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 has changed many names throughout the year, from the World Wide Wrestling Federation ( WWWF ) to World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) to World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) in 2002.
WWE is the largest professional wrestling company in the world. It has promoted some of the most successful wrestlers and storylines, and features some of the most iconic and significant matches and moments in sports history. WWE currently features several high profile programs such as Raw and SmackDown in over 150 countries, hosts 12 pay-per-view events a year including WrestleMania, and has about 320 live events a year in the whole world. In 2014, WWE launched the first 24/7 streaming network that will eventually feature the entire WWE video library.
Video History of WWE
World Wide Wrestling Federation
1963-1979: WWWF
The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) recognizes the undeniable NWA World Heavyweight Champion that goes to several different professional wrestling promotions in the NWA. Championships are maintained all over the world. The NWA generally promotes powerful shooters as champions, to give them the credibility of their successful sport and keep themselves from double crosses. While doing a solid business in the Midwest (NWA core area), this wrestler is not interested in the Capitol Wrestling Corporation area. In 1961, the NWA council decided to put the championship on blond player "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, a much more effective image card in the region. The rest of the NWA was not happy with Mondt because he rarely let Rogers wrestle outside the Northeast. Mondt and McMahon wanted Rogers to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, but Rogers did not want to sacrifice his $ 25,000 deposit on the championship belt (championship holders at the time had to pay a deposit to ensure they respected their commitment as champions). Rogers lost NWA World Heavyweight Championship to Lou Thesz in an autumn match in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on January 24, 1963, which caused Mondt, McMahon, and CWC to leave the NWA in protest, creating the World Wide Wrestling Federation. (WWWF) in the process.
On April 25 of that year, Rogers was awarded the new WWWF World Heavyweight Championship, which allegedly won 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 just before the game. To accommodate Rogers conditions, the match has been booked to last less than a minute.
Sammartino will defend his title for seven years, eight months and one day (2,803 days), making it the longest longest world championship in the history of male wrestling. Although Sammartino is the face of WWWF, wrestlers like Superstar Billy Graham and Bob Backlund are also very popular. WWWF became famous in the 1970s by holding their biggest performances at Shea Stadium or Madison Square Garden and doing strong business throughout the Northeast megalopolis. They used the former, but still popular, wrestlers like Captain Lou Albano, Ernie Roth's "Grand Wizard of Wrestling" and "Classy" Freddie Blassie to act as managers for the opponents of Sammartino (evil). At this time, only babyface wrestlers (allowed fans) are allowed to have long championship championships, such as Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales and Bob Backlund, all of which lasted for over a year. Heel champions, such as Ivan Koloff and Stan Stasiak, are used to "transition" the championship from one wrestler to another, and they usually defend the title for no more than a month long program before dropping it onto the next babyface. Graham is the only heel character to defend his championship for more than a month, because the WWWF feels it takes time to build Backlund as a championship material.
WWWF is relatively conservative for promotion on that day; running the main arena every month rather than weekly or biweekly. The program generally involves a babyface champion who faces a heel challenger for one to three meetings in each scheduled city; for longer programs, the heels often win the first game in a non-decisive way such as tally or through excessive blood loss, and the champions will then survive in ultraviolent matches like a steel cage game or a Texas Death game. Unlike most NWA areas, the main event will occur in the middle of the card show arena, allowing the company to build a finished game to sell tickets to the next event; Reliable and popular workers like Head Jay Strongbow will then wrestle at the end of the show to send the crowd to the house. The WWWF also featured popular wrestlers based outside the WWWF region such as Dusty Rhodes and retained the (then) most popular and high-cost wrestler service in the world, Andrà ©  the Giant, among its international and territorial obligations.
Toots Mondt left the WWWF in the late sixties, and Vincent J. McMahon took full control of the organization in 1971. Later that year, The Mongols created controversy after they left the WWWF with the WWWF International Tag Championship. The championship will be deemed inactive as a result until Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler win the tournament to claim the championship. They then defeated the Mongols in November 1971, setting aside any claims. The Mongols must join the championship. In March 1979, for the purpose of marketing, the World Wide Wrestling Federation was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
Maps History of WWE
World Wrestling Federation
1979-1982: Transition
In 1980, Vincent K. McMahon, son of Vincent J. McMahon, founded Titan Sports, Inc. and applied trademarks for the initials "WWF".
1982-1993: The Golden Era
In 1983, McMahon bought Capitol Sports, WWF's parent company, from his father and colleagues Gorilla Monsoon and Arnold Skaaland.
Trying to make WWF the world's premier wrestling campaign, he embarked on a process of expansion that changed industry fundamentally. In an interview with Sports Illustrated , McMahon noted:
After taking over the company, McMahon immediately worked to get WWF programs on syndicated television throughout the United States. This angers other promoters and disrupts the well-defined boundaries of various wrestling promotions. In addition, companies use the revenue generated by advertising, television deals, and record sales to gain talent from rival promoters.
Capitol Sports already controls most of the northeast, but the younger McMahon wants WWF to be a national wrestling campaign; something the NWA does not approve of. He quickly despatched his promotion of the NWA, such as the American Wrestling Association, which controls the North Midwest of the United States. To become a national promotion, WWF must become larger than AWA or NWA promotion.
