1996 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

List of notable promotions

These promotions held notable shows in 1996.

Calendar of notable shows

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Notable events

Mass Transit Incident

The " Mass Transit incident" was an infamous event in professional wrestling that occurred at an Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW)

house show A house show or live event is a professional wrestling event produced by a major promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in on the exposure that they and their wrestlers receive du ...

on November 23, 1996 at the Wonderland Ballroom in Revere, Massachusetts in the United States. It involved Eric Kulas (1979 – May 12, 2002), an aspiring professional wrestler using the ring name "Mass Transit", being bladed too deeply by New Jack of The Gangstas during a tag-team match. Two of Kulas' arteries were severed; he bled profusely and passed out, and needed to be escorted out of the arena with medical attention. Further controversy arose when it came to light that Kulas had lied to ECW owner and booker Paul Heyman about his age and professional wrestling training. The incident led to a future ECW pay-per-view being cancelled (until Heyman negotiated otherwise), a lawsuit from Kulas' family, and went down as one of the most notorious moments of lore in professional wrestling history.

IWRG created

On January 1 – Mexican promoter Adolfo Moreno created the International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) which held its debut show on this date in

Arena Naucalpan Arena Naucalpan is an indoor sports arena located in Naucalpan de Juárez, Mexico located on Calle Jardín 19, Naucalpan Centro. The arena is primarily used for professional wrestling, or ''lucha libre'', mainly shows promoted by International Wre ...

Formation of the nWo

In the main event of World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s ''

Bash at the Beach Bash at the Beach was a yearly professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It was the company's PPV for the month of July, held from 1994–2000. As the title implied, the show centered on a b ...

'' pay-per-view on July 7,

Scott Hall Scott Oliver Hall (October 20, 1958 – March 14, 2022) was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his tenures with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under his real name and under the ring name the Diamond Studd and with the ...

and Kevin Nash (both of whom had recently defected to WCW from the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and been presented on-screen as "

outsiders Outsider(s) may refer to: Film * Outsider (1997 film), ''Outsider'' (1997 film), a 1997 Slovene-language film * Outsider (2012 film), ''Outsider'' (2012 film), a Malayalam-language Indian film * Outsiders (1980 film), ''Outsiders'' (1980 film), a ...

") indicated that they would enlist a mystery partner against the team of Randy Savage,

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

, and Lex Luger. Their partner ended up being

Hulk Hogan Terry Eugene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 19 ...

, who surprisingly attacked long-time Mega Powers partner Savage to conclude the match, thus turning heel for the first time in nearly two decades. In his post-match promo, Hogan indicated his decision to lead the villainous stable which he christened as the New World Order (nWo). The nWo would be the main focus of WCW programming for the better part of the next three years and led to '' WCW Monday Nitro'' defeating ''

WWF Monday Night Raw ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network in the United States. The show fe ...

'' in the Monday Night Wars ratings battle for eighty-three consecutive weeks. These developments in WCW are often credited with ultimately pushing the WWF toward producing the "edgier" content which would become the hallmark of the Attitude Era.

Accomplishments and tournaments

AJW

AJPW

WCW

WWF

WWF Hall of Fame

Slammy Awards

Awards and honors

''Pro Wrestling Illustrated''

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame

Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

Title changes

ECW

FMW

IWRG

NJPW

WCW

WWF

Debuts

* Uncertain debut date ** Mari Apache ** Miyuki Okada (SPWF) ** Yoshikazu Taru * January 4 - Sayuri Okino (LLPW) * March 10 – The Rock * March 20 -

Masakazu Fukuda (May 17, 1972 – April 19, 2000) was a professional wrestler who is best known for his appearances in WAR and NJPW. He also joined a short-lived stable known as ''Fighting Club G-EGGS'', the stable included Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata, Brian J ...

* April 23 - K-Ness * May 2 –

Sachie Abe better known by her ring name Sachie Abe is a Japanese retired professional wrestler best known for her tenure with the Japanese promotions JWP Joshi Puroresu and JDStar. Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (1996-2014) As a freel ...

* May 16 - Adam Pearce * July 14 - Momoe Nakanishi and Nanae Takahashi * July 28 – Miho Wakizawa * August 8 - H. C. Loc * August 12 – Sakura Hirota * September 15 - Fugofugo Yumeji * September 16 - Miyuki Fujii (All Japan Women's) * October 5 - Nobuyuki Kurashima * October 17 - MIKAMI * October 20 - Keiichi Kawano * November 2 - Tomohiro Ishii * September 15 – Takashi Sasaki

Births

* February 22 – Rabbit Miu * March 15 – Maxwell Jacob Friedman * March 20 –

Blair Davenport Beatrice St. Clere Priestley (born 22 March 1996) is an English-New Zealand professional wrestler, best known by the ring name Bea Priestley. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Blair Davenpor ...

* June 2 – Jacy Jayne * July 30 – Marko Stunt * August 17 – Indi Hartwell * October 11 – Rhea Ripley

Retirements

* Akio Sato (1970–1996) * Billy Jack Haynes (1982–1996) * Damian Kane (1980–1996) * Tom Zenk (1986–October 1996) * Tyler Mane (1986–1996) * Dick Slater (1972–October 1996) * Dynamite Kid (December 24, 1975 – October 10, 1996) * Espanto Jr. (1971–January 1996) * Jerry Stubbs (1970–1996, return to wrestle for a match in 2019) * Mr. Fuji (1965–1996) *

Steve Regal Steve Regal (born August 25, 1951) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association. Professional wrestling career Born in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Regal started wrestl ...

(1977–1996) * Wahoo McDaniel (1961–July 1996) *

Rocky Iaukea Rocky Iaukea is a retired American professional wrestler, known by his ringname Prince Iaukea, who competed in the Pacific Northwest and Southeastern United States with the National Wrestling Alliance during the 1980s, and in Japan during the ea ...

(1981–1996) *

Tom Lister, Jr. Tommy Deebo "Tiny" Lister Jr. (born Thomas Duane Lister Jr.; June 24, 1958 – December 10, 2020) was an American character actor and occasional professional wrestling, professional wrestler known for his roles as the neighborhood bully Deebo in ...

(1989–March 1996) * Tiger Conway Jr. (1971-1996)

Deaths

* May 3 – Ray Stevens, 60 * June 15 – Dick Murdoch, 49 * June 26 -

Octavio Gaona Octavio Gaona (1902–1996) was a Mexican ''Luchador'', or professional wrestler, known for his participation in the first ever high profile '' Lucha de Apuesta'', or wager fight, against Murciélago Velázquez. Gaona held both the Mexican Nationa ...

, 94 * July 20 - The Missouri Mauler, 65 * July 23 – Herb Abrams, 41 * August 23 - Neil Superior, 33 * August 30 - Chris Colt, 50 * September 11 – Sapphire, 61

References

{{Years in professional wrestling professional wrestling