39 years ago today, Nick Bockwinkel ends the seven year run of Verne Gagne as AWA World Champion and wins the title for the first time. Gagne held the title for an incredible 2,625 days, or longer than every AWA world title run starting with Gagne's first in July 1961 combined. Bockwinkel would go on to have a long championship run himself, holding the title for over four and a half years before he's defeated by... Verne Gagne in 1980.
34 years ago today, Tony Garea and Rick Martel defeated The Wild Samoans (Afa & Sika) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.
15 years ago today on Nitro from Indianapolis, Indiana, Scott Hall defeats Bret Hart, Sid Vicious, and Goldberg in a ladder match to win the vacant WCW United States Championship.
15 years ago today on RAW is WAR from State College, Pennsylvania, The New Age Outlaws defeated Mankind and Al Snow to win the WWF Tag Team Championship for the fifth time. They would add a sixth championship in early 2014.
9 years ago today at a Smackdown taping in Indianapolis, Indiana, Eddie Guerrero defeated Ken Kennedy via disqualification to earn a slot on the Smackdown vs. RAW match at Survivor Series. Sadly, this would be Guerrero's final televised match, as Guerrero would be found dead in a hotel room in Minneapolis five days later. The official cause of death was acute heart failure due to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
7 years ago today, WWE released the suspended Chris Masters and developmental talent Ryan Wilson. Masters, real name Chris Mordetzky, was released just a week after he went on suspension for a second violation of the WWE's Substance Abuse and Drug Policy. Wilson was the masked Jacob Duncan and was once the OVW Heavyweight Champion, but is most famous for his brief TNA run as Trytan.
7 years ago today, CNN aired Death Grip: Inside Professional Wresting. The one-hour documentary focused primarily on the murder-suicide of Chris Benoit and his family, but also focuses on drugs and the toll they have taken on the industry since the 1980s, where dozens of wrestlers have died before their 50th birthday. There is also a transcript of the show, which can be found here.
6 years ago today, tickets went on sale for Wrestlemania 25. $4.8 million in tickets were sold in the first day, on its way to $6.9 million at the gate, at the time, a WWE record. The record would stand until Wrestlemania XXVIII (the record has since been broken by Wrestlemania 29, then Wrestlemania XXX).
5 years ago today in Tokyo, Japan, Tiger Mask IV defeated Mistico to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
Today's the 27th birthday of "The Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada, regarded by many as one of the best wrestlers in the world today. Born in Anjo, Japan, Okada was trained by Ultimo Dragon at his Toryumon professional wrestling school. He made his professional debut at age 16 in August 2004 against Negro Navarro. He would wrestle primarily for Toryumon Mexico, Ultimo Dragon's promotion. He participated in the Young Dragons Cup in 2004 and 2005, winning the event in 2005. In 2006 and 2007, Okada wrestled primarily on the United States and Canadian independent circuits, most notably for UWA Hardcore Wrestling and Chikara.
In 2007, Okada returned to Japan and trained at the New Japan Dojo. He made his debut for the company in a losing effort that August to Tetsuya Naito. Not long after his debut, Okada would be injured and sat out eight months. While debuting as a junior heavyweight, he moved to the heavyweight division upon his return in 2008. By 2009, he would become a breakout star for the company during the NJPW vs. Pro Wrestling NOAH feud, wrestling big matches against Japan's top stars including Shinsuke Nakamura, Hirooko Goto, Tajiri, and Go Shiozaki. Often his efforts came up short, but he developed a major crowd following. Just as he was picking up steam, Okada was sent away to TNA Wrestling for a developmental tour. In his final bout before leaving for TNA, Okada was defeated by Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Okada made his TNA debut in Feburary 2010, losing to Alex Shelley in a dark match. He would wrestle in dark matches over the next two months, finally making his television debut in April 2010 in a losing effort in a tag team match where he and Homicide were defeated by Generation Me (aka The Young Bucks) on Xplosion. His Impact debut came in July during a run-in against former ECW wrestlers. Okada finally got in the win column on August 9 in a dark match against Kid Kash. Okada teamed with Akira Kawabata, aka Kiosyhi for most of the remainder of the year primarily in house show, dark, and Xplosion matches. Okada would not appear on Impact again until January 2011, when he was revealed as a cameraman exposing D'Angelo Dinero's lies. Inspired by Kato in the Green Hornet TV series and movie (which was released around the time of the new gimmick), Okada was renamed Okato. Okato and Dinero fought once, on the March 24 Impact, with Okato winning via disqualification. He would subsequently peform under his real surname following the feud, but went largely unused before he was released in October 2011.
