1.
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
2.
Martial arts
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Although the term martial art has become associated with the fighting arts of eastern Asia, it originally referred to the combat systems of Europe as early as the 1550s. The term is derived from Latin, and means arts of Mars, Martial arts may be categorized along a variety of criteria, including, Traditional or historical arts vs. contemporary styles of folk wrestling and modern hybrid martial arts. Such traditions include eskrima, silat, kalaripayat, kobudo, and historical European martial arts, Many Chinese martial arts also feature weapons as part of their curriculum. Similarly, modern Western martial arts and sports include fencing, stick-fighting systems like canne de combat or singlestick. Combat-oriented Health-oriented Many martial arts, especially those from Asia, also teach side disciplines which pertain to medicinal practices and this is particularly prevalent in traditional Asian martial arts which may teach bone-setting, herbalism, and other aspects of traditional medicine. Spirituality-oriented Martial arts can also be linked with religion and spirituality, numerous systems are reputed to have been founded, disseminated, or practiced by monks or nuns. Throughout Asia, meditation may be incorporated as part of training, in those countries influenced by Hindu-Buddhist philosophy, the art itself may be used as an aid to attaining enlightenment. Japanese styles, when concerning non-physical qualities of the combat, are strongly influenced by Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. Concepts like empty mind and beginners mind are recurrent, aikido, for instance, can have a strong philosophical belief of the flow of energy and peace fostering, as idealised by its founder Morihei Ueshiba. Traditional Korean martial arts place emphasis on the development of the spiritual and philosophical development. A common theme in most Korean styles, such as taekkyeon and taekwondo, is the value of peace in a practitioner. The Koreans believe that the use of force is only justified through defense. Many such martial arts incorporate music, especially strong percussive rhythms, the oldest works of art depicting scenes of battle are cave paintings from Spain dated between 10,000 and 6,000 BCE that show organized groups fighting with bows and arrows. Chinese martial arts originated during the Xia Dynasty more than 4000 years ago and it is said the Yellow Emperor Huangdi introduced the earliest fighting systems to China. The Yellow Emperor is described as a general who, before becoming Chinas leader, wrote lengthy treatises on medicine, astrology. One of his opponents was Chi You who was credited as the creator of jiao di. The foundation of modern Asian martial arts is likely a blend of early Chinese, during the Warring States period of Chinese history extensive development in martial philosophy and strategy emerged, as described by Sun Tzu in The Art of War. Legendary accounts link the origin of Shaolinquan to the spread of Buddhism from India during the early 5th century AD, with the figure of Bodhidharma, to China
3.
Internet
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The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite to link devices worldwide. The origins of the Internet date back to research commissioned by the United States federal government in the 1960s to build robust, the primary precursor network, the ARPANET, initially served as a backbone for interconnection of regional academic and military networks in the 1980s. Although the Internet was widely used by academia since the 1980s, Internet use grew rapidly in the West from the mid-1990s and from the late 1990s in the developing world. In the two decades since then, Internet use has grown 100-times, measured for the period of one year, newspaper, book, and other print publishing are adapting to website technology, or are reshaped into blogging, web feeds and online news aggregators. The entertainment industry was initially the fastest growing segment on the Internet, the Internet has enabled and accelerated new forms of personal interactions through instant messaging, Internet forums, and social networking. Business-to-business and financial services on the Internet affect supply chains across entire industries, the Internet has no centralized governance in either technological implementation or policies for access and usage, each constituent network sets its own policies. The term Internet, when used to refer to the global system of interconnected Internet Protocol networks, is a proper noun. In common use and the media, it is not capitalized. Some guides specify that the word should be capitalized when used as a noun, the Internet is also often referred to as the Net, as a short form of network. Historically, as early as 1849, the word internetted was used uncapitalized as an adjective, the designers of early computer networks used internet both as a noun and as a verb in shorthand form of internetwork or internetworking, meaning interconnecting computer networks. The terms Internet and World Wide Web are often used interchangeably in everyday speech, however, the World Wide Web or the Web is only one of a large number of Internet services. The Web is a collection of interconnected documents and other web resources, linked by hyperlinks, the term Interweb is a portmanteau of Internet and World Wide Web typically used sarcastically to parody a technically unsavvy user. The ARPANET project led to the development of protocols for internetworking, the third site was the Culler-Fried Interactive Mathematics Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, followed by the University of Utah Graphics Department. In an early sign of growth, fifteen sites were connected to the young ARPANET by the end of 1971. These early years were documented in the 1972 film Computer Networks, early international collaborations on the ARPANET were rare. European developers were concerned with developing the X.25 networks, in December 1974, RFC675, by Vinton Cerf, Yogen Dalal, and Carl Sunshine, used the term internet as a shorthand for internetworking and later RFCs repeated this use. Access to the ARPANET was expanded in 1981 when the National Science Foundation funded the Computer Science Network, in 1982, the Internet Protocol Suite was standardized, which permitted worldwide proliferation of interconnected networks.5 Mbit/s and 45 Mbit/s. Commercial Internet service providers emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990
4.
