2024 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.
List of promotions
These promotions held events throughout 2024.
Calendar of notable shows
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Notable events
- January 2 â WWE NXT in the United Kingdom returned to the WWE Network after airing on TNT Sports since January 2020.
- January 5 â Impact Plus relaunched as TNA+ and distributed by Endeavor Streaming.
- January 13 â Impact Wrestling reverted to its original Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) name, beginning with Hard To Kill (TNA had been renamed to Impact in 2017); at the event, Nic Nemeth, A. J. Francis, and Ash by Elegance made their TNA debuts, while DeAngelo Williams made his TNA return.
- January 23 â Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was appointed to the board of directors of TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of WWE. Additionally, WWE announced that in the United States, WWE Raw would move to Netflix in January 2025, leaving linear television for the first time since its inception in January 1993 and after airing on the USA Network since October 2005, while outside of the US, it and WWE's other programs would also move to the streaming platform, which officially closed down the WWE Network in most of the world; a select few countries still maintain the WWE Network due to pre-existing contracts, after which, they will transition to Netflix.
- January 26 â Following a sexual allegations lawsuit, Vince McMahon resigned from TKO Group Holdings and WWE as a whole.
- January 27 âÂÂ
- At WWE's Royal Rumble event, Naomi, Liv Morgan, and Andrade made their WWE returns, while Jade Cargill made her WWE in-ring debut.
- On AEW Collision, Serena Deeb wrestled her first match in 15 months after a hiatus following several seizures.
- February 4 â Bushiroad terminates the contract of World Wonder Ring Stardom founder and executive producer Rossy Ogawa following accusations of poaching talent from the promotion.
- February 6 â NWA Powerrr premiered on The CW's streaming app after airing solely on YouTube since January 2023. Older episodes of Powerrr had previously been uploaded to The CW app in November 2023.
- February 7 â Anthem Sports & Entertainment President Anthony Cicone was appointed President of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), replacing Scott D'Amore, whose contract was terminated.
- March 6 â Kazuchika Okada officially signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), making his first appearance as an AEW roster member on AEW Dynamite.
- March 13 â Mercedes Moné officially signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), debuting at AEW Dynamite: Big Business.
- March 16 â On AEW Collision, Kyle O'Reilly wrestled his first match in two years after undergoing neck surgery.
- August 1 â Ganbare Pro-Wrestling became independent from CyberFight.
- April 3 â WWE Speed premiered on X.
- April 6 âÂÂ
- Giulia officially signed with WWE, first shown in the crowd at NXT Stand & Deliver.
- During night one of WrestleMania XL, Sami Zayn defeated Gunther to become the WWE Intercontinental Champion, thus ending the latter's record-setting 666-day reign with the title; Zayn became the first man to pin Gunther in a one-on-one match since the latter debuted on the main roster on April 8, 2022.
- April 7 â During night two of WrestleMania XL, Cody Rhodes defeated Roman Reigns to become the Undisputed WWE Champion, thus ending the latter's 1,316-day reign as world champion; Rhodes became the first man to pin Reigns in a one-on-one match since and also became the first Rhodes family member to hold a world championship in WWE.
- April 10 â During AEW Dynamite, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) released on-air surveillance footage of the backstage altercation between CM Punk and Jack Perry that took place at the 2023 All In event.
- April 12 â On WWE SmackDown, Tama Tonga officially debuted for WWE, aligning himself with The Bloodline stable.
- April 15 â Rossy Ogawa officially announced his new promotion, Dream Star Fighting Marigold.
- April 20 â Mike Santana, Sami Callihan, and "Broken" Matt Hardy made their TNA returns at Rebellion.
- April 21 â At Dynasty, Jack Perry returned to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), marking his first AEW appearance since the 2023 All In event.
- April 22 â New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) acquires Bushiroad Fight, parent company of World Wonder Ring Stardom, renaming it Stardom Co. Ltd. as a subsidiary of NJPW, effective June 28.
- May 4 â At Backlash France, Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga's half-brother, returned to WWE, aligning himself with The Bloodline stable.
- May 6 â United Japan Pro-wrestling (UJPW), an alliance of Japanese wrestling promotions, held its first event, the 2024 All Together.
- May 20 â Marigold held its first event, Fields Forever.
- May 28 â TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace appears on WWE NXT to challenge NXT Women's Champion Roxanne Perez, beginning a crossover between Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and NXT.
- June 14 â At Against All Odds, WWE NXT wrestler Tatum Paxley made her TNA in-ring debut, and Jeff Hardy made his return to TNA.
- June 17 â At the end of WWE Raw, The Wyatt Sicks stable made their debut.
- June 18 â Total Nonstop Action Wrestling wrestler Joe Hendry made his NXT in-ring debut.
- June 21 â On WWE SmackDown, Jacob Fatu made his WWE debut, aligning himself with The Bloodline stable.
