1951 in professional wrestling

Sam Menacker in 1951

1951 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

List of notable promotions

Only one promotion held notable shows in 1951.

Promotion Name	Abbreviation
Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre	EMLL

Calendar of notable shows

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
September 21	EMLL	EMLL 18th Anniversary Show	Mexico City, Mexico	Enrique Llanes defeated Sugi Sito (c) in a best two-out-of three falls match for the NWA World Middleweight Championship [1]
(c) – denotes defending champion(s)

Championship changes

EMLL

NWA World Middleweight Championship
Incoming champion – Sugi Sito [2]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
September 24	Enrique Llanes	EMLL 18th Anniversary Show	[2]

NWA World Welterweight Championship
Incoming champion – Gory Guerrero [3]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
July 13	Bobby Bonales	EMLL show	[3]

Mexican National Heavyweight Championship

Incoming champion - Daniel Aldana [4]

No title changes [4]

Mexican National Middleweight Championship

Incoming champion – Uncertain [5]

No title changes [5]

Mexican National Lightweight Championship

Incoming champion – Black Shadow [6]

No title changes [6]

Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Enrique Llanes [7]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
Uncertain	Vacated	N/A	Championship vacated for undocumented reasons [7]

Mexican National Welterweight Championship

Incoming champion – El Santo [8]

No title changes [8]

NWA

NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship
Incoming Champion – Lou Thesz [9]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
No title changes [9]

Debuts

• Debut date uncertain:
  • Baron Mikel Scicluna ^[10]
  • Chris Tolos ^[10]
  • Don Fargo ^[10]
  • Espectro I ^[10]
  • Happy Humphrey ^[10]
  • Mad Dog Vachon ^[10]
  • Stan Holek ^[10]
• April 12 – Bill Miller ^[10]
• September 13 – Luther Lindsay ^[10]
• October 1 – Kinji Shibuya ^[10]
• October 28 – Rikidozan ^[10]

Births

• Date unknown
  • A. J. Petrucci
• January 6 – Fishman ^[11] (died in 2017)
• January 10 – Pez Whatley ^[11] |(died in 2005)
• January 14 – Michael Porter (died in 2010)
• January 15 – Mano Negra ^[11]
• January 20 – Kung Fu ^[11] (died in 2001)
• January 23 – Vivian Vachon (died in 1991)
• January 27 – Ken Timbs ^[11] (died 2004)
• February 20 – Dos Caras ^[11]
• February 25 – Mr. Pogo ^[11] (died in 2017)
• March 3 – Bob Della Serra
• March 9 – Norvell Austin
• March 21 – Buck Zumhofe ^[11]
• March 25 – Jumbo Tsuruta ^[11] (died in 2000)
• April 3 – Ron Starr ^[12] (died in 2017)
• April 7 – Virgil (died in 2024)
• April 14 – Willie Williams (died in 2019)
• May 11 – Mark Rocco ^[11] (died in 2020)
• May 19 – Dick Slater (died in 2018)
• June 13 – Antonio Peña ^[11] (died in 2006)
• June 16 – Roberto Durán
• June 18 – Salvatore Bellomo ^[13] (died in 2019)
• June 26
  • Davey O'Hannon
  • Larry Sharpe ^[12] (died in 2017)
• July 15 – Jesse Ventura ^[11]
• July 24 – Skip Young ^[13] (died in 2010)
• August 21 – Keith Hart ^[14]
• August 25 – Steve Regal ^[13]
• September 10:
  • Greg Valentine ^[11]
  • Steve Keirn ^[13]
• September 13 – Jerry Stubbs
• September 20 – Mike Graham ^[11] (died in 2012)
• September 22 – Doug Somers (died in 2017)
• October 7 – Terry Orndorff
• October 14 – Mike Miller
• October 28 – Mike Sharpe ^[11] (died in 2016)
• November 13 – The Great Wojo (died in 2025)
• November 30 – Sangre Chicana ^[13]
• December 3:
  • Ray Candy ^[11] (died in 1994)
  • Riki Choshu ^[13]
• December 5 – Larry Zbyszko ^[11]
• December 13 – Ricky Rice
• December 20 – Ari Romero ^[11] (died in 2013)

Deaths

• July 28 Janet Wolfe (18)
• October 20 Ed Virag (39)

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 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. "Wrestlers debuted in 1951: 1 - 32 of 32". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
11. "Wrestlers born in 1951: 1 - 50 of 66". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
12. "Wrestlers born in 1950: 1 - 50 of 54". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
13. "Wrestlers born in 1951: 51 - 66 of 66". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
14. "Wrestlers born in 1952: 1 - 50 of 65". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.