1985 in professional wrestling

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1985 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

Contents

List of notable promotions

These promotions held notable events in 1985.

Promotion NameAbbreviation
All Japan Pro Wrestling AJPW
All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling AJW
American Wrestling Association AWA
Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre EMLL
Florida Championship Wrestling FCW
Lutte Internationale Lutte
National Wrestling Alliance NWA
New Japan Pro-Wrestling NJPW
Pacific Northwest Wrestling PNW
World Class Championship Wrestling WCCW
World Wrestling Council WWC
World Wrestling Federation WWF

Calendar of notable shows

DatePromotion(s)EventLocationMain Event
February 18 WWF The War to Settle the Score New York City, New York Hulk Hogan (c) (with Cyndi Lauper, David Wolff, and Lou Albano) defeated Roddy Piper (with Bob Orton) by disqualification in a singles match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship [1]
February 24 AWA / NWA Star Wars East Rutherford, New Jersey Sgt. Slaughter won a "tag team battle royal." Slaughter's partner, Jerry Blackwell, was injured and could not compete, forcing Slaughter to wrestle alone. Also in the match were: The Road Warriors, Ivan and Nikita Koloff, Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell, Kamala and Billy Robinson, Mark and Chris Youngblood, Jerry Lawler and Baron Von Raschke, Bob Backlund and Jimmy Valiant, Mr. Saito and Masked Superstar, Nick Bockwinkel and Dory Funk Jr., Jimmy Garvin and Larry Zbyszko, and Steve Keirn and Jerry Oski
March 1 – April 18 NJPW Young Lion Cup Tokyo, Japan Shunji Kosugi defeated Keiichi Yamada in the tournament final [2]
March 31 WWF WrestleMania New York City, New York Hulk Hogan and Mr. T (with Jimmy Snuka) defeated Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper (with Bob Orton) in a Tag team match with Muhammad Ali and Pat Patterson as special guest referees [3]
April 5 EMLL 29. Aniversario de Arena México Mexico City, Mexico Pirata Morgan defeats El Egipcio by disqualification in a Lucha de Apuestas hair vs. hair match [4]
April 21 AWA StarCage 1985 St. Paul, Minnesota Sgt. Slaughter & Jerry Blackwell beat Masked Superstar, King Tonga, & Adnan Al-Kassie in a Handicap Steel Cage match
May 5 WCCW 2nd Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions Irving, Texas Kerry Von Erich (with Fritz Von Erich) defeated One Man Gang (with Gary Hart) in a Hair vs. One Man Gang facing Fritz Von Erich match [5]
May 10 WWF Saturday Night's Main Event Uniondale, New York Hulk Hogan (c) (with Mr. T) defeated Bob Orton (with Roddy Piper) by disqualification to retain the WWF World Heavyweight Championship
May 21 PNW Wrestling Extravaganza Portland, Oregon Roddy Piper defeated Buddy Rose in a singles match
May 10 – June 15 NJPW IWGP League Matsumoto, Japan André the Giant defeated Tatsumi Fujinami in a tournament final [6]
June 25 AJW Japan Grand Prix Finals Tokyo, Japan Lioness Asuka defeated Dump Matsumoto in the finals
July 6 NWA The Great American Bash Charlotte, North Carolina Dusty Rhodes defeated Tully Blanchard (c) (with Baby Doll) in a Steel cage match for the NWA World Television Championship [7] [8]
July 8 WWF King of the Ring Foxboro, Massachusetts Hulk Hogan (c) defeated Nikolai Volkoff in a singles match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship [9]
July 27 Mid-South Wrestlefest Tulsa, Oklahoma Bill Watts, Jim Duggan & Dick Murdoch defeated Kareem Muhammad, Kamala & Skandar Akbar
August 3 PPP A Hot Summer Night Honolulu, Hawaii Ric Flair fought Siva Afi to a double disqualification for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
August 16 AWA / NWA Star Wars East Rutherford, New Jersey The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk) defeated The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts) by disqualification in a six-man tag team match
August 26 Lutte
WWF
Lutte vs. WWF Montreal, Quebec, Canada Dino Bravo and King Tonga defeated Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik in a tag team match
September 2 FCW Battle of the Belts Tampa, Florida Ric Flair (c) defeated Wahoo McDaniel in 2 out of 3 three falls match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
September 20 EMLL EMLL 52nd Anniversary Show Mexico City, MexicoEvent was cancelled due to the 1985 Mexico City earthquake [10]
September 21 CSP CSP 12th Anniversary Show San Juan, Puerto Rico Jimmy Valiant defeated Kamala in a singles match by disqualification
September 28 AWA SuperClash Chicago, Illinois Rick Martel (c) fought Stan Hansen to a double countout in a singles match for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship [11]
October 3 WWF Saturday Night's Main Event East Rutherford, New Jersey Hulk Hogan (c) defeated Nikolai Volkoff (with Freddie Blassie) to retain the WWF World Heavyweight Championship
October 6 WCCW Cotton Bowl Extravaganza Dallas, Texas Kerry and Kevin Von Erich defeated The Dynamic Duo (Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez) in a Hair vs. Hair match [12]
October 6 AJW Tag League The Best Finals Tokyo, Japan The Crush Gals (Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka) defeated Gokuaku Domei (Bull Nakano and Dump Matsumoto) in the finals
October 19 WWC Battle of the Gladiators San Juan, Puerto Rico Carlos Colón defeated Abdullah the Butcher to win the WWC Universal Championship
October 31 WWF Saturday Night's Main Event Hershey, Pennsylvania Hulk Hogan and André the Giant (with Lou Albano) defeated King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd (with Bobby Heenan) by disqualification
November 7 WWF The Wrestling Classic Rosemont, Illinois Junkyard Dog defeated Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth) by count-out in a tournament finals match [13]
November 15 – December 12 NJPW IWGP Tag Title League Sendai, Japan Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura defeated Antonio Inoki and Seiji Sakaguchi in a tournament final
November 23 – December 12 AJPW AJPW Real World Tag League Tokyo, Japan Ted DiBiase and Stan Hansen won the tournament
November 28 NWA Starcade Greensboro, North Carolina
Atlanta, Georgia
Dusty Rhodes defeated Ric Flair (c) in a singles match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship [14]
December 6 EMLL Juicio Final Mexico City, MexicoEl Solar II vs. Belcebu in a Lucha de Apuestas , mask vs. mask match [15] [16]
December 19 WWF Saturday Night's Main Event Tampa, Florida Hulk Hogan (c) (with Junkyard Dog) defeated Terry Funk (with Jimmy Hart) to retain the WWF World Heavyweight Championship
December 29 AWA / NWA Night of Champions II East Rutherford, New Jersey Stan Hansen defeated Rick Martel (c) by submission in a singles match for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship
(c) – denotes defending champion(s)

