2021 in professional wrestling

2021 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

The COVID-19 pandemic severely affected the professional wrestling industry worldwide in 2020, with many promotions presenting shows behind closed doors. Some events were canceled while others were rescheduled to occur in 2021. All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling reintroduced a limited number of live fans in the second half of 2020, while WWE had live fans at WrestleMania 37 in April 2021. The majority of promotions have continued to present empty arena shows or shows with limited capacity, while AEW and WWE resumed live touring with full capacity crowds in July.

List of notable promotions
These promotions held notable events throughout 2021.

Notable events

 * March 15 – AEW Dark: Elevation premiered on YouTube
 * March 18 – Under a new agreement between WWE and NBCUniversal, the WWE Network became a premium channel under Peacock in the United States. Following a brief transitional period, the standalone version of the WWE Network in the U.S. shut down on April 4. This did not affect the service outside of the U.S.
 * April 9 – All Elite Wrestling held its first-ever house show, "The House Always Wins."
 * May 30 – AEW Double or Nothing is the first major wrestling show to operate at full venue capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic
 * June 4 – Beginning with this day's episode of Viernes Espectacular, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre resumed a live touring schedule after over a year of producing shows in Arena México without full capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 * July 7 – Beginning with this day's episode of AEW Dynamite, which aired as a special episode called "Road Rager", All Elite Wrestling resumed a live touring schedule after over a year of producing shows from Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida, becoming the first major promotion to resume touring during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also the first in AEW's "Welcome Back" tour, which continued with Fyter Fest (July 14 and 21) and concluded with Fight for the Fallen (July 28).
 * July 16 – Beginning with this day's episode of WWE SmackDown, WWE resumed a live touring schedule for their Raw and SmackDown brands after nearly a year of producing shows from the WWE ThunderDome bio-secure bubble.
 * August 13 – AEW Rampage premiered on TNT, marking the first weekly wrestling series to air Friday nights on a Turner channel since WCW Power Hour in 1994.
 * August 20 - CM Punk returned to professional wrestling for the first time in seven years on a live special episode of AEW Rampage titled The First Dance.
 * October 27 – Ring of Honor announced that they were going on hiatus until at least April 2022, and all talent and staff would be released from their contracts after Final Battle in December.

WWE

 * – Raw
 * – SmackDown
 * – NXT
 * – NXT UK
 * – Unbranded

Raw and SmackDown
Raw and SmackDown each have a world championship, a secondary championship, a women's championship, and a male tag team championship.

Unbranded
These titles are not brand exclusive. The colors indicate the home brand of the champions (names without a color are former WWE wrestlers, Hall of Famers, or non-wrestlers).

Debuts

 * February 14 – Yuto Nakashima (NJPW)
 * March 11
 * Astroman
 * Junya Matsunaga
 * April 1 – Arisu Endo
 * April 2 – Logan Paul
 * April 30 – Minorita (Dragon Gate)
 * May 3 – Aoi
 * June 9 – Saito Brothers
 * July 1 – Maya Fukuda (Gleat)
 * August 24 – Brutus Creed, Julius Creed, Kosei Fujita and Ryohei Oiwa (NJPW)
 * September 20 – Ishin Iihashi
 * October 5 – Trick Williams (NXT)
 * October 12 – Yuki Ishida (DDT)
 * October 19 – Ru Feng (NXT)
 * October 22 – Natsuki (Actwres girl'Z)
 * November 2 – Erica Yan (NXT)
 * November 13 – Kiku (Ice Ribbon)
 * December 8 – Hook
 * December 18 – Evan Golden

Retirements

 * January – Lars Sullivan (2015-2021)
 * March – The Brian Kendrick
 * April 20 – Kenny Dykstra (2001-2021)
 * April 28 – Sadie Gibbs
 * May 6 – Solo Darling (2011–2021)
 * June 16 – A. C. H.
 * June 27 – Matsuya Uno
 * July 31 - David Arquette (2000-July 31, 2021)
 * August 1 – Masato Yoshino
 * August 22 – Ryo Kawamura
 * August 28 – Awesome Kong (1999-2021)
 * November 5 – Sabu (1984-2021)
 * November 23 – Rina Shingaki (2018–2021)

Deaths

 * January 7 - Bobby Davis (born 1937)
 * January 10 - Danie Voges (born 1954)
 * January 11 - David Khakhaleishvili (born 1971)
 * January 16 – Paul Varelans (born 1969)
 * February 1 – Dustin Diamond (born 1977)
 * February 5 – Butch Reed (born 1954)
 * February 5 – Leon Spinks (born in 1953)
 * February 11 – Rusty Brooks (born 1958)
 * February 20 – Dean Ho (born 1940)
 * February 23 – Art Michalik (born 1930)
 * February 24 - Jocephus (born 1977)
 * February 26 – Johnny De Fazio (born 1940)
 * March 1 – Ann Casey (born 1938)
 * March 3 – Jim Crockett Jr. (born 1944)
 * March 5 – Buddy Colt (born 1936)
 * March 19 – Barry Orton (born 1958)
 * March 21 – Jimmy Abbott (born 1959)
 * April 6 – Jack Veneno (born 1942)
 * April 8 – John da Silva (born 1934)
 * May 14 – New Jack (born 1963)
 * May 17 – Don Kernodle (born 1950)
 * May 24 – Paul Christy (born 1939)
 * May 28 – Tony Marino (born 1931)
 * June 2 – Pasión Kristal (born 1976)
 * June 23 – Melissa Coates (born 1971)
 * June 30 – The Patriot (born 1961)
 * July 7 – Chris Youngblood (born 1966)
 * July 12 – Paul Orndorff (born 1949)
 * July 26 – Brazo de Plata (born 1963)
 * July 28 – Ted Lewin (born 1935)
 * August 2 – Hideki Hosaka (born 1971)
 * August 3 – Jody Hamilton (born 1938)
 * August 4
 * – Bobby Eaton (born 1958)
 * – Bert Prentice (born 1958)
 * August 12 – Dominic DeNucci (born 1932)
 * August 14 - Fez Whatley (born 1964)
 * August 21 - Jarvis Astaire (born 1923)
 * August 23 – Brick Bronsky (born 1964)
 * September 1
 * Daffney (born 1975)
 * Yar (born 1971)
 * September 2
 * – Steve Lawler (born 1965)
 * – Ryan Sakoda (born 1974)
 * September 7 – Bill White (born 1945)
 * September 21 – Rumi Kazama (born 1965)
 * October 7 – Reggie Parks (born 1934)
 * October 17 – Hido (born 1969)
 * November 6 – Angelo Mosca (born 1937)
 * November 11 - Buzz Tyler (born 1948)
 * November 14 - John Lees (born 1930)
 * November 15 – Estrella Blanca (born 1938)
 * November 28 – Pat Barrett (born 1936)
 * December 1 – Kal Rudman (born 1930)
 * December 8 – Blackjack Lanza (born 1935)
 * December 13 – Jimmy Rave (born 1982)
 * December 22 - Corporal Kirchner (born 1957)
 * December 27 - Markus Crane (born 1988)
 * December 31 - Strong Kobayashi (born 1940)