1965 in professional wrestling

1965 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

List of years in professional wrestling
… 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 …
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List of notable promotions

Only one promotion held notable shows in 1965.

Promotion Name	Abbreviation
Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre	EMLL

Calendar of notable shows

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
January 13	EMLL	Carnaval de Campeones	Mexico City, Mexico	Raúl Reyes defeated Ray Mendoza (c) in a best two-out-of-three falls for the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship^[1]
April 3		9. Aniversario de Arena México		Rizado Ruiz (c) defeated Huracán Ramírez for the Mexican National Welterweight Championship^[2]^[3]
September 24		EMLL 32nd Anniversary Show		Karloff Lagarde defeated Huracán Ramírez (c) in a best two-out-of-three match for the NWA World Welterweight Championship^[4]
December 3		Juicio Final		Karloff Lagarde vs. Cavernario Galindo in a Lucha de Apuestas, hair Vs. hair match^[5]
(c) – denotes defending champion(s)

Notable events

• November – Fred Kohler Enterprises closed after 40 years of operations. World Wrestling Association, based in Indianapolis, bought the rights to promote wrestling in Chicago.

Accomplishments and tournaments

EMLL

Accomplishment	Winner	Date won	Notes
NWA World Middleweight Championship #1 contendership tournament	Rene Guajardo	March 19	^[6]
NWA World Middleweight Championship #1 contendership tournament	Antonio Montoro	July 23	^[6]^[7]

Championship changes

EMLL

NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship

incoming champion – Gory Guerrero^[8]

No title changes^[8]

NWA World Middleweight Championship
incoming champion – Rayo de Jalisco^[9]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
April 9	René Guajardo	EMLL show	^[9]

NWA World Welterweight Championship
incoming champion – Karloff Lagarde^[10]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
February	Huracán Ramírez	EMLL show	^[10]
September 24	Karloff Lagarde	EMLL 32nd Anniversary Show	^[10]

Mexican National Heavyweight Championship
incoming champion - Pepe Mendieta^[11]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
Uncertain	Vacated	N/A	Mendieta retired
December	Chico Casaola	EMLL show	^[11]

Mexican National Middleweight Championship

incoming champion – El Santo^[12]

No title changes^[12]

Mexican National Lightweight Championship
incoming champion – Chanoc^[13]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 13	Rudolfo Ruiz	Carnaval de Campeones	^[13]
August 7	Alberto Muñoz	EMLL show	^[13]

Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship
incoming champion – Ray Mendoza^[1]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 13	Raúl Reyes	Carnaval de Campeones	^[1]
May 5	Alfonso Dantés	EMLL show	^[1]

Mexican National Welterweight Championship
incoming champion – Rizado Ruiz^[3]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
February	Huracán Ramírez	EMLL show	^[3]

Mexican National Tag Team Championship

incoming champion – Possibly Rayo de Jalisco and El Santo^[14]

No title changes^[14]

Mexican National Women's Championship

incoming champion – Chabela Romero^[15]

No title changes^[15]

NWA

NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship
Incoming Champion – Lou Thesz^[16]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
No title changes^[16]

Debuts

• Debut date uncertain:
  • Adorable Rubí^[17]
  • Black Man^[17]
  • Bobby Heenan^[17]
  • Bob Sweetan^[17]
  • Buddy Roberts^[17]
  • Butch Miller^[17]
  • Carlos Colón^[17]
  • Dick Murdoch^[17]
  • Jerry Jarrett^[17]
  • Jos LeDuc^[17]
  • Lonnie Mayne^[17]
  • Luke Williams^[17]
  • Tiger Jeet Singh^[17]
• February 7 – Tony Salazar^[17]
• February – Ivan Koloff^[17]
• April 2 – Rusher Kimura^[17]
• May 15 – Jack Brisco^[17]
• June 3 – Masa Saito^[17]
• June – Mil Máscaras^[17]
• July 21 – Kato Kung Lee^[17]
• July – Rocky Johnson^[17]
• November – El Cobarde^[17]
• December 6 – Terry Funk^[17]

Retirements

• Andreas Lambrakis (1936-1965)
• John Pesek (1914-1965)

Births

 

