1968 in professional wrestling

1968 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 1968.

Promotion Name	Abbreviation
Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre	EMLL

Calendar of notable shows

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
April 26	EMLL	12. Aniversario de Arena México	Mexico City, Mexico	Huracán Ramírez defeated El Enfermero, Lucha de Apuestas mask vs. mask match [1] [2] [3]
September 20		EMLL 35th Anniversary Show		Karloff Lagarde (c) defeated Blue Demon in a best two-out-of-three falls match for the NWA World Welterweight Championship [4]
December 13		Juicio Final		El Solitario defeated Ray Mendoza in a Lucha de Apuestas , mask Vs. hair match [5]
(c) – denotes defending champion(s)

Notable Events

• June 8 - at San Francisco, California, Pepper Gomez and Pedro Morales defeat Great Sasaki and Kinji Shibuya to become the San Francisco's NWA World Tag Team Championship.
• August 17 - at Bloomington, Minnesota, Dr. X beat Verne Gagne to become the new AWA World Heavyweight Champion.
• Inside Wrestling magazine hit the newsstands with its first issue.

Tournaments

IWE

Accomplishment	Winner	Date won	Notes
IWA World Series	Billy Robinson	December 19

Championship changes

EMLL

NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship
incoming champion – Ray Mendoza [6]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
May 19	Ángel Blanco	EMLL show	[6]
December 25	Ray Mendoza	EMLL show	[6]

NWA World Middleweight Championship

incoming champion – René Guajardo [7]

No title changes [7]

NWA World Welterweight Championship

incoming champion – Karloff Lagarde [8]

No title changes [8]

Mexican National Heavyweight Championship

incoming champion - Henry Pilusso [9]

No title changes [9]

Mexican National Middleweight Championship
incoming champion – René Guajardo [10]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
March 9	Alberto Muñoz	EMLL show	[10]

Mexican National Lightweight Championship
incoming champion – Raul Guerrero [11]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
August 20	Estrella Blanca	EMLL show	[11]

Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship
incoming champion – El Nazi [12]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
March 22	Mil Máscaras	EMLL show	[12]
April 10	Vacated	N/A	Championship vacated for undocumented reasons [12]

Mexican National Welterweight Championship
incoming champion – Alberto Muñoz [13]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
October 20	Vacated	N/A	Championship vacated after Muñoz won the Mexican National Middleweight Championship [13]

Mexican National Tag Team Championship

incoming champion – Possibly La Ola Blanca (Ángel Blanco and Dr. Wagner) [14]

No title changes [14]

Mexican National Women's Championship

incoming champion – Uncertain [15]

No title changes [15]

NWA

NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship

Incoming Champion – Gene Kiniski [16]

No title changes [16]

Debuts

• Debut date uncertain:
  • Blackjack Mulligan ^[17]
  • Dusty Rhodes ^[17]
  • El Halcón ^[17]
  • Jimmy Golden ^[17]
  • Kung Fu ^[17]
  • Lee Marshall ^[17]
  • Marty Jones ^[17]
  • Michel Martel ^[17]
  • Nikolai Volkoff ^[17]
  • El Sicodélico ^[17]
• January 1 – Ringo Mendoza ^[17]
• February 24 – Enrique Vera ^[17]
• August 30 – Kim Duk ^[17]
• November 1 – Jimmy Garvin ^[17]
• December – Chavo Guerrero Sr. ^[17]
• December 6 – J. J. Dillon

Retirements

• Billy Riley (1920s-1968)

Births

• January 5 – Noboru Asahi ^[18]
• January 8 – Bull Nakano ^[19]
• January 9 – Silver King ^[20] (died in 2019)
• January 12 – Big Dick Dudley ^[19] (died in 2002)
• January 15 – Bull Buchanan
• January 31 – Ray Odyssey ^[18]
• February 13 – Daisuke Ikeda ^[19]
• February 19 – August Smisl
• March 7 – Súper Brazo ^[20]
• April 16 – Vickie Guerrero ^[20]
• March 19 – Eddie Watts ^[19]
• March 28 – Jaime Cardriche (died in 2000)
• March 31 – Naoya Ogawa ^[18]
• April 24:
  • Yuji Nagata ^[20]
  • El Espantito ^[19] (died in 2020)
• May 10 – William Regal ^[20]
• May 14 – Mantaur ^[18] (died in 2023)
• May 24 – Rayo Tapatío I ^[18]
• May 26 – Simon Diamond ^[20]
• June 17 – Minoru Suzuki ^[18]
• June 20 – Mr. Gannosuke ^[18]
• June 26 – Koji Nakagawa
• June 30 – The Bodyguard ^[19]
• July 3 – Sombrita ^[20]
• July 8 – Romeo Valentino
• July 17 – Doctor X (died in 2011)
• July 18 – Pequeño Violencia ^[18]
• August 2 – Maximum Capacity (died in 2014)
• August 5:
  • Kendo Kashin ^[18]
  • Leroy Howard (died in 2018)
• August 11:
  • Head Hunter A ^[19]
  • Head Hunter B ^[19]
• August 20 – Duke Droese
• August 24 – Funaki ^[19]
• September 3 – Black Pearl
• September 24 – Eric Sbraccia
• September 28:
  • Jado ^[19]
  • Apolo Dantés ^[19]
• October 3 – Chi Chi Cruz
• October 28 – Mayumi Ozaki
• October 30 – Dr. Luther ^[19]
• November 3 – Dirty White Girl ^[19]
• November 10 – Mitsuya Nagai
• November 12:
  • Disco Inferno ^[19]
  • Kazue Nagahori
• November 13 – Mike Lozansky (died in 2003)
• November 29 – Hayabusa ^[19] (died in 2016)
• December 8 – Michael Cole ^[18]
• December 9:
  • Kurt Angle ^[18]
  • Virus ^[20]
  • Jack Dupp
• December 10:
  • Mephisto ^[18]
• December 26 – Mideon ^[18]

Deaths

• January 15 – Firpo Segura ^[21] 60
• February 19 – George Hackenschmidt ^[21] 89
• March 9:
  • Bert Ruby 57
  • John Katan 66
• May 30 – Espanto I ^[21] 37
• June 10 – Wladek Zbyszko ^[21] 76
• June 21 – Ike Robin, 81
• August 11 – Oklahoma Kid (Elmer Gerald), 30
• December 3 – Dick Shikat, 71

References

1. Lucha 2000 Staff (April 2006). "Arena México: 50 anos de Lucha Libre". Lucha 2000 (in Spanish). Especial 28.
2. Madigan, Dan (2007). "Huracán Ramírez". Mondo Lucha Libre: the bizarre & honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperCollins Publisher. pp. 118–119. ISBN   978-0-06-085583-3.
3. "Lucha Libre: Conoce la historia de las leyendas de cuadrilátero". Huracán Ramírez (1926) (in Spanish). Mexico. 2008. p. 21. Grandes Figuras de la Lucha Libre.
4. 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.
5. "EMLL Super Viernes". CageMatch. December 13, 1968. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. "Wrestlers debuted in 1968: 1 - 32 of 32". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
18. "Wrestlers born in 1968: 51 - 100 of 125". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
19. "Wrestlers born in 1968: 1 - 50 of 125". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
20. "Wrestlers born in 1968: 101 - 125 of 125". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
21. "Wrestlers deceased in 1968: 1 - 14 of 14". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.