1.
Extreme Championship Wrestling
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Extreme Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1992 by Tod Gordon. ECW closed when then owner Paul Heyman declared bankruptcy in April 2001, after purchasing the assets of ECW in 2003, World Wrestling Entertainment relaunched the Extreme Championship Wrestling franchise as a WWE brand with their existing Raw and SmackDown brands. It debuted on June 13,2006 on Sci Fi in the United States and it was replaced the following week with WWE NXT. ECW had its origins in 1989 under the banner Tri-State Wrestling Alliance owned by Joel Goodhart, in 1992, Goodhart sold his share of the company to his partner, Tod Gordon, who in return renamed the promotion Eastern Championship Wrestling. When Eastern Championship Wrestling was founded, it was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance, at the time, Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert was the lead booker of Eastern Championship Wrestling. Gilbert, after an out with Tod Gordon, was replaced in September 1993 by Paul Heyman. Heyman, known on television as Paul E. Dangerously, had just left World Championship Wrestling and was looking for a new challenge. In 1994, Jim Crocketts non-compete agreement with Ted Turner, who purchased World Championship Wrestling from Crockett in November 1988, was up and he decided to start promoting with the NWA again. Crockett went to Tod Gordon and asked him to hold a tournament for the NWAs top prize, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, in ECWs home area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 27,1994. Gordon planned to have Shane Douglas, who was scheduled to face 2 Cold Scorpio in the tournament finals, Tod Gordon and Paul Heyman originally planned the idea of throwing down the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt. Heyman persuaded Douglas by noting that the negative would only be that NWA traditionalists would just see them as traitors to tradition, coralluzzo believed that Douglas was a bad risk and had the tendency to no-show events. Douglas ultimately decided to go through with Gordon and Heymans plan and he then raised the Eastern Championship Wrestling title belt and declared it to be a World Heavyweight Championship — calling it the only real world title left in professional wrestling. Gordon made the announcement on the next edition of NWA-ECW programming. The promotion showcased many different styles of wrestling, including hardcore wrestling matches as well as lucha libre. The bulk of ECWs shows remained at the ECW Arena, a former warehouse secluded under a section of Interstate 95, seating comprised simple folding chairs and four sets of portable bleachers, and the whole sort of unconventional set up reflected the gritty style of the wrestling itself. Shows were actually broadcast on a Philadelphia local cable station on Tuesday evenings. After Sports Channel Philadelphia went off the air in 1997, the moved to WPPX-TV61. It later moved to an independent broadcast station in Philadelphia on either Friday or Saturday night at 1 or 2 a. m
2.
St. Peter, Minnesota
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St. Peter is a city located in Nicollet County, Minnesota, United States. The city is located 10 miles north of the Mankato – North Mankato metropolitan area, the population was 11,196 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Nicollet County, Saint Peter is the home of Gustavus Adolphus College. U. S. Highway 169 and Minnesota State Highways 22 and 99 are three of the routes in the city. As of the census of 2010, there were 11,196 people,3,491 households, the population density was 2,002.9 inhabitants per square mile. There were 3,697 housing units at a density of 661.4 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 90. 1% White,3. 3% African American,0. 6% Native American,1. 6% Asian,2. 3% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 6. 4% of the population. 29. 9% of all households were made up of individuals and 12. 3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.99. The median age in the city was 27.5 years. 19. 4% of residents were under the age of 18,27. 1% were between the ages of 18 and 24, 22% were from 25 to 44,19. 9% were from 45 to 64, and 11. 6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49. 5% male and 50. 5% female, as of the census of 2000, there were 9,747 people,2,978 households, and 1,843 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,797.3 people per square mile, there were 3,129 housing units at an average density of 577.0 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 94. 17% White,1. 57% African American,0. 43% Native American,1. 53% Asian,0. 03% Pacific Islander,1. 25% from other races, and 1. 02% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3. 04% of the population,28. 7% of all households were made up of individuals and 12. 8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the family size was 2.99. In the city, the population was out with 19. 8% under the age of 18,30. 6% from 18 to 24,21. 3% from 25 to 44,16. 5% from 45 to 64. The median age was 25 years, for every 100 females there were 96.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.2 males, the median income for a household in the city was $40,344, and the median income for a family was $51,157
3.
Alpharetta, Georgia
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Alpharetta is a city located in north Fulton County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, Alpharettas population was 57,551, the estimated population in 2014 was 63,038. In the 1830s, the Cherokee people in Georgia and elsewhere in the South were forcibly relocated to the Indian Territory under the Indian Removal Act. Pioneers and farmers settled on the newly vacated land, situated along a former Cherokee trail stretching from the North Georgia mountains to the Chattahoochee River. One of the first permanent landmarks in the area was the New Prospect Camp Ground and it later served as a trading post for the exchanging of goods among settlers. Known as the town of Milton through July 1858, the city of Alpharetta was chartered on December 11,1858 and it served as the county seat of Milton County until 1931, when Milton County was merged with Fulton County to avoid bankruptcy during the Great Depression. The citys name is a variation of a fictional Indian girl, Alfarata, in a 19th-century song, the name of the city is also believed to have been derived from the first letter of the Greek alphabet. Alpharetta is governed by a city composed of six members. The mayor and council members serve staggered four-year terms and it is bordered to the southeast by Johns Creek, to the south and west by Roswell, to the north by Milton, and to the northeast by unincorporated land in Forsyth County. Downtown Alpharetta is 26 miles north of downtown Atlanta. According to the United States Census Bureau, Alpharetta has an area of 27.3 square miles, of which 26.9 square miles is land and 0.39 square miles. State Route 9 State Route 120 State Route 140 State Route 372 State Route 400 Alpharetta has a subtropical climate and is part of USDA hardiness zone 7b. As of the census of 2000, there were 34,854 people,13,911 households, the population density was 1,631.6 people per square mile. There were 14,670 housing units at a density of 686.7 per square mile. The population has been increasing over the last decade. During the workday, the city swells to more than 120,000 residents, workers,27. 7% of all households were made up of individuals and 4. 2% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the family size was 3.13. In the city,27. 0% of the population was under the age of 18,7. 2% from 18 to 24,40. 5% from 25 to 44,19. 4% from 45 to 64, and 5. 8% who were 65 years of age or older
4.
Professional wrestling
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Professional wrestling is a dramatized athletic performance that portrays a combat sport. Various forms of weaponry are sometimes used, the content – including match outcomes – is scripted and choreographed, and the combative actions and reactions are performed to appear violent without injuring the wrestlers. Before the 1980s, these facts were considered trade secrets, in the mid-90s, the presentation of scripted events as legitimate is known as kayfabe. Although the combative content is staged and communicated between the wrestlers, there are physical hazards involved - including permanent injury and death. While it has declined in Europe, in North America it has experienced several different periods of prominent cultural popularity during its century. The advent of television gave professional wrestling a new outlet, unlike in Europe, show wrestling has become especially prominent in Japan and in North America. In Brazil, there was a popular wrestling television program from the 1960s to the early 1980s called Telecatch. High-profile figures in the sport have become celebrities or cultural icons in their native or adopted home countries, although professional wrestling started out as petty acts in sideshows, traveling circuses and carnivals, today it is a billion-dollar industry. Revenue is drawn from live event ticket sales, network television broadcasts, pay-per-view broadcasts, personal appearances by performers, branded merchandise, pro wrestling was also instrumental in making pay-per-view a viable method of content delivery. Annual shows such as WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, and formerly Bash at the Beach, Halloween Havoc, home video sales dominate the Billboard charts Recreational Sports DVD sales, with wrestling holding anywhere from 3 to 9 of the top 10 spots every week. Due to its persistent cultural presence and to its novelty within the performing arts, there have also been many fictional depictions of wrestling, the 2008 film The Wrestler received several Oscar nominations and began a career revival for star Mickey Rourke. Because actual events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines for the performers, special care must be taken when talking about people who perform under their own name. The actions of the character should be considered fictional events, wholly separate from the life of the performer and this is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers will incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and those who participated felt that it was necessary that spectators should be kept in a constant and complete illusion of a real competition to keep audience interest. For decades, up until the mid-1980s, wrestlers lived their lives as though they were their characters. Wrestlers, bookers and promoters all rigorously enforced the illusion and very few were allowed into the society of professional wrestling to maintain suspension of disbelief. The practice of keeping the illusion, and the methods used to do so, came to be known as kayfabe within wrestling circles. An entire lexicon of slang jargon and euphemism developed to allow performers to communicate without outsiders knowledge of what was being said, occasionally a performer will deviate from the intended sequence of events
5.
Robbinsdale, Minnesota
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Robbinsdale is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 13,953 at the 2010 census, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.98 square miles, of which 2.79 square miles is land and 0.19 square miles is water. Minnesota State Highway 100 and County Road 81 are two of the routes in the city. Shortly after the Minnesota Territorial Legislative Assembly created Hennepin County in 1852, bohanon filed the first claim in the Township of Crystal Lake. Railroads didnt reach the area until 1880, a flag station was established near the farm of Alfred Parker and six years later he donated land for a depot. The community that grew around it came to be known as Parkers Station, in 1887 Minneapolis made an effort to secure more taxable property by annexing neighboring townships. In response, Crystal Lake farmers incorporated the Village of Crystal, later that year, entrepreneur and real estate developer, Andrew B. Robbins came to Parkers Station on behalf of an Illinois business interest. Robbins had a nose for opportunity and as a state senator. Robbins purchased 90 acres to the west of Lower Twin Lake and he platted much of the area as the Robbinsdale Park subdivision. The summer of 1888 brought the first land boom, new industries moved in and a large Lutheran Seminary was built and Robbins began work on his Northern Car Company. The trolley manufacturing firm would eventually employ 150 people, in 1890 the Robbins built a 16-room Queen Anne-style mansion on Lower Twin Lake. After he moved his family in Robbins gathered investors and built the Hubbard Specialty Manufacturing Company, the firm made chairs and wheelbarrows. Despite his connections, Robbins was unable to persuade the Minneapolis Street Railway Company to extend a line up West Broadway. In 1891 he organized the North Side Street Railway Company and built his own line from the Minneapolis city limits to Robbinsdale Park, the street cars were pulled by horses until the line was converted to electricity. Robbins development efforts led to tension between families and residents near the village center. A special election was held and a vote to dissolve the Village of Crystal carried unanimously, on April 19,1893, the new 2.9 square mile village of Robbinsdale was organized. Fawcett Publications was founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale with the publication of Captain Billys Whiz Bang and this history is echoed in Robbinsdales annual summer celebration, Whiz Bang Days. In 1940 Dr. Samuel Samuelson built Victory Hospital on property he owned in Robbinsdale
6.
