Western wrestling fans rejoice, this is chockfull of WWE events or other American companies that have names you’re aware of! So let’s get to the list and see what popped up for the day!

• ECW Hardcore Heaven: World Television Title: RVD (c) vs Jerry Lynn (1999)

While there’s a neat note with Sid Vicious’ surprise appearance because Shane Douglas no-showed, the main sticking point is the match being highlighted. This match was a No Time Limit workrate bout that proved Jerry Lynn was as good as anyone. While RVD won, this was during his 700 day reign, and this match did a lot of work to sell ECW to TNN as more than just hardcore garbage. Jerry Lynn was on his way up the card, even donning the moniker of “The New F’n Show”.

• WWE Judgement Day: WWE Championship: Eddie Guerrero (c) vs JBL (2004)

I don’t think anyone will remember this event for being Mordecai’s PPV debut, so let’s talk about a core memory for many, the “blade job gone wrong”. JBL clocks Eddie with a chair, and when Eddie blades, he hits an artery. Crimson Mask, is an understatement, he’s bleeding all over the place, the ring is stained in blood…it looks like a butcher’s shop. The match was 24 minutes before Eddie got frustrated and hit JBL with the title in front of the referee. So Eddie was DQ’d, JBL was set up well for his legendary heel run and Eddie needed two weeks after this match to fully recover from the blood loss.

• TNA Sacrifice (2010)

One of the first pivotal Bischoff-Hogan era PPVs. Doug Williams won the X Division title for the first time, bringing the British technical style to a normally fast paced division. Tara (fka Victoria in WWE) lost a Title vs Career match against Madison Rayne and was forced to retire. The main event was RVD vs AJ Styles. RVD debuted hot in TNA and beat AJ Styles a month prior to break is 211 day reign. The match was built well, the action was solid if not a touch slow at times. The best match was MCMG vs Team 3D vs Beer Money, but generally speaking the event was received fairly well and TNA remained interesting for most of this year.

• Xia Brookside Debut (2015)

Xia has become a relevant player in TNA this year with her big heel turn. So given the fact that she’s on the come up, I thought it would be good to highlight her debut. She debuted in the British promotion All Star Wrestling in a mixed tag match. She teamed with El Ligero vs Kay Lee Ray & Sammy D. I remember her time in Stardom, and she…was not good. Her last two years in TNA have shown huge character growth and technical wrestling ability. I’m very glad to admit that my earlier disdain for her wrestling has all but evaporated, hence, why I wanted to make a note of her wrestling debut before she really popped off and I look like a bandwagoner.

• WWE WrestleMania Backlash: SmackDown Tag Team Championship: Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode (c) vs Rey & Dominik Mysterio (2021)

Even though Roman Reigns and Cesaro had a banger of a match, this history can’t be ignored or shared. Dominik showed great babyface resolve as he got jumped before the match, but still came out for the match and wrestled through it. But Dominik’s resilience isn’t the history, the Mysterios won the match, which made them the very first father and son tag team to hold the any iteration of the tag titles in WWE history. It was also Dom’s first championship in WWE, and seeing where he’s at now, this will be important in his story for the rest of his career.

A little bit of an RVD thread with the ECW and TNA moment, but then Eddie is important in these too with Judgement Day and his son (hush, it’s funnier if we call Dom Eddie’s son) eventually becoming the best member of the stable of the same name.

Did I miss anything? How far did I stretch the events today? Which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments. And if you don’t do anything else today, remember, Always Use Your Head!

An article bookended by Joshi moments. I mean, I can’t say I’m surprised by myself, but I just take what the history gives me. While nothing is overtly WWE, there are a few names and moments that will still resonate with people who don’t venture too far from the beach.