McMahon's vision for his promotion began to become possible when he signed the AWA talent Hulk Hogan, who had gained popularity beyond wrestling - especially for his performance at Rocky III as Thunderlips. McMahon signed Rowdy Roddy Piper as a Hogan rival, and soon signed Jesse "The Body" Ventura. Other significant wrestlers that are part of the list include: Big John Studd, AndrÃÆ'Â © the Giant, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, "The Magnificent" Don Muraco, Junkyard Dog, "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine , Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, and Nikolai Volkoff. In 1984, Hogan was pushed to the status of the main event. He defeated WWF Heavyweight Woman Champion Sheik at Madison Square Garden on January 23, 1984 and thus developed into one of the most recognizable and popular faces in professional wrestling.
With reasonable revenue, McMahon is able to secure a television offer, and WWF is being shown across the United States. McMahon also began selling videotapes of WWF events outside Northeast through its Coliseum Video distribution company, once again angering other promoters. The syndication of the WWF program enforces promotion to engage in direct competition with WWF. Increased revenue allows McMahon to sign more talents, such as Brutus Beefcake, Tito Santana, Roberts Jake "The Snake", Butch Reed, and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan.
However, for McMahon to truly transform WWF into a national promotion, he has to tour WWF throughout the United States. Such an undertaking is not possible with WWF's current income, so McMahon envisions a way to get the necessary capital through an all-or-no risk gamble on the supercard concept called WrestleMania in 1985. WrestleMania will be a pay-per-view extravaganza, it can be seen on closed-circuit television and marketed as a professional wrestling Super Bowl. WrestleMania was not the first supercard seen in professional wrestling, because the NWA previously managed Starrcade in 1983. However, McMahon's vision is to make WWF and the industry itself mainstream, targeting more public television viewers by exploiting the entertainment side of the industry. With the inaugural WrestleMania, WWF started a promotional campaign together with MTV, which featured a lot of WWF coverage and programming, in what is called 'Rock' n 'Wrestling Connection . The attention of mainstream media brought by celebrities including Muhammad Ali, Mr T and Cyndi Lauper at the show helped push WrestleMania to become a staple in popular culture, and the use of celebrities has been a staple of the company to this day.
With the success of WrestleMania, other promotions that strive to keep the region's living regional system begin to join under Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). Starrcade and The Great American Bash are JCP versions of WrestleMania, but even when operating within its territory, JCP differs from the success of WWF. After Ted Turner bought most of the JCP assets, the promotion would be World Championship Wrestling (WCW), providing WWF with competitors until 2001, when WCW and its trademark were purchased by WWF. WrestleMania will become an annual pay-per-view phenomenon, broadcast in nearly 150 countries and in nearly 20 different languages.
Perhaps the peak of the 1980s wrestling boom was WrestleMania III at Pontiac Silverdome, which set a record of 93,173 attendance. In the main event Hulk Hogan defended the WWF Championship against AndrÃÆ'Â © the Giant. McMahon used the success of WrestleMania to create more pay-per-views and traditions such as SummerSlam, Survivor Series and Royal Rumble, the latter two both receiving their name from a unique match provision featured on the show.
McMahon's focus on entertainment rather than delivering legitimate sporting products, the policy that drew sports entertainment, brought WWF a huge financial success. During the 1980s, Hulk Hogan would be the main character presented as an all-American hero. Hogan's time as WWF's face would last until he left the company in the summer of 1993. Other stars such as "Macho Man" Randy Savage, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, The Ultimate Warrior, The Honky Tonk Man, "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, and others also helped make WWF successful financially in this period. Jim Duggan won the first Royal Rumble game in 1988. Although these talents could be recognized as individuals, some talents became better known for their teamwork as part of the tag team. Stables or groups such as Demolition, Strike Force, The Hart Foundation, the British Bulldogs, The Rockers and The Fabulous Rougeaus helped create a strong tag team division for WWF. Toward the end of the "Golden Age", Bret Hart of the Hart Foundation started out as a single competitor, with the most memorable game since its inception at SummerSlam in 1992 against "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. Hart will eventually capture the WWF Heavyweight World Championship from Ric Flair later that year and will win the next King of the Ring tournament.
In January 1993, WWF created their prime time cable television program Monday Night Raw , which aired on the USA Network.
1993-1997: New Generation Era
In 1991, it was reported that Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, Rick Martel, Brian Blair, and Dan Spivey testified that they had purchased steroids from Dr. WWF doctors. George T. Zahorian, who was charged with the illegal distribution of drugs. Two years later, Vince McMahon was indicted for his relationship with Zahorian, and faced a possible eight-year prison sentence and a $ 500,000 fine if found guilty. The trial began on July 7, 1994, with prosecutors, who promised to expose WWF's "dark, corrupted underbelly", claiming McMahon distributed "candy-like" steroids and forced the wrestlers to take medicine. Wrestler Nailz testified that McMahon once said to him: "I strongly suggest you go with the gas". A few days later, Hogan admitted that the use of steroids among WWF wrestlers was common, but denied that it was pressed to do so by McMahon. A week later, McMahon was released from all charges, and was quoted as saying "I am happy." Just like in wrestling, ultimately good people always win. "
With the business down in 1992 because of the bad press of the steroid scandal, Vince McMahon began to encourage younger talent into the spotlight over the next few years. In mid-1993, Bret "Hit Man" Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Razor Ramon, Diesel, Lex Luger, The 1-2-3 Kid, Owen Hart and others all became the star of what eventually WWF branded as " New generation". Hulk Hogan would leave the company in the summer of 1993 and Hart would be one of the most popular stars of the period until his departure in 1997.