World Championship Wrestling
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WCW Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion, historically based in Atlanta, Georgia. Immediately after the buyout, the business was renamed the Universal Wrestling Corporation, WCW also developed a popular cruiserweight division. WCW eclipsed the WWF in popularity throughout the United States for much of the latter-1990s, however, numerous financial, Turner owned WCW until 2001, when selected assets were purchased by the WWF. Since 2001, WCW images and video footage have been distributed in WWE-owned media. Two separate subsidiary companies exist as successors to WCW, WCW, Inc. is the WWE subsidiary established in Delaware in late 2000, initially as W. Acquisition Company, which holds the rights to the WCW video library and other intellectual property. The former WCW entity, which retained liabilities not acquired by WWE, was renamed back to the Universal Wrestling Corporation, the name World Championship Wrestling was first used as a brand and television show title in 1982. Jim Barnett came to Atlanta in the 1970s during a struggle over Georgia Championship Wrestling. Barnett ultimately became majority owner of the promotion, and began using his previous name for his new promotions television program in 1982. The promotion was purchased by Jim Crockett Promotions. However, it was not until November 2,1988 that an actual, National Wrestling Alliance -affiliated promotion called World Championship Wrestling appeared on the national scene and this entity was under the ownership of media mogul and cable-TV pioneer Ted Turner, based in Atlanta, Georgia. WCW went through changes in business and creative leadership during its existence. Once Bischoff was relieved of his duties in 1999, Vince Russo, the two, however, did not get along well and Bischoff soon resigned from the sinking company. It was only a few months later that Russo would also depart after suffering from a concussion at the hands of Bill Goldberg, following Russos departure, the creative needs of the WCW were handled by a booking committee which included Johnny Ace and Terry Taylor. From 2000 to 2001, Monster Jam had a series of trucks based on wrestlers names. These include nWo, Sting, Nitro Machine, Madusa and Goldberg, the first to go was nWo, which only ran for a season. Next, all but Goldberg, Nitro, and Madusa were retired after the WCW sponsorship was lost, Nitro then became Flashfire, and then was converted into Inferno. Madusa has stayed the same since its creation, because it is driven by former WCW wrestler Debrah Miceli, as for Goldberg, it was changed to Team Meents in 2002, then into Maximum Destruction, which debuted in 2003 and continues to compete in the series. WCW also had a presence in NASCAR from the mid-1990s to 2000, sponsoring the #29 team in the Busch Grand National Series full-time and the #9 Melling Racing team in the Winston Cup Series part-time
7.
WWE
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Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. was an American professional wrestling promotion and the sanctioning body for the World Wide Wrestling Federation and later World Wrestling Federation. Founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt in 1953, Capitol Wrestling Corporation is the precursor to todays WWE, run by Jess grandson, Jess McMahon was a successful boxing promoter who began working with Tex Rickard in 1926. With the help of Rickard, he began promoting boxing at the third Madison Square Garden, a few years prior, professional wrestler Toots Mondt had created a new challenge of professional wrestling that he called “Slam Bang Western Style Wrestling”. He convinced wrestler Ed Lewis and his manager Billy Sandow to implement this new solution, after much success, a disagreement over power caused the trio to dissolve and, with it, their promotion. Mondt later formed partnerships with other promoters, including Jack Curley in New York City. Mondt eventually took over the New York wrestling scene, due to the fact Curley was dying, with the aid of several bookers, together, McMahon and Mondt created the Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. which later joined the National Wrestling Alliance in 1953. In November 1954, Jess McMahon died and Ray Fabiani, one of Mondts associates, both men left the company in protest following the incident and formed the WWWF in the process, awarding Rogers the new WWWF World Heavyweight Championship in April of that year. He lost the championship to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17,1963, after gaining a television program deal and turning preliminary wrestler Lou Albano as a manager for Sammartinos heel opponents, the WWWF was doing sell out business by 1970. Mondt left the company in the late 1960s and although the WWWF had withdrawn from the NWA, Vince McMahon, at the annual meeting of the NWA in 1983, the McMahons and WWF employee Jim Barnett all withdrew from the organization. By March 1979, for marketing purposes, the World Wide Wrestling Federation was renamed the World Wrestling Federation and that same year, Vincent J. McMahons son, Vincent K. McMahon, founded Titan Sports, Inc. incorporated on February 21,1980, originally in Massachusetts. In 1982, Titan Sports Inc. acquired Capitols operations, effectively relocating its headquarters to Greenwich, in an attempt to make the WWF the premier wrestling promotion in the world, McMahon began an expansion that fundamentally changed the industry. In the end, the elder McMahon would never live to see his company grow from a promotion to what is now a worldwide organization. He died from cancer at 69 years old on May 24,1984. By 1985, Titan moved to Stamford, Connecticut then establishing a new entity in 1987 in Delaware which later merged with the old company in 1988. Titan later changed its name to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. before finally becoming World Wrestling Entertainment, list of independent wrestling promotions in the United States
8.
WCW International World Heavyweight Championship
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The WCW International World Heavyweight Championship is a defunct professional wrestling world heavyweight championship that was contested in World Championship Wrestling between 1993 and 1994. Although it was owned and controlled by WCW, the championship was presented as the highest accolade of WCW International, the championship was contested at WCW events and at several events in Japan under the aegis of New Japan Pro Wrestling. At that time, WCW was responsible for deciding which of their wrestlers would hold the NWA championship, when the NWA withdrew WCWs control of the booking of their championship, a fictitious alternative was created to promote the use of the title belt. Over the titles history, eight title reigns were shared between four wrestlers, Rick Rude held the belt the most often, with three title reigns. His reigns also comprise the longest total time as champion with 202 cumulative days, Hiroshi Hase is the champion with the shortest reign of eight days, Rude holds the longest individual reign of 178 days. Ric Flair was the first and last titleholder, the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship has its origins in the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, the principal championship of the National Wrestling Alliance. The NWA was a syndicate of wrestling promotions who would book an overall champion, in 1991, the NWA World Heavyweight Champion was Ric Flair, who held the title when he wrestled for WCW. Flair was simultaneously considered the WCW World Heavyweight Champion, he was stripped of both titles because he left to work for rival company World Wrestling Federation and this belt became the WCW International Heavyweight Championship. The NWA then appointed Eastern Championship Wrestling as the promotion in charge of booking an NWA champion and this was not intended to be the International World Heavyweight Championship contested by WCW, but rather the World Heavyweight Championship of a fictitous promotion named WCW International. Flair was then booked to lose the championship to Rick Rude in the 1993 Fall Brawl event, Rude engaged in a promotional tour in Japan with the championship, WCW held a partnership with Japanese promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling. Rude lost the championship briefly to NJPW wrestler Hiroshi Hase as part of this arrangement, an angle in which Rude defeated Sting for the championship in another NJPW-organized bout was then set up. The finish was arranged to involve Rude illegally using the belt as a weapon to score the victory, causing officials to declare the win null. Sting refused to accept the title winning it back. This match caused an injury to Rude, which ended his in-ring career. A match for the then-vacant championship was held at the 1994 Slamboree event, the title last changed hands at the Clash of the Champions XXVII event in 1994. The angle matched Sting against Flair, who was now the WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Flair was booked to win the match, unifying both championships and ending the existence of the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship. WrestleCrap, The Very Worst of Pro Wrestling, main Event, WWE in the Raging 80s
9.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
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The WWE Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the SmackDown brand. Along with the United States Championship on the Raw brand, it is one of the two titles of the promotion. The current champion is Dean Ambrose, who is in his second reign and it is the third oldest championship currently active in WWE, behind the WWE Championship and United States Championship. It has been called a stone to the WWE Championship. In November 2001, the then-WCW United States Championship was unified into the Intercontinental Championship, in 2002 after the first brand extension, it became exclusive to Raw and the WWF was renamed to WWE. Later that year, the European and Hardcore championships were unified into the Intercontinental Championship, the following year, however, it was reactivated for Raw, followed by the United States Championships reactivation as a counterpart title on SmackDown. As a result of the 2016 draft, the Intercontinental Championship became exclusive to the SmackDown brand, the term intercontinental in the title originally referred to North and South America. In 1985, the belt design changed, the centerplate now centered on the Atlantic Ocean, in a map including western Africa. On April 10,1989, the championship was first defended outside of North America, by Rick Rude against The Ultimate Warrior in Milan, Italy. On March 30,1991, Mr. Perfect made the first Asian defense against The Texas Tornado at a WWF co-promotion with Super World of Sports in Tokyo, Japan. It first came to Africa on April 6,1997, when champion Rocky Maivia pinned Savio Vega in Durban, shelton Benjamin made the first Australian defense on April 7,2006, pinning Gene Snitsky in Brisbane. WWF North American Heavyweight Champion Pat Patterson became the champion on September 1,1979. Mr. Perfect would then go on to win a tournament to crown a new Intercontinental Champion, on October 17,1999, Chyna became the only woman to hold the Intercontinental Championship by defeating Jeff Jarrett at No Mercy. Then-United States Champion Edge defeated then-Intercontinental Champion Test, in 2002, after the first brand extension had begun and the WWF was renamed to WWE, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff began unifyng his brands singles championships. On August 19,2002, Bischoff made a six-minute gauntlet match for the Hardcore Championship, tommy Dreamer successfully retained his title in that match, but lost to Van Dam in a hardcore match the next week. On September 30,2002, Bischoff scheduled another unification match, the match took place at No Mercy the following month and saw then-World Heavyweight Champion Triple H defeat then-Intercontinental Champion Kane, making him the Raw brands sole male singles champion. Christian won the royal to win the championship and restore a secondary singles title for Raw wrestlers to compete for. The first brand extension would end on August 29,2011, on May 31,2015, the championship was contested for in an Elimination Chamber match for the first time
10.
