1993 in professional wrestling

1993 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 1993.

Promotion Name	Abbreviation
Asistencia Asesoría y Administración	AAA
Catch Wrestling Association	CWA
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre	CMLL
Eastern Championship Wrestling	ECW
Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling	FMW
New Japan Pro-Wrestling	NJPW
Universal Wrestling Association	UWA
World Championship Wrestling	WCW
World Wrestling Council	WWC
World Wrestling Federation	WWF

Calendar of notable shows

January

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
January 4	NJPW	Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome	Tokyo, Japan
January 4	WCW NJPW	WCW/New Japan Supershow III	Tokyo, Japan
January 23	ECW	Battle of the Belts	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
January 24	WWF	Royal Rumble	Sacramento, California, United States	[1]
January 31	UWA	18th Anniversary	Naucalpan, Mexico

February

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
February 21	WCW	SuperBrawl III	Asheville, North Carolina, United States

April

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
April 2	CMLL	37. Aniversario de Arena México	Mexico City, Mexico	[2]
April 4	WWF	WrestleMania IX	Paradise, Nevada, United States
April 11	WWF	UK Rampage	Sheffield, England, United Kingdom
April 30	AAA	Triplemanía I	Mexico City, D.F., Mexico	[3][4]

May

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
May 3	NJPW	Wrestling Dontaku	Fukuoka, Japan
May 5	FMW	4th Anniversary	Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
May 23	WCW	Slamboree	Atlanta, Georgia, United States	[5]

June

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
June 13	WWF	King of the Ring	Dayton, Ohio, United States
June 19	ECW	Super Summer Sizzler Spectacular	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

July

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
July 18	WCW	Beach Blast	Biloxi, Mississippi, United States

August

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
August 8	WWC	20th Aniversario
August 22	FMW	Summer Spectacular	Nishinomiya, Hyōgo, Japan
August 30	WWF	SummerSlam	Auburn Hills, Michigan, United States

September

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event	Notes
September 18	ECW	UltraClash	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
September 19	WCW	Fall Brawl	Houston, Texas, United States

October

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
October 1	CMLL	60th Anniversary	Mexico City, Mexico	[6]
October 1	ECW	NWA Bloodfest	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States	[7]
October 24	WCW	Halloween Havoc	New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

November

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
November 12	ECW	Terror at Tabor	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
November 13	ECW	November to Remember	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
November 20	WCW	Battlebowl	Pensacola, Florida, United States
November 24	WWF	Survivor Series	Boston, Massachusetts, United States

December

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
December 8	FMW	Year End Spectacular	Tokyo, Japan
December 18	CWA	Euro Catch Festival	Bremen, Germany
December 26	FMW	FMW/MPW	Tokyo, Japan
December 26	ECW	Holiday Hell	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
December 27	WCW	Starrcade	Charlotte, North Carolina, United States	[8]

Accomplishments and tournaments

WCW Hall of Fame 1993 inductee, Verne Gagne

Inaugural WWF Hall of Fame sole inductee for 1993, André the Giant

ECW

Accomplishment	Winner	Date won	Notes
ECW Television Championship Tournament	Jimmy Snuka	March 12
ECW Tag Team Championship Tournament	Eddie Gilbert and The Dark Patriot	August 8

WCW

Accomplishment	Winner	Date won	Notes
WCW United States Championship Tournament	Dustin Rhodes	January 11
WCW World Television Championship Tournament	Paul Orndorff	March 2

WCW Hall of Fame

Inductee
Lou Thesz
Verne Gagne
Mr. Wrestling II
Eddie Graham

WWF

Accomplishment	Winner	Date won	Notes
Royal Rumble	Yokozuna	January 24
King of the Ring	Bret Hart	June 13
WWF Women's Championship Tournament	Alundra Blayze	December 13

WWF Hall of Fame

Category	Inductee	Inducted by	Notes
Individual	André the Giant	None	Inaugural inductee Sole inductee

