1.
Sand Springs, Oklahoma
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Sand Springs is a city in Osage and Tulsa counties in the U. S. state of Oklahoma. A suburb of Tulsa, it is located predominantly in Tulsa County, the population was 18,906 in the 2010 U. S. Census, an increase of 8.3 percent from 17,451 at the 2000 census. The city was founded in 1911, by Oklahoma philanthropist Charles Page and he helped found and develop Sand Springs as a model city that included all components of a total community. Wealthy businessman Charles Page bought 160 acres of land in Tulsa County, Oklahoma in 1908, the initial tent housing twenty seven children, abandoned by the Hook & Anchor Orphanage in Tulsa, was soon replaced by a frame building housing fifty children. In 1911, Page created the Sand Springs Railway, an interurban connecting Sand Springs to Tulsa, the townsite was laid out in 1911. Sand Springs was incorporated as a city in 1912, with a population of 400, Page built the Sand Springs Power Plant in 1911, on the southeast corner of Main Street and Morrow Road. It anchored an area that Page intended to use for industrial development, there were several significant additions to the facility, and it remained the sole source of electric power for Sand Springs until 1947. Some of the earliest manufacturing industries were, Kerr Glass Manufacturing, Commander Mills, Kerr, Hubbard and Kelley Lamp and Chimney, Southwest Box Company, Sand Springs became one center of glass production in Oklahoma. Kerr Glass Manufacturing moved to Sand Springs from Chicago in 1913, Kerr company, which made fruit jars, were the only glass companies remaining in business as recently as 1955. The Home that Charles Page started all those years ago is still there today, what used to be the Widows Colony now accepts single mothers with two or more children. An EF2 tornado hit Sand Springs on March 25,2015, killing one resident, Sand Springs is located at 36°8′23″N 96°6′32″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 21.0 square miles. As of the census of 2000, there were 17,451 people,6,564 households, the population density was 934.2 people per square mile. There were 6,979 housing units at a density of 373.6 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 85. 85% White,1. 85% African American,7. 13% Native American,0. 44% Asian,0. 02% Pacific Islander,0. 47% from other races, and 4. 25% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2. 06% of the population,22. 7% of all households were made up of individuals and 10. 2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the family size was 3.05. In the city, the population was out with 28. 4% under the age of 18,8. 3% from 18 to 24,28. 9% from 25 to 44,22. 2% from 45 to 64
2.
Columbia, South Carolina
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Columbia is the capital and largest city of the U. S. state of South Carolina, with a population of 133,803 as of 2015. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, the name Columbia is a poetic term used for the United States, originating from the name of Christopher Columbus. The city is located approximately 13 miles northwest of the center of South Carolina. It lies at the confluence of the Saluda River and the Broad River, in 1860, the city was the location of the South Carolina Secession Convention, which marked the departure of the first state from the Union in the events leading up to the Civil War. At the time of European encounter, the inhabitants of the area that became Columbia were a people called the Congaree, in May 1540, a Spanish expedition led by Hernando de Soto traversed what is now Columbia while moving northward. The expedition produced the earliest written records of the area. From the creation of Columbia by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1786, the Congarees, a frontier fort on the west bank of the Congaree River, was the head of navigation in the Santee River system. A ferry was established by the government in 1754 to connect the fort with the growing settlements on the higher ground on the east bank. Like many other significant early settlements in colonial America, Columbia is on the line from the Piedmont region. The fall line is the spot where a river becomes unnavigable when sailing upstream, State Senator John Lewis Gervais of the town of Ninety Six introduced a bill that was approved by the legislature on March 22,1786, to create a new state capital. There was considerable argument over the name for the new city, according to published accounts, Senator Gervais said he hoped that in this town we should find refuge under the wings of COLUMBIA, for that was the name which he wished it to be called. One legislator insisted on the name Washington, but Columbia won by a vote of 11–7 in the state senate, the site was chosen as the new state capital in 1786, due to its central location in the state. The State Legislature first met there in 1790, after remaining under the direct government of the legislature for the first two decades of its existence, Columbia was incorporated as a village in 1805 and then as a city in 1854. Columbia received a stimulus to development when it was connected in a direct water route to Charleston by the Santee Canal. This canal connected the Santee and Cooper rivers in a 22-mile-long section and it was first chartered in 1786 and completed in 1800, making it one of the earliest canals in the United States. With increased railroad traffic, it ceased operation around 1850, the commissioners designed a town of 400 blocks in a 2-mile square along the river. The blocks were divided into lots of 0.5 acres and sold to speculators, buyers had to build a house at least 30 feet long and 18 feet wide within three years or face an annual 5% penalty. The perimeter streets and two streets were 150 feet wide
3.
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
4.
Mildred Burke
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Mildred Bliss, better known by the ring name Mildred Burke, was an American professional wrestler. Burke is a member of the WWE Hall of Fame as a Legacy inductee and her heyday lasted from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s, when she held the NWA World Womens Championship for almost twenty years. Burke started out in 1935, wrestling men at carnivals and she was managed by her second husband, promoter Billy Wolfe. Mildred Burke, aged 15, began to work as a waitress on the Zuni Indian Reservation in Gallup and she lived there for three years, before leaving for Kansas City after agreeing to marry her boyfriend. He took her to a wrestling event, which sparked her interest in the sport. Burke, who was pregnant at the time, later persevered, prior to wrestling, she was an office stenographer by day, had outstanding muscle development, and was hoping to become a professional wrestler. Locally, Billy Wolfe was training aspiring women professional wrestlers, at first, Wolfe did not want to train Burke and instructed a male wrestler to body slam her, so she would stop asking Wolfe to train her. Burke, however, performed a body slam on the man instead, Wolfe tutored her and realized that she was the prospect for which he was waiting. The close proximity of their training resulted in a relationship and ultimately marriage, changing her name to Mildred Burke, she defeated Clara Mortenson for the Womens World Championship in January 1937. In the 1930s, Burke wrestled over 200 men, but only lost to one of them, despite the riches that her husband earned as a promoter of women grapplers, there was a dark side to their marriage. On the road, Wolfe stood as a figure to the women he trained and managed. Their marriage was not monogamous, as Wolfe enjoyed the companionship of women with whom he traveled, tensions emanated from the extramarital activity and in 1952, Wolfe and Burke went their own ways. Burke found herself out of professional wrestling among all National Wrestling Alliance channels. Desperate, Burke decided to consult Jack Pfefer for help, the NWA attempted to reconcile the couple, but the only agreed upon solution was that one would sell out to the other. Burke volunteered to sell to Wolfe for Burkes Attractions, Inc. went into bankruptcy, eight months later, Hoff named Wolfe as administrator and was approved by Franklin County Judge William Bryant. A memorandum dated August 20,1953, was circulated by Wolfe, in which he announced that he was the booker for Burke. The claim was disputed by Burke on August 26,1953 and it was emphasized that her contract prohibited Wolfe from competing in wrestling and was in breach of the binding agreement. She consulted with Leroy McGuirk and hoped that she would be vindicated by the NWA at their September 1953 meeting in Chicago, Burke faced many obstacles, as women were banned from yearly NWA conferences, and this diminished the importance of women in professional wrestling
5.
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
6.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
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.
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
9.
The Fabulous Moolah
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Mary Lillian Ellison was an American professional wrestler, better known by her ring name The Fabulous Moolah. She began her working with promoter Billy Wolfe and his wife, wrestler and trainer Mildred Burke. She won the NWA World Womens Championship in 1956 and was the most prominent holder of the title for approximately the next 30 years, Ellison was marketed by the WWF as holding the record for the longest title reign by any athlete in any professional sport. According to WWE, she was also the first WWF Womens Champion, in addition, Ellison was a prominent trainer and promoter in womens professional wrestling, but other female wrestlers have accused her of financial and sexual exploitation. In the 1990s, she returned to the WWF in a role with longtime friend Mae Young. In 2010, WWE recognized her as the 27th best wrestler ever, Mary Lillian Ellison was born in 1923 in Kershaw County, South Carolina, and grew up in Tookiedoo,12 miles from Columbia. The youngest of five children, Ellison was the daughter of a part Cherokee father. Her parents owned a farm, a store, and a service station. When her mother died of cancer, eight-year-old Ellison went to live with her paternal grandmother, at age 10, Ellison was still deeply distraught over her mothers death, to cheer her up, her father took her to the local wrestling matches. Ellison liked the matches, but it was not until she saw Womens Champion Mildred Burke wrestle that they began to mean more to me. Ellison returned to the Columbia home of her father and brothers and she graduated Columbia High School, but at age 14 married 21-year-old Walter Carroll. They soon became parents to a daughter, a few months after the birth of her daughter, she divorced Carroll. Still only 15, she left her daughter with a friend, Ellison began her wrestling career with Mildred Burkes husband Billy Wolfe, the dominant womens promoter of the time. She competed with other female wrestlers, stepping into the ring with the likes of Mae Young, Cecilia Blevins. She, however, soon began a romance with wrestler Johnny Long, Long later introduced Ellison to Jack Pfefer who gave her the moniker Slave Girl Moolah. By the early 1950s, Moolah was a valet for Nature Boy Buddy Rogers, accompanying him to the ring while providing eye candy for the male audiences, Ellison broke up the partnership because Rogers kept pushing her to begin a sexual relationship. She then served as the valet for the Elephant Boy, Olivas was Mexican, but had very dark skin, which caused controversy when Ellison, a white woman, would kiss him on the cheek during their ring entrance routine. At one show in Oklahoma City, a man, who thought that Olivas was a black man, Moolah later left Pfeffers promotion and began wrestling under Boston promoters Tony Santos and Paul Bowser
10.
