1963 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

List of notable promotions

Only two promotions held notable shows in 1963.

Calendar of notable shows

Notable events

* January 24

Capitol Wrestling Corporation Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was an American sports promotion company. Run by Vincent J. McMahon from the 1950s until the 1980s, the company was originally a professional wrestling and boxing promotion and later became the holding company ...

(CWC) breaks away from the

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and governing body owned by Billy Corgan and operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA be ...

(NWA) to form the

World Wide Wrestling Federation Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was an American sports promotion company. Run by Vincent J. McMahon from the 1950s until the 1980s, the company was originally a professional wrestling and boxing promotion and later became the holding company ...

(WWWF). * April 11 - Buddy Rogers was presented the

WWWF World Heavyweight Championship The WWE Championship, also referred to as the Undisputed WWE Championship since April 2024, is a men's professional wrestling World championship (professional wrestling), world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American profe ...

at a WWWF TV taping in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, after being billed as the World Champion since late January. * May 18 -

Bruno Sammartino Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino (October 6, 1935 – April 18, 2018) was an Italian-American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his time with the WWE, World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). Sammartin ...

defeated Buddy Rogers in 48 seconds to win the

New York, NY New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...

Championship changes

EMLL

NWA

Debuts

*Debut date uncertain: ** Beauregard **

Coloso Colosetti Elio Carlo Colosetti Drazich (May 19, 1948 – November 16, 2024) was an Argentine professional wrestling, professional wrestler who is primarily known under the ring name Coloso Colosetti. Colosetti wrestled primarily in Mexico and Southern Cali ...

** Donna Christianello ** Johnny Powers **

Mr. Wrestling George Burrell Woodin (July 28, 1934 – November 30, 2002) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring names, Mr. Wrestling and Tim Woods. Collegiate wrestling career Woodin received a degree in agricultural engineering f ...

Pepe Casas Pepe is a pet form of the Spanish and Portuguese name José (Joseph). It is also a surname. * People Mononyms * Pepe (footballer, born 1935), Brazilian footballer José Macia *Pepe (footballer, born 1983), Brazilian-born Portuguese footballe ...

** Skandar Akbar *January 4

Ernie Ladd Ernest L. Ladd (November 28, 1938 – March 10, 2007), nicknamed "the Big Cat", was an American professional American football, football defensive tackle and professional wrestling, professional wrestler. A standout athlete in high school, Ladd ...

*January 10 Dory Funk Jr. *March

Rubén Pato Soria Rubén "Pato" Soria (February 2, 1942 - December 15, 2017) was a Mexican ''Lucha libre, luchador'', or professional wrestler, in the 1960s who was very popular with the female fans. Retired in 1970 while on tour in the US. Probably more well known ...

*October 13

Great Kojika , known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler. He co-founded the promotion Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW). Kojika is the oldest active Japanese wrestler as well as the one with the longest career, having debuted in 1963. He is al ...

*November

Aníbal Aníbal is the Spanish and Portuguese masculine given name equivalent of Hannibal (q.v.), itself a latinization of the Greek name Hanníbas (Ἁννίβας), derived from “ḥnbʿl” in the Carthaginian language (Carthaginian Punic script, � ...

Births

*Date of birth uncertain: ** Marie Lograsso (died in 2006) *January 2

Mickie Henson Mickie Jay Henson (January 2, 1963 – February 14, 2022) was an American professional wrestling referee. He was best known for his time with World Championship Wrestling from 1992 to 2001 and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) from 2005 to 2009 ...

(died in 2022) *January 3: **

Vic Grimes Victor Grimes (born January 3, 1963) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW), and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Grimes began his wre ...

New Jack Jerome Young (January 3, 1963 – May 14, 2021) was an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name New Jack. He was best known for his time with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), where he became notorious for his willingn ...

(died in 2021) *January 6

Tony Halme Tony Christian Halme (January 6, 1963 – January 8, 2010) was a Finnish politician, athlete, author, actor, and singer. He was a member of the Finnish Parliament from 2003 to 2007 as an independent elected on the True Finns party list. Halme was ...

(died in 2010

*January 10

Firebreaker Chip Curtis Thompson (born January 20, 1963) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling from 1991 to 1992 under the ring name Firebreaker Chip. Professional wrestling career E ...

*January 29

Hardcore Holly Robert William Howard (born January 29, 1963) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Hardcore Holly. After debuting in 1987, Holly worked for ...

*February 22 Maxx Muscle(died in 2019

*February 25

Doug Stahl Douglas E. Stahl (born February 25, 1963) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler who currently works in the Independent circuit as one half of the masked Tag team known as The Super Destroyers. The two are best known for the ...

*February 28 Joey Marella(died in 1994

*March 7

Bruce Prichard Bruce Prichard (born March 7, 1963) is an American professional wrestling executive, booker, and producer and a former manager, commentator, and occasional professional wrestler who works for WWE as Executive Director - CWT. In addition to ...

