1979 in professional wrestling

Last updated October 28, 2025

1979 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 1979.

Promotion Name	Abbreviation
All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling	AJW
Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre	EMLL

Calendar of notable shows

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
January 28	UWA	4th Anniversary Show	Naucalpan	Dr. Wagner beat Angel Blanco in a "Lucha de Apuestas" "Mask vs. Hair" match
February 27	AJW	All Japan Women's at Nippon Budokan	Tokyo	Jackie Sato defeated Maki Ueda in a battle between former partners where the loser must retire.
March 25	MLW	AWA/WWF Title Unification	Toronto, Ontario	WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund fought AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel to a double count-out
May 18	CWA	Night of Champions	Knoxville, Tennessee	Harley Race (c) defeated Ron Fuller to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
April 6	AJPW	Champion Carnival	Tokyo, Japan	Abdullah the Butcher defeated Jumbo Tsuruta
April 21	EMLL	23. Aniversario de Arena México	Mexico City, Mexico	Alfonso Dantés defeated Pak Choo (c) in a singles match for the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship ^[1]
June 7	NJPW	MSG League	Tokyo, Japan	Antonio Inoki defeated Stan Hansen
July 8	NWA	Battle of the Nature Boys	Greensboro, North Carolina	NWA United States Champion Ric Flair defeated Buddy Rogers
September 21	EMLL	EMLL 46th Anniversary Show	Mexico City, Mexico	Gran Cochisse defeated Américo Rocca in a Lucha de Apuestas hair vs. hair match^[2]^[3]
December 7	EMLL	Juico Final	Mexico City, Mexico	El Faraón and Águila India defeated Sangre Chicana and Tony Salazar in a Lucha de Apuestas , hair vs hair match^[4]
(c) – denotes defending champion(s)

Notable events

In March, the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) was renamed to World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
On March 6 at a taping for WWF Championship Wrestling, The Valiant Brothers beat Tony Garea and Larry Zbyszko to become the new WWWF Tag Team Championship.
June 6 - Verne Gagne and Butcher Vachon beat Pat Patterson and Ray Stevens to become the AWA Tag Team Champions.
On October 22 at New York's Madison Square Garden Ivan Putski and Tito Santana beat The Valiant Brothers to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.

Accomplishments and tournaments

AJW

Accomplishment	Winner	Date won	Notes
Rookie of the Year Decision Tournament	Ayumi Hori (Jumbo Hori)

JCP

Accomplishment	Winner	Date won	Notes
NWA United States Championship Tournament	Jimmy Snuka	September 1

Awards and honors

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Category	Winner
PWI Wrestler of the Year	Harley Race
PWI Tag Team of the Year	Ivan Putski and Tito Santana
PWI Match of the Year	Harley Race vs. Dusty Rhodes
PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year	Dusty Rhodes
PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year	Greg Valentine
PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year	Tommy Rich
PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year	Chief Jay Strongbow
PWI Rookie of the Year	Sweet Brown Sugar
PWI Manager of the Year	Arnold Skaaland

Championship changes

EMLL

Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship
incoming champion – Pak Choo ^[1]
April 30,	Alfonso Dantés	EMLL show	^[1]

Date	Winner	Event/Show
NWA World Middleweight Championship
Incoming champion – Tony Salazar
February 3	Ringo Mendoza	EMLL show
September 9	Satoru Sayama	EMLL show

Date	Winner	Event/Show
NWA World Welterweight Championship
Incoming champion – Mano Negra
April 30	Americo Rocca	EMLL show

Date	Winner	Event/Show
Mexican National Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – TNT
February 4	Gran Markus	EMLL show
December 23	El Halcon	EMLL show

Date	Winner	Event/Show
Mexican National Middleweight Championship
Incoming champion – Vacant
June 8	Cachorro Mendoza	EMLL show
October 19	El Satanico	EMLL show

Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
Mexican National Lightweight Championship
Incoming champion – Tailsman ^[5]
April 8	Rodolfo Ruiz	EMLL show	^[5]

Date	Winner	Event/Show
Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Dos Caras
April 8	Astro Rey	EMLL show
November 11	Dr. Wagner	EMLL show
November 30	Enrique Vera	EMLL show

Mexican National Welterweight Championship
Incoming champion – Lizmark
No title changes^[1]

Mexican National Women's Championship
Incoming champion – Uncertain
No title changes^[1]

NWA

Date	Winner	Event/Show
NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Harley Race
August 21	Dusty Rhodes	House show
August 26	Harley Race	House show
October 31	Giant Baba	House show
November 7	Harley Race	House show