WWE United States Championship
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The WWE United States Championship is a professional wrestling championship promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the Raw brand. Along with the Intercontinental Championship on the SmackDown brand, it is one of the two titles of the promotion. It is currently held by Kevin Owens, who is in his first reign, Harley Race was the inaugural champion. This makes the United States Championship the only championship in WWE that was not originated in the promotion, as well as WWEs second oldest active championship. After the 2002 brand extension and the promotion renamed to WWE, as a result of the 2016 draft, it became exclusive to the Raw brand. The United States Championship began as a championship called the United States Heavyweight Championship. It was created by and defended in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling run by Jim Crockett Jr, introduced on January 1,1975, Harley Race became the inaugural champion. The title quickly replaced the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship as the top title in the promotion. The title remained the primary championship within the Mid-Atlantic territory until 1986 when Crockett gained control of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, the United States title then became the secondary championship of the promotion. After Ted Turner bought the company and renamed it World Championship Wrestling in November 1988, WCW began to pull itself away from the NWA, demonstrated by the company changing the name of the title to the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship in January 1991. In March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation purchased WCW, the United States Championship was then deactivated. In July 2003, a year after the first brand extension went into effect in the now renamed WWE. General Manager Stephanie McMahon, and was commissioned to be a championship for the SmackDown. Eddie Guerrero became the first champion after its reactivation by winning a tournament at Vengeance and this was done shortly after the Intercontinental Championship was recommissioned by the Raw brand, making the title its equal counterpart. The first brand extension ended on August 29,2011, in 2015, WWE introduced an updated version of its Grand Slam Championship, and the United States Championship became officially recognized as a component of the re-established honor. Rollins held both titles until Cena defeated Rollins in his rematch for the title at Night of Champions the following month, in July 2016, WWE reintroduced the brand extension, during the draft, then-United States Champion Rusev was drafted to the Raw brand. Days later, he defended the title against SmackDown draftee Zack Ryder at Battleground. Following the revival of the United States Championship in 2003, the title was designated to SmackDown, the brand extension was discontinued on August 29,2011, but it was revived on July 19,2016
11.
WWE Championship
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The WWE Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the SmackDown brand. It is one of two titles in the WWE, alongside the WWE Universal Championship that was created for the Raw brand as a result of the 2016 WWE draft. The title is held by Randy Orton, who is in his ninth reign. The inaugural champion was Buddy Rogers, since its inception, the title has undergone many name changes due to company name changes and title unifications. From its inception until 2001, it was promoted as WWEs sole primary championship, an additional world title, the WCW Championship, was added after the then-World Wrestling Federations purchase of World Championship Wrestling in early 2001. The titles were unified as the Undisputed Championship. After the first brand extension in 2002 and the promotion becoming the WWE, the championship exclusive to SmackDown. ECW became a brand in 2006, adding the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. Over the course of the first brand extension, the WWE Championship switched between brands, usually as a result of the annual draft, the ECW Championship was deactivated in 2010, and the World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the WWE Championship in 2013. The championship was again the world title of WWE until the reintroduction of the brand extension in 2016. The title was introduced in 1963 with Buddy Rogers becoming the first champion, however, its origin is attributed to events that began in the National Wrestling Alliance, which had various territorial member promotions. In the 1950s, Capitol Wrestling Corporation was a member of the NWA and by 1963, during this time, Buddy Rogers held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship until January 24, when Lou Thesz defeated Rogers for the championship in a one fall match. After several years, the WWWF became affiliated with the NWA once again, although the full name appeared on the championship belts until 1998, the name was often abbreviated to WWF Championship, which became its official name in 1998. In 1991, World Championship Wrestling, a member of the NWA, in 1993, WCW seceded from the NWA and grew to become a rival promotion to the WWF. Both organizations grew into prominence and were eventually involved in a television ratings war. Near the end of the war, WCW began a financial decline. As a result of the purchase, the WWF acquired, among other assets, thus, there were two world titles in the WWF, the original WWF Championship and the WCW Championship, which was eventually renamed to the World Championship. In December 2001, the two championships were unified at Vengeance, at the event, Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Kurt Angle to retain the WWF Championship, while Chris Jericho defeated The Rock for the World Championship
12.
NWA World Heavyweight Championship
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The National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the National Wrestling Alliance. Its lineage has been traced from the first World Heavyweight Championship and this effectively makes it the oldest surviving wrestling championship in the world. With many territorial promotions appearing across the United States, the NWA was formed in 1948 as an overall governing wrestling body, like franchises, these territories had the option of NWA membership. The promotion owners had to recognize the NWA heavyweight, junior heavyweight, Ric Flair holds the record for the most reigns with nine. Every year, the NWA World Heavyweight Champion would travel to each territory, the purpose of the world champion was to make the top contender look good and still hold the title. The NWA board of directors, composed mostly of territory owners, by the late 1950s, however, the system began to break down. As Lou Thesz continued to hold the title, other wrestlers such as Verne Gagne became frustrated over the lack of change. There were also disputes over the number of appearances the champion would make in different regions, on June 14,1957 in Chicago, Lou Thesz defended the world title against Canadian wrestler Édouard Carpentier in a two out of three falls match. Thesz and Carpentier split the first two falls, in the third fall, Thesz was disqualified by referee Ed Whalen who raised Carpentiers hand in victory. The NWA later voided the change based on the disqualification. Thesz defeated Carpentier by disqualification in a Montreal rematch on July 24, Carpentier would also be able to make appearances in the US as champion while Thesz was on an overseas tour. However, as a result of disputes within the NWA, Carpentiers manager, wrestling promoter Eddie Quinn. The organization dealt with the situation by announcing 71 days after Carpentiers win in Chicago that it did not recognize Carpentiers win and had never recognized it, Quinn started promoting Carpentier as the true NWA world champion based on the match with Thesz. In 1958, Quinn started shopping Carpentier around to promoters interested in leaving the NWA, a victory over Carpentier could give a local champion a credible claim to the world championship of wrestling. Verne Gagne, who had been trying to become NWA World Heavyweight Champion for some time, defeated Carpentier in Omaha and this was recognized as a title change by those NWA affiliate promotions that would later evolve into the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This disputed version of the NWA World Heavyweight Title was later known as the World Heavyweight Championship, the title was unified with the AWA World Heavyweight Championship on September 7,1963. The AWA title continued to exist until the AWA ceased operations in 1991, the Boston NWA affiliate known as the Atlantic Athletic Commission arranged a match between Killer Kowalski and Carpentier in 1958. Kowalskis victory created what was known as the ACC World Heavyweight Title and later the Big Time Wrestling World title which was active until 1975
13.
D-Generation X
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D-Generation X was a professional wrestling stable best known for their appearances in the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE. The group originated in the midst of the WWFs Attitude Era in 1997 as a foil to another prominent faction and this incarnation was voted the greatest WWE Tag Team Champions of all time in a 2013 WWE viewer poll. The groups gimmick was best known as a gang of rebels who broke the rules, acted and spoke as they pleased, noted for their crude, profane humor and sophomoric pranks, the stable has been dubbed multiple times as the most controversial group in WWF/E history. DX was one of the three main contributing factors, along with Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, to the onset of the WWFs Attitude Era. On October 6,1997, in one of the earliest DX promos — in fact the week before the group was officially named — Michaels alluded to this off-screen connection. After Bret Hart claimed to have destroyed the Kliq and to have run outta town, Michaels declared, The Kliq owns this business, and said that it had really undergone expansion rather than destruction. According to Triple H, WWF management wanted to keep apart The Kliq, of which he and Michaels were members, despite this, the group began to collude on the August 11,1997 main event of Raw Is War. The following week on Raw, Michaels and Triple H teamed up to take on Mankind and The Undertaker, only to lose the match by disqualification after Michaels used a chair on Undertaker. Michaels would eventually face the Undertaker at Ground Zero, In Your House on September 7 with Triple H, Chyna and they were often shown on television practicing sophomoric/crude humor and rebelling against authority figures in the company, primarily Vince McMahon and then Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter, the latter of which DX made a habit of humiliating by giving him the nickname Sgt. D-Generation Xs first feud was against the Hart Foundation, who was led by Michaels nemesis Bret Hart, at WWF One Night Only, the group helped Michaels beat Foundation member British Bulldog for the European Championship, making Michaels the WWFs first Grand Slam Champion. On-screen, the name was taken from comments by Hart, who on several occasions, Rude was also legitimately upset over the Montreal Screwjob, and he subsequently left DX and the WWF to return to WCW. Michaels headlined the event and was disqualified in a WWF World Heavyweight Championship title defense against Ken Shamrock when Owen Hart interfered, earlier that night, Triple H defeated Sgt. Slaughter with the help of Chyna in a Boot Camp match, on the December 22 episode of Raw is War however, the two were forced to wrestle each other for the European title. In a mock match Michaels laid down while Triple H ran around the ring, in the beginning of 1998, Triple H exchanged the European Championship with Owen Hart. At WrestleMania XIV, Shawn Michaels was the reigning WWF World Heavyweight Champion and they recruited boxer Mike Tyson to act as the special enforcer in the main event of the night featuring Michaels against Stone Cold Steve Austin. At the end of the match, Tyson turned on D-Generation X, the night after WrestleMania, Triple H ejected the absent Michaels for dropping the ball over the Tyson incident. Triple H assumed full leadership of D-X and recruited X-Pac, who had recently fired from WCW
14.
Glossary of professional wrestling terms
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Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable nomenclature throughout its existence. Much of it stems from the origins in the days of carnivals and circuses. In the past, professional wrestlers used such terms in the presence of fans so as not to reveal the nature of the business. In recent years, widespread discussion on the Internet has popularized these terms, many of the terms refer to the financial aspects of professional wrestling in addition to performance-related terms. A-show A wrestling event where a companys biggest draws wrestle, a-team A group of a wrestling promotions top stars who compete at an A-show. Abort To discontinue a feud, angle, or gimmick suddenly, usually without explanation or due to a lack of fan interest, ace A term typically only used in Japanese puroresu for a wrestler designated as the face of the promotion. Not necessarily the same as the top champion, examples of modern aces include Hiroshi Tanahashi in New Japan Pro Wrestling and Suwama in All Japan Pro Wrestling. Agent A management employee, often a former wrestler, who helps set up matches, plans storylines. Often acts as a liaison between wrestlers and higher-level management, referred to as producers by WWE and sometimes by other companies. Sometimes they help train and teach younger active wrestlers and give criticism, Alliance A cooperative relationship developed between two or more wrestlers, whether wrestling as a tag team or in individual matches. Alliances are often formed for the purpose of retaining titles between the members of the alliance, or to counter a specific foe or group of foes. The formation of an alliance can be a storyline of its own, an angle usually begins when one wrestler attacks another, which results in revenge. An angle may be as small as a match or a vendetta that lasts for years. It is not uncommon to see an angle become retconned due to it not getting over with the fans, Apter mag An old-style professional wrestling magazine that sticks to kayfabe articles. The term refers to the magazines at one time connected to journalist Bill Apter, B-show A wrestling event featuring the middle and lower-level talent of a wrestling promotion. Sometimes includes well-known wrestlers making a return or finishing up their career, b-team The group of wrestlers on a B-show. Babyface A wrestler positioned as a hero, who the crowd are typically cheering for in a match, often simply known as a face. Beat down A situation in which a wrestler or other performer is the recipient of a one-sided beating, blading A wrestler intentionally cutting themself to provoke bleeding
15.
