2018 in professional wrestling

2018 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

List of notable promotions

These promotions held notable events in 2018.

Calendar of notable shows

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Accomplishments and tournaments

All Japan Pro-Wrestling (AJPW)

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL)

International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG)

Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA)

National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)

Pro Wrestling Noah

Pro Wrestling Zero1

WWE

Title changes

CMLL

Impact Wrestling

IWRG

Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide

MLW

NJPW

NWA

ROH

The Crash Lucha Libre

WWE

– Raw

– SmackDown

– NXT

– NXT UK

Raw and SmackDown

Raw and SmackDown each had a world championship, a secondary championship, a women's championship, and a male tag team championship. Raw also had a championship for their cruiserweight wrestlers, which became exclusive to the 205 Live brand.

NXT

NXT UK

Awards and honors

AAA

AAA Hall of Fame

WWE

WWE Hall of Fame

Debuts

• Roxanne Perez
• January 2 – Takuho Kato
• January 4 – Hikari Noa and Miu Watanabe
• January 8 – Peter Tihanyi
• January 26 – Je'Von Evans
• January 28 –
• February 3
• Akira Hyodo
• Yuki Ishikawa
• February 10 – Nico Angelo
• February 27 – Man Like DeReiss
• February 24
• Edith Surreal
• Kanji
• March 9 – Ethan Allen
• March 30 – The DKC
• April 8
• Ronda Rousey
• Momo Tani
• April 10
• Yuya Uemura
• Yota Tsuji
• April 22
• Rina Shingaki
• Tatsuya Hanami
• April 27 - Nick Wayne
• April 29 – Solo Sikoa
• May 3 – Yuki Aino
• May 13 – Rina Amikura
• May 27 – Mei Suruga
• May 30 – Jacy Jayne
• June 2 – Aliss Ink
• June 11 – Kota Minoura
• June 16 – Luke Jacobs
• July 3 – Janai Kai
• July 18 – Omos
• July 18 – Ancham
• July 29 – Titus Alexander
• August 5
• Mina Shirakawa
• Yoshiki Inamura
• August 8 – Kohaku
• August 12 – Utami Hayashishita
• August 18 – Levaniel
• September 2 – Ryuki Honda
• September 19 – Myla Grace
• October 11 – Nikkita Lyons
• October 28
• Jessamyn Duke
• Marina Shafir
• Yuki Arai
• November 6 – Dragon Dia
• November 15
• Misa Matsui
• Riko Kawahata
• Yuko Sakurai
• November 17
• Haruna Neko
• Hokuto Omori
• November 18 – Mei Hoshizuki
• November 19 – Momoka Hanazono
• December 18 – Malik Blade (NXT)
• November 23 – Slice Boogie
• November 24 – Pom Harajuku
• December 24 – Maria
• December 9 - Cora Jade
• December 25 –
• December 31
• Banny Oikawa
• Suzu Suzuki

Retirements

• Aoi Kizuki (2005–2018)
• Azusa Takigawa (2015–2018)
• Bob Backlund (1973–1985, 1988–2001, 2007–2011, 2018)
• Mark Henry (March 11, 1996 – April 27, 2018)
• Great Khali (October 7, 2000 – April 27, 2018)
• Mika Iida (November 21, 2010 – May 4, 2018)
• Great Kabuki (1964–September 30, 2018)
• Daigoro Kashiwa (2001–2018)
• Gene Snitsky (1997–2018)
• Chicky Starr (1975–2018)
• Mark Jindrak (1999–2018)
• Keiko Aono (1996–2018)
• Maho Kurone (2016–2018)
• Hiro Tonai (2006–2018)

Deaths

• January 2 – Mountain Fiji, 60
• April 4 – Johnny Valiant, 71
• April 18
• Bruno Sammartino, 82
• Paul Jones, 75
• April 21 – Neff Maivia, 93
• May 1 – Universo 2000, 55
• May 8 – Big Bully Busick, 63
• June 1 – Rockin' Rebel, 52
• June 13 – Arkangel de la Muerte, 52
• June 18 – Big Van Vader, 63
• June 29 – Matt Cappotelli, 38
• July 8 – Piratita Morgan, 49
• July 14 – Masa Saito, 76
• July 19 – Rayo de Jalisco Sr., 85
• July 29
• Brickhouse Brown, 57
• Nikolai Volkoff, 70
• Brian Christopher, 46
• August 3 - Picudo, 51
• August 9 – Brian Danovich, 38
• August 10 – Steve Travis, 67
• August 13
• Jim Neidhart, 63
• Ian Dean, 48
• August 21 – Villano III, 66
• August 22 – Chris Champion, 57
• August 27 – Aya Koyama, 45
• August 30 – Ray, 36
• September 1 - Nate Hatred, 39
• September 4 – Lee Wang-pyo, 64
• September 5 – Mike Hogewood, 63
• September 9 – Frank Andersson, 62
• September 14 – Ethel Johnson, 83
• October 8:
• Wajima Hiroshi, 70
• Leroy Howard, 50
• October 13 – Don Leo Jonathan, 87
• October 18 – Dick Slater, 67
• November 6 – José Lothario, 83
• November 18 - Tomás Marín, 84
• November 25 – Larry Matysik, 71
• December 5 – Dynamite Kid, 60
• December 6 – Larry Hennig, 82
• December 12 – Rene Lasartesse, 90
• December 13 – Bill Fralic, 56
• December 19 – Raúl Mata, 71
• December 21 – Cowboy Bob Ellis, 89
• December 29 – Dieusel Berto, 60

See also

• List of GFW events and specials
• List of MLW events
• List of NWA pay-per-view events
• List of NJPW pay-per-view events
• List of ROH pay-per-view events
• List of Impact Wrestling pay-per-view events
• List of WWE Network events
• List of WWE pay-per-view events

References