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This is a list of various things that took place in 1976.

Significant events[]

April

  • 26 - During a televised show from New York City's Madison Square Garden, WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino sustains a (legit) broken neck after his opponent, Stan Hansen, bodyslammed him to the mat, forcing him to miss two months of ring action. To explain the injury and create interest in a rematch, a storyline was written that Hansen hit Sammartino in the neck with a loaded elbowpad while executing his lariat. Sammartino later gained revenge over Hansen in two rematches: the Showdown At Shea event in late June, and a steel cage match at MSG in August

June

  • 1 - Muhammad Ali is a guest celebrity during a WWWF television taping at the Philadelphia Arena. Minutes after he is introduced to the crowd, Ali enters the ring during a match between Gorilla Monsoon and "Baron" Mikel Scicluna and challenges Monsoon to a fight. Monsoon responds by giving Ali - one of the world's greatest and most feared boxers - an airplane spin and dropping him to the mat. Ali is led away from the ring, while Monsoon tells interviewer Vince McMahon, Jr. that while he respected Ali as a great boxer, he was a lousy wrestler who "didn't know a wristlock from a wristwatch." The confrontation is used to help build interest in Ali's Showdown At Shea "boxer vs. wrestler" match against Antonio Inoki. For the rest of Monsoon's life, he would never reveal whether the confrontation -- which gained substantial mainstream media coverage -- was legit or a work, and no reference is made to their earlier confrontation at the first WrestleMania (where Monsoon was the lead commentator and Ali was a guest referee for the main event)
  • 25 - The WWWF's second Showdown at Shea supercard event is held at New York City's Shea Stadium. The Muhammad Ali-Antonio Inoki match takes place in Tokyo, Japan and is aired on closed-circuit television, as part of the event (and was also aired on closed-circuit as part of several non-WWWF events held that same day, particularly the American Wrestling Association's Chicago Stadium show in Chicago)

November

  • 1 - Jumbo Miyamoto, a five-time WWWA World Champion in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, wrestles her final match, a loss to WWWA Champion Maki Ueda in Ichihara, Japan; Miyamoto would announce her retirement from wrestling following this match

Births[]

April

July

September

November

Deaths[]

Debuts[]

Events[]

June

July

  • 17 – Superdome Extravaganza

August

  • 27 – AWA Comiskey Park

Title changes[]

January

February

March

April

May

June

  • 8 - The Assassin regains the NWA Florida Southern title from Dusty Rhodes in Tampa
  • 26 - Jesse Ventura regains the NWA Pacific Northwest title from Dutch Savage
  • 28 - The Minnesota Wrecking Crew regain the NWA Mid-Atlantic World Tag Team title from Dino Bravo and Mr. Wrestling in Greenville, South Carolina

July

August

  • 3 - Billy Two Rivers wins the Canadian International title from Serge Dumont in Montreal (Dumont regains the title from Two Rivers later in the year)
  • 9 - John Quinn wins the NWA Pacific Coast title from John Tolos in Vancouver
  • 20 - Dick Slater wins the NWA Georgia title from The Spoiler in Atlanta

September

  • Johnny Rougeau wins the Canadian International title from Serge Dumont (specific date and location unknown)
  • 11 - Wahoo McDaniel regains the NWA Mid-Atlantic title from Ric Flair in Greenville

October

  • 4 - John Anson and Don Leo Jonathan win the NWA Canadian Tag Team title from John Quinn and Kinji Shibuya in Vancouver
  • 16 - Paul Jones regains the NWA Mid-Atlantic United States title from Blackjack Mulligan in Greensboro; Ric Flair regains the NWA Mid-Atlantic title from Wahoo McDaniel in Greensboro
  • 26 - Mr. Wrestling II wins the NWA Georgia title from Dick Slater in Columbus, Georgia
  • 28 - John Quinn and Kurt Von Hess win the NWA Canadian Tag Team title from John Anson and Don Leo Jonathan in Vancouver
  • 30 - Steve Keirn wins the NWA Florida Southern title from The Assassin in St. Petersburg

November

December

  • 7 - Chief Jay Strongbow and Billy White Wolf win the vacant WWWF Tag Team title by defeating The Executioners and Tor Kamata and Nikolai Volkoff in a three-team tournament in Philadelphia
  • 9 - Paul Jones regains the NWA Mid-Atlantic United States title from Blackjack Mulligan in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (WWE does not recognize this title change)
  • 13 - Don Leo Jonathan wins the NWA Pacific Coast title from John Quinn in Vancouver
  • 15 - Blackjack Mulligan regains the NWA Mid-Atlantic United States title from Paul Jones in Raleigh
  • 26 - Ric Flair and Greg Valentine win the NWA Mid-Atlantic World Tag Team title from the Minnesota Wrecking Crew in Greensboro; The Sheik regains the NWA Toronto United States title from Thunderbolt Patterson in Toronto
  • 27 - Wahoo McDaniel regains the NWA Mid-Atlantic title from Ric Flair in Richmond, Virginia
  • 28 - Jesse Ventura wins the NWA Pacific Northwest title (opponent unknown; approximate date)

See also[]

Years
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1880s
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1890s
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1900s
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1910s
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1920s
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1930s
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1940s
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1950s
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1960s
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1970s
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1980s
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1990s
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2000s
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2010s
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2020s
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