Awards and honors

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Category	Winner
PWI Wrestler of the Year	Big Van Vader
PWI Tag Team of the Year	The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott Steiner)
PWI Match of the Year	Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty (Raw, July 19)
PWI Feud of the Year	Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler
PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year	Lex Luger
PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year	Jerry Lawler
PWI Comeback of the Year	Lex Luger
PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year	Yokozuna
PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year	Cactus Jack
PWI Rookie of the Year	Vampire Warrior
PWI Lifetime Achievement	André the Giant
PWI Editor's Award	Jim Cornette

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Category	Winner
Wrestler of the Year	Big Van Vader
Most Outstanding	Kenta Kobashi
Feud of the Year	Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler
Tag Team of the Year	The Hollywood Blonds (Steve Austin and Brian Pillman)
Most Improved	Tracy Smothers
Best on Interviews	Jim Cornette

Notable events

• January 11 - WWF Monday Night Raw premiered on the USA Network, its first episode was from the Manhattan Center in New York City
• February 10 - Bill Watts resigned as Executive Vice President of Wrestling Operations for WCW.
• February 12 – Eric Bischoff becomes Executive Producer of all World Championship Wrestling television and Ole Anderson was announced as new Vice President of Wrestling Operations for WCW.
• February 21 – Ric Flair makes his WCW return and Davey Boy Smith makes his WCW debut at WCW SuperBrawl III in Ashville, North Carolina
• February 22 – Hulk Hogan makes his WWF return live on Monday Night Raw.
• February 25 - Jim Ross resigned from WCW.
• April 4 – Jim Ross makes his WWF TV debut at WrestleMania IX
• April 5 - ECW Hardcore TV debuts on SportsChannel Philadelphia.
• April 13 - WCW makes its New York City debut running an live event at the Paramount Theater in New York, NY headlined with Vader defending the WCW World Heavyweight title vs Sting in the main event drawing 3,000.
• July 7 – WCW Worldwide begins taping at Disney/MGM Studios from Orlando, Florida. This taping schedule ran from July 7–10 taping matches and footage for airing starting the weekend of August 28–29, 1993 which included Ric Flair and Rick Rude wearing the NWA World title, Ricky Steamboat and Lord Steven Regal wearing the WCW TV title and an interview with Paul Roma & Arn Anderson wearing the NWA & WCW world tag team titles and The Nasty Boys managed by Missy Hyatt carrying the NWA World Tag Team titles in the ring.
• September 1 – WCW leaves the National Wrestling Alliance
• September 3 - The NWA Convention was held in Las Vegas, NV, also that same day the ECW joined the NWA becoming NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling.
• October 6 - Mean Gene Okerlund made his WCW debut at a WCW Saturday Night taping in Atlanta, GA (air date November 5)
• November 24 – For the first time ever a non - WWF title changed hands at a WWF pay-per-view when The Heavenly Bodies defeating SMW Tag Team Champions The Rock 'n' Roll Express in a title match at the Survivor Series in Boston, Massachusetts.
• December 4 – Bobby Heenan was given an on-air farewell on WWF Monday Night Raw when Gorilla Monsoon picked him up and threw him and his belongings out of the arena and onto the street.

Title changes

ECW

ECW World Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – The Sandman
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
April 3	Don Muraco	Hardcore TV
August 8	Tito Santana	Hardcore TV
September 9	Shane Douglas	Hardcore TV
October 2	Sabu	NWA Bloodfest
December 26	Terry Funk	Holiday Hell

ECW World Television Championship
Incoming champion – Glen Osbourne
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
February	Vacant	N/A
March 12	Jimmy Snuka	Hardcore TV
October 1	Terry Funk	NWA Bloodfest: Part 1
November 13	Sabu	November to Remember

