehicle to the moment. Nikki Cross defeated Dana Brooke for the 24/7 Championship. And as she’s walking backstage with Iyo Sky, Bayley and Dakota Kai, when she tosses the title towards a trash can. As we find out in a Chris Van Vilet interview, it was supposed to go in the trash, ending the belt on screen. But given that it was a comedy prop, missing the title but getting deactivated anyway, could always be something for the future.

A few PPV firsts, the end of WWE’s comedy title and the short lived return of a ridiculous Xtreme independent promotion. Definitely an interesting combination of events.