Shawn Michaels
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Michael Shawn Hickenbottom, better known by his ring name Shawn Michaels, is an American actor, professional wrestling personality, television presenter and retired professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, as an ambassador and trainer, Michaels wrestled consistently for WWE, formerly the World Wrestling Federation, from 1988 until his first retirement in 1998. He held non-wrestling roles from 1998 to 2000 and resumed wrestling in 2002 until retiring ceremoniously in 2010, in the WWF/E, Michaels headlined major pay-per-view events between 1989 and 2010, closing the companys flagship annual event, WrestleMania, five times. He was the co-founder and original leader of the successful stable and he also wrestled in the American Wrestling Association, where he founded The Midnight Rockers with Marty Jannetty in 1985. After winning the AWA Tag Team Championship twice, the continued to the WWF as The Rockers. Within the year, Michaels would twice challenge for the WWF Championship and win his first WWF Intercontinental Championship, heralding his arrival as one of the industrys premier singles stars. He would go on to be regarded as its finest performer in the 1990s and 2000s. Michaels was voted the greatest professional wrestler of all time in a 2011 poll of the WWE roster, Michaels is a four-time world champion, having held the WWF Championship three times and WWEs World Heavyweight Championship once. He is also a two-time Royal Rumble winner, the first WWF Grand Slam Champion, Hickenbottom was born on July 22,1965, in Chandler, Arizona. As a child, Hickenbottom disliked the name Michael, so his family, ever since, he has been referred to as Shawn. Additionally, Hickenbottom moved around frequently since his father was in the military and he knew he wanted to become a professional wrestler at the age of twelve and said he performed a wrestling routine in his high schools talent show, complete with fake blood. Hickenbottom was already an athlete, his career began at the age of six when he started playing football and he was a stand-out linebacker at Randolph High School on Randolph Air Force Base and eventually became captain of the football team. After graduating, Hickenbottom attended Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas and he then began pursuing a career in professional wrestling. Hickenbottom began to train under Mexican professional wrestler Jose Lothario, during his training, Hickenbottom adopted the ring name, Shawn Michaels. Michaels performance in his debut match impressed many veterans, including Terry Taylor, in January 1985, he debuted for World Class Championship Wrestling, the NWA territory in Dallas, Texas. In April 1985, Michaels went to work for another NWA territory in Kansas City called Central States Wrestling, there, he and tag team partner Marty Jannetty defeated The Batten Twins for the NWA Central States Tag Team Championship, later losing it back to the Battens. After leaving Kansas City, he returned to Texas to wrestle for Texas All-Star Wrestling, during his time with TASW, Michaels replaced Nick Kiniski in the American Breed tag team, teaming with Paul Diamond. Michaels and Diamond were awarded the TASW Tag Team Championship by Chavo Guerrero Sr, the team was later renamed American Force
16.
Triple H
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Paul Michael Levesque, better known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive and professional wrestler. Levesque is the Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events and Creative for WWE, as well as being the founder and senior producer of NXT, Levesque commenced his professional wrestling career in the International Wrestling Federation in 1992 under the ring name Terra Ryzing. In 1994, he joined World Championship Wrestling, where he was repackaged as Jean-Paul Lévesque. In 1995, Levesque moved to the World Wrestling Federation, where he became Hunter Hearst Helmsley and, later, in 1997, Triple H co-founded the influential D-Generation X stable, which became a major element of the WWFs Attitude Era. Levesque himself wed McMahon in 2003, over the next two decades, he won a total of 14 world championships and led stables The McMahon-Helmsley Faction, Evolution and The Authority. From 2010 onwards, Triple H curtailed his appearances as he took on a greater behind-the-scenes role within WWE. He is a member by marriage of the McMahon family, which maintains majority ownership of WWE, in the course of his career, Levesque has held a total of 25 championships, including nine reigns as WWF/WWE Champion and five as WWEs World Heavyweight Champion. Triple H was also the winner of the 1997 King of the Ring tournament and he has headlined WrestleMania, WWEs flagship pay-per-view, a record seven times. Outside of professional wrestling, Levesque has made numerous guest appearances in film and on television, Levesque was born in Nashua, New Hampshire. He watched wrestling for the first time when he was five, Levesque began to take up bodybuilding at the age of 14, because he wanted to look like professional wrestlers. Levesque attended Nashua South High School, where he played baseball and basketball, following his graduation from high school in 1987, Levesque continued to enter several bodybuilding competitions, and was crowned Mr. Teenage New Hampshire in 1988 at the age of 19. While working as a manager at Golds Gym in Nashua, New Hampshire, Levesque was introduced to world champion powerlifter, Ted Arcidi, in early 1992, Levesque enrolled in Kowalskis wrestling school, where he began to train as a professional wrestler. Levesque was trained to wrestle by Killer Kowalski at his school in Malden and his class mates included fellow future WWF wrestlers Chyna and Perry Saturn. Levesque made his debut on March 24,1992 in Kowalskis promotion. In July 1992, Levesque defeated Mad Dog Richard to win the IWF Heavyweight Championship, Levesque wrestled for various promotions on the East Coast independent circuit until 1994. During this period, he was managed by John Rodeo, in early 1994, Levesque signed a one-year contract with World Championship Wrestling. In his first televised match, Levesque debuted as a villain named Terror Risin and his ring name was soon modified to Terra Ryzing, which he used until mid-1994, when he was renamed Jean-Paul Lévesque. This gimmick referred to his surnames French origins and he was asked to speak with a French accent, during this time, he began using his finishing maneuver, the Pedigree
17.
Chyna
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Joan Marie Laurer, also known by her ring name Chyna, was an American professional wrestler, glamour model, pornographic film actress, and bodybuilder. Chyna first rose to prominence in the World Wrestling Federation in 1997, a founding member of the stable D-Generation X as the promotions first female enforcer, she held the WWF Intercontinental Championship twice and the WWF Womens Championship once. She was also the first woman to participate in the Royal Rumble and King of the Ring events, after leaving the WWF in 2001, Chyna wrestled sporadically, with New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2002 and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2011. Outside of wrestling, Chyna appeared in Playboy magazine twice, as well as television shows. She starred in a further five pornographic titles, including AVNs 2012 Best Celebrity Sex Tape, Laurer was born in Rochester, New York on December 27,1969. She had two siblings, Kathy and Sonny. After her parents divorced when she was four years old. From 1973 to 1983, she, her siblings and her mother moved several times, as a child, Laurer learned to play both the violin and cello. She later said that in seventh grade she was kissed by a much older teacher who worked at her school. At age thirteen, while attending Penfield High School, she began purging after she ate and she left home at age sixteen after her mother tried to force her into a drug rehabilitation facility, going instead to live with her biological father. That same year, she began working out, and because her muscles were so strong. She finished her last year of school in Spain. She attended the University of Tampa, graduating in 1992 with a major in Spanish Literature, during college, she also studied French and German and later stated during this time she was raped by two men after getting drunk at a party. She also was a member of the ROTC and she originally wanted to use her knowledge of foreign languages to work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation or Drug Enforcement Administration. Subsequently, she joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to Guatemala, after returning from abroad, Laurer held several different jobs, a cocktail waitress in a strip club, singer in a band, and a 900-number chat line worker. In her mid-to-late 20s, while living in the Florida Keys, on the way to her first flight, she was in a car accident and spent four days in the hospital. After recovering from the accident, Laurers sister Kathy helped her get a job selling beepers, after college, Laurer began to regularly enter fitness competitions. In 1996, Laurer competed in the New York City regional level of the Fitness America competition, because of her large size compared to the other women, she usually finished in last place
18.
Monday Night Wars
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Monday Night War is the common term describing the period of mainstream televised American professional wrestling from September 4,1995, to March 26,2001. During this time, the World Wrestling Federations Monday Night Raw went head-to-head with World Championship Wrestlings Monday Nitro in a battle for Nielsen ratings each week. The ratings war was part of a larger struggle between the two companies, originating in personal animosity between WWF owner Vince McMahon and then-owner of WCW, Ted Turner. The rivalry between the companies steadily escalated throughout the 1990s to include the use of tactics and the defections of employees between the two companies. Despite efforts to salvage the federation, it was sold to Vince McMahon. Turner, displeased with McMahons handling of programming on his network, pressured McMahon into selling his time slot to Jim Crockett Promotions, under the auspices of Eric Bischoff, WCW introduced a new, complex metastory involving the defection of multiple wrestlers to a rival organization called the nWo. The shift in programming helped lead the company to achieve mainstream success similar to the 1980s professional wrestling boom, the heightened profiles of WWF wrestlers helped to draw the attention of both new and casual wrestling fans to the companys programming. In the late 1990s, WCWs ratings began to suffer as fans grew tired of the nWo storyline, fans also responded negatively to several gimmicks intended to reinvigorate interest in WCW, including the introduction of actor David Arquette as the companys new champion. The company was able to reinvigorate itself after the introduction of Bill Goldberg. Goldberg quickly rose to stardom within the organization and became a star similar to the WWFs performers, with appearances in commercials. Simultaneously, the company experienced financial woes due to the amount of money it had promised wrestlers in their contracts during a hiring binge in the early 90s, the company was ultimately unable to sustain itself while paying wrestlers their contracted salaries, and WCW went up for sale. The wars ended with the sale of WCWs assets by its parent company, AOL Time Warner, when Atlanta TV station WTCG became a superstation in the late 1970s, its Georgia Championship Wrestling program reached a national audience. At the itme, GCW was affiliated with what had been the worlds top sanctioning body of championship titles for decades before, the companys TV show, hosted by Gordon Solie, was recorded in one of WTBS studios at 1050 Techwood Drive, in downtown Atlanta. Shows were taped before a small, live, in-studio audience and they featured wrestling matches, plus melodramatic monologues and inter-character confrontations, similar to the programming offered by other territories, including the Northeast-based WWF. GCWs show, which aired on Saturday evenings, was complemented by a Sunday evening edition, Jack and Gerald Brisco had major stakes in the organization, while Ole Anderson was head booker and was basically in charge of operations. In 1983, the WWF started its own show called WWF All American Wrestling, airing Sunday mornings on the USA Network. Later that year, the WWF debuted a second show, also on USA, called Tuesday Night Titans. With this move, McMahon controlled all nationally televised wrestling in the United States, however, the WWFs show on TBS was a ratings disaster, as GCW fans, disliking the cartoonish characters and storylines of the WWF, simply turned off their television sets
19.
