1976 in professional wrestling

1976 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

List of notable promotions
These promotions held notable shows in 1976.

Notable Events & incidents

 * May 11- The Executioners bested Louis Cerdan and Tony Parisi to become the new WWWF Tag Team Champions.
 * Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki
 * October 26 - The Executioners were stripped of their WWWF Tag Team Championship when a third executioner was used in their title defense. That third executioner turns out to be Nikolai Volkoff.
 * December 7 - Billy White Foot and Chief Jay Strongbow defeated The Executioners and Nikolai Volkoff and Tor Kamata in a three-team tournament to become the new WWWF Tag Team Champions.

Births

 * January 9:
 * Pasión Kristal (d. 2021)
 * Todd Grisham
 * January 10 - Donovan Morgan
 * January 23 – Nigel McGuinness
 * January 24 - Chikayo Nagashima
 * January 25 - Gorgeous George
 * January 28 - Emiko Kado (d. 1999)
 * February 2 - Dragon Kid
 * February 15 - Yinling
 * February 23 - Muhammad Yone
 * February 24 – Monster Clown
 * March 6 – Ken Anderson/Mr. Kennedy
 * March 16 - Carlos Amano
 * March 18 - Mike Quackenbush
 * March 21 - El Hijo de Cien Caras (d. 2010)
 * March 23 - Tyson Tomko
 * March 28 - Rory McAllister
 * April 8 - Ryuji Ito
 * April 16 – Phil Baroni
 * May 9 - Shawn Osborne (died in 2011)
 * May 22 - Yumi Fukawa
 * May 25 – Ricky Banderas
 * June 11 - MsChif
 * June 11 - Sonoko Kato
 * June 13 - Sicodelico Jr.
 * June 30 - Gilbert Yvel
 * July 16 – Bobby Lashley
 * July 22 - Abdullah Kobayashi
 * August 10 - Amish Roadkill
 * August 15 - The Bruiser (died in 2020)
 * September 10 – Matt Morgan
 * September 23 - Yoshinobu Kanemaru
 * September 24:
 * Stephanie McMahon
 * April Hunter
 * September 25 - Dr. Heresy
 * October 4 - Emi Sakura
 * October 14 - G. Q. Money
 * October 18 - Maybach Taniguchi
 * November 13 – Hiroshi Tanahashi
 * November 17- Kikutaro
 * November 21 - Cassidy O'Reilly
 * November 22 - Lash LeRoux
 * November 23 – Kristina Laum
 * November 25 – Adam Firestorm (d. 2009)
 * November 26 – Maven
 * December 17 - Nosawa Rongai
 * December 23 – Jamie Noble
 * December 27 - Tim Arson (d. 2015)

Debuts

 * Uncertain debut date
 * Bret Hart
 * Kevin Von Erich
 * Barry Orton
 * Ricky Steamboat
 * Paul Orndorff
 * Ken Wayne
 * Brett Sawyer


 * March 5 - Mach Hayato (UWF)
 * March 13 - Scott Irwin
 * May - Bobby Eaton and Nancy Kumi (All Japan Women's)
 * May 24 - Super Parka
 * May 30 - Victoria Fujimi (All Japan Women's)
 * November 13 - Genichiro Tenryu

Retirements

 * Mitsu Arakawa (1953 – 1976)
 * Bob Geigel (1950 – 1976)
 * George Gordienko (1946 – 1976)
 * Danny Hodge (1959-1976, wrestled one match in 1983)
 * Stan Kowalski (1948 – 1976)
 * Betty Niccoli (1963 – 1976)
 * Antonino Rocca (1942 – 1976)
 * Hans Schmidt (1949 – 1976)
 * Kinji Shibuya (1952 – 1976)

Deaths

 * April 21 - Sir Dudley Clements, 28
 * May 20 - Bobby Pearce (rower), 70
 * June 11 - Toots Mondt, 82
 * July 27 - Sam Bass (wrestler), 41
 * September 26 - Sheik Ali, 49
 * November 10 - Al Haft, 89