1990 in professional wrestling

1990 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

List of years in professional wrestling
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List of notable promotions

These promotions held notable shows in 1990.

Promotion Name	Abbreviation	Notes
All Japan Pro Wrestling	AJPW
American Wrestling Association	AWA	AWA became inactive during the fall and filed for bankruptcy the following year.
Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre	EMLL
Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling	FMW
National Wrestling Alliance	NWA
New Japan Pro-Wrestling	NJPW
World Championship Wrestling	WCW
World Wrestling Council	WWC
World Wrestling Federation	WWF

Calendar of notable shows

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
Jan 7	FMW	Battle Resistance – 1st Open Tournament	Tokyo, Japan
Jan 21	WWF	Royal Rumble	Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Feb 6	NWA WCW	Clash of the Champions X	Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S.
Feb 12	NJPW	Super Fight in Tokyo Dome	Tokyo, Japan	[1]
Feb 12	FMW	Battle Brave in Korakuen	Tokyo, Japan
Feb 25	WCW	WrestleWar	Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S.
Apr 1	FMW	Texas Street Fight	Tokyo, Japan
Apr 1	WWF	WrestleMania VI	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Apr 8	AWA	SuperClash IV	St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
Apr 13	WWF/AJPW/NJPW	Wrestling Summit	Tokyo, Japan
May 19	NWA WCW	Capital Combat	Washington D.C., U.S.
Jun 13		Clash of the Champions XI	Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Jul 7	WWC	WWC 17th Aniversario	Bayamón, Puerto Rico
	NWA	The Great American Bash	Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Aug 4	FMW	Summer Spectacular in Shiodome	Tokyo, Japan
Aug 27	WWF	SummerSlam	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Sep 5	NWA WCW	Clash of the Champions XII	Asheville, North Carolina, U.S.
Sep 30	NJPW	Inoki's 30th Wrestling Anniversary	Yokohama, Japan
Oct 21	EMLL	EMLL 57th Anniversary Show	Mexico City, Mexico	[2]
Oct 27	NWA	Halloween Havoc	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Nov 1	NJPW	AJPW Budokan Hall Show	Tokyo, Japan
Nov 5	FMW	FMW 1st Anniversary Show	Tokyo, Japan
Nov 20	NWA WCW	Clash of the Champions XIII	Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Nov 22	WWF	Survivor Series	Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Dec 14	EMLL	Juicio Final	Mexico City, Mexico	[3]
Dec 16	WCW	Starrcade	St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Dec 26	NJPW	NJPW Legends Show	Hamamatsu, Japan	[4]
(c) – denotes defending champion(s)

Notable events

• January 1 - The CWA merges with the United States Wrestling Association

• May 5 - Two World title matches was held at a AWA Twin Wars '90 live event where Larry Zbyszko defeated Nikita Koloff to retain the AWA World Heavyweight title and NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair defeated Brian Pillman

• July 16- The Road Warriors and "The Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich made their WWF debuts at a WWF Wrestling Challenge TV taping.

• August 12 - The AWA hosts their Team Challenge Series final and two title changes were taped with Buck Zumhoff defeating Jonnie Stewart for the reactivated AWA Light Heavyweight title and The Trooper and D.J. Peterson defeating the Destruction Crew for the AWA World Tag Team titles at their final TV taping in Rochester, MN

• August 26 - The Herb Abrams version of the Universal Wrestling Federation (Herb Abrams) was launched at a Wrestling fans convention in New York, NY

• November 22 - The Undertaker and The Gobbledy Gooker (Héctor Guerrero) debut at WWF Survivor Series

• November 23 – World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) held its final show.

• December 1 - WCW drops the NWA brand from their TV shows and championships.

Accomplishments and tournaments

WCW

Accomplishment	Winner	Date won	Notes
NWA United States Tag Team Championship Tournament	Brian Pillman and The Z-Man	February 12
Pat O'Connor Memorial International Tag Team Tournament	The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner)	December 16

WWF

Accomplishment	Winner	Date won	Notes
Royal Rumble	Hulk Hogan	January 21
WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship Tournament	Mr. Perfect	April 1

Awards and honors

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Category	Winner
Wrestler of the Year	Sting
Tag Team of the Year	The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott Steiner)
Match of the Year	Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior (WrestleMania VI)
Feud of the Year	Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger
Most Popular Wrestler of the Year	Hulk Hogan
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year	Earthquake
Most Improved Wrestler of the Year	Paul Roma
Inspirational Wrestler of the Year	Sting
Rookie of the Year	Steve Austin
Manager of the Year	Teddy Long
Editor's Award (Lifetime Achievement)	Buddy Rogers

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Category	Winner
Wrestler of the Year	Ric Flair
Most Outstanding	Jushin Thunder Liger
Feud of the Year	Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jumbo Tsuruta
Tag Team of the Year	The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner)
Most Improved	Kenta Kobashi
Best on Interviews	Arn Anderson

Title changes

WWF

WWF World Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Hulk Hogan
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
April 1	The Ultimate Warrior	WrestleMania VI	This was a title vs. title match, with Warrior's Intercontinental Championship also on the line.

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Incoming champion – The Ultimate Warrior
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
April 1	Vacated	WrestleMania VI	Warrior vacated the title after defeating Hulk Hogan in a title vs. title match to win the WWF Championship.
April 23	Mr. Perfect	Superstars	Defeated Tito Santana in a tournament final to win the vacant title. Aired on tape delay on May 19.
August 27	The Texas Tornado	SummerSlam
November 19	Mr. Perfect	Superstars	Aired on tape delay on December 15, 1990.

