shinobimusashi came up with a cool "20 Years Ago Today" thread at the old PW. Figured I'd bring it over here but leave it a little more open.

20 Years Ago today saw wrestling at its best and worst. First the great Brian Pillman passed away at only 35 years old. Later that same day The Undertaker went to war with Shawn Michaels in the epic first Hell In A Cell. I once saw this match described as "a horror movie where you're rooting for the monster to destroy the obnoxious pretty boy" and that's a pretty good description. Think I had this at #3 when we did our "Greatest US Matches Countdown" a few years back. It also featured Kane's debut, which is only the greatest in WWF history.

19 years ago today, maybe the single greatest comedy moment in Raw history:

Damn I was going to watch Bad Blood last night but I didn't have time. That next night on Raw it was fucking on, WWF was going hard Sep-Oct-Nov 97

And Pillman's been gone for 20 years now, sad stuff. 

Just finished watching Bad Blood. LOD vs The Nation was fun opener, surreal seeing The Rock getting his ass kicked by LOD.

They didn't really say much about Pillman. They mentioned that he died earlier that day in the opening and then Mcmahon said something on screen about it in between some matches.

The mini match was so bad it was funny, seeing midgets run around the ring in Benny Hill mode botching a bunch of shit up is a good time. This was embarrassingly bad.

Headbangers vs Godwins for the WWF Tag titles, Headbangers were defending champs. I loved the Headbangers back in the day but boy I watch these tapes and it is just amazing how utterly useless and flat out terrible those guys were. They weren't buff or bad ass looking, they couldn't wrestle or even move with any modicum of athleticism, couldn't cut any promos, they were slow and sloppy in the ring. Their whole schtick was their gimmick which was a cool idea for the time, beyond the costumes and the gimmick though these guys were lower level jobber material. One of them had on a pretty epic Type O Negative shirt though. Godwins get the win and take the tag team titles in a dud of a match.

Owen vs Farooq was mediocre as it gets. Best part was Austin coming out to fuck with all the commentators, not just JR/King/Vince but he fucks with the French and Spanish commentary teams and it's funny.

DOA vs Los Borriquas, eek...

Bret and Bulldog's promos before the flag match were funny for Bulldog's fucked up promo. Looking at this flag match against Vader and The Patriot I can't help but be reminded of how completely useless Bret's 5th WWF Title reign really was. They put the title on him at Summerslam and then they do the whole thing with The Patriot. I remember seeing The Patriot thrust into the Canada vs USA angle and having a total Conor Mcgregor "Who the fook is that guy!?" reaction to it.

It never really hit me before that there was really nothing on the line in the Hell in a Cell match other than the fact that it was like a #1 contenders match with the winner getting the shot at Bret at Survivor Series. I think it would have been better if they just kept the title on Undertaker until this match and it would have been that much better for Taker to lose the title here, completely bypassing Bret's 5th reign which to me is one of the more suspicious things about the Montreal Screwjob, put on your tin foil hats with me and entertain the thought that it seems like they put the title on Bret just for the sole purpose to set up the events of the screwjob, it just doesn't make any sense to me why they would put the title on him during this time where there was this big deal with Vince wanting out of his big contract and sending him to try to get a deal with WCW.

But the Hell in a Cell match was awesome. I forgot how good it really was. Great stuff. If I'm not mistaken KJ was in the house for this show? What was it like!?!? You lucky bastard.

You're damn right I was there. Eye-level with the top of the cage on the same side Shawn fell off of.

It was an absolutely incredible show. The HIAC alone made it the best show I've ever gone to.

Last night I watched the October 6th 1997 episodes of Nitro and Raw. What a great time, I enjoyed these so much that I got the itch to work on some fan fiction stuff. These tapes definitely got me back in a wrestling state of mind. I just really really really loved the way both shows were so aware of each other, constantly taking shots at each other throughout the show. Over on Raw you had Jim Cornette's epic first rant about the NWO.

On Raw this was a wildly interesting and eerie show because it was the night after Pillman died and it was in the same arena in Kansas City that Owen Hart would die in two years later. Vince opens the show with everybody on the stage for a 10 bell salute and there is a split second shot of Owen that gave me goosebumps during the 10 bell salute. Owen was seemingly the most visibly effected by Pillman's death on this show he just had a really ominous look on his face whenever he was on camera. For everybody else it just kinda felt like the show goes on, Owen though just the look on his face looked like he seriously wasn't in the mood for pro wrestling that night.

The Melanie Pillman interview was really amazing how tasteless this was, I really can't believe it watching it now. Vince even goes as far as asking this woman how she plans to support herself and her 5 kids now that her husband is gone. It just baffles me that they thought this was a good idea or even necessary, obviously it was just them cheaply trying to pop a rating.

Nitro was better in the ring, some great matches with Booker T making what felt like his singles debut against Jeff Jarrett. Also had a really fun match with Benoit vs Curt Hennig where Hennig was bumping his ass off, cool finish too with the exposed turnbuckle coming into play.

