1.
Asheville, North Carolina
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Asheville is a city in and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the 11th largest city in North Carolina, the citys population was 87,236 according to the 2013 estimates. It is the city in the four-county Asheville metropolitan area. Asheville is home to the United States National Climatic Data Center, before the arrival of the Europeans, the land where Asheville now exists lay within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation. In 1540, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto came to the area, bringing the first European visitors along with European diseases, the area was used as an open hunting ground until the middle of the 19th century. The history of Asheville, as a town, began in 1784, in that year, Colonel Samuel Davidson and his family settled in the Swannanoa Valley, redeeming a soldiers land grant from the state of North Carolina. Soon after building a log cabin at the bank of Christian Creek, Davidson was lured into the woods by a band of Cherokee hunters, Davidsons wife, child and female slave fled on foot overnight to Davidsons Fort 16 miles away. In response to the killing, Davidsons twin brother Major William Davidson and brother-in-law Colonel Daniel Smith formed an expedition to retrieve Samuel Davidsons body and avenge his murder. Months after the expedition, Major Davidson and other members of his family returned to the area. The United States Census of 1790 counted 1,000 residents of the area, Buncombe County was officially formed in 1792. The county seat, named Morristown in 1793, was established on a plateau where two old Indian trails crossed, in 1797, Morristown was incorporated and renamed Asheville after North Carolina Governor Samuel Ashe. For a time, an Enfield rifle manufacturing facility was located in the town, in late April 1865 troops under the overall command of Union Gen. Stoneman captured Asheville. Hartley, Stonemans Raid, p.362 After a negotiated departure, the years following the war were a time of economic and social hardship in Buncombe County, as throughout most of the defeated South. On October 2,1880, the Western North Carolina Railroad completed its line from Salisbury to Asheville, almost immediately it was sold and resold to the Richmond and Danville Railroad Company, becoming part of the Southern Railway in 1894. With the completion of the first railway, Asheville experienced a slow but steady growth as industrial plants increased in number and size, textile mills were established and plants were set up for the manufacture of wood and mica products, foodstuffs, and other commodities. The 21-mile distance between Hendersonville and Asheville of the former Asheville and Spartanburg Railroad was completed in 1886, by that point, the line was operated as part of the Richmond and Danville Railroad until 1894 and controlled by the Southern Railway afterward. Asheville had the first electric railway lines in the state of North Carolina. These would be replaced by buses in 1934, Asheville prospered in the decades of the 1910s and 1920s and at one point was the third largest city in the state, behind Charlotte and Wilmington
2.
Fairfield, Ohio
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Fairfield is a city in Butler and Hamilton counties in the U. S. state of Ohio, and a residential suburb of nearby Cincinnati. The population was 42,510 at the 2010 census and it includes the former hamlet of Symmes Corner, named after Celadon Symmes. The city school district is one of the largest in Ohio, an evolution of Fairfield,1877 — The Groh family settles in what would become the city of Fairfield. 1954 — In April, voters said no to incorporating the entire township 1,219 to 831, on July 10, township residents said yes to incorporating 738 for to 216 against. 1955 — Attempts to detach the village and annex into Hamilton continued, the council pursued to annex a 10-square-mile area known as Stockton. Results of a special census were announced on September 20 there were 6,202 residents,1965 — The third, and current, Fairfield Municipal Building was dedicated. 1972 — The 11th annual Homearama is held in Fairfield, the first one outside Hamilton County, homearamas annual showcase returned two more times in Fairfield. 1974 — Jim Boniminio purchases land at 5440 Dixie Highway and after a reluctant planning commission approves his request to open a permanent fruit, Today Jungle Jims International Market has 50,000 weekly shoppers and annual sales of nearly $100 million. 1979 — The Fairfield Golf team wins a championship, the first team or individual state title for the school. 1985 - Fairfield wins State HS Baseball Championships,1986 — Fairfield HS wins state football championship versus Lakewood St. Edwards. 1989 — Forest Fair Mall opens with three anchors and 37 specialty stores, the $200 million mall with 1,700,000 square feet straddles the Fairfield and Forest Park border. Redevelopment of the mall in 2004 leads to renaming the mall Cincinnati Mills,1991 — The Fairfield High School baseball team is named USA Today National Champions 2001 — In September, Village Green Park debuted. It was developed to give Fairfield a downtown,2005 — In May, the Community Arts Center debuted, completing the citys crown jewel. The Community Arts Center serves as a bookend to the Fairfield Lane Library,2012 — On July 28, the Joe Nuxhall Miracle League Fields, the regions first multi-field complex for tournament play by the disabled, celebrated opening day. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 21.06 square miles. As of the census of 2010, there were 42,510 people,17,415 households, the population density was 2,030.1 inhabitants per square mile. There were 18,803 housing units at a density of 897.9 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 79. 0% White,12. 8% African American,0. 3% Native American,2. 4% Asian,0. 1% Pacific Islander,3. 0% from other races, and 2. 4% from two or more races
3.
Mars Hill University
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Mars Hill University is a private, coed, liberal arts university. The university is located in the town of Mars Hill, North Carolina,15 miles north of Asheville, the university is part of the Asheville metropolitan area. Mars Hill University offers 34 majors, including a school of nursing, from 1859 to 2013 the school was called Mars Hill College, in August 2013 it officially changed its name to Mars Hill University. Mars Hill University was founded in 1856, and it is the oldest college or university in western North Carolina and it started as the French Broad Baptist Institute, sharing a name with the nearby French Broad River. In 1859, the university changed its name to Mars Hill, during the American Civil War the university was closed for two years, but it reopened after the war. From 1897 to 1938 the university, under the leadership of Dr. Robert Moore, in 1921 Mars Hill became an accredited junior college. Dr. Hoyt Blackwell served as president from 1938 to 1966, from 1966-1996 Dr. Fred Bentley served as the colleges president. Dr. Bentley was, at the time of his appointment in 1966, the youngest college president in the United States. Dr. Dan Lunsford, a 1969 graduate of Mars Hill, is currently the president, he holds a doctorate in education, Ed. D. The universitys enrollment is typically around 1,200 traditional students, in its annual survey of Americas Best Colleges, U. S. News and World Report ranks Mars Hill among the Souths Top 20 Regional Colleges. In 2012 and 2014 Mars Hill also ranked among the Top 20 baccalaureate colleges in Washington Monthlys annual survey of the nations best colleges. In 2015 Washington Monthly ranked Mars Hill 23rd nationally out of 344 baccalaureate colleges surveyed, Mars Hill has been named to the Presidents Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll five times since the awards inception in 2006, including twice with distinction for general community service. The university offers seven degrees, and 34 majors, in May 2013 the university awarded its first M. Ed degrees. In August 2016 the university opened its new Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, the most popular majors are in the fields of business administration and management, education, social work, physical education teaching and coaching, and general psychology. The university is known for its excellent departments in music. In 1932 Lamar Stringfield, a Mars Hill alumnus, formed the North Carolina Symphony, in 2002 the university opened the Ramsey Center for Regional Studies. The university has a scenic 194-acre campus, most of the dormitories are located atop two hills, named mens hill and womens hill, the main campus is located in a small valley between the two hills. The university is surrounded by the Appalachian Mountains, from points on campus, it is possible to see Mount Mitchell
4.
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
5.
Pipestone, Minnesota
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Pipestone is a city in Pipestone County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 4,317 at the 2010 census, the city is also the site of the Pipestone National Monument. Pipestone took its name from Pipestone County, the city was incorporated in 1901. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 4.18 square miles. As of the census of 2010, there were 4,317 people,1,923 households, the population density was 1,032.8 inhabitants per square mile. There were 2,134 housing units at a density of 510.5 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 90. 2% White,0. 9% African American,1. 9% Native American,1. 1% Asian,3. 5% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 5. 2% of the population. 38. 4% of all households were made up of individuals and 17. 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.86. The median age in the city was 40.8 years. 23. 9% of residents were under the age of 18,7. 9% were between the ages of 18 and 24,22. 1% were from 25 to 44,25. 1% were from 45 to 64, and 20. 9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 46. 6% male and 53. 4% female, as of the census of 2000, there were 4,280 people,1,900 households, and 1,138 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,090.8 people per square mile, there were 2,097 housing units at an average density of 534.4 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 94. 23% White,0. 28% African American,2. 94% Native American,0. 75% Asian,0. 05% Pacific Islander,0. 35% from other races, and 1. 40% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0. 96% of the population,35. 8% of all households were made up of individuals and 19. 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.22 and the family size was 2.89. In the city, the population was out with 24. 7% under the age of 18,8. 7% from 18 to 24,24. 9% from 25 to 44,20. 3% from 45 to 64. The median age was 39 years, for every 100 females there were 88.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.6 males, the median income for a household in the city was $30,412, and the median income for a family was $40,194
6.
Tokyo
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Tokyo, officially Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan and one of its 47 prefectures. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous area in the world. It is the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government, Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Formerly known as Edo, it has been the de facto seat of government since 1603 when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters. It officially became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from the old capital of Kyoto in 1868, Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture and the city of Tokyo. The Tokyo metropolitan government administers the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo, the metropolitan government also administers 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the wards is over 9 million people. The prefecture is part of the worlds most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 37.8 million people, the city hosts 51 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest number of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked third in the International Financial Centres Development IndexEdit, the city is also home to various television networks such as Fuji TV, Tokyo MX, TV Tokyo, TV Asahi, Nippon Television, NHK and the Tokyo Broadcasting System. Tokyo ranked first in the Global Economic Power Index and fourth in the Global Cities Index. The city is considered a world city – as listed by the GaWCs 2008 inventory – and in 2014. In 2015, Tokyo was named the Most Liveable City in the world by the magazine Monocle, the Michelin Guide has awarded Tokyo by far the most Michelin stars of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked first in the world in the Safe Cities Index, the 2016 edition of QS Best Student Cities ranked Tokyo as the 3rd-best city in the world to be a university student. Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, the 1979 G-7 summit, the 1986 G-7 summit, and the 1993 G-7 summit, and will host the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tokyo was originally known as Edo, which means estuary. During the early Meiji period, the city was also called Tōkei, some surviving official English documents use the spelling Tokei. However, this pronunciation is now obsolete, the name Tokyo was first suggested in 1813 in the book Kondō Hisaku, written by Satō Nobuhiro. When Ōkubo Toshimichi proposed the renaming to the government during the Meiji Restoration, according to Oda Kanshi, Tokyo was originally a small fishing village named Edo, in what was formerly part of the old Musashi Province. Edo was first fortified by the Edo clan, in the twelfth century
7.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
8.