Meanwhile, competition between big wrestling companies is on the rise. In 1994, WCW signed Hulk Hogan and other former WWF stars for multi-year contracts, and in 1995 launched TNI's "Monday Nitro" in direct opposite Raw The Monday Night Wars.
In mid-1996, with the introduction of the New World Order (nWo), a stable led by former WWF wrestlers Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall (Razor Ramon), and Kevin Nash (Diesel), Nitro two years. More talents left WWF to go to WCW, including Ted DiBiase, Curt Hennig, ruling WWF World Champion Alundra Blayze and The 1-2-3 Kid while Bret Hart decided to stay with WWF despite a lucrative offer by WCW. At Badd Blood: At Your Home in 1997, the first Hell in a Cell match will be held between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels, which Michaels won after interrupting the half-story of Undertaker's half-brother Kane. Hell in a match Cell has been one of the most popular gimmick matches in the history of wrestling.
1997-2002: The Attitude Era
In 1997, Vince McMahon responded to the great success of WCW by bringing WWF in different directions with more realistic characters and better storylines. The rising stars include the group D-Generation X (consisting of Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Rick Rude and Chyna) and Stone Cold Steve Austin and Andre The Gaint, which rose in popularity starting in 1996, King of the Ring won and famous "Austin 3:16" speech. Despite starting out as a villain, Austin's popularity will start gradually exceeding the top fan favorites in the promotion. On the Survivor Series in November 1997, WWF debuted with the "initial" logo that would be the company's signature throughout the Era of Attitude and on December 15, 1997, Vince McMahon aired a promo about Raw Is War who greeted audience. on companies that embark on "more innovative and contemporary campaigns", which will suggest parents' wisdom for younger audiences.
In 1997, McMahon also told Bret Hart that he could no longer pay to pay what his contract said, and suggested that he return to the more lucrative deal that WCW offered him. Hart signed a contract with WCW but the behind-the-scenes controversy grew over Hart's final game, resulting in Montreal Screwjob. Hart defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Shawn Michaels in the 1997 Survivor Series, when McMahon ordered the referee to give match prizes and championships to Michaels as if Hart had handed them over. While Hart went on to WCW, McMahon received enormous counterattacks from the media, wrestlers and fans, inspiring him to create Mr. characters. McMahon, extending his status as a promoter.
After Hart's departure the company implements a heavy push of the popular anti-hero character, Stone Cold Steve Austin whose popularity is increasing and similar to Hulk Hogan's popularity in the 1980s. During a corner involving Mike Tyson at WrestleMania XIV in March 1998, Austin became WWF Champion by defeating Shawn Michaels, who gave rise to the Austin era and Mr. The despotic McMahon who started a long-running feud with Austin, this feud will be crucial at the WWF turning the tides in the rank war with competing company WCW. Later that year, new talent began to emerge for WWF: The Rock, Triple H, Mick Foley and Kane reinforced the WWF single division while horse stables like D-Generation X and Nation of Domination, helped fight against competing company WCW.
WWF rebounded in rank and popularity, with Raw Is War finally defeating Nitro for the first time in 84 weeks on 13 April 1998. The ratings will continue to increase until 1998 and 1999 game 12 minutes between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Undertaker pulled the rank 9.5 on June 28, 1999. It currently stands as the highest segment in Raw history.
The Attitude Era sees WWF extending its television coverage and business structure as well. During this period, WWF's parent company, Titan Sports, was renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. (WWFE, Inc. or WWFE) and on October 19, 1999 became a public company, offering 10 million shares for $ 17 each, and started trading. on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2000.
In 1999, WWF launched a secondary program known as SmackDown! on the UPN network to compete with WCW Thunder . Smackdown! " the pilot made its debut as a special on 29 April 1999. Beginning August 26, 1999, WWF program was broadcast weekly In 2000, WWF, working with NBC television network, created XFL, a new professional football league. , is a failure, only lasted a year before closing the door.
Chief writer Chris Kreski replaced Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara, who defected to WCW in 1999. Kreski's work is admired for well-planned and detailed plotlines, and the transitional period sees hostilities and storylines such as Three H/Jack Cactus disputes, The Triple H/Kurt Angle/Stephanie McMahon love a triangle, and a very successful feud between The Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian, and The Dudley Boyz. In the Survivor Series, WWF's top star, Stone Cold Steve Austin was hit by a limousine to write him on television due to a serious neck injury.
Prior to WrestleMania 2000, the McMahon family had gone into competition on-screen with each other for the first time, arranging "McMahon in Every Corner" a major four-way elimination event between the Big Show (managed by Shane McMahon), The Rock (managed by Mr. McMahon ), Triple H (managed by Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley), and future WWF commissioner Mick Foley (managed by Linda McMahon). Triple H win after Mr. McMahon revives The Rock and thus retains the WWF Championship.
Stone Cold Steve Austin will return to the company at Unforgiven 2000 and will then make his ring back at No Mercy, to take revenge on Rikishi, who has been declared a limousine driver who attacked Austin in the Survivor Series. Austin will win the Royal Rumble game next year and win against The Rock for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania X-Seven with the help of his former rival, Mr. McMahon, turned into a villain in the process.
2001-2002: The Alliance Invasion and the nWo
In the Invasion storyline, Shane McMahon (kayfabe) earned World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in April 2001 and WCW personnel invaded WWF. For the first time since Monday Night Wars, WWF bought WCW has made a big inter-promotion feud in America, but the Invasion turned out to disappoint many fans. One of the main reasons is that many of the big names of WCW are still under contract with WCW's parent company, AOL Time Warner, rather than WCW itself, and their contract is not included in the company's purchase. These wrestlers choose to delay the duration of their contracts and are financially supported by AOL Time Warner rather than working for WWF with cheaper salaries.
