1978 in professional wrestling

1978 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

List of years in professional wrestling
… 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 …
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List of notable promotions

These promotions held notable shows in 1978.

Promotion Name	Abbreviation
Championship Wrestling from Florida	CWF
Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre	EMLL
National Wrestling Alliance	NWA
World Wide Wrestling Federation	WWWF

Calendar of notable shows

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
January 25	NWA WWWF CWF	Superbowl of Wrestling	Miami, Florida	Superstar Billy Graham (c - WWWF World Championship) vs. Harley Race (c - NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship) ended in a 60-minute time limit draw during a three fall match
April 21	EMLL	22. Aniversario de Arena México	Mexico City, Mexico	El Faraón and Ringo Mendoza defeated Alfonso Dantés and Sangre Chicana in a Lucha de Apuestas hair vs. hair match[1]
September 22		EMLL 45th Anniversary Show		Sangre Chicana and Rubí Rubalcava defeated El Cobarde and Dragón Rojo in a Lucha de Apuestas hair and mask vs. hair and hair match[2]
December 8		Juicio Final		Kung Fu defeated El Idolo in a Lucha de Apuestas, mask vs. mask match[3]
(c) – denotes defending champion(s)

Awards and honors

1978 PWI Wrestler of the Year, Dusty Rhodes

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Category	Winner
PWI Wrestler of the Year	Dusty Rhodes
PWI Tag Team of the Year	Ricky Steamboat and Paul Jones
PWI Match of the Year	Superstar Billy Graham vs. Bob Backlund
PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year	Dusty Rhodes
PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year	Ric Flair
PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year	Dino Bravo
PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year	Blackjack Mulligan
PWI Rookie of the Year	Tommy Rich
PWI Manager of the Year	Arnold Skaaland

Championship changes

EMLL

NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship
incoming champion – Alfonso Dantés[4]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
June 2	El Faraón	EMLL show	[4]
December 8	Pak Choo	EMLL show	[4]

NWA World Middleweight Championship
Incoming champion – El Faraón
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
February 17	Ringo Mendoza	EMLL show
April 9	Perro Aguayo	EMLL show
June 23	Ringo Mendoza	EMLL show
August 13	Tony Salazar	EMLL show

NWA World Welterweight Championship

Incoming champion – Mano Negra

No title changes

Mexican National Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Raul Mata
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
July 1	El Nazi	EMLL show
October 27	TNT	EMLL show

Mexican National Middleweight Championship
Incoming champion – Vacant
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
No title changes[5]

Mexican National Lightweight Championship
Incoming champion – Mario Valenzuela[6]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
August 30	Talisman	EMLL show	[6]

Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Dr. Wagner
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 15	El Canek	EMLL show
June 20	Dos Caras	EMLL show

Mexican National Welterweight Championship
Incoming champion – Kung Fu
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
February 7	Americo Rocca	EMLL show
June 20	Lizmark	EMLL show

Mexican National Women's Championship

Incoming champion – Uncertain

No title changes

NWA

NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship

Incoming champion – Harley Race

No title changes

Births

CM Punk

• January 10 – Tamina[7]
• January 28 – Sheamus[8]
• March 30 – Crazy Boy
• April 16 – Austin Aries
• April 22 – Ezekiel Jackson
• May 24 – Elijah Burke
• June 2 – Joe Líder
• June 6 – ODB
• June 8 – Maria Menounos[9]
• June 24 – Adam Pearce
• July 17 – Mike Knox
• August 28 – Linda Miles
• September 24 – Christopher Nowinski
• September 30 – Candice Michelle
• October 15 – Takeshi Morishima
• October 26 – CM Punk
• December 23 – Nanae Takahashi

Debuts

• August 21 - Devil Masami
• Chicky Starr

Retirements

• Arnold Skaaland (1946 - 1978)

Deaths

• March 27 - John Pesek, 84
• June 30 – Michel Martel, 33
• August 13 – Lonnie Mayne, 33
• November 16 – Ib Solvang Hansen, 44

References

1. Flores, Manuel (May 25, 2009). "Los Hermano Mendoza - Ringo y Cachorro están de regreso". Super Luchas (in Spanish). pp. 22–23. issue 316.
2. "Lucha Libre: Conoce la historia de las leyendas de cuadrilátero". Sangre Chicana (1951) (in Spanish). Mexico. 2008. p. 53. Grandes Figuras de la Lucha Libre.
3. "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". Kung Fu (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico. October 2007. pp. 10 and 12. Tomo III.
4. 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)
5. Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: National Lightweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. p. 393. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
6. Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: National Lightweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. p. 393. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
7. "Tamina Snuka". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on 2017-08-25. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
8. Kamchen, Richard. "Sheamus". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
9. "Maria Menounos: Biography". TVGuide.com. Retrieved April 10, 2013.