2007 in professional wrestling
Professional wrestling-related events during the year of 2007
Overview of the events of 2007 in professional wrestling
List of years in professional wrestling
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2007 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling championship.
List of notable promotions
These promotions held notable events in 2007.
Calendar of notable shows
January
February
March
April
Date
Promotion(s)
Event
Location
Main Event
1
WWE :
WrestleMania 23
Detroit, Michigan
John Cena (c) defeated Shawn Michaels by submission in a Singles match to retain the WWE Championship
13
CMLL
50. Aniversario de Arena México
Mexico City, Mexico
Místico and Negro Casas (c) defeated Los Perros del Mal (Mr. Águila and Perro Aguayo Jr. ) in a Best two-out-of-three falls tag team match for the CMLL World Tag Team Championship
15
TNA
Lockdown
Saint Charles, Missouri
Team Angle (Kurt Angle , Samoa Joe , Rhyno , Sting and Jeff Jarrett ) defeated Team Cage (Christian Cage , A.J. Styles , Scott Steiner , Abyss and Tomko ) (with James Mitchell ) with Harley Race as the gatekeeper in Lethal Lockdown match
27
PMG
Clash of Legends
Memphis, Tennessee
Hulk Hogan defeated Paul Wight
29
WWE :
Backlash
Detroit, Michigan
John Cena (c) defeated Shawn Michaels , Edge , and Randy Orton in Fatal 4-way match to retain the WWE Championship
(c) – denotes defending champion(s)
May
Date
Promotion(s)
Event
Location
Main Event
Notes
11
CMLL
International Gran Prix
Mexico City, Mexico
Último Guerrero defeated Alex Koslov , Atlantis , Dos Caras Jr. , Dr. Wagner Jr. , El Sagrado , Hirooki Goto , Jushin Thunder Liger , Lizmark Jr. , Marco Corleone , Minoru Suzuki , Okumura , Olímpico , Pierroth , Rey Bucanero , and Último Dragón in a Gran Prix Torneo Cibernetico 16 Man Elimination Match
12
ROH
Respect is Earned
New York City
Takeshi Morishima and Bryan Danielson defeated Nigel McGuinness and Kenta in a Tag team match
First ROH PPV
13
TNA
Sacrifice
Orlando
Kurt Angle defeated Sting and Christian Cage Three-Way match to crown the first TNA World Heavyweight Champion
First introduced TNA World Heavyweight Champion , new World title, replaced after National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Executive Director Robert Trobich stripped Christian Cage of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and ended NWA's business relations with TNA earlier that day
20
WWE :
Judgment Day
St. Louis, Missouri
John Cena (c) defeated The Great Khali by submission in a Singles match to retain the WWE Championship
(c) – denotes defending champion(s)
June
Date
Promotion(s)
Event
Location
Main Event
Notes
3
WWE :
One Night Stand
Jacksonville, Florida
John Cena (c) defeated The Great Khali in the Falls Count Anywhere match to retain the WWE Championship
Last appearance of Rob Van Dam (until 2013) and Chris Benoit 's final PPV appearance in WWE
17
TNA
Slammiversary
Nashville, Tennessee
Kurt Angle defeated Samoa Joe , A.J. Styles , Christian Cage , and Chris Harris in the King of the Mountain match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship
23
ROH
Driven
Chicago Ridge, Illinois
Bryan Danielson defeated Nigel McGuinness in a Singles match
24
WWE :
Vengeance: Night of Champions
Houston, Texas
John Cena (c) defeated Bobby Lashley , King Booker (with Queen Sharmell ), Mick Foley and Randy Orton in Five-Pack Challenge to retain the WWE Championship
This event was notable for being on the weekend of the Chris Benoit double-murder and suicide case. Benoit, who was originally booked to face CM Punk for the vacant ECW World Championship , legitimately no-showed and he was replaced by Johnny Nitro
29
IGF
Fighting Now Bom-Ba-Ye
Tokyo, Japan
Kurt Angle defeated Brock Lesnar (c) via submission to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship (IGF)
Brock Lesnar defeated Kazuyuki Fujita and Masahiro Chono in a Three Way match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship . New Japan Pro-Wrestling stripped Lesnar of the title on July 15, 2006. IGF considered his reign still active and created the IGF version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
(c) – denotes defending champion(s)
July
Date
Promotion(s)
Event
Location
Main Event
Notes
13
WWC
34th WWC Aniversario
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Carlito defeated Scott Hall
14
WWC
34th WWC Aniversario - Night 2
Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
Razor Ramon defeated Carlito and Apolo (c) in a triple threat match for WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship
15
AAA
Triplemanía XV
Naucalpan , Mexico
Los Hell Brothers (Charly Manson , Chessman , and Cibernético ) defeated La Legión Extranjera (El Mesías , Sean Waltman , and Kenzo Suzuki )
15
TNA
Victory Road
Nashville, Tennessee
Kurt Angle (c) and Samoa Joe (c) defeated Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon ) (c) in a Tag team match for the TNA World Heavyweight , X Division and World Tag Team Championships
22
WWE :
The Great American Bash
San Jose, California
John Cena (c) defeated Bobby Lashley in a Singles match to retain the WWE Championship
Last event to feature the original Cruiserweight Championship Last PPV appearance for Bobby Lashley in WWE until 2018
(c) – denotes defending champion(s)
August
September
October
November
December
Notable incidents
Accomplishments and tournaments
AAA
AAA Hall of Fame
Ring of Honor
TNA
TNA Year End Awards
WWE
The Undertaker was the first person to win the Royal Rumble match from the #30th entrant in 2007
Accomplishment
Winner
Date won
Notes
Royal Rumble
The Undertaker
January 28
Winner received their choice of a championship match for either Raw 's WWE Championship , SmackDown 's World Heavyweight Championship , or the ECW World Championship at WrestleMania 23 ; Undertaker last eliminated Shawn Michaels to win and chose to challenge for his own brand's World Heavyweight Championship, which he subsequently won from Batista .
