1982

This is a list of various things that took place in 1982.

Significant events

 * Georgia Championship Wrestling's TBS program is renamed World Championship Wrestling

April
 * April 5 – Jerry Lawler battles comedian Andy Kaufman in a match at a sold-out Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee. The match stems from Lawler taking exception to Kaufman wrestling women as part of his skits and laying claim to being the "Intergender Heavyweight Champion", with Lawler claiming that Kaufman's skits were disrespectful to his sport. Kaufman wins the match by disqualification when Lawler lays him out with two piledrivers (an illegal move in Memphis)

June
 * Vince McMahon and his company, Titan Sports, purchase the World Wrestling Federation and then-parent company Capitol Wrestling Corporation from his father, Vince Sr., and other shareholders
 * June 28 – WWF Champion Bob Backlund retains his title in a cage match against Jimmy Snuka at Madison Square Garden when Snuka attempts his famed Superfly Leap off the top of the cage and misses when Backlund rolls out of the way

July
 * July 4 – WWF Champion Bob Backlund and NWA World Champion Ric Flair battle to a no-contest in a title vs. title bout at The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia
 * July 29 – Jerry Lawler and Andy Kaufman appear together on Late Night with David Letterman, which draws widespread publicity when Kaufman, wearing a neck brace due to being piledriven by Lawler in their April 5 bout in Memphis, curses repeatedly at Lawler after "The King" slaps Kaufman out of his chair, then throws Letterman's coffee at Lawler, who then chases Kaufman out of the studio

October
 * October 9 – On a broadcast of Pacific Northwest Wrestling's Portland Wrestling program on KPTV, the announcing team of guest host Don Coss and color commentator Dutch Savage announce the death of previous host Frank Bonnema on October 5 due to complications from a heart attack Bonnema had suffered several weeks earlier. Bonnema had been the host of Portland Wrestling from 1967 (shortly after its return to KPTV from its previous home on KOIN-TV Portland) until shortly before his death. With this broadcast, Coss takes over as the show's permanent host
 * October 29 – Riki Chōshū double-crosses partners Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami during a New Japan six-man bout in Koichi, Japan. The turn ignites New Japan's biggest feud of the period as Chōshū leads his Seikigun stable against the Ishingun group, led by Inoki and Fujinami

December
 * December 25 – Ric Flair retains his NWA World title against Kerry Von Erich in a cage match (with Fabulous Freebird Michael Hayes as the guest referee) at WCCW's Christmas Star Wars card in Dallas, Texas. Hayes pulled Kerry on top of a dazed Flair following a mid-ring collision and made the three-count, but Kerry refuses to win the title by cheating; the aftermath of the match, which sees Hayes' fellow Freebird Terry Gordy slam the cage door on Kerry's head as Von Erich tries to leave the cage, sets off the Von Erichs-Freebirds feud which rages across Texas for nearly five years

Births
May
 * May 27 – Nattie Neidhart (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)

August
 * August 26 – Petey Williams (Windsor, Ontario, Canada)

Deaths
June
 * June 13 – Peter Maivia 47 (Cancer)

August
 * August 28 – Bearcat Wright 50 (Sickle cell anemia)

October
 * October 5 – Frank Bonnema (Complications from heart attack)

Debuts

 * Brickhouse Brown
 * Steven Dunn
 * Phil Lafon
 * Sherri Martel
 * Ricky Santana
 * Johnny Smith
 * Tracey Smothers
 * Al Snow
 * Steve Williams
 * Kazuo Yamazaki

February
 * The Golden Lion

October
 * Billy Jack Haynes
 * October 18 – El Hijo Del Santo

November
 * Road Warrior Animal

December
 * December 11 – George South

Events
January
 * January 3 – NWA Big Time Wrestling

April
 * April 5 – Lawler vs. Kaufman

June
 * June 4 – WCCW Fritz Von Erich Retirement Show

July
 * July 4 – NWA/WWF World Title Unification

August
 * August 15 – WCCW Wrestling Star Wars

December
 * December 25 – WCCW Christmas Star Wars

Title changes
January
 * January 1 – Dick the Bruiser wins the NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship from Ken Patera in St. Louis, Missouri
 * January 17 – Tommy Rich wins the NWA National Heavyweight Championship from the Masked Superstar in Atlanta

February
 * February 28 – Ole Anderson and Stan Hansen win the NWA World Tag Team Championship in a tournament in Atlanta, beating Jack and Jerry Brisco in the Eastern Division final and then being awarded the belts by forfeit when Western Division finalists Wahoo McDaniel and Don Muraco split up

April
 * April 18 – Hulk Hogan wins the AWA World Heavyweight Championship from Nick Bockwinkel in St. Paul, Minnesota, despite interference from Bockwinkel's manager Bobby Heenan, who first used a foreign object on Hogan and later threw the weapon to Bockwinkel for use against Hogan
 * April 24 – The AWA World title is returned to Nick Bockwinkel when AWA president Stanley Blackburn overturns the result of the April 18 title change, ruling that Hulk Hogan had used a foreign object on Bockwinkel (despite obvious evidence that Bobby Heenan had used the weapon on Hogan first)

May
 * May 21 – Wahoo McDaniel wins the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship from Sgt. Slaughter in Richmond, Virginia
 * May 25 – The original Tiger Mask' (Satoru Sayama) wins the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship from Les Thornton in Shizuoka, Japan
 * May 26 – Tiger Mask wins the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship from Black Tiger in Osaka, Japan

June
 * June 7 – Sgt. Slaughter is awarded the NWA United States title in Greenville, South Carolina when Wahoo McDaniel is injured by Abdullah the Butcher
 * June 14 – Fritz Von Erich wins the NWA American Heavyweight Championship from King Kong Bundy in Fritz's retirement match in Irving, Texas
 * June 15 – The NWA American title is returned to King Kong Bundy following Fritz Von Erich's retirement
 * June 20 – Paul Orndorff wins the NWA National title from Buzz Sawyer in Atlanta; Orndorff vacates the title later in the year to go into training for shots at NWA World Champion Ric Flair

July
 * July 2 – The Fabulous Freebirds win the NWA National Tag Team Championship from Super Destroyer and Big John Studd in Chattanooga, Tennessee

August
 * August 28 – Rip Oliver wins the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship from Brett Sawyer in Portland, Oregon
 * August 29 – Super Destroyer wins the vacant NWA National title in a tournament final over Paul Orndorff in Atlanta

September
 * Sgt. Slaughter and Don Kernodle are awarded the vacant NWA World Tag Team title, last held by Ole Anderson and Stan Hansen; they supposedly beat Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki in a fictitious match for the vacant belts in Tokyo
 * September 17 – Harley Race wins the NWA Missouri title from Dick the Bruiser in St. Louis
 * September 22 – Brett Sawyer wins the NWA Pacific Northwest title from Rip Oliver in Salem, Oregon

November
 * Novemeber 25 – Stagger Lee (Junkyard Dog wearing a mask) wins the Mid-South North American Championship from Ted DiBiase in New Orleans, Louisiana