WWE Hall of Fame
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The WWE Hall of Fame is a hall of fame for professional wrestling personalities maintained by WWE. It was announced on the March 22,1993 episode of Monday Night Raw where André the Giant, the 1994 and 1995 ceremonies were held in conjunction with the annual King of the Ring pay-per-view events. In 1996, the ceremony was held with the Survivor Series event, for the first time in front of an audience as well as the wrestlers, after which. In 2004, WWE relaunched the Hall of Fame to coincide with WrestleMania XX and this ceremony, like its predecessors, was not broadcast on television. However, it was released on DVD on June 1,2004, beginning with the 2005 ceremony, an edited version of the Hall of Fame was broadcast on Spike TV and on the USA Network, these were aired on tape delay. Since 2005, the entire Hall of Fame ceremony has been packaged as part of the annual WrestleMania DVD release, in 2015, historical WWE Hall of Fame ceremonies became available on the WWE Network. Although a building has never built to represent the Hall of Fame. As of 2017, there have been 164 inductees – with 105 wrestlers inducted individually,11 group inductions, nine celebrities, the celebrity wing of the Hall of Fame is dedicated to celebrities that have made memorable appearances on WWE programming, and/or have had longtime associations with WWE. The award was created following The Ultimate Warriors death, during his April 2014 Hall of Fame speech shortly before his death, he proposed that there be a special category called the Jimmy Miranda Award for WWEs behind-the-scenes employees. Miranda, who died in 2002, was part of the WWE merchandise department for more than 20 years, traditionally, Dana Warrior will present the award. In 2016, WWE introduced a new category for the Hall of Fame called the Legacy wing, Inductees under this new category feature wrestlers from the early years of professional wrestling, primarily during the early part of the 20th century. All inductees thus far have been inducted posthumously and were recognized with a package at the ceremony. In 2012, The Post and Courier noted that the Hall has garnered criticism due to the inductions of questionable performers, and the omissions of major names within the industry. Bob Backlund declined induction multiple times, and The Ultimate Warrior wrote that he refused the honor in 2010, they were inducted in 2013 and 2014. Randy Savage was recognized as being absent, Chris Jericho said that the Hall achieved a level of legitimacy by inducting him in 2015. Slam Wrestling questioned how Koko B, ware, who primarily wrestled in the undercard, was inducted but former WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Ivan Koloff never was before his 2017 death. Bruno Sammartino, the longest reigning WWWF World Heavyweight Champion, was critical of the Hall of Fame. Sammartino disapproved of celebrity inductees such as Pete Rose and William Perry, is it a building I can actually go to
11.
Amateur wrestling
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Amateur wrestling is the most widespread form of sport wrestling. There are two international wrestling styles performed in the Olympic Games under the supervision of United World Wrestling, Greco-Roman, Freestyle is possibly derived from the English Lancashire style. A similar style, commonly called collegiate, is practiced in colleges and universities, secondary schools, middle schools, where the style is not specified, this article refers to the international styles of competition on a mat. In February 2013, the IOC voted to remove the sport from the 2020 Summer Olympics onwards, on 8 September 2013, the IOC announced that wrestling would return to the Summer Olympics in 2020. The rapid rise in the popularity of the combat sport Mixed martial arts has increased interest in wrestling due to its effectiveness in the sport. Greco-Roman and freestyle differ in what holds are permitted, in Greco-Roman, in both Greco-Roman and freestyle, points can be scored in the following ways, Takedown, A wrestler gaining control over their opponent from a neutral position. Reversal, A wrestler gaining control over their opponent from a defensive position, exposure or the Danger Position, A wrestler exposing their opponents back to the mat, also awarded if ones back is to the mat but the wrestler is not pinned. Any wrestler stepping out of bounds while standing in the position during a match is penalized by giving their opponent a point. As in the styles, collegiate wrestling awards points for takedowns. Penalty points are awarded in collegiate wrestling according to the current rules, however, the manner in which infractions are penalized and points awarded to the offended wrestler differ in some aspects from the international styles. Collegiate wrestling also awards points for, Near Fall, This is similar to the points given in Greco-Roman. A wrestler scores points for holding their opponents shoulders or scapulae to the mat for several seconds while their opponent is not pinned. Escape, A wrestler getting from a position to a neutral position. This is no longer a way to score in freestyle or Greco-Roman, in the international styles, the format is now two three-minute periods. A wrestler wins the match when they were able to get more points than their opponent or 10 points lead in two rounds, for example, if one competitor get 10-0 lead in first the period, they will win by superiority of points. Only a fall, injury default, or disqualification terminates the match and this format replaced the old format of three two-minute periods played best two out of three. One side effect of the old format was that it was possible for the wrestler to outscore the winner. For example, periods may be scored 3–2, 0–4, 1–0, leading to a score of 4–6
12.
Tulsa World
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It was founded in 1905, and for its first 108 years, it was locally owned. For the last 96 of those years, it was owned by the Lorton family of Tulsa, the newspapers circulation has dropped slightly in recent years and the staff reduced. The newspaper shares some content with The Oklahoman. In February 2013 the paper announced that it would be sold to Berkshire Hathaways BH Media Group, in the early 1900s, the World fought an editorial battle in favor of building a reservoir on Spavinaw Creek, in addition to opposing the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. The paper was jointly operated with the Tulsa Tribune from 1941 to 1992, Republican activist James F. McCoy and Kansas journalist J. R. Brady had bought the Indian Republican in 1905 and fired Boyle in the following year. Boyle borrowed $500 from Dr. S. G. Kennedy, charles Page was among those who opposed the Spavinaw plan, he advocated a plan in his own newspaper to sell water from the Shell Creek water system, which Page owned. Pages newspaper, the Morning News, closed in 1919 after Tulsans approved an issue to pipe the water from Spavinaw. He sold a companion paper, Tulsa Democrat, to Richard Lloyd Jones, in the 1920s, the Tulsa World was known for its opposition to the Ku Klux Klan, which had risen to local prominence in the wake of the Tulsa Race Riot in the spring of 1921. Lorton was active in Republican Party politics until he was defeated by William B, Pine, in the 1924 primary election for the US Senate, Pine went on to win the general election. Lorton then supported Democrats Alfred E. Smith in the 1928 Presidential election, however, Lorton refused to support Roosevelts third term bid in 1940, he returned to the Republicans and remained a GOP supporter for the rest of his life. The Tulsa Tribune and Tulsa World entered a joint operating agreement in June 1941, eugene Lorton died in 1949, leaving majority interest in the newspaper to his wife Maude and smaller shares to four daughters and 20 employees. Eugenes presumed successor, Robert Lorton, had died at age 24 in 1939, in the 1950s, Maude Lorton transferred one-fourth of the company to attorney Byron Boone, who became publisher in 1959. Upon her death, she left the rest of her shares to her grandson Robert, in 1964, Robert Lorton became director of the News Publishing Corporation, which oversaw the non-editorial operations of both the Tulsa Tribune and Tulsa World. In 1968, he became president of the Tulsa World and publisher upon Boones death in 1988, the Tulsa Tribune ceased operations in 1992 and Tulsa World acquired its assets. Robert Lorton reacquired the Worlds outstanding shares and made the newspaper entirely family-owned once again, in May 2005, he passed the title of publisher to his son Robert E. Lorton III. During the same year, World Publishing Company had 700 employees, in February 2013 the paper announced that it would be sold to Berkshire Hathaways BH Media Group, controlled by Warren Buffett. In 2015, BH Media bought six weekly papers and the daily Tulsa Business & Legal News from Community Publishers Inc, in February 2013 the paper announced that it would be sold to Berkshire Hathaways BH Media Group, controlled by Warren Buffett. As of September 2012, weekday circulation was 95,003, Saturday circulation was 104,602, in April 2011, the World introduced a metered model to its digital products that limits the amount of locally produced articles that a non-subscriber can view at no charge
13.
Billy Wolfe
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William Harrison “Billy” Wolfe was a professional wrestling promoter who was active from the 1930s to the 1950s. Wolfe was the husband and manager of Mildred Burke and ran a traveling troupe of women wrestlers alongside her, William Harrison Billy Wolfe was the second child born to John and Lucinda Wolfe, in Daviess County, Missouri. He was drafted into the military in World War I and began pursuing wrestling at a Kentucky duty station, as a competing middleweight, Wolfe claimed the Missouri State title in 1923, and established himself as a challenger to Charles “Midget” Fischer of Wisconsin. He was revered by his peers for doing whatever was necessary to win a match. He married Margaret Johnson on February 22,1922 and celebrated their first child, George William Wolfe, known as “Billy Wolfe, Jr. ”After the birth of their child, Violet. Billy decided to instruct women at his gymnasium, after a divorce from Margaret, Billy married wrestler Barbara Ware, known for competing with men. His marriage to Barbara Ware failed, while training aspiring women wrestlers, he was drawn to a young brunette named Mildred Bliss. Bliss, was a stenographer by day, but had outstanding muscle development. Wolfe tutored her and realized that she was the prospect for which he was waiting, the close proximity of training resulted in a relationship and ultimately marriage. Changing her name to Mildred Burke, she defeated Clara Mortenson for the Womens World Championship in January 1937, in late 1949, Wolfe joined the National Wrestling Alliance, making his stable of 30 women available to all promoters. At each show, he received a percentage of the gross, on the road, he stood as a father figure to the women he trained and managed, but he also earned reputation as a womanizer. His marriage to Burke was not monogamous, as he enjoyed the companionship of women with whom he traveled, tensions emanated from the extramarital activity, and in 1952, Wolfe and Burke went their own ways. Wolfe retaliated as he froze Burke out of wrestling among all NWA channels, Burke consulted Jack Pfefer for help. The Alliance attempted to reconcile the couple and the result was that one would sell out to the other. Burke actually volunteered to sell for $50,000 but was rebuffed, on January 26,1953, Wolfe sold to Burke, who created the company Attractions, Inc. The deal was for $30,000, all alimony was waived, the pledge lasted only a few months as Wolfe started promoting wrestling in Columbus, Ohio. Wolfe tempted many grapplers by offering 50 percent of the proceeds, Burke challenged him by offering 60 percent of the proceeds from her promotion but Wolfe settled on the figure of 75 percent. Attractions, Inc. went into bankruptcy and into the hands of receiver James Hoff of Columbus, eight months later, Hoff named Wolfe as administrator and was approved by Franklin County Judge William Bryant
14.
