1987 in professional wrestling

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1987 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

These promotions held notable events in 1987.

Promotion Name Abbreviation
All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling AJW
American Wrestling Association AWA
Championship Wrestling from Florida CWF
Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre EMLL
Jim Crockett Promotions JCP
World Class Championship Wrestling WCCW
World Wrestling Council WWC
World Wrestling Federation WWF

Calendar of notable shows

Date Promotion(s) Event Location Main Event
February 21 WWF Saturday Night's Main Event Detroit, Michigan Randy Savage (c) defeated George Steele by count-out in a singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship and the managerial services of Miss Elizabeth
March 29 WWF WrestleMania III Pontiac, Michigan Hulk Hogan (c) defeated André the Giant in a singles match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship[1]
April 12 EMLL 31. Aniversario de Arena México Mexico City, Mexico Cien Caras defeated Siglo XX in a Lucha de Apuestas hair vs. hair match[2]
April 10–11 JCP 2nd Annual Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament Baltimore, Maryland April 11: The Super Powers (Nikita Koloff and Dusty Rhodes) defeated Tully Blanchard and Lex Luger in a tournament final[3]
April 16 AWA Rage in a Cage II Las Vegas, Nevada Wahoo McDaniel defeated Curt Hennig in a Steel Cage Match
April 28 WWF Saturday Night's Main Event Notre Dame, Indiana Randy Savage defeated George Steele in a Lumberjack match
May 2 AWA SuperClash II Daly City, California Curt Hennig defeated Nick Bockwinkel (c) in a singles match for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship[4]
May 3 WCCW 4th Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions Irving, Texas Kevin Von Erich (c) wrestled Nord the Barbarian to a double count out in a singles match for the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship[5]
May 9 CWF First Annual Eddie Graham Memorial Show St. Petersburg, Florida Dusty Rhodes (c) defeated Ric Flair by disqualification in a singles match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship[6]
June 12 NJPW G1 Climax Tokyo, Japan Chigusa Nagayo defeated Dump Matsumoto in the finals
June 25 AJW Japan Grand Prix Tokyo, Japan Antonio Inoki defeated Masa Saito in the finals
July 4
 JCP The Great American Bash Atlanta The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk), Nikita Koloff, Dusty Rhodes and Paul Ellering defeated The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Tully Blanchard and J. J. Dillon) in a WarGames match[7]
July 18 Charlotte, North Carolina Dusty Rhodes (with Barry Windham) defeated Tully Blanchard in a "lights-out" Barbed Wire Ladder match for $100,000.[7]
July 31 Miami The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk), Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff and Paul Ellering defeated The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger and Tully Blanchard) and The War Machine in a WarGames match[7]
September 1 CWF Battle of the Belts III Daytona Beach, Florida Ric Flair (c) fought Lex Luger to a draw in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
September 4 WWF King of the Ring Providence, Rhode Island Randy Savage defeated King Kong Bundy in a King of the Ring tournament final match[8]
September 18 EMLL EMLL 54th Anniversary Show Mexico City, Mexico Mogur defeated As Charro in a Lucha de Apuestas mask vs. mask match[9]
September 20 WWC WWC 14th Aniversario Bayamón, Puerto Rico Invader #1 defeated Chicky Starr in a "Retirement vs. hair" match
September 23 WWF Saturday Night's Main Event Hershey, Pennsylvania Hulk Hogan (c) defeated Sika in a singles match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship
October 10 AJW Tag League the Best Tokyo, Japan Chigusa Nagayo & Yumiko Hotta defeated Hisako Uno & Yukari Omori in the finals
October 17 WCCW 4th Cotton Bowl Extravaganza Dallas, Texas Kevin Von Erich defeated Al Perez (c) in a singles match for the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship[10][11]
November 11 WWF Saturday Night's Main Event Seattle, Washington King Kong Bundy defeated Hulk Hogan (c) in a singles match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship
November 26 WWF Survivor Series Richfield Township, Ohio André the Giant, Butch Reed, King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang and Rick Rude defeated Bam Bam Bigelow, Don Muraco, Hulk Hogan, Ken Patera and Paul Orndorff in a 5-on-5 Survivor Series match[12]
JCP Starrcade Chicago, Illinois Ric Flair defeated Ron Garvin (c) in a steel cage match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship[13]
December 7 NJPW Japan Cup Tag League Tokyo, Japan Antonio Inoki & Dick Murdoch defeated Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami in the finals
WWF Saturday Night's Main Event Landover, Maryland Hulk Hogan (c) defeated King Kong Bundy in a singles match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship
December 26 AJW All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling at Korauken Hall Tokyo, Japan Devil Masami has her retirement match against Chigusa Nagayo[14]
(c) – denotes defending champion(s)