WWF Women's Championship
Incoming champion – Rockin' Robin
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
February 21	Deactivated	N/A

WWF Tag Team Championship
Incoming champions – The Colossal Connection (Andre the Giant and Haku)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
April 1	Demolition (Ax, Smash and Crush)	WrestleMania VI
August 27	The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart)	SummerSlam
October 30	The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty)	The Main Event IV

Million Dollar Championship
Incoming champion – Ted DiBiase
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
No title changes

Debuts

• Uncertain debut date

• Bill DeMott
• Sweet Saraya
• Ray González

• January 13 - Tatanka
• May 19 - El Gigante
• October 2 – Chris Jericho

Retirements

• Otto Wanz (1968–1990)[5]
• Frenchy Martin (1971–1990)
• Ann Casey (1962–1990)
• Nick Kiniski (1985–1990)
• Ole Anderson (1967–1990)
• Ray Candy (1973–1990)
• Raymond Rougeau (1971–1990)
• Ron Hutchison (1983–1990)
• Scott Casey (1970–1990)
• Seiji Sakaguchi (August 5, 1967 – March 15, 1990)
• Uncle Elmer (1960–1990)
• Lou Thesz (1932-1990)
• Les Thornton (1957–1990)

Births

• January 14 – Kacy Catanzaro, American female wrestler[6]
• March 6 – Demitrius Bronson, American wrestler
• March 7 – Chase Owens, American wrestler[7]
• March 24 – Lacey Evans, American female wrestler
• April 2 – Sawyer Fulton, American wrestler
• April 30 – Tomahawk T.T., Japanese wrestler[8]
• May 25 – Bo Dallas[9]
• June 27 – Kimber Lee[10]
• July 6 – Puma, Mexican luchador
• July 8 – Axel Dieter Jr.
• July 18 – Golden Magic, Mexican luchador
• July 21 – Fabian Aichner, Italian wrestler
• July 24 – Angelo Dawkins, American wrestler
• July 24 – Tucker Knight[11]
• August 15 – Diamante, American female wrestler
• September 15 – Titán, Mexican luchador
• September 18 – Herodes Jr., Mexican luchador
• September 26 – Eterno, Mexican luchador
• October 14 – Raquel Diaz, American retired professional wrestler
• October 17 – Mahabali Shera, Indian wrestler
• November 9 – Robin, Mexican luchador
• December 27 – Zelina Vega, American female wrestler[12]
• December 30 – Fenix, Mexican luchador enmascarado

Deaths

• January 7 – Bronko Nagurski, American football player and wrestler (b. 1908)
• February 4 – Whipper Billy Watson, Canadian wrestler (b. 1915)[13]
• February 15 - Mark Tendler, American wrestler (b. 1935)
• April 18 - Gory Guerrero, American wrestler (b. 1921)[14]
• June - Willi Kuhn
• July 2 - Jack Pesek, American promoter and wrestler (b. 1923)
• July 24 - Frank Jares, American wrestler (b. 1912)
• July 26 - Jack Casey
• August 15 - Pat O'Connor, New Zealand wrestler (b. 1924)
• August 31 – Bert Assirati, British wrestler (b. 1908)
• September 23 – Stanley Wyckoff, American wrestler (b. 1907)
• November – Jan Gotch, Polish wrestler (b. 1912)
• November 15 – Georg "Schurli" Blemenschutz, Austrian promoter and wrestler
• November 21 – Dean Hart, Canadian music promoter and wrestling referee (b. 1954)
• December – Les Ruffen, American wrestler (b. 1912)
• December 4 – Johnny Gilbert, American wrestler
• December 9 – Mike Mazurki, American actor and wrestler (b. 1907)
• December 31 – Ed Gantner, American wrestler (b. 1959)
• December 31 – Daniel Aldana, Mexican luchador (b. 1912)
• Unknown – Mike Gallagher, American wrestler (b. 1933)

See also

• List of WCW pay-per-view events
• List of WWF pay-per-view events
• List of FMW supercards and pay-per-view events

References

1. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=3120
2. "57th Anniversary Show". Pro Wrestling History. October 21, 1990. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
3. "Lucha Libre: Conoce la historia de las leyendas de cuadrilátero". Octagón (1961) (in Spanish). Mexico. 2008. p. 42. Grandes Figuras de la Lucha Libre.
4. http://www.profightdb.com/cards/njpw/legends-show-4788.html
5. Oliver, Greg (September 14, 2017). "Former AWA World champion Otto Wanz dies". SLAM Wrestling. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
6. Dan Reilly (July 17, 2014). "14 things #MightyKacy told us after her huge victory on American Ninja Warrior". Esquire.
7. "【10.13両国全カード決定!】年内最後の"IWGPヘビー選手権"AJvs棚橋！"権利証戦"オカダvs内藤！勝者同士が1.4東京ドームで激突!!" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. September 24, 2014. Archived from the original on September 25, 2014. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
8. "T-Hawk". Dragon Gate (in Japanese). Gaora. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
9. "WWE Raw in Uniondale (correspondents needed), Dot Net Audio, Raw dark main event, Alberto El Patron, Bray Wyatt, Bo Dallas, Alex Shelley, D'Angelo Dinero". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
10. "Kimber Lee". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
11. "Levi Cooper Profile – Arizona State University Official Athletic Site". Arizona State University.
12. "Thea Trinidad Biography". TheaTrinidad.com. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
13. Hornbaker, Tim (2007). National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling. ECW Press. p. 201. ISBN 978-1-55022-741-3.
14. Madigan, Dan (2007). "Dorada de lucha libre: Gory Guerrero". Mondo Lucha Libre: the bizarre & honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperCollins. pp. 189–193. ISBN 978-0-06-085583-3.