2023 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.
List of notable promotions
These promotions held notable events throughout 2023.
Calendar of notable shows
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Notable events
- January 6 â Vince McMahon returns to WWE as a board member after previously retiring in 2022.
- January 10 â Stephanie McMahon resigns as co-CEO and chairwoman of WWE. Vince McMahon takes the title of executive chairman, while Nick Khan became the sole CEO of the company.
- January 20 â Major League Wrestling signed a new broadcast deal with Reelz.
- January 21 â Negro Casas and his wife Dalys la Caribeña depart from Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), making their surprise debuts for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide on the same day. This marked the end of Casas' over 40-year tenure with CMLL.
- April 3 â WWE is sold to Endeavor, the parent company of the mixed martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
- April 24 & 25 â All Elite Wrestling's YouTube programs, ' and Dark, were canceled, respectively.
- June 17 â AEW Collision premiered on TNT.
- August 27 â All Elite Wrestling's pay-per-view, All In, broke the paid attendance record for a professional wrestling event, selling 81,035 tickets, distributing 83,131; however, the show's turnstile count (the number of tickets scanned on the night at the event) was 72,265.
- September 2 â CM Punk's contract with All Elite Wrestling was terminated after a legitimate backstage confrontation with Jack Perry.
- September 12 â WWE's sale to Endeavor is finalized, ending 69 years of family ownership by the McMahon family. WWE and UFC subsequently merged and operate as divisions of a new company called TKO Group Holdings.
- September 15 â Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson makes first WWE appearance in four years.
- October 21 â Impact Wrestling announced it would revert to its former Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) name, beginning with Hard To Kill on January 13, 2024.
- November 18 â Will Ospreay officially signs with All Elite Wrestling, taking effect in February 2024.
- November 25 â Randy Orton returns to WWE in-ring competition, after an 18-month injury layoff; CM Punk returns to WWE for the first time since January 2014.
- December 23 â Thunder Rosa wrestles her first match since August 10, 2022, after a back injury; Hiroshi Tanahashi is appointed as the president and representative director of New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
- December 26 â CM Punk wrestles his first WWE match since January 20, 2014.
Accomplishments and tournaments
2AW
AAA
AEW
AJPW
BJW
CF
DDT
Noah
TJPW
GanPro
CMLL
The Crash
CZW
DG
GCW
Gleat
Ice Ribbon
Impact
IWRG
M-Pro
MLW
NJPW
NWA
Progress
PWG
ROH
RevPro
Stardom
Zero1
Zero1 Japan
Tenryu Project
XPW
WOW
wXw
WWE
Title changes
2AW
AAA
AEW
AJPW
BJW
CF
â DDT Pro-Wrestling
â Pro Wrestling Noah
â Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling
â Ganbare Pro-Wrestling
DDT
Noah
TJPW
GanPro
CMLL
The Crash
CZW
DG
GCW
Gleat
Ice Ribbon
Impact
IWRG
MLW
M-Pro
NWA
NJPW
Stardom
Progress
PWG
Zero1
Zero1 Japan
Zero1 USA
Super Fireworks Pro
ROH
RevPro
Tenryu Project
WOW
XPW
wXw
WWE
â Raw
â SmackDown
â NXT
â Unbranded
Raw and SmackDown
Raw and SmackDown each have a world championship, a secondary championship, a women's championship, and a male tag team championship. There is also a women's tag team championship, available to both brands.
NXT
Awards and honors
AAA
AAA Hall of Fame
Cauliflower Alley Club
DPW
DPW Awards
ESPN
ESPN Wrestling Awards
Fightful
Fightful Awards
GCW
Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame
Deathmatch Hall of Fame
George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Impact
Impact Hall of Fame
Impact Year End Awards
International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
New England Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame
NJPW
NJPW Concurso (Best Body)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Yearly Rankings
Pro Wrestling Illustrated awards
St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame
Stardom
5âÂÂ
Star GP Awards
Stardom Year-End Awards
Women's Wrestling Hall of Fame
WWHOF Awards
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame
Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
WWE
WWE Hall of Fame
WWE Match of the Year
NXT Year-End Awards
Debuts
- January 4 â HIMAWARI (TJPW)
- January 6 â Oba Femi
- January 29 â Aiki
- February 19 â Tank
- February 21 â Luca Crusifino
- March 3 â Azusa Inaba
- March 6 â Toga (TJPW) and Shino Suzuki (TJPW)
- March 11 â Kelani Jordan and Karmen Petrovic
- March 19 â Amu Yumesaki (Ice Ribbon)
- March 24 â Trey Bearhill (NXT)
- March 25 âÂÂ
- Hanako
- Komomo Minami (postponed)
- Aya Sakura
- March 31 â Chi Chi, ZONES and Sunny (Evolution)
- April 1 â Riara (Ganbare Pro)
- April 2 â Kizuna Tanaka and Honoka (Wave) and Oleg Boltin (NJPW)
- April 28 â Houston Miller (NXT)
- May 5 â Riara, Haru Kazashiro (TJPW) and Runa Okubo (TJPW)
- May 12 â Tyson Dupont (NXT) and Tyriek Igwe (NXT)
- May 13 â Beau Morris (NXT), Hayden Pittman (NXT), Skylor Clinton (NXT) and Jasper Troy
- May 14 â Chairo, Yuzuki, Kento Kiryu, Samus and Yohei Sato.
- May 19 â Izzi Dame
- May 28 â Ryoya Tanaka (Dragon Gate)
- July 7 â Antione Frazier (NXT)
- July 17 â Yu Owada (Noah)
- July 30 â Gable Steveson
- August 9 â Yuna
- August 19 â Andrzej Hughes-Murray (NXT)
- August 22 â Layla Diggs (NXT)
- August 26 â Asuka Fujitaki, Mifu Ashida, Nanae Furukawa, Yuuki Minami, Mayuka Koike and Yuu Hanaya (Ice Ribbon)
- September 13: Wrestlers debuts on Netflix, documenting Ohio Valley Wrestling.
- September 23 â Carlee Bright (NXT)
- October 27 â Anna Keefer (NXT), Emma Maria Diaz (NXT) and Olena Sandovska (NXT)
- November 11 - Lainey Reid (NXT)
- November 17 â Yuzuki and Drake Stewart (NXT)
- November 20 â Shoma Kato (NJPW)
- November 21 â Katsuya Murashima (NJPW)
- December 11 â Chris Danger
- December 25 âÂÂ
- Sayaka Kurara
- Ranna Yagami
Retirements
Deaths
See also
References
Notes