• AJW Fresh Power Series: AJW Junior Championship: Chigusa Nagayo vs Itsuki Yamazaki (1982)

This match was pivotal for both women, who carry a ton of history for women’s wrestling in general, not just Joshi. Many may not know Itsuki by name, but she eventually became on half of the Jumping Bomb Angels. In this context, Junior titles mean under 20 years old (some do it by wrestling experience, but consider it a rookie style title). The tournament style to get to this match helped to showcase both women, Chigusa ended up defeating Itsuki here, but this helped to set up foundation of the rivalry between the Jumping Bomb Angels and Crush Gals.

• WCW Monday Nitro (2000)

This show was filled with a few interesting notes, that’s why I didn’t just focus on one match. Daffney became Cruiserweight Champion (making her only the second woman to hold the title, after Madusa) after he and Crowbar won a mixed tag against Chris Candido and Tammy Sytch. Sting faced Vampiro in the House of Pain match, and the spectacles didn’t stop there, because the ambulance match with Nash and Mike Awesome happened here too. The most important wrinkle though, Ric Flair defeated Jeff Jarrett for the WCW World Title. It was his final real match way of obtaining the title. For clarity, it was only his 15th, the 16 happens because Russo stripped Flair of the title the next week, but after Kevin Nash won the belt, he handed it over to Flair because he disagreed with Flair getting stripped of the title previously. So 16 was kind of a joke, thusly, this is his last real World Championship victory.

• Triplemania XIII (2005)

Plenty of grudges and a little cross promotion were present here. Psicosis and Psicosis II had a steel cage match over rights to the name (it wasn’t just La Parka that Antonio Peña recasted under the mask). Dragon Gate had some cross promotion, and this was a year after Ultimo left the promotion so it became Dragon Gate and this was a little bit of shot to establish the new name. The match with the most fan investment was Konnan versus Vampiro. Their decades long rivalry that spilled into WCW for a bit had a new chapter here. While Konnan won via TKO here, the rivalry was relevant for nearly the next 20 years.

• TNA Hard Justice (2005)

This was the inaugural Hard/Hardcore Justice event. Aside from the somber start for Chris Candido after he passed away two weeks prior, this was a very classic TNA event. Sean Waltman and Raven had a Clockwork Orange House of Fun Match, The Naturals surprising retained the tag titles over America’s Most Wanted and Abyss won the #1 Contender Gauntlet for the Gold. Main event was a solid match that ended in a way to send the people home happy, as AJ Styles defeated Jeff Jarrett to start his third reign as NWA World Champion.

• TNA Sacrifice: Kurt Angel & Chyna vs Jeff & Karen Jarrett (2011)

Some moments speak for themselves, and this one definitely fits that bill. This was Chyna’s final match and also, a legitimate surprise at the time. Chyna’s last time as an active wrestler was 2002 in NJPW. So when she showed up as Kurt Angle’s backup, Karen’s face went white as a sheet and the Impact Zone popped hard. It was definitely a great moment for TNA, and there was hopes she’d be back for at least a short run. Bittersweet given what we know, but Chyna’s impact on wrestling can never be erased or ignored.

• Stardom Gold (2016)

“Threedom” (Io Shirai, Kairi Hojo & Mayu Iwatani)  era was full established here. Kairi finally won the Wonder of Stardom title, which is Stardom’s second highest belt, but this was after a substantial losing streak. So the Pirate Princess had to navigate rough waters to finally take out Santana Garrett for the title. As for the other two in “Threedom”, they were fighting each other for the World of Stardom red belt. Io managed to beat Mayu and rebuff the challenge; taking her rightful place as the Ace of Stardom. We also had the rumblings of greater heel things in the mix. Kyoko Kimura’s Kimura Monster-Gun, recently added Kagetsu, and their undercard victory was a harbinger for things to come.

Quite a few interlocking pieces scattered in these events. Chris Candido, Jeff Jarrett, WCW, Joshi influences on the WWF/E universe and matches with pop culture reference names. I’m not really mad at any of these being on the list.

Did I miss anything? How far did I stretch the events today? Which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments. And if you don’t do anything else today, remember, Always Use Your Head!