1963 in professional wrestling

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

List of years in professional wrestling
… 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 …
Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Philosophy Science +...

List of notable promotions

Only two promotions held notable shows in 1963.

Promotion Name	Abbreviation
Southwest Sports	Southwest Sports
Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre	EMLL

Calendar of notable shows

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
January 29	Southwest Sports	Parade of Champions	Dallas, Texas	Lou Thesz (c) wrestled Ray Gunkel to a double count-out in a two out of three falls match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
April	EMLL	7. Aniversario de Arena México	Mexico City, Mexico
June 4	Southwest Sports	Parade of Champions	Dallas, Texas	Lou Thesz (c) defeated Dory Dixon in a two out of three falls match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
September 6	EMLL	EMLL 30th Anniversary Show (1)	Mexico City, Mexico	Ruben Jaurez defeated Espanto II in a best two-out-of-three falls Lucha de Apuesta mask vs. hair match[1]
September 27	EMLL	EMLL 30th Anniversary Show (2)	Mexico City, Mexico	Espanto I defeated Ruben Jaurez in a best two-out-of-three falls Lucha de Apuesta mask vs. hair match [1]
(c) – denotes defending champion(s)

Notable events

• January 24 – Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) breaks away from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) to form the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF).
• April Buddy Rogers was presented the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship at a WWWF TV Taping in Washington, DC after being billed as the World Champion since late-January.
• May 18 - Bruno Sammartino defeated Buddy Rogers in 48 seconds to win the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship in New York, NY

Championship changes

EMLL

NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship
incoming champion – Gory Guerrero[2]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
August 6	Ali Bey	EMLL show	[2]
September 24	Gory Guerrero	EMLL show	[2]

NWA World Middleweight Championship

incoming champion – Rayo de Jalisco[3]

No title changes[3]

NWA World Welterweight Championship

incoming champion – Karloff Lagarde[4]

No title changes[4]

Mexican National Heavyweight Championship

incoming champion - Pepe Mendieta[5]

No title changes[5]

Mexican National Middleweight Championship
incoming champion – Karloff Lagarde[6]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
June 28	El Santo	EMLL show	[6]

Mexican National Lightweight Championship
incoming champion – Juan Diaz[7]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
October 17	Chanoc	EMLL show	[7]

Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship
incoming champion – Rubén Juárez[8]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
September 14	Espanto I	EMLL 27th Anniversary Show	[8]
November 30	Ray Mendoza	EMLL show	[8]

Mexican National Welterweight Championship
incoming champion – Karloff Lagarde[9]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
Unknown	Vacated	N/A	Championship vacated, as Lagarde already held the NWA World Welterweight Championship
November 15	Javier Escobedo	EMLL show	[9]

Mexican National Tag Team Championship

incoming champion – Los Rebeldes (Rene Guajardo and Karloff Lagarde) or Los Espantos (Espanto I and Espanto II)[10]

No title changes[10]

Mexican National Women's Championship

incoming champion – Uncertain[11]

No title changes[11]

NWA

NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship
Incoming Champion – Buddy Rogers[12]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 24	Lou Thesz	NWA show	[12]

Debuts

• Debut date uncertain:
  • Beauregard[13]
  • Coloso Colosetti[13]
  • Donna Christianello[13]
  • Johnny Powers[13]
  • Mr. Wrestling[13]
  • Pepe Casas[13]
  • Skandar Akbar[13]
• January 4 – Ernie Ladd[13]
• January 10 – Dory Funk Jr.[13]
• March – Rubén Soria[13]
• October 13 – Great Kojika[13]
• November – Aníbal[13]

Births

• January 3:
  • Vic Grimes[14]
  • New Jack[15]
• January 6 – Tony Halme[15](died in 2010)
• January 10 – Firebreaker Chip[16]
• January 29 – Hardcore Holly[16]
• February 22 – Maxx Muscle[15](died in 2019)
• February 28 – Joey Marella[16](died in 1994)
• March 7 – Bruce Prichard[16]
• March 19 – Brazo de Plata[16]
• March 20 – Terry Simms[15]
• April 18 – Universo 2000[15] (died in 2018)
• May 2 – Big Boss Man[16](died in 2004)
• May 18 – Gary Albright[16](died in 2000)
• May 29 – Samu[17]
• June 1 – George Hines[18]
• June 12:
  • Jerry Lynn[16]
  • Johnny Hotbody[15]
• June 16 – The Sandman[15]
• June 20 – Don West[16]
• June 21 – Mark Youngblood[15]
• June 22 – John Tenta[15](died in 2006)
• June 24 – Ángel Azteca[16](died in 2007)
• June 25 – Bobby Blaze[16]
• July 11 – Mike Enos[15]
• July 18 – Al Snow[16]
• July 21 – Giant Silva[16]
• July 28 – Lioness Asuka[15]
• August 5 – Pat Tanaka[15]
• August 12 – Koji Kitao[15](died in 2019)
• August 15 – Tamon Honda[15]
• August 16 – Tarzan Goto[15]
• August – El Hijo del Santo[16]
• September 17 – Masahiro Chono[15]
• September 24 – Sunny Beach[15]
• September 28 – Steve Blackman[15]
• October 8 – Diana Hart[16]
• October 9 – Tadao Yasuda[15]
• October 16 – Missy Hyatt[15]
• November 11 – Billy Gunn[16]
• December 3 – Steve Simpson[15]
• December 7 – Bruiser Bedlam[19](died in 2017)
• December 8 – Toshiaki Kawada[15]

Deaths

• January 19 – Gus Pappas[20] 80
• December 15 – Rikidozan,[20] 39
• December 26 – Gorgeous George,[20] 48

References

1. Ruiz Glez, Alex (September 7, 2010). "CMLL: 79 historias, 79 Aniversario, las 79 luchas estelares" [CMLL: 79 stories, 79 anniversaries, the 70 main events]. Súper Luchas (in Spanish). Retrieved February 2, 2020.
2. 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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
3. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Middleweight Title [Lutteroth]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. pp. 389–390. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
4. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Welterweight Title [Lutteroth]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. p. 390. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
5. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Mexico: National Heavyweight Title". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. pp. 390–391. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
6. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Mexico: National Middleweight Championship". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. p. 392. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
7. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Mexico: National Lightweight Title [Lutteroth]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. p. 393. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
8. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Mexico: National Lightweight Title [Lutteroth]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. p. 393. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
9. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Mexico: National Welterweight Title [Lutteroth]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. p. 392. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
10. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Mexico: Mexican National Tag Team TItle". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. p. 396. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
11. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Mexico: National Women's Title[Lutteroth]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. p. 394. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
12. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). ""United States: 19th century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IWA, ECW, NWA: NWA World Heavyweight Title"". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. p. 15. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
13. "Wrestlers debuted in 1963: 1 - 24 of 24". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
14. "Wrestlers born in 1963: 101 - 104 of 104". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
15. "Wrestlers born in 1963: 51 - 100 of 104". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
16. "Wrestlers born in 1963: 1 - 50 of 104". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
17. "Wrestlers born in 1966: 101 - 141 of 141". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
18. "Wrestlers born in 1968: 1 - 50 of 125". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
19. "Wrestlers born in 1965: 1 - 50 of 131". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
20. "Wrestlers deceased in 1963: 1 - 25 of 25". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.