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
20.
WCW Monday Nitro
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WCW Monday Nitro, also known as Monday Nitro or simply Nitro, was a weekly professional wrestling telecast produced by World Championship Wrestling, created by Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff. The show aired Monday nights on TNT, going head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federations Monday Night Raw from September 4,1995 to March 26,2001, Nitro continued to beat Raw for 84 consecutive weeks, forcing WWF owner Vince McMahon to change the way he did business. As the nWo storyline grew stagnant, fan interest waned and Raw began to edge out Nitro in the ratings, the turning point for the organizations came during mid-April 1998 after Stone Cold Steve Austin won his first WWF Championship. From that week forward, Raw beat Nitro in the ratings by a significant amount, the rights to Nitro now belong to WWE. As of June 30,2016, all episodes have been available for streaming on the WWE Network. WWE has released three Best of WCW Monday Nitro DVD sets as of October 2015, the first episode of Nitro was broadcast from the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota on September 4,1995. The show was highlighted by the return of Lex Luger to WCW after having spent the previous two plus years wrestling for the WWF, where he had been one of the promotions top stars. The event set the tone for Nitros anything can happen atmosphere, the title video for the debut episode of Nitro featured multiple shots of Big Van Vader, who parted ways with WCW following a backstage altercation with Paul Orndorff. Vader would never perform on Nitro, and embarked on a WWF career in January 1996, the advent of Monday Nitro brought with it an intense rivalry between that show and the WWFs Monday Night Raw program. This rivalry is known to wrestling fans as the Monday Night Wars, throughout the Monday Night Wars between Eric Bischoff and Vince McMahon, Nitro was gaining on its WWF counterpart popularity-wise. Soon Nitro would surpass Raw in the TV ratings, Nitro beat Raw in the ratings for 84 consecutive weeks until Raw finally regained ground in the ratings war. At its peak, the resulted in performers on either show trading verbal insults. At one point, Eric Bischoff challenged Vince McMahon to face him in a match to be held at Slamboree 1998, McMahon never formally recognized the challenge and did not appear. Bischoff was declared the winner via countout, although later Vince said he had already had prior engagements that had to be fulfilled or he would have come and showed Eric what he was made of. Initially, Nitro became popular as result of WCWs extensive roster of stars, randy Savage and Hulk Hogan were some of the major stars signed with WCW and appearing on the Nitro program at this time. WCWs lineup of cruiserweights – smaller wrestlers known for their crowd-pleasing high-flying wrestling maneuvers – provided a set of setup matches for their main events. With the introduction of the New World Order, Nitro started its run of ratings domination. With former WWF wrestlers Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Hogan as rebellious heels, the company seemed to have a winning story, since Nitro was live and Raw was often taped, Nitro was seen as far less predictable and thus more entertaining than its WWF counterpart
21.
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
22.
Brady Boone
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Dean R. Peters was an American professional wrestler and referee. He wrestled under the ring name Brady Boone, and was billed as the cousin of Billy Jack Haynes, after teaming with Haynes, Boone won the Tag Team Championship twice in 1986, first with Coco Samoa on March 29, then with Ricky Santana on October 4. While wrestling for PNW, Peters and Haynes also worked as a tag team for the World Wrestling Federation from late 1986 to early 1988. Boone would begin wrestling full-time for the WWF on July 2,1987, Boone was involved in one major angle on October 31,1987, when he tagged with Scott Casey in a losing effort against Demolition. Following the match Demolition continued to attack Boone, leading Billy Jack Haynes to make the save, Boone was stretchered out as a part of angle that led to the teaming of Haynes and Ken Patera. The following year Boone won an additional 24 matches, and finished his run with a victory over Steve Lombardi on Sep 12,1988 in South Bend, Brady Boone returned to the WWF on May 4,1990 on a house show in a loss to Paul Diamond. He would wrestle numerous house show and television matches between May and August, at a house show on September 13,1990, Peters debuted as Battle Kat, a character who donned a cat mask and utilized his gymnastics background to emphasize his cat-like agility. Six days later, Battle Kat won his debut match over Bob Bradley. Battle Kat remained undefeated on house shows and defeated Paul Diamond on the October 30 episode of Wrestling Challenge before he was released from the WWF, ironically, Bob Bradley would replace Brady Boone in the Battle Kat character. After leaving the WWF, Peters took a hiatus from wrestling. He reappeared at the Universal Wrestling Federations only pay-per-view, Beach Brawl on June 9,1991, as Fire Cat, he wrestled in the Florida-based Suncoast Pro Wrestling and won its Tag Team Championship with Jerry Lynn. After losing the title, Peters took another hiatus before debuting in All Japan Pro Wrestling under his Fire Cat name on March 4,1992 and he and Richard Slinger lost a tag team match to Lt. James Earl Wright and Sgt. Peters signed with World Championship Wrestling in 1993, and debuted on the December 7 episode of Saturday Night, on the January 10,1994 episode of Saturday Night, Boone lost to Steve Austin. After not appearing on television for months, Boone wrestled his final match on the July 23 episode of Saturday Night. After retiring as a wrestler, Boone remained with the company as a referee, on December 15,1998, while driving home to Tampa, Florida from a WCW television taping in Orlando, Peters died in an automobile accident. Despite being smaller than most wrestlers, Peters inspired several up-and-coming wrestlers with his athleticism, the two met while Peters was wrestling in Florida for Suncoast Pro Wrestling. Peters helped Van Dam during his years in wrestling. The last time Van Dam saw Peters was also the time he wrestled him
23.
Nikita Koloff
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Nikita Koloff is an American retired professional wrestler, actor, and minister. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, he wrestled as The Russian Nightmare Nikita Koloff, Nikita was brought into the National Wrestling Alliance by his Uncle Ivan to prove Soviet superiority. Their ultimate goal was to dethrone NWA World champion Ric Flair, a physical marvel, Koloff was also hailed as the Russian Road Warrior. He was billed from Moscow in the Soviet Union, and then from Lithuania after the fall of the Soviet Union, Koloff, now a preacher, appears on the Lifetime Network series, Preachers Daughters. He grew up knowing his father and aspired to play professional football. He started lifting weights in junior school and built up a massive body. He was a 1977 graduate of Robbinsdale High School where he was an all-conference receiver, Simpson played college football at Golden Valley Lutheran College before transferring to Moorhead State. Simpson suffered an injury playing football but rehabbed to play for Moorhead State University where he suffered another injury. In 1984, Simpson was going to try out for the USFL when Road Warrior Animal, Simpson decided to go with wrestling and was told to shave his head bald and to show up. Jim Crockett, Jr. the promoter of the NWAs Jim Crockett Promotions, renamed him Nikita Koloff, the Russian Nightmare, and teamed him with uncle Ivan Koloff and Don Kernodle, a turncoat American. Koloff wrestled briefly in Puerto Rico for World Wrestling Council and engaged in some bouts with Hercules Ayala and he returned with Ivan Koloff in 1986 and faced Invader I and Invader III at a big house show at Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium in Bayamon. While he learned more about the sport on the road with Ivan and Kernodle, during television promos, Nikita stood behind Ivan and Kernodle with his arms folded while they took interviews. As his wrestling ability and speaking skills grew, so, too, did the length of his matches and his improvement negated the need for Kernodle to continue teaming with Ivan and, shortly thereafter, the Russians turned on the American turncoat. Koloff went to lengths to keep the Evil Russian gimmick as realistic as possible. He learned Russian and refused to out of character, even when away from the ring. With Kernodle out of the picture, Uncle Ivan Koloff introduced a new comrade named Krusher Khruschev, in December 1984, Jim Crockett rewarded the Russians with NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. Three months later, on March 18,1985, Koloff and Ivan defeated Dusty Rhodes, Ivan invoked the Freebird rule which dictated that any two of the three could defend the titles. Ivan and Krusher lost the titles to The Rock n Roll Express on July 9, prior to committing themselves with Jim Crocket Promotions, The Koloffs feuded with then AWA World tag team champions the Road Warriors in both the AWA and the NWA in a brutal series during 1985
24.
Curt Hennig
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In the WWF, he found his greatest success as Mr. Perfect, a nickname introduced in his second run with the company which gradually became his official ring name. Hennig used the ring name in his third and final run. However, his name was widely acknowledged. He is the son of wrestler Larry The Axe Hennig, Hennig returned to the WWF for a brief period in 2002, being one of the last three men remaining at the Royal Rumble. He later challenged for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in TNA, both WWF and WCW have recognized Hennig as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, with the former crediting him for raising the accepted standard of technical wrestling. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007 by former Major League Baseball player and he was the best of the best. Hennig was childhood friends with fellow wrestler Rick Rude, known as Cool Curt Hennig, he began his career on January 30,1980 in the American Wrestling Association, the promotion which had made his father, Larry The Axe Hennig a star. Hennig left AWA in 1982 and joined World Wrestling Federation, Curt Hennig started his WWF career in 1982. He established himself as a young performer against the likes of Playboy Buddy Rose. Eventually, he was paired-up in tag matches with another young upstart, Eddie Gilbert. Hennig returned to AWA in 1984, Hennig, along with his father Larry The Axe, would engage in a long feud with Greg Gagne and his father, Verne Gagne. He began being associated with Madusa Miceli, the AWA World Womens Champion since December 27,1987, Hennig and Madusa joined The Diamond Exchange, a stable led by Diamond Dallas Page that also included Badd Company and Colonel DeBeers. Hennig would hold the AWA World Heavyweight Title for about 53 weeks, like many other AWA stars of the time, Curt left the AWA for the WWF with the promise of more money and broadened exposure. Hennig returned to the WWF in the mid-1988 at WrestleFest, where he pinned Terry Taylor, Hennig made his televised in-ring return on the September 11 episode of All-American Wrestling, defeating enhancement talent Ron Rovishod. Perfect, which would become his ring name in 1989 and the use of his name would be phased out. He presented himself as being superior in athletics or anything else he did, stars of various major league sports, including Wade Boggs, Steve Jordan, and Mike Modano, co-starred with Hennig in these vignettes. Hennig performed for the first time as Mr. Perfect on the October 4 episode of Prime Time Wrestling, Perfect survived the match with Bravo. He went undefeated on television for over a year, beating mid-card wrestlers including Koko B, Ware, The Blue Blazer, The Red Rooster, Jimmy Snuka, Tito Santana and Bret Hart
25.