Tournaments and accomplishments

AJW

AccomplishmentWinnerDate wonNotes
Japan Grand Prix 1985 Lioness AsukaJune 25
Rookie of the Year Decision Tournament Akemi Sakamoto
Tag League the Best 1985 Bull Nakano and Dump Matsumoto October 10

JCP

AccomplishmentWinnerDate wonNotes
Bunkhouse Stampede Dusty Rhodes [17] [7] December 28

WWF

AccomplishmentWinnerDate wonNotes
King of the Ring Don Muraco July 8
The Wrestling Classic Junkyard Dog November 7

Awards and honors

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

CategoryWinner
PWI Wrestler of the Year Ric Flair
PWI Tag Team of the Year The Road Warriors
(Hawk and Animal)
PWI Match of the Year Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff (WrestleMania)
PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year Hulk Hogan
PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year Roddy Piper
PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year Steve Williams
PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year Mike Von Erich
PWI Rookie of the Year Nord the Barbarian
PWI Manager of the Year Jim Cornette
PWI Editor's Award Dan Shocket

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

CategoryWinner
Wrestler of the Year Ric Flair
Feud of the Year Ted DiBiase vs. Jim Duggan
Tag Team of the Year The British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith)
Most Improved Steve Williams
Best on Interviews Jim Cornette

Title changes

WWF

Incoming champion – Hulk Hogan
DateWinnerEvent/ShowNote(s)
No title changes
Incoming champion – Greg Valentine
DateWinnerEvent/ShowNote(s)
July 6 Tito Santana House show It was a steel cage match
Incoming champion – Antonio Inoki
DateWinnerEvent/ShowNote(s)
No title changes
Incoming champion – The Cobra
DateWinnerEvent/ShowNote(s)
May 20 Hiro Saito House show
July 28 The Cobra House show
October 31AbandonedN/A
Incoming champion – Tatsumi Fujinami
DateWinnerEvent/ShowNote(s)
July 19VacantN/A
October 31VacantN/A
(Title reactivated)
DateWinnerEvent/ShowNote(s)
May 24 Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura House show
October 31DeactivatedN/A
(Title created)
DateWinnerEvent/ShowNote(s)
August 18 Dino Bravo House show
Incoming champions – Velvet McIntyre and Desiree Petersen
DateWinnerEvent/ShowNote(s)
August 1 The Glamour Girls
(Leilani Kai and Judy Martin)
Live event
Incoming champion – Wendi Richter
DateWinnerEvent/ShowNote(s)
February 18 Leilani Kai The War to Settle the Score
March 31 Wendi Richter WrestleMania I
November 25 The Masked Spider Lady (Fabulous Moolah) Live event
Incoming champions – The North-South Connection (Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch)
DateWinnerEvent/ShowNote(s)
January 21 The U.S. Express
(Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham)
House show
March 31 The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff WrestleMania I
June 17 The U.S. Express
(Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham)
Championship Wrestling It aired on tape delay on July 13.
August 24 The Dream Team
(Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine)
House show

Spinoff media

Births

Debuts

Retirements

Deaths

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1984 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

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