Births

January 17 - Chase Stevens
February 21 – Carly Colón
March 4 – Sarah Stock ^[6]
March 6 – David Flair
March 9 – Melina ^[7]
March 12 – Nidia Guenard
March 17 – Samoa Joe ^[8]
March 23 - Ray Gordy
March 28 - Goldy Locks
April 19 – Nicole Raczynski
April 25 - Belladonna (d. 2019)
April 29:
- Vladimir Kozlov
May 3 - Monsta Mack
May 4 - Ryan Shamrock
May 11 - Air Paris
May 26 – Ashley Massaro (d. 2019)
May 29 – Brian Kendrick
June 19 - Billy Reil (d. 2024)
June 25 - Hirooki Goto
July 18 – Joey Mercury
July 19 – Pólvora
July 20 - Adam Rose
July 21 - Matt Stryker
July 23
- Peter Rosenberg ^[9]
- Perro Aguayo Jr. (d. 2015)
July 27 – Shannon Moore
July 31 - R. J. Brewer
August 9 - Silas Young
August 10 - Kongo Kong
August 31 – Mickie James ^[10]^[11]
September 5 - Slyck Wagner Brown
September 6 – Low Ki
September 26 - Naomichi Marufuji
October 1 – Curtis Axel ^[12]
October 3 – John Morrison
October 8 – Paul Burchill
October 14 – Stacy Keibler
October 19 – Mari Apache
October 25 – Rosa Mendes
October 27 – Bobby Fish ^[13]
November 2 – Cliff Compton
November 5 - Jackson Andrews
November 7 - Joey Ryan
November 12 - Matt Cappotelli (d. 2018)
November 17
- Katsuyori Shibata
- Meiko Satomura
November 21 - Ryota Hama
December 3 – Seth Petruzelli
December 10 - Matt Bentley
December 15 – Eric Young ^[14]^[15]
December 16:
- Luke Harper/Brodie Lee (d. 2020)^[16]^[17]
- Murat Bosporus
December 18 - Eric Escobar
December 24 – Chris Hero ^[18]
December 26 - Hiroshi Nagao
December 29 - Justin Roberts

Debuts

Uncertain debut date

March 5 - Shiro Koshinaka
September 9 - Martha Villalobos
September 17 - Apollo Sugawara

Deaths

April 26 – Fuzzy Cupid, 50
June 30 – Chris Taylor, 29
July 14 - Billy McCrary, 32
July 22 - Tony Galento, 69
October 11 - Lou Bastien, 63

Retirements

Spiros Arion (1961 - 1979)
Boris Malenko (1955 - 1979)

References

1 2 3 4 5 Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Light Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 389. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
↑ "46th Anniversary Show". Pro Wrestling History. August 21, 1979. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
↑ "Historia de Los Aniversarios del CMLL". The Gladiatores Magazine (in Spanish). September 2, 2010. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
↑ "EMLL Super Viernes". Wrestling Data. December 7, 1979. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
1 2 Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: National Lightweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. p. 393. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
↑ "Women's Wrestler Profiles: Sarah Stock". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved March 27, 2008.
↑ "Women's Wrestler Profiles: Melina Perez". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on March 20, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
↑ Milner, John; Kamchen, Richard (2005-12-04). "Samoa Joe". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on 2012-06-29. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
↑ Chris Richards, "Peter Rosenberg: From Montgomery County to top of the hip-hop heap," The Washington Post , May 31, 2013.
↑ Leggett, Steve. "Mickie James". Rovi. Archived from the original on January 7, 2017. Retrieved January 6, 2016– via Billboard. Additional January 6, 2017.
↑ "The Ballad of Mickie James". Richmond Magazine. Virginia. December 23, 2010. Archived from the original on April 5, 2012. Retrieved December 24, 2010. Born at Richmond Memorial Hospital in 1979....
↑ "Featured Content on Myspace". Myspace. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
↑ "Internet Wrestling Database: Search: bobby fish". www.profightdb.com. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
↑ "Eric Young Online World of Wrestling" . Retrieved May 30, 2020.
↑ "Eric Young « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
↑ "Luke Harper". Florida Championship Wrestling . Archived from the original on May 9, 2013. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
↑ "Luke Harper". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
↑ "Chris Hero". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on May 23, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2011.

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[NWALHeavy-1] 1 2 3 4 5 Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Light Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 389. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.

[EMLL46-2] "46th Anniversary Show". Pro Wrestling History. August 21, 1979. Retrieved September 27, 2012.

[76Anniversaries-3] "Historia de Los Aniversarios del CMLL". The Gladiatores Magazine (in Spanish). September 2, 2010. Retrieved September 28, 2012.

[WDJuicio79-4] "EMLL Super Viernes". Wrestling Data. December 7, 1979. Retrieved March 21, 2019.

[MexLight-5] 1 2 Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: National Lightweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. p. 393. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.

[6] "Women's Wrestler Profiles: Sarah Stock". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved March 27, 2008.

[7] "Women's Wrestler Profiles: Melina Perez". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on March 20, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2018.

[8] Milner, John; Kamchen, Richard (2005-12-04). "Samoa Joe". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on 2012-06-29. Retrieved 2008-10-17.

[9] Chris Richards, "Peter Rosenberg: From Montgomery County to top of the hip-hop heap," The Washington Post , May 31, 2013.

[10] Leggett, Steve. "Mickie James". Rovi. Archived from the original on January 7, 2017. Retrieved January 6, 2016– via Billboard. Additional January 6, 2017.

[11] "The Ballad of Mickie James". Richmond Magazine. Virginia. December 23, 2010. Archived from the original on April 5, 2012. Retrieved December 24, 2010. Born at Richmond Memorial Hospital in 1979....

[12] "Featured Content on Myspace". Myspace. Retrieved 17 July 2015.

[13] "Internet Wrestling Database: Search: bobby fish". www.profightdb.com. Retrieved August 20, 2017.

[14] "Eric Young Online World of Wrestling" . Retrieved May 30, 2020.

[15] "Eric Young « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved May 30, 2020.

[16] "Luke Harper". Florida Championship Wrestling . Archived from the original on May 9, 2013. Retrieved August 16, 2012.

[17] "Luke Harper". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 5, 2015.

[18] "Chris Hero". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on May 23, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2011.

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v t e Years in professional wrestling
1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
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