*March 19

Brazo de Plata José Luis Alvarado Nieves (March 19, 1963 – July 26, 2021) was a Mexican '' luchador'' best known under the ring name Brazo de Plata, a name he had used since his debut in 1977. He is also well known for his appearances in WWE as Super Por ...

(died in 2021) *March 20 Terry Simms *April 6

Neil Superior Neil Allen Caricofe (April 6, 1963 – August 23, 1996), better known by the ring name Neil Superior, was an American professional wrestler and trainer. A mainstay on the East Coast of the United States, East Coast and Mid-Atlantic United States, ...

(died in 1996) *April 18

Universo 2000 Andrés Reyes González (April 18, 1963 – May 1, 2018) was a Mexican professional wrestler, or luchador, who was best known under the ring name Universo 2000. Reyes made his professional wrestling debut in 1985 and worked for Consejo Mundial de ...

(died in 2018

*May 2 Big Boss Man (wrestler), Big Boss Man(died in 2004

*May 18

Gary Albright Gary Mitchell Albright (May 18, 1963 – January 7, 2000) was an American professional wrestler best known for his work in Japan, first with UWF International (UWFi), and later All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). In AJPW, Albright was a two ...

(died in 2000

*May 19 Hollywood (wrestler), Hollywood *May 29 Samu *June 1

George Hines George Hines (born June 1, 1963) is an American retired professional wrestler, best known by his ringname Jackie Fulton, who competed in regional and independent promotions including the American Wrestling Association, East Coast Championship W ...

*June 4 Shigeo Miyato *June 6

Ahmed Johnson Anthony Norris (born June 6, 1963) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1995 to 1998, under the ring name Ahmed Johns ...

*June 10: ** Jeff Bearden ** Scott Peterson (died in 1994) *June 12: **

Jerry Lynn Jeremy Lynn (born June 12, 1963), better known by the ring name Jerry Lynn, is an American retired professional wrestler signed with All Elite Wrestling as a producer and coach. Lynn has worked for professional wrestling promotion, promotions ...

Johnny Hotbody John Weiss (born June 12, 1963) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Johnny Hotbody. He is best known for his appearances in Eastern Championship Wrestling, he won the ECW Championship, ECW Tag Team Cham ...

*June 16 The Sandman *June 20 Don West (died in 2022) *June 22

John Tenta John Anthony Tenta Jr. (June 22, 1963June 7, 2006) was a Canadian professional wrestler and sumo wrestler ('' rikishi'') best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation as Earthquake. After a promising start to his sumo career, u ...

(died in 2006

*June 24

Ángel Azteca Juan Manuel Zúñiga (June 24, 1963 – March 18, 2007) was a Mexican professional wrestler, or '' Luchador'' as they are called in Spanish, best known for working under the ring name Ángel Azteca (Aztec Angel) since the late 1980s. Zúñiga is ...

(died in 2007

*June 25

Bobby Blaze Robert Smedley (born June 25, 1963) is an American retired professional wrestler and author, better known by his ring name Bobby Blaze. He gained the majority of his in-ring success performing for Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) from 1993 to 1995 ...

*July 11

Mike Enos Michael Enos (born June 11, 1963) is an American retired professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under his birth name ...

*July 18

Al Snow Allen Ray Sarven (born July 18, 1963) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Al Snow. He is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation/ World Wrestling Entertainm ...

*July 21: **

Giant Silva Paulo César da Silva (born July 21, 1963) is a Brazilian former national basketball player for the Brazilian national basketball team and later mixed martial artist and professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Giant Silva. He stands ...

Mark Youngblood Mark Romero (born July 21, 1963) is an American former second generation professional wrestler better known by his ring name Mark Youngblood. Professional wrestling career Mark Romero is the son of Ricky Romero. He started wrestling as Mark Yo ...

*July 22 Steve Gillespie (died in 2020) *July 24

Karl Malone Karl Anthony Malone (born July 24, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Mailman", he is considered one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history. Malone spen ...

*July 28

Lioness Asuka is a Japanese retired professional wrestler better known by her ring name . She was one half of the Crush Gals professional wrestling tag team, along with Chigusa Nagayo, who are known for their mainstream popularity in the 1980s, and for be ...

*July 31

Chad Brock Chad Brock (born July 31, 1963) is an American country music singer and disc jockey. Before beginning his musical career in the late 1990s, he was a professional wrestler in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), until an injury forced him to retire ...

*August 2

El Hijo del Santo Jorge Ernesto Guzmán Rodríguez (born August 2, 1963), best known under his ring name, El Hijo del Santo ( English: "The Son of the Saint"), is a Mexican '' retired luchador enmascarado'' (or masked professional wrestler) and political activist. ...

