When did WWE wrestling start?
History of WWE
The history of WWE dates back to the early 1950s when it was founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt in 1952 as Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC). It underwent several name changes throughout the years, from World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) to World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002.
WWE
As in other professional wrestling promotions, WWE shows are not legitimate contests, but purely entertainment-based, featuring storyline-driven, scripted, and choreographed matches, though matches often included moves that can put performers at risk of injury if not performed correctly. This was first publicly acknowledged by WWE's owner Vince McMahon in 1989 to avoid taxes from athletic commissions. Since the 1980s, WWE publicly has branded their product as sports entertainment, acknowledging the product's roots in competitive sport and dramatic theater.
History of WWE
In 2002, the World Wrestling Federation lost a lawsuit initiated by the World Wildlife Fund over the WWF trademark. World Wrestling Federation was forced to rebrand itself, and in May 6, 2002 the company changed its business name to World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE). Shortly thereafter, they eliminated all elements that used the term Federation; this affected licensed merchandise such as action figures, video games, and home video releases with its previous logo, which was replaced by a new "scratch" logo. The last-ever WWF-branded pay-per-view event was the UK-exclusive Insurrextion in May 4, 2002. During this time, the company launched WWE Studios, which was originally formed as WWE Films.
Professional wrestling authority figures
From its founding in 1963 to 1997, the WWE looked to a president as an authority figure. The president had booking power and controlled all wrestlers. However, in 1997 the commissioner replaced the president, with Sgt. Slaughter serving as the first WWE commissioner. During the Attitude Era (1997–2002), not only the commissioner, but also Vince McMahon (through his position as WWE chairman under his evil character Mr. McMahon) had booking power. McMahon usually used his power in order to haze his kayfabe nemesis, Stone Cold Steve Austin. When Shawn Michaels served as commissioner, he could overrule McMahon, but he exercised his booking power only sporadically and was working with an ironclad contract where he could not be fired. When Mick Foley acquired the position, he took full reign until he was fired from the position.
History of WWE
The World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) was formed on January 24, 1963. On April 25, 1963, Buddy Rogers was awarded the new WWWF World Heavyweight Championship, supposedly winning an apocryphal tournament in Rio de Janeiro. He lost the championship to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17, 1963, after suffering a heart attack shortly before the match. To accommodate Rogers' condition, the match was booked to last under a minute.
Royal Rumble (2009)
The prime match at Royal Rumble 2009, was the annual Royal Rumble match, as featured at every Royal Rumble event since its inception. The match featured 30 male wrestlers from WWE's three brands; WWE officially announced 23 participants. The match ends when one wrestler remains in the ring after the elimination of all the 29 other wrestlers. (Participants eliminate opponents by tossing them over the top ring-rope and making both their feet touch the floor.) The winner earned an opportunity to challenge for the WWE, World Heavyweight, or ECW Championship at WWE's April WrestleMania XXV pay-per-view.
Royal Rumble featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines played out on "Raw", "SmackDown", and "ECW on Sci Fi" – World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) primary television programs. Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension and which culminated in a wrestling match or in a series of matches. The event featured wrestlers from WWE's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands—a storyline division in which WWE employees were assigned to a television program of the same name.
WCW World Heavyweight Championship
The WCW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship originally used in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and later, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the original world title of the World Championship Wrestling promotion, spun off from the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. It existed in WCW from 1991 to 2001.
ECW (WWE brand)
ECW was a brand of the U.S. based professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Entertainment. The brand was established on June 13, 2006 as a revival of the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion and was discontinued on February 16, 2010. Wrestlers assigned to the ECW brand wrestled predominately on the "ECW" television program and ECW branded or co-branded pay-per-view events. From 2007 to 2009, ECW wrestlers occasionally appeared on the "Raw" and "SmackDown" television programs due to talent exchange agreements between the brands.
History of professional wrestling
Following the advent of television, professional wrestling matches began to be aired nationally during the 1950s, reaching a larger fanbase than ever before. This was a time of enormous growth for professional wrestling, as rising demand and national expansion made it a much more popular and lucrative form of entertainment than in decades previous. This was called a "Golden Age" for the wrestling industry. It was also a time of great change in both the character and professionalism of wrestlers as a result of the appeal of television. Wrestling fit naturally with television because it was easy to understand, had drama, comedy and colorful characters, and was inexpensive for production. From 1948 to 1955, each of the three major television networks broadcast wrestling shows; the largest supporter being the DuMont Television Network. By the late 1950s, professional wrestling had lost its high ratings, and producers, realizing that they had overexposed it, soon dropped most wrestling shows from their lineups. The remaining televised wrestling promoters had small, local syndicated shows, which network producers placed as late-night fillers rather than signature programming. Promoters used localized television as a weapon for eliminating the competition by purchasing airtime from rival territories, effectively putting them out of business.
The NWA was the most dominant wrestling body in the 1950s, and numerous wrestling promotions had been under its leadership. Many promoters, however, viewed it as a crooked tyrant, holding back innovative changes in the sport. It was during this time that several promoters found reason to leave the organization, managing to find niches in the United States. The most prominent of these were the American Wrestling Association (AWA), which became the most popular wrestling promotion during the 1960s, and the New York-based Capitol Wrestling Corporation (later named World Wide Wrestling Federation). As a top wrestler in the 1950s, Verne Gagne formed his own promotion in the NWA in 1957, which soon became the lead promotion with Gagne winning the World Heavyweight Championship of Omaha. After unsuccessfully lobbying for a title match with the NWA Champion, however, Gagne broke away from the NWA in 1960, renaming his promotion the American Wrestling Association, and making it the dominant organization of the 1960s. Named the AWA World Heavyweight Champion soon after, Gagne was the top wrestler, and engaged in many feuds with heel wrestlers, most notably Nick Bockwinkel, and was the AWA's top draw until his retirement in 1981. Vincent J. McMahon also withdrew the Capitol Wrestling Corporation from the NWA in 1963, as the NWA Champion Lou Thesz was not a strong draw in the area, and in 1979 shortened Worldwide Wrestling Federation to World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
List of World Heavyweight Champions (WWE)
The World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in WWE. It was established by WWE in 2002 after WWE bought out World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), and split its roster into two brands, Raw and SmackDown!, in a brand extension.
WWE Network
The origins of the WWE Network can trace back to 2000 when USA Network filed the lawsuit against the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as the WWE) due to breach of contract which saw most of its programming moved to Viacom-owned TNN and MTV. The Delaware Chancery Court ruled in favor of the WWF in June 2000. Then CEO, Linda McMahon, revealed that WWF wanted its own cable network and testified that before WWF signed a rights deal with Viacom, the company had floated the idea of acquiring USA's Sci-Fi Channel, and reformatting it as a dedicated wrestling network. USA executives rejected the idea, and McMahon said that former USA Networks President Barry Baker encouraged her to talk to other programmers about potential deals. "I can tell you right now, Linda, you're not going to get anybody to give you a network," McMahon testified. In 2005, USA Network re-acquired the rights to all WWE programming.
WWE
Mondt left Capitol in the late 1960s and although the WWWF had withdrawn from the NWA, Vince McMahon, Sr. quietly re-joined in 1971. Capitol renamed the World Wide Wrestling Federation to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979.