ECW World Tag Team Championship
Incoming champions – The Super Destroyers (A.J. Petrucci and Doug Stahl)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
April 2	Tony Stetson and Larry Winters	Hardcore TV
April 3	The Suicide Blondes (Chris Candido, Johnny Hotbody, and Chris Michaels)	Hardcore TV
May 15	The Super Destroyers (A.J. Petrucci and Doug Stahl)	Hardcore TV
May 15	The Suicide Blondes (Chris Candido, Johnny Hotbody, and Chris Michaels)	Hardcore TV
July 15	Vacant	Hardcore TV
August 8	The Dark Patriot and Eddie Gilbert	Hardcore TV
October 1	Vacant	Bloodfest: Part 1
October 1	Johnny Hotbody and Tony Stetson	Bloodfest: Part 1
November 13	Tommy Dreamer and Johnny Gunn	November to Remember
December 4	Kevin Sullivan and The Tazmaniac	Hardcore TV

ECW Maryland Championship
(Title created)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
October 16	J.T. Smith	N/A	Won a battle royal.

ECW Pennsylvania Championship
(Title created)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
May 14	Tommy Cairo	ECW Hardcore TV	Cairo won a battle royal to become the inaugural champion. Aired on June 8.
August 7	Tony Stetson	ECW Hardcore TV	Aired on September 14.
September 18	Deactivated	UltraClash	The championship is abandoned.

NJPW

IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – The Great Muta
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
September 20	Shinya Hashimoto	G1 Climax Special 1993

IWGP Tag Team Championship
Incoming champions – The Hell Raisers (Hawk Warrior and Power Warrior)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
August 5	The Jurassic Powers (Hercules Hernandez and Scott Norton)	G1 Climax 1993

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Último Dragón
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 4	Jushin Thunder Liger	Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome

FMW

FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Atsushi Onita
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
August 22	Atsushi Onita	Summer Spectacular

FMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship
(Title created)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
October 28	The Great Sasuke	House show

WCW

WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Big Van Vader
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
March 11	Sting	House show
March 17	Big Van Vader	House show
December 27	Ric Flair	Starrcade

NWA World Heavyweight Championship / WCW International World Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Masa Chono
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 4	The Great Muta	WCW/New Japan Supershow III
February 21	Barry Windham	SuperBrawl III
July 18	Ric Flair	Beach Blast	On September 1, 1993 WCW withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance. WCW continues to recognize Flair as the "WCW International World Champion".
September 19	Rick Rude	Fall Brawl

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Vacant
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 11	Dustin Rhodes	Saturday Night	Aired on tape delay on January 16.
May 1	Vacant	WorldWide
August 30	Dustin Rhodes	Saturday Night	Aired on tape delay on September 4.
December 27	Steve Austin	Starrcade

WCW World Television Championship
Incoming champion – Vacant
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
March 2	Paul Orndorff	Power Hour	Aired on tape delay on March 27.
August 18	Ricky Steamboat	Clash of the Champions XXIV
September 19	Lord Steven Regal	Fall Brawl

WCW World Tag Team Championship
Incoming champions – Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
March 2	The Hollywood Blonds (Steve Austin and Brian Pillman)	WorldWide	Aired on tape delay on March 27.
August 18	Arn Anderson and Paul Roma	Clash of the Champions XXIV	Also held the NWA World Tag Team Championship until September 1 when WCW withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance
September 19	The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags)	Fall Brawl
October 4	Marcus Alexander Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio	Saturday Night	Aired on tape delay on October 23.
October 24	The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags)	Halloween Havoc

WWF

WWF World Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Bret Hart
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
April 4	Yokozuna	WrestleMania IX
April 4	Hulk Hogan	WrestleMania IX
June 13	Yokozuna	King of the Ring

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Incoming champion – Shawn Michaels
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
May 17	Marty Jannetty	Raw
June 6	Shawn Michaels	House show
September 27	Vacant	N/A
September 27	Razor Ramon	Raw