And I'm also reminded of just how utterly fucking amazing Kane was as an overall character when he first came around. This shit had me hooked big time back in the day, I was so all about it.

25 years ago yesterday saw Bret Hart shock the world by beating Ric Flair for the WWF championship. I've beaten this topic to death but the rest of you are free to chime in.

30 years ago today Sting became a mainstay on WCW television full time.

22 years ago today Goldust made his in ring premiere at In Your House October 1995. Other notable happenings from the show include Shawn Michaels forfeiting the IC Title and Yokozuna wrestling Mabel in what was billed as the heaviest singles match in wrestling history.

30 years ago today (Sting and Warrior really did have parallel paths)

^Nice find. Warrior never really changed much. He had most of his shtick down from Day One. Speaking of which...for some reason I always thought Warrior debuted in a 10 man battle royal won by Bam Bam Bigelow. That's the first time I remember seeing him anyway.

Today is also the 20th anniversary of one of WCW's greatest matches in Rey vs. Eddie at Halloween Havoc 1997.

20 years ago today, the Montreal Screwjob. Vince screws Bret, chooses Shawn, who only has 21 more matches for him during the Monday Night Wars, and everything works out anyway.

12 years today, tomorrow, depending on where you are. Eddie Guerrero RIP.

Nov 10, 2017 0:41:14 GMT Kilgore said:

20 years ago today, the Montreal Screwjob. Vince screws Bret, chooses Shawn, who only has 21 more matches for him during the Monday Night Wars, and everything works out anyway.

This is the most beautiful part of the whole Screwjob. Neither Bret or Shawn ended up mattering long term. Even short term really.

WCW mishandled Bret and Sting, who they'd spent over a year building (partially his fault as well), but it didn't matter and they did their best business ever in 1998, before they mishandled Goldberg in early 1999 and it all went to shit.

Austin's surgery was able to be delayed for 2 years, so his inevitable rise to the top continued. HBK slipped away and wasn't missed. DX changed up, turned face and was hugely popular.

32 years ago today the Four Horsemen first appear on screen after being mentioned in passing ("the elite", "the Four Horsemen of wrestling") in various interviews for about a month before this show (@ the 1:23:50 mark).

22 years ago today Bret Hart defeated Diesel in a classic match in the main event of the GOAT Survivor Series, and one of my all time favorite pay per views, to begin his 3rd WWF Championship reign.

27 years ago today saw the debut of Kane The Undertaker.

Also on this date in 1986, Randy Savage crushed Ricky Steamboat's larynx.

31 years ago today WWF held Wrestlemania III. It's a pretty famous show. You may have heard of it. Many still consider it the Biggest! Baddest! Bestest! pay per view of all time.

First PPV I ever saw and I still get a kick out of it. One of those shows where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Great atmosphere with the huge building and those awesome ring carts. Good use of celebrities too as their were lots of them but they weren't used in an obnoxious manner. Steamboat/Savage is obviously MOTN but it's hard to beat Hogan/Andre as a moment. We got a classic tag team opener to get the crowd fired up. Adonis/Piper held up really well the last time I watched it a few years back. You had some fun/memorable sports entertainment with Bundy & the midgets. Davey Boy hit an epic jumping tombstone on my man Danny Davis only for the "Dangerous" one to come back and get his revenge by scoring the pin. YES! We even got some blood(!) in Hercules vs. Bily Jack.

Shoot. Yesterday was also the anniversary of another one of my favorite 'Mania's- Wrestlemania 14.

Maybe the best built 'Mania of all time....unless it's III? (March 29th=single best day in WWF history?) There have been very few shows, if any, I was looking forward to more than this one. 

And it delivered! No all time great blowaway matches but Undertaker vs. Kane and New Age Outlaws vs. Hardcore Legends were matches I was looking forward to that delivered. Austin vs. Michaels was another solid outing and an important match in WWF lore. Even the other, lesser matches almost all had good builds, and Wrestlemania XIV was a dud-free zone.

It was one of if not the best built pay per view events of any kind ever. Pro Wrestling was so awesome back then.

Another day, another Wrestlemania anniversary.

This time it's the 22nd anniversary of Wrestlemania XII. Shawn Michaels became The Man much to my chagrin. The Streak grew to 5-0 as Taker had his best 'Mania match yet vs. Diesel. Stone Cold made his 'Mania debut with a win over Savio Vega. Other undercard matches saw Camp Cornette emerge victorious over the odd trio of Yokozuna, Jake & Ahmed, Goldust & Piper do battle in a goofy gimmick match, and Ultimate Warrior return to end Hunter Hearst Helmsley's undefeated streak in HHH's own 'Mania debut.

All in all, a so-so show at best, but one I was pretty hyped for at the time. It was the first 'Mania I watched live, or even during the week of, since Wrestlemania VII five years earlier.