1961 in professional wrestling

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1961 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

List of notable promotions

Only two promotions held notable shows in 1961.

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 31	Southwest Sports	Parade of Champions	Irving, Texas	Pat O'Connor (c) wrestled Dory Dixon to a draw in a two out of three falls match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
April	EMLL	5. Aniversario de Arena México	Mexico City, Mexico
September 22		EMLL 28th Anniversary Show		Gory Guerrero (c) defeated Ray Mendoza in a best two-out-of-three falls match for the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship [1]
(c) – denotes defending champion(s)

Championship changes

EMLL

NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship

incoming champion - Gory Guerrero [2]

No title changes [2]

incoming champion – René Guajardo [3]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
December 2	Antonio Posa	EMLL show	[3]

NWA World Welterweight Championship

incoming champion – Karloff Lagarde [4]

No title changes [4]

Mexican National Heavyweight Championship
incoming champion - Vacant [5]					No title changes [5]

Mexican National Middleweight Championship
incoming champion – El Santo [6]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
March 24	Karloff Lagarde	EMLL show	[6]

Mexican National Lightweight Championship

incoming champion – Juan Diaz [7]

No title changes [7]

Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship

incoming champion – Rubén Juárez [8]

No title changes [8]

Mexican National Welterweight Championship

incoming champion – Karloff Lagarde [9]

No title changes [9]

Mexican National Tag Team Championship

incoming champion – possibly Tarzán López and Henry Pilusso [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 – Pat O'Connor [12]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
July 14	Buddy Rogers	NWA show	[12]

Debuts

• Debut date uncertain:
  • The Beast ^[13]
  • Ernie Ladd
  • Gino Brito
  • Ivan Koloff
  • Jack Lanza ^[13]
  • Jonathan Boyd ^[13]
  • Luke Graham ^[13]
  • S. D. Jones ^[13]
  • Spiros Arion ^[13]
  • Tony Parisi ^[13]
  • Wahoo McDaniel ^[13]
  • Jean Antone
• April – Umanosuke Ueda ^[13]
• July 4 – Les Thatcher ^[13]
• July 16 – Dr. Wagner ^[13]
• October 11 - Masio Koma (JWA)

Births

• Date of birth uncertain:
  • Penny Mitchell
  • Eli the Eliminator
• January 24:
  • Reggie Bennett ^[14]
  • Kōji Iibashi
• January 24 – Vince Russo ^[14]
• February 1 – Sean Royal
• February 9 – Chris Walker
• February 17 – Chris Champion ^[15] (died in 2018)
• February 21 – Rhonda Singh ^[14] (died in 2001)
• March 9 – Rick Steiner ^[14]
• March 17 – La Fiera ^[15] (died in 2010)
• March 27 – Octagón ^[14]
• April 11 – Nobuaki Kakuda
• April 15 – Volk Han
• April 18 – Brooklyn Brawler ^[15]
• April 23 – Terry Gordy ^[14] (died in 2001)
• April 25:
  • Giant Gustav (died in 2019)
  • Wendell Cooley
• April 28 – Billy Joe Travis ^[15] (died in 2002)
• May 4 – Scott Armstrong
• May 5 – Hiroshi Hase ^[15]
• May 8 – Akira Taue ^[15]
• May 11 – Paul Diamond ^[14]
• May 13 – Dennis Rodman
• May 14 – Tommy Rogers ^[14] (died in 2015)
• May 16 – The Godfather ^[15]
• May 25 – Hiro Saito ^[15]
• June 9:
  • Bull Pain
  • Despina Montagas
• June 15 – Scott Norton ^[14]
• June 21 – Count Grog
• July 9 – Damián 666 ^[15]
• July 13 – Chris Michaels ^[15]
• July 25 – Jaguar Yokota
• July 28 – Ciclón Ramírez ^[15]
• July 30 – El Brazo ^[15] (died in 2013)
• August 13 – Tony Falk ^[14]
• August 14 – Eddie Gilbert ^[15] (died in 1995)
• August 17 – Buddy Landel ^[15] (died in 2015)
• August 25 – Nick Kiniski ^[14]
• September 1 – Bam Bam Bigelow ^[15] (died in 2006)
• September 2 – Mongolian Mauler ^[14] (died in 2024)
• September 6 – Wendi Richter ^[14]
• September 8 – Rex King ^[14] (died in 2017)
• September 16 – Phil LaFon ^[15]
• September 17 Jim Cornette ^[15]
• October 1:
  • Súper Astro ^[14]
  • Rico Constantino ^[14]
• October 3 – Maxx Payne ^[15]
• October 4 – Bobby Fulton ^[15]
• October 11 – Tony Chimel
• October 14 – Tom Burton (died in 2010)
• October 23:
  • Ron Harris ^[14]
  • Don Harris ^[15]
• November 8 – Isao Takagi
• November 19 – Rick Bassman
• November 26 – Ivory (wrestler) ^[15]
• December 19 – Reggie White ^[14] (died in 2004)
• December 21 – The Patriot (died in 2021)
• December 24 – Peter Smit (died in 2005)
• December 30 – Armand Rougeau ^[15]

Deaths

• January 9 – Oyama Kato, 42
• February 18 – Chick Garibaldi, 46
• October 7 – Al Mills ^[16] 50/51
• November 8 – Blimp Levy, 56

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
13. "Wrestlers debuted in 1961: 1 - 20 of 20". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
14. "Wrestlers born in 1961: 51 - 98 of 98". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
15. "Wrestlers born in 1961: 1 - 50 of 98". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
16. "Wrestlers deceased in 1961: 1 - 18 of 18". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.