Les Thatcher
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Leslie Alan Malady, better known by the name Les Thatcher, is an American former professional wrestler who achieved many accolades over his career. He now has a hand in running Elite Pro Wrestling Training in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, with professional wrestlers, Harley Race. Thatcher was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, with an Irish father and he first watched wrestling when he was eight years old while at a friends house. He said, The action on that little ten-inch black & white screen just reached out, in his youth, he played basketball, baseball, and football. He started wrestling at his local YMCA as a twelve-year-old and he attended Central High School in Cincinnati. Thatcher heard about Tony Santos, a promoter and owner of a school in Boston. Shortly thereafter, he began training in February 1960, on July 4,1960, Les Thatcher made his professional wrestling debut against “Cowboy” Ronnie Hill in Blue Hill, Maine. In 1966, Thatcher started to work as part of a cousins faction and he was a member of the team with Roger Kirby and Dennis Hall. They used this gimmick in various southern territories until 1969 and he won several regional tag team championships with various partners, including Nelson Royal and Roger Kirby. He turned his hand to singles competition and excelled as a junior heavyweight and he was noted for his high-flying dropkicks and sound technical ability. In 1974, Thatcher started to host and produce Southeastern Championship Wrestling, throughout his broadcasting career, he has worked with Gordon Solie, Bob Caudle, Lance Russell and Jim Ross. During his announcing/hosting tenure, he worked for companies as Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. He helped to introduce concepts that are common on wrestling programming today. He also wrote for many notable wrestling publications of the time and helped to produce Wrestling Action, Thatcher had a hand in the gym and bodybuilding business between 1987 and 1994. He was involved in the designing, building, and managing of two Cincinnati area gyms during that time and it was around this time he became a professional bodybuilder. He competed in 14 contests over a stretch, winning first place in 5 contests, second on 3 outings. In 1995, Thatcher opened his training school, Les Thatchers Main Event Pro Wrestling Camp. He also promoted the Heartland Wrestling Association, with the Heartland Wrestling Association he helped produce the Brian Pillman Memorial Shows
9.
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
10.
SmackDown (WWE brand)
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WWE SmackDown, also currently referred to as SmackDown Live or simply SmackDown, is a professional wrestling television program that debuted on August 26,1999. The shows name is used to refer to the SmackDown brand, in which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform on that program, currently the other brands are Raw. SmackDown is currently broadcast live on Tuesday nights on the USA Network, debuted in the United States on the UPN television network on April 29,1999, but after the merger of UPN and the WB, SmackDown. Began airing on The CW in September 2006, the show was moved to MyNetworkTV in October 2008, to Syfy on October 1,2010 and to USA Network on January 7,2016. It complements Raw as the second of WWEs two main weekly programs, for international broadcast listings, see below. The show celebrated its 15th anniversary on October 10,2014, the early set included an oval-shaped TitanTron entrance and stage which made it stand out from the Raw set with its rectangular Titantrons. Later productions gained the ability to move the Ovaltron either to the left or to the right of the stage, throughout the shows early existence, The Rock routinely called SmackDown. His show, in reference to the fact that the name was derived from one of his catchphrases, in August 2001, as part of celebrating SmackDown. s second anniversary, the show received a new logo and set. As a result of that incident, a new set debuted the week and it consisted of a fist centered above the entrance. In March 2002, WWE underwent the brand extension, a process in which WWE divided itself into two branches with separate rosters, storylines and authority figures, the two divisions, hosted by and named after Raw and SmackDown. The split resulted from WWE purchasing its two biggest competitors, World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling, and the subsequent doubling of its roster, Michael Cole was joined in commentary by Tazz on April 4,2002 until June 9,2006. Cole and Tazz also appeared as the commentators on February 22,2001 through June 28,2001, wrestlers began to wrestle exclusively for their specific show. At the time, this excluded the WWE Undisputed Championship and Womens Championship, in August 2002, then WWE Undisputed Champion, Brock Lesnar, refused to defend the title on Raw, in effect causing his title to become exclusive to SmackDown. Following this, the Womens Championship soon became a Raw exclusive as well, as a result of the brand extension, an annual draft was instituted to exchange members of each roster and generally refresh the lineups. SmackDown was the brand for many top WWE stars including Eddie Guerrero, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Big Show. Guerrero would go on to become the WWE Champion as part of the show, thus becoming the feature of SmackDown throughout 2004. The biggest star of the decade, John Cena, started his WWE career on this show. He won his first WWE Championship during his tenure on the brand, on June 6,2005, then WWE Champion John Cena switched brands from SmackDown. to Raw as part of the month-long draft lottery
11.
WWE brand extension
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The WWE brand extension is a kayfabe division of WWE into distinct branches. WWE has promoted its core business of wrestling through such brands. The first brand extension began in March 2002 and ended in August 2011, a third brand existed between 2006 and 2010 for their television show ECW, which was a revived version of the former promotion. The first brand split ended on the August 29,2011, episode of Raw, however, due to a great influx of talent from their developmental brand NXT, the brand extension was revived on July 19,2016, when SmackDown began broadcasting live on Tuesdays. Wrestlers are allocated to a brand via an annual draft, the sales had left WWF as the sole wrestling promotion in the world with international TV distribution. With the acquisition of new talent, the WWFs already large roster was doubled in size, the original plan was to relaunch WCW and for this new WCW to find a time slot on TNN for two hours on Saturday night. These plans were scrapped due to WCWs reputation of losing money. After failing to secure a timeslot, another method was for WCW to take over Raw or SmackDown and use the show to recreate its WCW counterparts. This experiment was first made on edition of July 2,2001, of Raw in Tacoma, Washington when the final 20 minutes was given to WCW, in which the Raw crew was largely replaced. With WWF focused on splitting its roster and plans for both WCW brand and timeslot scrapped, the Invasion storyline was used as a second resort, only the WWF Undisputed Champion and the WWF Womens Champion were exempt and could appear on both shows. The extension started on March 25,2002 with a draft on Raw, on June 13,2006, after a reunion PPV and video releases, WWE announced an addition to its prime time programming with ECW on Sci-Fi. The new ECW served as a brand, and a revival of the original ECW promotion. Both instances of the brand extensions required that representatives of each brand draft superstars onto each brand in a draft lottery, original full WWF owner Vince McMahon detested having to share his creation with Flair and sought to dissolve their partnership. Simultaneously, Flair was engaged in a feud with The Undertaker, however, the WWF Board of Directors would only allow the match if Flair returned full ownership back to McMahon. Flair agreed, but the Board stated that it would review the WWFs status, all WWF wrestlers were to be assigned to a brand based on random selections conducted through a mock–draft lottery. On the March 25,2002 episode of Raw, the WWF Draft was held, the 2002 WWF brand extension draft took place at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania on March 25,2002. The first half of the draft was televised live on TNN for two hours, as part of the WWFs flagship program, Raw, the second half was conducted over the Internet on WWFs official website, WWF. com. There were thirty draft picks, with sixty superstars drafted overall by co-owners of the WWF, onto their respective brands, Raw, the remaining superstars were divided randomly in a draft lottery, with each brand receiving a grand total of thirty superstars
12.
WWE Raw Tag Team Championship
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The WWE Raw Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the Raw brand. It is one of two tag team championships for WWEs main roster, along with the SmackDown Tag Team Championship on the SmackDown brand. The current champions are The Hardy Boyz, who are in their first reign as a team, individually, the championship was originally established as the WWE Tag Team Championship on October 20,2002, and the team of Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit were the inaugural champions. It was introduced for the SmackDown brand as a title for tag teams in the promotion to complement WWEs original World Tag Team Championship. As a result of the 2016 draft, the championship exclusive to Raw with a subsequent rename. As a result, then-SmackDown General Manager Stephanie McMahon introduced the WWE Tag Team Championship and she stated that the inaugural champions would be determined from an eight-team tournament. On October 20,2002, the team of Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit defeated Rey Mysterio, on October 17,2007, SmackDown and ECW announced a talent sharing agreement that enabled talent from either brands roster to compete on both brands. As a result, the title became eligible to be contended and defended on both brands, the championships would be defended as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship on any brand until August 2010. The WWE Tag Team Championship became the tag team championship in WWE and was defended on any brand. The first brand extension ended in August 2011, following the reintroduction of the brand extension in July 2016, then-champions The New Day were drafted to the Raw brand, making the championship exclusive to Raw. In response, SmackDown created the SmackDown Tag Team Championship on August 23,2016, the WWE Tag Team Championship was subsequently renamed to reflect its exclusivity to Raw. Following the events of the WWE brand extension, an annual WWE draft was established, after the WWE Tag Team Championship was unified with the World Tag Team Championship as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, the champions could appear and defend the titles on any WWE brand. The titles were combined as the WWE Tag Team Championship in August 2010 with a set of belts. The brand extension was discontinued on August 29,2011, the following is a list of dates indicating the transitions of the WWE Tag Team Championship between the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands. The inaugural champions were Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit, john Cena and The Mizs 9-minute reign is the shortest in the titles history, while The New Day have the longest single reign at 483 days, and the longest combined reign at 532 days. The Hardy Boyz are the current champions in their first reign as a team, individually, this is Jeffs first reign and Matts second. Raw Tag Team Championship title history, notes Specific Official Raw Tag Team Title History
13.