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
5.
Michael Cole (wrestling)
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Michael Sean Coulthard better known by his stage name Michael Cole, is an American professional wrestling commentator, show host, voice actor and former journalist. He is signed to WWE where he serves as the commentator on Raw and Raw pay-per-view events. Coulthard began his career in the media as a journalist, working for CBS Radio and his first high-profile assignment was to cover the failed 1988 US presidential campaign of Democratic Party nominee Michael Dukakis. In 1992, he reported on the campaign of Bill Clinton. Coulthard covered the 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, the following year, he spent nine months covering the Yugoslavian civil war. In 1995, he was selected to cover the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing. He returned to the campaign trail in 1996 to cover the campaigns of Steve Forbes. Coulthard came to the World Wrestling Federation in mid-1997 after being recommended to company officials by Todd Pettengill and he provided voice-overs for promotional videos and later became the host of LiveWire show alongside Jim Cornette. Cole first appeared on screen at the June 30,1997 episode of Raw is War, interviewing the Legion of Doom, in late 1997, Cole became one of the three announcers for the first hour of Monday Night Raw, alongside Jim Ross and Kevin Kelly. Eventually Cole was permanently replaced by Jerry Lawler later in the year, in 1999, Cole became the regular play-by-play announcer for Monday Night Raw, subbing for Jim Ross when Ross was devastated by Bells palsy. Television program debuted later that year, Cole was chosen to be the shows play-by-play announcer, Cole also had a stint doing commentary on SmackDown. s former sister show WWE Velocity. As an announcer, Cole was rarely involved in storylines, however, he has had roles in storylines involving Heidenreich, Stephanie McMahon, Vito. His 2004 angle with Heidenreich became infamous due to a scene where Heidenreich Heidenraped him in the arena restroom. In a 2008 interview, Heidenreich explained that the Cole rape angle was McMahons idea, and he also appeared in the Taxi Driver parody trailer in promotion of WrestleMania 21. On April 26,2006, WWE announced that Cole would become the Managing Editor of WWE. com, shortly after, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon told shareholders in a meeting held on September 14 that he thought that the website sucks. In response, Cole replied on WWE. Cole went on to say, So in summary, the web site does suck, compared to where we are going to take it, wish I could say the same for the boss. On the June 9 episode of SmackDown, Coles broadcast partner Tazz left from SmackDown to ECW on SciFi, leaving Cole at that moment without a broadcast partner. At ECW One Night Stand, John Bradshaw Layfield announced he would replace Tazz as color commentator and this proved true five days later when he appeared on that weeks episode of SmackDown. as Coles new broadcast partner
6.
Dwayne Johnson
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Dwayne Douglas Johnson, also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor, producer, singer, and professional wrestler. He holds American and Canadian citizenships and he later played for the Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League and was cut two months into the 1995 season. This led him to become a professional wrestler like his grandfather, Peter Maivia and he returned to wrestling part-time for WWE from 2011 to 2013 and continues to make sporadic non-wrestling appearances for the company. Johnson has 17 championship reigns in WWE, including 10 as a champion, winning the WWF/WWE Championship eight times. He won the WWF Intercontinental Championship twice and the WWF Tag Team Championship five times, Johnson is the sixth Triple Crown Champion in WWE history and won the 2000 Royal Rumble. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, co-written with Joe Layden, was published in 2000. It debuted at No.1 on The New York Times Best Seller list, spent 20 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, Johnsons first leading film role was in The Scorpion King in 2002. For this role, he was paid US $5.5 million and he has since appeared in various films, and become known for his ability to reinvigorate film franchises. Perhaps his greatest success in his career can be sourced to his role as Luke Hobbs in The Fast. Forbes listed Johnson No.25 in the Top 100 Most Powerful Celebrities in 2013 and he is the worlds highest-paid actor of 2016. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016, in 2015, Muscle & Fitness named Johnson their Man of the Century. Johnson was born in Hayward, California, the son of Ata Johnson and professional wrestler Wayde Douglas Bowles and his maternal grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia, was also a wrestler. His maternal grandmother, Lia Maivia, was one of few female promoters, taking over Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling after her husbands death in 1982. His cousin, Savelina Fanene, is also a wrestler working for WWE. His father is a Black Nova Scotian, and his mother is of Samoan heritage and his father was part of the first black tag team to win the World Tag Team Championship in the World Wrestling Federation. Through his mother, he is considered a relative of the Anoai wrestling family. Johnson briefly lived in the suburb of Grey Lynn in Auckland and he attended Richmond Road Primary School, before returning to the United States with his parents. Johnson spent 10th grade at President William McKinley High School in Honolulu, as he entered 11th grade, his fathers job required his relocation to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
7.
