2020 in professional wrestling describes the current year's events in the world of professional wrestling.
The COVID-19 pandemic severely affected the professional wrestling industry worldwide in 2020. Many promotions cancelled or postponed booked events. Other promotions, such as All Elite Wrestling and WWE, instead held events behind closed doors.
List of notable promotions
These promotions are holding notable shows throughout 2020. * indicates promotions that had scheduled events but were canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The "DDT Pro-Wrestling" name has been solely used since 2004, but the DDT abbreviation had previously stood for the promotion's original name Dramatic Dream Team.
The "AAA" abbreviation has been used since the mid-1990s and had previously stood for the promotion's original name Asistencia Asesoría y Administración.
The "WWE" name has been solely used since 2011; it is an orphaned initialism that stood for World Wrestling Entertainment for the wrestling promotion, which is still the legal name of the company. WWE divides its roster into five storyline divisions – referred to as brands where wrestlers exclusively perform on their respective weekly television programs. Raw, SmackDown, and NXT are their three main brands, while NXT UK and 205 Live are specialty brands that are promoted under the NXT banner.
Aired as a special episode of Dynamite. Bash at the Beach was previously a World Championship Wrestling event that was acquired by WWE, who let the trademark expire in 2005. AEW Executive Vice President Cody then trademarked the name in March 2019.
First time a women's championship (the SmackDown Women's Championship) was defended in the country. With Goldberg's win, he became the first wrestler to win a world championship after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
This event was originally scheduled to take place in Tampa, Florida solely on April 5 and to air live, but it was moved to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The date of the event was also moved up and it aired on tape delay on April 4 and 5. This was the first WrestleMania to be done over two nights, the first to be held without a live audience, the first to air on tape delay, and the first to promote the NXT brand, subsequently also being the first in which an NXT championship (the NXT Women's Championship) was defended at the event. The event also featured The Undertaker's final match.
This event was originally scheduled to air live on pay-per-view from New York, New York on April 19, but it was rescheduled and moved to a closed set at Skyway Studios in Nashville due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event aired on tape delay on April 21 and 28 as a two-part special of Impact!.
^The match was originally announced with its normal rules in which the winner would receive a women's championship match contract, but on the May 11 episode of Raw, Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch revealed that she was going on hiatus due to pregnancy and that the ladder match was actually for the title.
First The Great American Bash-branded event since 2012. The event aired as a two-part special of NXT; the event was pre-recorded during the day on July 1—the first part aired that night with the second on July 8.
This event was originally scheduled to take place on June 14, but was postponed to allow the New Japan Cup tournament to take place, as the tournament was originally cancelled earlier in the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This event was originally scheduled to take place in San Jose, California, but it was moved as Santa Clara County restricted public gatherings indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the matches took place live at the WWE Performance Center, while the main event Wyatt Swamp Fight was pre-recorded at an undisclosed location about two hours outside of Orlando; recording began the night of July 16 and ended early morning of July 17. First Extreme Rules event to have an altered title.
TakeOver and SummerSlam were both originally scheduled to take place in Boston, Massachusetts, but Boston's Mayor suspended all large-scale events until September 7 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. TakeOver was subsequently moved to Full Sail University in Winter Park, while SummerSlam's new location is to be announced.
This event was originally scheduled to take place on April 26, but was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. First NXT UK TakeOver event held outside the United Kingdom.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many promotions canceled or postponed their events. Others, such as WWE and AEW, began presenting empty arena shows. WWE began this with the March 13 episodes of Friday Night SmackDown and 205 Live, broadcasting both shows from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Their following episodes of Monday Night Raw and NXT—with NXT being done at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida—followed suit with plans to continue this format until further notice, which included hosting WrestleMania 36 and subsequent pay-per-views at this venue. AEW began this format with the March 18 episode of Dynamite, as well as that day's tapings for Dark, broadcasting from Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida, though after a couple of weeks at this venue, they moved to an undisclosed location as Daily's Place became a testing site for COVID-19. The new location was not revealed to keep fans from attempting to interact with wrestlers, though shows returned to Daily's Place in May. Since AEW's first broadcast under this format, they have used their wrestlers and other employees to serve as the live audience in place of fans for matches in which the wrestlers were not performing. WWE similarly began doing this starting with the May 25 broadcast of Raw, using their Performance Center trainees as the live audience; the promotion further expanded this to friends and family members of wrestlers, beginning with the June 15 episode of Raw.