Tournaments and accomplishments

AJW

Accomplishment Winner Date won Notes
Japan Grand Prix 1987 Chigusa Nagayo June 28
Rookie of the Year Decision Tournament Toshiyo Yamada
Tag League the Best 1987 Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka October 11

JCP

Accomplishment Winner Date won Notes
Bunkhouse Stampede Dusty Rhodes[15][16]
Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament The Super Powers (Nikita Koloff and Dusty Rhodes) April 11

WWF

Accomplishment Winner Date won Notes
Frank Tunney Sr. Memorial Tag Team Tournament The Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell) March 15
King of the Ring Randy Savage September 4

Slammy Awards

Poll Winner
Best Performance by an Animal George "The Animal" Steele[17][18][19]
Woman of the Year Miss Elizabeth[17][18][19]
Best Ring Apparel Harley Race[17][18][19]
Hulk Hogan Real American Award Superstar Billy Graham[17][18][19]
Jesse "The Body" Award "Ravishing" Rick Rude[17][18][19]
Greatest Hit Jim Duggan[17][18][19]
Manager of the Year None [17][18][19]
Best Personal Hygiene Nikolai Volkoff, Boris Zhukov, and Slick[17][18][19]
Best Vocal Performance Jim Duggan[17][18][19]
Song of the Year No winner (envelope eaten by Sika)[17][18][19][20]
Best Group One Man Gang[20]
Humanitarian of the Year Ted DiBiase[17][18][19]
Best Head Gene Okerlund and Bam Bam Bigelow[17][18][19][20]
Bobby "The Brain" Heenan Scholarship Award The Islanders (Haku & Tama), André the Giant, Hercules, King Kong Bundy, and Harley Race[17][18][19][20]

Awards and honors

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Category Winner
PWI Wrestler of the Year Hulk Hogan
PWI Tag Team of the Year The Midnight Express
(Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane)
PWI Match of the Year Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat (WrestleMania III)
PWI Feud of the Year The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard and Lex Luger) vs. The Super Powers (Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff) and The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal)
PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year Dusty Rhodes
PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year Ric Flair
PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year Curt Hennig
PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year Nikita Koloff
PWI Rookie of the Year Owen Hart
PWI Lifetime Achievement Paul Boesch
PWI Editor's Award Jimmy Hart

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Category Winner
Wrestler of the Year Riki Choshu
Most Outstanding Ric Flair
Feud of the Year Austin Idol and Tommy Rich vs. Jerry Lawler
Tag Team of the Year The Midnight Express
(Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane)
Most Improved Rick Steiner
Best on Interviews Jim Cornette

Title changes

WWF

Incoming champion – Hulk Hogan
Date Winner Event/Show Note(s)
No title changes
Incoming champion – Randy Savage
Date Winner Event/Show Note(s)
March 29 Ricky Steamboat WrestleMania III
June 2 The Honky Tonk Man Superstars of Wrestling Aired on tape delay on June 13
Incoming champion – Antonio Inoki
Date Winner Event/Show Note(s)
No title changes
Incoming champions – The Glamour Girls (Leilani Kai and Judy Martin)
Date Winner Event/Show Note(s)
No title changes
Incoming champion – The Fabulous Moolah
Date Winner Event/Show Note(s)
July 24 Sensational Sherri Live event
Incoming champions – The British Bulldogs (British Bulldog and Dynamite Kid)
Date Winner Event/Show Note(s)
January 26 The Hart Foundation
(Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart)		 Superstars aired on tape delay on February 7
August 10 The Rougeau Brothers
(Jacques and Raymond Rougeau)		 House show
October 27 Strike Force
(Rick Martel and Tito Santana)		 Superstars Aired on tape delay on November 7

Births

Becky Lynch

Debuts

Debut date


Uncertain debut date

Retirements

Deaths

See also

References

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