Today In Wrestling History 6/18: CM Punk Starts Original Summer Of Punk, Aguayo Jr. Debuts, More
* 20 years ago in 1995, WCW promoted the Great American Bash pay-per-view live from the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio, one of just three WCW Bash PPVs not held in Baltimore. It was a rare WCW PPV without Hulk Hogan, and the result was an above-average show that did solid business, for whatever it's worth.
The opener saw Alex Wright get a clean win over Brian Pillman, the biggest of his career so far. At this point, Wright was more of a prospect than anything else. He was a second generation wrestler with a great look who was clearly very physically talented, but he had yet to put everything together. Ric Flair had made Wright his pet project, wrestling him several times in featured TV matches to teach him and give him a rub. This PPV match with Pillman, though, was his best match to date, as Pillman was the best stylistic fit with him and was at his peak when it came to carrying less experienced opponents.
In one of the featured matches, Sting defeated Meng to win the United States Title in a tournament final. Sting had been on a decline and Meng had shown very little since he came to WCW, but the match was a pleasant surprise. Both guys cut a fast pace with a strong give and take heavyweight match and Sting looked like the pre-knee injury Sting, with a big focus on his leaping ability in cool moves like a Frankensteiner and a very impressive jumping DDT.
Flair beat Randy Savage in an excellent main event, the type of strong effort these two always put in. Savage eventually won the blowoff of this feud, which was set up by Flair attacking Angelo Poffo, but here, in perhaps a bit of foreshadowing to the NWO era, the heel won to close the show.
The show also featured a controversial title change as Renegade defeated Arn Anderson to win the WCW World Television Title. Along with Lord Steven Regal (William Regal), Arn was one of the two wrestlers synonymous with the title on top of being a respected veteran, so the hardcore fans and the other wrestlers weren't crazy about him losing to Renegade. Renegade was Rick Williams, an independent wrestler who had worked as Rio, Lord of the Jungle...and he wasn't very good. As in he couldn't even do his top rope splash finisher correctly. Since he looked sort of like the Ultimate Warrior, he got a shot here as WCW's fake Warrior, and it was a total bust.
* That same day in 1995, AAA held the Triplemania III-B supercard at El Auditorio 'Río Nilo' in Tonalá, Jalisco, Mexico. Historically, the most notable bout on the show would be the pro debut of Perro Aguayo Jr. against Juventud Guerrera in an "Olympic Rules Match." There were moments where the 15 year old Perrito (he turned 16 a month later) looked a little green, but overall, this is about as good of a first match you'll ever see.
* 10 years ago in 2005, ROH ran Death Before Dishonor III at the Mennen Sports Arena in Morristown, NJ. The big story of the show going in was that "everyone knew" that CM Punk's shot at ROH Champion Austin Aries was his last match in the company before signing his WWE developmental deal and reporting to Ohio Valley Wrestling. So it came as a shock when Punk won the title. In his post-match interview, Punk, who was the top babyface in the company by that point, turned heel, explaining that he hated the fans and just used their support to help him get a title shot. So he was leaving with the belt.
And so began the Summer of Punk. Every show became about ROH's top stars, including the returning Christopher Daniels, trying to bring the title back home before Punk really did leave for good. Punk was perfectly smug as he did things like sign his actual WWE contract on the belt. Meanwhile, one of the top contenders was James "Jamie Noble" Gibson, and it wasn't exactly a secret that he'd eventually be returning to WWE, as well. He ended up dethroning Punk and positioning himself as Punk's total opposite; WWE was ready to bring him back by that point but he wasn't going anywhere as long as he was champion. That didn't last long because WWE really did want him back, but it was a nice parallel.
* 4 years ago in 2011, AAA held TripleMania XIX at El Palacio de Los Deportes in Mexico City. The most anticipated match on the card and "real" main event (it went on next to last) saw L.A. Par-K (the original La Parka from WCW) defeat El Mesias (Ricky Banderas, A.K.A. Judas Mesias and Mil Muertes) to win his hair. This was a wild brawl that was one of the very best matches of the year, as Par-K was on a hot streak since returning to AAA to feud with their replacement La Parka. If you've been meaning to try to get into AAA's version of lucha libre, this match isn't a bad place to start, as it's one of the best brawls of their modern era.