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This is a list of various things that took place in 1986.

Significant events[]

Unknown date

  • Jody Hamilton establishes Deep South Championship Wrestling in Georgia
  • The Japanese UWF dissolves after Satoru Sayama takes issue with the outcome of a match against Akira Maeda and subsequently leaves the promotion to go into retirement. With the collapse of the UWF, Maeda and the rest of the roster head to New Japan Pro Wrestling
  • Tuesday Night Titans ceased airing
  • Mat Mania, the first successful action-based professional wrestling arcade game, is released. In the game, the wrestler controls "Dynamite Tommy," who must defeat a series of five opponents to win the TWA World Championship, before defending the title against the same series of opponents.

January

February

April

  • Roddy Piper, Jesse "the Body" Ventura and André the Giant take hiatuses from wrestling following WrestleMania 2. Shortly before WrestleMania, Piper and Ventura tape a final batch of segments of their respective shows, "Piper's Pit" and "The Body Shop," for airing through the end of April and first part of May. "Piper's Pit," which aired on Championship Wrestling, would be replaced by Adrian Adonis' "The Flower Shop," while the Magnificent Muraco would take over as host of Ventura's "Body Shop." This new batch of "Piper's Pit" segments marked the last appearances of Piper as a heel, as he would turn face when he returned in August and begin feuding with Adonis; Ventura's heel personality remained intact upon his return. To explain André's absence, a storyline involving his ongoing feud with Big John Studd and King Kong Bundy took a turn where André "failed to show" for a match and was "suspended," before a tag team stable known as The Machines (with one of the wrestlers being a masked André) appearing and starting to antagonize Bundy, Studd and manager Bobby Heenan. All three use their absences to heal from legit injuries and film movies that would debut in 1987

May

June

  • 4 - Kerry Von Erich is severely injured in a motorcycle accident in Argyle, Texas.
  • 24 - The Hulk Hogan-Paul Orndorff storyline, which translated into one of 1986's biggest feuds, reached a tipping point during a television taping at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York, when Orndorff suddenly attacked Hogan during a tag team match against Big John Studd and King Kong Bundy; Orndorff culminated his heel turn by piledriving Hogan in the middle of the ring, then rejoined the Heenan Family (which he had originally been part of when he first joined the WWF before turning face in 1985)

August

  • 28 - The Big Event supercard, the only event under that title, takes place at the Canadian National Exhibition stadium in Toronto, Ontario. In the main event, WWF Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan defeats Paul Orndorff by disqualification

September

October

  • 14 - Magnum TA suffers career-ending spinal injuries in a car crash in Charlotte, North Carolina
  • 28 - WWF Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage, after defeating Ricky Steamboat by countout, injures Steamboat by jumping off the top turnbuckle with the timekeeper's bell and driving it into Steamboat's throat. After Steamboat is taken from ringside on a stretcher, WWF Superstars of Wrestling commentator Bruno Sammartino attacks Savage backstage outside the locker rooms when Savage brags about the attack on Steamboat. The short-term Sammartino-Savage feud is a rare case of a face-initiated attack on another wrestler (here, a heel) being its genesis.

November

Births[]

Unknown date

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

Deaths[]

February

March

  • 24 - Warren Bockwinkel 74 (Alzheimer's disease)

April

Debuts[]

Unknown date

February

April

May

August

September

October

Events[]

Unknown date

January

February

March

  • 13 - AJPW All Japan vs. Japan Pro (Televised event)

April

  • 19 - NWA Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup
  • 20 - AWA WrestleRock
  • 28 - AWA/NWA Rage In A Cage

May

June

  • 14 - Superdome Extravaganza
  • 28 - AWA Battle By The Bay

July

August

  • 28 - WWF The Big Event
  • 29 - WWF Sam Muchnick Memorial Tournament

September

October

  • 9 - NJPW Inoki Toukon Live
  • 12 - WCWA 3rd Cotton Bowl Extravaganza
  • 21 - AJPW 14th Anniversary

November

December

Pay-Per-View events[]

April

Title changes[]

Unknown date

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

  • 9 - The Viet Cong Express (Hiroshi Hase & Fumihiro Nikura) win the Stampede International Tag Team title from Owen Hart and Ben Bassarab in Calgary
  • 12 - Kevin Von Erich wins the World Class Heavyweight Championship from Black Bart in Dallas
  • 31 - Makhan Singh wins the vacant Stampede North American title in a tournament final over Owen Hart in Calgary

November

  • 3 - David Schults wins the Canadian International title from The Great Samu in Montreal
  • 9 - One Man Gang is awarded the UWF Heavyweight title by forfeit in Tulsa, Oklahoma when Terry Gordy is injured
  • 17 - Dingo Warrior and Lance Von Erich win the WCWA World Tag Team title from Matt Borne and Buzz Sawyer in Fort Worth
  • 29 - The Assassin wins the NWA Pacific Northwest title from Rip Oliver in Portland

December

  • 1 - Al Madril and Brian Adias win the WCWA World Tag Team title from Dingo Warrior and Lance Von Erich in Fort Worth
  • 13 - Rip Oliver wins the NWA Pacific Northwest title from The Assassin in Portland

Retired[]

October

See also[]

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