Television in the United States
Professional wrestling had been aired on local television during its earliest days and began to be aired in national television during the 1950s. It underwent a resurgence in the 1980s as Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation and Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) each built rivalling national wrestling empires. During the Monday Night Wars of the 1990s, WWF and WCW maintained a heated televised rivalry. The boom eventually collapsed by the turn of the millennium, and McMahon purchased WCW in 2001 and an upstart hardcore promotion, Paul Heyman's Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), and merged them into WWF to form the modern WWE. WWE maintains a dominant presence in professional wrestling, with rivals Impact Wrestling (formerly TNA) and Ring of Honor (ROH) also having a presence on American television (the latter primarily as a result of its 2011 acquisition by television station owner Sinclair Broadcast Group). Foreign wrestling promotions such as Lucha Underground and New Japan Pro-Wrestling have seen increased exposure in the 2010s.
WWE Cruiserweight Championship (1991–2007)
The Cruiserweight Championship was originally created as the WCW Cruiserweight Championship on March 20, 1996. However, after the acquisition of World Championship Wrestling's assets by rival company WWE (then WWF), both lineages of the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship are considered to be one and the same, and WWE refers to the holders of the Light Heavyweight Championship as former Cruiserweight Champions.
World Heavyweight Championship (WWE)
The World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned by WWE. It was one of two top championships in WWE from 2002 to 2006 and from 2010 to 2013, complementing the WWE Championship, and one of three top championships from 2006 to 2010 with the addition of the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.
World Wrestling Professionals
World Wrestling Professionals was formed in 1990 in the Eastern Cape City of Nelson Mandela Bay. It hosted a number of local shows all year round, and slowly grew to the No 1 Wrestling Federation in South Africa. It was formed by former professional wrestler Mark Beale, with the goal of taking South African wrestling to another level. In 2004 after years of hard work on the Road in the hope of getting the product noticed, his idea for a wrestling show was picked up by the South African Broadcaster and was given a National Contract by SABC2. The show called WWP Thunderstrike ran for a number of years on the Channel, and was eventually put on hold due to in house politics. The WWP then moved on to India to film a Weekly show on colors TV called 100% De Dana Dan, which established the WWP Brand in the Middle East. The WWP Branded Show WWP G-Force was then filmed and distributed to various networks, and has been shown all over Africa.
The WWP Launched the biggest Pro Wrestling Event on the African Continent, called the WWP Wrestling Extravaganza "WRESTLEMONSTER", which became a instant hit in South Africa, and has drawn in excess of 18000 spectators to the event. It continues to grow and in 2019 WRESTLEMONSTER 5 will be held
List of WWE Hardcore Champions
The WWE Hardcore Championship was a professional wrestling championship contested for in the United States–based World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) promotion, formerly known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) before May 2002. The title was only contestable in matches under hardcore regulations, and could be won only by individual wrestlers. As a professional wrestling championship, it was introduced by the WWF on its television program "Raw Is War" on November 2, 1998, in which WWF chairman Mr. McMahon awarded Mankind the title. In 2000, the WWF instated the "24/7 rule", a regulation stating that the title could be defended anywhere at any time as long as a referee was present, which led to numerous title changes in shorter time periods; the rule was discontinued in 2002. On the August 26, 2002 episode of "Raw", Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam defeated Hardcore Champion Tommy Dreamer to unify both titles; the Hardcore Championship was retired shortly thereafter. The title was reactivated on two occasions afterwards, although they are not considered official reigns by WWE according to their official title history. On the June 23, 2003 episode of "Raw", Mick Foley (who was the first champion as "Mankind") was awarded the Hardcore Championship belt by the "Raw" brand authority figure Stone Cold Steve Austin for his contributions in hardcore wrestling. Edge and Foley then introduced themselves as co-holders of the championship in 2006, due to a storyline with alumni of the hardcore wrestling-based Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion.
WCW Hall of Fame
The World Championship Wrestling (WCW) Hall of Fame was an American professional wrestling hall of fame maintained by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It was established in 1993 to honor wrestlers who began their careers long before the 1990s, mostly alumni of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), the predecessors of WCW. Inductees received commemorative plaques that had their names & portraits inscribed on it. Wrestlers were inducted by Gordon Solie, a senior announcer in professional wrestling, and received their plaque during the "Legends Reunion" segment at WCW's May pay-per-view event, Slamboree. The WCW Hall of Fame was the second hall of fame established to honor professional wrestlers, after the creation of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) Hall of Fame in February 1993. After the 1995 Hall of Fame ceremony, WCW stopped the production of the Hall of Fame without a formal announcement. In 2001, after WCW filed for bankruptcy, the WWF acquired all of its assets; this led to the formal stoppage of the WCW Hall of Fame. The WWF, however, stopped producing its Hall of Fame ceremony after 1996. In 2004, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the WWF's successor, reinstated the WWE Hall of Fame, which included inductees that were alumni of WWE, NWA, JCP, and WCW.
Family Wrestling Entertainment
Family Wrestling Entertainment (FWE) was founded by Jordan Schneider in 2011, with the concept of all family wrestling. On October 5, 2012, FWE held their first iPPV. On October 2013, FWE held the Openweight Prix Tournament, which was won by Tony Nese. However, the promotion entered into hiatus until 2014. On March 31, 2015, FWE announced the cancellation of their April events. The promotion has not held an event since March 11, 2015.
History of World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion that existed from 1988 to 2001. It began as a promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) that appeared on the national scene under the ownership of media mogul Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia. The name came from a wrestling television program that aired on TBS in the 1980s, which had taken the name from an Australian wrestling promotion of the 1970s.
History of wrestling
The modern history of wrestling begins with a rise of popularity in the 19th century, which led to the development of the modern sports of Greco-Roman wrestling on the European continent and of freestyle wrestling and collegiate wrestling in Great Britain and the United States, respectively. 
These sports enjoyed enormous popularity at the turning of the 20th century. In the 1920s, show wrestling as a form of sports entertainment, now known as professional wrestling, separated from competitive sport wrestling, now known as amateur wrestling.
WWE Superstars
WWE Superstars, or simply Superstars, is a professional wrestling television program that was produced by WWE that originally aired on WGN America in the United States and later broadcast on the WWE Network. It debuted on and ended its domestic broadcasting on . After the final domestic TV broadcast, the show moved to an Internet broadcast format while maintaining a traditional television broadcast in international markets. The show featured mid-to-low card WWE Superstars in a format similar to the former shows "Heat" and "Velocity". which served the same purpose. "Enhancement talent" bouts also happened often. Big names such as John Cena, Randy Orton, The Undertaker, and Triple H appeared on the show at its beginning.
ECW World Tag Team Championship
The ECW World Tag Team Championship was introduced on June 23, 1992 under Eastern Championship Wrestling, the precursor to ECW as the Eastern Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship. This was during the time Eastern Championship Wrestling was a member of the NWA. In September 1994, Eastern Championship Wrestling seceded from the NWA, and became Extreme Championship Wrestling. The title was then established as a world tag team championship and became known as the Extreme Championship Wrestling World Tag Team Championship. On January 3, 1997, wrestling legend Killer Kowalski presented ECW World Tag Team Champions The Eliminators with brand-new title belts in Webster, Massachusetts. The championship continued to be defended within the promotion until April 2001, when ECW closed down. ECW's assets were subsequently purchased by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In 2006, WWE relaunched ECW as a WWE brand that remained active until 2010. However, the tag team championship was not reactivated.
