2018 in professional wrestling
2018 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.
List of notable promotions
These promotions held notable events in 2018.| Promotion Name | Abbreviation | Notes |
| Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre | CMLL | |
| DDT Pro-Wrestling | DDT | |
| Impact Wrestling | Impact | |
| IWRG | ||
| Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide | AAA | The "AAA" abbreviation has been used since the mid-1990s and had previously stood for the promotion's original name Asistencia Asesoría y Administración. |
| Lucha Libre Elite | Elite | |
| Major League Wrestling | MLW | |
| National Wrestling Alliance | NWA | |
| New Japan Pro-Wrestling | NJPW | |
| Pro Wrestling Guerrilla | PWG | |
| Revolution Pro Wrestling | RevPro | |
| Ring of Honor | ROH | |
| The Crash Lucha Libre | The Crash | |
| World Wrestling Council | WWC | |
| WWE | — | WWE stands for World Wrestling Entertainment, which is still the legal name, but the company ceased using the full name in April 2011, with the WWE abbreviation becoming an orphaned initialism. WWE divided its roster into five storyline divisions – referred to as brands where wrestlers exclusively performed on their respective weekly television programs. Raw and SmackDown were their two main brands. Specialty brand 205 Live, which separated from Raw to become its own brand following WrestleMania 34, was also featured on WWE's main pay-per-views. NXT served as WWE's developmental territory, while specialty brand NXT UK was launched in July and promoted under the NXT banner. |
Calendar of notable shows
August
Accomplishments and tournaments
Pro Wrestling Zero1
WWE
| Accomplishment | Winner | Date won | Notes |
| United States Championship tournament | Bobby Roode | January 16 | Defeated Jinder Mahal in the tournament final to win the vacant United States Championship; the title was declared vacant after unsuccessful attempts at contacting previous champion Dolph Ziggler, who had abandoned the title belt in the ring on the December 17, 2017 episode of SmackDown Live. |
| Royal Rumble | Shinsuke Nakamura | January 28 | Winner received their choice of a championship match for either Raw's Universal Championship or SmackDown's WWE Championship at WrestleMania 34; Nakamura last eliminated Roman Reigns and chose his own brand's WWE Championship, but was unsuccessful against AJ Styles at the event. |
| Royal Rumble | Asuka | January 28 | Winner received their choice of a championship match for either the Raw Women's Championship or SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 34; Asuka from Raw last eliminated Nikki Bella to win the inaugural match and chose to challenge for the SmackDown Women's Championship, but was unsuccessful against Charlotte Flair at the event. |
| Mixed Match Challenge 1 | The Miz and Asuka | April 3 | Defeated Bobby Roode and Charlotte Flair in the tournament final to win. |
| Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic | The Undisputed Era | April 7 | Defeated The Authors of Pain and Pete Dunne & Roderick Strong in the tournament final, which was a Winner Takes All match, in which The Undisputed Era retained the NXT Tag Team Championship and won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Trophy. |
| WWE United Kingdom Championship Invitational | Lio Rush | April 7 | Winner faced Pete Dunne for the WWE United Kingdom Championship on April 8. Rush was unsuccessful in winning the title. |
| NXT North American Championship Invitational | Akira Tozawa | April 7 | Winner faced the NXT North American Champion on April 8. Tozawa was unsuccessful in winning the title. |