On July 9, 2001, WCW stars and Extreme Wrestling Championships (acquired by Stephanie McMahon in related story lines) merged, forming an "Alliance" with WCW owner Shane McMahon and new owner ECW Stephanie McMahon who led, with the support and influence of the owner of ECW original Paul Heyman. During Invasion, Stone Cold Steve Austin turned WWF on and helped the Alliance win the Inauguration Match. In the Survivor Series, WWF eventually defeated WCW and ECW in "Winner Takes All Matches" and the corner is concluded. In the aftermath of the Invasion angle, WWF made some major changes to their products. Ric Flair returned to WWF as the company's "co-owner", in a row with Vince McMahon. Jerry Lawler returned to the company after a nine month hiatus, after his replacement on Paul Heyman's comments was fired on screen by Vince McMahon. Some former Alliance stars are absorbed into the regular WWF list, such as Booker T, The Hurricane, Lance Storm, and Rob Van Dam. At Vengeance 2001, Chris Jericho went on to unify the WCW Championships and WWF Championships, beating The Rock and Steve Austin on the same night.
Finally Vince McMahon brought back Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall to reunite the nWo at pay-per-view No Way Out in February 2002. However, the storyline proved unpopular with fans and Hogan immediately turned to WrestleMania X8 after the classic match with The Rock. On March 25, 2002 at the Raw World Wrestling Federation, WWF first draw, which means WWF superstars are separated between two brands, Raw and SmackDown !. It became effective starting April 1, 2002 in Raw, leading to a new era, and ending the Attitude Era.
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE)
In 2002, the World Wrestling Federation lost a lawsuit initiated by World Wildlife Fund on the WWF trademark. The World Wrestling Federation was forced to change its image, and on May 6, 2002 the company changed its business name to World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE). Soon, they removed all elements that used the term Federation; this affects licensed merchandise such as action shots, video games, and home video releases with previous logos, replaced by new "scratch" logos. WWF's last branded pay-per-view event was British Insurrextion on May 4, 2002. During this time, the company launched WWE Studios, originally formed as WWE Films.
2002-2008: The Age of Cruel Aggression
In April 2002, with excess talent employed as a result of buying WCW and ECW, WWE needed a way to give exposure to all of its talents. This problem is solved by introducing "Brand Extension", with the list split into two and the talent set for Raw or SmackDown! in the mock draft lottery. Wrestlers, commentators and referees are exclusive events, and the event is given separately on the General Manager screen. Shortly thereafter, on June 24, 2002 the episode of Raw , Vince McMahon officially referred to a new era as "Cruel Aggression". Then in 2002, after WWE Champion Brock Lesnar announced himself as the exclusive property of SmackDown! brand and with the creation of the World Heavyweight Championships, all the championships become too exclusive. In addition, Raw and SmackDown! began staging individual pay-per-view events featuring only the brand's artists - only four major payments per Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series remain double-branded. The practice of a single brand pay-per-view event is abandoned after WrestleMania 23. As a result, Raw and Smackdown is managed as two distinct promotions, with lottery designs conducted annually to determine which talents are assigned to each brand. This goes on until August 2011, when the list of names is merged and the Brand Extension is secretly deleted.
Two top stars from the Era of Attitude, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, eventually left the company in 2003 and 2004, while newcomers such as Brock Lesnar, who will be the youngest WWE Champion and Randy Orton, who became the youngest World Champion heavyweight, saw great success. Triple H will also stand out during this time, winning some of the fourteen world championships, such as The Undertaker's winning streak WrestleMania are starting to gain fame. Rey Smithter, Kurt Angle, Edge, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Randy Orton, John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Rob Van Dam were also given the main event and all eventually became the multi-time world champion. From mid-2002 to 2003, WWE brought several leading WCW stars to the company, including Eric Bischoff, Scott Steiner, Goldberg, Kevin Nash, and Ric Flair. The Great American Bash, originally a WCW pay-per-view event, debuted at WWE.
In August 2002, Shawn Michaels will also return as a wrestler at SummerSlam after being absent for more than four years. He will achieve great success, and win the World Championship in the first Elimination Chamber match in the Survivor Series. In 2006, Michaels will reunite with Triple H to once again form the popular 1990s group D-Generation X. They will have great animosity with The Spirit Squad, the McMahon family, and the newly-formed Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton ), which ended prematurely when Triple H suffered a torn thigh muscle in 2007.
Eddie Guerrero of the famous Mexican Guerrero wrestling family achieved great fame during this period. He got a big fanbase in 2003 at SmackDown! , which led to a rapid increase in popularity, promoted it to major event status and he eventually won his first world championship, WWE Championship at No Way Out in 2004. He remained as the company's best wrestler after winning the WWE title, until his death at 13 November 2005. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, the following year in 2006. Guerrero's death due to his drug addiction caused WWE to implement the WWE Wellness Policy to prevent wrestlers from using drugs. The state of his death will give the media to his screenmate Rey Mysterio to emerge as the premier main advocate and win the 2006 Royal Rumble match and the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 22.