WWE Backlash
WWE Backlash is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, that is produced by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. The event was created in 1999, with its inaugural event produced as an In Your House event in April of that year. The event in 2000 was rebranded as an annual PPV event for WWE. To coincide with the brand extension, the event was made exclusive to the Raw brand in 2004. In 2007, to follow the format of WrestleMania, all PPV events became tri-branded. Extreme Rules replaced Backlash in 2010.
Women's professional wrestling
The women's division of professional wrestling has maintained a recognized world champion since 1937, when Mildred Burke won the original World Women's title. She then formed the World Women's Wrestling Association in the early 1950s and recognized herself as the first champion, although the championship would be vacated upon her retirement in 1956. The NWA however, ceased to acknowledge Burke as Women's World champion in 1954, and instead acknowledged June Byers as champion after a controversial finish to a high-profile match between Burke and Byers that year. Upon Byers' retirement in 1964, The Fabulous Moolah, who won a junior heavyweight version of the NWA World Women's Championship (the predecessor to the original WWE Women's Championship) in a tournament back in 1958, was recognized by most NWA promoters as champion by default.
WWE has four active women's championships: two for their main roster's brands, the WWE Raw Women's Championship and WWE SmackDown Women's Championship, and two for their developmental brands, the NXT Women's Championship and the NXT UK Women's Championship. The Fabulous Moolah is recognized as WWE's first Women's Champion, with her reign beginning in 1956. In 2002, WWE began what was called the WWE brand extension, where wrestlers and championships became exclusive to one of WWE's brands. At first, the Women's Championship could be defended on any brand, but later that year, it became exclusive to the Raw brand. In 2008, WWE created the WWE Divas Championship as a counterpart title for the SmackDown brand. The two titles were eventually unified in September 2010. The Women's Championship was then retired in favor of keeping the Divas Championship, which became briefly known as the Unified WWE Divas Championship. The brand extension ended in 2011. In April 2016 at WrestleMania 32, the Divas Championship was retired and subsequently replaced with a new WWE Women's Championship, which has a separate title history from the original. WWE then reintroduced the brand extension in July 2016 and the Women's Championship (now Raw Women's Championship) became exclusive to Raw. In August 2016, SmackDown created the SmackDown Women's Championship as a counterpart title. On WWE's developmental brand NXT, women compete for the NXT Women's Championship, which was established in 2013 and later NXT UK franchise, which created its counterpart, the NXT UK Women's Championship, in 2018.
WWE Championship
The WWE Championship was the first world championship introduced into the promotion in 1963. The inaugural champion was Buddy Rogers, and there have been 50 different official champions overall and 11 vacancies. The longest reigning champion is Bruno Sammartino, who held the title from May 17, 1963 to January 18, 1971, for a total of 2,803 days (7 years, 8 months, and 1 day); Sammartino also holds the record for longest combined reign at 4,040 days. André the Giant is the shortest reigning champion, officially holding the title for 1 minute, 48 seconds. The youngest champion is Brock Lesnar, who won the title at the age of 25, while the oldest champion is Vince McMahon, who won it at the age of 54. John Cena holds the record for most reigns with 13.
The Streak (wrestling)
WrestleMania is the premier annual event of the largest professional wrestling promotion in the United States, WWE. Formed as a counter to Jim Crockett Promotions' successful Starrcade event, WrestleMania I was broadcast to one million nationwide via closed-circuit television and pay-per-view. WrestleMania's widespread success helped transform the sport of professional wrestling and made WWE the most successful wrestling promotion in the world, prompting WWE to promote the event as the "Super Bowl of sports entertainment".
WWE Intercontinental Championship
In November 2001, the then-WCW United States Championship was unified into the Intercontinental Championship. In 2002 after the first brand split, it became exclusive to Raw and the WWF was renamed WWE. Later that year, the European and Hardcore championships were unified into the Intercontinental Championship, which itself was unified into the World Heavyweight Championship. The next year, it was reactivated for Raw, followed by the United States Championship's reactivation as a counterpart on SmackDown. The championship has switched between brands over the years as a result of the WWE draft; the 2017 Superstar Shake-up moved it back to Raw.
Hell in a Cell
Hell in a Cell is a professional wrestling cage-based match which originated in 1997 in the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE). It features a large "cell" structure, a 5-sided cuboid made from open-weave steel mesh chain-link fencing which encloses the ring and ringside area. Unlike the steel cage match, only an in-ring pinfall or submission will ordinarily result in a win (though in Hell in a Cell at Judgment Day 2002 Triple H pinned Chris Jericho atop the cell to win the match), and there are no disqualifications. The original Cell was high and weighed over two tons but has since been replaced by a more robust version of and five tons. The first match took place at in October 1997; a total of 40 Hell in a Cell matches have occurred. The match type spawned its own pay-per-view event in 2009, WWE Hell in a Cell, since which the event has been held annually in October and occasionally September. This event generally features one to three Hell in a Cell matches on the same card.
WWE Judgment Day
In 2002 a court order led to WWF changing its name to WWE. Later that year, WWE held a draft that split its roster into two distinctive brands of wrestling, Raw and SmackDown., and ECW in 2006. Before the draft, matches featured wrestlers from the roster without any limitations; after the draft, matches only consisted of wrestlers from their distinctive brands. The first Judgment Day event to be produced under the WWE banner and with roster limitations was Judgment Day (2003), which took place on May 18, 2003. The following year, WWE announced that PPV events, excluding WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and the Royal Rumble, would be made exclusive to each brand; Judgment Day was made exclusive to the Smackdown! brand. After three years of being produced as a brand exclusive event, Judgment Day (2006) was the final Judgment Day event that was brand exclusive, as WWE announced that PPV events from then on would feature all three brands of WWE.
Pay-per-view
Professional wrestling has a long history of running pay-per-view events. WWE (then WWF) launched its first pay-per-view event in 1985 with The Wrestling Classic and has run numerous others throughout the years. Other major organisations such as WCW, ECW and TNA have also run pay-per-view events.
The Invasion (professional wrestling)
The Invasion was a professional wrestling storyline in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as WWE) that ran from March–November 2001 and involved stables of wrestlers purporting to represent World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW)—which merged to form The Alliance—placed against a stable of wrestlers purporting to represent the WWF. The storyline began shortly after the WWF's acquisitions of WCW and ECW in March and April 2001, respectively, and concluded with a "winner takes all" match between The Alliance and the WWF at Survivor Series.
WWE SmackDown
WWE SmackDown, also referred to as SmackDown Live or simply SmackDown, is a professional wrestling television program that debuted on April 29, 1999. The show's name also refers to the SmackDown brand, to which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform.
