2001 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

List of notable promotions

These promotions held notable shows in 2001.

Calendar of notable shows

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Accomplishments and tournaments

AAA

AJW

WCW

WWF

Awards and honors

''Pro Wrestling Illustrated''

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame

Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

Title changes

ECW

NJPW

WCW

WWF

Debuts

* Uncertain debut date :*

Kris Pavone Kris Pavone (born May 2, 1980) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he wrestled under the ring name Caylen Croft. He was one half of the DudeBusters tag team wi ...

Nidia Guenard Nidia Guenard (born March 12, 1979) is an American retired professional wrestler. She is best known for winning the reality television series '' Tough Enough'' in 2001 and for her subsequent appearances with the World Wrestling Federation/World W ...

Sara Del Ray Sara Ann Amato (born November 13, 1980) is an American professional wrestling trainer and retired professional wrestler, best known by her ring name Sara Del Rey. She was a mainstay for Chikara and Shimmer, but also appeared for many other in ...

:* Heidenreich * February 15 –

Harashima Harashima (stylised in all capital letters) (born July 6, 1974) is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in DDT Pro-Wrestling (formally Dramatic Dream Team), where he is a ten-time KO-D Openweight Champion and a curren ...

* March 18 -

Aaron Idol Aaron Idol (born July 4, 1980) is a Canadian professional wrestler who is best known for his work in Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling, where he rose to become the ECCW Heavyweight Champion. Career Training Idol trained at the ECCW traini ...

* May –

Beth Phoenix Elizabeth Copeland ( Kociański; born November 24, 1980), known professionally as Beth Phoenix, is an American professional wrestler. She is a former WWE Divas Champion and a three-time WWE Women's Champion. Kociański had a successful amateur ...

* June 10 - Keiko Furuta (Jd' Star) * June 23 –

Damien Sandow Aron Steven Haddad (born August 3, 1982) is an American professional wrestler best known for wrestling with WWE under the ring name Damien Sandow. He is also known for his time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and the independent circuit under t ...

* September 23 - Mirai (All Japan Women's) and Tomoko Mori (All Japan Women's) * October 2 –

Maven MAVEN is an American spacecraft orbiting Mars to study the loss of its atmospheric gases to space, providing insight into the history of the planet's climate and water. The spacecraft name is an acronym for "Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolu ...

* October 6 –

Daigoro Kashiwa is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and referee best known for his time with the Japanese promotion Kaientai Dojo. Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (2001-2018) Kashiwa made his professional wrestling debut at ''Osaka Pro ...

* October 28 - Saki Maemura (All Japan Women's) * November 4 –

Gorgeous Matsuno is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Gorgeous Matsuno, currently working for the Japanese professional wrestling promotion DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT). Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (2001–pres ...

* November 11 –

Ayako Sato (born January 4, 1986) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana, where she is a member of the CRYSIS stable. She is also known for her time in the Japanese promotions JWP Joshi Puroresu and Pure-J. ...

* November 23 -

Finn Balor The word Finn (''pl.'' Finns) usually refers to a member of the majority Balto-Finnic ethnic group of Finland, or to a person from Finland. Finn may also refer to: Places * Finn Lake, Minnesota, United States * Finn Township, Logan County, Nor ...

* December 7 -

Jay Lethal Jamar Shipman (born April 29, 1985), better known by the ring name Jay Lethal, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Dubbed "The Franchise" of Ring of Honor, Lethal is a two-time ROH World Champion, ...

* December 20 –

Ken Ohka is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for the Japanese professional wrestling promotion DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT). Professional wrestling career Dramatic Dream Team (2001-present) Ohka made his professional wrestling debut on Dram ...

Retirements

Midnight Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours. ...

(1999-March 2001) * Tori (1988-September 2001) *

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Take Me to the River", ...

(1989-2001) (returned for a match in 2007) *

Bushwhacker Butch Robert Miller (born 21 October 1944) is a New Zealand retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name Bushwhacker Butch, where he teamed with Bushwhacker Luke as The Bushw ...

(1964-September 2001) *

Duke Droese Michael David Droese (born August 20, 1968) is an Americans, American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and special education teacher. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Entertainment, World Wrestling ...

(1990-2001, returned for a couple of matches in 2019) *

Hardbody Harrison Harrison Norris Jr. (born August 22, 1966), is an American Gulf War U.S. Army veteran, retired professional wrestler and former 2001 Toughman heavyweight champion, best known by his ring name Hardbody Harrison and sometimes Hardbody Harris. In ...

(1995-March 2001) *

Dean Malenko Dean Simon (born August 4, 1960), better known by the ring name Dean Malenko, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is currently signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a senior producer. He is best known for his time with Extreme ...