Tag team
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Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, in most team matches, only one competitor per team is allowed in the ring at a time. This status as the active or legal wrestler may be transferred by physical contact, the team-based match has been a mainstay of professional wrestling since the mid twentieth century, and most promotions have sanctioned a championship division for tag teams. g. A couple tag-teaming in an argument with another person, in 1901 the first tag team match was held in the United States, in San Francisco. San Francisco promoters introduced tag team wrestling as a way of improving the sport’s entertainment value, while tag team wrestling is now almost traditional in American professional wrestling, the innovation didnt become especially popular outside San Francisco until the 1930s. The first World tag team championship was also crowned in San Francisco in the early 1950s, typically, a tag team championship is awarded to and defended by team of two. In kayfabe, this made it difficult for challengers to prepare for their title fights. This was a gimmick, and is still utilized by other wrestling companies. The stipulation has become known as the freebird rule. A common storyline is former tag team partners turning on each other and this can be used when one member is being called on to develop a new gimmick. The basic tag team match has two teams of two facing off against each other. All standard rules for singles wrestling apply to a team match, however, only one wrestler from each team, called the legal man is allowed in the ring at a time. All other members of the team wait outside the ropes in the teams specified corner, only an active/legal wrestler is allowed to score a fall or have a fall scored against him/her. But any wrestler, legal or outside, may face disqualification for himself or his team for violating rules, once a tag is made, the wrestler tagging out has a grace period to leave the ring before risking disqualification. The wrestler outside the ring must be touching the tag rope tied in the corner, tags are legal as long as the two team members touch. The referee has to see and/or hear the contact between the two wrestlers in order for the tag to be legal. As the ultimate authority over the match, a referee may overlook any of these at his discretion, in some multi-man tag matches in lucha libre, a wrestler can make himself the teams legal man simply by setting foot in the ring, and his partner then leaves. This allows for action to become nearly continuous, two referees, one stationed inside the ring and one on the floor, are employed to maintain order for this type of match
14.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
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In 2005, Inoki sold the promotion to Yukes, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. Naoki Sugabayashi has served as the Chairman of the promotion since September 2013, owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, NJPW is the largest professional wrestling promotion in Japan and the second largest promotion in the world. It was affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance at various points, NJPWs biggest event is the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show, held each year since 1992 and currently promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom banner. The promotion was founded by Antonio Inoki in 1972, after his departure from the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance promotion, the first NJPW event took place on March 6,1972, in Tokyo. Inoki would serve as the president of the promotion until 1989, the promotion was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance from 1975 to 1985 and once more from 1992 to 1993. NJPW briefly reaffiliated with the NWA in the early 2010s as well, also known as Shin Nihon Puroresu, NJPW is considered the top wrestling promotion in Japan and is comparable to WWE in the United States in terms of popularity in the country. In the past NJPW has worked with WWE, World Championship Wrestling, occasionally, NJPW will also host cross-promotional matches with other Japanese promotions, such as All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah. The promotion also has its own governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix and they also hold several tournaments each year, including the G1 Climax, World Tag League, New Japan Cup and Best of the Super Juniors. The final NEVER event was held in November 2012, on January 4,2011, New Japan officially announced the NJPW Invasion Tour 2011, Attack on East Coast, the promotions first tour of the United States to be held in May 2011. The tour featured shows in Rahway, New Jersey on May 13, New York City on May 14 and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 15, as part of the tour, NJPW introduced a new title, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. On January 31,2012, Yukes announced that it had sold all shares of New Japan Pro Wrestling to card game company Bushiroad for ¥500 million, New Japan aired its first internet pay-per-view, the fourth day of the 2012 G1 Climax, on August 5,2012. The October 8,2012, King of Pro-Wrestling pay-per-view marked the first time viewers outside Japan were able to order a pay-per-view by the promotion through Ustream. On October 5,2012, New Japan announced the creation of the NEVER Openweight Championship, a two-day tournament to determine the inaugural champion was held between November 15 and 19,2012. During the tour, New Japan wrestlers also took part in an event held by Canadian promotion Border City Wrestling. A year later, NJPW and ROH announced another tour together to four more supershows, War of the Worlds 15 on May 12 and 13 in Philadelphia. In June 2014, New Japan announced a partnership with the new American GFW organization helmed by Jeff Jarrett, in November 2014, GFW announced that it would be broadcasting NJPWs Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome on pay-per-view in the United States as a four-hour event. Also in November 2014, the American AXS TV network announced it had acquired rights to rebroadcast a series of thirteen episodes of NJPW matches from TV Asahi, the series premiered on January 16,2015, airing weekly on Fridays. Averaging 200,000 viewers per episode, the show was considered a success, in June 2016, the show was also acquired by the Canadian Fight Network
15.
IWGP Tag Team Championship
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The IWGP Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling promotion. IWGP is the acronym of the NJPWs governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix, the title was introduced on December 12,1985 at a NJPW live event. The IWGP Tag Team Championship is not the only tag team title contested for in NJPW, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is also sanctioned by NJPW. According to NJPWs official website, the IWGP Tag Team Championship is considered the IWGP Heavy Weight Class, like most professional wrestling championships, the title is won via the result of a scripted match. Title changes usually happen at NJPW-promoted events, although the title has changed hands twice at a non-NJPW event. On October 30,2005, in Kobe, Japan, Tenzan and Chono defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, on July 2,2006, an interim tag team title was created, when Tenzan and Chono showed signs of inactivity. Koshinaka and Togi Makabe defeated the teams of Yuji Nagata and Naofumi Yamamoto and Giant Bernard, NJPW president Simon Kelly Inoki stripped Tenzan and Chono of the IWGP Tag Team Championship on September 20,2006, after Tenzan and Chono ceased teaming. In 2009, The British Invasion, defeated Team 3D on July 21,2009, at the taping of the July 30,2009, episode of TNAs primary television program, TNA Impact. in a tables match. Afterwards, NJPW released a statement announcing that they did not sanction the defense nor the title change and they continued to recognize Team 3D as the current champions and proclaimed that the next title defense would be by Team 3D and would be sanctioned by NJPW. Hiroyoshi Tenzan currently holds the record for most reigns by an individual wrestler, tenzans combined twelve reign lengths add up to 1,988 days, which is the most of any champion. At six reigns, the team of Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima holds the record for most by a team, Tenzan and Masahiro Chonos combined five reign lengths add up to 1,010 days. At 564 days, Bad Intentions only reign is the longest in the titles history, keiji Mutoh and Shiro Koshinakas only reign is the shortest, at six days. Currently, Bad Intentions only reign has the most defenses, with ten, there are 19 reigns shared between 17 teams that are tied for the fewest successful defenses, with zero. Overall, there have been 75 reigns shared between 69 wrestlers, war Machine are the reigning champions and are in their first reign both individually and as a team. They won the title from Tencozy at NJPWs Sakura Genesis 2017 event on April 9,2017, general Benaka, Matt, Westcott, Brian, Oliver, Earl, Zadarnowski, Andrew. Wrestling Title Histories by Gary Will and Royal Duncan, Japan & Korea, New Japan IWGP Tag Team Title
16.
Matt Bloom
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Matthew Jason Matt Bloom is an American professional wrestling trainer, color commentator and retired professional wrestler and National Football League player. He is currently employed by the wrestling promotion WWE, where he is the head trainer at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. Championships held by Bloom over the course of his include the GHC Tag Team Championship, IWGP Tag Team Championship. Bloom attended Peabody Veterans Memorial High School, where he earned three letters in football and basketball, two in track and field, and one in baseball, Bloom graduated in 1996 with a degree in sign language. After graduating, Bloom briefly played in the National Football League for the San Diego Chargers and he then became a schoolteacher, teaching mathematics and English to children with behavioral problems and deaf children at Revere High School. Kowalski invited Bloom to attend his school, and Bloom opted to leave teaching, Bloom wrestled his first match in the WWA on May 15,1998, facing Tiger Ali Singh in a loss, during his brief time in WWA he wrestled notable names such as Sgt. In November 1998 Bloom made his NWA debut losing to Shawn Stasiak, during his stay in NWA Bloom and Bull Pain challenged Nick Dinsmore & Rob Conway for the NWA OVW Southern tag team titles ending in a no contest. He briefly wrestled as Baldo, a given to him by referee Freddy Sparta that saw him wear a fur rug to the ring. After being introduced to talent scout Tom Prichard by George Steele, after receiving supplementary training from Dory Funk, Jr. Bloom was assigned to the Power Pro Wrestling developmental territory in Memphis, Tennessee, where he wrestled as Baldo. Bloom debuted on WWF television on the April 11,1999 episode of Sunday Night Heat, Bloom was dubbed Prince Albert, the personal tattooist of Droz, and together they formed a short-lived trio with Key. Droz and Albert continued to team together until Droz was paralyzed in October 1999, the duo separated following the debut of Bull Buchanan, who formed a tag team with the Big Bossman. In March 2000, Bloom, now simply as Albert, was recruited by Trish Stratus to form a tag team with Test. The tag team, known as T & A, competed in the tag team division throughout 2000, feuding with rival tag teams such as the Dudley Boyz, in December 2000, the team separated after Bloom attacked Test under the orders of Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. At this time Bloom became notable for his roaring whenever he executed a high-impact maneuver, in April 2001, Albert formed a stable called X-Factor with Justin Credible and X-Pac. On June 28, he defeated Kane with help from Diamond Dallas Page to win the Intercontinental Championship, Albert later lost it to Alliance member Lance Storm on July 23, after several wrestlers interfered. In July, Credible left X-Factor and joined The Alliance, Albert and X-Pac continued X-Factor as a tag team until November, when X-Pac was sidelined with an injury. In late 2001, Albert was nicknamed The Hip Hop Hippo as he began teaming with Scotty 2 Hotty, upon the introduction of the Brand Extension, both Bloom and Hotty were assigned to the SmackDown. They disbanded on April 4,2002 when Albert attacked Scotty after the duo failed to defeat Billy, at him during his matches due to his hairy torso
17.
Pro Wrestling Noah
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Pro Wrestling Noah is a major Japanese professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2000 by former All Japan Pro Wrestling legend Mitsuharu Misawa. In January 1999, All Japan founder and promoter Giant Baba died, leaving the company in the hands of his widow Motoko Baba as owner and Misawa as president. However, disheartened with Motoko Babas proposed direction for the company, All but two native stars and two gaijin followed Misawa. Noahs promotional symbol, an ark with a dove holding an olive branch, Noah also features a strong junior heavyweight division, which was something that All Japan had been relatively lacking in the 1990s due to lack of pushes for the younger stars. The Wrestling Observer named Noah as the best promotion in 2004 and 2005, a spinoff league called Pro Wrestling Sem was launched in 2006. Similar to New Japan Pro Wrestlings Young Lions system, it will function as a facility for rookies, with Naomichi Marufuji. Pro Wrestling Sem is also a reference to the Biblical story of Noah, on June 13,2009, Misawa teamed with Go Shiozaki against Akitoshi Saito and Bison Smith at Hiroshima Green Arena. After taking a belly to back suplex from Saito, Misawa lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital and he was pronounced dead in the hospital at 10,10 p. m. JST due to spinal damage. On June 27,2009, Akira Taue was named as Misawas successor, also in 2009, Noah lost their weekly television show on Nippon TV. In 2010, Pro Wrestling Noah announced a new Global League Tournament comprising twelve of Noahs top heavyweight stars, the promotion celebrated its 10th anniversary in summer 2010. They had a series of events planned to commemorate the milestone. On December 19, Noah confirmed that the five men had indeed refused to re-sign with the promotion, the following month, all five men joined All Japan. Kobashi returned to wrestle his retirement match in a Noah ring on May 11,2013, on April 30,2014, Noahs arguably biggest star and ace Kenta announced his resignation from the promotion. In early 2015, NJPW wrestler Jado took over as the new booker of Noah. On April 21, one of Noahs bigger stars, Takeshi Morishima, was forced to retire from wrestling due to issues with his blood. On December 24,2015, Noah announced the signing of freelancer Katsuhiko Nakajima, four days later, Noah announced the departures of Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste and Takeshi Morishima, following their contracts with the promotion expiring at the end of the year. On June 13,2016, freelancer Go Shiozaki officially re-signed with Noah, on November 1,2016, it was announced that Noah had been sold to IT development company Estbee, Co, Ltd. As a result, former All Japan president Masayuki Uchida took over as the new Noah president, on November 7, Estbee officially changed its name to Noah Global Entertainment kabushiki gaisha
18.