Gladys Gillem
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Gladys Gillem Wall, also known as Gladys Killem Gillem or Gladys Kill Em Gillem, was an American professional wrestler. Gillem was inspired to begin a career as a professional wrestling after seeing Mildred Burke wrestle and she was trained in Tennessee with Wilma Gordon, and she began wrestling in carnival shows. Besides wrestling men and women, Gillem wrestled bears and alligators as part of her act, Gillem eventually found work touring with promoter Billy Wolfes, the husband of Mildred Burke, troop of women wrestlers in 1942. She was often an opponent of Burkes, wrestling her for the World Womens Championship and she acted in this capacity until her retirement in 1962. During her time with the promotion, she developed a relationship with Wolfe. During one professional wrestling match, one of Gillems eyes was knocked out of the socket, also, she developed a cauliflower like sore on the back of her head due to taking bumps in the ring. She was born in Birmingham, Alabama to Fred and Clara Gillem, in high school, Gillem won the Alabama State softball championship with her team. After her father died when she was 19, Gillem took care of her mother, after leaving wrestling, she rode horses and worked as a trapeze artist. Gillem then became a lion tamer and wrestled alligators and she met her husband John Wall while working for the Bailey Brothers circus. The couple had three children together, Kathleen Ann, John, and Claire Fredrica and her husband was killed while working as a Broadway stagehand in New York when a 500-pound box fell on his head. After his death, Gillem ran her mothers boarding house, in 1973, she began running the Birmingham motel in Pensacola. Gillem underwent heart surgery in 2003. On August 12,2009, she died of Alzheimers disease at her home in Pensacola, signature moves Belly to back suplex Nicknames Killem
15.
Great Depression
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The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, in most countries it started in 1929 and it was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how far the economy can decline. The depression originated in the United States, after a fall in stock prices that began around September 4,1929. Between 1929 and 1932, worldwide GDP fell by an estimated 15%, by comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during the Great Recession. Some economies started to recover by the mid-1930s, however, in many countries, the negative effects of the Great Depression lasted until the beginning of World War II. The Great Depression had devastating effects in both rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%, unemployment in the U. S. rose to 25% and in some countries rose as high as 33%. Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially dependent on heavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries, farming communities and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by about 60%. Facing plummeting demand with few sources of jobs, areas dependent on primary sector industries such as mining and logging suffered the most. Even after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 optimism persisted for some time, john D. Rockefeller said These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come, prosperity has always returned and will again. The stock market turned upward in early 1930, returning to early 1929 levels by April and this was still almost 30% below the peak of September 1929. Together, government and business spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the period of the previous year. On the other hand, consumers, many of whom had suffered losses in the stock market the previous year. In addition, beginning in the mid-1930s, a severe drought ravaged the agricultural heartland of the U. S, by mid-1930, interest rates had dropped to low levels, but expected deflation and the continuing reluctance of people to borrow meant that consumer spending and investment were depressed. By May 1930, automobile sales had declined to below the levels of 1928, prices in general began to decline, although wages held steady in 1930
16.
Softball
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Softball is a variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. It was invented in 1887 in Chicago as an indoor game and it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground, softball, kitten ball, and because it was also played by women, ladies baseball. The name softball was given to the game in 1926 because the used to be soft. A tournament held in 1933 at the Chicago Worlds Fair spurred interest in the game, the Amateur Softball Association of America governs the game in the United States and sponsors annual sectional and World Series championships. Womens fastpitch softball became a Summer Olympic sport in 1996, but it were dropped from the 2012 Games, there are three types of softball. In fastpitch softball, the pitch is fast, there are nine players on the field at one time, modified softball restricts the windmill windup of the pitcher, although the pitcher is allowed to throw as hard as possible with the restricted back swing. Softball rules vary somewhat from those of baseball, despite the name, the ball used in softball is not very soft. It is about 12 in in circumference, which is 3 in larger than a baseball, Softball recreational leagues for children often use an 11-inch ball. In fast pitch softball the entire infield is sand, whereas the infield in baseball is grass except at the bases which are sand, the earliest known softball game was played in Chicago, Illinois on Thanksgiving Day,1887. It took place at the Farragut Boat Club at a gathering to hear the outcome of the Yale University, when the score was announced and bets were settled, a Yale alumnus threw a boxing glove at a Harvard supporter. The other person grabbed a took a swing at it, george Hancock called out Play ball. And the game began, with the boxing glove tightened into a ball and this first contest ended with a score of 41–40. The ball, being soft, was fielded barehanded, george Hancock is credited as the games inventor for his development of ball and an undersized bat in the next week. The Farragut Club soon set rules for the game, which spread quickly to outsiders, envisioned as a way for baseball players to maintain their skills during the winter, the sport was called Indoor Baseball. Under the name of Indoor-Outdoor, the game moved outside in the year. In 1895 Lewis Rober, Sr. of Minneapolis organized outdoor games as exercise for firefighters, Rober may not have been familiar with the Farragut Club rules. Fire Station No.19 in Minneapolis, Robers post from 1896 to 1906, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in part for its association with the sports development, the first softball league outside the United States was organized in Toronto in 1897. The name softball dates back to 1926, the name was coined by Walter Hakanson of the YMCA at a meeting of the National Recreation Congress
17.
Tulsa, Oklahoma
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Tulsa /ˈtʌlsə/ is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. As of July 2015, the population was 403,505 and it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 981,005 residents in the MSA and 1,151,172 in the CSA. The city serves as the county seat of Tulsa County, the most densely populated county in Oklahoma, with urban development extending into Osage, Rogers, Tulsa was settled between 1828 and 1836 by the Lochapoka Band of Creek Native American tribe. For most of the 20th century, the city held the nickname Oil Capital of the World, once heavily dependent on the oil industry, Tulsa experienced economic downturn. Subsequent diversification efforts created a base in the energy, finance, aviation, telecommunications. The Tulsa Port of Catoosa, at the head of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, is the most inland port in the U. S. with access to international waterways. Two institutions of education within the city have sports teams at the NCAA Division I level, Oral Roberts University. It is situated on the Arkansas River at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in northeast Oklahoma, the city has been called one of Americas most livable large cities by Partners for Livable Communities, Forbes, and Relocate America. FDi Magazine in 2009 ranked the city no.8 in the U. S. for cities of the future, in 2012, Tulsa was ranked among the top 50 best cities in the United States by BusinessWeek. People from Tulsa are called Tulsans, the area where Tulsa now exists was considered Indian Territory when it was first formally settled by the Lochapoka and Creek tribes in 1836. They established a settlement under the Creek Council Oak Tree at the present day intersection of Cheyenne Avenue. This area and this tree reminded Chief Tukabahchi and his group of trail of tear survivors of the bend in the river and their previous Creek Council Oak Tree back in the Talisi. They named their new settlement Tallasi, meaning old town in the Creek language, the area around Tulsa was also settled by members of the other so-called Five Civilized Tribes who had relocated to Oklahoma from the Southern United States. Most of modern Tulsa is located in the Creek Nation, with parts located in the Cherokee Nation, although Oklahoma was not yet a state during the Civil War, the Tulsa area did see its share of fighting. The Battle of Chusto-Talasah took place on the side of Tulsa. After the War, the tribes signed Reconstruction treaties with the government that in some cases required substantial land concessions. On January 18,1898, Tulsa was officially incorporated and elected its first mayor, Tulsa was a small town near the banks of the Arkansas River in 1901 when its first oil well, named Sue Bland No. Much of the oil was discovered on land whose mineral rights were owned by members of the Osage Nation under a system of headrights
18.
Charlotte, North Carolina
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Charlotte /ˈʃɑːrlət/ is the largest city in the state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Mecklenburg County and the second-largest city in the southeastern United States, just behind Jacksonville, Charlotte is the third-fastest growing major city in the United States. In 2014 the estimated population of Charlotte according to the U. S. Census Bureau was 809,958, the Charlotte metropolitan area ranks 22nd-largest in the U. S. and had a 2014 population of 2,380,314. The Charlotte metropolitan area is part of a sixteen-county market region or combined statistical area with a 2014 U. S. Census population estimate of 2,537,990, residents of Charlotte are referred to as Charlotteans. It is listed as a global city by the Globalization. Charlotte Douglas International Airport is an international hub, and was ranked the 23rd-busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic in 2013. Charlotte has a subtropical climate. The city is located several miles east of the Catawba River and southeast of Lake Norman, Lake Wylie and Mountain Island Lake are two smaller man-made lakes located near the city. The Catawba Native Americans were the first to settle Mecklenburg County and were first recorded in European records around 1567, by 1759 half the Catawba tribe had been killed by smallpox. At the time of their largest population, Catawba people numbered 10,000, Mecklenburg County was initially part of Bath County of New Hanover Precinct, which became New Hanover County in 1729. The western portion of New Hanover split into Bladen County in 1734, Mecklenburg County formed from Anson County in 1762. Further apportionment was made in 1792, with Cabarrus County formed from Mecklenburg and these areas were all part of one of the original six judicial/military districts of North Carolina known as the Salisbury District. The area that is now Charlotte was settled by people of European descent around 1755, Thomas Polk, who later married Thomas Spratts daughter, built his house by the intersection of two Native American trading paths between the Yadkin and Catawba rivers. One path ran north–south and was part of the Great Wagon Road, within decades of Polks settling, the area grew to become Charlotte Town, incorporating in 1768. The crossroads, perched atop the Piedmont landscape, became the heart of Uptown Charlotte, in 1770, surveyors marked the streets in a grid pattern for future development. The east–west trading path became Trade Street, and the Great Wagon Road became Tryon Street, in honor of William Tryon, the intersection of Trade and Tryon—commonly known today as Trade & Tryon, or simply The Square—is more properly called Independence Square. While surveying the boundary between the Carolinas in 1772, William Moultrie stopped in Charlotte Town, whose five or six houses were very ordinary built of logs, local leaders came together in 1775 and signed the Mecklenburg Resolves, more popularly known as the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. While not a declaration of independence from British rule, it is among the first such declarations that eventually led to the American Revolution
19.