NWA World Heavyweight Championship
The NWA World Heavyweight Championship is a world heavyweight championship in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Although formally established in 1948, its lineage has been traditionally traced back to the first World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship, which traces its lineage to the title first awarded to George Hackenschmidt in 1905. This effectively makes it the oldest surviving wrestling championship in the world. The title has been competed for in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now WWE), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW, later Extreme Championship Wrestling), Ring of Honor (ROH), and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA, now Impact Wrestling).
McMahon family
The dynasty began when Jess McMahon, who was descended from the McMahon family of Western Ireland, began promoting wrestling shows in 1915. He, along with Toots Mondt formed the Capitol Wrestling Corporation in 1953. When he died in 1954, his son, Vincent J. McMahon, took over the business, which would subsequently be renamed twice during his tenure (as the World Wide Wrestling Federation, and then the World Wrestling Federation). Vince Sr. had two wives, Victoria Askew and Juanita Johnston, with the former still living today. When he retired in 1982, his son from his first marriage, Vince McMahon, purchased the business and currently serves as chairman and chief executive officer of the company, now known as World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) since 2002 and Alpha Entertainment, LLC since 2017.
World Tag Team Championship (WWE)
The World Tag Team Championship was the first original professional wrestling world tag team championship in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) promotion, and the promotion's third tag team championship overall. Originally established by the then-World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) on June 3, 1971 (renamed World Wrestling Federation in 1979), it served as the only title for tag teams in the promotion until the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF) bought World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in March 2001, which added their tag team championship. Both titles were unified in November 2001, retiring WCW's championship and continuing WWF's.
Spring Stampede (1997)
The first Spring Stampede event was held in April 1994, the first time World Championship Wrestling (WCW) held a pay-per-view (PPV) in April as they expanded their PPV schedule. The event did not return in 1995 or 1996 but was brought back in 1997 on April 6. The "Spring Stampede" name would be used three more times, 1998, 1999 and 2000, before WCW closed in March 2001. All WCW intellectual property was sold to WWE at that time, and with the launch of the WWE Network in 2014 all five Spring Stampede events became available to subscribers.
Royal Rumble (2003)
Royal Rumble (2003) was the sixteenth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It took place on January 19, 2003, at the Fleet Center in Boston, was the first Royal Rumble produced under the WWE name and employed talent from the Raw and SmackDown! brands. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a match at that year's WrestleMania, (in this instance: WrestleMania XIX) for his brand's World title, either the WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship.
AWA Championship Wrestling
AWA Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling television series that aired on cable sports network ESPN from 1985 to 1990. It was a continuation of the earlier ESPN program "Pro Wrestling USA", the co-operative venture between the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and several National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliates (most notably Jim Crockett Promotions). On February 26, 2008, ESPN Classic began reairing "AWA Championship Wrestling" episodes. Episodes are available on the WWE Network.
Heavyweight Wrestling
Heavyweight Wrestling from Washington is the first weekly televised wrestling program that was produced by the WWE, which at the time was a regional professional wrestling promotion called Capitol Wrestling Corporation, a member of the National Wrestling Alliance. The show was hosted by Bill Malone (1956), Morris Siegel (1956–1959) and Ray Morgan (1959–1970) and was taped at the Capitol Arena in Washington, D.C..
WrestleMania Axxess
The first event happened in 1988, when the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as WWE) in association with The Trump Organization prepared a small festival to celebrate WrestleMania IV. It included autograph signings, a brunch, and a five kilometer run; the event was held again in 1989 for WrestleMania V. In 1992, a festival was held the day of WrestleMania VIII which included a WWF wrestler look-alike contest and a tournament for the "WWF WrestleFest" arcade game. In 1993, the WWF held a "WrestleMania Brunch" the day of WrestleMania IX at Caesars Palace, during the course of which Lex Luger attacked Bret Hart. In 1994, the WWF offered "Fan Fest" for the weekend of WrestleMania X, which allowed fans to step inside a WWF ring, participate in games, meet wrestlers, and purchase merchandise; the event was followed up in 1995 with another "Fan Fest" for WrestleMania XI. In 1999, the WWF held its first Saturday pre-WrestleMania event taking place on March 27, 1999. "WrestleMania Rage Party", as it was known, was televised live on the USA Network from 10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. (EST). The event was to be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The idea of the event was "...to celebrate the final WrestleMania of the millennium..."
Kurt Angle
Angle made his first appearance at a pro-wrestling event in 1996, and signed with the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) in 1998. Noted for his rapid comprehension of the business, he had his debut match that August within the company's developmental system after mere days of training, and participated in his first televised WWF storyline in March 1999. After months of unaired matches, Angle made his televised in-ring debut in November and received his first major push in the company in February 2000, when he held the European and Intercontinental Championships simultaneously. Four months later, he won the King of the Ring tournament and soon thereafter began pursuing the WWF Championship, which he won in October. This capped off a WWF rookie year which is considered by many to be the greatest in history. Among other accomplishments in the WWF/E, Angle has held the WWF/WWE Championship four times, the WCW Championship once, and the World Heavyweight Championship once. He is the tenth Triple Crown Champion and the fifth Grand Slam Champion (achieving this accolade twice under both the original and current format) in WWE history. On March 31, 2017, Angle was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Professional wrestling in New Zealand
The WWE SmackDown Road to WrestleMania 22 Tour was the first WWE event held in New Zealand and took place at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand, on March 4, 2006. The event was recorded by WWE and was televised on WWE 24/7 in the United States. Michael Cole and Tazz recorded the commentary from WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.
The event was attended by 23,875. WWE talent and management were impressed with the reactions and excitement by the audience, and also the large size of the stadium. “Holy Cow, this is a coliseum, not an arena,” was one of the WWE wrestler's remarks when entering inside New Zealand's second-largest stadium. In comparison, 6,700 more people attended this show than WWE's flagship event of 2006, WrestleMania 22.
WWE Championship
The title was introduced in 1963 with Buddy Rogers becoming the first champion. However, its origin is attributed to events that began in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), which had various territorial member promotions. In the 1950s, Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was a member of the NWA and by 1963, its executives held a controlling stake over NWA operations. During this time, Buddy Rogers held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship until January 24, when Lou Thesz defeated Rogers for the championship in a one fall match. Claiming the title can only be contested in a traditional two out of three falls match, the promotion disputed the title change, and thus seceded from the NWA and became the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). The WWWF World Heavyweight Championship was then established and awarded to Buddy Rogers with the explanation that he won a fictional tournament in Rio de Janeiro, supposedly defeating Antonino Rocca in the finals. After several years, the WWWF became affiliated with the NWA once again, and "World" was dropped from the championship's name. In 1979, the WWWF was renamed World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and then after conclusively ending its affiliation with the NWA in 1983, the championship became known as the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Although the full name appeared on the championship belts until 1998, the name was often abbreviated to WWF Championship, which became its official name in 1998.
Capitol Wrestling Corporation
In early 1963, Capitol formed the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), the precursor to current-day WWE, following a dispute with the NWA over Buddy Rogers being booked to hold the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Both men left the company in protest following the incident and formed the WWWF in the process, awarding Rogers the new WWWF World Heavyweight Championship in April of that year. He lost the championship to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17, 1963, after suffering a heart attack a week before the match.
