# 1977 in professional wrestling

1977 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

## List of notable promotions

Only one promotion held notable shows in 1977.
| Promotion Name | Abbreviation |
| All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling | AJW |
| Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre | EMLL |

## Calendar of notable shows

| Date | Promotion(s) | Event | Location | Main Event |
| April 27 | EMLL | 21. Aniversario de Arena México | Mexico City, Mexico | Alfonso Dantés defeated Chavo Guerrero (c) in a singles match for the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship |
| May 11 | NJPW | World League | Tokyo, Japan | Seiji Sakaguchi defeated The Masked Superstar |
| September 23 | EMLL | EMLL 44th Anniversary Show (1) | Mexico City, Mexico | Fishman defeated Sangre Chicana in a Lucha de Apuesta mask vs. mask vs. mask match; also in the match: El Cobarde |
| September 30 | EMLL | EMLL 44th Anniversary Show (2) | Mexico City, Mexico | Fishman defeated El Cobarde in a Lucha de Apuesta mask vs. mask match |
| December 9 | EMLL | Juicio Final | Mexico City, Mexico | El Faraón and Ringo Mendoza defeated Joe Palardy and Perro Aguayo in a Lucha de Apuestas, hair Vs. hair match |
| (c) – denotes defending champion(s) |||||

## Notable events

* April 30 – At the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. Superstar Billy Graham used both feet on the ropes to pin Bruno Sammartino to become the World Wide Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Champion.
* September 27 – Mr. Fuji and Professor Tanaka defeated Tony Garea and Larry Zbyszko to win the vacant World Wide Wrestling Federation Tag Team Champions in an elimination tournament.

## Accomplishments and tournaments
### AJW

| Accomplishment | Winner | Date won | Notes |
| Rookie of the Year Decision Tournament | Yukie Urushibara (Lucy Kayama) | | |
| World League | Yumi Ikeshita | | |

## Awards and honors
### Pro Wrestling Illustrated

| Category | Winner |
| PWI Wrestler of the Year | Dusty Rhodes |
| PWI Tag Team of the Year | Gene and Ole Anderson |
| PWI Match of the Year | Bruno Sammartino vs. Superstar Billy Graham |
| PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year | André the Giant |
| PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year | Ken Patera |
| PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year | Bob Backlund |
| PWI Rookie of the Year | Ricky Steamboat |
| PWI Manager of the Year | The Grand Wizard |
| PWI Announcer of the Year | Gordon Solie |

## Championship changes
### EMLL

NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship :
| incoming champion – Alfonso Dantés |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| February 11 | Chavo Guerrero | WWA show | |
| March 13 | Roddy Piper | WWA show | |
| March 15 | Chavo Guerrero | WWA show | |
| April 21 | Alfonso Dantés | EMLL show | |
NWA World Middleweight Championship :
| Incoming champion – El Faraón |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| March 11 | Perro Aguayo | EMLL show | |
| July 3 | Ringo Mendoza | EMLL show | |
| October 12 | Joe Plardy | EMLL show | |
| November 25 | El Faraon | EMLL show | |
NWA World Welterweight Championship :
* Incoming champion – Mano Negra ||||
* No title changes ||||
Mexican National Heavyweight Championship :
| Incoming champion – El Halcon |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| March 13 | Gran Markus | EMLL show | |
| June 24 | El Halcon | EMLL show | |
| December 18 | Raul Mata | EMLL show | |
Mexican National Middleweight Championship :
| Incoming champion – Ringo Mendoza |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| February 28 | Perro Aguayo | EMLL show | |
| March 11 | Vacant | EMLL show | |
| April 14 | José Luis Mendieta | EMLL show | |
| November 19 | Sangre Chicana | EMLL show | |
Mexican National Lightweight Championship :
| Incoming champion – Flama Azul |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| April 10 | Americo Rocca | EMLL show | |
| July 1 | Flama Azul | EMLL show | |
| September 21 | Mario Valenzuela | EMLL show | |
Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship :
* Incoming champion – Dr. Wagner ||||
* No title changes ||||
Mexican National Welterweight Championship :
| Incoming champion – Blue Demon |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| February 27 | Fishman | EMLL show | |
| September 26 | Kung Fu | EMLL show | |
Mexican National Women's Championship :
* Incoming champion – Uncertain ||||
* No title changes ||||

### NWA

NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship :
| Incoming champion – Terry Funk |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| February 6 | Harley Race | House show | |

## Tournaments
### IWE

| Accomplishment | Winner | Date won | Notes |
| IWA World Series | Rusher Kimura | March 26 | |

## Births

* Date of birth uncertain:
** Prince Nana
* January 7 - Dustin Diamond (died in 2021)
* January 16 – Máscara Año 2000 Jr.
* January 17 – Kevin Fertig
* February 15 - Gran Naniwa (died in 2010)
* February 20 – Gail Kim
* February 24 - Floyd Mayweather Jr.
* February 28 - Lance Archer
* February 28 - Aaron Aguilera
* March 8 - Michael Tarver
* March 20:
** Caprice Coleman
** Homicide
* March 24 – Inquisidor
* March 26 – Sylvain Grenier
* March 31 - Allison Danger
* April 4 - Stephan Bonnar (died in 2022)
* April 13 – Christian York
* April 19 - Jonny Storm
* April 20 - Jon Hugger
* April 23 – John Cena
* April 29 – Titus O'Neil
* May 9 – Averno
* May 11 – Bobby Roode
* May 23 – Alan Stone
* May 25 – Alberto Del Rio
* June 1 - James Storm
* June 2 – A.J. Styles
* June 25 – Layla El
* June 26 – Mark Jindrak
* July 1 – Jocephus (died in 2021)
* July 5:
** Kei Sato
** Shu Sato
* July 12 – Brock Lesnar
* July 19 - Tony Mamaluke
* August 1 – Yoshi Tatsu
* August 4 – Frankie Kazarian
* August 31 – Jeff Hardy
* September 4 – Awesome Kong
* September 5:
** Sin Cara
** Minoru Fujita
* September 7 – Molly Holly
* September 8 - X-Fly
* September 10 - Mike DiBiase (born 1977)
* September 11 - Josette Bynum
* September 25 - Atsushi Aoki (died in 2019)
* October 3 - Danny Basham
* October 20 - Steve Anthony
* November 15 -Cima
* November 20 – Dan Engler
* December 10 - Essa Rios
* December 12 - The Butcher
* December 14 - Brain Damage (died in 2012)
* December 18 - The Messiah
* December 28 - Xavier (died in 2020)

## Debuts

* Uncertain debut date
   * Michael Hayes
   * Moondog Spot
   * One Man Gang
   * Nightmare Danny Davis
   * Joe Malenko
   * Brutus Beefcake
   * B. Brian Blair
   * The Grappler
   * Tito Santana
   * Gary Young
   * Mami Kumano (All Japan Women)
   * Lucy Kayama (All Japan Women)
* February 10 - George Takano
* June 11 - David Von Erich
* August 10 - Hulk Hogan
* September 5 - Tomi Aoyama (All Japan Women)
* October 23 - Bad News Brown
* November 8 - Takashi Ishikawa

## Retirements

* Penny Banner (1954–1977)
* Octavio Gaona (1934–1977)

## Deaths

* January 28 - George Bollas, 53
* March 15 - Antonino Rocca, 55
* July 1 - Karl Davis (wrestler), 69
* July 28 - Bull Ortega, 55
* August 27 - Billy Riley, 81
* September 27 - Roy Welch, 75
* October 8 - Joe Greenstein, 84