Ed Lewis (wrestler)
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Robert Herman Julius Friedrich, better known by the ring name Ed Strangler Lewis, was an American professional wrestler. During his professional wrestling career, whose career spanned four decades, born in Nekoosa, Wisconsin, Friedrich began wrestling at the age of 14, using the ring name Ed Strangler Lewis, first in Louisville, Kentucky in tribute of 1890s star Evan Strangler Lewis. They also developed the first professional wrestling storylines, creating worked feuds between wrestlers, because of the legit skills Lewis possessed, the Trio could put the title on who ever they wanted, because Lewis had the ability to defeat anyone who would not follow the script. Lewis captured his first recognized World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship on December 13,1920, Stecher would prove to be Lewis biggest rival, both in and out of the ring, with Stecher running his own shows against the Gold Dust Trio, beginning quite possibly the first promotional rivalry. Lewis and Stecher wrestled one of the longest matches in wrestling history, where they battled for five. Zbyszko balked at the idea of losing to an unskilled wrestler, zbyszko double-crossed the Gold Dust Trio, using his knowledge of holds to legit defeat and, in the process, humiliate Munn. Eventually, Lewis and Stecher settled their differences, and agreed to do business with each other, in 1931, Lewis and partner, Billy Sandow, signed former Notre Dame All-American running back Jumping Joe Savoldi to his first professional wrestling contract. Lewis was credited with training Savoldi in Los Angeles during the first half of 1931, in 1933, one of the Stranglers most infamous matches took place in Madison Square Garden. He was fighting Ray Steele for the title, the two men began circling each other, but no fighting happened, which made the fans bored. Steele finally ended the match by punching Lewis, causing the referee to disqualify him twenty minutes into the match. On September 20,1934, Lewis wrestled Jim Londos in front of an audience of 35,275 at Wrigley Field, and drawing a gate of $96,302. In 1937, the Strangler had six contests in New Zealand and he beat Floyd Marshall, John Spellman, Glen Wade, and Rusty Wescoatt, and lost twice to the Canadian champion Earl McCready, who was then established as the top wrestler in New Zealand. Lewis excelled in the art of hooking and he is considered to be the creator of the sleeper hold, though it was actually a cross between the modern day sleeper and a side headlock. Later in his career, Lewis befriended a young Lou Thesz, Thesz and Verne Gagne deemed Lewis the greatest professional wrestler ever, who could only be beat when he allowed himself to be beat to further a worked angle. Lewis went into semi-retirement in 1935, but came out of retirement in 1942, at the age of 51 and he retired from professional wrestling for good in 1948, at 57 years old. At the November 1949 NWA Convention in St. Louis, Lewis was named the ambassador of good will for the NWA, in later years, he would become the manager of his good friend and reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Lou Thesz. He was destitute and relied on his wife and acquaintances to survive and he died in New York on August 8,1966 at the age of 75. In 1999, Lewis was inducted into the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Hall of Fame, today, a Wisconsin state historical marker commemorates his achievements in his hometown of Nekoosa on Prospect Avenue
20.
Lou Thesz
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Aloysius Martin Lou Thesz was an American professional wrestler. A six-time world champion, he held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship three times, for a total of 10 years, three months and nine days – longer than anyone else in history. Thesz is regarded as one of, if not the, greatest wrestler of all time, born in Banat, Michigan in 1916, Theszs family moved to St. Louis when he was a young boy. His working-class immigrant parents hailed from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, beginning in Theszs early youth, his father personally gave him a tough and thorough education in Greco-Roman wrestling, which provided the fundamentals for his later success. As a teenager, he trained in amateur wrestling with legendary wrestler Ad Santel. Thesz made his wrestling debut in 1932, at the age of 16. He soon met Ed Strangler Lewis, the biggest wrestling star of the 1920s, who taught a young Lou the art of hooking, and the two formed a lasting friendship. By 1937, Thesz had become one of the biggest stars in the St. Thesz dropped the title to Steve Crusher Casey in Boston six weeks later. He won the National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship in 1939, once again defeating Marshall, in 1948, the National Wrestling Alliance was formed, the purpose being to create one world champion for all the various wrestling territories throughout North America. Orville Brown, the reigning Midwest World Heavyweight Championship holder, was named the first champion, quinn and Muchnick ended their promotional war, and Thesz promotion was absorbed into the NWA. Part of the deal was a unification match between Brown and Thesz, who held the National Wrestling Associations World Heavyweight Championship. Thesz was chosen for his skill as a hooker to prevent double crosses by would-be shooters who would deviate from the finish for personal glory. Between 1949 and 1956, Thesz set out to all the existing world titles into the National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship. Thesz finally dropped the title to Whipper Billy Watson in 1956 and he regained the title from Watson seven months later. 1957 was an important year for Thesz, on June 14, despite the NWAs decision, there were some promotions who continued to recognize Carpentiers claim to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. That same year, Thesz became the first wrestler to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in Japan and their bouts popularized professional wrestling in Japan, gaining the sport mainstream acceptance. In 1963, Thesz came out of semi-retirement to win his sixth world championship from Buddy Rogers at the age of 46. Legend has it that Rogers was having second thoughts about dropping the title and he would hold the title until 1966 when, at the age of 49, he was dethroned by Gene Kiniski
21.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
22.
Stu Hart
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Stewart Edward Stu Hart was a Canadian amateur wrestler, professional wrestler, promoter and trainer. Hart founded Stampede Wrestling, a promotion based in Calgary, Alberta, the patriarch of the Hart wrestling family, Stu was the father of many wrestlers, most notably Bret and Owen Hart. Hart has been referred to by writers, including wrestling historian Dave Meltzer, as one of the most influential. His greatest contribution to the art was as a trainer, along with Bret and Owen, Harts trainees included future world champions Fritz Von Erich, Superstar Billy Graham, Chris Jericho, Edge, Christian, Mark Henry, Chris Benoit, and Jushin Thunder Liger. Hart was also known for his involvement in over thirty charities, for which he was given a position in the Order of Canada. He was born in Saskatoon in 1915 to Edward and Elizabeth Stewart Hart and he was mainly of Scots-Irish descent but also had Scottish and English ancestry. His childhood was impoverished, as a boy, Stu Hart lived in a tent with his family on the prairie in Alberta, living off the land, milking cows and wild game that Stu took down with his slingshot. As a child Hart and his sisters were often mistreated at school by both students and teachers since it was well known that they were from such a poor family. Hart was also berated and treated with disdain for being lefthanded and he was like most lefthanded children at the time forced to work with his right and as a result he became ambidextrous. In 1928, his father was arrested for failure to pay taxes, while the Salvation Army sent Stu, his mother. Due to his childhood and youth Hart did not experience a dramatic shift in life quality or mentality during the Great Depression which affected most others around him in Edmonton. During his time in Edmonton with his mother and sisters Hart began finding an interest in sports with wrestling and he started weightlifting and training for wrestling when he was fourteen years old and quickly built a strong neck and impressive arms. He began attending amateur wrestling classes when he joined the YMCA in Edmonton in 1929, Hart was trained in catch wrestling in his youth by other boys. Speaking of it, Stu said that his head would be blue by the time they let go of him. Stu taught this style to all who trained under him in the 1980s and 1990s with the thought that teaching his students real submission moves would make their pro wrestling style sharper. By 1937 he won a medal in the welterweight class from the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada. His amateur career peaked in May 1940 when Hart won the Dominion Amateur Wrestling Championship in the heavyweight category. During the mid 30s Hart also coached wrestling at the University of Alberta, Hart played football for the Edmonton Eskimos in the 1938 and 1939 seasons as a centre
23.
Memphis, Tennessee
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Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U. S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the fourth Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf, Memphis had a population of 653,450 in 2013, making it the largest city in the state of Tennessee. It is the largest city on the Mississippi River, the third largest in the greater Southeastern United States, the greater Memphis metropolitan area, including adjacent counties in Mississippi and Arkansas, had a 2014 population of 1,317,314. This makes Memphis the second-largest metropolitan area in Tennessee, surpassed by metropolitan Nashville, Memphis is the youngest of Tennessees major cities, founded in 1819 as a planned city by a group of wealthy Americans including judge John Overton and future president Andrew Jackson. A resident of Memphis is referred to as a Memphian, and the Memphis region is known, particularly to media outlets, as Memphis and the Mid-South. Occupying a substantial bluff rising from the Mississippi River, the site of Memphis has been a location for human settlement by varying cultures over thousands of years. The historic Chickasaw Indian tribe, believed to be their descendants, French explorers led by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle and Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto would encounter the Chickasaw in that area, in the 16th century. J. D. L. Chickasaw Bluffs, located on the Mississippi River at the present day location of Memphis, spain and the United States vied for control of this site, which was a favorite of the Chickasaws. The United States gained the right to navigate the Mississippi River, the Spanish dismantled the fort, shipping its lumber and iron to their locations in Arkansas. Captain Isaac Guion led an American force down the Ohio River to claim the land, by this time, the Spanish had departed. The forts ruins went unnoticed twenty years later when Memphis was laid out as a city, the city of Memphis was founded on May 22,1819 by John Overton, James Winchester and Andrew Jackson. They named it after the ancient capital of Egypt on the Nile River, Memphis developed as a trade and transportation center in the 19th century because of its flood-free location high above the Mississippi River. Located in the delta region along the river, its outlying areas were developed as cotton plantations. The cotton economy of the antebellum South depended on the labor of large numbers of African-American slaves. Through the early 19th century, one million slaves were transported from the Upper South, Many were transported by steamboats along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. This gave planters and cotton brokers access to the Atlantic Coast for shipping cotton to England, the citys demographics changed dramatically in the 1850s and 1860s under waves of immigration and domestic migration. Due to increased immigration since the 1840s and the Great Famine, ethnic Irish made up 9.9 percent of the population in 1850, but 23.2 percent in 1860, when the total population was 22,623. They had encountered considerable discrimination in the city but by 1860 and they also gained many elected and patronage positions in the Democratic Party city government, and an Irish man was elected as mayor before the Civil War
24.
Pearl Harbor
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Pearl Harbor is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base and it is also the headquarters of the United States Pacific Fleet. The U. S. government first obtained exclusive use of the inlet, the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan on December 7,1941, was the immediate cause of the United States entry into World War II. Pearl Harbor was originally a shallow embayment called Wai Momi or Puʻuloa by the Hawaiians. Puʻuloa was regarded as the home of the goddess, Kaʻahupahau. Making due allowance for legendary amplification, the estuary already had an outlet for its waters where the present gap is, during the early 19th century, Pearl Harbor was not used for large ships due to its shallow entrance. The interest of United States in the Hawaiian Islands grew as a result of its whaling, shipping and trading activity in the Pacific. As early as 1820, an Agent of the United States for Commerce and these commercial ties to the American continent were accompanied by the work of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. American missionaries and their families became a part of the Hawaiian political body. Throughout the 1820s and 1830s, many American warships visited Honolulu, in most cases, the commanding officers carried letters from the U. S. Government giving advice on governmental affairs and of the relations of the island nation with foreign powers. In 1841, the newspaper Polynesian, printed in Honolulu, advocated that the U. S. establish a base in Hawaii for protection of American citizens engaged in the whaling industry. The British Hawaiian Minister of Foreign Affairs Robert Crichton Wyllie, remarked in 1840 that and my opinion is that the tide of events rushes on to annexation to the United States. In 1865, the North Pacific Squadron was formed to embrace the western coast, lackawanna in the following year was assigned to cruise among the islands, a locality of great and increasing interest and importance. This vessel surveyed the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands toward Japan, as a result, the United States claimed Midway Island. The Secretary of the Navy was able to write in his report of 1868. This increased activity caused the permanent assignment of at least one warship to Hawaiian waters and it also praised Midway Island as possessing a harbor surpassing Honolulus. In the following year, Congress approved an appropriation of $50,000 on March 1,1869, after 1868, when the Commander of the Pacific Fleet visited the islands to look after American interests, naval officers played an important role in internal affairs. They served as arbitrators in disputes, negotiators of trade agreements and defenders of law
25.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
26.