Bullet Club
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Bullet Club, sometimes shortened to BC, is a professional wrestling group, primarily appearing in the Japanese promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling. In the U. S. the group appears most notably in Ring of Honor, before the end of the year, the stable was also joined by three other Americans, The Young Bucks and Doc Gallows. At the end of 2013, Bullet Club held both the IWGP Junior Heavyweight and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships, while also having conquered three of NJPWs five annual tournaments. In April 2014, Devitt left NJPW and was replaced in Bullet Club by American wrestler A. J, the following month, Bullet Club received its first Japanese member, when Yujiro Takahashi joined and helped Styles capture the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The following June, members of Bullet Club also won the IWGP Intercontinental and NEVER Openweight Championships, when NJPW added a seventh title, the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship, at the start of 2016, Bullet Club quickly won that as well. Originally, Devitt and Fale were scheduled to go on as a duo, Devitt came up with the name Bullet Club, which was in reference to his finger gun hand gesture and Real Shooter nickname and Andersons nickname, The Machine Gun. In naming the group, Devitt has stated that he specifically did not want the word the in front of the name or a name consisting of just three letters, other names considered for the group included Bullet Parade and Bullet League. As of May 2016, the Bullet Club trademark is owned by NJPW, behind the scenes, the four founding members of Bullet Club were best friends and travel partners. The group has compared to the World Championship Wrestling stable New World Order. As a way of paying homage to the nWo, members of Bullet Club began using the stables signature Too Sweet hand gesture, in March 2015, WWE filed a trademark application for the hand gesture. Some, including Matt and Nick Jackson, suggested this was due to Bullet Clubs popularity. The application was abandoned by WWE. In August 2015, after Devitt had joined WWE as Finn Bálor, WWE recognized Bullet Club in the first week of January 2016, when discussing rumors about members of the stable joining the promotion, preceding A. J. Styles debut in the WWE as a 2016 Royal Rumble contestant, Jeff Jarrett, who has represented both Bullet Club and nWo, has named in-ring ability as the main difference between the two stables, stating Bullet Club is off the charts bell to bell more talented. Former NJPW wrestler Matt Bloom has stated that Bullet Clubs popularity helped the promotion become global and this disregard for Japanese traditions and culture got the stable over as a top act. Bullet Club has garnered an amount of worldwide popularity, especially among American professional wrestling fans. Bullet Clubs popularity in the United States has led to members of the working as babyfaces at events held in the country. As Bullet Club is owned by NJPW, all joining the stable
19.
Hirooki Goto
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Hirooki Goto is a Japanese professional wrestler. Goto attended Kuwana Kogyo High School in Kuwana, Mie, where he was classmates with Katsuyori Shibata, Goto later attended Kokushikan University, where he took part in freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling. Upon graduating, Goto qualified to join New Japan Pro Wrestling and he returned to NJPW in November 2002 after healing and began training in the New Japan Pro Wrestling Dojo. He debuted on July 6,2003, in Gifu, Gifu, in early 2005, he won the NJPW Young Lion Cup, defeating Hiroyuki Itō in the tournament final. After turning heel and joining Jushin Thunder Ligers Control Terrorism Unit stable and he won his first championship on May 15,2005, teaming with Minoru to defeat Koji Kanemoto and Wataru Inoue in the Tokyo Dome for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. The duo held the titles for nine months, losing to El Samurai, in 2006, Goto joined the American Total Nonstop Action Wrestling promotion as a member of Team Japan, one of the four teams competing in the TNA2006 World X Cup Tournament. He debuted in TNA on April 23,2006 at Lockdown, Team Japan defeated USA when Black Tiger pinned Lethal. On the April 27,2006 episode of TNA Impact, Goto and Minoru lost to Dutt and Shelley, giving a first round victory and two points to Team USA. On May 14,2006 at Sacrifice, Goto and the members of Team Japan accompanied Liger to ringside. Later that night, all four members of Team Japan took part in a match that was won by Team Canada captain Petey Williams. The 2006 World X Cup was won by Team USA, with Team Japan coming last with three points, on August 1,2006, Goto left for a lengthy learning excursion to Mexico after losing in a farewell match at the CTU 2nd Anniversary Show. While in Mexico he wrestled primarily for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, during his time in Mexico he formed a rudo unit Hajime Ohara and Shigeo Okumura in CMLL. In August 2007, Goto returned to New Japan after his almost one-year stay in Mexico, upon his return, the now much more muscular Goto graduated from a Jr. heavyweight to a Heavyweight. Goto showed a great deal of promise and skill since last seen in July 2006 and he showcased whole new moveset and he quickly tried to establish himself as one of the top Heavyweights in New Japan. Not that far into his return Goto join the Stable R. I. S. E with Shinsuke Nakamura, Travis Tomko, Giant Bernard and fellow former CTU team mates Minoru, Milano Collection AT, and Prince Devitt. On November 11, he challenged Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, shortly after that Goto entered the 2007 G1 Tag League with Milano Collection AT, but the pair would finish in third place. In 2008 Goto wrestled one of his idols, The Great Muta at New Japans annual January 4 Tokyo Dome Show. Although having a good showing, Goto would fall to Muta, Gotos progress was good through 2008, as he joined Shinsuke Nakamuras RISE faction
20.
Luke Gallows
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Andrew Drew Hankinson is an American professional wrestler and promoter, currently signed with WWE on the Raw brand under the ring name Luke Gallows. He is former one half of the Raw Tag Team Champions, under his first stint with the promotion, he also appeared as Fake Kane and Festus. O. C. He then formed an alliance with announcer and wrestler Bill DeMott, the team proved to be stable, but Deacon abandoned DeMott during a match, causing him to be beaten down until other wrestlers made the save. It was later revealed that Quintin Michaels had got Willow and used it to blackmail Deacon, subsequently, Hankinson would repeatedly attack the real Kane during or after his matches. The pair finally faced off in a match at the Vengeance pay-per-view, one night later, however, the storyline was abruptly ended when the original Kane attacked the Impostor Kane, removed his mask, and threw him out of the building. Hankinson returned to Deep South Wrestling, in addition to appearing at SmackDown, in August, he got involved in a storyline with The Bag Lady, who acted as his valet and love interest. Though he often was distracted by her, she helped him to win matches. In October, Deacon and Bag Lady formed an alliance with The Major Brothers against the team Urban Assault, in December 2006, Deacon defeated G-Rilla in a singles match, causing the rest of Urban Assault to turn on him and beat him up. Deacon then aided G-Rilla and formed a tag team with him, helping him to get revenge on Urban Assault, however, in March 2007 Deacon was beaten up with steel chairs by Neikirk and Knox, needing to be carried to the hospital by G-Rilla. There G-Rilla sat accidentally over Willow, killing the spider and sending its owner to a mental breakdown, on the May 11,2007, episode of SmackDown. A vignette aired suggesting that Hankinson would be repackaged as Festus Dalton as part of a tag team using a Southern gimmick, on June 2,2007, however, it was reported that WWE was dropping the Dalton Boys gimmick. The explanation for not showing up on SmackDown was that they got lost on their way to the arena. Hankinson and Gordy had actually sent back to OVW, where Hankinson changed his name to Justice Dalton. Hankinson was then renamed Festus while Gordy was dubbed Jesse, vignettes hyping Jesse and Festus began to air. For weeks, Jesse would be presented as the mouth-piece of the tandem, Hankinson, however, played a character that was mentally challenged and unresponsive. In spite of Festus dimwitted nature, Jesse kept claiming that Festus was an emotionally driven, on the September 7,2007 edition of SmackDown. There was a segment featuring Jesse and Festus now actually in the rather than in a studio. On October 5, Hankinson won his match on SmackDown
21.
Southern California
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Southern California, often abbreviated as SoCal, is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises Californias 10 southernmost counties. The region is described as eight counties, based on demographics and economic ties, Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara. The more extensive 10-county definition, which includes Kern and San Luis Obispo counties, is used and is based on historical political divisions. Southern California is an economic center for the state of California. The 8-county and 10-county definitions are not used for the greater Southern California Megaregion, the megaregions area is more expansive, extending east into Las Vegas, Nevada and south across the Mexican border into Tijuana.5 million people. With over 22 million people, Southern California contains roughly 60 percent of Californias population, located east of Southern California is the Colorado Desert and the Colorado River at the border with Arizona. The Mojave Desert is located at the border with the state of Nevada while towards the south is the Mexico–United States border, within Southern California are two major cities, Los Angeles and San Diego, as well as three of the countrys largest metropolitan areas. With a population of 3,792,621, Los Angeles is the most populous city in California and the second most populous in the United States. South of Los Angeles and with a population of 1,307,402 is San Diego, the second most populous city in the state and the eighth most populous in the nation. The counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, and Riverside are the five most populous in the state, the motion picture, television, and music industry are centered in the Los Angeles area in Southern California. Hollywood, a district within Los Angeles, gives its name to the American motion picture industry, headquartered in Southern California are The Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures, Universal, MGM, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Brothers. Universal, Warner Brothers, and Sony also run major record companies, Southern California is also home to a large homegrown surf and skateboard culture. Companies such as Vans, Volcom, Quiksilver, No Fear, RVCA, some of the worlds biggest action sports events, including the X Games, Boost Mobile Pro, and the U. S. Open of Surfing, are all held in Southern California. Southern California is also important to the world of yachting, the annual Transpacific Yacht Race, or Transpac, from Los Angeles to Hawaii, is one of yachtings premier events. The San Diego Yacht Club held the Americas Cup, the most prestigious prize in yachting, from 1988 to 1995, Southern California is home to many sports franchises and sports networks such as Fox Sports Net. Many locals and tourists frequent the Southern California coast for its popular beaches, the desert city of Palm Springs is popular for its resort feel and nearby open spaces. Southern California is not a geographic designation and definitions of what constitutes Southern California vary. Geographically, Californias North-South midway point lies at exactly 37°958.23 latitude, around 11 miles south of San Jose, however, when the state is divided into two areas, the term Southern California usually refers to the 10 southernmost counties of the state
22.