| NXT Tag Team Championship Invitational | Moustache Mountain | April 7 | Winner faced the NXT Tag Team Champions on April 8. Moustache Mountain were unsuccessful in winning the title. |
| NXT Women's Championship Invitational | Dakota Kai | April 7 | Winner faced the NXT Women's Champion on April 8. Kai was unsuccessful in winning the title. |
| Cruiserweight Championship tournament | Cedric Alexander | April 8 | Defeated Mustafa Ali in the tournament final to win the vacant WWE Cruiserweight Championship; previous champion Enzo Amore was released from the company following allegations of sexual assault, thus the title was vacated. |
| WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal | Naomi | April 8 | Last eliminated Bayley to win the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal Trophy. |
| André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal | Matt Hardy | April 8 | Last eliminated Baron Corbin to win the André the Giant Memorial Trophy. |
| Greatest Royal Rumble | Braun Strowman | April 27 | Last eliminated Big Cass to win the Greatest Royal Rumble Match and Championship. |
| Money in the Bank ladder match | Alexa Bliss | June 17 | Defeated Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Natalya, Ember Moon, Lana, Naomi, and Sasha Banks to win a title match contract for her brand's women's championship. Later that night, Bliss cashed in her contract on Nia Jax to win the Raw Women's Championship. |
| Money in the Bank ladder match | Braun Strowman | June 17 | Defeated Bobby Roode, Finn Bálor, Kevin Owens, Kofi Kingston, Rusev, Samoa Joe, and The Miz to win a title match contract for his brand's world championship. Cashed in on Universal Champion Roman Reigns at Hell in a Cell, but was unsuccessful as the match ended in a no contest. |
| United Kingdom Championship Tournament | Zack Gibson | June 18 | Winner faced Pete Dunne for the WWE United Kingdom Championship on June 19. Gibson was unsuccessful in winning the title. |
| Women's Battle Royal | Nia Jax | October 28 | Last eliminated Ember Moon to earn a match for her brand's women's championship. Faced Ronda Rousey for the Raw Women's Championship at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, but was unsuccessful. |
| Mae Young Classic | Toni Storm | October 28 | Defeated Io Shirai in the tournament final to win the Mae Young Classic Trophy, which aired as part of Evolution. |
| WWE World Cup | Shane McMahon | November 2 | Tournament to determine the "best in the world" in WWE. The final match was originally between SmackDown's The Miz and Raw's Dolph Ziggler, but Shane McMahon, who despite not being in the tournament, replaced Miz after Miz was deemed unable to compete due to a pre-match brawl. Shane then defeated Ziggler to win the WWE World Cup Trophy. |
| WarGames match | Pete Dunne, Ricochet, and War Raiders | November 17 | Defeated The Undisputed Era |
| Mixed Match Challenge 2 | R-Truth and Carmella | December 16 | Winners received the #30 spot of their respective men's and women's Royal Rumble matches at the 2019 Royal Rumble. |
Title changes
ROH
WWE
Raw and SmackDown
Raw and SmackDown each had a world championship, a secondary championship, a women's championship, and a male tag team championship. Raw also had a championship for their cruiserweight wrestlers, which became exclusive to the 205 Live brand.Awards and honors
WWE
WWE Hall of Fame
| Category | Inductee | Inducted by |
| Individual | Goldberg | Paul Heyman |
| Individual | Ivory | Molly Holly |