Smash (wrestler)
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Barry Allen Darsow is an American semi-retired professional wrestler who performs as Smash, one half of the tag team Demolition. He has also wrestled as Krusher Khruschev, Repo Man, The Blacktop Bully, throughout his career he worked for Jim Crockett Promotions, the World Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling, and several regional promotions in the 1980s and 1990s. Darsow attended high school in Robbinsdale, Minnesota with six other wrestlers, Curt Hennig, Richard Rood, Brady Boone, Tom Zenk, John Nord. He also worked as a bouncer with The Road Warriors, Hawk, Darsow made his debut in Hawaii as Tsar Mongo, before a short stint in New Zealand. He changed his name to Krusher Khruschev and won the first ever Mid-South Television Title in a tournament by beating Terry Taylor in the finals on May 2,1984, Darsow moved on to Florida Championship Wrestling where he teamed with Jim Neidhart. They won the Florida United States Tag Team Titles on October 11,1984 from Hector Guerrero, the team held them until December 1984, when they lost them to Mark and Jay Youngblood. Krusher moved on to the National Wrestling Alliance to work for Jim Crockett and he was awarded a third of the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship with Ivan Koloff and Nikita Koloff. The Koloffs had already won the NWA World Tag Team Championship and they feuded with The Rock n Roll Express and The Road Warriors. On July 9,1985, he and Ivan lost the NWA Tag Titles to the Rock N Roll Express, at Starrcade 1985, on November 28, Krusher won the vacant NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship by defeating Sam Houston. On January 11,1986, Krusher severely injured his knee in a match with Houston on TBS and he lost the title to Houston and had to take almost six months off to recover. When Krusher returned, Nikita was feuding with Magnum T. A. for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship. On August 17,1986, Krusher helped Nikita win the title in the match of a Best of 7 series by holding the referee while Nikita used his Russian chain on Magnum. After helping Nikita defeat Magnum, Krusher and Ivan targeted the new NWA United States Tag Team Championship and they reached the finals, held on September 26,1986, and defeated the Kansas Jayhawks with Nikitas help to become the first US Tag Team Champions. Krusher and Ivan briefly feuded with Nikita and Rhodes but primarily defended their titles in rematches against Mantel, on December 9,1986, they lost the US Tag Titles to Ron Garvin and Barry Windham. Darsows contract eventually ran out and he left Jim Crockett Promotions, Darsow next went to the World Wrestling Federation. He was brought into the company to be part of the tag team Demolition, which had consisted of Bill Eadie as Ax and Randy Colley. At first, they were managed by Luscious Johnny V, and their initial feuds involved the team of Ken Patera and Billy Jack Haynes, and Strike Force. On March 27,1988 at WrestleMania IV, they defeated Strike Force to win their first WWF World tag team title and they later lost Mr. Fuji as he left to manage their newest rivals, The Powers of Pain
26.
Academic degree
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An academic degree is a qualification awarded on successful completion of a course of study in higher education, normally at a college or university. These institutions commonly offer degrees at various levels, typically including bachelors, master’s and doctorates, often alongside other academic certificates, and professional degrees. The most common degree is the bachelors degree, although in some countries lower qualifications are titled degrees while in others a higher-level first degree is more usual. The degrees awarded by European universities—the bachelor’s degree, the licentiate, the degree. The doctorate appeared in medieval Europe as a license to teach at a medieval university and its roots can be traced to the early church when the term doctor referred to the Apostles, church fathers and other Christian authorities who taught and interpreted the Bible. The right to grant a licentia docendi was originally reserved to the church required the applicant to pass a test, to take oath of allegiance. The Third Council of the Lateran of 1179 guaranteed the access – now largely free of charge – of all able applicants, at the university, doctoral training was a form of apprenticeship to a guild. The traditional term of study before new teachers were admitted to the guild of Master of Arts, originally the terms master and doctor were synonymous, but over time the doctorate came to be regarded as a higher qualification than the master degree. The earliest doctoral degrees reflected the historical separation of all higher University study into three fields. Over time, the D. D. has gradually become less common outside theology, Studies outside theology, law, and medicine were then called philosophy, due to the Renaissance conviction that real knowledge could be derived from empirical observation. The degree title of Doctor of Philosophy is of a later time. Studies in what once was called philosophy are now classified as sciences and humanities, Master of Arts were eligible to enter study under the higher faculties of Law, Medicine or Theology, and earn first a bachelors and then master or doctors degrees in these subjects. Thus a degree was only a step on the way to becoming a qualified master – hence the English word graduate. The naming of degrees eventually became linked with the subjects studied, scholars in the faculties of arts or grammar became known as master, but those in theology, medicine, and law were known as doctor. As study in the arts or in grammar was a prerequisite to study in subjects such as theology, medicine and law. The practice of using the doctor for PhDs developed within German universities. The French terminology is tied closely to the meanings of the terms. The baccalauréat is conferred upon French students who have completed their secondary education
27.
Physical education
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Physical education, also known as Phys Ed. PE, Gym or Gym class, and known in many Commonwealth countries as physical training or PT, is a course related of maintaining the human body through physical exercises. It is taken during primary and secondary education and encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting to promote health, pupils are able to play games like football, badminton, captain ball, and basketball during most sessions. Unorthodox sports such as, fencing, and skateboarding are occasionally played, in more prestigious secondary schools and in junior colleges, sports such as golf, tennis, shooting, and squash are played. A compulsory fitness exam, NAPFA, is conducted in every school once every year to assess the fitness of the pupils. Pupils are given a series of fitness tests, students are graded by gold, silver, bronze or as fail. NAPFA for pre-enlistees serves as an indicator for an additional 2 months in the compulsory national service if they attain bronze or fail. In Malaysia, pupils from schools to secondary schools are expected to do 2 periods or 1 hour of PE throughout the year except a week before examination. In most secondary schools, games like badminton, sepak takraw, football, netball, basketball, pupils are allowed to bring their own sports equipment to the school with the authorization of the teacher. In the Philippines, PE is mandatory for all years, unless, the school gives the option for a student to do the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme instead for fifth and sixth year. In the Philippines, some schools have integrated martial arts training into their physical education curriculum, in Indonesia, students ranging from Kindergarten to High School have PE integrated with their curriculum. Starting from Junior High School, several games such as basketball, volleyball, cricket, tennis, badminton, kho kho, kabaddi. Several drills and physical training are taught, in Australia, physical education was first made an important part of the curriculum in Government primary and secondary schools in 1981. The policy was outlined in a Ministerial Statement to the Victorian Legislative Assembly by the Minister for Educational Services, in British Columbia, Canada the government has stated in the grade one curriculum that students must participate in physical activity daily five times a week. Also the teacher is responsible for planning Daily Physical Activity which is thirty minutes of mild to moderate physical activity a day not including curriculum physical education classes, the curriculum also requires students in grade one to be knowledgeable about healthy living. For example, students must be able to describe benefits of exercise, identify healthy choices that require them to be more physically active. Ontario, Canada has a procedure in place. On October 6,2005 in Ontario, Canada the Ontario Ministry of Education implemented a Daily Physical Activity policy in Elementary Schools, Grades 1-8
28.
Face (professional wrestling)
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In professional wrestling, a face is a heroic or a good guy wrestler, booked by the promotion with the aim of being cheered by fans. Faces, traditionally, wrestle within the rules and avoid cheating while behaving positively towards the referee, such characters are also referred to as blue-eyes in British wrestling, and técnicos in lucha libre. The face character is portrayed as a relative to the heel wrestlers. Not everything a face wrestler does must be heroic, faces need only to be cheered by the audience to be effective characters, the vast majority of wrestling storylines involving faces place a face against a heel, although more elaborate set-ups often happen as well. While many modern faces still fit this model, other versions of the character are now also common. A good example would be Stone Cold Steve Austin who despite playing an early on in his career would start to be seen more of an anti-hero because of his popularity with the fans. While clearly not championing rule following, nor submission to authority, during this time, wrestlers like Stone Cold Steve Austin and Sting used tactics traditionally associated with heels, but remained popular with the fans. Conversely, Kurt Angle was introduced to the then-WWF with an American hero gimmick based on his medal win at the 1996 Summer Olympics. He presented himself as a model, and stressed the need to work hard to realize ones dreams. Angles character served as a meta-reference to how wrestling had changed, unusually, Angle did not use any of these heroic mannerisms when playing a face character, instead acting as somewhat of an antihero with a few elements of the lovable loser character archetype. Fans sometimes dislike face wrestlers, despite the way they are promoted, some reasons for this include repetitive in-ring antics, a limited moveset, a lengthy title reign, lack of selling his or her opponents moves, or an uninteresting character. This often results in wrestlers who are supposed to be cheered receiving a negative or no reaction from the fans. Some face wrestlers would often give high fives or give out merchandise to fans entering the ring before their match, such as T-shirts, sunglasses, hats. Bret Hart was one of the first superstars to make this popular, rey Mysterio, who has been a face in WWE since his debut, would go to any fan wearing a replica of his mask, and touch their head with his head for good luck before wrestling. Alberto Del Rio, after turning face, would give his scarf to a fan before entering the ring. Big Show would give his hat to a fan when he was a face, the majority of the time, faces who are low-carders, or lesser known, are used as jobbers. These wrestlers usually lose matches against established wrestlers, some faces, such as Ricky Steamboat and Hulk Hogan, promoted an image as a family man and supported their persona by appearing with their family members before and after matches. These actions often relate to wrestlers promoting charity work or other actions outside of the ring, blurring the lines between scripted wrestling and their personal lives, glossary of professional wrestling terms Heel Foley, Mick
29.
