1994 in professional wrestling

1994 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

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List of notable promotions

These promotions held notable shows in 1994.

Promotion Name	Abbreviation	Notes
All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling	AJW
Asistencia Asesoría y Administración	AAA
Catch Wrestling Association	CWA
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre	CMLL
Eastern/Extreme Championship Wrestling	ECW	In August, Eastern Championship Wrestling seceded from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and became Extreme Championship Wrestling.
Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling	FMW
International Wrestling Council	IWC
New Japan Pro-Wrestling	NJPW
Universal Wrestling Association	UWA
Universal Wrestling Federation	UWF
World Championship Wrestling	WCW
World Wrestling Council	WWC
World Wrestling Federation	WWF

Calendar of notable shows

January

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
January 4	NJPW	Battlefield	Tokyo, Japan
January 22	WWF	Royal Rumble	Providence, Rhode Island	[1]
January 30	UWA	UWA 19th Anniversary Show	Naucalpan, Mexico

February

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
February 5	ECW	The Night the Line was Crossed	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
February 20	WCW	SuperBrawl IV	Albany, Georgia

March

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
March 20	WWF	WrestleMania X	New York City	[2][3]
March 26	ECW	Ultimate Jeopardy	Devon, Pennsylvania

April

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
April 15	CMLL	International Gran Prix	Mexico City, Mexico	[4]
	CMLL	38. Aniversario de Arena México	Mexico City, Mexico	[5]
April 17	WCW	Spring Stampede	Chicago, Illinois
April 26	AAA	Triplemanía II-A	Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes, Mexico	[6]

May

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
May 1	NJPW	Wrestling Dontaku	Fukuoka, Japan
May 5	FMW	FMW 5th Anniversary Show	Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
May 14	ECW	When Worlds Collide (1994)	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
May 15	AAA	Triplemanía II-B	Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico	[7]
May 22	WCW	Slamboree	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
May 27	AAA	Triplemanía II-C	Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico	[8]

June

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
June 19	WWF	King of the Ring	Baltimore, Maryland	[9]
June 24	ECW	Hostile City Showdown	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

July

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
July 9	CWA	Euro Catch Festival in Graz	Graz, Austria
July 14	FMW	FMW/LLPW/AJW	Tokyo, Japan
July 16	ECW	Heat Wave	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
July 17	WCW	Bash at the Beach	Orlando, Florida	[10]

August

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
August 6	WWC	WWC 21st Aniversario	Bayamón, Puerto Rico
August 13	ECW	Hardcore Heaven	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
August 27	ECW	NWA World Title Tournament	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
August 28	FMW	Summer Spectacular	Osaka, Japan
August 29	WWF	SummerSlam	Chicago, Illinois	[11]

September

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
September 18	WCW	Fall Brawl	Roanoke, Virginia
September 23	UWF	Blackjack Brawl	Las Vegas, Nevada
September 30	CMLL	CMLL 61st Anniversary Show	Mexico City, Mexico	[12]

October

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
October 23	WCW	Halloween Havoc	Detroit, Michigan
	CMLL	Copa de Oro	Mexico City, Mexico	[13]

November

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
November 5	ECW	November to Remember	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
November 6	AAA WCW IWC	When Worlds Collide	Los Angeles, California
November 20	AJW	Big Egg Wrestling Universe	Tokyo, Japan
November 23	WWF	Survivor Series	San Antonio, Texas

December

Date	Promotion(s)	Event	Location	Main Event
December 17	ECW	Holiday Hell	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
	CWA	Euro Catch Festival in Bremen	Bremen, Germany
December 27	WCW	Starrcade	Nashville, Tennessee
December 30	CMLL	Torneo Gran Alternativa	Mexico City, Mexico