Battle royal (professional wrestling)
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In professional wrestling, a battle royal is a multi-competitor match type in which wrestlers are eliminated until one is left and declared winner. Typical battle royals begin with a number of participants in the ring, created by World Championship Wrestling in 1995, the World War 3 battle royal involved a three-ring setup and 60 competitors. 20 wrestlers started in each of the 3 rings in which they would wrestle under regular battle royal rules, once there were only 30 competitors left, all competitors would enter the central and continue in that ring under regular rules until 1 man was left standing. In 1988 the NWA named a pay-per-view after the Bunkhouse Stampede, gauntlet for the Gold is a variation on the battle royal used by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. In this version two wrestlers begin in the ring, with wrestlers entering on a set time period. Wrestlers are eliminated by being thrown over the top rope and to the floor until two wrestlers are left, at point a standard singles match begins. A Last Blood battle royal is essentially a multi-competitor First Blood match, the winner is the last wrestler in the match not bleeding. Generally used in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, a battle royal begins with wrestlers surrounding the ring instead of inside it. At the start of the match they battle for half of them to get into the ring, a diva battle royal is one which features female competitors. However, in this variant divas can be thrown through or under the ropes as well as over the top rope, a WWE diva battle royal with the addition of fetish outfits, such as french maid, nurse, schoolgirl, etc. Often the type of outfit is chosen by an audience poll, match will begin as the multi-women over-the-top elimination battle royal. They are eliminated from the match if they being thrown over the top ropes, the final two competitors will face each other in a ladder match, where the winner will receive a TNA Knockout Championship match, while the runner-up will have her head and hair shaved. WWEs Royal Rumble is a battle royal begins with two wrestlers in the ring, with the remaining participants introduced one by one at a set time period. Elimination occurs in the way with the last person standing as the winner, after all participants have entered the ring. As a result, the winner qualifies for a World Championship shot at Wrestlemania. A two-ring variation on a royal, the wrestlers start in one ring and try to throw wrestlers into the second ring. This was held by World Championship Wrestling at the 1991 Starrcade event, a variation of Battlebowl involves 100 wrestlers splits into 50 in two rings. The only way to be eliminated is to be thrown over the ropes, no matter how and where you hit, whether its apron, floor or barricade you are also eliminated
27.
NWA World Women's Championship
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The NWA World Womens Championship is the National Wrestling Alliances womens professional wrestling singles professional wrestling title. It is descended from the original Womens World Championship won by Mildred Burke in 1935 from Clara Mortensen, June Byers was then recognized as the succeeding champion after her two out of three falls match with Mildred Burke in 1954 went to a no contest. Subsequently, Byers was recognized as the NWA World Womens Champion, upon June Byerss retirement in 1956, it was held primarily by Lillian Ellison under her ring name, The Fabulous Moolah, who first won the championship in a battle royal in September 1956. In 1983, the title was sold by Ellison to the World Wrestling Federation, the World Wrestling Federation recognized Moolah as the reigning champion but did not recognize any of the title changes that had occurred since Moolah was first awarded the title. The NWA continued the title without Moolah after her title was renamed the WWF Womens Championship, Moolah has held the title more than any other wrestler, with a total of five reigns. She also has the longest reign of 3,651 days and it is still defended in the NWA today, and the reigning champion is Jazz, who is in her first reign. Overall,25 women have held the title for a total of 35 reigns, list of National Wrestling Alliance championships Womens World Championship Ellison, Lillian. The Fabulous Moolah, First Goddess of the Squared Circle, NWA World Womens Title History Template, NWA World Womens Championship
28.
June Byers
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DeAlva Eyvonnie Sibley, better known by her ring name of June Byers, was an American womens professional wrestler famous in the 1950s and early 1960s. She held the Womens World Championship for ten years and is a member of the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, born in Houston, Texas, the tomboyish Sibley grew up around wrestling. Her uncle, Ottoway Roberts, worked for local wrestling promoter Morris Siegel, on one occasion while DeAlva was playing around in the ring, the womens wrestling promoter Billy Wolfe happened to see her and recognized her potential. Already divorced once and facing poverty, she accepted Wolfes offer to be trained as a professional wrestler, taking her family nickname of June and her ex-husbands last name of Byers for her ring name, Sibley made her professional debut in 1944. Slowly rising in the ranks, she first won gold in 1952 when she and partner Millie Stafford won the Tag Title over Young and that same year Mildred Burke had a bitter falling-out with husband Wolfe and departed the promotion, leaving the world title vacant. On June 14,1953, a relatively unknown Byers won a 13-woman tournament in Baltimore to claim the belt. She quickly became a fan favorite champion, even appearing as a contestant on the popular game shows Whats My Line. After a year of negotiation, Wolfe finally coaxed Burke into meeting Byers in a definitive two out of three falls match on August 20,1954 in Atlanta, Georgia. Byers won the first fall, and then the match was called after an hour during the second fall, despite the inconclusive finish, the Atlanta Athletic Commission eventually awarded the match to Byers. Burke angrily returned to her own promotion, the World Womens Wrestling Association, Byers, for her part, stressed that Mildred claims she wasnt defeated, but I pinned her in the first fall. During the second fall, she left the ring and refused to come back, regardless of what she told people, it was a shoot. Whatever the truth, the outcome was satisfactory enough for the media to discredit Burke. Jeff Leens account in Queen of the Ring contradicts Byers claims about Burke leaving the ring and refusing to return. Furthermore, Leen details how Billy Wolfe had a deal to do with putting Byers over as the winner and he quotes the ring announcer following the match as saying. Mildred Burke is still officially champion of the world, Byers wrestled many matches with Penny Banner, and the two had great respect for one another, Byers ranked Banner as among her toughest opponents, while Banner named Byers the greatest of all time. In 1956, the Baltimore Athletic Commission stripped Byers of the NWA Championship when she announced her plans to retire as champion, a thirteen-woman battle royal was used to determine the new champion. After The Fabulous Moolah won the championship, Byers came out of retirement to challenge her for the title, on March 31,2017, Byers was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as apart of the Legacy wing. The Fabulous Moolah alleges that while traveling with Billy Wolfes troupe of female wrestlers, Byers often slept with Wolfe in order to get better bookings, upon Wolfes death, Byers moved to St. Louis to work for promoter Sam Meneker, who became her third husband
29.
Ric Drasin
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Richard Alan Ric Drasin is an American bodybuilder, personal trainer, actor, stuntman, author, and former professional wrestler. He wrestled professionally for 36 years between 1965 and 2001, while also winning titles in amateur bodybuilding contests during his younger years, Drasin is also known for designing both the original Golds Gym logo — a cartoon sketch of a bald weightlifter, and the World Gym gorilla logo. Born and raised in Bakersfield, California, Drasin began his fitness career in 1962 and he taught classes in nutrition and exercise at the YMCA before he was assigned to train with the National Wrestling Alliance champion Mae Young. Drasin was born Richard Alan Drasin on July 12,1944 in Bakersfield, California, as the child of Oscar. His parents owned and operated Drasins Little Folks Shop, a childrens furniture, Drasin has one sibling, an older sister, Stephanie. Drasins formal education began at Franklin Elementary School, while at Emerson Junior High School, as a joke he and two friends tried out for the cheerleading squad. He graduated from Bakersfield High School in 1962 at age of 18, Drasins interests in bodybuilding, powerlifting, weightlifting, and guitar playing began in junior high school. When Drasin was in school, he formed a band known as The Epics. About three months later, The Epics competed in a Battle of the Bands contest at the Hollywood Palladium, one of the prizes was a one-year recording contract with Capitol Records. Capitol Records changed the name of The Epics to The Hollywood Vines, the 45 rpm record was released in 1961. Although the record was a success, the band drifted apart as the members grew into adulthood, Drasin enlisted in the Army Reserves for eight years and was inducted on his 18th birthday. On active duty for six months after enlistment and for two weeks each year thereafter, Drasin served as a clerk/typist and driver, achieving the rank of Sergeant. He was stationed at Fort Ord, California, and Fort Lewis, when Drasin was 18, his father died during surgery for a heart condition. Drasin and his father had very much enjoyed going to wrestling shows together and, unknown to his father. Drasins work in the industry began in 1962, when he taught classes in nutrition. Also in Bakersfield, he was an instructor at Babes Gym, in the early 1970s, Drasin gave modeling a try, along with fellow body builders Ken Sprague and Bob Birdson and even filmed a video segment with them for Colt studios. Drasin was assigned to train with Johnnie Mae Young, who was a National Wrestling Alliance United States Womens Champion known as one of the toughest wrestlers in the business and his first professional appearance was as babyface Dick Alan against Buddy Killer Austin, who won the match. In 1975, he started a business called West Coast Wrestling Promotions and he faced great opposition from the National Wrestling Alliance, and it ceased operations after a few shows
30.
WWE SmackDown
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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
31.
