1.
Gainesville, Texas
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Gainesville is a city in and the county seat of Cooke County, Texas, United States. The population was 16,002 at the 2010 census and it is part of the Texoma region. Founded in 1850, the city of Gainesville was established on a 40-acre tract of land donated by Mary E. Clark, City residents called their new community Liberty, which proved short-lived, as a Liberty, Texas, already existed. It was suggested by one of the settlers of Cooke County, Colonel William Fitzhugh. Gaines, a United States general under whom Fitzhugh had served, had been sympathetic with the Texas Revolution, the first hint of prosperity arrived with the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach in September 1858, bringing freight, passengers, and mail. In the decade after the Civil War, Gainesville had its first period of extended growth, Gainesville, only 7 miles from the Oklahoma border, became a supply point for cowboys driving herds north to Kansas. The merchants of Gainesville reaped considerable benefits from the cattle drives. Within 20 years, the population increased from a few hundred to more than 2,000, Gainesville was incorporated on February 17,1873, and by 1890 was established as a commercial and shipping point for area ranchers and farmers. In the late 1870s two factors drastically altered the landscape of North Central Texas. The first of these was barbed wire, sanborn, a regional sales agent for Joseph Gliddens Bar Fence Company of DeKalb, Illinois, traveled to Texas. That autumn, he chose Gainesville as one of his initial distribution points for the newly invented barbed wire which his employer had patented the previous year. On his first visit to Gainesville, he sold ten reels of the wire to the Cleaves, World War II had an enormous impact on Cooke County. Camp Howze, an infantry training camp, was established on some of the best farmland in the county. The construction of the camp helped bring Cooke County out of the Great Depression by providing jobs, the county population doubled and the area boomed. In the last several years, tourism has brought renewed prosperity to the area, the return of Amtrak on June 14,1999, brought Gainesville back full circle to one of the original sources of its growth and success. In the early 1990s, Gainesville had 600 businesses and a population of 14,587, in 2000, the population was 15,538, with the population after the 2010 Census being just over 16,000 people. Gainesville is home to a courthouse with a rotunda topped by stained glass. The 1912 Cooke County Courthouse was designed by the Dallas firm of Lang & Witchell, the courthouse was designed in the Beaux Arts style with some Prairie Style features and influences from famed Chicago architect Louis Sullivan
2.
Henderson, Nevada
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Henderson, officially the City of Henderson, is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about 16 miles southeast of Las Vegas. It is the second-largest city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, the city is part of the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which spans the entire Las Vegas Valley. Henderson occupies the end of the valley, at an elevation of approximately 1,330 feet. In 2011, Forbes magazine ranked Henderson as Americas second-safest city and it has also been named as One of the Best Cities to Live in America by Bloomberg Businessweek. In 2014, Henderson was again ranked as one of the Top 10 Safest Cities in the United States by the FBI Uniform Crime Report, the township of Henderson first emerged in the 1940s during World War II with the building of the Basic Magnesium Plant. Henderson quickly became a supplier of magnesium in the United States. The plant supplied the US War Department with magnesium for incendiary munition casings and airplane engines, frames, a quarter of all US wartime magnesium came from the Henderson Plant to strengthen aluminum, using 25% of Hoover Dams power to separate the metal from its ore by electrolysis. The British liaison officer sent to Henderson, Major Charles Ball, had a named after him. There was some concern that Ball St, would sound improper, although born in Americas defense, Hendersons future after World War II was uncertain. In 1947, magnesium production was no longer necessary for defense, enrollment in the school system was reduced by two thirds, and well over half the townsite houses, built to house plant workers, became vacant. In 1947, the United States War Asset Administration had offered Henderson for sale as war surplus property, in an effort to save the city, the Nevada Legislature spent a weekend visiting Henderson, evaluating the possibility of state administration of Basic Magnesium. Within days of the visit, the unanimously approved a bill giving the Colorado River Commission of Nevada the authority to purchase the industrial plants. Governor Vail Pittman signed the bill on March 27,1947, with the help of local industry, Henderson was incorporated on April 16,1953 as the City of Henderson. On May 23,1953, Henderson, with its population of 7,410, originally only about 13 square miles in size, the city quickly began to grow, reaching over 94 square miles in size today. In 1988, the Pacific Engineering and Production Company of Nevada rocket fuel factory, in the modern-day Gibson Springs neighborhood of Henderson and these sent shockwaves throughout Henderson and parts of the Las Vegas Valley, shattering glass and damaging buildings. The explosions also caused earthquakes, some of which measured over 3.0 on the Richter magnitude scale, two people were killed, and an additional 372 injured. The events of the PEPCON factory disaster spurred development in Henderson years later, there are now no signs of the explosion where it happened. Today, the site consists mostly of office buildings, Henderson is located 16 miles southeast of downtown Las Vegas at 36°2′23″N 114°58′52″W
3.
Grizzly Smith
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Aurelian Smith was an American professional wrestler better known as Grizzly Smith. He was the father of professional wrestlers Aurelian, Jr. Michael, Smith began competing in professional wrestling in Texas, but he worked on an oilfield part-time as well. Smith also competed in Georgia, where he challenged Freddie Blassie for the NWA Georgia World Heavyweight Championship but was unable to win the title belt, while wrestling in Texas, Smith met Luke Brown, who he followed to Oklahoma. Smith, who had wrestled under the ring names Jake Smith and Tiny Anderson, began competing as Grizzly Smith, Smith and Brown formed a tag team known as The Kentuckians, and the pair used the gimmick of a pair of hillbillies. Together, they won the Georgia version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship in 1962 and held them until dropping them to Lenny Montana, in 1964 The Kentuckians made a brief stop in the WWWF in the Northeast. They feuded with Gorilla Monsoon & Klondike Bill, the Graham Brothers, unfortunately the team never won the tag titles and went back south. The Kentuckians biggest rivals were The Assassins, with whom they feuded in matches across the United States, in many of these matches, The Assassins were joined by The Missouri Mauler and The Kentuckians teamed with Haystacks Calhoun. They held the belts for several months before dropping them to Gorilla Monsoon, later in 1966, Smith and Brown won the American Wrestling Associations Midwest Tag Team Championship. In January 1967, the Kentuckians showed up in Japans International Wrestling Enterprise, smiths feud with The Assassins also took him to Western Canada, where he teamed with Don Leo Jonathan to defeat The Assassins for the Vancouver version of the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship. Smith, who was wrestling under the ring name Ski Hi Jones, and Jonathan held the title from March 25,1968 until the following month, Smith then returned to Texas, where he was involved in a rivalry with The Spoiler. The two wrestlers feuded over the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship, which Smith won from The Spoiler in June 1968, the following month, Smith gained another title when he teamed with Fritz Von Erich to defeat The Spoiler and Gary Hart to win the NWA American Tag Team Championship. Smith and The Spoiler continued to feud, however, and The Spoiler regained the Heavyweight Championship in August, the Kentuckians reunited in the NWA Tri-State territory. They won the match and the belts but were stripped of the championship later that month. They continued to pursue the belts and regained later that month. After retiring as a competitor, Smith promoted wrestling events in Louisiana alongside Jack Curtis and he then worked with Bill Watts in the Mid-South territory until being fired during a disagreement over wages. From there, he went to Mississippi to work with promoter George Culkin, Smith was born in Grayson County, Texas and grew up with a brother, who died at age nine, and two sisters. He had two children from his first marriage, Aurelian, Jr. and a daughter and he later had two more children, Michael and Robin, with his second wife Marsha. Three of his went on to become professional wrestlers, Aurelian, Jr. as Jake The Snake Roberts, Michael as Sam Houston
4.
Sam Houston (wrestler)
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Michael Samuel Smith is a semi-retired professional wrestler, best known under the ring name Sam Houston in the 1980s. His father was wrestler Grizzly Smith, his half-brother is Jake Roberts, from 1987 to 1989, the three siblings were in the World Wrestling Federation together. Smith started wrestling in 1983, initially competing in Championship Wrestling from Florida, in 1985, he began working in the NWAs Jim Crockett Promotions. He was billed as a protégé of Dusty Rhodes and Magnum T. A. which made him a target for the Four Horsemen. They finally got to him in the summer of 1985 when Tully Blanchard, Ole Anderson, in late 1985, he feuded with Krusher Khruschev over the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship, which he won in January 1986. He then feuded with Black Bart, who won the title from him a few months later, Houston formed a cowboy themed team with Nelson Royal during the summer of 1986. He moved on to the Central States territory later that year and his first few months of 1987 were spent in the Universal Wrestling Federation where he teamed up with Terry Taylor for a short period of time. Houston moved on to the WWF in the spring, making his debut on May 9,1987 by defeating Sika on a show in St. Louis. Houston was undefeated in his first month, defeating Terry Gibbs, Steve Lombardi, on June 7th he made his first television appearance, defeating Gibbs on Wrestling Challenge in a match taped in Houston, TX. At the same event Houston came out to help a newly arrived Ted DiBiase clear the ring of The One Man Gang. Houstons first loss came a few weeks later when he was defeated by new arrival, Bam-Bam Bigelow at a house show in Jackson. One night later in Houston, Texas he tag-teamed with DiBiase against The One Man Gang, the babyface duo lost when DiBiase turned heel on his partner. Houston remained off US television, wrestling opening matches on house shows against Tiger Chung Lee, Jose Estrada, Barry Horowitz and he finally made his television debut on October 31st,1987 on WWF Superstars when he upset Danny Davis, handing the former referee his first televised loss. He moved into the winter wrestling Outlaw Ron Bass on the show circuit. In December 1987 he began a series with Danny Davis, trading wins with him on house show matches in a feud that lasted all the way into June 1988. He wrestled in the first ever Royal Rumble match on January 24,1988 and that summer Houston entered a house show series with Big Boss Man, but unlike his previous house show series he was winless. Houston also fell in matches against King Haku, Frenchy Martin, and his biggest win in the summer of 1988 was against Jos LeDuc. He also continued to gain televised victories on Prime Time Wrestling, Houston defeated Steve Lombardi in the dark match at the 1989 Royal Rumble but was unable to move past lower level competition
5.
Professional wrestling
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Professional wrestling is a dramatized athletic performance that portrays a combat sport. Various forms of weaponry are sometimes used, the content – including match outcomes – is scripted and choreographed, and the combative actions and reactions are performed to appear violent without injuring the wrestlers. Before the 1980s, these facts were considered trade secrets, in the mid-90s, the presentation of scripted events as legitimate is known as kayfabe. Although the combative content is staged and communicated between the wrestlers, there are physical hazards involved - including permanent injury and death. While it has declined in Europe, in North America it has experienced several different periods of prominent cultural popularity during its century. The advent of television gave professional wrestling a new outlet, unlike in Europe, show wrestling has become especially prominent in Japan and in North America. In Brazil, there was a popular wrestling television program from the 1960s to the early 1980s called Telecatch. High-profile figures in the sport have become celebrities or cultural icons in their native or adopted home countries, although professional wrestling started out as petty acts in sideshows, traveling circuses and carnivals, today it is a billion-dollar industry. Revenue is drawn from live event ticket sales, network television broadcasts, pay-per-view broadcasts, personal appearances by performers, branded merchandise, pro wrestling was also instrumental in making pay-per-view a viable method of content delivery. Annual shows such as WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, and formerly Bash at the Beach, Halloween Havoc, home video sales dominate the Billboard charts Recreational Sports DVD sales, with wrestling holding anywhere from 3 to 9 of the top 10 spots every week. Due to its persistent cultural presence and to its novelty within the performing arts, there have also been many fictional depictions of wrestling, the 2008 film The Wrestler received several Oscar nominations and began a career revival for star Mickey Rourke. Because actual events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines for the performers, special care must be taken when talking about people who perform under their own name. The actions of the character should be considered fictional events, wholly separate from the life of the performer and this is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers will incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and those who participated felt that it was necessary that spectators should be kept in a constant and complete illusion of a real competition to keep audience interest. For decades, up until the mid-1980s, wrestlers lived their lives as though they were their characters. Wrestlers, bookers and promoters all rigorously enforced the illusion and very few were allowed into the society of professional wrestling to maintain suspension of disbelief. The practice of keeping the illusion, and the methods used to do so, came to be known as kayfabe within wrestling circles. An entire lexicon of slang jargon and euphemism developed to allow performers to communicate without outsiders knowledge of what was being said, occasionally a performer will deviate from the intended sequence of events
6.