World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (original version)
WWE created a new World Heavyweight Championship following its first brand split, when then-WWE "Undisputed" Champion Brock Lesnar became exclusive to the SmackDown brand, refusing to face designated number one contender Triple H, who was a member of the Raw brand. Triple H was awarded the newly established title. This championship was a successor to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, split via the WWE Championship. It was represented by the same "Big Gold Belt" once used for the WCW and NWA championships, and was awarded by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff, the former President of WCW. WWE asserts its legacy extends back to the title created in 1905. Like the original World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship, the title was not prefixed with the name of a promotion, though the physical belt had the WWE logo on it. It would be reunified with the WWE Championship in December 2013.
History of professional wrestling
With a demand remaining for Southern-style, "lucha libre", strong style and hardcore wrestling that WWE was not fulfilling, new promotions attempted to offer an alternative to cater to this niche market. The most successful among these were Impact Wrestling (initially known as NWA: Total Nonstop Action) and Ring of Honor, both started up in 2002. Other independent promotions like Combat Zone Wrestling and CHIKARA also began to gain more exposure.
List of former WWE television programming
"ECW" is a professional wrestling television program for WWE, based on the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion that lasted from 1992 to 2001. The show's name also referred to the ECW brand, in which WWE employees were assigned to work and perform, complementary to WWE's other brands, "Raw" and "SmackDown". It debuted on June 13, 2006 on Sci Fi Channel in the United States and ran for close to four years until it aired its final episode on February 16, 2010 on the rebranded Syfy.
WWE Magazine
In May 2002, the World Wrestling Federation became known as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and therefore the magazine was changed accordingly to "WWE Magazine" starting with the June 2002 issue.
SummerSlam
In the 1980s, Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF)'s main competition in the professional wrestling industry was from the Charlotte based Jim Crockett Promotions who was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). McMahon countered Jim Crockett's successful Starrcade closed-circuit television event, which began airing in 1983, with the WrestleMania franchise in 1985 and eventually forced Crockett to sell his company to Ted Turner, who renamed it World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The WWF continued to replace its closed circuit programming with pay-per-view programming and added more pay-per-views to the lineup to capitalize on the success of his previous events. In addition to WrestleMania in March and Survivor Series in November, McMahon added a third pay-per-view for August, which he named SummerSlam. To keep the WWF from having a pay-per-view market monopoly, WCW began airing monthly pay-per-views, and both companies began bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue. The first SummerSlam was held on August 29, 1988 in Madison Square Garden in New York City. SummerSlam became one of the WWF's (and later WWE's) most successful events and one of the "Big Four" pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Survivor Series and Royal Rumble.
World Wrestling Alliance (Massachusetts)
In April 1998, WWE came to the WWS (then the WWA) looking for a place where the next generation of WWE stars could compete, and the WWS began serving as WWF's official developmental territory. The promotion has also developed many stars that have gone on to the WWE after completing Super Nova & Dr. Tom Prichard's WWS/WWA New England Training Camp. Many future wrestlers for Extreme Championship Wrestling, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment, and Lucha Libre USA competed in the promotion for years before entering the "major leagues", most notably, Damien Sandow, Kenny Dykstra, John Quinlan, and RJ Brewer. Quinlan actually had his debut match in the WWA facing Brewer on November 26, 1999. The promotion's last show was held on November 13, 2010, following the death of longtime commissioner Bob Ambrose.
WWE
On October 19, 1999, WWF, which had been owned previously by parent company Titan Sports, launched an initial public offering as a publicly traded company, trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with the issuance of stock then valued at $172.5 million. The company has traded on the NYSE since its launch under ticker symbol WWE.
WWE Vengeance
WWE Vengeance was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by professional wrestling promotion WWE. The inaugural event took place on December 9, 2001 and replaced the regularly scheduled WWE Armageddon for that year. The 2002 event featured the Raw and SmackDown! brands. The event was made exclusive to the SmackDown brand in 2003, and beginning in 2004 it was made exclusive to the Raw brand. In 2007, following WrestleMania, all PPV events became tri-branded. Vengeance took over WWF Fully Loaded's scheduled date in July 2002 and later moved to June in 2005, switching schedules with The Great American Bash. The 2007 event was a crossover event with Night of Champions called . In 2008, Vengeance was retired in favor of keeping Night of Champions as its own event. In 2011, Vengeance would return to replace WWE Bragging Rights on the October 2011 event card.. In 2012, the Vengeance name was removed from the scheduled event calendar for that year.
Professional wrestling
The women's division of professional wrestling has maintained a recognized world champion since 1937, when Mildred Burke won the original World Women's title. She then formed the World Women's Wrestling Association in the early 1950s and recognized herself as the first champion, although the championship would be vacated upon her retirement in 1956. The NWA however, ceased to acknowledge Burke as "their" Women's World champion in 1954, and instead acknowledged June Byers as champion after a controversial finish to a high-profile match between Burke and Byers that year. Upon Byers' retirement in 1964, The Fabulous Moolah, who won a junior heavyweight version of the NWA World Women's Championship (the predecessor to the WWE Women's Championship) in a tournament back in 1958, was recognized by most NWA promoters as champion by default.
WrestleWar
WrestleWar was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event series promoted by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It was held in the month of May in 1989 and 1992 and the month of February in 1990 and 1991. The first two events were promoted under the National Wrestling Alliance banner, the final two under the WCW name.
Slamboree
Slamboree was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event from World Championship Wrestling (WCW) held from 1993 through 2000. It was originally billed as "A Legends' Reunion" because many retired legends from Jim Crockett Promotions attended the PPV and other events scheduled for that weekend. The first three Slamborees included inductions into the WCW Hall of Fame and also included matches with the legends participating. Since 2001, the WWE owns the rights to the Slamboree name and all Slamboree events are available on the WWE Network.
History of WWE Raw
In spring of 2002, the WWF underwent a process they called the "brand extension". The WWF divided itself into two "de facto" wrestling promotions with separate rosters, storylines and authority figures. "Raw" and "SmackDown!" would host each division, give its name to the division and essentially compete against each other. The split came about as a result of the WWF purchasing their two biggest competitors, WCW and ECW, and the WWF having an abundance of talent on the roster. The brand extension was publicly announced by Linda McMahon during a telecast of "Raw" on March 18, 2002 and became official the next week. Shortly thereafter, the WWF was legally required to change the name of the company to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Wrestlers became show-exclusive, wrestling for their specific show only.
Capital Combat
In 1989, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) held their first pay-per-view (PPV) in May when they held the first WrestleWar event. In 1990, WrestleWar was held in February, with WCW instead opting to hold a different event in May. This PPV event, held at the D.C. Armory in Washington, D.C., was named "Capital Combat" in light of it being held in the United States capital city. Due to a printing error on the tickets, the starting time for the show was listed as 8 PM, not 7 PM which was the actual bell time for the first match leading to the first couple of matches taking place in front of a half-full arena. The event ended up drawing 7,500 paid spectators, not quite filling the 10,000 seat arena but close to capacity since part of the seats were blocked by the sets and ring ramp. The first three matches on the show were not included when Turner Home Entertainment later released the show on VHS cassette, editing the show down to fit a two-hour format. The first three matches were not made available to the general public until the WWE Network was launched in 2014 and the full Capital Combat show became available to subscribers.
