1940 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.

List of notable promotions

Only one promotion held notable shows in 1940.

Calendar of notable shows

Notable events

• June 23 – The first Lucha de Apuestas (Spanish for "Bet match") takes place in Mexico with El Murciélago Enmascarado defeated Merced Gómez to force Gómez to be shaved bald. If he had lost El Murciélago Enmascarado would have had to unmask. The Lucha de Apuestas match would become the most prestigious match type in Mexico subsequently.^[2]

Championship changes

EMLL

Lucha de Apuestas matches

Births

• Date of birth unknown
  • Espectro II^[10](died in 1985)
• January 2 – Motoko Baba^[10](died in 2018)
• January 15 – Tommy Gilbert^[10](died in 2015)
• February 5 – Luke Graham^[10](died in 2006)
• February 11 – Espanto III^[10](died in 1996)
• February 20 – Frankie Williams (died in 1991)
• March 24 – The Spoiler^[10](died in 2006)
• March 25 -
  • Jim Breaks (died in 2023)
  • Joe Carollo
• April 7 – Bruce Swayze
• April 20 – El Matematico
• June 16 – Sweet Daddy Siki
• June 20 – Umanosuke Ueda^[11](died in 2011)
• July 4 – Bob Sweetan^[10](died in 2017)
• July 18 – Dean Ho (died in 2021)
• July 23 – Thunder Sugiyama (died in 2002)
• August 20 – Ken Lucas^[12](died in 2014)
• August 25 – Wilhelm von Homburg (died in 2004)
• August 29 – Wim Ruska (died in 2015)
• September 3 – Spiros Arion
• September 15 – Man Mountain Mike^[10](died in 1988)
• October 15 – Kay Noble (died in 2006)
• October 17 – Baron Von Raschke^[10]
• October 21 – Crusher Verdu (died in 2004)
• October 28 – Les Thatcher^[10]
• November 5 – Aníbal^[10](died in 1994)
• November 30 – Johnny De Fazio (died in 2021)
• December 5 – Adrian Street^[10](died in 2023)
• December 15 – Strong Kobayashi (died in 2021)

Deaths

• March 26 – Dan Koloff^[13] 47
• June 27 – Emil Klank^[13] 64
• August 29 – Renato Gardini^[13] 51
• October 10 – Harold Angus^[13] 35
• November 21 – Ivan Linow^[13] 52