The Undertaker

• January 4 – Derrick Dukes
• January 11 – Mascarita Sagrada
• January 24:
  • Mike Awesome^[18](died in 2007)^[19]
  • Steve Lawler (died in 2021)
• January 26 – Rip Sawyer^[18]
• February 2 – Naoki Sano^[20]
• February 21 – The Terminator
• February 24 – Bas Rutten^[21]
• February 26 – James Mitchell
• February 28 – Norman Smiley^[18]
• March 1 – Booker T^[21]
• March 3 – Danie Brits (died in 2020)
• March 16 – Steve Armstrong^[20]
• March 24 – The Undertaker^[20]
• April 5 – Villano IV^[20]
• April 13 – Bracito de Oro^[21]
• April 18 – Biff Wellington (died in 2007)
• April 26 – Tank Abbott^[20]
• May – Dick Vrij
• May 7 – Owen Hart^[18](died in 1999)^[19]
• June 7 – Mick Foley^[18]
• June 8 – Tatanka^[20]
• June 9 – Val Puccio^[20](died in 2011)^[19]
• June 10 – Ephesto^[21]
• June 11 – Mascarita Sagrada^[18]
• June 16 – Tatsuo Nakano^[20]
• June 17 – Clarence Mason^[21]
• July 3 – Shin'ya Hashimoto^[20](died in 2005)^[19]
• July 7 – Chris Duffy (died in 2000)
• July 22 – Shawn Michaels^[20]
• August 7 – Johnny Smith^[18]
• August 8 – Akitoshi Saito
• August 12 – Dr. Wagner Jr.^[21]
• August 16 – Masaaki Satake
• August 21 – Muffy Mower
• August 26 – Bobby Duncum Jr.^[21](died in 1999)^[19]
• August 31 – K. C. Thunder
• September 5 – Hoshitango Imachi
• September 9 – J.W. Storm^[21]
• September 11 – Paul Heyman^[18]
• September 12 – Midnight^[18]
• September 16 – Discovery (died in 2020)
• September 27 – Ricky Fuji^[18]
• September 28 – La Diabólica^[21]
• October 11:
  • Rikishi^[18]
  • Tonga Kid
• October 16 – The Renegade^[18](died in 1999)^[19]
• October 17 – Rossy Moreno^[18]
• October 21:
  • Charlie Norris^[21]( died in 2023)
  • Horace Hogan^[21]
• October 25 – Too Cold Scorpio^[20]
• October 27 – Harvey Wippleman^[21]
• October 28 – Jun Izumida (died in 2017)
• November 8 – Boni Blackstone
• November 14 – L.A. Park^[18]
• November 23 – Don Frye^[21]
• November 28 – Rumi Kazama (died in 2021)
• November 30 – Bart Sawyer^[21] (died in 2023)
• November 23 – Ron Waterman^[18]
• December 1 – Noriyo Tateno
• December 6 – Olímpico^[18]
• December 16 – Jason Neidhart
• December 19 – Shoichi Arai (died in 2002)
• December 27 – Bart Gunn^[18]

Deaths

• January 16 – Yukon Eric^[22] 48
• February 12 – Henry Kulky 53
• May 15 – Frank Townsend (wrestler)^[22] 32

References

1. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Mexico: National Lightweight Title [Lutteroth]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. p. 393. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
2. Lucha 2000 Staff (April 2006). "Arena México: 50 anos de Lucha Libre". Lucha 2000 (in Spanish). Especial 28.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
3. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Mexico: National Welterweight Title [Lutteroth]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. p. 392. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
4. Ruiz Glez, Alex (September 7, 2010). "CMLL: 79 historias, 79 Aniversario, las 79 luchas estelares" [CMLL: 79 stories, 79 anniversaries, the 70 main events]. Súper Luchas (in Spanish). Retrieved February 2, 2020.
5. Lucha Libre Magazine, issue 112
6. "Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre >> Tournaments >> page 3". CageMatch. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
7. Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Middlweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. pp. 389–390. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
8. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Light Heavyweight Title [Lutteroth]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 389. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
9. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Middleweight Title [Lutteroth]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. pp. 389–390. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
10. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Welterweight Title [Lutteroth]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. p. 390. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
11. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Mexico: National Heavyweight Title". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. pp. 390–391. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
12. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Mexico: National Middleweight Championship". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. p. 392. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
13. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Mexico: National Lightweight Title [Lutteroth]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. p. 393. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
14. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Mexico: Mexican National Tag Team Title". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. p. 396. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
15. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Mexico: National Women's Title[Lutteroth]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. p. 394. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
16. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). ""United States: 19th century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IWA, ECW, NWA: NWA World Heavyweight Title"". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. p. 15. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
17. "Wrestlers debuted in 1965: 1 - 32 of 32". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
18. "Wrestlers born in 1965: 51 - 100 of 131". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
19. "Wrestler Obituaries | Online World of Wrestling".
20. "Wrestlers born in 1965: 101 - 131 of 131". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
21. "Wrestlers born in 1965: 1 - 50 of 131". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
22. "Wrestlers deceased in 1965: 1 - 33 of 33". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.