Stone Mountain, Georgia
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Stone Mountain is a city in DeKalb County, Georgia, in the United States. The population was 5,802 at the 2010 census, Stone Mountain is located in the eastern part of Dekalb County and is a suburb of the Atlanta metropolitan area. It lies near to but does not include the geological formation Stone Mountain, in 1822, the area that now makes up the city of Stone Mountain was made a part of the newly formed DeKalb County. A post office was created in 1834 on the old Augusta Road, at around the same time, Aaron Cloud built an observation tower at the summit of the mountain. Visitors to the mountain would travel to the area by rail and road, and then hike up the 1. 1-mile mountaintop trail to the top, by 1839, a general store was added, and a village was established under the name New Gibraltar. The name was changed to Stone Mountain by the Georgia legislature in 1847. The town is named for nearby Stone Mountain, during the Civil War, Stone Mountain village was destroyed by men under the command of General James B. The Stone Mountain areas government of police and services is separated into two distinct municipalities, one area is the Downtown or Historic Section. The other area is the greater Stone Mountain area which resides in both DeKalb and Gwinnett counties, the Downtown or Historic section is governed by a local police department, city hall, and mayor. There are often misconceptions about crime in the incorporated City and unincorporated areas that are adjacent to the city limits, the City of Stone Mountain allows the use of golf carts for transportation. The area within the city limits is one of the a few areas in Metro Atlanta that allows the use for residents, rules for golf carts and inspection requirements are located in Chapter 13, Section 13-136 through 13-144 of the Stone Mountain City Ordinances. The Ku Klux Klan was revived at Stone Mountain in 1915, Stone Mountain is located at 33°48′19″N 84°10′17″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 1.6 square miles. While the city of Stone Mountain itself is in DeKalb County, the Downtown or Historic section of Stone Mountain is home to Side By Side. As of the census of 2010, there were 5,802 people,2,587 households, the population density was 3,500 people per square mile. There were 2,587 housing units at a density of 1,577 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 75. 2% African American,16. 8% White,0. 4% Native American,3. 3% Asian,0. 2% Pacific Islander,2. 5% from other races, and 1. 6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5. 3% of the population,29. 9% of all households were made up of individuals and 5. 1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older
7.
WWE
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Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. was an American professional wrestling promotion and the sanctioning body for the World Wide Wrestling Federation and later World Wrestling Federation. Founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt in 1953, Capitol Wrestling Corporation is the precursor to todays WWE, run by Jess grandson, Jess McMahon was a successful boxing promoter who began working with Tex Rickard in 1926. With the help of Rickard, he began promoting boxing at the third Madison Square Garden, a few years prior, professional wrestler Toots Mondt had created a new challenge of professional wrestling that he called “Slam Bang Western Style Wrestling”. He convinced wrestler Ed Lewis and his manager Billy Sandow to implement this new solution, after much success, a disagreement over power caused the trio to dissolve and, with it, their promotion. Mondt later formed partnerships with other promoters, including Jack Curley in New York City. Mondt eventually took over the New York wrestling scene, due to the fact Curley was dying, with the aid of several bookers, together, McMahon and Mondt created the Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. which later joined the National Wrestling Alliance in 1953. In November 1954, Jess McMahon died and Ray Fabiani, one of Mondts associates, 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 gaining a television program deal and turning preliminary wrestler Lou Albano as a manager for Sammartinos heel opponents, the WWWF was doing sell out business by 1970. Mondt left the company in the late 1960s and although the WWWF had withdrawn from the NWA, Vince McMahon, at the annual meeting of the NWA in 1983, the McMahons and WWF employee Jim Barnett all withdrew from the organization. By March 1979, for marketing purposes, the World Wide Wrestling Federation was renamed the World Wrestling Federation and that same year, Vincent J. McMahons son, Vincent K. McMahon, founded Titan Sports, Inc. incorporated on February 21,1980, originally in Massachusetts. In 1982, Titan Sports Inc. acquired Capitols operations, effectively relocating its headquarters to Greenwich, in an attempt to make the WWF the premier wrestling promotion in the world, McMahon began an expansion that fundamentally changed the industry. In the end, the elder McMahon would never live to see his company grow from a promotion to what is now a worldwide organization. He died from cancer at 69 years old on May 24,1984. By 1985, Titan moved to Stamford, Connecticut then establishing a new entity in 1987 in Delaware which later merged with the old company in 1988. Titan later changed its name to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. before finally becoming World Wrestling Entertainment, list of independent wrestling promotions in the United States
8.
National Wrestling Alliance
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The National Wrestling Alliance is a professional wrestling governing body which has historically been the largest league of independent wrestling promotions in the world. The organization sanctions various NWA championship bouts within its member promotions, the NWA has been in operation since 1948. Prior to the 1960s, it acted as the governing body for most of professional wrestling, operating as a talent. Before the NWA was founded in 1948, there existed many regional professional wrestling promotions across North America, none of them, however, had backing or recognition outside of their own respective geographic base-areas. The concept of the NWA was to consolidate the championships of these companies into one true world championship of pro wrestling. In 1948, Paul Pinkie George, a promoter from the Midwest and this newly formed NWA Board of Directors wanted Brown to be the first-ever NWA World champion. This legitimized the NWAs claim that its title was a world title. The NWA members divided up North America, as well as Japan, into territories that each promoter would own, having a territory meant that no other NWA member could promote wrestling in that area unless special arrangements were made between the promoters involved. If non-NWA promoters tried to promote their show in an NWA territory, reportedly, threats of violence or physical retaliation were used against any promoters who disregarded the territory system. If any member territory broke the NWAs rules, it faced expulsion, for most promoters under the NWA umbrella, the benefits of membership were well worth the dues. Usually, the NWA Presidents territory was the territory of the entire alliance. Beyond the benefit of having other promotions to draw on in case of an intruder, the champion did not have a home territory as such, but instead traveled from territory to territory, defending the title against the top stars of each territory. It was not just the champion that would travel the territories, often, wrestlers from a different area would come into a territory, and run an angle or two with its top local faces. Also, if the local fans ever got tired of a wrestler, he could go to a new area and perform the same act for new audiences. This storyline was often advanced in the area from which the competitor was departing as resulting from the outcome of a highly promoted loser leaves town match. Upon becoming the booker for Lou Thesz in 1950, Muchnick, in the mid-1950s, serious disputes broke out within the NWA. There were antitrust problems with the government and there were a number of competing factions who wanted to replace Thesz as champion with different wrestlers, the antitrust case led to the infamous NWA Consent Decree of 1956 in U. S. v. National Wrestling Alliance. There were also disputes over the number of dates wrestled by the champion in various parts of the country, the first break within the organization occurred in 1957, when Montreal promoter Eddie Quinn walked out of the August NWA meeting in St. Louis
9.
World Championship Wrestling
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WCW Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion, historically based in Atlanta, Georgia. Immediately after the buyout, the business was renamed the Universal Wrestling Corporation, WCW also developed a popular cruiserweight division. WCW eclipsed the WWF in popularity throughout the United States for much of the latter-1990s, however, numerous financial, Turner owned WCW until 2001, when selected assets were purchased by the WWF. Since 2001, WCW images and video footage have been distributed in WWE-owned media. Two separate subsidiary companies exist as successors to WCW, WCW, Inc. is the WWE subsidiary established in Delaware in late 2000, initially as W. Acquisition Company, which holds the rights to the WCW video library and other intellectual property. The former WCW entity, which retained liabilities not acquired by WWE, was renamed back to the Universal Wrestling Corporation, the name World Championship Wrestling was first used as a brand and television show title in 1982. Jim Barnett came to Atlanta in the 1970s during a struggle over Georgia Championship Wrestling. Barnett ultimately became majority owner of the promotion, and began using his previous name for his new promotions television program in 1982. The promotion was purchased by Jim Crockett Promotions. However, it was not until November 2,1988 that an actual, National Wrestling Alliance -affiliated promotion called World Championship Wrestling appeared on the national scene and this entity was under the ownership of media mogul and cable-TV pioneer Ted Turner, based in Atlanta, Georgia. WCW went through changes in business and creative leadership during its existence. Once Bischoff was relieved of his duties in 1999, Vince Russo, the two, however, did not get along well and Bischoff soon resigned from the sinking company. It was only a few months later that Russo would also depart after suffering from a concussion at the hands of Bill Goldberg, following Russos departure, the creative needs of the WCW were handled by a booking committee which included Johnny Ace and Terry Taylor. From 2000 to 2001, Monster Jam had a series of trucks based on wrestlers names. These include nWo, Sting, Nitro Machine, Madusa and Goldberg, the first to go was nWo, which only ran for a season. Next, all but Goldberg, Nitro, and Madusa were retired after the WCW sponsorship was lost, Nitro then became Flashfire, and then was converted into Inferno. Madusa has stayed the same since its creation, because it is driven by former WCW wrestler Debrah Miceli, as for Goldberg, it was changed to Team Meents in 2002, then into Maximum Destruction, which debuted in 2003 and continues to compete in the series. WCW also had a presence in NASCAR from the mid-1990s to 2000, sponsoring the #29 team in the Busch Grand National Series full-time and the #9 Melling Racing team in the Winston Cup Series part-time
10.
Lucha libre
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Lucha libre is a term used in Mexico for a form of professional wrestling developed in the country. Professional wrestling is a form of entertainment based on a portrayal of a combat sport. Mexican wrestling is characterized by colorful masks, rapid sequences of holds and maneuvers, as well as high-flying maneuvers, Tag team wrestling is especially prevalent in lucha libre, particularly matches with three-member teams, called trios. Lucha libre wrestlers are known as luchadores and they usually come from extended wrestling families who form their own stables. One such line integrated to the United States professional wrestling scene is Los Guerreros, Lucha libre has also transcended the language barrier to some extent as evidenced by works such as Los Luchadores, ¡Mucha Lucha. and Nacho Libre. Lucha libre also appears in pop culture such as mainstream advertising, in Canada. The rules of lucha libre are similar to American singles matches, matches can be won by pinning the opponent to the mat for the count of three, making him submit, knocking him out of the ring for a predetermined count or by disqualification. Using the ropes for leverage is illegal, and once a luchador is on the ropes, his opponent must release any holds, most matches are two out of three falls, which had been abandoned for title bouts in North America and Japan in the 1970s. As the legal wrestler can step to the floor willingly, there is no need for an actual tag to a teammate to bring him into a match. This often allows for much more action to take place in the ring than would otherwise be possible under standard tag rules. The promotion company flourished and quickly became the premier spot for wrestlers, moreover, it was the emergence of television that allowed Lutteroth to promote lucha libre’s first breakout superstar into a national pop-culture phenomenon. In 1942, lucha libre would be changed when a silver-masked wrestler, known simply as El Santo. He made his debut in Mexico City by winning an 8-man battle royal, the public became enamored by the mystique and secrecy of Santos personality, and he quickly became the most popular luchador in Mexico. He achieved international fame as one of the first high-flyers, something he was not considered in Mexico, Luchadores are traditionally more agile and perform more aerial maneuvers than professional wrestlers in the United States, who more often rely on power and hard strikes to subdue their opponents. For this same reason, aerial maneuvers are almost always performed to opponents outside the ring, allowing the luchador to break his fall with an acrobatic tumble. Lucha libre has several different weight classes, many catered to smaller agile fighters and this system enables dynamic high-flying luchadores such as Rey Mysterio, Jr. Juventud Guerrera, Super Crazy and Místico, to develop years of experience by their mid-twenties. A number of prominent Japanese wrestlers also started their careers training in Mexican lucha libre before becoming stars in Japan and these include Gran Hamada, Satoru Sayama, Jushin Thunder Liger, and Último Dragón. Lucha libre is also known for its tag team wrestling matches, the teams are often made up of three members, instead of two as is common in the United States
11.
Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide
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Asistencia Asesoría y Administración LLC is a lucha libre professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico. This left CMLL with a roster and a seemingly bleak future. AAA also looked for talent from other markets, as found and signed Tijuana natives Rey Mysterio, Jr. The promotion flourished with top talent like El Hijo del Santo, Octagón, Blue Panther, the Casas brothers and possessed top draws in Los Gringos Locos, Cien Caras, Konnan, and Perro Aguayo. The rising popularity of AAA soon caused rival Universal Wrestling Association to go out of business, AAAs golden years peaked with the When Worlds Collide pay-per-view, promoted in conjunction with World Championship Wrestling and broadcast in the United States in 1994. Weeks after the show, Art Barr died while visiting his family, as a result, AAA vacated the AAA Tag Team Championships, and this led to the departure of fellow stable-mates Eddie Guerrero and Madonnas Boyfriend. El Hijo del Santo also departed as a result of creative problems, many wrestlers, including Rey Misterio, Jr. Psicosis, La Parka, and Juventud Guerrera, would also depart to WCW in 1996, as well as Konnans short-lived Promo Azteca promotion. In early 1997, AAA established an agreement with WWE. AAA broadcasts shows regularly on Gala TV in Mexico and Univision TDN in Mexico, on October 6,2006, founder Antonio Peña died of a heart attack. Following Peñas death his sister Marisela manages AAA financially, while Peñas brother-in-law Joaquín Roldán and his son, in 2008 Lucha Libre USA presented AAAs second U. S. pay-per-view, Legendary Battles of Triplemania. In 2009 AAA announced the release of a video game originally entitled AAA El Videojuego. The game was later retitled Lucha Libre AAA, Héroes del Ring by the publisher of the game, AAA developed a working relationship with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2004. Team Mexico dominated the Americas X-Cup Tournament, defeating Team USA in the first round before retaining the Cup against both Team Canada and Team Britain. They eventually lost at the World X-Cup, which saw Team USA defeat Team Canada, for multiple reasons TNA and AAA broke off their working relationship late in 2004. After Konnan left TNA in June 2007 any chance of a working relationship disappeared especially given that Konnan has filed a discrimination lawsuit against TNA. Afterwards TNA started a relationship with AAAs rival CMLL. However, in February 2010 the companies once again began a working relationship, in April 2014, after Jeff Jarrett, the man behind the AAA-TNA relationship, had left TNA, he announced that his new Global Force Wrestling was now working with the Mexican promotion. On January 12,2014, it was announced that, with the backing of Mark Burnett, the one-hour weekly program would be accompanied by monthly and quarterly specials as well as live pay-per-views
12.
Extreme Championship Wrestling
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Extreme Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1992 by Tod Gordon. ECW closed when then owner Paul Heyman declared bankruptcy in April 2001, after purchasing the assets of ECW in 2003, World Wrestling Entertainment relaunched the Extreme Championship Wrestling franchise as a WWE brand with their existing Raw and SmackDown brands. It debuted on June 13,2006 on Sci Fi in the United States and it was replaced the following week with WWE NXT. ECW had its origins in 1989 under the banner Tri-State Wrestling Alliance owned by Joel Goodhart, in 1992, Goodhart sold his share of the company to his partner, Tod Gordon, who in return renamed the promotion Eastern Championship Wrestling. When Eastern Championship Wrestling was founded, it was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance, at the time, Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert was the lead booker of Eastern Championship Wrestling. Gilbert, after an out with Tod Gordon, was replaced in September 1993 by Paul Heyman. Heyman, known on television as Paul E. Dangerously, had just left World Championship Wrestling and was looking for a new challenge. In 1994, Jim Crocketts non-compete agreement with Ted Turner, who purchased World Championship Wrestling from Crockett in November 1988, was up and he decided to start promoting with the NWA again. Crockett went to Tod Gordon and asked him to hold a tournament for the NWAs top prize, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, in ECWs home area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 27,1994. Gordon planned to have Shane Douglas, who was scheduled to face 2 Cold Scorpio in the tournament finals, Tod Gordon and Paul Heyman originally planned the idea of throwing down the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt. Heyman persuaded Douglas by noting that the negative would only be that NWA traditionalists would just see them as traitors to tradition, coralluzzo believed that Douglas was a bad risk and had the tendency to no-show events. Douglas ultimately decided to go through with Gordon and Heymans plan and he then raised the Eastern Championship Wrestling title belt and declared it to be a World Heavyweight Championship — calling it the only real world title left in professional wrestling. Gordon made the announcement on the next edition of NWA-ECW programming. The promotion showcased many different styles of wrestling, including hardcore wrestling matches as well as lucha libre. The bulk of ECWs shows remained at the ECW Arena, a former warehouse secluded under a section of Interstate 95, seating comprised simple folding chairs and four sets of portable bleachers, and the whole sort of unconventional set up reflected the gritty style of the wrestling itself. Shows were actually broadcast on a Philadelphia local cable station on Tuesday evenings. After Sports Channel Philadelphia went off the air in 1997, the moved to WPPX-TV61. It later moved to an independent broadcast station in Philadelphia on either Friday or Saturday night at 1 or 2 a. m
13.
Impact Wrestling
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Impact Wrestling is a privately held American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee and founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002. The promotion was known as NWA, Total Nonstop Action and was associated with the National Wrestling Alliance. After the agreement ended in 2007, the company created its own TNA World Heavyweight and it is the only major American promotion to predominantly make use of a six-sided wrestling ring. The concept of TNA originated shortly after World Championship Wrestling ended in 2001, bob Ryder, Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett went on a fishing trip and contemplated their futures in the professional wrestling business. Only one wrestling product remained on United States national television, the World Wrestling Federation, the Jarretts found the financial backing they needed and the company put on its first show on June 19,2002. That night, however, in a match just before they went on the air. The estimated repair time was 30–60 minutes, which they did not have because the schedule called for them to go live in a few minutes, whether the ring was ready or not. Backstage, the producers shuffled the schedule so that some non-wrestling segments went first to give the crew some more time. The ring crew fixed the rope with the help of Ron and Don Harris, initially, TNAs weekly pay-per-view show operated as the companys main source of revenue, in place of monthly pay-per-view events used by other promotions. These shows took place mostly at the Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, after 27 months and 111 pay-per-view events, TNA began holding a weekly television show and monthly three-hour pay-per-views. The last weekly pay-per-view took place on September 8,2004, Xplosion launched on November 27,2002 as TNAs first regular cable show and featured exclusive matches from the TNA Asylum as well as exclusive interviews with TNA wrestlers. On November 18,2004, the became a recap show of the previous weeks Impact. in light of alterations in the taping schedule. Xplosion resumed airing exclusive matches once more on October 7,2005 in addition to recapping Impact, the Xplosion Xclusives also aired on the now-ceased TNA Global Impact. Airing of Xplosion in the United States ceased at the end of 2006, in May 2004, TNA introduced a television program, Impact. produced at Soundstage 21 at Universal Studios Florida and broadcast on Fox Sports. In November 2004, TNA held the first of these pay-per-views, Victory Road, the television contract with Fox Sports expired in May 2005 and was not renegotiated, leaving TNA without television exposure. This prompted TNA to air Impact, via webcasts – originally made available via BitTorrent and eventually via RealPlayer – and on Urban America Television replacing Xplosion. During this time, TNA continued pursuing a television deal for regular broadcasting, would later secured a deal with Spike TV. In October 2006, TNA began holding select pay-per-views outside of its filming location
14.
DDT (professional wrestling)
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In professional wrestling a DDT is any move in which the wrestler has the opponent in a front facelock/inverted headlock, and falls down or backwards to drive the opponents head into the mat. The classic DDT is performed by putting the opponent in a front facelock, when asked what DDT meant, Jake once famously replied The End. The abbreviation itself originally came from the chemical dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane, a pesticide, as stated during shoot interviews. Many think that the term DDT was applied because the chemical DDT is a hazardous chemical buried in the ground which potentially causes brain damage, the wrestler falls down to the mat front first, driving the opponent face first down to the mat. WWE wrestler Paige uses this variation as a move called the Ram-Paige. British wrestler Joseph Conners uses this variation, known as the Righteous Kill, innovated by the legendary Kenta Kobashi. Instead of applying a head or facelock, the wrestler bends his opponent forward and this is known as a butterfly. It is also known as a double arm DDT or a butterfly DDT, mick Foley, Stevie Richards, Drew Galloway, and Dean Ambrose have popularized variations of this DDT. Richards uses a variation he calls the Stevie-T, while Galloway and Ambrose use snap variations that they call the Future Shock and Dirty Deeds. The wrestler stands in a position and faces the standing or bent-over opponent. This version of a DDT first sees a wrestler place the opponent on an elevated surface. The attacking wrestler falls backwards so that the opponent is forced to dive forward onto his/her head with extra force due to the height of which they were dropped. This is used as a Signature move by Randy Orton and this can also be performed as a double team move. A slight variation, known as a diving DDT or a Halo DDT, exists and sees the wrestler and the opponent both on an elevated surface, albeit with the wrestler facing the ring. With the opponent in the front facelock, the wrestler and the opponent both dive off the surface, resulting in the wrestler falling forward to perform the DDT instead of falling backwards. The move is referred to as a spike DDT, because the defending wrestler lands in an upside-down, almost completely vertical. This move is performed with the defending wrestlers feet on the middle rope. Also known as a front flip DDT, after applying a front facelock, the wrestler pushes off the mat with his/her legs to flip the opponent and drive them onto the top of their head in a manner similar to the flip piledriver
15.
Snake
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Snakes are elongated, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales, many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads with their highly mobile jaws. To accommodate their bodies, snakes paired organs appear one in front of the other instead of side by side. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of claws on either side of the cloaca. Additionally, sea snakes are widespread throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans, more than 20 families are currently recognized, comprising about 500 genera and about 3,400 species. They range in size from the tiny,10.4 cm -long thread snake to the reticulated python of 6.95 meters in length, the fossil species Titanoboa cerrejonensis was 12.8 meters long. Snakes are thought to have evolved from either burrowing or aquatic lizards, perhaps during the Jurassic period, the diversity of modern snakes appeared during the Paleocene period. The oldest preserved descriptions of snakes can be found in the Brooklyn Papyrus, most species are nonvenomous and those that have venom use it primarily to kill and subdue prey rather than for self-defense. Some possess venom potent enough to cause injury or death to humans. Nonvenomous snakes either swallow prey alive or kill by constriction, the word ousted adder, as adder went on to narrow in meaning, though in Old English næddre was the general word for snake. The other term, serpent, is from French, ultimately from Indo-European *serp-, the fossil record of snakes is relatively poor because snake skeletons are typically small and fragile making fossilization uncommon. Fossils readily identifiable as snakes first appear in the record during the Cretaceous period. The earliest known snake fossils come from the marine simoliophiids. Based on comparative anatomy, there is consensus that snakes descended from lizards, pythons and boas—primitive groups among modern snakes—have vestigial hind limbs, tiny, clawed digits known as anal spurs, which are used to grasp during mating. The families Leptotyphlopidae and Typhlopidae also possess remnants of the pelvic girdle, front limbs are nonexistent in all known snakes. This is caused by the evolution of Hox genes, controlling limb morphogenesis, the axial skeleton of the snakes’ common ancestor, like most other tetrapods, had regional specializations consisting of cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral, and caudal vertebrae. Early in snake evolution, the Hox gene expression in the axial skeleton responsible for the development of the thorax became dominant, as a result, the vertebrae anterior to the hindlimb buds all have the same thoracic-like identity. In other words, most of a skeleton is an extremely extended thorax
16.