But the greatest runaway star of the Ruthless Aggression era would be John Cena and Batista. After his debut, Cena quickly proved popular because of the "Doctor of Thuganomics" white rapper gimmick on the SmackDown brand, received a WWE Championship match against Brock Lesnar in the spring at Backlash in 2003, and had a big feud with The Undertaker during the summer. At WrestleMania 21, he won his first world championship when he defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield WWE Champion at the time. Cena's popularity soared when he was recruited into Raw, where he quickly became the face of WWE, an increase not seen since Austin and Hulk Hogan. The popularity of Cena has led to him becoming the all-time record of "desire makers" for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which delivers more than 500 wishes as of August 2017. Other popular wrestlers during that period were Bobby Lashley of the ECW brand. Cena will defeat Lashley at The Great American Bash in 2007, shortly after Lashley left WWE.
Beginning in early 2005, Batista's popularity will soar like Cena, winning the Royal Rumble 2005 and World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 21 from Triple H. Then in 2005 Batista will continue to defeat Triple H in a very famous Hell in a Cell match. in Vengeance. Although Batista will be a great success in a few months after his championship victory, he will suffer an injury in early 2006 and lost WrestleMania that year. After returning and finally winning another world championship, at WrestleMania 23 in 2007, Batista will defend the title for The Undertaker in a classic battle. Both Cena and Batista will not face each other for the first time until SummerSlam in 2008, with Batista winning.
Edge became a leading superstar during this period, and will have a fierce competition with John Cena after cashing his money in a Bank contract on Cena to win the WWE Championship. Both will have several matches including the highly acclaimed Table, Ladder, and Chairs at Unforgiven 2006, which Cena won. The tip will be described as the best heel from the era of Cruel Aggression. He will form a Rated-RKO evil tag team with Randy Orton's other top heels. The alliance took place between 2006-2007. By the end of 2007 Edge will start a business on screen with SmackDown! General manager Vickie Guerrero, who looks at his hands, filters out some unanswered opportunities and makes biased decisions for Edge. But the relationship would then suffer periodic distrust after Edge was caught having an affair. Although this Vickie and Edge won the Slammy Award for Couples of the Year in 2008, but will be disbanded shortly after. Throughout 2008 Edge will be at odds with The Undertaker, which ends with Undertaker defeating him in Hell in a Cell match at the SummerSlam main event.
2005: Money in Bank
The Concept for Money in Bank matches was introduced in March 2005 by Chris Jericho. Jericho gave an idea to an episode of Raw to general manager Eric Bischoff, who liked it and immediately signed it to WrestleMania 21 who commissioned Jericho, Christian, Chris Benoit, Edge, Shelton Benjamin and Kane to participate in the game. Edge won this inaugural match, and because, many times the match became a way to help lift new stars to the main event, with winners like CM Punk, The Miz, Daniel Bryan, Alberto Del Rio, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose. The match format was originally exclusively for the annual WrestleMania through 2010, when the Pay-per-view Bank Money debuted. In 2017, Shane McMahon announced the first ever Money in the Bank game, won by Carmella.
2005-2006: ECW return
In 2005, WWE began reintroducing the Extreme Wrestling Championships (ECW) through content from the ECW video library and a series of books, which included the release of The Rise and Fall of ECW.
On 26 May 2006, WWE officially announced the relaunch of the franchise with its own show on NBC Universal Sci Fi Channel, later known as Syfy, starting June 13, 2006. Despite initial concerns that professional wrestling will not be accepted by Sci. Demographic Fi Channel, President of the Bonnie Hammer network stated that he believes ECW will match the channel theme of "stretching the imagination".
On June 13, Paul Heyman, the former owner of ECW and the newly appointed doll head for the ECW brand, recruited ECW World Heavyweight Championship to become a world championship brand and gave it to Rob Van Dam as a result of winning the WWE Championship at One Night Stand 2006. Below WWE flag, ECW is presented in a modern style that when it is an independent promotion and is produced following the same format from other brands, with match rules, such as countdown and disqualification, becoming the standard. Matches that feature sets of ECW promotion rules are classified as being contested under "Extreme Rules" and are only fought when specified otherwise. The brand will continue to operate until February 16, 2010, when the brand was made to die.
2008-2013: The PG Era
In the summer of 2008, WWE began to distance itself from edgier content last year, going with a more conservative approach. Although no correct start date is given, the July 22, 2008 episode of SmackDown is the first show to use the PG television rating compared to using the PG DVL rating. While fans will dub this "Era PG" early on, references from wrestlers themselves will come later such as Triple H in the documentary "Thy Kingdom Come" and Natalya on the episode "Table for 3". In 2009, WWE debuted as the concept of the Baku guest host, initially with Donald Trump (in the storyline of only one night the owner of kayfabe Raw), where various celebrities, athletes or wrestlers of the past make weekly appearances and put on shows and stories until 2010. Also in 2009 the D-Generation X reunited and will win a combined WWE tag team title from Chris Jericho and The Big show in Table, Ladder and Matches Chairs. On January 4, 2010, Bret Hart returned to the WWE ring after a thirteen year absence, in which he reconciled with Shawn Michaels on screen. At WrestleMania XXVI, Michaels retired after losing to The Undertaker. Other top players Edge also retired a year later. Also in 2010, Bret Hart served briefly as general manager of the Raw before being replaced by General Manager Rawal Anonymous. In early 2011, The Rock returned to WWE when he was announced as host for WrestleMania XXVII. Rock started a feud between generations with John Cena, who saw him defeat Cena in a match at WrestleMania XXVIII.
