1963 in professional wrestling

1963 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 1963.

Calendar of notable shows[]

Notable events[]

• January 24 – Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) breaks away from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) to form the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF).
• April Buddy Rogers was presented the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship at a WWWF TV Taping in Washington, DC after being billed as the World Champion since late-January.
• May 18 - Bruno Sammartino defeated Buddy Rogers in 48 seconds to win the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship in New York, NY

Championship changes[]

EMLL[]

NWA[]

Debuts[]

• Debut date uncertain:
  • Beauregard^[13]
  • Coloso Colosetti^[13]
  • Donna Christianello^[13]
  • Johnny Powers^[13]
  • Mr. Wrestling^[13]
  • ^[13]
  • Skandar Akbar^[13]
• January 4 – Ernie Ladd^[13]
• January 10 – Dory Funk Jr.^[13]
• March – Rubén Soria^[13]
• October 13 – Great Kojika^[13]
• November – Aníbal^[13]

Births[]

• Date of birth uncertain:
  • Mickie Henson (died in 2022)
• January 3:
  • Vic Grimes^[14]
  • New Jack^[15] (died in 2021)
• January 6 – Tony Halme^[15](died in 2010) [1]
• January 10 – Firebreaker Chip^[16]
• January 29 – Hardcore Holly^[16]
• February 22 – Maxx Muscle^[15](died in 2019) [2]
• February 28 – Joey Marella^[16](died in 1994) [3]
• March 7 – Bruce Prichard^[16]
• March 19 – Brazo de Plata^[16] (died in 2021)
• March 20 – Terry Simms^[15]
• April 6 – Neil Superior (died in 1996)
• April 18 – Universo 2000^[15] (died in 2018) [4]
• May 2 – Big Boss Man^[16](died in 2004) [5]
• May 18 – Gary Albright^[16](died in 2000) [6]
• May 29 – Samu^[17]
• June 1 – George Hines^[18]
• June 6: Ahmed Johnson
• June 12:
  • Jerry Lynn^[16]
  • Johnny Hotbody^[15]
• June 16 – The Sandman^[15]
• June 20 – Don West^[16]
• June 21 – Mark Youngblood^[15]
• June 22 – John Tenta^[15](died in 2006) [7]
• June 24 – Ángel Azteca^[16](died in 2007) [8]
• June 25 – Bobby Blaze^[16]
• July 11 – Mike Enos^[15]
• July 18 – Al Snow^[16]
• July 21 – Giant Silva^[16]
• July 22 – Steve Gillespie (died in 2020)
• July 28 – Lioness Asuka^[15]
• July 31 – Chad Brock
• August 2 – El Hijo del Santo^[16]
• August 5 – Pat Tanaka^[15]
• August 12 – Koji Kitao^[15](died in 2019) [9]
• August 15 – Tamon Honda^[15]
• August 16 – Tarzan Goto^[15]
• August 28 – Lester Speight
• September 17 – Masahiro Chono^[15]
• September 24 – Sunny Beach^[15]
• September 28 – Steve Blackman^[15]
• September 30 – Mustafa Saed
• October 8 – Diana Hart^[16]
• October 9 – Tadao Yasuda^[15]
• October 11 – Sam Houston
• October 16 – Missy Hyatt^[15]
• November 11 – Billy Gunn^[16]
• December 3 – Steve Simpson^[15]
• December 7 – Bruiser Bedlam^[19](died in 2017) [10]
• December 8 – Toshiaki Kawada^[15]
• December 12 – Jason Knight

Deaths[]

• January 19 – ^[20] 80
• March 7 – Billy Wolfe 66
• May 10 – Gene Lipscomb 31
• June 2 - Century Milstead, 62
• December 15 – Rikidozan,^[20] 39
• December 26 – Gorgeous George,^[20] 48
• December 27 - Wildcat Wilson, 63

References[]