Pythonidae
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The Pythonidae, commonly known simply as pythons, from the Greek word python, are a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia. Among its members are some of the largest snakes in the world, eight genera and 31 species are currently recognized. Pythons are found in sub-Saharan Africa, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, southern China, Southeast Asia, and from the Philippines southeast through Indonesia to New Guinea and Australia. In the United States, a population of Burmese pythons. Many species have been hunted aggressively, which has decimated some, most members of this family are ambush predators, in that they typically remain motionless in a camouflaged position, and then strike suddenly at passing prey. They will generally not attack humans unless startled or provoked, although females protecting their eggs can be aggressive, reports of attacks on human beings were once more common in South and Southeast Asia, but are now quite rare. In 2017, there was a case of a human devoured by a python in Sulawesi. All prey is swallowed whole, and may take days or even weeks to fully digest. All snakes, including pythons, are descended from a venomous ancestor and this sets them apart from the family Boidae, most of which bear live young. After they lay their eggs, females typically incubate them until they hatch and this is achieved by causing the muscles to shiver, which raises the temperature of the body to a certain degree, and thus that of the eggs. Keeping the eggs at a constant temperature is essential for healthy embryo development, during the incubation period, females will not eat and only leave to bask to raise their body temperature. Most species in this family are available in the pet trade. However, caution must be exercised with the species, as they can be dangerous. *) Not including the nominate subspecies. T) Type genus, pythons are more closely related to boas than to any other snake family. Boulenger considered this group to be a subfamily of the family Boidae, Pythonidae at the Reptarium. cz Reptile Database
17.
Beyond the Mat
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Beyond the Mat is a 1999 documentary directed, written, produced and narrated by Barry W. Blaustein. The film focuses on the lives of professional wrestlers outside of the ring, primarily Mick Foley, Terry Funk and it focuses on the World Wrestling Federation, Extreme Championship Wrestling during its rise in popularity, and many other independent wrestlers and organizations. The film was released in American theaters in March 2000 and later released on VHS. The film begins with director Barry Blaustein discussing his love for wrestling and clips of him viewing employees of the World Wrestling Federation. He then decides to travel the United States over a three-year period, Blaustein interviews a wide variety of wrestling personalities and ascertains their motivations. Blaustein focuses on three famous wrestlers, one at the height of his career, one contemplating retirement and one at a career low. He begins by following Funk, a 53-year-old man in need of surgery who appears unable to retire. Blaustein follows him as he competes at hardcore wrestling promotion Extreme Championship Wrestlings first pay-per-view event Barely Legal, Funk also appears with his friend, former wrestler Dennis Stamp, who is eager to work as a referee in Funks upcoming retirement match. Some of Stamps phrases would later become popular memes, Funks sometime in-ring rival, Foley, is profiled next. He has been taking increasingly risky falls and blows to the head, clips of Foley with his wife and children are spliced with the clips of him risking his body for the sport. Lastly, Roberts is a wrestler whose height of popularity was in the 1980s and is a cocaine addict. Although he was one of the more famous wrestlers in America, performing in front of tens of thousands of fans. In addition, Darren Drozdov is a former NFL football player who is shown in an interview with Vince McMahon. Drozdov becomes a WWF wrestler, but at the end of the film, Blaustein decided to do a documentary about professional wrestling after being outed as a closet professional wrestling fan. His original budget was $500,000, which was funded by the company Imagine and he shot footage for the film over a span of three to five years. World Championship Wrestling refused to participate in the film, Blaustein approached the World Wrestling Federation about involving the company in the film in 1997. WWF chairman Vince McMahon originally allowed Blaustein full access to behind-the-scenes aspects of his company, Jake Roberts claims that he was told the film was going to be used to help children, but that never transpired. In response to why he thought Roberts made the allegations, Blaustein responded, jakes looking for publicity for himself, maybe
18.
Diamond Dallas Page
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Page Joseph Falkinburg, better known by his ring name Diamond Dallas Page, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, fitness instructor, motivational speaker and actor. Falkinburg first broke into the business in 1988, as a manager in the American Wrestling Association. There, he continued as a manager until late 1991, when he became a wrestler. He is the fourth WCW Triple Crown Champion, and the only United States Heavyweight Champion to defend the title in a main event. Due to a series of injuries, he allowed his contract with the company to expire in 2002 and he worked for TNA from 2004 to 2005, challenging for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Destination X2005. The name Dallas came from his love of the Dallas Cowboys and his brother, Rory, and sister, Sally, were raised by their maternal grandmother. Falkinburg lived with his father from the ages of three to eight and his father took him, at eight years old, to live with his grandmother, who raised him. Falkinburg admitted in his autobiography he is dyslexic and he had many challenges hit him throughout his childhood and educational years. DDP attended St. Josephs High School in Toms River, New Jersey for his freshman and second years, spending his first season on the JV basketball team and making the varsity squad as a sophomore. He transferred to Point Pleasant Boro High School in Point Pleasant and he attended Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina briefly before leaving school to work full-time. Falkinburg ran a nightclub in Fort Myers, Florida called Norma Jeans while he was working as a manager in the American Wrestling Association. He started managing in 1988, where he handled Badd Company, Badd Company, was often accompanied by female valets known as the Diamond Dolls. During his time in the AWA, Falkinburg also managed Colonel DeBeers, Curt Hennig and he worked for the AWA at 12 dates over a period of nine months, where they filmed all the television shows in one day. Falkinburgs first pro match occurred in May 1989 against Dick Slater, in 1990, Dallas received a tryout with the WWF as an announcer, but wasnt offered a job. At WrestleMania VI, he drove Rhythm and Blues to the ring in his pink Cadillac, at this time, he was virtually unknown in the World Wrestling Federation. When FCW went out of business, Falkinburg was still involved in the business until Dusty Rhodes returned to World Championship Wrestling. Rhodes started booking and brought Falkinburg in on a contract in early 1991. Falkinburg came to World Championship Wrestling in 1991 as manager of The Fabulous Freebirds, Falkinburg managed the Freebirds to a shot at the NWA World Tag Team Championship where they defeated Doom on February 24
19.
WWE Hall of Fame
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The WWE Hall of Fame is a hall of fame for professional wrestling personalities maintained by WWE. It was announced on the March 22,1993 episode of Monday Night Raw where André the Giant, the 1994 and 1995 ceremonies were held in conjunction with the annual King of the Ring pay-per-view events. In 1996, the ceremony was held with the Survivor Series event, for the first time in front of an audience as well as the wrestlers, after which. In 2004, WWE relaunched the Hall of Fame to coincide with WrestleMania XX and this ceremony, like its predecessors, was not broadcast on television. However, it was released on DVD on June 1,2004, beginning with the 2005 ceremony, an edited version of the Hall of Fame was broadcast on Spike TV and on the USA Network, these were aired on tape delay. Since 2005, the entire Hall of Fame ceremony has been packaged as part of the annual WrestleMania DVD release, in 2015, historical WWE Hall of Fame ceremonies became available on the WWE Network. Although a building has never built to represent the Hall of Fame. As of 2017, there have been 164 inductees – with 105 wrestlers inducted individually,11 group inductions, nine celebrities, the celebrity wing of the Hall of Fame is dedicated to celebrities that have made memorable appearances on WWE programming, and/or have had longtime associations with WWE. The award was created following The Ultimate Warriors death, during his April 2014 Hall of Fame speech shortly before his death, he proposed that there be a special category called the Jimmy Miranda Award for WWEs behind-the-scenes employees. Miranda, who died in 2002, was part of the WWE merchandise department for more than 20 years, traditionally, Dana Warrior will present the award. In 2016, WWE introduced a new category for the Hall of Fame called the Legacy wing, Inductees under this new category feature wrestlers from the early years of professional wrestling, primarily during the early part of the 20th century. All inductees thus far have been inducted posthumously and were recognized with a package at the ceremony. In 2012, The Post and Courier noted that the Hall has garnered criticism due to the inductions of questionable performers, and the omissions of major names within the industry. Bob Backlund declined induction multiple times, and The Ultimate Warrior wrote that he refused the honor in 2010, they were inducted in 2013 and 2014. Randy Savage was recognized as being absent, Chris Jericho said that the Hall achieved a level of legitimacy by inducting him in 2015. Slam Wrestling questioned how Koko B, ware, who primarily wrestled in the undercard, was inducted but former WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Ivan Koloff never was before his 2017 death. Bruno Sammartino, the longest reigning WWWF World Heavyweight Champion, was critical of the Hall of Fame. Sammartino disapproved of celebrity inductees such as Pete Rose and William Perry, is it a building I can actually go to
20.
Louisiana
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Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Louisiana is the 31st most extensive and the 25th most populous of the 50 United States and its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the state in the U. S. with political subdivisions termed parishes. The largest parish by population is East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana is bordered by Arkansas to the north, Mississippi to the east, Texas to the west, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Much of the lands were formed from sediment washed down the Mississippi River, leaving enormous deltas and vast areas of coastal marsh. These contain a rich southern biota, typical examples include birds such as ibis, there are also many species of tree frogs, and fish such as sturgeon and paddlefish. In more elevated areas, fire is a process in the landscape. These support a large number of plant species, including many species of orchids. Louisiana has more Native American tribes than any other state, including four that are federally recognized, ten that are state recognized. Before the American purchase of the territory in 1803, the current Louisiana State had been both a French colony and for a period, a Spanish one. In addition, colonists imported numerous African people as slaves in the 18th century, many came from peoples of the same region of West Africa, thus concentrating their culture. Louisiana was named after Louis XIV, King of France from 1643 to 1715, when René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle claimed the territory drained by the Mississippi River for France, he named it La Louisiane. The suffix -ana is a Latin suffix that can refer to information relating to an individual, subject. Thus, roughly, Louis + ana carries the idea of related to Louis, the Gulf of Mexico did not exist 250 million years ago when there was but one supercontinent, Pangea. As Pangea split apart, the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico opened, Louisiana slowly developed, over millions of years, from water into land, and from north to south. The oldest rocks are exposed in the north, in such as the Kisatchie National Forest. The oldest rocks date back to the early Tertiary Era, some 60 million years ago, the history of the formation of these rocks can be found in D. Spearings Roadside Geology of Louisiana. The sediments were carried north to south by the Mississippi River
21.
Jim Crockett Promotions
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Jim Crockett Promotions Inc. was a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1931, the promotion emerged as a cornerstone of the National Wrestling Alliance, by the 1980s, Jim Crockett Promotions was, along with the World Wrestling Federation, one of the two largest promotions in the United States. The Crockett family sold a majority interest in the promotion to Turner Broadcasting System in 1988, Jim Crockett was a promoter of live events including professional wrestling, music concerts, plays, minor league baseball, and ice hockey. In 1931, he founded his own wrestling promotion, Jim Crockett Promotions. Crockett built JCP as a regional promotion centred on the Carolinas, although the business was always called Jim Crockett Promotions, it used a variety of pseudonyms as brand names for specific TV shows, newspaper and radio ads, and even on event tickets, themselves. Crockett joined the National Wrestling Alliance in 1952, and his territory covered Virginia, North Carolina, the name Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling became JCPs primary brand name in print, radio, and other advertising. Two years later, JCP introduced the Wide World Wrestling brand name, JCP used the Wide World/World Wide and Mid-Atlantic brands concurrently. The business was incorporated in the 1950s and he left JCP to his family, with his eldest son, Jim Crockett, Jr. taking over as chief executive. In 1981, JCP moved to the WPCQ-TV studios in Charlotte, the local shows hosted by announcers like Big Bill Ward and Charlie Harville gave way to Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. Mid-Atlantic was hosted by Bob Caudle Caudle was joined by a rotation of co-hosts, for a brief period, a secondary show, East Coast Wrestling, was taped at WRAL, it was basically a re-packaged version of Mid-Atlantic, and was announced by Big Bill Ward. In 1975, JCP premiered a new, syndicated B-show, Wide World Wrestling, the original host of this show was former Georgia Championship Wrestling announcer Ed Capral. Subsequent Wide World/World Wide announcers included Les Thatcher, George and Sandy Scott and it was also hosted by the team of Rich Landrum and Johnny Weaver. Rich Landrum and David Crockett appeared on Best Of, doing interviews for local arena shows. JCP gradually began to expand, running shows in eastern Tennessee, parts of West Virginia, in the late-1970s and early-1980s, JCP ran regular shows in Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio. Crockett and Scott also bought minority shares of Frank Tunneys Toronto-based promotion, Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling also aired on a Buffalo, New York station, enabling the Tunney/Crockett/Scott enterprise to bring a full slate of shows to Ontario and upstate New York. In the 1980s, Crockett, Jr. began consolidating the Southern franchises of the National Wrestling Alliance, in August 1980, Crockett, Jr. was elected president of the NWA. In 1981, former Georgia Championship Wrestling booker Ole Anderson took over as Mid-Atlantics booker, in 1981, Anderson booked both JCP and GCW simultaneously. In 1982, Crockett partnered with wrestlers Ric Flair and Blackjack Mulligan to start a company out of Knoxville, Tennessee
22.