(1979-December 2001, became a road agent for

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

) *

Nailz Kevin Patrick Wacholz (born April 17, 1958) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1992 under the ring name Nailz. He is also known for his appearances wit ...

(1982-2001) *

One Man Gang George Gray (born February 12, 1960) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, (The) One Man Gang. For two years in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), he was Akeem "The African Dream". Prior to this, he was ...

(1977-2001) (returned to wrestle in 2007 until 2009) *

Fred Ottman Fred Alex Ottman (born August 10, 1957) is an American retired professional wrestler. He worked for the World Wrestling Federation from 1989 to 1993 under the ring names Tugboat and Typhoon. As the former, he played a key babyface ally of Hulk ...

(1984-April 2001, returned to wrestle a couple of matches in 2009) *

Stan Hansen John Stanley Hansen II (born August 29, 1949) is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. Hansen is known for his Glossary of professional wrestling terms#S, stiff wrestling style, which he attributes to his poor eyesigh ...

(1973- January 28, 2001, became commissioner for

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established on October 21, 1972 when Giant Baba split away from the Japanese Wrestling Association and created his own promotion. Many wrestlers had left with Baba, ...

until 2007)

Births

*January 14 -

Cora Jade Brianna Coda (born January 14, 2001) is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, performing on the NXT brand under the ring name Cora Jade, where she is a former NXT Women's Tag Team Champion. Before signing to WWE, she previous ...

*August 21 -

Brooks Jensen Benjamin Buchanan (born August 21, 2001) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Brooks Jensen. In WWE, he is a one-time NXT UK Tag Team Champion with Josh Briggs ...

*November 8 -

Julia Hart Julia Hart (born April 7, 1982) is an American filmmaker and actress. She is known for writing and directing the comedy drama ''Miss Stevens'' (2016), the superhero drama ''Fast Color'' (2018), the musical romance '' Stargirl'' (2020), and the ...

Deaths

* January 3 –

Kung Fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common ...

, 49 * January 4 –

Villano I José de Jesús Díaz Mendoza (June 28, 1950 – January 4, 2001), known by the ring name of Villano I (Villano Primero), was a Mexican ''luchador'' '' enmascarado'', or masked professional wrestler. He was the son of ''luchador'' Ray Mendoza, ...

, 50 * January 18 -

Rito Romero Rito Romero Loza (May 19, 1927 - January 18, 2001) was a successful luchador who wrestled in Mexico and in the NWA territories of Texas and Los Angeles. He appeared in several films in his native country along with a number of other luchadors. H ...

, 73 * January 29 -

Smasher Sloan Eldon "Eddie" Lee Whittler (July 7, 1935 – January 29, 2001), better known by his ring name Smasher Sloan, was an American professional wrestler. He wrestled for the World Wide Wrestling Federation from the 1960s till early 1970s, where h ...

, 65 * March 26 - Benny McGuire, 54 * April 24 -

Johnny Valentine John Theodore Wisniski (September 22, 1928 – April 24, 2001), better known by his ring name Johnny Valentine, was an American professional wrestler with a career spanning almost three decades. He has been inducted into four halls of fame fo ...

, 72 * May 31 -

Tex McKenzie Tex may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tex (nickname), a list of people and fictional characters with the nickname * Joe Tex (1933–1982), stage name of American soul singer Joseph Arrington Jr. Entertainment * ''Tex'', the Italian ...

, 70 * July 16 –

Terry Gordy Terry Ray Gordy Sr. (April 23, 1961 – July 16, 2001) was an American professional wrestler. Gordy appeared in the United States with promotions such as Mid-South Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling, World Class Championship Wrestling, Jim ...

, 40 * July 21 –

Dennis Coralluzzo Dennis A. Coralluzzo Sr. (March 5, 1953 – July 30, 2001) was an American professional wrestling promoter for NWA New Jersey and former president and board member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Birthplace Dennis Coralluzzo was born ...

, 48 * July 27 –

Rhonda Sing Rhonda Ann Singh (February 21, 1961 – July 27, 2001) was a Canadian professional wrestler. After training with Mildred Burke, she wrestled in Japan under the name Monster Ripper. In 1987, she returned to Canada and began working with Stampede W ...

, 40 * October 7 – Chris Adams, 46 * December 4 - Ed Whalen, 74 * December 15 –

Russ Haas Thomas Russell Haas (March 11, 1974 – December 15, 2001) was an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his work alongside his older brother Charlie in Memphis Championship Wrestling and Jersey All Pro Wrestling. Haas was a col ...

, 27 * December 25 – Mike Davis, 45

References

{{Years in professional wrestling