# 1979 in professional wrestling

1979 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 1979.
| 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 |
| January 28 | UWA | 4th Anniversary Show | Naucalpan | Dr. Wagner beat Angel Blanco in a "Lucha de Apuestas" "Mask vs. Hair" match |
| February 27 | AJW | All Japan Women's at Nippon Budokan | Tokyo | Jackie Sato defeated Maki Ueda in a battle between former partners where the loser must retire. |
| March 25 | MLW | AWA/WWF Title Unification | Toronto, Ontario | WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund fought AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel to a double count-out |
| May 18 | CWA | Night of Champions | Knoxville, Tennessee | Harley Race (c) defeated Ron Fuller to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship |
| April 6 | AJPW | Champion Carnival | Tokyo, Japan | Abdullah the Butcher defeated Jumbo Tsuruta |
| April 21 | EMLL | 23. Aniversario de Arena México | Mexico City, Mexico | Alfonso Dantés defeated Pak Choo (c) in a singles match for the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship |
| June 7 | NJPW | MSG League | Tokyo, Japan | Antonio Inoki defeated Stan Hansen |
| July 8 | NWA | Battle of the Nature Boys | Greensboro, North Carolina | NWA United States Champion Ric Flair defeated Buddy Rogers |
| September 21 | EMLL | EMLL 46th Anniversary Show | Mexico City, Mexico | Gran Cochisse defeated Américo Rocca in a Lucha de Apuestas hair vs. hair match |
| December 7 | EMLL | Juico Final | Mexico City, Mexico | El Faraón and Águila India defeated Sangre Chicana and Tony Salazar in a Lucha de Apuestas, hair vs hair match |
| (c) – denotes defending champion(s) |||||

## Notable events

* In March, the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) was renamed to World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
* On March 6 at a taping for WWF Championship Wrestling, The Valiant Brothers beat Tony Garea and Larry Zbyszko to become the new WWWF Tag Team Championship.
* June 6 - Verne Gagne and Butcher Vachon beat Pat Patterson and Ray Stevens to become the AWA Tag Team Champions.
* On October 22 at New York's Madison Square Garden Ivan Putski and Tito Santana beat The Valiant Brothers to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.

## Accomplishments and tournaments
### AJW

| Accomplishment | Winner | Date won | Notes |
| Rookie of the Year Decision Tournament | Ayumi Hori (Jumbo Hori) | | |

### JCP

| Accomplishment | Winner | Date won | Notes |
| NWA United States Championship Tournament | Jimmy Snuka | September 1 | |

## Awards and honors
### Pro Wrestling Illustrated

| Category | Winner |
| PWI Wrestler of the Year | Harley Race |
| PWI Tag Team of the Year | Ivan Putski and Tito Santana |
| PWI Match of the Year | Harley Race vs. Dusty Rhodes |
| PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year | Dusty Rhodes |
| PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year | Greg Valentine |
| PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year | Tommy Rich |
| PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year | Chief Jay Strongbow |
| PWI Rookie of the Year | Sweet Brown Sugar |
| PWI Manager of the Year | Arnold Skaaland |

## Championship changes
### EMLL

NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship :
| incoming champion – Pak Choo |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| April 30, | Alfonso Dantés | EMLL show | |
NWA World Middleweight Championship :
| Incoming champion – Tony Salazar |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| February 3 | Ringo Mendoza | EMLL show | |
| September 9 | Satoru Sayama | EMLL show | |
NWA World Welterweight Championship :
| Incoming champion – Mano Negra |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| April 30 | Americo Rocca | EMLL show | |
Mexican National Heavyweight Championship :
| Incoming champion – TNT |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| February 4 | Gran Markus | EMLL show | |
| December 23 | El Halcon | EMLL show | |
Mexican National Middleweight Championship :
| Incoming champion – Vacant |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| June 8 | Cachorro Mendoza | EMLL show | |
| October 19 | El Satanico | EMLL show | |
Mexican National Lightweight Championship :
| Incoming champion – Tailsman |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| April 8 | Rodolfo Ruiz | EMLL show | |
Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship :
| Incoming champion – Dos Caras |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| April 8 | Astro Rey | EMLL show | |
| November 11 | Dr. Wagner | EMLL show | |
| November 30 | Enrique Vera | EMLL show | |
Mexican National Welterweight Championship :
* Incoming champion – Lizmark ||||
* No title changes ||||
Mexican National Women's Championship :
* Incoming champion – Uncertain ||||
* No title changes ||||

### NWA

NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship :
| Incoming champion – Harley Race |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| August 21 | Dusty Rhodes | House show | |
| August 26 | Harley Race | House show | |
| October 31 | Giant Baba | House show | |
| November 7 | Harley Race | House show | |

## Births

* January 17 - Chase Stevens
* February 21 – Carly Colón
* March 4 – Sarah Stock
* March 6 – David Flair
* March 9 – Melina
* March 12 – Nidia Guenard
* March 17 – Samoa Joe
* March 23 - Ray Gordy
* March 28 - Goldy Locks
* April 19 – Nicole Raczynski
* April 25 - Belladonna (d. 2019)
* April 29:
** Vladimir Kozlov
** Seth Skyfire
* May 3 - Monsta Mack
* May 4 - Ryan Shamrock
* May 11 - Air Paris
* May 26 – Ashley Massaro (d. 2019)
* May 29 – Brian Kendrick
* June 19 - Billy Reil (d. 2024)
* June 25 - Hirooki Goto
* July 18 – Joey Mercury
* July 19 – Pólvora
* July 20 - Adam Rose
* July 21 - Matt Stryker
* July 23
** Peter Rosenberg
** Perro Aguayo Jr. (d. 2015)
* July 27 – Shannon Moore
* July 31 - R. J. Brewer
* August 9 - Silas Young
* August 10 - Kongo Kong
* August 31 – Mickie James
* September 5 - Slyck Wagner Brown
* September 6 – Low Ki
* September 26 - Naomichi Marufuji
* October 1 – Curtis Axel
* October 3 – John Morrison
* October 8 – Paul Burchill
* October 14 – Stacy Keibler
* October 19 – Mari Apache
* October 25 – Rosa Mendes
* October 27 – Bobby Fish
* November 2 – Cliff Compton
* November 5 - Jackson Andrews
* November 7 - Joey Ryan
* November 12 - Matt Cappotelli (d. 2018)
* November 17
** Katsuyori Shibata
** Meiko Satomura
* November 21 - Ryota Hama
* December 3 – Seth Petruzelli
* December 10 - Matt Bentley
* December 15 – Eric Young
* December 16:
** Luke Harper/Brodie Lee (d. 2020)
** Murat Bosporus
* December 18 - Eric Escobar
* December 24 – Chris Hero
* December 26 - Hiroshi Nagao
* December 29 - Justin Roberts

## Debuts

* Uncertain debut date
   * Barry Windham
   * Jim Duggan
   * Wendi Richter
   * Tom Prichard
* March 5 - Shiro Koshinaka
* September 9 - Martha Villalobos
* September 17 - Apollo Sugawara

## Deaths

* April 26 – Fuzzy Cupid, 50
* June 30 – Chris Taylor, 29
* July 14 - Billy McCrary, 32
* July 22 - Tony Galento, 69
* October 11 - Lou Bastien, 63

## Retirements

* Spiros Arion (1961 - 1979)
* Boris Malenko (1955 - 1979)