In August 2011, WWE began halting brand extension when they gave Raw tagline "SuperShow", meaning wrestlers can show up on Raw and Smackdown. Along the original WWE brand extension, the company held 9 total lottery drafts. Starting with Baku ' 1000 episodes, airing on July 23, 2012, Raw has deleted the tag "SuperShow" and has been extended from two hours to three hours of broadcast, a format previously reserved for a special episode. Superstar like CM Punk, Alberto Del Rio, Daniel Bryan, Sheamus, The Miz, Dolph Zigler, Ryback, Kofi Kingston and John Morrison were pushed into the spotlight around this period.
Year 2011 saw a highly recognized dispute between two of the company's most famous superstars, John Cena and CM Punk. Their match at Money in the Bank on July 17 was named one of the greatest matches in WWE history. Punk, who has been a top star during the summer of 2011 because of the famous "Pipe Bomb" promo, will host the WWE Championship for 434 days before losing to The Rock at Royal Rumble 2013, a government recognized by WWE as the sixth all time and longest in 25 years. The Rock defended the championship until he was defeated by John Cena at WrestleMania 29 in a rematch of their fight the previous year. Cena will then drop the title to Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam, as soon as it starts the Authority storyline that saw Bryan become the top babyface in WWE with Cena who got hurt.
After Bryan was removed from the WWE Championship on Raw following Night of Champions and then removed from his main push event, on several occasions, such as during the 2013 Slammy Awards, fans will successfully hijack a segment where Bryan is not involved, or just involved secondary, with "Yes! " song. In the case of "Upgrade Ceremony of the Championship", the fan continued "Yes!" the singing will force John Cena to stray from the script and acknowledge Bryan (especially since the show is held in Seattle), as that segment should be about the upcoming Cena and Randy Orton championship matches at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. On 15 December 2013, the WWE World Championship and WWE Championships are united in the Table, Ladder and Match Chairs between Cena and Orton, won by Orton and an integrated championship briefly called the World WWE Heavyweight Championship, but soon the wound becomes renamed simply as WWE Championship
2010: Launch of NXT
On February 23, 2010, WWE launched a new program in SyFy called NXT . The premise of the show is a real show that saw eight new stars (Rookies) guided by Superstars from the main list (Pro), and ran for over three months, with the last episode of the first season on June 1, 2010. The winner of the season is Wade Barrett, who was mentored by Chris Jericho. Six days after the end of the first season, the rookies, now calling themselves The Nexus, interfere in the main Raw game between John Cena and CM Punk, attacking both the competitors and the team that announced, before unpacking the ring area and the surrounding equipment. During the segment, Daniel Bryan strangled the announcer ring of Justin Roberts with his own broadcaster tie, which WWE reportedly felt was too ferocious for their family friendly program. As a result, WWE announced via their official website four days later that Bryan had been (legally) exempt from his contract. NXT lasted for three complete seasons, each won by Kaval, Kaitlyn, and Johnny Curtis. The fifth season, dubbed NXT Redemption , featuring former NXT participants, never announces the winner and silently ends with Derrick Bateman being the only remaining participant. Finally, the event turned into both a television show and the new official development area of ​​WWE, replacing the Florida Wrestling Championships, and is permanently located at Full Sail University.
2014-2016: The Reality Era
The night after Royal Rumble 2014, CM Punk quit WWE because it felt unduly treated by officials inside the company while also dealing with staph infections that were misdiagnosed. Meanwhile, when fans' favorite encouragement of Daniel Bryan has been stopped by WWE and after Royal Rumble, fans anger over the misuse of Bryan's character resulted in an unplanned change to the main event of WrestleMania XXX. On March 24, 2014 the episode of Raw , Bryan's rival at the time of Triple H dubbed this point at WWE as "The Age of Reality" in which he acknowledged the internet and fans became more widespread than ever and had more influence on the company than earlier as seen in Daniel Bryan's scenario. Bryan will eventually be included in the main WrestleMania event, capturing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the process. Also at WrestleMania XXX, The Undertaker was defeated for the first time at the event by Brock Lesnar, following 21 consecutive wins since 1991. Lesnar then went on to beat John Cena at SummerSlam to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, winning his first WWE title in one decades. The introduction of WWE Network and WWE Performance Center was a major breakthrough during this period as well.
The legend of WCW Sting, previously dubbed the "greatest wrestler to never wrestle at WWE", made his debut in the 2014 Survivor Series and made his first match at WWE in WrestleMania 31 against Triple H, the match he will lose. At the same event, Undertaker returned to defeat Bray Wyatt. Former members of Shield Seth Rollins will also find success during this era, going on to win and hold the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for most of 2015 before having to vacate the championship due to injury. This era also sees the retirement of Daniel Bryan, a very popular competitor who has previously won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXX.
The long-standing TNA Impact wrestler and international superstar AJ Styles finally made their debut on WWE at Royal Rumble 2016 as well. Shane McMahon returned to WWE television in February 2016, where he will be placed in a Hell in a Cell match against The Undertaker in WrestleMania 32 where he lost. WrestleMania 32 in Arlington, Texas (referred to as Dallas) gathers the largest crowd ever attending the WrestleMania event, outpacing the 100,000 disputed participants. In the main event, Roman Reigns defeated Triple H to capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Authority was officially dissolved on 1 May 2016.