Vancouver
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Vancouver is a coastal seaport city in Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2016 census recorded 631,486 people in the city, the Greater Vancouver area had a population of 2,463,431 in 2016, making it the third largest metropolitan area in Canada. Vancouver has the highest population density in Canada with over 5,400 people per square kilometre. With over 250,000 residents, Vancouver municipality is the fourth most densely populated city in North America behind New York City, San Francisco, and Mexico City according to the 2011 census. In that census, Vancouver was one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities in Canada, Vancouver is classed as a Beta global city. In 2014, following thirty years in California, the annual TED conference made Vancouver its indefinite home, several matches of the 2015 FIFA Womens World Cup were played in Vancouver, including the final at BC Place Stadium. From that first enterprise, other stores and some hotels quickly appeared along the waterfront to the west, Gastown became formally laid out as a registered townsite dubbed Granville, B. I. As of 2014, Port Metro Vancouver is the third largest port by tonnage in the Americas, 27th in the world, the busiest and largest in Canada, and the most diversified port in North America. While forestry remains its largest industry, Vancouver is well known as an urban centre surrounded by nature, archaeological records indicate the presence of Aboriginal people in the Vancouver area from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. The city is located in the territories of the Squamish, Musqueam. They had villages in various parts of present-day Vancouver, such as Stanley Park, False Creek, Kitsilano, Point Grey, the city takes its name from George Vancouver, who explored the inner harbour of Burrard Inlet in 1792 and gave various places British names. The explorer and North West Company trader Simon Fraser and his became the first known Europeans to set foot on the site of the present-day city. In 1808, they travelled from the east down the Fraser River, perhaps as far as Point Grey. The Fraser Gold Rush of 1858 brought over 25,000 men, mainly from California, to nearby New Westminster on the Fraser River, on their way to the Fraser Canyon, a sawmill established at Moodyville in 1863, began the citys long relationship with logging. It was quickly followed by mills owned by Captain Edward Stamp on the shore of the inlet. This mill, known as the Hastings Mill, became the nucleus around which Vancouver formed, the mills central role in the city waned after the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s. It nevertheless remained important to the economy until it closed in the 1920s. The settlement which came to be called Gastown grew up quickly around the original makeshift tavern established by Gassy Jack Deighton in 1867 on the edge of the Hastings Mill property
30.
Georgia Championship Wrestling
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Georgia Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion whose self-titled TV program aired in the 1970s and 1980s on Atlanta, U. S. superstation WTBS. Though based in Atlanta, the also ran live wrestling shows throughout its geographic territory of Georgia. The territory was affiliated with what had been the worlds top sanctioning body of championship titles for decades before, the TV show, hosted by Gordon Solie, was recorded in one of WTBS studios on West Peachtree Street near 10th Street, in Midtown Atlanta. Shows were taped before a small, live audience, as were most professional wrestling TV shows of that era. GCWs show, which aired on Saturday evenings, was complemented with a Sunday evening edition, the NWA program was hosted by Ed Capral, ring announcer Charlie Harben and referee Leo Garibaldi. The show was broadcast at times on WJBF6 in Augusta. The program included interviews with wrestlers pertaining to their upcoming matches, the program for Savannah was taped in Atlanta on Saturday afternoons then delivered by Greyhound Bus to Savannah to be broadcast that night. ABC held its matches at Atlantas Municipal Auditorium every Friday night, on Christmas Day of 1971, Georgia Championship Wrestling aired its first television show, which was considered a Christmas special, since the actual series didnt begin airing until late January 1972. The promotion underwent some big changes in 1972, firstly, it started promoting matches at the then-brand-new Omni Coliseum. Secondly, it switched its television outlet from its home, WQXI-TV to an upstart UHF station then called WTCG. The new television deal would be one of Gunkels last decisions, ray Gunkel died of a heart attack later that year after a match versus Ox Baker in Savannah, Georgia. Ann Gunkel decided to start her own promotion outside of the National Wrestling Alliance and it didnt look good for Mid-South at that point, most of their wrestlers had gone with Ann, and Anns promotion had gotten Mid-Souths television time slot, though both promotions aired on WTBS. After two years of strife, a trouble-shooter was called in, Jim Barnett, who had owned promotions in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Colorado and Australia. At this point, Anns promotion went downhill, being locked out of dates, with wrestlers defecting to Mid-South. Many of the NWAs regional promoters were unhappy, but Barnett claimed since he was only using Georgia-based wrestlers, whether or not Barnett was in fact taking the promotion national is a matter of dispute. Some wrestlers, such as Roddy Piper, say that he was in doing so. Throughout the 1970s, Georgia Championship Wrestling was one of the shows that kept the Superstation alive. In 1982, Georgia Championship Wrestling changed its main programming name to World Championship Wrestling, GCW ran shows in Ohio & Michigan, wrestling returned to Dayton, Ohio in January 1983 after a lay-off of no wrestling in Dayton for five years
31.
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
32.
WCW Saturday Night
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WCW Saturday Night was a weekly Saturday night TV show on TBS produced by World Championship Wrestling. The program existed through various incarnations under different names before becoming WCW Saturday Night in 1992, the rights to WCW Saturday Night now belong to WWE as a result of that companys 2001 purchase of selected assets of WCW. WCW Saturday Night premiered on April 4,1992 as the showcase for the top talent. In addition, there was also a Sunday edition of World Championship Wrestling, however, in later years, in spring 1988, TBS replaced the Sunday edition with a new Sunday wrestling show called NWA Main Event. In all of its incarnations, WCW Saturday Night would normally air for two hours, during baseball season, however, it would typically air for one hour, to be immediately followed by an Atlanta Braves game. On December 25,1971, Georgia Championship Wrestling aired its first show, beginning in 1972, the promotion switched its Atlanta television outlet from its longtime home, WQXI-TV to upstart UHF independent station WTCG, owned by Ted Turner. Later in the decade WTCG became a superstation, and in 1979 it was renamed WTBS. Many of the NWAs regional promoters were unhappy, but promoter Jim Barnett claimed since he was only using Georgia-based wrestlers, throughout the 1970s, Georgia Championship Wrestling was one of the main shows that kept the Superstation alive. The Georgia Championship Wrestling TV series, hosted by Gordon Solie, was taped before a small, live in-studio audience, in 1982, Georgia Championship Wrestling changed its main programming name to World Championship Wrestling. Ted Turner had requested the change in hopes of giving the wrestling programming on the Superstation a less regional scope. Also, by point, GCW had been running shows in neutral territories like Ohio. Freddie Miller, an announcer, was the member of the original Georgia Championship Wrestling on-air cast who did not quit in protest or was immediately replaced by the new owner. McMahon had underestimated two major factors, however, the first was the differences in tastes between fanbases of different geographical regions. The WWFs soap operaish, sports entertainment style of wrestling sharply differed from that of GCWs more athletic, whereas the Georgia promotion featured an emphasis on in-ring action with talented workers, the WWF show featured a bunch of one-sided squash matches. This was despite the fact that McMahon had originally promised WTBS owner Ted Turner to produce programming for the TBS timeslot in Atlanta. Eventually, the WWF would have in-studio squash matches on the show on an infrequent basis, during this time, the show was co-hosted by Freddie Miller and Gorilla Monsoon, with Monsoon serving as the play-by-play announcer and Miller serving as the ring announcer. The following year, Turner gave Bill Watts Mid-South Wrestling, based around the New Orleans and Oklahoma areas and this upset Vince McMahon, who thought that his purchase of Georgia Championship Wrestling would give him an exclusive on WTBS. Ted Turner disagreed because he felt that McMahon reneged on the stipulation in the contract that required him to produce a separate weekly program from an Atlanta studio
33.
National Wrestling Alliance
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The National Wrestling Alliance is a professional wrestling governing body which has historically been the largest league of independent wrestling promotions in the world. The organization sanctions various NWA championship bouts within its member promotions, the NWA has been in operation since 1948. Prior to the 1960s, it acted as the governing body for most of professional wrestling, operating as a talent. Before the NWA was founded in 1948, there existed many regional professional wrestling promotions across North America, none of them, however, had backing or recognition outside of their own respective geographic base-areas. The concept of the NWA was to consolidate the championships of these companies into one true world championship of pro wrestling. In 1948, Paul Pinkie George, a promoter from the Midwest and this newly formed NWA Board of Directors wanted Brown to be the first-ever NWA World champion. This legitimized the NWAs claim that its title was a world title. The NWA members divided up North America, as well as Japan, into territories that each promoter would own, having a territory meant that no other NWA member could promote wrestling in that area unless special arrangements were made between the promoters involved. If non-NWA promoters tried to promote their show in an NWA territory, reportedly, threats of violence or physical retaliation were used against any promoters who disregarded the territory system. If any member territory broke the NWAs rules, it faced expulsion, for most promoters under the NWA umbrella, the benefits of membership were well worth the dues. Usually, the NWA Presidents territory was the territory of the entire alliance. Beyond the benefit of having other promotions to draw on in case of an intruder, the champion did not have a home territory as such, but instead traveled from territory to territory, defending the title against the top stars of each territory. It was not just the champion that would travel the territories, often, wrestlers from a different area would come into a territory, and run an angle or two with its top local faces. Also, if the local fans ever got tired of a wrestler, he could go to a new area and perform the same act for new audiences. This storyline was often advanced in the area from which the competitor was departing as resulting from the outcome of a highly promoted loser leaves town match. Upon becoming the booker for Lou Thesz in 1950, Muchnick, in the mid-1950s, serious disputes broke out within the NWA. There were antitrust problems with the government and there were a number of competing factions who wanted to replace Thesz as champion with different wrestlers, the antitrust case led to the infamous NWA Consent Decree of 1956 in U. S. v. National Wrestling Alliance. There were also disputes over the number of dates wrestled by the champion in various parts of the country, the first break within the organization occurred in 1957, when Montreal promoter Eddie Quinn walked out of the August NWA meeting in St. Louis
34.