Jeff Jarrett
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He is currently signed with Impact Wrestling as the Executive Producer for the promotion. In that role, he is again in charge of day to day operations of the promotion. He is also known from his multiple runs in World Championship Wrestling. A third-generation wrestler, Jarrett has held 77 total championships in various promotions throughout his career and his NWA title reigns occurred within TNA, under his co-ownership of the company. Between WCW, WWF/E, & TNA, Jarrett has held 14 World Championships and 24 total championships and he was inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame in 2015. Jeff Jarrett made his debut at the age of 18 in April 1986 when jobber Tony Falk attempted to end his lengthy losing streak by challenging Jarrett, then a referee. Jarrett accepted the challenge, wrestling Falk to a 10-minute draw and he also wrestled with the American Wrestling Association in the late 1980s. In 1989, Jerry Jarrett purchased the Texas-based World Class Championship Wrestling promotion, over the following years, Jarrett won the USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship on 10 occasions and the USWA World Tag Team Championship on 15 occasions. Jarrett also wrestled on the independent circuit for 7 years, appearing in Japan, in 1990, he wrestled his first tour of Japan for Super World Sports. In 1993, he was hired by the World Wrestling Federation, Jarretts first involvement with World Wrestling Federation came on August 9,1992 when he participated in the kick-off to the first cross-promotional angle between the WWF and the USWA. Sitting at ringside along with Jerry Lawler at the WWF house show that was being held at the Pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee, after defeating Kamala by disqualification that night, Bret Hart accepted Jarretts challenge for a match the next time that the World Wrestling Federation came to Memphis. Beginning in October, Jarrett himself began making appearances on WWF house show events, defeating Mondo Kleen, at a WWF Wrestling Challenge taping in Louisville, Kentucky on October 28, Jarrett scored his biggest victory of his nascent WWF career by upsetting Rick Martel. However the scheduled match between Hart and Jarrett on October 31st in Memphis was cancelled due to poor weather, following the cancelled Memphis show he returned to the USWA. Nearly a year later, Jarrett would return to the WWF, Jarretts character would strut to the ring wearing flashing Double J hats and ring attire, and he punctuated his promos with the phrase aint I great. He ended his interviews by distinctly spelling out his name, Jarrett made his pay-per-view debut in January 1994 at the Royal Rumble, entering the Royal Rumble match as the 12th participant and was eliminated less than 90 seconds later by Randy Savage. At SummerSlam, he won a match against Mabel by pinfall, at Survivor Series, Jarrett competed in a 10-man elimination tag match. His team lost when all the members of the team including himself were counted out, in January 1995, Jarrett had a brief feud with Bret Hart, ultimately losing to Hart on the January 23 episode of Monday Night Raw. At the Royal Rumble in Tampa, Florida, Jarrett defeated Razor Ramon to win the Intercontinental Championship
32.
Professional wrestling attacks
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Attacking maneuvers are offensive moves in professional wrestling, used to set up an opponent for a submission hold or for a throw. There are a variety of attacking moves in pro wrestling. Professional wrestlers frequently give their finishers new names, occasionally, these names become popular and are used regardless of the wrestler performing the technique. Professional wrestling contains a variety of punches and kicks found in martial arts and other fighting sports, many of the moves below can also be performed from a raised platform, these are called aerial variations. Moves are listed under general categories whenever possible, also known as a splash, a body press involves a wrestler falling against the opponent with the core of their body. It is executed from a running or jumping position, using momentum and weight to impact the opponent and this attack is a plancha in lucha libre. The big splash involves a wrestler jumping forward and landing stomach-first across an opponent lying on the ground below, on some occasions a wrestler has a short running start before executing the move. The wrestler charges into an opponent in the corner of the ring without leaving their feet and this is normally used by bigger, heavier wrestlers. There is also a variation, known as a diving crossbody. A move named after Sting, who popularized it, the Stinger splash involves the wrestler trapping his opponent in a corner. This move is described as a crossbody as a counter of a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker/tilt-a-whirl mat slam. The bronco buster is normally treated as having comic or sexual connotations rather than as a painful move. Similar to a bronco buster, the wrestler jumps onto a standing opponent in the corner, straddling and sitting on the opponents chest. The attacking wrestler then follows with mounted punches, the act of a wrestler to slap the chest of his opponent with the palm of the hand using a backhand swing. Many wrestlers use this chop, often referring to it as a knife edge chop, because it was popularized by Ric Flair the crowd always responds with a woo noise. Sometimes referred to as a frying pan chop or an open-hand chop, the act of slapping the chest of the opponent using the forehand. A downward diagonal backhand chop to the side of the opponents neck, the act of karate chopping both the opponents shoulders and sides of the neck with the hands edges in a swinging motion at the same time. Also known as a brain chop or a tomahawk chop, the wrestler draws his hand back and hits the opponent vertically with a backhand chop, usually hitting the head
33.
Professional wrestling holds
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Professional wrestling holds include a number of set moves and pins used by performers to immobilize their opponents or lead to a submission. This article covers the pins, stretches and transition holds used in the ring. Some wrestlers use these holds as their finishing maneuvers, often nicknaming them to reflect their character or persona, moves are listed under general categories whenever possible. An element borrowed from professional wrestlings catch wrestling origins, stretches are techniques in which a wrestler holds another in a position that puts stress on the opponents body. Stretches are usually employed to weaken an opponent or to them to submit, either vocally or by tapping out, slapping the mat. Many of these holds, when applied vigorously, stretch the opponents muscles or twist their joints uncomfortably, chokes, although not in general stress positions like the other stretches, are usually grouped with stretches as they serve the same tactical purposes. In public performance, for sake, stretches are usually not performed to the point where the opponent must submit or risk injury. Likewise, chokes are usually not applied to the point where they cut off the supply to the opponents brain. The wrestler begins the hold by standing over a face-down opponent, a camel clutch can also refer simply to a rear chinlock while seated on the back of an opponent, without placing the arms on the thighs. The move was invented by Gory Guerrero in Mexico, where it was called la de a caballo, but got its common name from Ed Farhat. Rusev performs a variation he calls The Accolade, where he stomps on his opponents back before applying the hold. A standing variation of the clutch is also used, with this variation popularized by Scott Steiner in the late 1990s as he used it as his finisher dubbed the Steiner Recliner. The attacking wrestler stands over a face down opponent, facing the same direction, another version of the move is similar to a wheelbarrow facebuster but instead illegally pulls the hair of the opponent while leaning back to pull up the opponents head and neck. The attacking wrestler stands over a face down opponent, facing the same direction, the wrestler then reaches forwards and applies a chinlock as in a standard camel clutch, leaning backwards to apply pressure to the upper back and arm. The attacker then either pulls straight back on the chin or wrenches it to the side and this move sees the attacker kneel behind a sitting opponent and wrap around one arm under the opponents chin and lock their hands. As with a hold, this move can also be performed from a standing position. This can be transitioned into a clawhold STO, there is also double-handed version sometimes known as a head vise, the wrestler performing the hold approaches their opponent from behind and grip their head with both hands. While in the vise, the wrestler can control their opponent by squeezing the temples and it was innovated and used by Baron von Raschke as well as many members of the Von Erich family
34.
WWE Raw
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WWE Raw, also known as Monday Night Raw or simply Raw, is a professional wrestling television program that currently airs live on Monday evenings at 8 pm EST on the USA Network in the United States. The shows name is used to refer to the Raw brand, in which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform on that program. The show debuted on January 11,1993 and has since been considered as the program of WWE. Raw moved from the USA Network to TNN in September 2000, on October 3,2005, Raw returned to the USA Network, where it remains today. As of December 9,2016, all episodes of the show are now available on demand on the WWE Network, since its first episode, Raw has broadcast live from 208 different arenas in 171 cities and towns in eleven different nations. Following the 1000th episode on July 23,2012, Raw became a three-hour broadcast from two hours, a format that had previously reserved for special episodes. Beginning as WWFs Monday Night Raw, the program first aired on January 11,1993 on the USA Network as a replacement for Prime Time Wrestling, the original Raw was sixty minutes in length and broke new ground in televised professional wrestling. Traditionally, wrestling shows were taped on sound stages with small audiences or at large arena shows, the Raw formula was considerably different from the taped weekend shows that aired at the time such as Superstars and Wrestling Challenge. Instead of matches taped weeks in advance with studio voice overs and taped discussion, Raw was a shot and aired to a live audience. Raw originated from the Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center Studios, a small New York City theater, the combination of an intimate venue and live action proved to be a successful improvement. However, the live schedule proved to be a financial drain on the WWF. From Spring 1993 up until Spring 1997, Raw would tape several weeks worth of episodes after an episode had aired. The WWF taped several weeks worth of Raw from the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York in April 1993, up until that point, unless it was part of an ongoing feud or a title match, most matches on nationally televised WWF programs were primarily squash matches. Only Saturday Nights Main Event and The Main Event generally featured the type of matches Raw had, though unlike Raw, huge storyline-developing matches were regularly featured, such as Ric Flair vs. Mr. Perfect in January 1993, this would be Flairs last appearance in the company for almost 9 years, also, The 1–2–3 Kids upset victory over Razor Ramon in May 1993 would result in The Kid becoming an upper roster mainstay for years to come. Vince McMahon, Randy Savage and Rob Bartlett were the hosts of the show. Bartlett, a comedian who previously had nothing to do with the wrestling industry, Lawler has since been named as a permanent co-host for SmackDown and later pre-shows. Corey Graves would later replace JBL, on September 4,1995, the WWFs chief competitor World Championship Wrestling began airing its new wrestling show, Monday Nitro, live each week on TNT
35.
Professional wrestling match types
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Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called concept or gimmick matches in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some of them occur relatively frequently, while others are developed so as to advance an angle, because of professional wrestlings long history over decades, many things have been recycled. These match types can be organized into several loose groups, the singles match is the most basic of all professional wrestling matches, which involves only two competitors competing for one fall. Victory is obtained by pinfall, submission, knockout, countout or disqualification, commentators and bookers generally explain it as saying the challenger must beat the champion. Playing into this, some storylines have heel champions protect their titles by losing in such ways. Time Limit matches were invented during the days of professional wrestling as a way to stop matches that went on for too long. A Battle of Respect is often held in tribute to another wrestler, on most occasions, one member of the team competes in the ring with one or more of his/her teammate standing behind the ropes. Wrestlers switch positions by tagging one another, usually similar to a five and, as a result. This can create tension during the match as a wrestler in the middle of the ring attempts to reach his/her teammate. In typical tag team matches, standard wrestling rules apply with an ending by pinfall, submission, countout. Promotions usually have established tag teams that most often compete in team matches rather than singles matches, though teams will often break up to pursue a singles career, teams often consist of real-life friends or relatives. On other occasions, teams are booked together by promoters based on their face or heel alignment in order to increase the amount of wrestlers on the card or to advance multiple storylines at once. Though common in Mexican lucha libre, at one point, World Championship Wrestling had a championship for teams of three, matches in which the entire team competes at once is often referred to as a tornado tag match, specifically in WWE. Matches can be held under standard rules or as a specialty match, such as a cage match or a ladder match. One famous example of this match is the Survivor Series match held in WWE at their annual Survivor Series pay-per-view, teams of four or five, though on some occasions as many as seven, compete under elimination rules. All other standard rules apply, and team members may tag in, while some teams are already established stables, others may need to recruit members for their team. In lucha libre promotions, a torneo cibernetico is a type of match between teams of up to eight wrestlers who enter in a predetermined order. A Winner Takes All match is a match where both wrestlers are champions going into the match, and the winner receives the championship of the loser and this is not the same as a championship unification match
36.