Notable events

• January 27 – Bobby Heenan made his WCW debut at the Clash of the Champions XXVI.
• March 12 – WCW Power Hour aired its last episode on TBS and it was replaced by WCW Pro the following week.
• May 1 – Rick Rude suffers a career-ending injury during a match vs Sting for the WCW International World Heavyweight title in Fukuoka, Japan when he injured his back landing on a raised platform surrounding the ring.
• June 10 – Hulk Hogan made his WCW debut on WCW Saturday Night.
• July 17 – Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair finally headlined a Pay-Per-View event at WCW Bash at the Beach (1994).
• July – Eric Bischoff fires Jesse Ventura for allegedly falling asleep during a WCW Worldwide TV taping at Disney MGM Studios although it has been speculated that the move may have had more to do with Hogan's arrival shortly before.
• July 22 – The jury acquitted WWF Owner Vince McMahon of the charges of distributing steroids to his wrestlers.
• August 27 – Moments after winning the NWA World Heavyweight title Shane Douglas throws down the NWA title and christens the ECW Heavyweight title as a world title.
• August 28 – NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling officially secedes from the National Wrestling Alliance folding NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling and relaunching as Extreme Championship Wrestling.
• September 18 – Ricky Steamboat suffering from a back injury forfeited the WCW United States Heavyweight title to Steve Austin at WCW Fall Brawl (1994) which lost it to Hacksaw Jim Duggan in 35 seconds.
• October 16 – WWF All-American Wrestling aired its last episode on the USA Network. it was replaced by WWF Action Zone the following week.
• October 31 – Randy Savage made his final appearance on WWF TV on WWF Monday Night Raw saving Lex Luger from an attack from Bob Backlund.
• December 3 – After his WWF contract ended Randy Savage made his WCW TV debut on a live edition of WCW Saturday Night.

Accomplishments and tournaments

WCW Hall of Fame 1994 inductee, Harley Race

ECW

Accomplishment	Winner	Date won	Notes
NWA World Title Tournament	Shane Douglas	August 27

WCW

Accomplishment	Winner	Date won	Notes
European Cup Tournament	Sting	March 20

WCW Hall of Fame

Main article: WCW Hall of Fame

Inductee
Harley Race
Ernie Ladd
The Crusher
Dick the Bruiser
Ole Anderson
Masked Assassin

WWF

Accomplishment	Winner	Date won	Notes
Royal Rumble	Bret Hart Lex Luger	January 22
King of the Ring	Owen Hart	June 19

WWF Hall of Fame

Category	Inductee	Inducted by
Individual	Arnold Skaaland	Shane McMahon
	Bobo Brazil	Ernie Ladd
	"Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers	Bret Hart
	Chief Jay Strongbow	Gorilla Monsoon
	"Classy" Freddie Blassie	Shane McMahon
	Gorilla Monsoon	Jim Ross
	James Dudley	Vince McMahon

Slammy Awards

Main article: Slammy Award

Poll	Winner
Most Intimidating	The Undertaker
Best Entertainer	Oscar
Worst Idea	Abe Knuckleball Schwartz on strike
Sweatiest	Irwin R. Shyster
Biggest Rat	Owen Hart
Greediest	Tatanka
Most Spectacular Match	Ladder match: Razor Ramon vs Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania X
Best Coliseum Home Video	WWF Raw: Video Strategies & Secrets
Best Tag Team	Diesel & Shawn Michaels
Worst Tag Team	Diesel & Shawn Michaels
Mouthiest	Jerry The King Lawler
Most Eccentric	Bob Backlund
Smelliest	(TIE) Henry Godwinn / Duke The Dumpster Droese
Most Likely To See Jenny Craig	Bastion Booger
Best PPV	WrestleMania X
Best Manager	The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase
Best New Generation Spot	Bret The Hitman Hart "Go get 'em, champ!" commercial
Best Etiquette	The Headshrinkers
Most Devastating	Bull Nakano
Funniest	Dink The Clown
MVP	Diesel
Best Show	WWF Mania
Most Evolutionary	(TIE) Gorilla Monsoon / King Kong Bundy
Most Patriotic	Lex Luger
Best Dressed	James E. Cornette
Biggest Heart	The 123 Kid

Awards and honors

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Main article: List of Pro Wrestling Illustrated awards

Category	Winner
PWI Wrestler of the Year	Hulk Hogan
PWI Tag Team of the Year	The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobs and Jerry Sags)
PWI Match of the Year	Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania X)
PWI Feud of the Year	Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart
PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year	Sting
PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year	Bob Backlund
PWI Comeback of the Year	Hulk Hogan
PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year	Diesel
PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year	Bret Hart
PWI Rookie of the Year	911
PWI Lifetime Achievement	Captain Lou Albano
PWI Editor's Award	Jimmy Hart

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Main article: List of Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

Category	Winner
Wrestler of the Year	Toshiaki Kawada
Most Outstanding	Kenta Kobashi
Feud of the Year	Los Gringos Locos vs. Asistencia Asesoría y Administración
Tag Team of the Year	Los Gringos Locos (Eddy Guerrero and Art Barr)
Most Improved	Diesel
Best on Interviews	Ric Flair