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
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Since then, Disco, Talwar and Lost have retired and left the company. Since 2007, Excalibur has been the head play-by-play commentator, with a rotation of wrestlers on color commentary, taste the Radness, Free Admission, Straight to DVD, Steen Wolf, Black Cole Sun, From Parts Well Known, and Matt Rushmore. In 2016, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter called PWG the best wrestling in North America, in May 2003, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla announced its first show that would take place on July 26. The promotion released a press release announcing the shows main event that would feature what would have been the first match to take place between A. J. PWG announced more matches in the leading up to their debut event, featuring a mix of well known independent wrestlers. Due to injuries and booking conflicts, the card ended up being changed several times, Samoa Joe was unable to compete in the promotions debut show because of an injury he suffered in a match with Paul London at a Ring of Honor event a few weeks earlier. He ended up being replaced by Frankie Kazarian, over the next few months, PWGs popularity began to grow among the Southern California wrestling community and was considered the top independent promotion in California. Despite only running six shows in its first year, PWG was voted Promotion Of The Year in the 2003 SoCalUncensored. com Year End Awards. Along with putting local wrestlers in many of their storylines, PWG also brought in out of town talent that werent booked on other local shows. During its first year, PWG brought in such as A. J. Styles, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, CM Punk, Homicide, Chris Hero, Brian Kendrick, Colt Cabana, in July 2004, PWG moved to the Hollywood/Los Feliz Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles. The first show in the new building saw A. J, after this event, PWG would run at the Hollywood/Los Feliz JCC for the next two years, and was nicknamed The Sweatbox by its fans due to the heat that the building would generate during warm nights. As PWG went on, their normal attendance numbers would begin to grow from 150-200 fans a show, in April 2005, PWG ran its first All Star Weekend shows during the weekend of WrestleMania 21 and drew their biggest crowds at the time. PWG booked several stars such as A. J, styles, Christopher Daniels, James Gibson, Chris Sabin, Jonny Storm, Kendo Kashin, Samoa Joe, and many other TNA and ROH stars to participate in the weekends events. In September 2005, PWG ran the first annual Battle of Los Angeles tournament, styles, Christopher Daniels, James Gibson, Super Dragon, Kevin Steen, El Generico, and several others. Chris Bosh would end up winning the tournament by defeating A. J, in February 2006, PWG held two shows in Europe. The first event was held in Essen, Germany, the second show was held the night after the Essen event in Kent, England. Both shows featured the majority of PWGs regular roster, along with several European wrestlers, in July 2006, PWG announced that they would be leaving the JCC due to the gym being turned into a gymnastics training center for young children
23.
A.J. Styles
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Allen Neal Jones, best known by the ring name A. J. Styles, is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE on the SmackDown brand. Styles, who has long regarded as one of the worlds greatest professional wrestlers, is widely known for his tenure in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling from 2002–2013. While in TNA, Styles held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship three times and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship twice and he was also the first X Division Champion, a title he held six times. Styles is the first professional wrestler ever to complete the TNA Triple Crown, in 2010, Styles became the first ever TNA-contracted wrestler to be ranked number one on the annual Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI500 list. He simultaneously appeared in Ring of Honor from 2002–2006, winning the ROH World Tag Team Championship, in 2014, he signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in his first match with the company, later becoming the leader of the Bullet Club. He has also competed extensively on the independent circuit, winning titles such as the PWG World Championship, Styles first appeared in WWE in 2002, but turned down a developmental deal he was offered with the company. He signed a contract with WWE fourteen years later in January 2016. Also in 2016, both PWI and Wrestling Observer Newsletter voted Styles as the Wrestler of the Year, Jones was born in Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. He grew up in poverty with an abusive, alcoholic father and he attended Johnson High School in Gainesville, Georgia, graduating in the class of 1996. He left college to try wrestling, entering a professional wrestling school because his friends were doing it. To supplement his income, he worked by mowing lawns and driving an ambulance, Jones was trained by Rick Michaels and debuted in 1998. In the Georgia-based National Championship Wrestling promotion he wrestled as Mr. Olympia, by August 1999, he had won the promotions Television Championship. From 1999 to 2001, he competed in less notable independent promotions, in December 1999, NCW merged with NWA Georgia to form NWA Wildside, and Jones was renamed A. J. He appeared sporadically even after signing with NWA-TNA, and is a former NWA Georgia Heavyweight Champion, on October 26,2001, Styles participated in All Pro Wrestlings King of Indies tournament. He defeated Jardi Frantz in his first round match, but was eliminated by Christopher Daniels in the finals the following night. Later that night, Styles defeated Josh Mathews in a match taped for XWF television, the following night, Styles was defeated by Daniels, again in a match taped for the XWF television program. On April 7, Styles teamed with Chuck E. Chaos to face Jerry Lynn, on April 10, Styles faced Lynn and Nova in a three-way-dance, in a losing effort
24.
Shinsuke Nakamura
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Shinsuke Nakamura is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist currently signed to WWE, performing on the SmackDown brand. Nakamura is the youngest IWGP Heavyweight Champion in history, having won the title for the first time at the age of 23 years and 9 months, in 2015, Nakamura was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. Prior to his main roster debut, Nakamura competed in WWEs developmental branch, NXT, Nakamura joined NJPW in March 2002 and quickly began making a name for himself as a bright prospect for the company. Having earned the nickname Super Rookie, Nakamura impressed both NJPW officials and fans with an excellent combination of strength, speed, and technical skill, alongside fellow rookies Hiroshi Tanahashi and Katsuyori Shibata, Nakamura became known as one of the new Three Musketeers. Nakamura began training vale tudo and on December 31,2002, he made his mixed martial arts debut in a fight, Nakamuras second MMA fight took place on May 2,2003, when he defeated Jan Nortje with a guillotine choke. He followed that up on September 13 with another victory over Shane Eitner in his third MMA fight. On December 9,2003, Nakamura defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, on January 4,2004, at Wrestling World 2004, Nakamura successfully defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the NWF Heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama in a title unification match. However, just a later, Nakamura was forced to vacate the title due to an injury. Upon his return, Nakamura received a shot at the title, now held by Bob Sapp, later that month, Nakamura competed in his to date last MMA fight, defeating Alexey Ignashov with a forearm choke on May 22. On December 11,2004, Nakamura and his tag team partner Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Kensuke Sasaki, on January 4,2005, at Toukon Festival, Wrestling World 2005 Nakamura defeated his own tag team partner, Tanahashi, to win the IWGP U-30 Openweight Championship. A few weeks later, on October 30,2005, they lost the titles to Cho-Ten, Nakamura challenged Brock Lesnar for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on January 4,2006, at Toukon Shidou Chapter 1, but lost. In March 2006, Nakamura announced that he would depart on an excursion in order to further improve his wrestling skills. Among other things, he would travel to Mexico, Brazil, NJPW President Simon Inoki later suggested that as part of his learning excursion, Nakamura would be loaned to World Wrestling Entertainment to gain experience in working large American shows. However, it proved to be mostly speculation and never came to pass, Nakamura had greatly improved his muscular mass during his overseas training and also debuted a new finisher, called the Landslide. Nakamura entered the 2007 G1 Climax tournament, where he reached the semifinals, Hirooki Goto, Giant Bernard, Travis Tomko, and Prince Devitt. Low Ki was later added to the stable after Milano was injured, on December 9 Nakamura defeated Togi Makabe to earn an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match at the following months Tokyo Dome show. On January 4,2008, Nakamura defeated his rival Tanahashi in the event of Wrestle Kingdom II in Tokyo Dome. He followed that up with defeating Kurt Angle on February 17,2008 to win the IGF version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and he lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to All Japan Pro Wrestling representative Keiji Mutoh in Osaka on April 27,2008
25.
Cincinnati
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Cincinnati is a city in the U. S. state of Ohio that serves as county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the side of the confluence of the Licking with the Ohio River. With a population of 298,550, Cincinnati is the third-largest city in Ohio and its metropolitan statistical area is the 28th-largest in the United States and the largest centered in Ohio. The city is part of the larger Cincinnati–Middletown–Wilmington combined statistical area. In the 19th century, Cincinnati was an American boomtown in the heart of the country, it rivaled the larger cities in size. Throughout much of the 19th century, it was listed among the top 10 U. S and it was by far the largest city in the west. By the end of the 19th century, with the shift from steamboats to railroads drawing off freight shipping, trade patterns had altered and Cincinnatis growth slowed considerably. Cincinnati is home to two sports teams, the Cincinnati Reds, the oldest franchise in Major League Baseball. The University of Cincinnati, founded in 1819, is one of the 50 largest in the United States, Cincinnati is known for its historic architecture. In the late 1800s, Cincinnati was commonly referred to as Paris of America, due mainly to such ambitious projects as the Music Hall, Cincinnatian Hotel. The original surveyor, John Filson, named it Losantiville, in 1790, Arthur St. Ethnic Germans were among the early settlers, migrating from Pennsylvania and the backcountry of Virginia and Tennessee. General David Ziegler succeeded General St. Clair in command at Fort Washington, after the conclusion of the Northwest Indian Wars and removal of Native Americans to the west, he was elected as the mayor of Cincinnati in 1802. Cincinnati was incorporated as a city in 1819, exporting pork products and hay, it became a center of pork processing in the region. From 1810 to 1830 its population tripled, from 9,642 to 24,831. Completion of the Miami and Erie Canal in 1827 to Middletown, Ohio further stimulated businesses, the city had a labor shortage until large waves of immigration by Irish and Germans in the late 1840s. The city grew rapidly over the two decades, reaching 115,000 persons by 1850. Construction on the Miami and Erie Canal began on July 21,1825, the first section of the canal was opened for business in 1827. In 1827, the canal connected Cincinnati to nearby Middletown, by 1840, during this period of rapid expansion and prominence, residents of Cincinnati began referring to the city as the Queen City
26.