- June 28 â New Japan Pro-Wrestling's (NJPW) merger with World Wonder Ring Stardom was finalized, making Stardom a subsidiary of NJPW.
- July 6 â During WWE's Money in the Bank, John Cena announced that 2025 would be his final year as an in-ring performer, retiring at the end of that year.
- August 3 â At SummerSlam, Roman Reigns made his return to WWE for the first time since WrestleMania XL in April.
- August 8 â Scott D'Amore announced the relaunch of Maple Leaf Wrestling as Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling (MLP) with its inaugural two-night event, "Forged in Excellence", scheduled to take place on October 19 and 20.
- September 13 â WWE SmackDown returned to USA Network after airing on Fox since October 2019.
- September 14 â World of Sport Wrestling was revived and returned to taping after six years.
- September 30 â NWA Powerrr episodes were removed from The CW's streaming app, ahead of WWE NXTs premiere on The CW channel. Peacock also began removing archived episodes of NXT due to its move to The CW. Archived episodes are not available on The CW app, but replays of new episodes are.
- October 1 âÂÂ
- WWE NXT in the United States premiered on The CW after airing on the USA Network since September 2019. It was also broadcast live for the first time outside the state of Florida.
- NWA Powerrr premiered on X.
- October 7 â WWE Raw returned to two hours for the first time since WWE Raw 1000 in July 2012. This remained until the show moved to Netflix in January 2025, subsequently averaging 2.5 hours per episode.
- October 19 â Final episode of AEW Battle of the Belts.
- October 29 â WWE announced the WWE ID program, which develops and supports the training of independent professional wrestlers at specified schools or promotions and provide them a pathway to the promotion.
- December 13 â At Final Resolution, Tessa Blanchard made her return to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), four years after her contract was originally terminated with the company.
- December 24 â WWE's annual Tribute to the Troops was quietly canceled without a 2024 event held.
- December 27 âÂÂ
- Final episode of AEW Rampage, which aired as the annual New Year's Smash special.
- Final episode of WWE NXT Level Up.
- December 30 â Final episode of WWE Raw on linear television as the program moved to Netflix on January 6, 2025.
- December 31 - Multiple Ice Ribbon wrestlers depart the promotion as full-time wrestlers including Yuki Mashiro, Saran, Mio Shirai, Mifu Ashida, and Nanae Furukawa.
Accomplishments and tournaments
2AW
AAA
AEW
AJPW
BJW
CF
DDT
Noah
TJPW
GanPro
CMLL
The Crash
CZW
DG
DPW
GCW
GWF
Gleat
HOG
Ice Ribbon
IWRG
JTO
M-Pro
MLW
Marigold
NWA
NJPW
Osaka Pro
Progress
Prestige
RevPro
REVOLVER
ROH
Stardom
TNA
Tenryu Project
West Coast Pro
WOS
WOW
wXw
XPW
Zero1
Zero1 Japan
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
DEFY
DG
DPW
Freedoms
GCW
Gleat
GWF
HOG
Ice Ribbon
IWRG
JTO
MLW
M-Pro
Marigold
NWA
NJPW
Osaka Pro
Prestige
Progress
PWG
RevPro
REVOLVER
ROH
Seadlinnng
Senjo
Stardom
Tenryu Project
Impact/TNA
West Coast Pro
WOS
WOW
WWE
â Raw
â SmackDown
â NXT
â Unbranded
Raw and SmackDown
Raw and SmackDown each exclusively have a men's world championship, a women's world championship, a secondary men's championship, and a men's tag team championship.
NXT
NXT exclusively has a primary championship, a secondary championship, a specialty championship, and a tag team championship for men, as well as a primary championship and a secondary championship for women.
Unbranded
These titles are non-exclusive, available to wrestlers from all three of WWE's brands.
wXw
XPW
Zero1
Zero1 Japan
Zero1 USA
Super Fireworks Pro
Awards and honors
AAA Hall of Fame
Cauliflower Alley Club
DPW
DPW Awards
ESPN
ESPN Pro Wrestling Awards
Fightful
Fightful Awards
George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
GCW
Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame
Deathmatch Hall of Fame
Hardcore Hall of Fame
International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Marigold
DreamâÂÂ
Star GP Awards
Marigold Year-End Awards
Memphis Wrestling Hall of Fame
NJPW
NJPW Concurso (Best Body)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Yearly Rankings
Pro Wrestling Illustrated awards
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated Pro Wrestling Awards
St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame
Stardom
5âÂÂ
Star GP Awards
Stardom Year-End Awards
TNA
TNA Hall of Fame
TNA Year End Awards
Tokyo Sports
Tokyo Sports Puroresu Awards
Women's Wrestling Hall of Fame
WWHOF Awards
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame
Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
wXw
wXw Hall of Fame
WWE
WWE Hall of Fame
WWE Slammy Awards
WWE Match of the Year
NXT Year-End Awards
Debuts
Retirements
Deaths
See also
References