1976 in professional wrestling

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1976 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

List of notable promotions

These promotions held notable shows in 1976.

Promotion Name	Abbreviation
All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling	AJW
Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre	EMLL
World Wide Wrestling Federation	WWWF

Calendar of notable shows

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
April 23	EMLL	20. Aniversario de Arena México	Mexico City, Mexico	Fishman defeated El Faraón in a best two-out-of-three falls Lucha de Apuestas mask vs. mask match^[1]^[2]
May 11	NJPW	World League	Tokyo, Japan	Seiji Sakaguchi defeated Pedro Morales
June 5	BTW	Superbowl of Wrestling	Irving, Texas	Terry Funk (c) wrestled Fritz Von Erich to a double count-out in a singles match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
June 25/26	WWWF	Showdown at Shea	Queens, New York	Bruno Sammartino (c) defeated Stan Hansen by countout in a singles match for the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship^[3]
	NJPW / various	The War of the Worlds	Tokyo, Japan	Muhammad Ali fought Antonio Inoki to a draw in a "Wrestler vs Boxer" Match for the Real World Martial Arts Championship (match broadcast via CCTV to other locations)
			Atlanta, Georgia	Jack Brisco fought Dory Funk Jr. to a draw
			Chicago, Illinois	Nick Bockwinkel (c) fought Verne Gagne to a draw for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship
			Detroit, Michigan	The Sheik fought Pampero Firpo to a no contest
			Houston, Texas	Terry Funk (c) defeated Rocky Johnson to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
			Los Angeles, California	Gory Guerrero defeated Roddy Piper
			San Francisco, California	Pat Patterson defeated Mr. Fuji in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match
September 24	EMLL	EMLL 43rd Anniversary Show	Mexico City, Mexico	El Faraón defeated Perro Aguayo in a best two-out-of-three falls match Lucha de Apuesta mask vs. hair match^[4]
December 19	EMLL	Juicio Final	Mexico City, Mexico	Mano Negra defeated Demonio Blanco in a best two-out-of-three falls Lucha de Apuestas, mask Vs. mask match^[5]
(c) – denotes defending champion(s)

Awards and honors

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Category	Winner
PWI Wrestler of the Year	Terry Funk
PWI Tag Team of the Year	The Executioners (#1 and #2)
PWI Match of the Year	Bruno Sammartino vs. Stan Hansen
PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year	Wahoo McDaniel
PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year	Stan Hansen
PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year	Bruno Sammartino
PWI Rookie of the Year	Bob Backlund
PWI Woman of the Year	Sue Green
PWI Midget Wrestler of the Year	Lord Littlebrook
PWI Manager of the Year	Bobby Heenan

Notable Events & incidents

May 11- The Executioners bested Louis Cerdan and Tony Parisi to become the new WWWF Tag Team Champions.
Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki
October 26 - The Executioners were stripped of their WWWF Tag Team Championship when a third executioner was used in their title defense. That third executioner turns out to be Nikolai Volkoff.
December 7 - Billy White Foot and Chief Jay Strongbow defeated The Executioners and Nikolai Volkoff and Tor Kamata in a three-team tournament to become the new WWWF Tag Team Champions.

Accomplishments and tournaments

AJW

Accomplishment	Winner	Date won	Notes
Rookie of the Year Decision Tournament	Victoria Fujimi
World League	Jackie Sato

Championship changes

EMLL

Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship
incoming champion – Dr. Wagner^[6]
February 27	Adorable Rubí	EMLL show	^[6]
July 16	Carlos Plata	EMLL show	^[6]
October 24	Alfonso Dantés	EMLL show	^[6]

Date	Winner	Event/Show
NWA World Middleweight Championship
Incoming champion – Perro Aguayo
October 22	El Faraon	EMLL show

Date	Winner	Event/Show
NWA World Welterweight Championship
Incoming champion – Blue Demon
January 19	Mano Negra	EMLL show
April 9	Fishman	EMLL show

Mexican National Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – El Halcon
No title changes

Mexican National Middleweight Championship
Incoming champion – Ringo Mendoza
No title changes

Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
Mexican National Lightweight Championship
Incoming champion – Tauro^[7]
October 30	Flama Azul	EMLL show	^[7]

Date	Winner	Event/Show
Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Alfonso Dantes
April 11	Dr. Wagner	EMLL show

Date	Winner	Event/Show
Mexican National Welterweight Championship
Incoming champion – Fishman
April 9	Vacant	EMLL show
July 30	Blue Demon	EMLL show

Mexican National Women's Championship
Incoming champion – Uncertain
No title changes

NWA

NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Terry Funk
No title changes