Georgia Championship Wrestling
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Georgia Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion whose self-titled TV program aired in the 1970s and 1980s on Atlanta, U. S. superstation WTBS. Though based in Atlanta, the also ran live wrestling shows throughout its geographic territory of Georgia. The territory was affiliated with what had been the worlds top sanctioning body of championship titles for decades before, the TV show, hosted by Gordon Solie, was recorded in one of WTBS studios on West Peachtree Street near 10th Street, in Midtown Atlanta. Shows were taped before a small, live audience, as were most professional wrestling TV shows of that era. GCWs show, which aired on Saturday evenings, was complemented with a Sunday evening edition, the NWA program was hosted by Ed Capral, ring announcer Charlie Harben and referee Leo Garibaldi. The show was broadcast at times on WJBF6 in Augusta. The program included interviews with wrestlers pertaining to their upcoming matches, the program for Savannah was taped in Atlanta on Saturday afternoons then delivered by Greyhound Bus to Savannah to be broadcast that night. ABC held its matches at Atlantas Municipal Auditorium every Friday night, on Christmas Day of 1971, Georgia Championship Wrestling aired its first television show, which was considered a Christmas special, since the actual series didnt begin airing until late January 1972. The promotion underwent some big changes in 1972, firstly, it started promoting matches at the then-brand-new Omni Coliseum. Secondly, it switched its television outlet from its home, WQXI-TV to an upstart UHF station then called WTCG. The new television deal would be one of Gunkels last decisions, ray Gunkel died of a heart attack later that year after a match versus Ox Baker in Savannah, Georgia. Ann Gunkel decided to start her own promotion outside of the National Wrestling Alliance and it didnt look good for Mid-South at that point, most of their wrestlers had gone with Ann, and Anns promotion had gotten Mid-Souths television time slot, though both promotions aired on WTBS. After two years of strife, a trouble-shooter was called in, Jim Barnett, who had owned promotions in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Colorado and Australia. At this point, Anns promotion went downhill, being locked out of dates, with wrestlers defecting to Mid-South. Many of the NWAs regional promoters were unhappy, but Barnett claimed since he was only using Georgia-based wrestlers, whether or not Barnett was in fact taking the promotion national is a matter of dispute. Some wrestlers, such as Roddy Piper, say that he was in doing so. Throughout the 1970s, Georgia Championship Wrestling was one of the shows that kept the Superstation alive. In 1982, Georgia Championship Wrestling changed its main programming name to World Championship Wrestling, GCW ran shows in Ohio & Michigan, wrestling returned to Dayton, Ohio in January 1983 after a lay-off of no wrestling in Dayton for five years
23.
Stampede Wrestling
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Stampede Wrestling is a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta and was for nearly 50 years one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies. Bought out by promoter Vince McMahon, the company was run by the World Wrestling Federation before being sold back to the Hart family the following year. Run by Bruce Hart until January 1990, he and Ross Hart reopened the promotion in 1999, Stampede Wrestling was operated by Stu Hart from 1948 to 1984. Longtime Stampede announcer Ed Whalen reportedly became distraught during the riot, in which a woman was trampled, speaking of the events he remarked, Were starting to scare the patrons with this violence outside the ring, and I will not be associated with it anymore. The event led to Stampede Wrestling being banned from Calgary for six months by the wrestling and boxing commission. In 1985, the WWF sold Stampede back to the Hart family, the promotion was reopened on April 2,1999 by Bruce and Ross Hart. Stampedes weekly shows were mostly at the Victoria Pavilion in Calgary. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Stampede Wrestling was one of the top wrestling promotions in Canada, one of its main legacies was its impact on the WWF. All these wrestlers later joined the WWF when it expanded across Canada, the British Bulldogs and the Hart Foundation were among the top tag teams in the WWF in the 1980s. Stampede Wrestling was the basis for a weekly sports broadcast produced in Calgary showcasing many of the promotions most popular wrestlers. Hosted by Ed Whalen most of its run, which went from 1957 to 1989, in early 1999, Bruce and Ross Hart reopened Stampede Wrestling after a nine-year hiatus showcasing graduates from the Hart Dungeon training school. However, only weeks after their first event, the once again became inactive following the death of Owen Hart in May. Although considering closing the promotion, the Hart family continued to promote events five months later, although successful, the Harts were forced to cancel several tours in late 2001 and early 2002 due to the arrival of a rival promotion backed by a Calgary businessman. The promotion also lost much of its due to its rival hiring away top stars. In 2005, promoters Bill Bell and Devon Nicholson took over operations for Stampede Wrestling. At that same event, longtime tag team partners TJ Wilson, earlier in 2007, Stampede Wrestling lost the use of the Ogden Legion which was their home base for the past number of years. Stampede Wrestling announced on their website that the promotion would begin to run at the Bowness Sportsplex with the first show being September 7,2007. Bruce and Ross Hart sold Stampede Wrestling to Bill Bell in 2007, the promotion ceased operations again in April 2008
24.
Junkyard Dog
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WWE author Brian Shields called Junkyard Dog one of the most electrifying and charismatic wrestlers in the country, particularly during his peak in the early 1980s. JYD was most known for his headbutt and upper-body strength, the latter of which saw him regularly bodyslam such large wrestlers as the One Man Gang, Kamala, the word thump, which referred to JYDs powerslam, was prominently displayed on his wrestling trunks. Ritter played football at Fayetteville State University, twice earning honorable mention All-American status and he graduated with a political science degree. Ritter debuted in the Tennessee territory, working for promoter Jerry Jarrett, before moving to Nick Gulass company, from there he moved to Stu Harts Stampede Wrestling as Big Daddy Ritter, where he captured the North American Heavyweight Championship twice. He originally came to the ring pushing a cart filled with junk called the wagon and lost most of his early matches before his character caught on. While on top he feuded with some of the top heels in the company, at the peak of the feud JYDs wife gave birth to their first child, which was made part of the storyline. It was explained that JYD could not see his new daughter, something that increased the heat on the Freebirds to the point where they needed police escorts in, the feud ended with the still-blinded JYD and Freebird leader Michael P. S. Hayes wrestling in a steel cage dog collar match, other notable feuds involved Ernie Ladd, Ted DiBiase, Kamala, King Kong Bundy, and The Natural Butch Reed. A masked man physically resembling JYD, known as Stagger Lee, subsequently appeared in the region and began to defeat the competition, one by one, including DiBiase. Though DiBiase and the other heels strongly suspected that Stagger Lee was in fact JYD, Stagger Lee disappeared once the loser-leave-town clause in the JYD-DiBiase match had expired, and JYD returned and reclaimed the North American Heavyweight Championship. The feud with Reed was notable in that Reed, a protégé of JYD, had turned heel, Reed with the help of Buddy Landell attacked the Dog many times. On a couple of occasions, they covered the Dog in chicken feathers, the two had a series of matches, many of were bouts for the prized North American Heavyweight Championship. These matches were notable for their brutality, which included ghetto street fights, dog-collar matches, two-out-of-three pin-fall matches. JYD was lured to the WWF at the peak of the feud with Reed, in the summer of 1984, Ritter left Mid-South for the World Wrestling Federation, where he was still an over face. JYD would debut on a Georgia Championship Wrestling taping held at the Kiel Auditorium on August 10,1984 when he defeated Max Blue. While in the WWF, JYD made a habit of interacting with the number of young people in attendance, often bringing them into the ring after matches. Ritter won The Wrestling Classic tournament by defeating Randy Savage by countout in the finals, as well as beating Moondog Spot, the tournament is often cited as the first-ever WWF pay-per-view. JYDs most notable feuds in the company came against King Harley Race, Ritter would make his debut for the National Wrestling Alliance on December 7,1988 at the Clash of the Champions IV
25.
Paul Ellering
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Paul Ellering is an American professional wrestling manager currently signed with WWE on the NXT brand and formerly a weightlifter, professional wrestler and dog musher. Ellering spent most of his career managing the Road Warriors, working with them from 1983 to 1990. In addition to being their on screen manager he actually handled the affairs outside the ring as well, including contract negotiations. Ellering and the Road Warriors were inducted into both the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011. Five years later, in June 2016, he returned to the ring at NXT TakeOver, The End as the manager of The Authors of Pain, a heel tag team making their debut. Prior to becoming a manager he was a wrestler, but due to injuries retired in 1983 to become a full-time manager. In the late 1990s he was involved in a storyline where he turned on the Road Warriors. After retiring from full-time activity in wrestling, he raced in the Iditarod, before entering the wrestling business, Ellering was an accomplished powerlifter, setting a world record in the deadlift at 745 pounds. Ellering was trained in Minneapolis, Minnesota at a run by American Wrestling Association owner and promoter Verne Gagne. According to Ellerings RF Video shoot interview, of the trainees in the camp, only himself. His notable feuds were with Jesse Ventura as a face, and as a heel with Jerry Lawler and Jimmy Valiant, from whom he won the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship. While wrestling for Mid-South Wrestling, Ellering severely injured his knee in a match with Robert Gibson, reinjuring it after returning to the ring, georgia booker Ole Anderson recognized his speaking ability, however, and gave him a job as a manager. Dillon in the first ever WarGames match, Ellering would also face Teddy Long in a Hair vs. Hair match at the World Championship Wrestling Capital Combat event in 1990, coming away with a victory. Ellering was also the manager for the team, he booked their matches, lined up their flights, set up hotel reservations. In 2011, Ellering was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, along with the Road Warriors, by The American Dream Dusty Rhodes. Ellering made his return to WWE programming at NXT TakeOver, The End on June 8,2016, revealing himself as the manager of a debuting Authors of Pain, after their attack on American Alpha. On January 28,2017, at NXT TakeOver, San Antonio, Ellering led Akam, after retiring from professional wrestling, he traveled to Alaska to become a sled dog racer, participating in the Iditarod. In 2000 he came in 54th place In 2002, Ellering became the owner and operator of the Historic Rock Tavern on Big Birch Lake in Grey Eagle and he has three children, Rebecca, Rachael and Saul
26.