2016-present: "New" Era
After WrestleMania 32, major changes took place at WWE, as a new start for the company was dubbed the "New Era." In the first pay-per-view on May 1, Payback's main event saw the Roman Government retain the WWE World Class Championships against AJ Styles. Then in May 2016, WWE announced that the listings would take place starting July, similar to what happened in 2002. Three former members of The Shield: Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins have been featured since the start of the New Era, with all three the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Money in the Bank in June 2016. While the now renamed WWE World Championship will be transferred to the newly introduced Smackdown, WWE Universal Championship brand for Raw, with Finn BÃÆ'¡lor becoming its first champion. In addition to The Shield, male wrestlers are clearly featured in the New Era including AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, Bobby Roode, Cesaro, Jinder Mahal, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura; along with female wrestlers like Alexa Bliss, Asuka, Bayley, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Carmella, Natalya, Naomi, Nia Jax and Sasha Banks; and tag teams like Cesaro and Sheamus, Gallows and Anderson, The Hardy Boyz, Heath Slater and Rhyno, The Revival, The Usos and The New Day, whose second reign as champion will be the longest for any tag team championship in WWE history at 483 days.
Divas Divas renamed the Women's division and the company introduced the new WWE Women's Championship and the Divas Championship retirement. The female superstar also began receiving more flight time for their matches, and began receiving the spotlight as much as male superstars, so that the "New Era" has been credited as the beginning of the "female revolution". Shane McMahon will continue to appear on WWE, where he currently serves as SmackDown (renamed SmackDown Live with live episode) Commissioner, while his sister Stephanie serves as Commissioner Raw. Shane McMahon is credited with giving this company era its name.
In the Raw-Branded Hell on the Cell pay-per-view show, Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks make history not only at the first female WWE-initiated pay-per-view performances but dealing with the first woman ever. Hell in a Sel Game for the Raw Women's Championship was renamed (after the creation of the Women's Smackdown Championship), which was won by Flair.
Around this time, Goldberg briefly returned to WWE and will defeat Brock Lesnar in the Survivor Series on November 20 and go to win the WWE Universal Championship at Fastlane on March 6 against Kevin Owens, before losing to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 33. The team's popular tag The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy), making them return to the WWE in 2017. John Cena's top wrestler became the current part-time timer and lost to Roman rule in what was considered a "passing a torch game" at No Mercy. It will also mark the rise of Roman Reigns as the face of WWE. After WrestleMania 33, Kurt Angle returned to WWE and became the new General Manager of Baku. WWE will also continue to establish Braun Strowman as one of the company's largest superstar by 2017 after it attacked and injured the Government during an interview on Raw. Strowman went on to beat the other wrestlers on the list and had a decisive victory over Government in Payback on April 30.
In June 2017, Carmella won the first Bank Money money match at the Bank in Money in the Bank. However, due to a controversial ending, involving James Ellsworth helping Carmela win the game at the event, the rematch of the Women's Money Ladder match at the Bank was held on June 27th of the SmackDown Live episode, where Carmella won once again, the only woman in history who won two Women's Money in a Bank ladder match, both in one year. In January 2018, Asuka won the first 30 Royal Rumble Princess games at Royal Rumble. In February 2018, Alexa Bliss won her first Women's Chamber Elimination Game at the Elimination Chamber, where she will retain the Raw women's championship.
At WrestleMania 34, former UFC brawler Ronda Rousey made him WWE in his debut ring, teaming up with Kurt Angle to defeat Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a mixed-tag team match. Daniel Bryan returns to the ring competition at WrestleMania 34, teaming up with Shane McMahon to defeat Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a tag team match. Bobby Lashley returns to WWE on the next Raw episode. At Greatest Royal Rumble, Braun Strowman won the first 50-person Royal Rumble game, the biggest royal race in history, where he will receive the Royal Rumble Royal Championship and the trophy.
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WWE Online
In 1998, Shane McMahon helped set up the WWE digital media department and launched WWF.com on May 21, 1998 (now known as WWE.com), a site that receives more than seven million visitors per month.
Owen Hart's death
On May 23, 1999, Owen Hart fell to his death in Kansas City, Missouri during Over the Edge pay-per-view. Hart is in the process of descending through a harness and grapple line into the ring of the Kemper Arena rafter for the Intercontinental Championship game that has been booked against The Godfather. In keeping with his new Blue Blazer "hero superhero" character, he will start a dramatic entrance, lowered to the ring level above, at which point he will act "tangled", then detach himself from the rope and faint. his face for comedic effect - this requires the use of a quick release mechanism. It was an explanation of the previous Blue Blazer action on Sunday Night Heat before the Survivor Series in 1998.
When dropped to the ring, Hart drops 78 feet (24 m), landing the first chest on the rope (about one foot from the nearest turnbuckle), throwing it into the ring.
Hart has taken action only a few times before. Hart Widow, Martha, suggested that, by moving to feel comfortable with both her armor and her cloak, Hart accidentally triggers an early release. Television viewers did not see the incident. Some time after autumn, pre-recorded sketches are shown on pay-per-view broadcasts as well as on monitors in the dark arena. After that, while Hart is being worked on by medical personnel in the ring, live broadcast shows only the audience. Meanwhile, WWF television broadcaster Jim Ross repeatedly told those who watched instantly for what had just happened was not a wrestling corner or storyline and that Hart was badly wounded, emphasizing the seriousness of the situation.
Hart was transported to Truman Medical Center in Kansas City. While several attempts to revive him were made, he died of his wounds; some believe he died in the ring. The cause of death is then reduced to internal bleeding from blunt object trauma.