Kamala (wrestler)
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James Jim Harris is an American retired professional wrestler and author. For most of his career, Harris wrestled under the ring name Kamala, Harris was born in Senatobia, Mississippi, and grew up in Coldwater, Mississippi, where his family owned a furniture store. When he was four, his father was shot dead during a dice game. The family collected welfare to help pay the bills and he became a habitual burglar in his teens and, in 1967, local police suggested he leave town. As Harris put it, Back then if you didnt leave like they said and he relocated to Florida, where he picked fruit. At age 25, he moved to Michigan, where he met wrestler Bobo Brazil, Harris then began training as a wrestler, under Brazils friend, Tiny Tim Hampton. He moved to Arkansas to continue training and escape the snow in Michigan, Harris trained alongside Michael Hayes, Percy Pringle, and Terry Gordy. He debuted in 1978, facing The Great Mephisto, Harris originally wrestled as Sugar Bear Harris, then Ugly Bear Harris and Big Jim Harris. He wrestled in the United Kingdom for several years, developing his skills, Harris then returned to the United States. While acquiring a new costume in Memphis, Tennessee, Harris was asked by Jerry Lawler, Harris agreed, and, together with Lawler, created Kamala, drawing upon ideas for a character originally developed for Harris by The Great Mephisto. Jarrett and Lawler decided that portraying an African wrestler would help Harris succeed, despite his technical wrestling ability. There are two stories on the origin of the name, Jarrett said he took it from a National Geographic Magazine article hed read, about a Doctor Kimala, Lawler says it was derived from Ugandas capital, Kampala. The character was a vicious and simple-minded Ugandan cannibal, with face and he wrestled barefoot and in a loincloth. Kamala wrestled for Mid-South Wrestling, Memphis, and World Class Championship Wrestling in the early 1980s, in Mid-South Wrestling, Kamala was nicknamed The Ugandan Giant, managed by General Skandor Akbar and billed as a former bodyguard of President of Uganda Idi Amin. Kamala had several runs in the World Wrestling Federation in the 1980s and 1990s, Harris later admitted to pulling a loaded Magnum on him in the locker room the night after a fistfight broke out during the match. Kamala briefly left the WWF, returning in 1986 with the masked handler now named Kim Chee, in this run, Kamala battled Hulk Hogan and Jake the Snake Roberts, the latter feud beginning after Roberts exposed Kamalas fear of snakes. He was then managed by Mr. Fuji and formed a tag team with Wild Samoan Sika and he then wrestled for the Memphis-based United States Wrestling Association, feuding with Jerry Lawler and Koko B. Ware, and winning the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship four times, Kamala returned to the WWF in 1992, along with Kim Chee, and managed by Harvey Wippleman
35.
Jim Crockett Promotions
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Jim Crockett Promotions Inc. was a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1931, the promotion emerged as a cornerstone of the National Wrestling Alliance, by the 1980s, Jim Crockett Promotions was, along with the World Wrestling Federation, one of the two largest promotions in the United States. The Crockett family sold a majority interest in the promotion to Turner Broadcasting System in 1988, Jim Crockett was a promoter of live events including professional wrestling, music concerts, plays, minor league baseball, and ice hockey. In 1931, he founded his own wrestling promotion, Jim Crockett Promotions. Crockett built JCP as a regional promotion centred on the Carolinas, although the business was always called Jim Crockett Promotions, it used a variety of pseudonyms as brand names for specific TV shows, newspaper and radio ads, and even on event tickets, themselves. Crockett joined the National Wrestling Alliance in 1952, and his territory covered Virginia, North Carolina, the name Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling became JCPs primary brand name in print, radio, and other advertising. Two years later, JCP introduced the Wide World Wrestling brand name, JCP used the Wide World/World Wide and Mid-Atlantic brands concurrently. The business was incorporated in the 1950s and he left JCP to his family, with his eldest son, Jim Crockett, Jr. taking over as chief executive. In 1981, JCP moved to the WPCQ-TV studios in Charlotte, the local shows hosted by announcers like Big Bill Ward and Charlie Harville gave way to Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. Mid-Atlantic was hosted by Bob Caudle Caudle was joined by a rotation of co-hosts, for a brief period, a secondary show, East Coast Wrestling, was taped at WRAL, it was basically a re-packaged version of Mid-Atlantic, and was announced by Big Bill Ward. In 1975, JCP premiered a new, syndicated B-show, Wide World Wrestling, the original host of this show was former Georgia Championship Wrestling announcer Ed Capral. Subsequent Wide World/World Wide announcers included Les Thatcher, George and Sandy Scott and it was also hosted by the team of Rich Landrum and Johnny Weaver. Rich Landrum and David Crockett appeared on Best Of, doing interviews for local arena shows. JCP gradually began to expand, running shows in eastern Tennessee, parts of West Virginia, in the late-1970s and early-1980s, JCP ran regular shows in Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio. Crockett and Scott also bought minority shares of Frank Tunneys Toronto-based promotion, Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling also aired on a Buffalo, New York station, enabling the Tunney/Crockett/Scott enterprise to bring a full slate of shows to Ontario and upstate New York. In the 1980s, Crockett, Jr. began consolidating the Southern franchises of the National Wrestling Alliance, in August 1980, Crockett, Jr. was elected president of the NWA. In 1981, former Georgia Championship Wrestling booker Ole Anderson took over as Mid-Atlantics booker, in 1981, Anderson booked both JCP and GCW simultaneously. In 1982, Crockett partnered with wrestlers Ric Flair and Blackjack Mulligan to start a company out of Knoxville, Tennessee
36.
Tag team
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Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, in most team matches, only one competitor per team is allowed in the ring at a time. This status as the active or legal wrestler may be transferred by physical contact, the team-based match has been a mainstay of professional wrestling since the mid twentieth century, and most promotions have sanctioned a championship division for tag teams. g. A couple tag-teaming in an argument with another person, in 1901 the first tag team match was held in the United States, in San Francisco. San Francisco promoters introduced tag team wrestling as a way of improving the sport’s entertainment value, while tag team wrestling is now almost traditional in American professional wrestling, the innovation didnt become especially popular outside San Francisco until the 1930s. The first World tag team championship was also crowned in San Francisco in the early 1950s, typically, a tag team championship is awarded to and defended by team of two. In kayfabe, this made it difficult for challengers to prepare for their title fights. This was a gimmick, and is still utilized by other wrestling companies. The stipulation has become known as the freebird rule. A common storyline is former tag team partners turning on each other and this can be used when one member is being called on to develop a new gimmick. The basic tag team match has two teams of two facing off against each other. All standard rules for singles wrestling apply to a team match, however, only one wrestler from each team, called the legal man is allowed in the ring at a time. All other members of the team wait outside the ropes in the teams specified corner, only an active/legal wrestler is allowed to score a fall or have a fall scored against him/her. But any wrestler, legal or outside, may face disqualification for himself or his team for violating rules, once a tag is made, the wrestler tagging out has a grace period to leave the ring before risking disqualification. The wrestler outside the ring must be touching the tag rope tied in the corner, tags are legal as long as the two team members touch. The referee has to see and/or hear the contact between the two wrestlers in order for the tag to be legal. As the ultimate authority over the match, a referee may overlook any of these at his discretion, in some multi-man tag matches in lucha libre, a wrestler can make himself the teams legal man simply by setting foot in the ring, and his partner then leaves. This allows for action to become nearly continuous, two referees, one stationed inside the ring and one on the floor, are employed to maintain order for this type of match
37.
The Road Warriors
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The Road Warriors were a professional wrestling tag team composed of Michael Hawk Hegstrand and Joseph Animal Laurinaitis. Under either name, their gimmick was the same – two imposing muscular wrestlers in face paint, for brief periods, other wrestlers were added as stand-in partners for both men. In Japan in the 1990s, Kensuke Power Warrior Sasaki often teamed with Hawk and Animal, separately, Hawk and Animal were known for their impressive physiques, and revolutionized the business by popularizing the use of face paint, and introducing a tandem maneuver known as the Doomsday Device. Both men used the move as a team finisher throughout their careers, the Road Warriors are regarded by many as the greatest tag team in professional wrestling history. Animal had briefly competed as the Road Warrior before Ole Anderson paired him up with fellow Chicagoan Hawk to form the Road Warriors in 1983. They were initially brought into Precious Paul Ellerings stable as a replacement for his team of Matt Borne and Arn Anderson, after a few months of rapid success, the Road Warriors dumped Ellering as manager, claiming they needed no manager. This was shortlived, as in early 84, along with Precious Paul Ellering formed a stable called The Legion of Doom in the National Wrestling Alliance s Georgia Championship Wrestling territory, the group consisted of the Road Warriors, Jake The Snake Roberts, The Spoiler. The stable was short lived and the name Legion of Doom soon referred only to the Road Warriors and Ellering with either name used interchangeably throughout their career. Animal reveals in the Road Warriors, The Life and Death of the Most Dominant Tag-Team in Wrestling History DVD set that the name Legion of Doom was taken from the Super Friends cartoon. In Georgia, the team rose to the top despite being very young. They gained a reputation for being stiff and not selling simply because they could. They won the NWA National Tag Team Championship upon their debut, in 1984, the Road Warriors moved on to Verne Gagnes American Wrestling Association along with their manager Paul Ellering. On August 25,1984, they defeated The Crusher and Baron von Raschke for the AWA World Tag Team Championship, the Road Warriors were brought in by Gagne to work as heels, but their squash matches soon won over fans. They became the AWAs top draw throughout 1984 and 1985, feuding primarily with The Fabulous Ones, Hawk and Animal eventually lost the AWA title to Jimmy Garvin and Mr. Electricity Steve Regal on September 29,1985, due to the interference of the Freebirds. The Road Warriors last appearance in the AWA was on April 20,1986 at WrestleRock where they defeated the team of Garvin, during their AWA stint the team became well known for using the Black Sabbath song Iron Man as their entrance theme. This and subsequent dominant victories garnered the Road Warriors a lot of Japanese wrestling media headlines and their tours with AJPW in 1985 and 1986 made the Road Warriors such legends in Japan that they toured the country whenever they were “between contracts” of the big three. Their last match in Japan during this period was on July 22,1990, for New Japan Pro Wrestling, losing to Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh by disqualification. On April 19,1986, The Road Warriors won the inaugural Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament by beating Ron Garvin and Magnum T. A. in the finals
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