Money in the Bank ladder match
Mr. Kennedy
April 1
Defeated CM Punk , Edge , Finlay , Jeff Hardy , King Booker , Matt Hardy , and Randy Orton to win a world championship match contract. Mr. Kennedy, however, suffered a legit injury, and on the May 7 episode of Raw , he lost the Money in the Bank contract to Raw member Edge , who subsequently cashed in the contract and won SmackDown 's World Heavyweight Championship from The Undertaker on the May 11 episode of SmackDown . Edge was in turn transferred to SmackDown.
ECW World Championship Tournament
Johnny Nitro
June 24
Nitro, who replaced Chris Benoit , defeated CM Punk in the tournament final to win the vacant ECW World Championship ; previous champion Bobby Lashley was stripped of the title when he was drafted to Raw .
Championship Competition Tournament
Rey Mysterio
September 16
Defeated Finlay in the tournament final to win a World Heavyweight Championship match at Unforgiven , but was unsuccessful in winning the title.
WWE Hall of Fame
Dusty Rhodes
Awards and honors
2007 PWI Wrestler of the Year and 2007 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Wrestler of the Year , John Cena held the WWE Championship throughout 2007 and won in the main event of every single PPV (excluding Royal Rumble ) until Unforgiven in September
John Cena
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame
Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
Title changes
AAA
NJPW
Incoming champions – Gedo and Jado
Date
Winner
Event/Show
Note(s)
May 2
Dick Togo and Taka Michinoku
New Japan Pro Wrestling 35th Anniversary Tour Brave New World: Hall2Days
ROH
TNA
WWE
– Raw
– SmackDown
- ECW
Raw and SmackDown each had a world championship, a secondary championship, and a tag team championship for male wrestlers. ECW only had a world championship. SmackDown also had a title for their cruiserweight wrestlers . There was only one women's championship and it was exclusive to Raw.
Date
Winner
Event/Show
Note(s)
February 18
Chavo Guerrero Jr.
No Way Out
Eight-man Cruiserweight Open, also involving Daivari , Shannon Moore , Funaki , Jamie Noble , Jimmy Wang Yang , and Scotty 2 Hotty
July 22
Hornswoggle
The Great American Bash
Six-man Cruiserweight Open, also involving Jimmy Wang Yang , Shannon Moore , Funaki , and Jamie Noble
September 25(aired September 28)
Retired
SmackDown!
Vacated by SmackDown! General Manager Vickie Guerrero , citing that Hornswoggle 's status as Mr. McMahon's son and his diminutive stature would eventually jeopardize his well-being. The title was retired without an official announcement.