Smoky Mountain Wrestling
Smoky Mountain Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that held events in the Appalachian area of the United States from October 1991 to December 1995, when it was run by Jim Cornette. The promotion was based in Knoxville, Tennessee, with offices in Morristown, Tennessee. Episodes are available on the WWE Network.
WWF Light Heavyweight Championship
The WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) promotion. The title was challenged by light heavyweights at a maximum weight of 215 lbs (before deactivation, the weight limit was changed to 220Ibs). It was created on March 26, 1981 for the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) in a partnership between the WWF and UWA. On 16 June, 1995, the title moved to Michinoku Pro Wrestling, but due to WWF's ownership of the title, it was returned to the WWF in 1997, the year in which the WWE begins the championship's lineage. The inaugural champion in UWA was Perro Aguayo, however, the WWE considers the inaugural champion to be Taka Michinoku, with his reign beginning on . It was retired in November 2001 with X-Pac as the final champion.
List of WWE Cruiserweight Champions (1991–2007)
The WWE Cruiserweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was originally a World Championship Wrestling (WCW) title. It was challenged by cruiserweights at a maximum weight of 225lbs. During the WWE brand extension, it was the only title to be exclusive to the SmackDown! brand during its entire tenure. There were a total of 40 recognized champions who had a combined 79 official reigns. This is a chronological list of wrestlers that held the original WWE Cruiserweight Championship, listed by ring name, with the longest reign being 385 days by Gregory Helms, and the most reigns by Rey Mysterio with 8.
WWE
In 1997, WWE established a real estate brokerage and investment firm called TSI Realty Company.
Though an infrequent occurrence, during its history WWE has worked with other wrestling promotions in collaborative efforts.
Major League Wrestling
Following the closures and acquisitions of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as the WWE) in 2001, the promotion was founded on June 16, 2002, shortly after, the promotion took three months of hiatus to move their bases from Philadelphia to New York. MLW styled itself as being an alternative to sports entertainment. Founder Court Bauer described MLW's product as "the most violent, hard-hitting action mixed with cutting edge storylines", which was favorite for fans of ECW.
Florida Championship Wrestling
Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) was a professional wrestling promotion based on the former independent Championship Wrestling from Florida promotion, which operated from 1961 until 1987. From October 2007 to August 2012, the promotion served as the official developmental territory for WWE. In August 2012, WWE re-branded Florida Championship Wrestling into NXT for their developmental territory, with storylines and championships being discontinued.
December to Dismember (2006)
December to Dismember (2006) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which took place on December 3, 2006, at the James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia. Professional wrestling is a type of sports entertainment in which theatrical events are combined with a competitive sport. The buildup to the matches and the scenarios that took place before, during, and after the event, were planned by WWE's script writers. The event starred wrestlers from the ECW brand: storyline expansions of the promotion where employees are assigned to wrestling brands under the WWE banner. Despite it being an ECW brand pay-per-view, wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown! brands also worked on the pay-per-view. Its name was derived from the December to Dismember event held by the original Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1995.
List of WWE United States Champions
The WWE United States Championship is a professional wrestling championship contested in the American promotion WWE on the SmackDown brand. It was originally known as the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship and began as a regional championship created by and defended in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, run by Jim Crockett Jr. Harley Race became the inaugural champion on the title's introduction on January 1, 1975. Turner Broadcasting bought the company in November 1988 and renamed it World Championship Wrestling (WCW) after its primary television program.
History of WWE
At the Consumer Electronics Show on January 8, 2014, WWE announced the WWE Network would launch on February 24, 2014 in the United States. WWE called the network "the first-ever 24/7 streaming network". On February 27, 2014, the WWE Network aired its first ever live event, NXT Arrival, which featured three championship matches and a well-received match between Cesaro and Sami Zayn.
WWE
On October 19, 1999, World Wrestling Federation, Inc. launched an initial public offering as a publicly traded company, trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with the issuance of stock then valued at $172.5 million. The company has traded on the NYSE since its launch under ticker symbol WWE.
International Wrestling Association (Puerto Rico)
The International Wrestling Association is a conglomerate of professional wrestling promotions that originated in Puerto Rico and currently operates there and in the state of Florida. Founded in 1999 by promoter Victor Quiñones (who had also created the unrelated IWA-Japan in 1994) as a novel promotion, it quickly entered an agreement to serve as a development territory for the World Wrestling Federation (now known as WWE) that lasted until 2001. During its first decade, IWA grew to rival the long-standing World Wrestling Council (WWC). Its business model relies on pushing younger talents, using veterans and foreign wrestlers to get them over with the public.
List of WWE Network events
WWE has been broadcasting pay-per-view events since the 1980s, when its classic "Big Four" events (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series) were first established. However, the company's pay-per-view business began to drastically change with the launch of the WWE Network on February 24, 2014. While most of the WWE events still air in many parts of the world on traditional pay-per-view channels, WWE's focus has shifted away from delivering their events on pay-per-view channels. Their main focus now is delivering all of the events on the WWE Network, including some that are exclusively on the Network. WWE has pushed the Network's launching price of $9.99 USD as a way to lure potential customers away from traditional pay-per-view which, on average, costs five to six times as much (in the United States) as the Network. The WWE Network also features the back catalog of WWE, WCW, and ECW pay-per-view events, as well as all WWE Network events from NXT Arrival onwards in their on-demand section. All WWE Network events that have aired since the launch of the Network have been broadcast in high-definition.
List of former championships in WWE
The World Heavyweight Championship was established in 2002 as a second world championship in WWE during the time of the first brand extension. During this period, the World Heavyweight Championship would be the primary championship for either the Raw or Smackdown brand, with the WWE Championship on the other. The brand extension ended in 2011, allowing both championships to appear on both shows. On December 15, 2013, World Heavyweight Champion John Cena faced WWE Champion Randy Orton in a match at , where the World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the WWE Championship as Orton defeated Cena. At the event, it was announced that the unified titles would be called the "WWE World Heavyweight Championship". WWE officially recognized Orton as the final World Heavyweight Champion, and retired the title.
WWE brand extension
In March 2002, WWE began promoting its core business of professional wrestling through two distinct brands, named after their two major television shows "Raw" and "SmackDown!". From 2006 to 2010, a third brand existed for their television show "ECW", which was a revived version of the former promotion. The first brand extension ended on August 29, 2011, after which the Raw and SmackDown brands were dissolved.
List of WWE Intercontinental Champions
The WWE Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling championship contested in and owned by the American promotion WWE on the Raw brand. The title was introduced into the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1979. Pat Patterson, holder of the WWF North American Heavyweight Championship, was awarded the title (with the kayfabe explanation that he won a tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and unified the North American and South American titles).
Mae Young
There have been conflicting reports as to the year in which Young began her career. Young claimed her first match was August 20, 1939, while WWE said she "started her professional career" this year. However, Young also once said her first match was March 22, 1940. According to Dave Meltzer of "The Wrestling Observer", historians have been unable to find any records that she began in 1939 and that her first match was most likely in 1941. Meltzer wrote, "In reality, Young is believed to have competed in seven decades, matching the record held by Lou Thesz. ... You really couldn't call [her] 2010 match anything resembling a pro wrestling match, even giving as much leeway as possible. While she always claimed to have started in 1939, at 16, historians researching have been unable to find any records of her wrestling prior to 1941, when she turned 18 and went on tour with Billy Wolfe's troupe."