While he largely sat on the sidelines in TNA, Okada returned to New Japan in December 2011, suplexing the 290-pound Yoshihiro Takayama (Okada at the time weighted about 220 pounds). He made a one-time only appearance at Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome for a New Japan-Pro Wrestling NOAH tag battle, where Okada and Hirooki Goto were defeated by Takayama and Takashi Sugiura. Okada was also part of New Japan Pro Wrestling's Invasion Tour of the United States in 2011.
He returned full-time to New Japan for Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2012. Now weighing 236 pounds, he fully qualified as a heavyweight. He defeated Yoshi-Hashi (himself returning from an excursion in Mexico) in his return bout. Post-match, he challenged Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The next day, the match was made official in a press conference; at that event, Okada revealed he joined top heel stable Chaos, enlisted Gedo as his manager and spokesperson, and called himself "Rainmaker". He went on a winning streak in the month leading to the bout, including defeating Tanahashi in a tag match two weeks before the world title match.
On February 12 at The New Beginning, Okada defeated Tanahashi to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. He would hold the title for the next four months before losing at Dominion 6.16 back to Tanahashi. In August, Okada entered the G1 Climax tournament for the first time. He would go 5-3 (one of the three loses would be to fellow Chaos member Shinsuke Nakamura) , winning his block and a spot in the final match. In the final, he defeated Karl Anderson to win the tournament, making him the youngest G1 Climax winner ever. Post-match, he announced he wanted a shot at the IWGP heavyweight title again at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome on January 4. As that match was more than four months off, Okada would have to defend the right to the title shot. He did so, turning back challenges from Karl Anderson and Hirooki Goto. The match was made official following Power Struggle in November: Tanahashi-Okada III was on for Wrestle Kingdom 7. Okada was voted by Tokyo Sports magazine as the MVP of puroresu in 2012 in December, and also won match of the year for the publication for his bout against Tanahashi at Dominion 6.16.
However, at Wrestle Kingdom 7, Okaka fell short in winning the title. Less than two weeks later, rumosrs swirled that Okada was being courted by WWE, but quickly shot them down and announced he signed a contract extension to stay with New Japan. In March, thanks in part to a new submission maneuver he calls Red Ink, Okada would win the New Japan Cup, defeating former tag partner Hirooki Goto in the final. The win gave him another shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. At Invasion Attack on April 7, Okada defeated Tanahashi to win the title for the second time. He would turn back challenges from Suzukigun leader Minoru Suzuki, Togo Makabe and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Prince Devitt in consecutive months. In August, his quest to win a second G1 Climax was virtually snuffed out after a 1-3 start... or so it seemed. He would win three of his next four matches, going to a 30-minute time limit draw with rival Hiroshi Tanahashi. But needing a win against Satoshi Kojima to advance, he lost. However, he would get revenge, defeating him in September in an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match.
At King of Pro-Wrestling in October, Okada defeated Tanahashi in what was billed as Tanahashi's final shot at the title. With the win, New Japan claimed that Okada was the "Shin Jidai no Ace", the "Ace of the New Era". Fan reaction to an Okada versus 2013 G1 Climax winner Tetsuya Naito was disappointing, so New Japan let the fans decide if the world title match or an Intercontinental title bout between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura should main event Wrestle Kingdom 8. The Intercontinental title bout won by a 2-1 margin and was given the main event slot, but it wasn't a total loss: the same day the results were announced, Tokyo Sports named Okada the puroresu MVP for the second straight year, making him the first wrestler to win back-to-back MVPs in a quarter century. Okada would go on to retain the title at Wrestle Kingdom 8.
On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku, Okada was defeated by former TNA world champion AJ Styles, ending his run at 391 days, the fifth longest IWGP Heavyweight Championship run in history. Okada unsuccessfully tried to regain the title at the Ring of Honor-New Japan co-promoted War of the Worlds in May in a three way match that included Michael Elgin. In August, Okada defeated Chaos stablemate Shinsuke Nakamura to win the G1 Climax tournament for a second time, enabling him to challenge for the challenge the IWGP Heavyweight Champion on January 4 at Wrestle Kingdom 9. Okada's opponent: his longtime rival Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Okada, who is featured in the Japanese music video for Pharrell Williams' Happy, is the founder of Rainmaker Kikin (Rainmaker Fund), a charity out to fight children's cancer. The fund was established this past august when both his uncle and cousin were diagnosed with the disease. In addition to the two Tokyo Sports MVPs, Okada has collected multiple accolades from Wrestling Observer Newsletter, including two five-star matches against Hiroshi Tanahashi (their Invasion Attack bout from 2013 won Match of the Year for the publication), Feud of the Year with Tanahashi in 2012 and 2013, Most Improved wrestler of 2012, and two-time winner for best wrestling maneuver (The Rainmaker, a wrist-lock short arm clothesline).