Legends and WWE Hall of Fame
The Legend Program started informally with the return of the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony in 2004, which is held annually during the WrestleMania weekend. Introduction to WWE 24/7, WWE-based on-demand TV service, WWE Network, WWE over-the-top drainage and the success of career retrospective home video releases such as The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection Roddy Piper: Born for the Controversy, and Brian Pillman: The Loose Cannon has bundled WWE's modern products with a sense of inheritance, and allows a new generation of wrestling fans to watch matches and events that they may have previously heard. WWE will also offer selected groups of previous WWE wrestlers or retirees, put them publicly as "WWE Legends", contracts to make periodic appearances - either on WWE TV or for promotional events - and to act as "Ambassadors" talk) for the company.
Death of Eddie Guerrero
On the morning of November 13, 2005, Chavo Guerrero checked into the hotel with his uncle, Eddie Guerrero, in Minneapolis, Minnesota where they were both scheduled to be part of Raw and SmackDown plans! "Supershow" (the show where both Raw and SmackDown! will take place on the same night in the same arena). After Eddie missed the wake-up call, security opened his hotel room and Chavo found his uncle unconscious. Chavo tried CPR, but the 38-year-old Eddie was declared dead on the scene. Vickie Guerrero, Eddie's wife, later announced that the autopsy decided the cause of death to be a major heart failure.
Guerrero's death falls on a day when he is scheduled to compete in a match for the World Heavyweight Championship versus Batista and Randy Orton. The company awarded Guerrero on both Raw and SmackDown for a week after his death. On April 1, 2006 at the WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony over the weekend of WrestleMania 22, Guerrero Vickie's wife received a posthumous induction to the WWE Hall of Fame by Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit and Chavo Guerrero.
Following the death of Guerrero, Vince McMahon announces a new drug policy in which players will be subject to random drug testing by independent companies and will receive regular medical physics with an emphasis on cardiovascular health.
Chris Benoit's double and suicide
On June 25, 2007, Police Fayette County notified WWE at around 4:15 pm, informing them that they had found the bodies of three of Chris, Nancy, and their seven-year-old son Daniel Benoit at their home in Fayette County, Georgia, and the house is now ruled as a "big crime scene". WWE canceled a 3-hour Raw Raw event on June 25 (which, incidentally, should have been a written warning for Mr. McMahon's character), and replaced the broadcast version with awards for his life and career, featuring previous matches, segments of Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story DVD, and comments from wrestler and broadcaster from Raw, Smackdown! and the ECW brand that is no longer in use. Shortly after the program aired, many published comments were posted on WWE.com. It was not until the program was nearly over that the reports appeared that the police were working under the belief that Benoit killed his wife and son before committing suicide for three days.
The following night, after several details of death became available, the company broadcast a statement recorded by its chairman Vince McMahon before their ECW broadcast:
Following the suicide by Chris Benoit, the US Government's Supervisory and Reform Committee began investigating WWE on their Fitness policy. After Benoit's death, WWE began to reduce violence, harassment, and sexual content from their products.
Social media and WWE HD
In January 2008, WWE began broadcasting in high-definition, beginning with January 21st episode Raw , while Royal Rumble 2008 was the first pay-per-view event presented in HD.
On November 19, 2008, WWE officially launched their online social network, WWE Universe. Opened in April as WWE Fan Nation , and adopted the name WWE Universe a few months later. The website is similar to MySpace, with blogs, forums, photos, videos, and other features. Despite its increasing popularity, the site closed on January 1, 2011 and has since been replaced with WWE InterAction. Since closing their social media website, WWE has created accounts on social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tout, and Instagram, with executive vice president of digital media Perkins Miller stating that "social media will change our company".
In July 2012, WWE invested $ 5 million into Tout, and a month later released the official app. In 2013, WWE's main Twitter account is named as one of the 25 most active brands on the website. In 2014, WWE launched WWE SuperCard , a trading card application game, downloaded 1.5 million times in its first week of release.
WWE Network
In September 2011, WWE officially announced plans to launch WWE Network in time for WrestleMania XXVIII. The WWE official website displays a countdown clock that will expire on April 1, 2012, but the clock is silently deleted, and the network is not launched as advertised.
At the Consumer Electronics Show on January 8, 2014, WWE announced the WWE Network will be launched on February 24, 2014 in the United States. WWE calls the network "the first 24/7 streaming network". On February 27, 2014, WWE Network aired its first live broadcast, NXT Arrival, featuring three matches of championship and a well-received match between Cesaro and Sami Zayn.
Although #CancelWWENetwork became a trend in social media in early 2015 after fans were upset by booking a Royal Rumble 2015 match, this trend did not prevent the Network from continuing its growth, reaching 1 million subscribers in the same week.
Pink Ribbon Campaign
Starting in October 2012, WWE formed a partnership with Susan G. Komen for Cure to promote breast cancer awareness. As part of the campaign, WWE graced their sets with pink ribbons, pinked a pink rope in the ring, filmed many PSAs, and sold John Cena's special "Rise Above Cancer" items. All of these efforts culminated in a donation of WWE of $ 1 million, presented to representatives of Susan G. Komen in an in-ring ceremony during the October 29, 2012 episode of Raw . Widespread Pinkwashing continues until 2013 and every year since then, this time with a wider range of Superstar merchandise.
Backstage abuse
In April 2017, WWE became embroiled in a corporate scandal that allowed certain employees to harass others, notably John Bradshaw Layfield. According to various sources including Dave Meltzer Wrestling Observer, hazing is something that is encouraged by top brass in the company and has been going on since the company's inception.
See also
- WWE
- WCW
- ECW
References
External links
- Official WWE site
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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