*August 5

Pat Tanaka Patrick Tanaka (born August 5, 1961) is an American professional wrestler best known for his work in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) as one half of Badd Company and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) as one half of The Orien ...

*August 12

Koji Kitao Koji, Kōji, Kohji or Kouji may refer to: *Kōji (given name), a masculine Japanese given name *Kōji (Heian period) (康治), Japanese era, 1142–1144 *Kōji (Muromachi period) (弘治), Japanese era, 1555–1558 *Koji orange, a Japanese citrus ...

(died in 2019

*August 15

Tamon Honda (born August 15, 1963) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and former Olympic amateur wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah. Championships held by Honda include the All Asia Ta ...

*August 16

Tarzan Goto , better known by his ring name , was a Japanese professional wrestler who wrestled on the independent circuit most of his career. He is best known for his exploding steel cage matches against Atsushi Onita in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling ( ...

(died in 2022) *August 20 Bob Cook *August 27 Sambo Asako (died in 2004) *August 28

Lester Speight Lester Speight (born August 28, 1963), also known as Rasta, is a former American football player who has had subsequent careers as a Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and then actor. He achieved significant recognition for his portray ...

*September 15 Gino Caruso *September 17

Masahiro Chono is an American-born Japanese retired Professional wrestling in Japan, professional wrestler and actor best known for his 26-year stint with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). As the leader of New World Order (professional wrestling), nWo Japan, Tea ...

*September 24

Sunny Beach Sunny Beach ( , ''Slanchev bryag'') is a seaside resort on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, north of Burgas and south of Varna. Created in 1958 as a weekend getaway for Bulgarian families, Sunny Beach has become the largest tourist and vacati ...

*September 26 Knuckles Nelson *September 28

Steve Blackman Steve Blackman (born September 28, 1963) is an American martial arts instructor and former professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) from 1997 to 2002, where he was a frequent ...

*September 30

Mustafa Saed Jamal Mustafa (born Terrance Ladd Blalock; September 30, 1963), better known by his ring name Mustafa Saed, is an American professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with Smoky Mountain Wrestling and Extre ...

*October 8

Diana Hart Diana Joyce Hart (born 8 October 1963) is a Canadian-American writer, model, valet and wrestling personality. She is the youngest daughter of Canadian wrestling promoter Stu Hart and was the second to last child born to Stu and his wife Helen. Sh ...

*October 9

Tadao Yasuda is a Japanese retired sumo wrestler (''rikishi''), professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. He competed in sumo from 1979 to 1992 under the ''shikona'' of , achieving the rank of ''komusubi'', and afterward turned to professional wrestlin ...

*October 11

Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two indi ...

*October 12

Dave Legeno Dave Legeno (12 October 1963 – 6 July 2014) was a British actor, mixed martial artist, and professional wrestler. Early life Legeno was born David Steven Murray in Marylebone, London, England. Career Legeno's first major film role was ...

(died in 2014) *October 16

Missy Hyatt Melissa Ann Hiatt (born October 16, 1963), better known by her ring name, Missy Hyatt, is an American retired professional wrestling valet, commentator, model and occasional professional wrestler. She is best known for her appearances with Wo ...

*October 20 Brian Costello *October 23 Lou Fabiano *November 11

Billy Gunn Monty Kip Sopp (born November 1, 1963), better known by his ring name Billy Gunn, is an American professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to the WWE under a Legends contract and All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he also perfo ...

*December 1 Dave Sullivan *December 3 Steve Simpson *December 7

Bruiser Bedlam Ion William Croitoru (December 7, 1963 – February 21, 2017) was a Canadian professional wrestler and outlaw biker, known to wrestling fans by his ring names Johnny K-9, Taras Bulba and Bruiser Bedlam. Croitoru worked in several Canadian wrestli ...

(died in 2017

*December 8

Toshiaki Kawada (born December 8, 1963) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), whom he worked for from his debut in 1982 up until 2008. In the promotion, he was a five-time Triple Crown He ...

*December 12 Jason Knight

Deaths

*January 19 Gus Pappas 80 *March 7 Billy Wolfe 66 *May 10 Gene Lipscomb 31 *June 2 - Century Milstead, 62 *December 15 Rikidozan, 39 *December 26

Gorgeous George George Raymond Wagner (March 24, 1915 – December 26, 1963) was an American professional wrestler known by his ring name Gorgeous George. In the United States, during the First Golden Age of Professional Wrestling in the 1940s–1950s, Gorgeou ...

, 48 *December 27 -

Wildcat Wilson George Schly "Wildcat" Wilson (September 6, 1901 – December 27, 1963) was an American football player. After earning consensus All-American honors in 1925 as a halfback for the University of Washington, he played professionally, including th ...

, 63

References

{{Years in professional wrestling