Fantasy wrestling
In 2004, World Wrestling Entertainment began its own fantasy wrestling game focused on selecting WWE Superstars as part of a team and receiving points based on their involvement on the WWE television shows. WWE singled out "real wrestling" E-Feds who used the names and likenesses of WWE Superstars and began sending them cease-and-desist letters. WWE later disbanded its fantasy wrestling game.
WrestleWar
In 1993, WCW held SuperBrawl III in February and the first ever Slamboree show in May, which replaced the WrestleWar show on the schedule from that point until WCW closed in 2001. After WCW closed all rights to their television and PPV shows were bought by WWE, including the WrestleWar shows. With the launch of the WWE Network in 2014 all WrestleWar shows became available on demand for network subscribers.
WWE Legends of WrestleMania
WWE Legends of WrestleMania is a video game featuring legends of the professional wrestling promotion, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), who have appeared at WrestleMania in the 1980s and 1990s; during that time, WWE was known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The game was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was released in March 2009 to coincide with WrestleMania XXV. The game was developed by Yuke's and published by THQ, the same developer and publisher for the "WWE SmackDown vs. Raw" video game series. The WWE logo featured in the game was a slight modification of the pre-1990 WWF logo.
List of WWE Champions
The WWE Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in WWE, currently on the SmackDown brand. It is the first world title established in WWE, having been introduced in 1963 as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) World Heavyweight Championship. The promotion was renamed World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979 and ended its affiliation with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in 1983, with the title also renamed to reflect the changes. In 2001, it was unified with the World Championship (formerly the WCW World Heavyweight Championship) following the WWF's buyout of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and became the Undisputed WWF Championship. In 2002, the WWF was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and split its roster into two brands, Raw and SmackDown. The title, now renamed WWE Championship, was then designated to the SmackDown brand while WWE established an alternate world title known as the World Heavyweight Championship for the Raw brand. A third alternate world title, the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, was reactivated for the ECW brand in 2006. It was vacated and decommissioned when the ECW brand disbanded in 2010.
ECW World Television Championship
The title was introduced on August 12, 1992 to Eastern Championship Wrestling, as the promotion was then known, as the Eastern Championship Wrestling Television Championship. ECW was a member of the NWA until seceding from that organisation, in September 1994 and becoming Extreme Championship Wrestling. The title then became known as the Extreme Championship Wrestling World Television Championship. The title continued to be defended until April 2001, when ECW closed down. ECW's assets were subsequently purchased by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In 2006, WWE relaunched the ECW franchise as a WWE brand that remained active until 2010, but did not bring back the title, choosing only to revive the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.
SmackDown (WWE brand)
SmackDown is a brand of the U.S. based professional wrestling promotion WWE. The brand was first established on March 25, 2002 with a draft on "Monday Night Raw" and went into effect one week later on April 2. The brand was discontinued in August 2011, but was brought back in July 2016. Wrestlers assigned to the SmackDown brand wrestle predominantly on the "SmackDown Live" television program, the seasonal "Mixed Match Challenge", as well as SmackDown branded and co-branded pay-per-view events and WWE Network events. During the first brand split, they also competed on "Velocity" and on "ECW" under a talent exchange program.
WWE
On April 7, 2011, WWE, via the WWE Corporate website, announced that the company was ceasing use of the full name World Wrestling Entertainment and would henceforth refer to itself solely as WWE, making the latter an orphan initialism. This was said to reflect WWE's global entertainment expansion away from the ring with the ultimate goal of acquiring entertainment companies and putting a focus on television, live events, and film production. WWE noted that their new company model was put into effect with the relaunch of "Tough Enough", being a non–scripted program (contrary to the scripted nature of professional wrestling) and with the launch of the WWE Network (at the time scheduled to launch in 2012; later pushed back to 2014). However, the legal name of the company remains as World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
WWE
Vincent J. McMahon's son, Vincent K. McMahon, and his wife Linda, established Titan Sports, Inc., in 1980 in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts. The company was incorporated on February 21, 1980, in the Cape Cod Coliseum offices. The younger McMahon bought Capitol from his father in 1982, effectively seizing control of the company. Seeking to make the WWF the premier wrestling promotion in the country, and eventually, the world, he began an expansion process that fundamentally changed the wrestling business.
List of WWE tournaments
The Cruiserweight Classic saw thirty-two of the world's best cruiserweights battle it out to be crowned WWE's first WWE Cruiserweight Classic winner. The tournament was filmed at Full Sail University, Florida from June 20–24, and was broadcast on the WWE Network from July 13. It ran for ten episodes, with the finale being broadcast on September 14.
WWE No Way Out
In 2002, the World Wrestling Federation was court ordered to change its name, which it did, to "WWE". Earlier that year, the WWF held a draft that split its roster into two distinctive brands, Raw and SmackDown, and ECW in 2006. Before the draft, matches included wrestlers from the roster without any limitations; after the draft, matches only consisted of wrestlers from their distinctive brands. The first No Way Out event to be produced under the WWE banner and with roster limitations was No Way Out (2003), which took place on February 23, 2003. Later that year, WWE announced that pay-per-view events, excluding WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and the Royal Rumble, would be made exclusive to each brand; No Way Out was made exclusive to the SmackDown brand. After three years of being produced as a brand exclusive event, No Way Out (2007) was the final No Way Out event (and the final pay-per-view overall) that was brand exclusive, as WWE announced that PPV events from then on would include all three brands of WWE.
History of WWE Raw
The history of WWE Raw began as WWF's "Monday Night Raw" on January 11, 1993. Over the next two decades, "Raw" would become the promotion's flagship show, achieving numerous milestones along the way.
SummerSlam
SummerSlam is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, produced annually in August by professional wrestling promotion WWE. Dubbed as "The Biggest Party of the Summer," it is one of the original "Big Four" pay-per-view events of WWE (along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble and Survivor Series) and considered the WWE's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania. The inaugural SummerSlam took place on August 29, 1988 at Madison Square Garden in New York City and was broadcast via pay-per-view. From 2009-2014, SummerSlam was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. From 2015-2018, the event took place at the Barclays Center in the New York City borough of Brooklyn.
WWE United States Championship
The United States Championship began as a regional championship called the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship, one of several versions of the title allowed in different territories under the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) bylaws. It was created by and defended in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW) run by Jim Crockett Jr. Introduced on January 1, 1975, Harley Race became the inaugural champion. The title quickly replaced the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship as the top singles title in the promotion. While the NWA recognized only one World Heavyweight Champion, there was no single undisputed United States Champion as a number of NWA regional promotions recognized their own version of the title and champion. That changed, however, in January 1981; the NWA territory based in San Francisco folded, which was the last remaining promotion outside the Mid-Atlantic territory that recognized its own United States Champion, leaving the Mid-Atlantic version as the only remaining United States Championship.