Title changes

ECW

ECW World Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Terry Funk
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
March 26	Shane Douglas	Ultimate Jeopardy (1994)

ECW World Television Championship
Incoming champion – Sabu
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
March 6	The Tazmaniac	Hardcore TV #48
March 6	J.T. Smith	Hardcore TV #49
April 16	Gary Wolfe	Live event
May 13	Mikey Whipwreck	Hardcore TV #57
August 13	Jason	Hardcore Heaven
November 4	2 Cold Scorpio	Hardcore TV #83
November 4	Dean Malenko	Hardcore TV #84

ECW World Tag Team Championship
Incoming champions – Kevin Sullivan and The Tazzmaniac
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
February 5	Vacant	N/A
March 5	Kevin Sullivan and The Tazzmaniac	N/A
March 6	The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock)	Hardcore TV #47
August 27	Cactus Jack and Mikey Whipwreck	Hardcore TV #73
November 5	The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock)	November to Remember

ECW Maryland Championship
Incoming champion – J.T. Smith
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
March 6	Deactivated	N/A	Title abandoned when J.T. Smith won the ECW World Television Championship.

FMW

FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Atsushi Onita
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 6	Mr. Pogo	FMW
September 7	Atsushi Onita	FMW

FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship
(Title reactivated)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 18	Big Titan and The Gladiator	FMW
April 21	Mr. Pogo and Hisakatsu Oya	FMW
July 31	Atsushi Onita and Mitsuhiro Matsunaga	FMW
October	Vacant	FMW
October 28	W*ING Alliance (Mr. Pogo and The Gladiator)	FMW

FMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – The Great Sasuke
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
December 20	Ricky Fuji	House show

FMW Women's Championship
Incoming champion – Crusher Maedomari
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
February 11	Vacant	FMW
February 25	Megumi Kudo	FMW
June 19	Combat Toyoda	FMW
August 28	Yukie Nabeno	Summer Spectacular
December 12	Vacant	N/A

NJPW

IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Shinya Hashimoto
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
April 4	Tatsumi Fujinami	Battle Line Kyushi
May 1	Shinya Hashimoto	Wrestling Dontaku 1994

IWGP Tag Team Championship
Incoming champions – The Jurassic Powers (Hercules Hernandez and Scott Norton)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 4	The Hell Raisers (Hawk Warrior and Power Warrior)	Battlefield
November 25	Hiroshi Hase and Keiji Mutoh	Battle Final 1994

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Jushin Thunder Liger
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
September 24	Vacant	N/A
September 27	Norio Honaga	G1 Climax Special 1994

WCW

WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Ric Flair
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
April 17	Vacant	Spring Stampede	A title match between Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat ended in a double pin, which resulted in the title being vacated
April 21	Ric Flair	Saturday Night	Aired on tape delay on May 14.
July 17	Hulk Hogan	Bash at the Beach

WCW International World Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Rick Rude
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
March 16	Hiroshi Hase	House show
March 24	Rick Rude	House show
April 17	Sting	Spring Stampede
May 1	Rick Rude	Wrestling Dontaku
May 1	Vacant	N/A	Rude's victory is reversed due to use of the belt as a weapon. Sting refuses the title, leaving it vacant
May 22	Sting	Slamboree	Defeated Vader to win the vacant title.
June 23	Ric Flair	Clash of the Champions XXVII	Title ceases to exist after winning

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Steve Austin
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
August 24	Ricky Steamboat	Clash of the Champions XXVIII
September 18	Steve Austin	Fall Brawl
September 18	Jim Duggan	Fall Brawl
December 27	Vader	Starrcade

WCW World Television Championship
Incoming champion – Lord Steven Regal
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
May 2	Larry Zbyszko	Saturday Night	Aired on tape delay on May 28.
June 23	Lord Steven Regal	Clash of the Champions XXVII
September 18	Johnny B. Badd	Fall Brawl

WCW World Tag Team Championship
Incoming champions – The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
May 22	Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan	Slamboree
July 17	Pretty Wonderful (Paul Roma and Paul Orndorff)	Bash at the Beach
September 25	Stars and Stripes (Marcus Alexander Bagwell and The Patriot)	Main Event
October 23	Pretty Wonderful (Paul Roma and Paul Orndorff)	Halloween Havoc
November 16	Stars and Stripes (Marcus Alexander Bagwell and The Patriot)	Clash of the Champions XXIX
December 8	Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray)	Saturday Night	Aired on tape delay on January 14.