Postponed events
The following events were postponed from their originally scheduled dates. Postponement dates for the following events have yet to be announced.
Defeated Carmella, Dana Brooke, Lacey Evans, Nia Jax, and Shayna Baszler. On the May 11 episode of Raw, previous Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch revealed that she was going on hiatus due to pregnancy and that the ladder match was actually for the title instead of a contract that granted a championship match. The women's ladder match happened at the same time as the men's match but concluded first.
As NXT Cruiserweight Champion Jordan Devlin of NXT UK was unable to defend the title as a result of a travel ban due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an eight-man round-robin tournament was held to crown an interim champion in the United States until Devlin's return. Fantasma defeated Drake Maverick in the tournament final to become the interim champion.
Defeated Daniel Bryan in the tournament final for the vacant title. Previous champion Sami Zayn was stripped of the title after electing to refrain from competing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Awarded the championship by Taz due to AEW World ChampionJon Moxley unable to show up for their scheduled championship match as Moxley's wife had tested positive for COVID-19.
Tessa Blanchard was stripped of the title after she was terminated by Impact for unfulfilled commitments and not being able to agree to new terms before her contract expired on June 30.
Imposible changed his ring persona to "Fuerza Guerrera Next Generation" and the State of Mexico wrestling commission forced him to vacated the championship.[1]
While these titles are exclusive to either Raw or SmackDown, they may switch brands as a result of a trade or the annual draft. Each brand has a world championship, a secondary championship, a women's championship, and a male tag team championship.
First Scottish and first UK-born wrestler to hold a world championship in WWE. The event was taped on March 25 and 26, but it is currently unknown which day this match was taped.
Money in the Bank ladder match, also involving Carmella, Dana Brooke, Lacey Evans, Nia Jax, and Shayna Baszler. On the May 11 episode of Raw, Becky Lynch announced that she was going on hiatus due to pregnancy and that the women's ladder match was actually for the championship instead of a contract that granted a championship match. Lynch then passed the title directly onto Asuka.
First time an NXT championship was defended at WrestleMania. First wrestler to win an NXT championship before and after NXT became one of WWE's three main brands. The event was taped on March 25 and 26, but it is currently unknown which day this match was taped.
As a result of a travel ban due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Timothy Thatcher substituted for Dunne in title defenses, but was not officially recognized as champion.
As a result of a travel ban due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jordan Devlin is unable to defend the title. An interim champion was crowned to serve as titleholder in the United States until Devlin can return. Fantasma defeated Drake Maverick in the tournament final to determine the interim champion. On the June 10 episode of NXT, Fantasma unmasked himself and changed his ring name to Santos Escobar.
These titles are not brand exclusive. The colors indicate the home brand of the champions (names without a color are former WWE wrestlers, Hall of Famers, or non-wrestlers).
While Riddick Moss was out jogging in his neighborhood in Orlando, Florida, a referee pulled up beside him in a car and Truth, who was hiding in the trunk, surprised Moss and pinned him with a roll-up. Shown on WWE's website and social media accounts.
Pinned R-Truth in the host's viewing area. Just prior to this reign, Rawley was moved to SmackDown. The event was taped on March 25 and 26, but it is currently unknown which day this title change was taped.
Following a scuffle with several other wrestlers, Gronkowski performed a dive on top of the group and pinned Mojo Rawley to win the championship. NFL player Gronkowski served as the host of the two-part WrestleMania 36. Seventh non-wrestler to win the title. The event was taped on March 25 and 26, but it is currently unknown which day this title change was taped.
Truth, disguised as a yard worker, rolled up Rob Gronkowski in Gronkowski's backyard to win the championship. Recorded during the afternoon and shown later that night on Raw.
R-Truth was originally scheduled to defend the championship against Tozawa in a singles match, however, Truth was attacked by Bobby Lashley. Tozawa then took advantage of the situation and pinned Truth to become champion.
^"MLW and AAA to Present Historic Co-Promoted Event in Mexico". Major League Wrestling. February 5, 2020. Retrieved February 10, 2020. Major League Wrestling and AAA Lucha Libre's collaboration continues on March 13 with a historic co-promoted card in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. The MLW⨯AAA event will emanate from the historic Auditorio Fausto Gutierrez.