The Road Warriors
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The Road Warriors were a professional wrestling tag team composed of Michael Hawk Hegstrand and Joseph Animal Laurinaitis. Under either name, their gimmick was the same – two imposing muscular wrestlers in face paint, for brief periods, other wrestlers were added as stand-in partners for both men. In Japan in the 1990s, Kensuke Power Warrior Sasaki often teamed with Hawk and Animal, separately, Hawk and Animal were known for their impressive physiques, and revolutionized the business by popularizing the use of face paint, and introducing a tandem maneuver known as the Doomsday Device. Both men used the move as a team finisher throughout their careers, the Road Warriors are regarded by many as the greatest tag team in professional wrestling history. Animal had briefly competed as the Road Warrior before Ole Anderson paired him up with fellow Chicagoan Hawk to form the Road Warriors in 1983. They were initially brought into Precious Paul Ellerings stable as a replacement for his team of Matt Borne and Arn Anderson, after a few months of rapid success, the Road Warriors dumped Ellering as manager, claiming they needed no manager. This was shortlived, as in early 84, along with Precious Paul Ellering formed a stable called The Legion of Doom in the National Wrestling Alliance s Georgia Championship Wrestling territory, the group consisted of the Road Warriors, Jake The Snake Roberts, The Spoiler. The stable was short lived and the name Legion of Doom soon referred only to the Road Warriors and Ellering with either name used interchangeably throughout their career. Animal reveals in the Road Warriors, The Life and Death of the Most Dominant Tag-Team in Wrestling History DVD set that the name Legion of Doom was taken from the Super Friends cartoon. In Georgia, the team rose to the top despite being very young. They gained a reputation for being stiff and not selling simply because they could. They won the NWA National Tag Team Championship upon their debut, in 1984, the Road Warriors moved on to Verne Gagnes American Wrestling Association along with their manager Paul Ellering. On August 25,1984, they defeated The Crusher and Baron von Raschke for the AWA World Tag Team Championship, the Road Warriors were brought in by Gagne to work as heels, but their squash matches soon won over fans. They became the AWAs top draw throughout 1984 and 1985, feuding primarily with The Fabulous Ones, Hawk and Animal eventually lost the AWA title to Jimmy Garvin and Mr. Electricity Steve Regal on September 29,1985, due to the interference of the Freebirds. The Road Warriors last appearance in the AWA was on April 20,1986 at WrestleRock where they defeated the team of Garvin, during their AWA stint the team became well known for using the Black Sabbath song Iron Man as their entrance theme. This and subsequent dominant victories garnered the Road Warriors a lot of Japanese wrestling media headlines and their tours with AJPW in 1985 and 1986 made the Road Warriors such legends in Japan that they toured the country whenever they were “between contracts” of the big three. Their last match in Japan during this period was on July 22,1990, for New Japan Pro Wrestling, losing to Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh by disqualification. On April 19,1986, The Road Warriors won the inaugural Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament by beating Ron Garvin and Magnum T. A. in the finals
27.
Ron Garvin
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Roger Barnes is a Canadian retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Ron Ronnie Garvin. He is best known for his appearances with Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, championships held by Garvin over his career include the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Barnes started wrestling in 1962 under his birthname, in the mid-1960s he adopted the ring name Ron Garvin and formed a tag team with Terry Garvin, who was billed as being his brother. The duo teamed throughout the late-1960s and early-1970s, winning several tag team championships. They were managed by their brother, Jimmy Garvin. Garvin made a name for himself as a wrestler in the Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky. Garvin wrestled in the Ron Fuller -owned Knoxville promotion where he threw the championship belt off of the Gay Street Bridge. He later wrestled in Angelo Poffos International Championship Wrestling promotion where he was best known for his heated rivalries with Randy Savage, one of Garvins best-known ICW moments was where he knocked Ox Bakers dentures out of his mouth, after which Garvin stomped on the dentures. Garvin is well known in the Southeast, he had feuds with such wrestlers as Andre the Giant, Bob Orton, Jr, and Tony Charles. For a time, Garvin used a known as Mr. Knoxville and formed a tag team with Charles. Garvin held the NWA Georgia Television Title 5 times, including a feud with then Legion of Doom member, at one point during the storyline, Jake Roberts held the TV title and refused to give Garvin a rematch. Garvin had to mortgage his house to come up with $10,000 to pay Roberts for a rematch, Garvin would go on to win the rematch and once again become the NWA National TV champion. Garvin then joined the National Wrestling Alliances Jim Crockett Promotions, where he would achieve his greatest success and he became known as The Man With the Hands of Stone. He feuded with Tully Blanchard and Black Bart and he also formed a tag team with Barry Windham and the duo won the NWA United States Tag Team Championship from Ivan Koloff and Kruscher Kruschev before losing the belts to Koloff and Dick Murdoch. In particular, Garvin feuded with Jim Cornettes Midnight Express team of Lover Boy Dennis, at Starrcade 85 Garvin teamed with Jimmy Valiant to face the Midnight Express in an Atlanta Street Fight, for this match Garvin wrestled in drag as Miss Atlanta Lively. Garvin also had a feud with Cornettes bodyguard, Big Bubba Rogers to whom he lost a Street Fight at Starrcade 86. In 1987 Windham and Garvin feuded with Cornettes Midnight Express over the United States tag titles, during one televised match, after Cornette threw fire in Garvins face, Garvins brother Georgeous Jimmy Garvin came to his rescue, turning both himself and his valet Precious babyface in the process. The Garvin brothers teamed for a while against the Midnight Express, in May 1987 Windham and Garvin reached the finals of a tournament for the vacant United States tag team titles but lost to the new Midnight Express lineup of Beautiful Bobby and Sweet Stan Lane
28.
World Class Championship Wrestling
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World Class Championship Wrestling was a regional professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Originally owned by promoter Ed McLemore, by 1966 it was run by Southwest Sports, Inc. whose president, rights to the pre-1988 WCCW tape library belong to WWE. World Class Championship Wrestling experienced tremendous success from 1981-1985, shattering attendance records, bookers Ken Mantell, David Von Erich, Gary Hart, Bruiser Brody and Kevin Von Erich provided fans with hard hitting action centered on the popular Von Erich brothers and a cast of devious villains. World Class Championship Wrestling was a member of the NWA and was known as Big Time Wrestling until 1982. Mickey Grant, who headed the production of its telecasts, suggested the name World Class, WCCW was originally known as Big Time Wrestling and, until the late 1970s, was dominated by its owner, Fritz Von Erich. In 1966, Von Erich and Ed McLemore-owner of the Dallas Sportatorium- bought out the Dallas/Fort Worth Wrestling Office, breaking away from Houston Wrestling Office, which was managed by Paul Boesch. In 1969, Von Erich took sole control over the Office after McLemore died from a heart attack, babyface wrestlers playing secondary roles in the promotion at various times included Wahoo McDaniel, Pepper Gomez, Red Bastien, Jose Lothario and Lonnie Moondog Mayne. A. By then, the promotion had switched to the World Class name and was centered on Fritzs sons, Kevin, David, Kerry, and later, Mike Von Erich. However, when Kerry refused to pin Flair following unwanted interference on his behalf by Hayes, shortly after, Gary Hart left WCCW, due to money issues with Von Erich, the Freebirds wanted to follow suit, but Hart persuaded them to stay in WCCW. A year later, Gordy would have his head slammed by the door from Fritz Von Erich. Stable were also involved in the Freebird-Von Erich feud directly or indirectly during the course of the angle, the official last match between the Freebirds and the Von Erichs took place in April 1993 in Dallas. Buddy Roberts was involved in conflicts in 1983 with Iceman King Parsons. Parsons, who lost the match, managed to grab the infamous Freebird Hair Cream and this prompted Roberts to wear a wig and headgear to cover his bald head, whose hair grew back in a time span of six months. A secondary feud was born between Jimmy Garvin, who had spent much of 1983 feuding with David Von Erich, against Englands Chris Adams, Adams faced Garvin for the first time on August 26,1983 at the Dallas Sportatorium, both wrestling to a time-limit draw. Afterwards, both Garvin and Adams exchanged insults, calling each other a coward, with Adams challenging Garvin to a match on October 7. The angle reached new heights on October 21 when Adams disguised himself as The Masked Avenger and faced Garvin. HEY that looks like. here it is,1,2,3, a superkick. Afterwards, he unmasked to reveal himself as Chris Adams, which proved to be a point in Adams tenure in World Class. Adams and Garvin traded the American title on numerous occasions, and engaged in mixed tag team matches involving Sunshine and Precious
29.
Chris Adams (wrestler)
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Christopher Adams, best known as Gentleman Chris Adams, was an English professional wrestler, wrestling promoter, trainer, and judoka. By age 21, he was a three-time British National Judo Champion in his age and he wrestled primarily in Texas, in particular World Class Championship Wrestling, where he was one of the promotions most popular wrestlers. Adams was born in Rugby, Warwickshire, the oldest son of Cyril, beginning at the age of nine, he was involved in judo, training in it exclusively for 14 years. He and his younger brother Neil went on to win national and world championships in judo, Adams was a member of Britains 1976 Summer Olympics judo squad, but never competed in the Olympics. He held a belt in Judo and was also an expert in other areas of the martial arts. In addition, he competed in rugby, cricket, football, Adams first entered professional wrestling in 1978 with no true formal training, instead relying on his judo background. He worked for Joint Promotions and frequently wrestled on ITVs World of Sport show), Adams did have some championship success in England, winning the British Commonwealth tag team title with Marty Jones, and the British Light Heavyweight Championship from Mark Rollerball Rocco. Adams also competed alongside many British wrestling legends, including Big Daddy, Dave Fit Finlay, Dynamite Kid and he also engaged in a feud with Adrian Street while competing in England. He moved to Los Angeles in 1981 to compete at the Olympic Auditorium, operated at the time by famed Judo legends Mike, Adams won the NWA Americas title in 1982, and was a NWA Americas Tag Team title winner with Tom Prichard and Ringo Rigby. He lived in Santa Monica and wrestled throughout the California coast in cards promoted by the LaBells and he also wrestled for Don Owens Pacific Northwest promotion, as well as being involved in several tours of Japan, Europe, Mexico and Canada. By 1983, Adams was contacted by Fritz Von Erich to compete in World Class Championship Wrestling and he joined the Dallas-based promotion on 15 April 1983, wrestling twice that night, defeating Roberto Renesto on the cards opening match and The Mongol by disqualification later in the card. Chris was billed as being the pen pal of Kevin Von Erich and was named by the Adkissons as an honorary Von Erich. Adams won his first eleven matches before losing his first WCCW bout to Kamala on 20 June in Fort Worth, soon thereafter, Adams and Jimmy Garvin began battling each other, with valets Sunshine and Precious getting involved. In August, Adams hired manager Gary Hart, and eventually turned heel following a 28 September 1984 tag team match at the Dallas Sportatorium. After Adams was pinned by Kevin in a 27 October 1984 match, he was offered a deal to fire Hart, Adams then grabbed a wooden chair and smashed it on Kevins head. According to Adams, the chair had accidentally broken in half, which resulted in a concussion and bleeding. Kevin eventually returned the favour to Adams a month later at Reunion Arena, and again and this resulted in an abrupt end to the angle. Adams later competed in a tag team match alongside Jake Roberts and Gino Hernandez, defeating Kerry Von Erich, Mike Von Erich
30.
Gino Hernandez
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Charles Eugene Wolfe Jr. was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Gino Hernandez. He is best known for his appearances with the Dallas, Texas-based promotion World Class Championship Wrestling between 1976 and 1986, Hernandez death was initially ruled a homicide case, but police later concluded that he had died of a drug overdose. At the beginning of Gino Hernandez career, he wrestled as a rookie babyface for Ed Farhats Big Time Wrestling out of Detroit, Gino was a young, fresh-faced, inexperienced wrestler who got over with female fans due to his long black hair and good looks. He won the United States Heavyweight Championship in the Detroit area by defeating Bulldog Don Kent, Gino also wrestled at least one match around this time in the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Gino eventually lost his United States Heavyweight Championship to the man who ruled Detroit for many years, the Handsome Halfbreed started wrestling in 1975 in Southwest Championship Wrestling after being trained by Jose Lothario. He formed a team with Lothario and eventually turned on him and he returned to SCW and formed a tag team called The Dynamic Duo with Tully Blanchard that was quite successful. They were the top heels in Texas and he returned to WCCW in 1984 and feuded with the Von Erichs, Mike, Kevin and Kerry Von Erich. In the summer, he was paired with Nickla Roberts, who was billed at the time as Andrea the Lady Giant, the duo was paired in a series of mixed tag team matches between Sunshine and Mike Von Erich, with Sunshines aunt Stella Mae French also getting involved. He formed a tag team with WCCW newcomer, Jake The Snake Roberts and he also formed a team with Chris Adams, also called the Dynamic Duo. This version proved to be the most famous, as Adams and Hernandez drew in high revenues and television ratings for World Class in their feud with the Von Erichs. The duo invented the famed gold scissors, and were known to cut hair off of their opponents after each win, Adams and Hernandez lost a hair match to Kevin and Kerry Von Erich at the Cotton Bowl on October 6,1985. After the match, Hernandez attempted to escape, but was tackled by Chris Von Erich, who was at ringside and his hair quickly grew back in two months, while Adams hair took longer. He soon turned on Adams in December 1985 and started a feud, Hernandez was scheduled to compete on a house show the following Thursday and a non-televised wrestling card at the Sportatorium in Dallas the following Friday. Gino did not show for either of those matches, and phone calls made to him were never returned and he had been dead for approximately two to three days. Initially, Hernandezs death was ruled a case, but following autopsy reports. His cocaine addiction was not a secret to many World Class mainstays, including manager Gary Hart, the syndicated World Class broadcast was scheduled to have aired a match involving Gino Hernandez, originally taped on January 24 at the Dallas Sportatorium. That match never aired, instead, announcer Bill Mercer made the announcement of Ginos death, Adams returned the following May, and won the World Class Heavyweight Championship two months later. Although police dropped the investigation into Hernandez death, many people still believe he was murdered in a drug-related incident
31.
