- Source: 1996 in professional wrestling
1996 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.
List of notable promotions
These promotions held notable events in 1996.
Calendar of notable shows
= January
== February
== March
== April
== May
== June
== July
== August
== September
== October
== November
== December
=Notable events
= Mass Transit Incident
=The "Mass Transit incident" was an infamous event in professional wrestling that occurred at an Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) house show on November 23, 1996 at the Wonderland Ballroom in Revere, Massachusetts in the United States. It involved Eric Kulas (1979 – May 12, 2002), an aspiring professional wrestler using the ring name "Mass Transit", being bladed too deeply by New Jack of The Gangstas during a tag-team match. Two of Kulas' arteries were severed; he bled profusely and passed out, and needed to be escorted out of the arena with medical attention. Further controversy arose when it came to light that Kulas had lied to ECW owner and booker Paul Heyman about his age and professional wrestling training. The incident led to a future ECW pay-per-view being cancelled (until Heyman negotiated otherwise), a lawsuit from Kulas' family, and went down as one of the most notorious moments of lore in professional wrestling history.
= IWRG created
=On January 1 – Mexican promoter Adolfo Moreno created the International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) which held its debut show on this date in Arena Naucalpan.
= Formation of the nWo
=In the main event of World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s Bash at the Beach pay-per-view on July 7, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash (both of whom had recently defected to WCW from the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and been presented on-screen as "outsiders") indicated that they would enlist a mystery partner against the team of Randy Savage, Sting, and Lex Luger.
Their partner ended up being Hulk Hogan, who surprisingly attacked long-time Mega Powers partner Savage to conclude the match, thus turning heel for the first time in nearly two decades. In his post-match promo, Hogan indicated his decision to lead the villainous stable which he christened as the New World Order (nWo).
The nWo would be the main focus of WCW programming for the better part of the next three years and led to WCW Monday Nitro defeating WWF Monday Night Raw in the Monday Night War ratings battle for eighty-three consecutive weeks. These developments in WCW are often credited with ultimately pushing the WWF toward producing the "edgier" content which would become the hallmark of the Attitude Era.
Accomplishments and tournaments
= AJW
== AJPW
== Jd' Star
== WCW
== WWF
=WWF Hall of Fame
Slammy Awards
Awards and honors
= Pro Wrestling Illustrated
== Wrestling Observer Newsletter
=Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame
Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
Title changes
= ECW
== FMW
== IWRG
== NJPW
== WCW
== WWF
=Debuts
Uncertain debut date
Mari Apache
Miyuki Okada (SPWF)
Rumi Sekiguchi (All Japan Women's)
Yoshikazu Taru
January 4 - Sayuri Okino (LLPW)
March 10 – The Rock
March 20 - Masakazu Fukuda
April 14 - Aya Koyama (Jd' Star)
April 23 - K-Ness
April 29 - Rina Ishii (GAEA)
May 2 – Sachie Abe
May 16 - Adam Pearce
July 14 - Momoe Nakanishi and Nanae Takahashi
July 28 – Miho Wakizawa and Yachiyo Kawamoto (All Japan Women's)
July 30 - Yuko Kosugi (Jd' Star)
August 8 - H. C. Loc
August 12 – Sakura Hirota
September 15 - Fugofugo Yumeji
September 16 - Miyuki Fujii (All Japan Women's)
October 5 - Nobuyuki Kurashima
October 17 - MIKAMI
October 20 - Keiichi Kawano
November 2 - Tomohiro Ishii
November 24 - Miyuki Sogabe (Jd' Star)
September 15 – Takashi Sasaki
December 28 - Sari Osumi (JWP)
Births
February 22 – Rabbit Miu
March 15 – Maxwell Jacob Friedman
March 20 – Blair Davenport
March 27 – Pom Harajuku
May 7 – Mike D Vecchio
May 11 – Laurance Roman
June 2 – Jacy Jayne
June 20 – Rhio
July 30 – Marko Stunt
August 17 – Indi Hartwell
October 11 – Rhea Ripley
Retirements
Akio Sato (1970–1996)
Billy Jack Haynes (1982–1996)
Damian Kane (1980–1996)
Tom Zenk (1986–October 1996)
Tyler Mane (1986–1996)
Dick Slater (1972–October 1996)
Dynamite Kid (December 24, 1975 – October 10, 1996)
Espanto Jr. (1971–January 1996)
Jerry Stubbs (1970–1996, return to wrestle for a match in 2019)
Mr. Fuji (1965–1996)
Steve Regal (1977–1996)
Wahoo McDaniel (1961–July 1996)
Rocky Iaukea (1981–1996)
Tom Lister, Jr. (1989–March 1996)
Tiger Conway Jr. (1971–1996)
Deaths
January 23 - Art White, 80
May 3 – Ray Stevens, 60
June 15 – Dick Murdoch, 49
June 26 - Octavio Gaona, 94
July 20 - The Missouri Mauler, 65
July 23 – Herb Abrams, 41
August 23 - Neil Superior, 33
September 11 – Sapphire, 61
See also
List of WCW pay-per-view events
List of WWE pay-per-view events
List of FMW supercards and pay-per-view events
List of ECW supercards and pay-per-view events
References
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Bret Hart
- Vince McMahon
- Stone Cold Steve Austin
- Ric Flair
- Molly Holly
- Hulk Hogan
- Yokozuna (pegulat)
- Shawn Michaels
- Sejarah olahraga
- Goldust
- 1996 in professional wrestling
- Mass Transit incident (professional wrestling)
- Professional wrestling
- Samu (wrestler)
- The Bloodline (professional wrestling)
- List of professional wrestling matches rated 5 or more stars by Dave Meltzer
- Blading (professional wrestling)
- Shoot wrestling
- Shoot (professional wrestling)
- Francine (wrestling)