Debuts
Retirements
Dusty Rhodes
Robbie Rage (1995–2007[3] )
Rebecca DiPietro (October 17, 2006 – March 22, 2007)
Chris Kanyon (April 5, 1992 – April 5, 2007) (First retirement, returned to wrestling in 2009)
King Kong Bundy (1981-May 12, 2007)
Trinity (2002 – June 22, 2007)
Dusty Rhodes (1967–July 22,2007) (Returned for a match in 2010)
Monty Brown (2000 – September 19, 2007)
Maven Huffman (2001 – October 5, 2007) (first retirement, returned in 2015 until retiring in 2016)
Mr. Wrestling II (1955 – October 13, 2007)
Bob Backlund (1973–December 10, 2007) (First retirement, returned to wrestling in 2009 and wrestled his last match in 2018)
Deaths
Bam Bam Bigelow
Chris Benoit
January 4 – Cowboy Lang , 56[4] [5]
January 6 – Yvon Durelle , 77
January 9 – Cocoa Samoa , 61[6]
January 19 – Bam Bam Bigelow , 45[7]
February 17 – Mike Awesome , 42[8]
March 6
March 8 – Black Shadow , 85[11]
March 10 – Ernie Ladd , 68[12] [13]
March 13 – Arnold Skaaland , 82[14]
March 18 – Ángel Azteca , 43[15] [16] [17]
March 28 – Abe Coleman , 101[9] [18]
May 7 – Sonny Myers , 83[19]
June 2 – Sandy Barr , 69[20]
June 15 – Sherri Martel , 49[21]
June 22
June 24 – Chris Benoit , 40[22] [23]
July 15 - Devil Bhudakhan , 32
July 18 – John Kronus , 38
July 23 – Tor Kamata , 70
July 23 - Ronnie P. Gossett , 63
July 28 – Karl Gotch , 82
August 11 – Bronko Lubich , 81
August 13 – Crush , 43
August 16 – Dewey Robertson , 68
August 29 - Iron Mike Steele , 52
August 31 – Karloff Lagarde , 79
September 7 – Billy Darnell , 81
September 10 – Enrique Torres , 85
October 2 - Sean Evans (wrestler) , 36
November 2 – The Fabulous Moolah , 84[24]
November 25 – Angel of Death , 54[25]
See also
References
^ Caldwell, James (2007-05-18). "Caldwell's Impact report 5/17: Angle–Rhino, Daniels–Raven, blood, Gore, and Stomper" . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2011-02-04 . The fans chanted for Christian and Angle said he is the new TNA champion.
^ NEO World 2007 , Cagematch, 2023, retrieved 12 April 2023
^ "Cagematch match listings" .
^ "Biography for Cowboy Lang" . imdb . Retrieved 2012-01-03 .
^ a b Oliver, Greg (June 24, 2007). "Biff Wellington dead at 44" . SLAM! Wrestling . Canadian Online Explorer . Retrieved December 21, 2009 .
^ "Obituaries" . Star Bulletin. Retrieved 2009-06-16 .
^ "St. John Vianney wrestler Colton Bigelow shaped by childhood filled with tragedy" .
^ "nWo Stands For No Way Out" .
^ a b Oliver, Greg. "Bad News Allen dies suddenly" . Canoe.ca . Quebecor Media . Retrieved May 1, 2016 .
^ slam.canoe.ca – Ray "Thunder" Stern dead at 74
By Greg Oliver. March 6th, 2007
^ "Hall of Famer Shadow passes away" . Wrestling Observer Newsletter . March 9, 2007.
^ Johnson, Stephen; Oliver, Greg (March 11, 2007). " "The Big Cat" was seldom tamed" . Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved June 16, 2012 .
^ "Ernie Ladd, hall of fame football player and wrestler, has died" . Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-03-11 .
^ "Arnold Skaaland passes away" . WWE. Archived from the original on 31 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-23 .
^ "Reportan súbita muerte del luchador Angel Azteca en Campeche" (in Spanish). Mundo Hispano de KSL. March 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2009 .
^ "Fallece el luchador lagunero Ángel Azteca" (in Spanish). El Siglo de Torreón . March 20, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2009 .
^ Chim, Lorenzo (March 20, 2007). "Fallece Angel Azteca tras función de lucha libre" (in Spanish). La Jornada. Retrieved August 11, 2009 .
^ "Oldest pro wrestler passes away today" . Wrestling Observer Newsletter . 2007-03-28. Retrieved 2007-12-10 .
^ Oliver, Greg. "Sonny Myers Dead at 83" . SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-05-05 .
^ "Josh Barr keeps St. Johns bouts going after dad's death" . Portland Tribune . 2007-10-02. Archived from the original on 2007-10-09. Retrieved 2007-06-04 .
^ "Sherri Martel autopsy results reveal drugs" . SLAM! Wrestling. September 11, 2007. Archived from the original on July 31, 2012. Retrieved 2010-02-08 .{{cite web }}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link )
^ a b Chris Schramm (June 25, 2007). "Looking back on the career of "Woman" " . Canoe.ca . Québecor Média . Retrieved January 17, 2015 .
^ a b Cal Massey and Jeff Wilen (June 27, 2007). "Slain wife of wrestler a Deland High School graduate" . Daytona Beach News Journal Online. Archived from the original on June 30, 2007. Retrieved June 27, 2007 .
^ "Fabulous Moolah passes away" . WWE . November 3, 2007. Archived from the original on November 4, 2007. Retrieved April 22, 2017 .
^ "SLAM! Wrestling: Dave Sheldon, wrestling's "Angel of Death" dies" . SLAM! Sports. 2007-11-27.