| Individual | Jeff Jarrett | Road Dogg |
| Individual | Hillbilly Jim | Jimmy Hart |
| Individual | Mark Henry | Big Show |
| Group | The Dudley Boyz | Edge and Christian |
| Warrior Award | Jarrius "JJ" Robertson | Dana Warrior |
| Celebrity | Kid Rock | Triple H |
| Legacy | Boris Malenko | N/A |
| Legacy | Cora Combs | N/A |
| Legacy | Dara Singh | N/A |
| Legacy | El Santo | N/A |
| Legacy | Hiro Matsuda | N/A |
| Legacy | Jim Londos | N/A |
| Legacy | Rufus R. Jones | N/A |
| Legacy | Sputnik Monroe | N/A |
| Legacy | Stan Stasiak | N/A |
| Legacy | Lord Alfred Hayes | N/A |
Debuts
- Roxanne Perez
- January 2 – Takuho Kato
- January 4 – Hikari Noa and Miu Watanabe
- January 8 – Peter Tihanyi
- January 28 – Bryan Ishizaka
- February 3
- * Akira Hyodo
- * Yuki Ishikawa
- February 10 – Nico Angelo
- February 27 – Man Like DeReiss
- February 24
- * Edith Surreal
- * Kanji
- March 9 – Ethan Allen
- March 30 – The DKC
- April 8
- * Ronda Rousey
- * Momo Tani
- April 10
- *Yuya Uemura
- *Yota Tsuji
- April 22
- * Rina Shingaki
- * Tatsuya Hanami
- April 27 - Nick Wayne
- April 29 – Solo Sikoa
- May 3 – Yuki Aino
- May 13 – Rina Amikura
- May 27 – Mei Suruga
- May 30 - Jacy Jayne
- June 2 – Aliss Ink
- June 11 – Kota Minoura
- June 16 – Luke Jacobs
- July 3 – Janai Kai
- July 18 – Omos
- July 18 – Ancham
- July 29 – Titus Alexander
- August 5
- * Mina Shirakawa
- * Yoshiki Inamura
- August 8 – Kohaku
- August 12 – Utami Hayashishita
- August 18 – Levaniel
- September 2 – Ryuki Honda
- October 11 - Nikkita Lyons
- October 28
- * Jessamyn Duke
- * Marina Shafir
- * Yuki Arai
- November 6 – Dragon Dia
- November 15
- * Misa Matsui
- * Riko Kawahata
- * Yuko Sakurai
- November 17
- * Haruna Neko
- * Hokuto Omori
- November 18 – Mei Hoshizuki
- November 19 – Momoka Hanazono
- December 18 – Malik Blade
- November 23 – Slice Boogie
- November 24 – Pom Harajuku
- December 24 – Maria
- December 9 - Cora Jade
- December 25 – Naoki Kamata
- December 31
- * Banny Oikawa
- * Suzu Suzuki
Retirements
- Aoi Kizuki
- Azusa Takigawa
- Bob Backlund
- Mark Henry
- Great Khali
- Mika Iida
- Great Kabuki
- Daigoro Kashiwa
- Gene Snitsky
- Chicky Starr
- Mark Jindrak
- Keiko Aono
- Maho Kurone
- Hiro Tonai
Deaths
- January 2 – Mountain Fiji, 60
- April 4 – Johnny Valiant, 71
- April 18
- *Bruno Sammartino, 82
- *Paul Jones, 75
- April 21 – Neff Maivia, 93
- May 1 – Universo 2000, 55
- May 8 – Big Bully Busick, 63
- June 1 – Rockin' Rebel, 52
- June 13 – Arkangel de la Muerte, 52
- June 18 – Big Van Vader, 63
- June 29 – Matt Cappotelli, 38
- July 8 – Piratita Morgan, 49
- July 14 – Masa Saito, 76
- July 19 – Rayo de Jalisco Sr., 85
- July 29
- * Brickhouse Brown, 57
- * Nikolai Volkoff, 70
- * Brian Christopher, 46
- August 3 - Picudo, 51
- August 9 – Brian Danovich, 38
- August 10 – Steve Travis, 67
- August 13
- * Jim Neidhart, 63
- * Ian Dean, 48
- August 21 – Villano III, 66
- August 22 – Chris Champion, 57
- August 27 – Aya Koyama, 45
- August 30 – Ray, 36
- September 1 - Nate Hatred, 39
- September 4 – Lee Wang-pyo, 64
- September 5 – Mike Hogewood, 63
- September 9 – Frank Andersson, 62
- September 14 – Ethel Johnson, 83
- October 8:
- *Wajima Hiroshi, 70
- *Leroy Howard, 50
- October 13 – Don Leo Jonathan, 87
- October 18 – Dick Slater, 67
- November 6 – José Lothario, 83
- November 18 - Tomás Marín, 84
- November 25 – Larry Matysik, 71
- December 5 – Dynamite Kid, 60
- December 6 – Larry Hennig, 82
- December 12 – Rene Lasartesse, 90
- December 13 – Bill Fralic, 56
- December 19 – Raúl Mata, 71
- December 21 – Cowboy Bob Ellis, 89
- December 29 – Dieusel Berto, 60