Chris Jericho
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Jericho is known for his over-the-top, rockstar persona. He also found success while performing for international promotions in countries such as Canada, Japan. He is also the ninth Triple Crown Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam Champion in WWE history, Jericho is a six-time world champion, having won the WWF Championship once, the WCW/World Championship twice, and WWEs World Heavyweight Championship three times. He is also a record nine-time Intercontinental Champion, beating out four other contenders in a 2013 WWE fan poll to determine the greatest champion in history with a landslide 63% of the vote. Jericho has headlined multiple pay-per-view events during his time with the company, baltimore Sun writer Kevin Eck wrote that Jericho has proved to be one of best all-around performers in the business, particularly regarded as one of the very best talkers. Outside of professional wrestling, Jericho became the lead vocalist of the band Fozzy in 1999, Jericho also competed in the 2011 series of Dancing With the Stars, lasting until the sixth week. Prior to this, he hosted the ABC game show Downfall, Irvine was born in Manhasset, New York. His father, ice hockey player Ted Irvine, had relocated there to play for the New York Rangers, when his father retired, they moved back to Winnipeg, Manitoba. In addition to Hart, Irvine also cited Ricky The Dragon Steamboat and he also took a course in creative communication at Red River Community College in Winnipeg, where he graduated with top honors. At age 19, he entered the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling and he was trained by Ed Langley and local Calgary wrestler Brad Young. The pair then worked as a tag team, initially called Sudden Impact and he took the name Jericho from an album, Walls of Jericho, by German power metal band, Helloween. Jericho and Storm worked for Tony Condello in the tours of Northern Manitoba with Adam Copeland, Jason Reso, the pair also wrestled in Calgarys Canadian National Wrestling Alliance and Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling. In 1991, Jericho and Storm started touring in Japan for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling as Sudden Impact, where he befriended Ricky Fuji, who also trained under Stu Hart. In CMLL, Jericho took on Silver King, Negro Casas, after leaving Mexico, Jericho wrestled in Hamburg, Germany for six weeks as part of a tournament run by Rene Lasartesse. In late 1994, Jericho began competing regularly in Japan for Genichiro Tenryus Wrestling, in November 1994, Último Dragón defeated him for the NWA World Middleweight Championship, which he had won while wrestling in Mexico. In March 1995, Jericho lost to Gedo in the final of a tournament to crown the inaugural WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship and he defeated Gedo for the championship in June 1995, losing it to Último Dragón the next month. In December 1995, Jericho competed in the second Super J-Cup tournament, in 1996, Jericho joined the villain stable Fuyuki-Gun with Hiromichi Fuyuki, Gedo, and Jado, adopting the name Lion Do. The stable was nicknamed Team No Respect for its members brash mannerisms, in February 1996, Jericho and Gedo won a tournament for the newly created International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, defeating Lance Storm and Yuji Yasuraoka in the final
8.