Heartland Wrestling Association
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The Heartland Wrestling Association is a Midwestern independent professional wrestling promotion based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Among the top independent wrestlers to have competed in the promotion are Nigel McGuinness, B. J. Whitmer, Matt Stryker, Shark Boy, Cody Hawk, WWE would later end its relationship and pulled financial support out of the HWA to cut their budget. The HWA was once featured in an episode of MTVs True Life in the episode True Life, Im A Professional Wrestler. HWA aired a weekly TV program Adrenaline nationally on the Cincinnati, OH affiliate of The CW and America One television networks.0 from the HWA Arena in Evendale, in August 2007, majority owner Cody Hawk left HWA, launching a new promotion called EGO Pro Wrestling. HWA produced new episodes of HWA Adrenaline through 2008, starting in September 2008, HWA performed at The Sorg Opera House in Middletown, Ohio. After a brief hiatus from weekly shows HWA returned starting on May 31,2011 at the Great Miami Event Center in Hamilton, in addition to these events HWA ran weekend events regularly in Norwood, OH and in Hamilton, OH respectively. In Autumn 2014, HWAs current owner Brandon Charles announced operations were moving to Georgia in 2015, in June 2015, Heartland Wrestling Association was sold to wrestler and promoter, Philip Austin Stamper
27.
Abyss (wrestler)
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Christopher Joseph Parks, better known by his ring name Abyss, is an American professional wrestler currently signed with Impact Wrestling. Under the ring name Abyss in TNA/Impact Wrestling, Parks became a one-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Abyss is the heaviest wrestler to hold the X Division Championship. He also captured the Television Championship twice, the NWA World Tag Team Championship once with A. J, Styles, and the TNA World Tag Team Championship twice - once with James Storm as The Revolution, and currently with Crazzy Steve and Rosemary called Decay. Having won all the championships, Abyss was the fourth man to complete the Triple Crown Championship. Parks also wrestled in TNA as Abyss storyline brother/split personality Joseph Park, Chris Parks was born in Washington, D. C. He attended high school in Cleveland, Ohio, where he played football and he attended Ohio University, where he played offensive tackle for the Bobcats and eventually earned two degrees, the last being a masters degree in sports administration. Chris Parks was trained by Roger Ruffin of the Northern Wrestling Federation and he won his debut match by disqualification. For the first few years of his career, Parks worked in the NWF as the Original Terminator, Chris Justice, in 2001, Parks worked for NWA Wildside, where he won the NWA Wildside Tag Team Championship with A. J. He also wrestled Jerry Lawler in Memphis Power Pro Championship Wrestling, Parks appeared at the pay-per-view in the Gauntlet for the Gold match under the ring name Justice. Mantel then booked Parks to appear in the IWA, while working for the company, Parks held the IWA Hardcore Championship, IWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, and IWA World Tag Team Championship. Parks worked in the IWA under Mantel for approximately one year until he rejoined TNA in 2003, Chris Parks appeared on TNAs first ever weekly Pay-Per View show on June 19,2002 under the moniker Justice. He took part in the Gauntlet For The Gold match to crown a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion but was eliminated, Parks returned to TNA as The Monster Abyss in June 2003, debuting as a villain and attacking Erik Watts, although the feud was short lived. Afterward, Parks was brought in as a bodyguard to Kid Kash and they continued to be allies until October, when Kash betrayed Abyss for losing a match and Abyss turned on and attacked Kash. Abyss gained a victory over Kash, but then lost a First Blood Steel Chair on a Pole match to his former partner, soon after the loss the feud between the two ended. Soon after, Abyss aligned himself with Don Callis, with this new alliance, Abyss soon feuded with Raven. The feud lasted for the rest of 2003, with the match pitting Abyss. Abyss and his came out victorious when the Gathering turned on Raven. Going into 2004, Abyss entered his first major feud with A. J, on one show, Abyss was forced to team with Styles in a NWA World Tag Team Championship match against champions Red Shirt Security, with Abyss and Styles winning the title
28.
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
29.
Jimmy Valiant
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James Harold Fanning is a retired professional wrestler and author better known as Jimmy Valiant. Jimmy Valiant was born in Franklin County, Tennessee, near Tullahoma as the youngest of five children of James and he later incorporated the names of his four sisters – Louise, Christine, Charlena and Patrica – into the spider web tattoo on his upper arm. He later moved to Willingboro Township, New Jersey and he married Clara, with whom he fathered three children, Robin, Rhonda, and Dana. With Monika, he has his first son Todd, with Felicia, he has his youngest son Handsome. He is now married to Angel and he has 6 grandchildren, Lonna, Jenae, Beau, Chassie, Clarissa, and Delilah. Fanning started wrestling in 1964 as Big Jim Vallen, at one point in the AWA, they were managed by Bobby Heenan. Valiant had entered the WWWF as a babyface, but quickly switched to heel and he had title matches against champion Pedro Morales in secondary arenas, such as Philadelphia, and feuded with short-term tag partner Chief Jay Strongbow. Jimmy and his kayfabe brother Johnny held the tag belts and main evented Madison Square Garden against Chief Jay Strongbow, during the late 1970s – early 1980s, Valiant was a central player in the Memphis, Tennessee wrestling scene. He feuded regularly with Jerry Lawler and teamed with Bill Dundee to dominate the tag team matches of that time. He even recorded a song, The Ballad of Handsome Jimmy, Valiant also spent a brief amount of time in Jim Crockett Promotions in the late 1970s as the heel King James Valiant managed by Lord Alfred Hayes. In the early 1980s, Valiant returned as a babyface to NWAs Jim Crockett Promotions as Boogie Woogie Man Jimmy Valiant and his theme music around this time was Boy From New York City, by The Manhattan Transfer. While in Jim Crockett Promotions, he would appear in a black bandit-style mask. This usually occurred when Valiant was banned from wrestling, Charlie Brown was billed as someone other than Valiant, despite Brown having Valiants legendarily prodigious beard. January 1984, Valiant was attacked by Paul Jones and The Assassins and they tied him to the wrestling ring ropes so that Jones could cut his beard off. weebly. com/ WWE Hall of Fame Page with Johnny Valiant Memphis Wrestling History
30.
Chris Harris (wrestler)
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Christopher Eric Chris Harris is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Harris is recognized as a seven-time NWA World Tag Team Champion, having won the belts with Storm six times and with Elix Skipper once. Along with several wrestlers, including future tag team partner James Storm. Terry Taylor proposed a country singer gimmick for him, but it was rejected by management and he appeared as a fake version of Sting at Halloween Havoc in 2000. He wrestled on the WCW B-shows WorldWide and Saturday Night as part of R and B Security until the promotion was sold in early 2001. On June 1,2002, Harris was given a match against his long-time independent circuit rival James Storm with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling by Bert Prentice. Both were subsequently signed to short term contracts and he wrestled in the Gauntlet for the Gold match on the first TNA pay-per-view and was placed in a tag team with Storm on the second pay-per-view by Bob Ryder, the creative force behind the team. Storm came up with the name Americas Most Wanted for the team and they obtained their first success on September 18,2002 by surviving a tag team Gauntlet for the Gold and defeating Ron Harris and Brian Lee to obtain the NWA World Tag Team Championship. In March and April 2003 the duo teased a split, with Storm, Storm won the match, but the partners shook hands afterward. Harris rejected Vince Russos offer to join his stable of degenerates, when Storm was incapacitated by the recurrence of an old shoulder injury in early 2004, Harris received a NWA World Championship shot on March 17,2004 and was defeated by champion Jeff Jarrett. He went on to compete in a King of the Mountain ladder match for the title on June 2,2004, Americas Most Wanted resumed teaming together, but on August 25,2004, James Storm was sidelined with neck and shoulder injuries, leaving Harris without a partner. Harris teamed with Elix Skipper to win an NWA Tag Team Title for a time on September 8,2004. On January 16,2005 Harris became a six time NWA Tag Team Champion, winning the Tag Title from Bobby Roode, Harris won the title for a sixth and seventh time as part of AMW. In league with Jeff Jarrett, he would semi-reprise his role as a fake Sting when he played the Crow Sting in a Planet Jarrett retrospective of Stings career on Impact. on January 7,2006. Americas Most Wanted split as a team on the December 14,2006 edition of Impact, during a tag team match with LAX in a Titles vs Team match. Storm effectively chose the outcome of the match by assaulting Harris with a beer bottle allowing him to be pinned by Homicide putting an end to AMW, on the January 11,2007 episode of Impact. Harris did an interview with Mike Tenay giving a strong impression his wrestling career could be over. Harris was not seen on television until the Against All Odds pay-per-view in which he went for Storm, for several weeks, he continued to attack Storm
31.
Shark Boy
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Dean Matthew Roll is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Shark Boy. Roll began training under Les Thatcher in October 1995 at the age of twenty and he debuted on May 3,1997 in Thatchers Heartland Wrestling Association, wrestling as the masked El Piranha. An HWA mainstay, Roll also occasionally portrayed the character of Dean Baldwin, later that year, debuted in the Independent Wrestling Association, where he developed the cartoonish character Shark Boy, partly inspired by the 1995 song I Come From the Water by the Toadies. In 1999, Roll trademarked the name Shark Boy, in 1998, Shark Boy received a flurry of media attention. On May 19,1999, Shark Boy wrestled at the second annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show, defeating Matt Stryker, Tarek the Great and Chip Fairway in a tournament, Shark Boy also wrestled at the 1998,2000 and 2001 Brian Pillman Memorial Shows. He made several appearances on WCW Saturday Night and WCW Thunder on TBS before being released six months later in early 2000, in February 2002 Shark Boy competed for the WWA at their Revolution PPV in Las Vegas. He fought in the opening contest, a 6-Man Cruiserweight survival match, also in the match were A. J. Styles, Christopher Daniels, Low Ki, Tony Mamaluke, and he was eliminated first in the match, which was won by Nova. In November 2002, Shark Boy toured Europe with the World Wrestling All-Stars promotion, at the Retribution pay-per-view on December 6,2002, Shark Boy defeated Frankie Kazarian. During this same time from 2002 till its closing, Shark Boy joined and toured with XPW where he had bouts with Kaos, Tracy Smothers, Juventud Guerrera. On March 7,2004, Shark Boy opened a wrestling school named The Shark Tank in Ohio. In 2003, he had a team with New Jack that involved getting New Jack to play games such as Chutes. When New Jack left, Mad Mikey started teaming with Shark Boy before his death in November 2003. Upon his gimmick change, he would team up with Curry Man to form a comedic tag team that was a moderate success. After this gimmick change he started to talk, something he had not been heard to do before, Shark Boy took part in TNAs TerrorDome match on May 10, but it was won by Kaz. He appeared again with the Brotherhood on the July 24 episode of Impact, Roll returned on the February 5 edition of Impact. Only to lose to the debuting Brutus Magnus in a squash match, Shark Boy has since been inactive due to showing flu-like symptoms at a recent television taping, causing fears of swine flu. He returned at the August 18 tapings of Impact, only to lose against Sheik Abdul Bashir in a match broadcast on the TNA website
32.