Births

January 9:
- Pasión Kristal (d. 2021)
- Todd Grisham
January 10 - Donovan Morgan
January 23 – Nigel McGuinness
January 24 - Chikayo Nagashima
January 25 - Gorgeous George
January 28 - Emiko Kado (d. 1999)
February 2 - Dragon Kid
February 15 - Yinling
February 23 - Muhammad Yone
February 24 – Monster Clown
March 6 – Ken Anderson/Mr. Kennedy
March 16 - Carlos Amano
March 18 - Mike Quackenbush
March 21 - El Hijo de Cien Caras (d. 2010)
March 23 - Tyson Tomko
March 28 - Rory McAllister
April 8 - Ryuji Ito
April 16 – Phil Baroni
May 9 - Shawn Osborne (died in 2011)
May 22 - Yumi Fukawa
May 25 – Ricky Banderas
June 11 - MsChif
June 11 - Sonoko Kato
June 13 - Sicodelico Jr.
June 30 - Gilbert Yvel
July 16 – Bobby Lashley
July 22 - Abdullah Kobayashi
August 10 - Amish Roadkill
August 15 - The Bruiser (died in 2020)
September 10 – Matt Morgan
September 23 - Yoshinobu Kanemaru
September 24:
- Stephanie McMahon^[8]
- April Hunter
September 25 - Dr. Heresy
October 4 - Emi Sakura
October 14 - G. Q. Money
October 18 - Maybach Taniguchi
November 13 – Hiroshi Tanahashi
November 17- Kikutaro
November 21 - Cassidy O'Reilly
November 22 - Lash LeRoux
November 23 – Kristina Laum
November 25 – Adam Firestorm (d. 2009) [1]
November 26 – Maven
December 17 - Nosawa Rongai
December 23 – Jamie Noble
December 27 - Tim Arson (d. 2015) [2]

Debuts

Uncertain debut date

March 5 - Mach Hayato (UWF)
March 13 - Scott Irwin
May - Bobby Eaton and Nancy Kumi (All Japan Women's)
May 24 - Super Parka
May 30 - Victoria Fujimi (All Japan Women's)
November 13 - Genichiro Tenryu

Retirements

Mitsu Arakawa (1953 – 1976)
Bob Geigel (1950 – 1976)
George Gordienko (1946 – 1976)
Danny Hodge (1959-1976, wrestled one match in 1983)
Stan Kowalski (1948 – 1976)
Betty Niccoli (1963 – 1976)
Antonino Rocca (1942 – 1976)
Hans Schmidt (1949 – 1976)
Kinji Shibuya (1952 – 1976)

Deaths

April 21 - Sir Dudley Clements, 28
May 20 - Bobby Pearce (rower), 70
June 11 - Toots Mondt, 82
July 27 - Sam Bass (wrestler), 41
September 26 - Sheik Ali, 49
November 10 - Al Haft, 89

References

^ "Luchas 2000". Fisman y sus Victimas (in Spanish). Juárez, Mexico: Publicaciones citem, S.A. de C.V. pp. 28–31. Especial 30.
^ "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". El Faraón (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico. August 2007. p. 23. Tomo II.
^ Cawthon, Graham (2013). The History of Professional Wrestling: The Results WWF 1963–1989. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 191. ISBN 978-1-4928-2597-5.
^ "Luchas 2000". Perro Aguayo y sus Victimas (in Spanish). Juárez, Mexico: Publicaciones citem, S.A. de C.V. pp. 12–15. Especial 30.
^ "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". Mano Negra (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico. October 2007. p. 20. Tomo III.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Light Heavyweight Title [Lutteroth]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 389. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
^ ^a ^b Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: National Lightweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. p. 393. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
^ "Stephanie McMahon Profile". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on July 30, 2012. Retrieved May 1, 2008.

[FishmanVictimas-1] "Luchas 2000". Fisman y sus Victimas (in Spanish). Juárez, Mexico: Publicaciones citem, S.A. de C.V. pp. 28–31. Especial 30.

[EncyFaraon-2] "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". El Faraón (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico. August 2007. p. 23. Tomo II.

[WWFresults1976-3] Cawthon, Graham (2013). The History of Professional Wrestling: The Results WWF 1963–1989. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 191. ISBN 978-1-4928-2597-5.

[PerroApuesta-4] "Luchas 2000". Perro Aguayo y sus Victimas (in Spanish). Juárez, Mexico: Publicaciones citem, S.A. de C.V. pp. 12–15. Especial 30.

[EncyManoNegro-5] "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". Mano Negra (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico. October 2007. p. 20. Tomo III.

[NWALHeavy-6] Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Light Heavyweight Title [Lutteroth]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 389. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.

[MexLight-7] Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: National Lightweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. p. 393. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.

[8] "Stephanie McMahon Profile". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on July 30, 2012. Retrieved May 1, 2008.

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