Von Erich family
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The Von Erich family is a professional wrestling family. The familys actual surname is Adkisson, but every member of the family who has been in the business has used the ring name Von Erich, after the family patriarch. Although family patriarch Fritz lived to the age of 68, five of his six sons preceded him in death, the firstborn son, Jack Jr. was electrocuted at the age of seven in 1959 in a household accident. In 1984, David Von Erich died in Japan from an unconfirmed cause, Mike, Chris, and Kerry committed suicide in 1987,1991, and 1993 respectively. Mike died after taking an overdose of Placidyl and alcoholic beverages, Chris shot himself in the head with a 9mm handgun at his parents home in East Texas. Kerry shot himself in the chest behind his fathers house, Kevin is the last surviving son of Fritz Von Erich. The third generation of Von Erich wrestlers is currently forming, Kevins sons Marshall and Ross are now in the business, and Kerrys daughter Lacey wrestled from 2007 until her retirement in 2010. Fritz Von Erich was born Jack Barton Adkisson on August 16,1929 in Jewett, originally trained by Stu Hart, Fritz became a top star in many National Wrestling Alliance promotions, most notably in St. Louis and in World Class Championship Wrestling. He held a variation of the AWA World Heavyweight Championship at one time in the 1960s, despite never winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, he maintained his presence within the NWA, holding many other major belts. Fritz also served shortly as NWA President in the 1970s, as well as President of WCCW when it moved to Dallas, Texas. Fritz was also a part of Japanese wrestling, where he was known as Tetsu no Tsume. Fritz married Doris on June 23,1950, together, they had six sons before divorcing on July 21,1992. On September 10,1997, Fritz died of cancer that had spread to his brain. Fritz Von Erichs first son was born Jack Barton Adkisson, Jr. on September 21,1952 and he was accidentally shocked unconscious by an exposed wire and drowned in a puddle at the age of six in Niagara Falls, New York, on March 7,1959. Born Kevin Ross Adkisson on May 15,1957 in Belleville, Illinois, the majority of Kevins career was spent working in World Class Championship Wrestling, where he had feuds against wrestlers such as Chris Adams, The Fabulous Freebirds, and Ric Flair. It was there that Kevin became known for utilizing trademark maneuvers like the body scissors, Kevin has been married since August 1,1980 to Pamela J. May. Together they have four children, including two daughters, Kristen Rain and Jillian Lindsey as well as two sons, David Michael Ross and Kevin Marshall, Kevin is also a grandfather to Adeline Claire. and 6 more grandchildren. In May 2006, Kevin sold the WCCW footage to Vince McMahon, at WrestleMania XXV, Kevin represented the Von Erich family during their induction into the WWE Hall of Fame
32.
WrestleMania 2
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WrestleMania 2 was the second annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on Monday, April 7,1986, making it the only WrestleMania that was not held on the customary Sunday, as with the first WrestleMania, the matches were shown on closed-circuit television across North America. The event was also the first WrestleMania to air on the national pay-per-view market, the ring announcers were Howard Finkel, Chet Coppock, and Lee Marshall. Each venue had its own card, the respective final matches were a boxing match pitting Mr. The professional wrestling matches at WrestleMania 2 featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, storylines between the characters played out on WWFs primary television programs, Championship Wrestling, All-Star Wrestling, Saturday Nights Main Event and Prime Time Wrestling. Hogan and André won the match, on March 1, Hogan defended his WWF title against The Magnificent Muraco. Just as Hogan was about to pin Muraco, Bundy ran into the ring and—with Muracos help—initiated a 2-on-1 assault on Hogan, Hogan had a very serious injury, while Bundy challenged Hogan for the title. With revenge on his mind, Hogan decided not to heed his doctors advice and accepted the challenge, the second feud heading into the event was between Mr. T and Rowdy Roddy Piper. T feud restarted in 1986 after their real-life hatred for each other became known, Piper and others disliked Mr. T because he was an actor and was unskilled wrestling-wise. In response, Mr. T became a special WWF boxer, on the March 1 Saturday Nights Main Event, Mr. T defeated Orton in a boxing match. After the match, Piper distracted Mr. T, allowing Orton to attack from behind, Mr. T then demanded revenge, leading to his boxing match against Piper. The third main feud heading into WrestleMania was between The Dream Team and The British Bulldogs over the WWF Tag Team Championship, on August 24,1985, Beefcake and Valentine won the tag titles from The U. S. Express. Immediately after their win, they were challenged by British Bulldogs for the titles. They retained their titles against Bulldogs at a show on September 11 by getting disqualified. They defended the titles against Bulldogs again on Saturday Nights Main Event, after Bulldogs failed in winning the titles twice, Dream Team agreed to defend their titles against Bulldogs for a final time with a title match set at WrestleMania. The other major feud heading into WrestleMania 2 was Randy Macho Man Savage and George the Animal Steele and its genesis came after Steele, who used a Neanderthal, missing link-type gimmick, became smitten with Savages manager, the beautiful Miss Elizabeth. Along with former champion Tito Santana Steele became one of Savages top challengers for the title, in the first match of the show and the New York arena, Paul Orndorff faced The Magnificent Muraco. Both men fought to a double countout, next was a WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship match between Macho Man Randy Savage and George The Animal Steele
33.
Ricky Steamboat
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Richard Henry Ricky Blood Sr. better known by his ring name Ricky The Dragon Steamboat, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work with the American Wrestling Association, the National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling, in the WWF/E, Steamboat was a one-time Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009. Blood went to school in New York, and graduated in 1971 from Boca Ciega High School in Gulfport. He was a two-time New York State wrestling qualifier and a Florida state champion, Blood debuted in 1976 as a babyface in the American Wrestling Association under his real name Rick Blood. He went from the AWA to Championship Wrestling from Florida, before his debut at CWF, Eddie Graham gave him the ring name Ricky Steamboat based on his resemblance to Hawaiian wrestler Sammy Steamboat. According to Steamboat, Graham thought Rick Blood was a name for a heel. In 1977, Steamboat entered the National Wrestling Alliance-sanctioned Jim Crockett Promotions, matching him with his brash young counterpart, Ric Flair, was a natural fit. Steamboat stepped up to the plate during an interview on the syndicated Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling when Flair, Steamboat knocked Flair out with a backhand chop to set up a match between the two. Steamboats star making performance came when he pinned Flair after a double thrust off the top rope to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Championship at WRAL studios in Raleigh, North Carolina. Over the next eight years in JCP, Steamboat captured the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship three times and the NWA World Tag Team Championship six times and he also held the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship singles crown twice and wore the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship straps four times. He also won the Television title a second time, after having creative differences with JCP booker Dusty Rhodes, Steamboat left the NWA. In 1985, Steamboat was offered a contract by Vince McMahon, shortly after his debut, Steamboat was given the gimmick of a babyface nicknamed The Dragon, Steamboats jacket-and-trunks attire was replaced by a keikogi and long tights. Steamboats mother is Japanese American, hence his Asian features which were crucial for his Dragon gimmick, Steamboat kept the nickname and gimmick for the remainder of his career. He appeared at the inaugural WrestleMania where he defeated Matt Borne in the match on the card. During a televised episode of WWF Championship Wrestling, Steamboat and Muraco were scheduled for a match that never started after Muraco jumped Steamboat before the bell. Following the beat down, Muraco and Fuji then used Steamboats Karate black belt to him outside the ring from the top rop before Steamboat was finally saved by Tito Santana. On the November 2 edition of Saturday Nights Main Event, he defeated Fuji in a Kung Fu Challenge. On the January 4,1986 edition of Saturday Nights Main Event, his feud with Muraco ended after he
34.
Saturday Night's Main Event
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Saturday Nights Main Event was a sports entertainment television program produced by the World Wrestling Federation. Premiering in 1985, the originally aired on NBC as an occasional replacement for Saturday Night Live on its weekend broadcast schedule. The program aired on an infrequent basis on NBC until 1991, at the time of the original airing it was a rare example of professional wrestling being broadcast on an over-the-air commercial television network after the 1950s. It coincided with and contributed to the apogee of the golden age of professional wrestling in the United States. The Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brand rosters were featured on the show, all episodes of Saturday Nights Main Event are available for streaming on the WWE Network. However, the episodes on the WWE Network are not 100% original, may 1985–January 1988 episodes do not have the original opening theme by Animotion instead they are dubbed over by the February 1988–April 1991 opening theme. Sponsored segments that aired as part of the original such as the Mountain Dew Slam of the Night have been removed as well. Saturday Nights Main Event, which was broadcast live, debuted on May 11,1985 in the time slot normally assigned to reruns of the NBC sketch comedy Saturday Night Live. Then-SNL executive producer Dick Ebersol had made a deal with WWF owner Vince McMahon to produce the show,1989 and 1990 both offered episodes in July promoted as Summertime Bonus Editions. That show was headlined by a battle royal featuring Hulk Hogan and André the Giant, as Hogan rarely wrestled on the WWF syndicated and cable television shows, Saturday Nights Main Event was the program on free television where most viewers were able to see him in action. The success of Saturday Nights Main Event led to several Friday night prime time specials, while ratings remained strong through 1990, they began to fall shortly thereafter. NBC, who had just acquired the rights to broadcast NBA games nationwide, now started to lose interest in wrestling and its final NBC airing occurred on April 27,1991. Fox picked up the show in 1992, but it was shown twice on that network, February 8,1992. For much of its history, Saturday Nights Main Event was hosted by McMahon, in 1990, Roddy Piper replaced Ventura as McMahons broadcast partner when Ventura left the WWF. On the two episodes aired on Fox, Heenan served as McMahons partner. In February 1988, the songs were replaced with an original WWF-created instrumental theme, the new instrumental theme was originally used as the theme of the 1987 WWF Slammy Awards. A different opening theme song was used for the February 1992 episode, Saturday Nights Main Event returned to NBC on March 18,2006, in a prime-time slot. The opening theme song for the run was Boom by P. O. D
35.
