1966 in professional wrestling

1966 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

List of years in professional wrestling
… 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 …
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List of notable promotions

Only one promotion held notable shows in 1966.

Promotion Name	Abbreviation
Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre	EMLL

Calendar of notable shows

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
April	EMLL	10. Aniversario de Arena México	Mexico City, Mexico
September 2		EMLL 33rd Anniversary Show (1)]]		Jerry London defeated Karloff Lagarde in a best two-out-of-three falls Lucha de Apuesta hair vs. hair match[1]
September 30		EMLL 33rd Anniversary Show (2)		Rene Guajardo defeated Jerry London in a best two-out-of-three falls Lucha de Apuesta hair vs. hair match[1]
December 16		Juicio Final		El Santo vs. Black Shadow in a singles match[2]
(c) – denotes defending champion(s)

Championship changes

EMLL

NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship
incoming champion – Gory Guerrero[3]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
February 1	Vacated	N/A	Guerrero left the promotion[3]

NWA World Middleweight Championship
incoming champion – René Guajardo[4]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
May 14	Jerry London	EMLL show	[4]
July 1	René Guajardo	EMLL show	[4]

NWA World Welterweight Championship

incoming champion – Karloff Lagarde[5]

No title changes[5]

Mexican National Heavyweight Championship
incoming champion - Chico Casaola[6]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
March 13	Pantera Negra	EMLL show	[6]
September 6	Black Gordman	EMLL show	[6]
November 2	Polo Torres	EMLL show	[6]

Mexican National Middleweight Championship

incoming champion – El Santo[7]

No title changes[7]

Mexican National Lightweight Championship
incoming champion – Alberto Muñoz[8]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
February 6	Vacated	N/A	Championship vacated when Muñoz won the Mexican National Welterweight Championship[8]
April 3	Rolando Costa	EMLL show	[8]
May 1	Raul Rojas	EMLL show	[8]

Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship
incoming champion – Alfonso Dantés[9]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
February 15	Espanto I	EMLL show	[9]
October 14	El Santo	EMLL show	[9]

Mexican National Welterweight Championship
incoming champion – Huracán Ramírez[10]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
February 6	Alberto Muñoz	EMLL show	[10]

Mexican National Tag Team Championship
incoming champion – Unknown[11]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
April 22	Rayo de Jalisco and El Santo	EMLL show	Defeated Rene Guajardo and Karloff Lagarde in the final of a tournament

Mexican National Women's Championship
incoming champion – Chabela Romero[12]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
May 12	Jarocita Rivero	EMLL show	[12]
August 11	Chabelo Romero	EMLL show	[12]

NWA

NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship
Incoming Champion – Lou Thesz[13]
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 7	Gene Kiniski	NWA show	[13]

Debuts

• Debut date uncertain:
  • Leo Burke[14]
  • Tony St. Clair[14]
• September 16 – Baron Von Raschke[14]
• October 2 – Gran Cochisse[14]
• December – Bobby Duncum Sr.[14]

Births

• Date of birth uncertain:
  • Espectrito[15](died in 2016)
  • Hardbody Harrison[15]
• January 4 – La Parka II[16](died in 2020)
• January 13 – The Rockin' Rebel[17](died in 2018)
• January 28 – Tim Patterson[17]
• January 30 – Jeque[16]
• January 31 – Giant González[15](died in 2010)
• February 4 – Pequeño Olímpico[16]
• March 11 – Robby Brookside[17]
• March 13 – AKIRA[15]
• March 24 – Mitsuhiro Matsunaga[16]
• April 4 – Ulf Herman[17]
• April 6 – Flash Flanagan[15]
• April 22 – Miguel Pérez Jr.[16]
• April 19 – El Samurai[17]
• May 9 – Brazo Cibernético[15]
• May 20 – Maniaco[16]
• May 26:
  • Tinieblas Jr.[17]
  • MIsterioso[16]
• May 28 – Jerrito Estrada[16]
• May 29 – Samu[17]
• July 9 – Tom Brandi[17]
• July 10 – Johnny Grunge[16](died in 2006)
• July 16:
  • Arkángel de la Muerte[15](died in 2018)
  • Blue Demon Jr.[15]
• July 22 – Shaun Simpson[17]
• August 1 – Mike Chioda[16]
• August 2 – Takashi Iizuka[17]
• August 4 – Kensuke Sasaki[16]
• August 15 – Nitro[16]
• September 19 – Yoshihiro Takayama[17]
• October 2 – Yokozuna[17](died in 2000)
• October 5 – Terri[17]
• October 8 – Art Barr[15](died in 1994)
• October 21 – Chris Hamrick[15]
• October 23 – Tyler Mane[17]
• October 25 – Perry Saturn[17]
• October 31 – Koji Kanemoto[16]
• November 2 – Yoshinari Ogawa[17]
• November 10 – Bill DeMott[15]
• November 11 – Scorpio Jr.[17]
• November 13 – Mike Anthony[16]
• November 22 – Ed Ferrara[15]
• November 26 – Brian Lee[15]
• November 29 – John Bradshaw Layfield[16]
• December 2 – Jinsei Shinzaki[16]
• December 12 – Último Dragón[17]
• December 15 – Chocoball Mukai[15]
• December 16 – Mens Teioh[16]
• December 27:
  • Bill Goldberg[15]
  • Jerry Tuite[16](died in 2003)

Deaths

• August 8 – Ed Lewis[18]
• May 25 – Chris Zaharias[18]
• October 16 – Sándor Szabó[18]
• November – Ad Santel[18]

References

1. 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.
2. Lucha Libre Magazine, issue 166
3. 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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
4. 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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
5. 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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
6. 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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
7. 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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
8. 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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
9. 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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
10. 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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
11. 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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
12. 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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
13. 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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
14. "Wrestlers debuted in 1966: 1 - 26 of 26". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
15. "Wrestlers born in 1966: 1 - 50 of 141". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
16. "Wrestlers born in 1966: 51 - 100 of 141". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
17. "Wrestlers born in 1966: 101 - 141 of 141". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
18. "Wrestlers deceased in 1966: 1 - 14 of 14". Wrestling Data. Retrieved February 1, 2020.