Ivory (wrestler)
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Lisa Mary Moretti is an American retired professional wrestler. She is best known for her time with World Wrestling Entertainment between 1999 and 2005 under the ring name Ivory, Moretti began her career and first found national exposure in the independent promotion Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, where she performed as Tina Ferrari from the mid-to-late-1980s. Moretti debuted in the World Wrestling Federation in 1999 as the manager for the tag team of Nation of Domination and she won the WWE Womens Championship twice, before becoming a part of the villainous Right to Censor, a storyline stable of characters with harshly conservative sociopolitical views. In her later years with WWE, she wrestled only sporadically, Moretti did, however, co-host WWE Experience, and served as one of the trainers on WWE Tough Enough. After Moretti left WWE in 2005, she wrestled for Women Superstars Uncensored, Moretti also began working in the landscaping industry, and volunteered at her local animal shelter. In addition, Moretti opened an animal care and grooming facility named Downtown Dog, in her youth, Moretti wrestled with her two brothers and sister. She was successful in her audition and went on to train under Mando Guerrero for six weeks, Moretti also formed a tag team with Ashley Cartier, known as T & A, with whom she won the GLOW Tag Team Championship. She also defeated Colonel Ninotchka to win the vacant GLOW Championship and she later wrestled for the Powerful Women of Wrestling promotion and the Ladies Professional Wrestling Association under the ring names Nina and Tina Moretti, winning the POWW Championship. On September 23,1994 at UWFs Blackjack Brawl Moretti, under the name Tina Moretti, in January 1999, Moretti returned to wrestling, signing a contract with the World Wrestling Federation. Her first appearance in WWF was accompanying The Godfather, a character who was accompanied by various women dubbed the hos. On the February 13,1999 episode of Raw, however, Moretti was introduced as Ivory, Ivory faced Debra in a singles match on the March 1 episode of Raw, defeating Debra by disqualification after she was attacked by the Pretty Mean Sisters. At WrestleMania XV on March 28, Ivory accompanied DLo Brown and Test to the ring for their WWF Tag Team Championship title match against Jarrett, Jarrett and Hart retained their titles following interference from Moore, Runnels, and Debra. Ivory, who was a wrestler, won the Womens Championship on June 14, by defeating Debra. Her feud with Tori turned Ivory into a villainous character, Ivory continued to feud with Tori in the weeks following SummerSlam, defeating her in the first ever WWF womens hardcore match on September 6. Ivory was then challenged by Luna Vachon, who Ivory defeated in a hardcore match at Unforgiven on September 26. Wrestling called the match pointless and senseless, in October 1999, Ivory feuded with The Fabulous Moolah, who defeated her for the Womens Championship on October 17,1999 at No Mercy, in what John Powell of SLAM. Wrestling called the worst match Ive ever seen and she, however, defeated Moolah in a rematch on the October 25 episode of Raw to win her second Womens Championship. In late 1999, Ivory began portraying a more conservative character, on January 23,2000 at the Royal Rumble, she grudgingly took part in the Miss Royal Rumble swimsuit contest, which was won by Mae Young
37.
No Mercy (1999)
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Nine matches, including three championship matches, took place at the event. In the first, The Fabulous Moolah won the WWF Womens Championship from Ivory to become the oldest champion in wrestling history. In the second, Chyna defeated Jeff Jarrett to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship, lastly, Triple H defeated Steve Austin to retain the WWF Championship. Also on the card was a tag team match in which The New Brood defeated Edge. Generally, reviews for the event were positive, with both SLAM, Wrestling and 411mania. com rating it eight out of ten. The tag team match, in particular, received very positive reviews from critics. Vince Russo and his partner, Ed Ferrara, watched The Jerry Springer Show for ideas to develop into WWF storylines. Some of the wrestlers also were involved with writing their own storylines, for example, the four competitors in the tag team ladder match made the decision for their rivalry to involve a best-of series. The plan was to originally do a series, but it was later changed to five. They had the whole match planned, including all of the stunts, in addition, Pat Patterson was the booker for the event. Before the event, Jeff Jarrett was on his way out of the company, Vince McMahon, the WWF Chairman, came up with the idea for Jarrett and Chyna to become involved in a storyline together. Vince Russo was asked to write the leading up to the match, including when Jarrett would taunt Chyna. The fans responded positively to the battle-of-the-sexes match-ups and they were originally supposed to have their match-up at Rebellion, but the WWF extended the storyline for another month due to its popularity. In the midst of the feud, Russo left the WWF for rival promotion World Championship Wrestling, because of the delay, Jarretts contract expired the day before the match, so he was not contractually required to wrestle at the event. Hours before the event began, Jarrett demanded somewhere between $300, 000–500,000 to wrestle Chyna for the night, nine professional wrestling matches were featured on the events card. Matches were planned with predetermined outcomes by WWEs creative staff and featured wrestlers for the entertainment of the audience, leading up to their match at No Mercy, Jeff Jarrett would taunt Chyna and hit her with random household objects. He also began a gimmick where he would degrade women, which involved him attacking female WWF employees, at Rebellion, Jarrett defeated Chyna after hitting her in the head with a guitar when the referee was not looking. During this time, Jarrett also introduced Miss Kitty to be the valet for his manager Debra, the series was a best-of-five and began on the September 30 episode of SmackDown
38.
Survivor Series (1999)
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Survivor Series was the 13th annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It was presented by Rent-A-Center, and took place on November 14,1999, at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. The main event was a Triple Threat match–a non-elimination match involving three wrestlers against each other, for the WWF Championship between Triple H, Big Show and The Rock. He was a replacement for Stone Cold Steve Austin, who had run down by a car earlier in the night. Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, the main rivalry heading into the event was between Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock over the WWF Championship. At No Mercy, Rock defeated British Bulldog in a wrestling match. Later that night, Rock challenged the winner of the WWF Championship Anything Goes match between Triple H and Stone Cold Steve Austin for the title, after issuing the challenge, Rock was attacked by Triple H with a sledgehammer. Later that night, Triple H defeated Austin to retain the title, on the October 18 episode of Raw, Rock challenged Triple H to a match for the title at Survivor Series, because Rock was angered at the previous nights attack. Austin also issued a challenge and claimed that he deserved a shot instead of Rock. The WWF Chairman Vince McMahon solved the situation by making a Triple Threat match between Triple H, Austin and Rock for the WWF Championship, another predominant rivalry heading into the event was between New Age Outlaws and Al Snow and Mankind for the WWF Tag Team Championship. On the October 18 episode of Raw, Mick Foley gave his Rock n Sock Connection partner Rock, however, later that night, the same copy was discovered by Al Snow in a trashcan. Rock denied doing so but Foley broke up the Rock n Sock Connection, later that night, Foley cost Rock and himself, the Tag Team Championship against The Hollys by coming out for the match without wearing Mankind gear and leaving Rock to wrestle on his own. This allowed Hollys to defeat Rock and win the titles, on the October 21 episode of SmackDown, Mankind and Rock had a match which ended in a disqualification when Val Venis interfered and attacked Mankind with his book. On October 25 episode of Raw, Mankind wrestled Triple H for the WWF Championship, Triple H was disqualified when Venis assaulted Mankind again, earning Mankind, a disqualification win. However, Al Snow came out to rescue Mankind from the assault, on the October 28 episode of SmackDown, Mankind defeated Venis after distraction from Snow. As a result, Mankind and Snow formed a tag team, on the November 4 episode of SmackDown, Mankind and Snow defeated The Hollys to win the Tag Team Championship. On November 8 episode of Raw, New Age Outlaws defeated Mankind and this led to a title match between New Age Outlaws and Mankind and Snow for the Tag Team Championship. At No Mercy, Chyna defeated Jeff Jarrett in a Good Housekeeping match to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship, on the October 18 episode of Raw, Chyna issued an open challenge, which was answered by Chris Jericho, whose insults prompted Chyna to attack him
39.
Debra Marshall
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Debra Gale Marshall is an American actress, and retired professional wrestler, having also been a manager and authority figure in professional wrestling. She began her career in wrestling in 1995, accompanying her husband Steve Mongo McMichael to the ring in World Championship Wrestling. She joined the WWF in 1998, where she managed the tag team of Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart and she won the WWF Womens Championship from Sable in an Evening Gown match in 1999. She later appeared on-screen with her second husband Stone Cold Steve Austin until 2002, Marshall has also attended the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York. She graduated from the University of Alabama with honors and as of 2013 was pursuing her masters degree in Criminal Justice at the University of Alabama. Raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Marshall became a track-runner, cheerleader and she then became a flight attendant. She later competed and won in the 1992 Mrs. Texas USA pageant held in Houston, Texas, Marshall also attended the University of Alabama. In April 1996, she began appearing regularly as a valet for her husband announcer Steve Mongo McMichael as he transitioned to competing as a wrestler, at The Great American Bash 1996, Steve McMichael and his partner Kevin Greene competed against two of the The Four Horsemen. Flair won the match after Mongo and Debra turned on Greene by hitting him with a steel briefcase, the briefcase later became one of Debras signature objects. Next, Debra briefly managed Goldberg and Alex Wright, after her divorce from McMichael, Debra joined the WWF. In 1998, Marshall rejoined Jarrett in the WWF, at the beginning of her WWF career, known simply as Debra, she played the part of a shrewd businesswoman, wearing business suits. She also played the part of Jarretts girlfriend, in late 1998, Jarrett began a feud with Goldust that culminated in December at Rock Bottom, In Your House in a Striptease match. During the match, Debra hit Goldust over the head with Jarretts trademark guitar, WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels, however, disqualified Jarrett, and Debra had to strip due to the matchs stipulations. As she stripped, The Blue Blazer and Jarrett covered her up, Debra, however, began utilizing a new strategy during matches, distracting Jarretts opponents by unbuttoning her blouse. She would willingly take off her blouse to show the crowd her puppies, the strategy helped Jarrett and partner Hart defeat The Big Boss Man and Ken Shamrock to become World Tag Team Champions in January 1999. In March, the team lost their tag title to the team of Kane, as Debra continued to manage Jarrett and Hart, a potential storyline developed where Hart and Debra would have an affair, but the creative team vetoed the idea before it played out on-screen. A team name was also in the works—Debra favoring Talent and Attitude —but Hart died in May 1999 at Over the Edge, later in the event, Debra and Jarrett lost a mixed tag team match against Nicole Bass and Val Venis. On May 10,1999, Debra won the Womens Championship from Sable in an Evening Gown match, usually, in an Evening Gown match, the woman who forcibly removes her opponents dress wins
40.