Vince McMahon
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Vincent Kennedy Vince McMahon is an American professional wrestling promoter, former commentator, announcer, film producer, actor, and retired professional wrestler. Since taking over the company from his father in the 1980s and he currently serves as the majority owner, chairman, and CEO of the professional wrestling promotion. McMahon has also competed as a professional wrestler using a gimmick known by the ring name Mr. McMahon. He is a world champion, having won the WWF Championship in 1999 and ECW World Championship in 2007. He headlined multiple pay-per-view events from 1999 to 2000 and participated in the event of WrestleMania 2000. McMahon was born in Pinehurst, North Carolina and he was raised as Vinnie Lupton and spent the majority of his childhood living with his mother, Victoria Vicki Lupton and a string of stepfathers. He claimed that one of his stepfathers, Leo Lupton, used to beat his mother and he said, It is unfortunate that he died before I could kill him. His biological father, Vincent James McMahon, had left the family while McMahon was still a baby, taking his son, Rod. McMahon did not meet his father until age 12. According to an interview with Playboy, he attended Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Virginia, in his early life, he also overcame dyslexia. McMahon first met the promoter for Capitol Wrestling Corporation, his father Vincent J. McMahon, at that point, McMahon became interested in following his fathers professional wrestling footsteps and often accompanied him on trips to Madison Square Garden. McMahon wanted to be a wrestler, but his father would not let him, explaining that promoters did not appear on the show, in 1969, McMahon made his debut as an in-ring announcer for the WWWFs All-Star Wrestling. In 1971, he was assigned to a territory in Maine. He later became the commentator for television matches after he replaced Ray Morgan in 1971. Throughout the 1970s, McMahon became the prominent force in his fathers company and, over the next decade and he pushed for the renaming of the company to the World Wrestling Federation. The younger McMahon was also behind the Muhammad Ali versus Antonio Inoki match of 1976, at the time of his purchase of the WWF, professional wrestling was a business run by regional promotions. In 1983, the WWF split from the National Wrestling Alliance a second time, the NWA was the governing body for all the regional territories across the country and as far away as Japan. In 1984, he recruited Hulk Hogan to be the WWF’s charismatic new megastar, nevertheless, McMahon created The Rock n Wrestling Connection by incorporating pop music stars into wrestling storylines
36.
Komodo dragon
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The Komodo dragon, also known as the Komodo monitor, is a large species of lizard found in the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang, and Padar. A member of the lizard family Varanidae, it is the largest living species of lizard, growing to a maximum length of 3 metres in rare cases. Their unusually large size has been attributed to island gigantism, since no other carnivorous animals fill the niche on the islands where they live, fossils very similar to V. komodoensis have been found in Australia dating to greater than 3. As a result of their size, these dominate the ecosystems in which they live. Komodo dragons hunt and ambush prey including invertebrates, birds, and it has been claimed that they have a venomous bite, there are two glands in the lower jaw which secrete several toxic proteins. The biological significance of proteins is disputed, but the glands have been shown to secrete an anticoagulant. Komodo dragon group behaviour in hunting is exceptional in the reptile world, the diet of big Komodo dragons mainly consists of deer, though they also eat considerable amounts of carrion. Komodo dragons also occasionally attack humans, mating begins between May and August, and the eggs are laid in September. About 20 eggs are deposited in abandoned nests or in a self-dug nesting hole. The eggs are incubated for seven to eight months, hatching in April, young Komodo dragons are vulnerable and therefore dwell in trees, safe from predators and cannibalistic adults. They take 8 to 9 years to mature, and are estimated to live up to 30 years, Komodo dragons were first recorded by Western scientists in 1910. Their large size and fearsome reputation make them popular zoo exhibits, in the wild, their range has contracted due to human activities, and they are listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. They are protected under Indonesian law, and a national park, the Komodo dragon is also known as the Komodo monitor or the Komodo Island monitor in scientific literature, although this is not very common. To the natives of Komodo Island, it is referred to as ora, buaya darat, the Komodo dragon was believed to have differentiated from its Australian ancestors 4 million years ago. However, recent fossil evidence from Queensland suggests the Komodo dragon actually evolved in Australia before spreading to Indonesia, in the wild, an adult Komodo dragon usually weighs around 70 kg, although captive specimens often weigh more. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, an adult male will weigh 79 to 91 kg and measure 2.59 m, while an average female will weigh 68 to 73 kg. The largest verified specimen was 3.13 m long and weighed 166 kg. The Komodo dragon has a tail as long as its body and its saliva is frequently blood-tinged, because its teeth are almost completely covered by gingival tissue that is naturally lacerated during feeding
37.
The Big Event
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The Big Event was a professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation on August 28,1986, at the Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, Ontario. It drew a crowd of over 64,000 fans, which was an attendance record at the time. This stood as a record for a wrestling show until WrestleMania III drew a reported 93,173 fans just seven months later to the Silverdome in Pontiac. A VHS tape of the event was released later by Coliseum Home Video, with commentary by Gorilla Monsoon, Johnny Valiant, in 2014, WWE Network made the event available on demand in the pay-per-view section. Shortly afterward, Orndorff announced he had re-hired former manager Bobby Heenan, the Hogan-Orndorff feud continued to rage into the fall of 1986, with Orndorff – as he did at The Big Event – using Hogans entrance theme Real American as his own theme. Eventually, the two settled their differences in a series of steel cage matches, the Hogan-Orndorff feud would be named Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazines Feud of the Year for 1986, by a vote of the magazines readers. Eventually, the Machines disappeared and André the Giants suspension was lifted, the Hogan-André storyline would begin playing out in January 1987, while the other two members of the Machines team – Blackjack Mulligan and Bill Eadie – would adopt new gimmicks. While Mulligan would fade from the WWF in early 1987, as Ax of Demolition Eadie would go on to win the WWF Tag Team Championship on three occasions between 1988 and 1990. The feud began heating up in earnest in the fall of 1986. Xperience was a professional wrestling event held by World Wrestling Federation. It was considered to be the 10th Anniversary of the original The Big Event which took ten years earlier in the same venue
38.
Toronto
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Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. With a population of 2,731,571, it is the fourth most populous city in North America after Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles. A global city, Toronto is a centre of business, finance, arts, and culture. Aboriginal peoples have inhabited the area now known as Toronto for thousands of years, the city itself is situated on the southern terminus of an ancient Aboriginal trail leading north to Lake Simcoe, used by the Wyandot, Iroquois, and the Mississauga. Permanent European settlement began in the 1790s, after the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase of 1787, the British established the town of York, and later designated it as the capital of Upper Canada. During the War of 1812, the town was the site of the Battle of York, York was renamed and incorporated as the city of Toronto in 1834, and became the capital of the province of Ontario during the Canadian Confederation in 1867. The city proper has since expanded past its original borders through amalgamation with surrounding municipalities at various times in its history to its current area of 630.2 km2. While the majority of Torontonians speak English as their primary language, Toronto is a prominent centre for music, theatre, motion picture production, and television production, and is home to the headquarters of Canadas major national broadcast networks and media outlets. Toronto is known for its skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere. The name Toronto is likely derived from the Iroquois word tkaronto and this refers to the northern end of what is now Lake Simcoe, where the Huron had planted tree saplings to corral fish. A portage route from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron running through this point, in the 1660s, the Iroquois established two villages within what is today Toronto, Ganatsekwyagon on the banks of the Rouge River and Teiaiagonon the banks of the Humber River. By 1701, the Mississauga had displaced the Iroquois, who abandoned the Toronto area at the end of the Beaver Wars, French traders founded Fort Rouillé on the current Exhibition grounds in 1750, but abandoned it in 1759. During the American Revolutionary War, the region saw an influx of British settlers as United Empire Loyalists fled for the British-controlled lands north of Lake Ontario, the new province of Upper Canada was in the process of creation and needed a capital. Dorchester intended the location to be named Toronto, in 1793, Governor John Graves Simcoe established the town of York on the Toronto Purchase lands, instead naming it after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. Simcoe decided to move the Upper Canada capital from Newark to York, the York garrison was constructed at the entrance of the towns natural harbour, sheltered by a long sandbar peninsula. The towns settlement formed at the end of the harbour behind the peninsula, near the present-day intersection of Parliament Street. In 1813, as part of the War of 1812, the Battle of York ended in the towns capture, the surrender of the town was negotiated by John Strachan. US soldiers destroyed much of the garrison and set fire to the parliament buildings during their five-day occupation, the sacking of York was a primary motivation for the Burning of Washington by British troops later in the war
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WWF Wrestling Challenge
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WWF Wrestling Challenge was a professional wrestling television program produced by World Wrestling Entertainment, known at the time as the World Wrestling Federation. It was syndicated weekly and aired from 1986 to 1995, the show became simply known as WWF Challenge in 1995. The show featured matches, pre-match interviews, and occasionally, summarized weekly events in WWF programming, matches primarily saw top tier and mid-level talent versus jobbers. At times, there was a match between main WWF talent. As with other syndicated WWF programming, the show promoted WWF event dates, Wrestling Challenge premiered on September 7,1986, replacing All-Star Wrestling. Following the shows debut, The Snake Pit, hosted by Jake The Snake Roberts, the Snake Pit was an in-ring interview segment modeled after Roddy Pipers Pipers Pit, which aired on WWF Superstars of Wrestling. Wrestling Challenge also featured the similarly formatted The Brother Love Show and this segment, which debuted in 1988, was later moved to Superstars of Wrestling. After this, the feature was a podium interview featuring Gene Okerlund. Starting in 1991, The Barber Shop debuted with host Brutus The Barber Beefcake, while The Kings Court, the hosts for the first three episodes were Gorilla Monsoon, Ernie Ladd, and Luscious Johnny V. After that, Ladd was replaced by the host Bobby The Brain Heenan while Johnny V continued to do commentary solely for matches where Heenan was managing, the show began to be hosted by Dok Hendrix and occasionally Mr. Perfect until its discontinuation in 1995. This repackaging allowed the program to count as Canadian content, certain ITV areas also screened a batch of 10 months worth of episodes in a late night timeslot, erroneously announced in TV listings as Superstars Of Wrestling. The late night ITV slot would be replaced in 1990 by tapes of WCW, the Sky transmission continued to air in the UK until 1997, when it was repackaged as WWF Shotgun Challenge. WWF Challenge at the Internet Movie Database WWF Challenge at TV. com
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Roddy Piper
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Roderick George Toombs, better known by his ring name Rowdy Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler and actor. In professional wrestling, Piper was best known to audiences for his work with the World Wrestling Federation. Although he was Canadian, because of his Scottish heritage he was billed as coming from Glasgow and was known for his signature kilt and he earned the nicknames Rowdy and Hot Rod by displaying his trademark Scottish rage, spontaneity, and quick wit. Piper was described by industry veteran Ric Flair as the most gifted entertainer in the history of professional wrestling, One of the most recognizable pro wrestling stars worldwide, Piper headlined numerous pay-per-view cards, including the WWF and WCWs respective premier annual events, WrestleMania and Starrcade. Never a world champion, he nevertheless accumulated 34 championships in various promotions during a 42-year ring career and he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005. Toombs was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on April 17,1954 and his father, Stanley Baird Toombs, was an officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police while they lived in The Pas, Manitoba. After being expelled from junior high for having a switchblade in school and falling out with his father, Piper left home and he picked up odd jobs at local gyms, running errands for several professional wrestlers. As a young man, he became proficient in playing the bagpipes and his childhood best friend was ex-NHL player and Stanley Cup winner Cam Connor. Piper was a boxer and a wrestler before he started to become a professional wrestler. He won the Golden Gloves boxing championship and he was awarded a Black Belt in Judo from Gene LeBell, American Judo champion, instructor, stuntman, and professional wrestler. Roddy started wrestling under the care of promoter Al Tomko in Canada, his first match involving midget wrestlers in front of an audience in Churchill. He soon began earning money wrestling while still going to school and his first match in a pro and famous organization was with the legendary Larry Hennig in the American Wrestling Association. Friends of his played the bag-pipes during his entrance while he was handing out dandelions and then the ring-announcer had to announce something, so, after seeing the pipe band he then announced Here comes Roddy the piper, thus giving birth to Roddy Piper and the name stuck. From 1973 to 1975, Piper was a jobber in the American Wrestling Association, NWA Central States territory surrounding Kansas City and he also worked in Texas for Paul Boeschs NWA Houston Wrestling promotion, and in Dallas for Fritz Von Erichs Big Time Rasslin. By late 1975 and early 1976, Piper was a top villain for Mike, in 1977–78, he also started to work for Roy Shires NWA San Francisco Wrestling in addition to remaining with the Los Angeles office, where Piper developed his Rowdy character. Piper also managed a stable of wrestlers in California, in the Los Angeles area, Piper feuded with Chavo Guerrero Sr. and his father Gory Guerrero. Piper and Chavo Guerrero faced each other in matches for the Jules Strongbow Memorial Scientific Trophy. Piper also defeated Chavo for the Americas Heavyweight Title, during the feud, Piper lost a hair match and had his head shaved
