# 1963 in professional wrestling

1963 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

## List of notable promotions

Only two promotions held notable shows in 1963.
| Promotion Name | Abbreviation |
| Southwest Sports | Southwest Sports |
| Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre | EMLL |

## Calendar of notable shows

| Date | Promotion(s) | Event | Location | Main Event |
| January 29 | Southwest Sports | Parade of Champions | Dallas, Texas | Lou Thesz (c) wrestled Ray Gunkel to a double count-out in a two out of three falls match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship |
| April | EMLL | 7. Aniversario de Arena México | Mexico City, Mexico | |
| June 4 | Southwest Sports | Parade of Champions | Dallas, Texas | Lou Thesz (c) defeated Dory Dixon in a two out of three falls match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship |
| September 6 | EMLL | EMLL 30th Anniversary Show (1) | Mexico City, Mexico | Ruben Jaurez defeated Espanto II in a best two-out-of-three falls Lucha de Apuesta mask vs. hair match |
| September 27 | EMLL | EMLL 30th Anniversary Show (2) | Mexico City, Mexico | Espanto I defeated Ruben Jaurez in a best two-out-of-three falls Lucha de Apuesta mask vs. hair match |
| (c) – denotes defending champion(s) |||||

## Notable events

* January 24 – Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) breaks away from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) to form the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF).
* April 11 - Buddy Rogers was presented the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship at a WWWF TV taping in Washington, D.C., after being billed as the World Champion since late January.
* May 18 - Bruno Sammartino defeated Buddy Rogers in 48 seconds to win the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship in New York, NY.

## Championship changes
### EMLL

NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship :
| incoming champion – Gory Guerrero |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| August 6 | Ali Bey | EMLL show | |
| September 24 | Gory Guerrero | EMLL show | |
NWA World Middleweight Championship :
* incoming champion – Rayo de Jalisco ||||
* No title changes ||||
NWA World Welterweight Championship :
* incoming champion – Karloff Lagarde ||||
* No title changes ||||
Mexican National Heavyweight Championship :
* incoming champion - Pepe Mendieta ||||
* No title changes ||||
Mexican National Middleweight Championship :
| incoming champion – Karloff Lagarde |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| June 28 | El Santo | EMLL show | |
Mexican National Lightweight Championship :
| incoming champion – Juan Diaz |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| October 17 | Chanoc | EMLL show | |
Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship :
| incoming champion – Rubén Juárez |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| September 14 | Espanto I | EMLL 27th Anniversary Show | |
| November 30 | Ray Mendoza | EMLL show | |
Mexican National Welterweight Championship :
| incoming champion – Karloff Lagarde |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| Unknown | Vacated | N/A | Championship vacated, as Lagarde already held the NWA World Welterweight Championship |
| November 15 | Javier Escobedo | EMLL show | |
Mexican National Tag Team Championship :
* incoming champion – Los Rebeldes (Rene Guajardo and Karloff Lagarde) or Los Espantos (Espanto I and Espanto II) ||||
* No title changes ||||
Mexican National Women's Championship :
* incoming champion – Uncertain ||||
* No title changes ||||

### NWA

NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship :
| Incoming Champion – Buddy Rogers |||||
| Date | Winner | Event/Show | Note(s) |
| January 24 | Lou Thesz | NWA show | |

## Debuts

* Debut date uncertain:
** Beauregard
** Coloso Colosetti
** Donna Christianello
** Johnny Powers
** Mr. Wrestling
** Pepe Casas
** Skandar Akbar
* January 4 – Ernie Ladd
* January 10 – Dory Funk Jr.
* March – Rubén Pato Soria
* October 13 – Great Kojika
* November – Aníbal

## Births

* Date of birth uncertain:
** Marie Lograsso (died in 2006)
* January 2 – Mickie Henson (died in 2022)
* January 3:
** Vic Grimes
** New Jack (died in 2021)
* January 6 – Tony Halme(died in 2010)
* January 10 – Firebreaker Chip
* January 29 – Hardcore Holly
* February 22 – Maxx Muscle(died in 2019)
* February 25 – Doug Stahl
* February 28 – Joey Marella(died in 1994)
* March 7 – Bruce Prichard
* March 19 – Brazo de Plata (died in 2021)
* March 20 – Terry Simms
* April 6 – Neil Superior (died in 1996)
* April 18 – Universo 2000 (died in 2018)
* April 22 – Miguel Pérez Jr.
* May 2 – Big Boss Man(died in 2004)
* May 18 – Gary Albright(died in 2000)
* May 19 – Hollywood
* May 29 – Samu
* June 1 – George Hines
* June 4 – Shigeo Miyato
* June 6 – Ahmed Johnson
* June 10:
** Jeff Bearden
** Scott Peterson (died in 1994)
* June 12:
** Jerry Lynn
** Johnny Hotbody
* June 16 – The Sandman
* June 20 – Don West (died in 2022)
* June 22 – John Tenta(died in 2006)
* June 24 – Ángel Azteca(died in 2007)
* June 25 – Bobby Blaze
* July 11 – Mike Enos
* July 18 – Al Snow
* July 21:
** Giant Silva
** Mark Youngblood
* July 22 – Steve Gillespie (died in 2020)
* July 24 – Karl Malone
* July 28 – Lioness Asuka
* July 31 – Chad Brock
* August 2 – El Hijo del Santo
* August 5 – Pat Tanaka
* August 12 – Koji Kitao(died in 2019)
* August 15 – Tamon Honda
* August 16 – Tarzan Goto(died in 2022)
* August 20 – Bob Cook
* August 27 – Sambo Asako (died in 2004)
* August 28 – Lester Speight
* September 15 – Gino Caruso
* September 17 – Masahiro Chono
* September 24 – Sunny Beach
* September 26 – Knuckles Nelson
* September 28 – Steve Blackman
* September 30 – Mustafa Saed
* October 8 – Diana Hart
* October 9 – Tadao Yasuda
* October 11 – Sam Houston
* October 12 – Dave Legeno (died in 2014)
* October 16 – Missy Hyatt
* October 20 – Brian Costello
* October 23 – Lou Fabiano
* November 11 – Billy Gunn
* December 1 – Dave Sullivan
* December 3 – Steve Simpson
* December 7 – Bruiser Bedlam(died in 2017)
* December 8 – Toshiaki Kawada
* December 12 – Jason Knight

## Deaths

* January 19 – Gus Pappas 80
* March 7 – Billy Wolfe 66
* May 10 – Gene Lipscomb 31
* June 2 - Century Milstead, 62
* December 15 – Rikidozan, 39
* December 26 – Gorgeous George, 48
* December 27 - Wildcat Wilson, 63