Tori (wrestler)
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Terri Poch is an American bodybuilder and former professional wrestler, best known for her appearances with the World Wrestling Federation as Tori. She opened her own studio in Portland. Poch debuted in 1988 as Taylor Made, a valet for Scotty the Body in Portlands Pacific Northwest Wrestling and she joined the Ladies Professional Wrestling Association in 1990 as Terri Power, defeating both Leilani Kai and Judy Martin within her first year with the company. On February 23,1992 at Super Ladies Showdown in Rochester and she was never defeated for the title, as the LPWA ceased operations shortly after her victory. She also teamed with Reggie Bennett during their stint with the short-lived organization. In the summer of 1992, Poch began wrestling for All Japan Womens Pro-Wrestling and she competed in the Japan Grand Prix, finishing ninth, and the Fuji Network tag team tournament with Kyoko Inoue as her partner. She remained in Japan until 1993, when she took a hiatus from wrestling, in 1998, Poch was hired by the World Wrestling Federation. She debuted on the December 28 episode of Raw entering the ring before a match to hand Sable a yellow rose and she continued in becoming an obsessed fan over the next few weeks, constantly at ringside during Sables matches. At the Royal Rumble, she helped Sable defeat Luna Vachon in a strap match and she later introduced herself as Tori and tried to gain the respect of Sable, who continually degraded and humiliated her. As a result, Tori challenged Sable to a match for the Womens Championship at WrestleMania XV, Tori feuded with Jacqueline in April and May 1999 and then began pursuing Ivorys Womens Championship in July. After Ivory defeated Tori at SummerSlam, their feud became more and more heated, Ivory retained her title once more in a match which involved Tori having a mirror smashed over her head and being burnt with an iron. On September 26, Tori attempted to gain a measure of retribution by attacking Ivory during a match, Tori returned in November and soon became the on-screen girlfriend of Kane. On December 16, Tori complained to Triple H and Stephanie McMahon about Kane, by now feuding with his tag team partner X-Pac. Stephanie retorted by challenging Tori to a match night, which she accepted. Stephanie, however, replaced herself with X-Pac, who defeated Tori with ease as Kane was ambushed backstage by the Mean Street Posse. Kane received a shot at the WWF Championship on December 20 but with the stipulation that, if he lost to incumbent Big Show, Kane lost after the New Age Outlaws distracted him. Tori insisted upon her return, however, that X-Pac had been a perfect gentleman, around the same time, Tori began to become paranoid, and grew hysterical after Test hugged her. Kane promptly destroyed Test in the ring, believing Toris claims that he had harassed her, other wrestlers began to exploit Toris neuroticism, using it to unleash Kane on their enemies
41.
Jacqueline Moore
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Jacqueline DeLois Moore is an American semi-retired professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager. She is best known for her time in WWE from 1998 to 2004, as well as working for World Championship Wrestling in 1997-98 and later Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as a wrestler, manager and road agent. She began her career in World Class Championship Wrestling, but was known in the United States Wrestling Association. She later moved to World Championship Wrestling, where she managed the team Harlem Heat. In 1998, she joined the World Wrestling Federation and she began managing Marc Mero and had her first rivalry with Sable, which culminated in the re-establishment of the WWF Womens Championship, which Moore held twice during her time with the WWF. In 1999, she formed an alliance with Terri Runnels. In the early 2000s, Moore worked as both a referee and trainer for the WWF, and she held the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. She was the woman to accomplish the feat, but the only woman to do so under the WWE banner. In 2004, she joined TNA, where she worked mostly as a manager, in April 2,2016, Moore was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Moore began her training at a local gym after meeting professional wrestling manager Skandor Akbar. She was the female in Akbars professional wrestling school in Dallas. She made her debut for World Class Championship Wrestling in 1988. As Sweet Georgia Brown, Moore had wrestled in Japan for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, wrestling the likes of Megumi Kudo and she also competed in all-womens promotions Ladies Professional Wrestling Association and Womens Pro Wrestling. Moore later moved on to the United States Wrestling Association in Memphis and she made her debut as a Heel Valet to Eric Embry and Tom Prichard as part of team Texas during the Texas vs Tennessee feud. She was later involved in a feud with the Dirty White Girl Kim Anthony and was involved in a Mudpit Match and she was the first ever USWA Womens Champion, winning the newly created title in a tournament on March 2,1992. Between March 1992 and August 1996, Moore held the title a total of eight times, swapping it with Lauren Davenport, Luna Vachon, and Debbie Combs. In 1993, Moore became the first female to be included in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500, in 1995, Moore became involved in a feud with the valet of Reggie B. Fine and Don Bass, Sweet Georgia Brown, Brown was jealous of Texas after the USWA aired a music video of Moore, and they were involved in several catfights
42.
Terri Runnels
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Terri Lynne Boatright Runnels is a retired professional wrestling manager, television host, and occasional professional wrestler. Runnels began her wrestling career in World Championship Wrestling as Miss Alexandra York. She later joined the World Wrestling Federation, later renamed World Wrestling Entertainment, in the early years of her career with the WWF, she managed her real-life husband Dustin Runnels and was a member of the Pretty Mean Sisters alliance. She also managed both The Hardy Boyz and Edge and Christian following the Terri Invitational Tournament in 1999, subsequently, she had an on-screen rivalry with The Kat, managed The Radicalz stable, and worked as a host and interviewer. During her time with the WWF/E, she held the Hardcore Championship. After leaving the business, Runnels became involved in philanthropic work. Runnels was originally a make-up artist for CNN from 1985 to 1991, on the weekends, she did makeup for the wrestlers of Jim Crockett Promotions. When the company was purchased by Ted Turner in 1988 and renamed World Championship Wrestling, she moved to Atlanta, booker Ole Anderson eventually asked her to become part of the roster as a manager. Runnels debuted in 1990 as Alexandra York, an accountant who led an alliance known as the York Foundation. The York character was created over a lunch with Tony Schiavone, one of WCWs announcers and she worked at WCW for two years. Runnels debuted in the World Wrestling Federation at the Royal Rumble in 1996 as Marlena and she debuted as a coolly unconcerned and indifferent manager. With her cigar-smoking, seductive, nonchalant and mysterious gimmick, she acted as the manager of her then real-life husband Dustin, the cigar-smoking aspect of the character came about because Runnels enjoyed smoking them in real life. The risque characters helped bring about The Attitude Era of the late-1990s, later, Brian Pillman feuded with Goldust over Marlena. As part of the angle, Pillman won Marlena in a match, Pillman, however, died in the middle of the storyline. Originally, the plan was to have the rivalry culminate in a wedding where Marlena would leave Goldust for Pillman. After the Marlena-Goldust alliance dissolved, Goldust revealed Luna Vachon as his new manager, Runnels later re-emerged in 1998, under her real name, as the on-screen girlfriend of Val Venis. When Runnels claimed to be pregnant with Venis baby, he dumped her and she later joined forces with Jacqueline Moore, who had just ended her alliance with Marc Mero, to form the Pretty Mean Sisters. They later formed an alliance with DLo Brown and Mark Henry, accompanying them to the ring for a match against Venis and The Godfather in December at Rock Bottom, in January, Runnels claimed to have suffered a miscarriage after she was knocked off the ring apron by Brown
43.
Luna Vachon
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Gertrude Elizabeth Luna Vachon was an American-Canadian professional wrestler. As a child, Gertrude Vachon wanted to continue her familys wrestling legacy, attending wrestling events she used to play in the ring, which often resulted in training with various World Wide Wrestling Federation stars. Her family objected to her entering the business and tried to dissuade her. André the Giant, with whom she was close and who took her on a trip to Paris in 1974, around the age sixteen, she began training under her aunt Vivian and then The Fabulous Moolah. Gertrude started her career wrestling for Moolahs all-womens promotion. She then moved to Florida and, competing under the ring name Angelle Vachon, while in Florida, she shared residence with wrestlers Scott Levy, and Denny Brown. In 1985, she debuted in Florida Championship Wrestling, as a young, soft-spoken reporter named Trudy Herd, a melee ensued and she was slapped twice by Kevin Sullivan. The angle had her driven mad by Sullivans treatment and she ended up joining Sullivans Army of Darkness stable under the new ring name, Luna Vachon. As part of her gimmick, she shaved one half of her head, which was the first step to her trademark Mohawk hairstyle, covered her face in bodypaint, looking back, Vachon expressed her uneasiness about some elements of the Satanism angle. During her time in Florida, Luna first wrestled Madusa Miceli, beginning in Florida, Luna teamed up with The Lock as the Daughters of Darkness, a part of Sullivans Army. The duo also provided vocals for the thrash metal band Nasty Savage. During the next three years, Luna also traveled to Japan, where her father Butcher Vachon acting as her manager, in the early nineties she took over management of The Blackhearts, a masked tag team coming out of Stu Harts Stampede Wrestling. The team consisted of Tom Nash — a childhood friend of Luna and her then-husband — and David Heath, her husband, under the names Apocalypse and Destruction. Luna worked with them in Joel Goodharts Tri-State Wrestling, in Herb Abrams Universal Wrestling Federation, and finally Giant Babas All-Japan, Luna also worked at Wild Women of Wrestling, as a competitor, commentator, and booker. In 1992, while wrestling in Puerto Rico, she tried to get David Heath a job with the World Wrestling Federation and they hired her, but not without some complications. No one actually knew exactly where she was, even her father knew that she was staying in Florida. The WWF actually hired an investigator to find her. When she was found, she was working as a waitress at a restaurant, after the match, Luna attacked Sensational Sherri at ringside and later in the first aid area then was arrested by security, starting a vicious feud between the two
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