WWF

WWF World Heavyweight Championship
Incoming champion – Yokozuna
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
March 20	Bret Hart	WrestleMania X	Roddy Piper was the guest referee
November 23	Bob Backlund	Survivor Series	It was a submission match.
November 26	Diesel	House show	this title change occurred in New York City's Madison Square Garden. The time of the fall: 8 seconds

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Incoming champion – Razor Ramon
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
April 13	Diesel	Superstars	This was aired on tape delay on April 30.
August 29	Razor Ramon	SummerSlam

WWF Women's Championship
Incoming champion – Alundra Blayze
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
November 20	Bull Nakano	Big Egg Wrestling Universe

WWF Tag Team Championship
Incoming champions – The Quebecers (Pierre and Jacques)
Date	Winner	Event/Show	Note(s)
January 10	The 1-2-3 Kid and Marty Jannetty	Raw
January 17	The Quebecers (Pierre and Jacques)	Raw
March 29	Men on a Mission (Mabel and Mo)	House show
March 31	The Quebecers (Pierre and Jacques)	House show
April 26	The Headshrinkers (Fatu and Samu)	Raw
August 28	Two Dudes with Attitudes (Diesel and Shawn Michaels)	House show
November 23	Vacant	Survivor Series	Vacated when Diesel and Michaels could not function as a tag team

Births

• March 10 – JoJo Offerman[14]
• April 14 – Tian Bing[15]
• June 8 – Liv Morgan[16]
• June 16 – Rezar
• November 11 – Lio Rush[17]
• November 15 – Nixon Newell
• November 23 – Aliyah[18]

Debuts

• Uncertain debut date

• Mikey Whipwreck
• D'Lo Brown
• Billy Kidman
• Rhino

Retirements

• Jesse Ventura (1974–1994)
• Curly Moe (1990–1994)
• Ted DiBiase (1975–1994)
• Afa Anoaʻi (1971–1994)
• Ashura Hara (1978–1994)
• Moondog Spike (1978–1994)
• Don Jardine (1955–1994)
• The Great Wojo (1984–1994)
• Jose Luis Rivera (1970-1994)
• Ivan Koloff (1961–1994)
• Mimi Lesseos (1980–1994)
• Jimmy Garvin (1968–1994)
• Mr. T (March 24, 1985 – December 27, 1994)
• Salman Hashimikov (1989–1994)
• Thunderbolt Patterson (1964–1994)
• Tommy Jammer (1989–1994)
• Troy Graham (September 1976 – 1994)

Deaths

• March 4 – Aníbal
• May 23 – Ray Candy
• July 1 – George Cannon
• July 4 – Joey Marella
• September 1 – Boris Malenko
• November 23 – Art Barr

See also

• List of WCW pay-per-view events
• List of WWF pay-per-view events
• List of ECW supercards and pay-per-view events
• List of FMW supercards and pay-per-view events

References

1. "Royal Rumble 1994". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved October 23, 2007.
2. "WrestleMania X". Pro Wrestling History. Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved January 20, 2008.
3. "WrestleMania PPV Cards". Wrestling Information Archive. Archived from the original on December 31, 2007. Retrieved January 20, 2008.
4. "Gran Prix Tournament 1994". ProWrestlingHistory.com. April 15, 1994. Retrieved August 30, 2009.
5. Lucha 2000 Staff (April 2006). "Arena México: 50 anos de Lucha Libre". Lucha 2000 (in Spanish). Especial 28.
6. "Asistencia Asesoría y Administración TripleManía". ProWrestlingHistory.com. Retrieved February 19, 2009.
7. "Asistencia Asesoría y Administración TripleManía". ProWrestlingHistory.com. Retrieved February 19, 2009.
8. "Asistencia Asesoría y Administración TripleManía". ProWrestlingHistory.com. Retrieved February 19, 2009.
9. "King of the Ring 1994". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved November 1, 2007.
10. "Bash at the Beach 1994". Pro Wrestling History. July 17, 1994. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
11. "SummerSlam 1994". Pro Wrestling History. Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. Retrieved November 12, 2007.
12. "61st Anniversary Show". ProWrestlingHistory. September 30, 1994. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
13. Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: Copa de Oro 1994". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 398. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
14. "JoJo profile". The Internet Wrestling Database.
15. "Tian Bing: Profile & Match Listing – Internet Wrestling Database (IWD)". www.profightdb.com. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
16. "Liv Morgan". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
17. "Lio Rush". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
18. "Jasmin Areebi". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 18, 2015.