Jerry Lawler
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Jerry ONeil Lawler is an American semi-retired professional wrestler and color commentator, signed to WWE under the companys legends program. Lawler is known throughout the wrestling world under the ring name Jerry The King Lawler. Prior to joining WWE in 1992, Lawler wrestled in numerous territories, Lawler is a one-time AWA World Heavyweight Champion and a three-time WCWA World Heavyweight Champion. He unified the titles by defeating Kerry Von Erich at Superclash III, forming the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship, Lawler has held more championships than any other current WWE wrestler, though he has never won any championships in WWE since joining the company. In 2007, Lawler was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, while working in Memphis, Tennessee as a disc jockey, Lawlers artistic ability attracted the attention of local wrestling promoter Aubrey Griffith. The two made an agreement in which Lawler would give Griffith free publicity in exchange for free wrestling training, Lawler debuted as a wrestler in 1970 and won his first championship in September 1971 by winning a battle royal. He soon won the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship under the service of Sam Bass with partner Jim White. In 1974, Lawler began feuding with Jackie Fargo, who had been his trainer and this led to a match for the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship. On July 24,1974, Lawler was booked to win the belt, during 1975, Lawler teamed with a variety of partners such as Mr Wrestling II, Don Greene, and Bob Orton, Jr. He won the NWA Macon Tag Team Championship twice during this period, while Lawler began his career as a heel, he became a face after splitting from Bass at the end of 1974. On November 12,1979, while working in the Continental Wrestling Association, in 1980, his career was put on hold due to a broken leg, but he returned to the ring after several months. In 1982, Lawler began a feud with comedian Andy Kaufman. At the time, Kaufman wrestled women as part of his skits and had declared himself the Intergender Heavyweight Champion, on April 5, Lawler, who had taken exception to the skits, wrestled Kaufman in Memphis. During the course of the match, Lawler delivered two piledrivers to his opponent, sending him to the hospital, on July 29, Lawler slapped Kaufman in the face on an episode of Late Night with David Letterman. Kaufman responded by throwing his coffee on Lawler, years later, Lawler appeared as himself in the Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon, the movie revealed that Lawlers feud with Kaufman had been kayfabe. Lawler later claimed not only was his entire feud with Kaufman staged. On March 7,1983, Lawler won the AWA International Championship by defeating Austin Idol and he defeated Ken Patera on July 25 to begin his second reign as the International Champion. Lawler became the NWA Mid America Champion on April 12,1984 when he was booked to defeat Randy Savage for the title, in 1985, Lawler traveled to Japan, where he won the Polynesian Pacific title on January 25,1986
33.
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
34.
Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
35.
West Coast of the United States
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The West Coast or Pacific Coast is the coastline along which the contiguous Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. As a region, this term most often refers to the states of California. More specifically, it refers to an area defined on the east by the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada and Mojave Desert, the U. S. Census groups the five states of California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii together as the Pacific States division. As of the 2010 Census, the population of the Census Bureaus Pacific Region was approximately 47.8 million – about 15. 3% of US population. The largest city on the west coast of the United States is Los Angeles, small isolated groups of hunter-gatherers migrated alongside herds of large herbivores far into Alaska. Between 16,500 BCE and 13,500 BCE, ice-free corridors developed along the Pacific coast and valleys of North America, Alaska Natives, indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, and California indigenous peoples eventually descended from the Paleo-Indians. They developed various languages and established trade routes, later, Spanish, British, French, Russian, and American explorers and settlers began colonizing the area. The West Coast of the United States has a climate in its Northern edge towards the Canada–US border. The coastline sees significantly mild temperatures when compared to the areas during summer. In far Northern California there is a difference of 17 °C between Eurekas and Willow Creek in spite of only 25 miles separating the locations and Willow Creek being located at a 500 metres elevation, coastal fog is also prevalent in keeping shoreline temperatures cool. Since the West Coast has been populated by more recently than the East Coast. Additionally, its demographic composition underlies its cultural difference from the rest of the United States. Californias history first as a major Spanish colony, and later Mexican territory, has given the lower West Coast a distinctive Hispanic tone, which it also shares with the rest of the Southwest. Similarly, two of the three cities in which Asian Americans have concentrated, San Francisco and Los Angeles, are located on the West Coast, San Franciscos Chinatown, the oldest in North America, is a vibrant cultural center. The West Coast also has a large share of green cities within the United States. Other writers, like Jean Baudrillard, Mike Davis, and Umberto Eco, have made related statements on Californian culture, in the Northwest, Portland and Seattle are both considered among the coffee capitals of the world. While Starbucks originated in Seattle, both towns are known for coffee roasters and independent coffeeshops. In the Pacific Northwest at large, which includes the Canadian west coast, the culture has significantly shaped by the environment, especially by its forests, mountains
36.
Professional wrestling throws
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Professional wrestling throws are the application of professional wrestling techniques that involve lifting the opponent up and throwing or slamming them down. They are sometimes called power maneuvers, as they are meant to emphasize a wrestlers strength. Many of these moves are used as finishers by many wrestlers, many maneuvers are known by several different names. Professional wrestlers frequently give their new names that reflect their gimmick. Moves are listed under general categories whenever possible, an armbreaker is any move in which the wrestler slams the opponents arm against a part of the wrestlers body, usually a knee or shoulder. The wrestler stands beside their opponent to either side, crosses their arm against the opponents opposite hand in front of it. From this point, the wrestler places their leg in front of the opponents opposite leg, a wrestler dives from the ropes and lands on the opponents arm. The wrestler grabs one of the arms, jumps and connects both their knees against the opponents stretched arm. As the wrestler falls onto their back they forces the opponents arm down into both knees, thus damaging it, a move in which the wrestler uses their opponents momentum to the opponents disadvantage. The wrestler hooks the opponents arm and flips them over on to the mat, the wrestler may roll on to their side to give the move extra momentum. This move is performed when an opponent runs towards the wrestler facing them, despite its name, it actually comes from Mexican lucha libre, not Japanese puroresu. The wrestler grabs their opponents arm, then turns to face the other direction and it is essentially the same as the ippon seoi nage found in judo. An arm drag sees the wrestler being spun in front of the opponents body in a tilt-a-whirl. This arm drag sees the wrestler being held in a hold by the opponent. A move in which the wrestler goes behind an opponent, then puts their head under the opponents shoulder and they then lift their opponent up, and drops them tailbone-first on the wrestlers knee. Even though this move is a low blow, it is considered a legal move because the groin is not being targeted. Better known as a full nelson bomb, this sees the wrestling apply a full nelson hold to the opponent from behind. The wrestler then lifts the opponent into the air and falls into a seated position and it is applied frequently against a charging opponent
37.
Alex Koslov
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Alex Sherman is a Moldovan-born retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Alex Koslov. In AAA he is a former two–time AAA Cruiserweight Champion and a one–time AAA World Mixed Tag Team Champion with partner Christina Von Eerie, from August 2010 to February 2012 he was signed to WWE, working in its developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling under the ring name Peter Orlov. Sherman formed a tag team with Rocky Romero known as Forever Hooligans and would go on to win IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship twice and the ROH World Tag Team Championship once. Koslov was trained by Jesse Hernandez and made his wrestling debut in Covina, California on May 23,2003. From 2005 and forward Koslov began working in Mexico and later on started making all over the United States. On June 11,2006 Koslov won the NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship in Santa Monica, California from Karl Anderson, in 2008 Koslov participated in the annual ECWA Super 8 tournament working with other young high flyers. In the first round he defeated Shannon Moore in what was considered an upset, Koslovs performance earned him positive reviews. Koslov did not win the tournament but he stole the show, in August 2006, Koslov began working for the Mexican lucha libre promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre as a villain, or a Rudo in Mexico. He was the first Russian to ever wrestle in Arena Coliseo in its 70-year history, shortly after starting with CMLL, Koslov participated in their annual Leyenda de Plata tournament, losing to Místico in the quarter final. He also participated in the 2006 Leyenda de Azul tournament defeating Hirooki Goto in the first round, in November,2006 Koslov won an 8-man torneo cibernetico to earn a shot at the World Middleweight Championship, but lost against champion Averno. Over the next year, Koslov worked mid-card to semi-main event matches, in May 2007, Koslov unsuccessfully challenged NWA World Light Heavyweight Champion Atlantis for the title. The group saw limited success and by the start of 2008 rarely teamed together, throughout 2008 Koslov kept working mid-card matches, rarely working any kind of storyline, with the odd unsuccessful title match here and there. In 2008 CMLLs working relationship with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling meant that he was able to participate in the 2008 World X Cup Tournament that took place in June, Koslov was part of Team International along with Canadian Tyson Dux, Brit Doug Williams, and Iranian American Daivari. Koslov made a couple of pre-tournament appearances defeating Curry Man one week, in tournament action Koslov lost to fellow CMLL worker Rey Bucanero representing Team Mexico. In the finals of the tournament, held at the Victory Road Pay-Per-View and he eliminated another fellow CMLL worker Último Guerrero and Chris Sabin from the match, before tapping out to Masato Yoshino in the second to last elimination of the match. Team International ended up with just three points finishing last in the tournament, after having worked on a handshake deal with CMLL for two years Koslov was approached by rival promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración and offered a deal. According to Koslov he decided to take the deal with AAA because he was unhappy with CMLLs direction, only a few people knew that Koslov had signed with AAA before he made his surprise debut on October 10,2008 at a AAA Television taping in Querétaro, Mexico. To avoid spoiling the surprise Koslov had covered his face as he travelled to the arena, Koslovs defection to AAA made front page news on newspapers and wrestling magazines, liking it to the Monday Night Wars between World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation
38.