WWF Women's Championship
(Title reactivated)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
December 13	Alundra Blayze	All American Wrestling

WWF Tag Team Championship
Incoming champions – Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
June 14	The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott Steiner)	House show
June 16	Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster)	House show
June 19	The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott Steiner)	House show
September 13	The Quebecers (Pierre and Jacques)	Raw

Births

• February 17 – Magnus, Mexican luchador
• May 20 – Akam, Canadian wrestler
• May 20 - Vanessa Borne
• June 14 – Esfinge, Mexican luchador
• July 28 - Noam Dar, Israeli wrestler[9]
• August 4 – Henare, New Zealand wrestler
• August 12 – El Soberano, Mexican luchador
• September 9 – Sarah Logan,[10] American female wrestler
• September 24 – Sonya Deville, American female wrestler
• November 6 – Bárbaro Cavernario, Mexican luchador
• November 9 - Pete Dunne[11]
• Unknown – Gran Guerrero, Mexican luchador

Debuts

• Jeff Bradley
• Tom Howard
• Nelson Frazier, Jr.
• Hardcore Holly
• Joey Styles
• Doug Basham
• Tammy Sytch
• Jeff Hardy

October

• Doug Williams
• 2 - El Zorro

November

• 27 - Oziel Toscano

December

• 8 - Joe Líder

Retirements

• Al Madril (1970–1993)
• Aníbal (November 1963 – 1993)
• Shirley Crabtree (1952–1993)
• Bill Watts (1962–1993)
• Bobo Brazil (1951–1993)
• Dick Beyer (December 29, 1954 – July 29, 1993)
• Frank Hickey (1935-1993)
• Junkyard Dog (1977–1993)
• Oliver Humperdink (1965–1993)
• Omar Atlas (1958–1993)
• Fred Peloquin (1971–1993)

Deaths

• January 27 - André the Giant, French wrestler (b. 1946)
• February 18 - Kerry Von Erich, American wrestler (b. 1960)
• March 10 - Dino Bravo, Canadian wrestler (b. 1948)
• March 25 - Wally Karbo, American wrestling promoter (b. 1915)
• May 25 - D.J. Peterson, American wrestler (b. 1959)
• June 7 - Don Kent, American wrestler (b. 1933)
• October 13 - Espectro, Mexican luchador (b. 1934)
• October 26 - Oro, Mexican luchador (b. 1971)
• November 13 - Rufus R. Jones, American wrestler (b. 1933)
• December 8 - Frank Hickey, American wrestler (b. 1915)
• December 13 - Larry Cameron, American wrestler (b. 1952)

See also

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

References

1. "Royal Rumble Event Results". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved November 3, 2008.
2. Lucha 2000 Staff (April 2006). "Arena México: 50 anos de Lucha Libre". Lucha 2000 (in Spanish). Especial 28.
3. "Asistencia Asesoría y Administración TripleManía". ProWrestlingHistory.com. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
4. "Triplemanía I: Konnan y Cien Caras, por todo" (in Spanish). Asistencia Asesoría y Administración. Archived from the original on 2015-07-15. Retrieved July 11, 2015.
5. Cawthon, Graham (2014). the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 4: World Championship Wrestling 1989-1994. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 1499656343.
6. "60th Anniversary Show". ProWrestlingHistory. October 1, 1993. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
7. Loverro, Thom (22 May 2007). The Rise & Fall of ECW: Extreme Championship Wrestling. Simon and Schuster. pp. 43–44. ISBN 978-1-4165-6156-9.
8. Adamson, Matt (2008-03-30). "Going Old School: Starrcade '93". 411mania. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
9. "Noam Dar". Internet Wrestling Database.
10. "Crazy Mary Dobson: Profile & Match Listing". profightdb.com.
11. "Turned 23 years old today! Biggest week of my career. Glasgow - London for @WhatCulturePW tonight and then @RevProUK #GlobalWars thurs & fri".