WWF Prime Time Wrestling
WWF Prime Time Wrestling is a professional wrestling television program that was produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It aired on the USA Network from January 1, 1985 to January 4, 1993. A precursor to "Monday Night Raw", "Prime Time Wrestling" was a two-hour long, weekly program that featured stars of the World Wrestling Federation. The program featured wrestling matches (most of which were compiled from WWF "house show" matches from venues such as Madison Square Garden), interviews, promos featuring WWF wrestlers, updates of current feuds and announcements of upcoming local and pay-per-view events. In addition, "Prime Time Wrestling" would also air wrestling matches and interviews from other WWF programming such as "Superstars of Wrestling" and "Wrestling Challenge". Episodes 61 to 227 of "Prime Time Wrestling" are available for streaming on the WWE Network.
Ohio Valley Wrestling
Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) is an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in Louisville, Kentucky. It was initially a member promotion of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from its inception in 1993 until 2000, when it became the primary developmental territory for the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE). It remained in this role from 2000 until 2008. The promotion was unaffiliated from February 7, 2008 until November 2011, and is currently run by Al Snow, who took over from founder and former owner Nightmare Danny Davis.
World Wrestling All-Stars
World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) was a professional wrestling promotion founded by Australian concert promoter Andrew McManus in 2001. The promotion was operated by McManus' International Touring Company. WWA was one of several promotions to come into existence shortly after the closings of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The company was in existence from October 2001 to May 2003. It was considered a successor to WCW and ECW due to using most of their former talent and a predecessor to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). In 2011, the Bleacher Report ranked World Wrestling All-Stars No.18 on its list of the 25 worst professional wrestling promotions in history.
WWE Vengeance
In 2002, WWF was court ordered to change their name, which resulted in the promotion changing its name to WWE. Earlier in the year, WWF held a draft that split its roster into two distinctive brands of wrestling, Raw and SmackDown, and the ECW brand was added in 2006. Before the draft, matches featured wrestlers from the roster without any limitations; after the draft, matches only consisted of wrestlers from their distinctive brands. The first Vengeance event to be produced under the WWE banner and with roster limitations was Vengeance (2002), which took place on July 21, 2002. The following year, WWE announced that PPV events, excluding WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and the Royal Rumble, would be made exclusive to each brand; Vengeance was made exclusive to the Smackdown! brand in 2003 and in 2004 was made exclusive to the Raw brand. After three years of being produced as a brand exclusive event, Vengeance (2006) was the final Vengeance event that was brand exclusive, as WWE announced that PPV events from April 2007 onwards would feature all three brands of WWE.
WWE draft
The WWE draft, called the WWE Superstar Shake-up since 2017, is a process used by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE to refresh its rosters. The draft was first used during the brand extension of 2002, though it was officially incepted and used in 2004. Since the inception of the process, it has been referred to as the WWE draft lottery (2004–2005) and later simplified to the "draft" (2007–2011). Starting in 2005, the draft took place during the month of June; it was held in April between 2009 and 2011. After that, WWE terminated the brand split and promotion of interbrand competition from 2011 to 2016.
Royal Rumble (2007)
Royal Rumble featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that were played out on "Raw", "SmackDown!", and "ECW" – World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) primary television programs. Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated into a wrestling match or series of matches. The event featured wrestlers from WWE's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands – a storyline division in which WWE employees were assigned to a television program of the same name.
Vengeance (2002)
Vengeance featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines that were played out on "Raw" and "SmackDown!" – World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) television programs. Wrestlers portrayed a hero or villain as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. All wrestlers were from WWE's Raw and SmackDown! brands – a storyline division in which WWE employees are assigned to a television program of the same name.
WWE One Night Stand
WWE One Night Stand was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, produced every June by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. The event was created in 2005, with its inaugural event taking place in June of that year. The event's name refers to its original format, that being a one night reunion show for former Extreme Championship Wrestling alumni. The first two shows were promoted under the ECW acronym; this however was changed for the 2007 and 2008 events. As WWE launched their own version of ECW in 2006, these two shows were promoted under the WWE acronym. The final event under the One Night Stand name was in 2008 before being renamed to Extreme Rules in 2009. This event was noted by WWE to be a direct continuation of the One Night Stand chronology. However, the 2010 event was later promoted as only the second event under a new chronology, one that is no longer a direct continuation of the One Night Stand event.
World Championship Wrestling
WCW started out as a regional promotion in the late-1980s, focusing mainly on the Deep South. It started growing nationally a few years later, which led to its rivalry with the WWF – the major wrestling company left in North America (after almost single-handedly wiping out the old regional territory system it was born from). Even though WCW folded in 2001, its legacy lived on in the WWF. The WWF initially kept the WCW United States Championship, the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, the WCW World Tag Team Championship, and even the WCW World Heavyweight Championship active. Eventually, the titles were unified into their respective WWF counterparts. In 2003, by which time the World Wrestling Federation was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the company resurrected the U.S. title.
World Women's Tag Team Championship
The World Women's Tag Team Championship was a women's professional wrestling tag team championship defended in member promotions of the National Wrestling Alliance from the early 1950s through 1983. It was the first Women's World Tag Team Championship professional wrestling championship and was sometimes referred to as simply the NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship, briefly adopting the NWA prefix. The championship was later acquired by the World Wrestling Entertainment and renamed the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship in 2019 when the WWE, once a member of the NWA, bought the rights to the championship from The Fabulous Moolah and continued using them.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
The championship was established by the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on September 1, 1979, after inaugural champion Pat Patterson unified (kayfabe) the WWF North American Heavyweight and South American Heavyweight championships. It is the third oldest championship currently active in WWE, behind the WWE Championship (1963) and United States Championship (1975), but the second oldest tenured championship, as the WWE has only owned the U.S. title since 2001. Although generally contested in the midcard at WWE shows, the Intercontinental Championship was defended in the main events of presentations such as WrestleMania VI, SummerSlam in 1992, the third and In Your House shows, Backlash in 2001, and at Extreme Rules in 2018. It has been called the "stepping stone" to a WWE world championship.
Vengeance (2005)
Vengeance (2005) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and presented by THQ's "Juiced", which took place on June 26, 2005, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the fifth annual Vengeance event. Professional wrestling is a type of sports entertainment in which theatrical events are combined with a competitive sport. The buildup to the matches and the scenarios that took place before, during, and after the event were planned by WWE's script writers. The event starred wrestlers from the Raw brand: storyline expansions of the promotion where employees are assigned to wrestling brands under the WWE banner.
WWE Main Event
WWE Main Event is a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that originally aired on Ion Television in the United States, then the WWE Network, and is now broadcast on Hulu Plus every Thursday Night at 9 pm . It debuted on October 3, 2012 and ended its domestic broadcasting on April 1, 2014. After the final domestic TV broadcast, the show moved to an Internet broadcast format. The show features mid-to-low card WWE wrestlers. Because of an agreement with British broadcaster Sky Sports's first-run syndication rights, episodes do not air in first run on WWE Network, but are uploaded 18 days after airing overseas. The show is taped before "Raw" tapings and features wrestlers from the Raw and 205 Live brands.
WWE New Year's Revolution
New Year's Revolution was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, that was produced every January by the American professional wrestling promotion, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The event was created in 2005, with its inaugural event produced in January of that year. To coincide with the brand extension, the event was made exclusive to the Raw brand throughout the event's history.