Joey Ryan (wrestler)
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Joseph Ryan Meehan, better known by the ring name Joey Ryan, is an American professional wrestler. He is a former NWA World Tag Team Champion with Karl Anderson, Meehan is the youngest of three brothers and he remembers watching WrestleMania 2, when Jake Roberts used his snake. His favourite wrestlers were Hulk Hogan, Ricky Steamboat and the British Bulldogs, however, he didnt watch wrestling until the 1990s, because his school friends were fans. When WWF came to Anaheim, a man gave them tickets to an independent show, after watching the show, he decided to train. Meehan started his wrestling training in February 2000 with Jesse Hernandezs Empire Wrestling Federation in San Bernardino. During this time, Ryan was part of a stable, teaming with fellow trainees Sid Shadow. He returned to training in 2004 at the Inoki Dojo in Santa Monica, after training at the Inoki Dojo, Ryan received his first television exposure from NJPW-USA Toukon Fighting Spirit. Although mostly used as an enhancement talent, he was able to get exposure by competing in matches against Bryan Danielson with CM Punk on commentary. On May 19,2006, he competed in The Best of American Super Juniors Tournament, Joey Ryan is one of the six founders of SoCal promotion Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, collectively known as the PWG Six. Meehan said that went in with low expectations, never exceeding more than one show but if enough money was attained. He began in PWG as part of the X-Foundation with Funky Billy Kim and they teamed together at PWGs first show, losing to the team of Adam Pearce, Hardcore Kidd, and Al Katrazz. Ryan then took part in the Bad Ass Mother 3000 tournament to determine the first PWG Champion, Ryan made it to the finals, but lost to Frankie Kazarian. Ryan then teamed with Scott Lost in the Tango & Cash Invitational tournament for the PWG Tag Team Championship and they made it to the semi-finals, but lost to Super Dragon and American Dragon. Ryan and Lost won the titles at the show by defeating inaugural champions Homicide and B-Boy. Ryan continued teaming with the X-Foundation, and regained the tag titles with Scott Lost on June 19,2004 at Rocktoberfest. Problems began within the X-Foundation, leading to a match between Joey Ryan and Scott Lost for the titles. Scott Lost won the match and chose Chris Bosh as his new partner, at Use Your Illusion 4, Ryan lost a 60 Minute Iron Man match to Super Dragon. Ryan then had an absence from PWG
39.
The Young Bucks
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The Young Bucks are an American professional wrestling tag team, consisting of real life brothers Matthew and Nicholas Massie from Southern California. They are signed to both New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor, while working for various American independent promotions. They are currently in their reign as the ROH World Tag Team Champions. They are known for their use of superkicks and high-flying moves as their offense. They are also known for their time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where they performed under the ring names Max and Jeremy Buck and the tag team name Generation Me. On two occasions, first in 2014 and again in 2016, they held the ROH World, PWG World, and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships simultaneously. In NJPW and ROH, The Young Bucks are members of the Bullet Club stable, in 2001, the Massie family put a wrestling ring in their backyard, where brothers Matt, Nick and Malachi taught themselves how to wrestle by impersonating what they saw on television. Matt attended the school with his good friend Dustin Cutler, eventually Nick joined his brother and attended a few sessions at the school. Matt, Nick and Dustin were involved in their first professional match at an Alternative Wrestling Show/C4/Revolution Pro joint event held on August 8,2004, Matt worked as Fluffy the Dog, Dustin dressed as a hillbilly and Nick was a high flying referee wearing a Santo mask. Afterward, Matt and Nick wrestled various times for Revolution Pro and Revolution X in chicken costumes, in October 2004, with the help of his family, Matt opened up his own independent wrestling company called High Risk Wrestling. Matt was originally the head owner of HRW, but had help from Nick and Malachi, the company ran shows twice a month and helped Matt and Nick learn their craft. In the main event of HRWs Highway 2 Hell on August 4,2007, Matt and Nick teamed up with Marty Jannetty ín a six-man tag, where they defeated Joey Ryan, Karl Anderson and Diablo. On February 26,2005, at a show for Full Contact Wrestling, Matt, originally, Matt was wrestling under the name Mr. Instant Replay, while Nick was called Slick Nick. That night The Young Bucks were defeated by the Kaos and Mongol, later on, another promoter decided that Matt and Nick needed a surname and came up with Jackson, which the two have used ever since. With the help of HRW, Matt and Nick eventually landed spots in several companies in Southern California. They also gained experience working in front of a camera doing television tapings for the National Wrestling Alliance starting in 2006. The Young Bucks filmed their very first matches for the NWA on Maverick Television on November 7,2006, the Young Bucks debuted for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla on June 10,2007, in Burbank, CA at Roger Dorn Night, losing to Arrogance. At the show Matt and Nick met Dragon Gate wrestler Cima and Dragon Gates American talent agent Satoshi Oji for the first time, both of whom were impressed by the brothers performance
40.
Human Tornado
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Craig Williams, better known by his ring name, Human Tornado, is an American professional wrestler. His character was that of a stereotypical 1970s blaxploitation street pimp and he performed primarily on the Californian independent circuit, most prominently for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Empire Wrestling Federation, and Alternative Wrestling Show. In addition, he performed for Ring of Honor, Combat Zone Wrestling, Jersey All Pro Wrestling. Human Tornado is a former two-time PWG World Champion and one-time PWG World Tag Team Champion, two months later on October 1, Tornado and Generico lost the titles to the team of Super Dragon and Davey Richards. Afterwards Tornado went on to feud with the PWG World Champion Joey Ryan, in the second match Tornado appeared as El Snowflake, the character he portrayed in the Jack Black movie Nacho Libre. Finally, on January 13,2007, Tornado defeated Ryan in a Guerrilla Warfare match to end his thirteen-month reign and win the PWG World Championship. However, his reign would turn out to be a one, as just one month later. After the loss of his title Tornado turned heel and after losing a rematch to Generico on April 8, after months of abuse, LeRae finally turned on Tornado on September 1 and cost him his first round match in the 2007 Battle of Los Angeles tournament. After the match Tornado assaulted LeRae, who was saved by Chris Hero. On October 14 Tornado defeated Hero in the first singles match of their feud, after PWG World Champion Low Ki suffered a knee injury, the title was vacated and put up for grabs in a five man tournament. At the event Hero, with the help of LeRae, defeated Tornado to win the World Title, Tornado returned to PWG on February 21,2009, to cash in on his rematch clause against Hero in a three-way match, which also included Colt Cabana. After being pinned by Hero, Tornado, seemingly turning face, attempted to make peace with him, Tornado solidified his position as a face in May by re-forming the tag team Dark & Lovely with Scorpio Sky. The team entered the 2009 Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament, however, at the following event the 2 Skinny Black Guys dreams of regaining the Tag Team Championship were crushed as Chuck Taylor defeated El Generico in a number one contenders match. Tornado entered the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles contested for the vacant PWG World Championship, on February 27 at As the Worm Turns Tornado gave a retirement speech to the PWG audience. In early 2006 Tornado took part in the tapings of the first season Wrestling Society X, the shows were taped in late 2006 and aired on MTV in 2007. At the tapings Tornado defeated Luke Hawx and was defeated by 6-Pac and he was also involved in a short feud with Jack Evans, which included a dance-off on WSXtra and a ten-minute time limit draw in the main event of the final episode of WSX. On October 14,2006, Tornado made his debut for Combat Zone Wrestling as part of the stable BLKOUT, Tornado and Ruckus entered the tournament to crown the new CZW World Tag Team Champions, but were defeated in the second round by The Kings of Wrestling. After the match Ruckus and Sabian turned on Tornado and kicked him out of the BLKOUT
41.
NWA World Tag Team Championship
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The NWA World Tag Team Championship is the main professional wrestling world tag team championship of the National Wrestling Alliance. The first of these NWA World Tag Team Championships was created in 1950 in the San Francisco territory, in 1982 Big Time Wrestling, based in Los Angeles, California, closed and abandoned their version of the championship. This meant that only the Jim Crockett Promotions NWA World Tag Team Championship was active, in 1991 that championship was renamed the World Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship. Initially the NWA worked with WCW, but in 1993 the two severed their collaboration and the NWA took the tag team championship from WCW, the NWA would briefly allow the World Wrestling Federation to control the championship in in 1998 but by 1999 that collaboration ended. In 2002 the NWA gave full control of the NWA World Tag Team Championship to the newly formed NWA Total Non-Stop Action promotion, tNAs control of the championship ended in 2007, with TNA creating the TNA World Tag Team Championship as a result. In subsequent years the championship has been defended on various continents including a period of time where it was held by teams working for New Japan Pro Wrestling. The current champions are the team of Kazushi Miyamoto and Rob Terry, Miyamoto and Terry are the 83th officially recognized champions due to the NWA not recognizing the five reigns in WCW. The Skullcrushers held the championship for 777 days, making them the longest reigning champions in the history of the NWA board recognized championship, three different team has held the championship for just one day, David Flair and Dan Factor, Glacier and Jason Sugarman and The Heatseekers. Those two championships were controlled by the board, who would meet to vote on who should be given the championship next and this meant that each territory was free to create their own World Tag Team Championship as they saw fit and use it within their territory without board approval. History records do not indicate that Blears and Laytham had actually won the championship elsewhere, from mid-1953 the championship became the main tag team championship of the Illinois/Wisconsin territory. In 1954 the Montreal, Québéc, Canada based Canadian Athletic Promotion used the NWA World Tag Team Championship name as well, but by the end of the year they had abandoned the championship. The promoters billed Joe Tangaroa and Guy Brunetti as the champions, recognizing the championship of the Chicago version up until September 1955. 1955 was also the year that the first of two Texas based NWA World Tag Team Championships as the Amarillo, Texas based Big Time Wrestling, owned by Doc Sarpolis and Dory Funk. They followed in the footsteps of other NWA territories by having the Chicago champions travel to their territory to lose a version of the championship to start the local version, in this case Neilsen worked regularly in the territory, while Lisowski left after only a brief stay. The promoters chose to have Rip Rogers replace Lisowski for the Amarillo version of the champions, another version was introduced around 1955/1956 in the Idaho / Utah territory based out of Salt Lake City. Three additional versions of the championship were introduced in 1957, the first of which was in Minneapolis, the second new championship was also the second Texas based championship as the eastern Texas based Houston/Dallas territory introduced Verne Gagne and Wilbur Snyder as their local champions. The third championship introduced in 1957 was used by Nick Gulas NWA Mid-America promotion when Gulas introduced The Corsicans as champions when they made their debut for NWA Mid-America. In 1959/1960 the unity of the NWA was strained as several promotions broke away from the NWA, while the NWA lost some territories with the exodus to the AWA others were added and additional NWA World Tag Team Championships were still being introduced