Dave Bautista
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David Michael Dave Bautista Jr. is an American actor and former professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, and bodybuilder. He holds the record for the longest reign as World Heavyweight Champion at 282 days and he was the winner of the 2005 Royal Rumble match and went on to headline WrestleMania 21, one of the top five highest-grossing pay-per-view events in professional wrestling history. When Bautista returned to WWE in 2014, he won the 2014 Royal Rumble match, in August 2012, Bautista signed a contract with Classic Entertainment & Sports to fight in mixed martial arts. He won his MMA debut on October 6,2012, defeating Vince Lucero via TKO in the first round and he was representing the Philippines during the fight. Bautista first entered the world of acting in 2006, Bautista is set to reprise his role as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 and Avengers, Infinity War. He has also appeared in several films since 2009. Bautista was born in Washington, D. C and his mother, Donna Raye, has Greek ancestry, and his father, David Michael Bautista, is the son of Filipino immigrants. His parents separated and eventually divorced and his paternal grandfather served in the Philippines military, worked as a taxicab driver, barber, and held other jobs to feed the family. Bautista has said that he is not ashamed to admit he lived in poverty and he has admitted to having a hard life, before he had reached the age of nine, three murders had occurred on his front lawn. As young as age 13, he was stealing automobiles, by age 17, Bautista was considered estranged from his parents and lived on his own. He later admitted, I am proud of my parents and they are good, honest, hard-working folks. They taught me the values of working hard and he became a regular bouncer for clubs until he was arrested after a fight that left two patrons injured, one of whom was rendered unconscious. After a trial, he was sentenced to one year of probation and he also worked as a lifeguard before pursuing a career in bodybuilding. He credits bodybuilding with potentially saving his life, Bautista tried out at the World Championship Wrestling Power Plant, but was told he would never make it in the wrestling business by Sgt. Bautista also trained with Marrese Crump in Muay Thai and Eskrima, most recently, he trained at Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu under Cesar Gracie and has become a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He made his Ohio Valley Wrestling debut in 2000 under the ring name Leviathan, as a member of the Disciples of Synn stable, he went undefeated until being beaten at Christmas Chaos by Kane with help from Stone Cold Steve Austin. He later won the OVW Heavyweight Championship from The Machine Doug Basham before losing the belt to The Prototype, a few months later, Bautista left OVW after he was promoted WWEs main roster. While still in OVW, Bautista began appearing on non-televised WWE events and he began his televised WWE career on May 9,2002 on an episode of SmackDown. as Deacon Batista, a villainous enforcer for Reverend DVon
9.
Trish Stratus
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After beginning her career as a fitness model, Stratus began working for the World Wrestling Federation, which was later renamed World Wrestling Entertainment. Early in her career, she was involved in sexually themed storylines, such as managing the team T & A. As Stratus spent more time in the ring, her wrestling skills strengthened. Because of this, she was made a one-time WWE Hardcore Champion, after nearly seven years in the business, Stratus retired from professional wrestling at WWE Unforgiven on September 17,2006 after winning her record-setting seventh WWE Womens Championship. In 2011, Stratus was a trainer for WWE Tough Enough and she was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013 at age 37, which made her at the time the youngest person to ever be inducted. Aside from professional wrestling, Stratus appeared on a number of covers and has been involved in charity work. She has also hosted several award and television shows, and owns a yoga studio, Stratigeas grew up in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada where she attended Bayview Secondary School. She enrolled at York University, where she studied biology and kinesiology and played soccer, due to a faculty strike in 1997, she was forced to change her plans. She was working as a receptionist at a gym when she was approached by the publisher of MuscleMag International to do a test shoot for the magazine. She later appeared on the cover of the May 1998 issue and was signed to a two-year contract, for the next six months, she worked on her body and appeared on numerous magazine covers. During this time, she joined Big Daddy Donnie & Jeff Marek as the third host of Live Audio Wrestling on Toronto Sports Radio, Stratigeas had been a fan of wrestling since childhood and was especially fond of wrestlers Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, among others. Her modelling work caught the attention of the World Wrestling Federation, in November 1999, she was signed to a multi-year contract with the company, who sent her to Sullys Gym where she was trained by Ron Hutchison. Stratigeas made her debut as a character on the March 19,2000 episode of Sunday Night Heat. She appeared on stage to scout Test and Prince Albert, the next night on Raw, Stratus began her first role in the company, managing Test and Albert in the tag team T & A. In June, she was on the end of a stink face from Rikishi on Raw. She also began managing then-heel, Val Venis to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship, Stratus made her in-ring debut at the June 22 taping of SmackDown. Winning a tag match with T & A against the Hardy Boyz. A storyline feud between Stratus and Lita developed after the match with Stratus attacking Lita on episodes of Raw and this led to an Indian Strap match between the two women on the July 24 episode of Raw, which Stratus won with help from Stephanie McMahon
10.
Ric Flair
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Richard Morgan Fliehr, better known as Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestling manager and retired professional wrestler signed to WWE under its Legends program. Widely regarded as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair has cultivated a legacy over a career that spans 40 years, Flair is noted for his tenures with the National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Since the mid-1970s, he has used the moniker the Nature Boy, PWI awarded Flair their Wrestler of the Year award a record six times, while Wrestling Observer Newsletter named Flair as the Wrestler of the Year on a record of nine occasions. According to Mick Foley, he had two stints as a booker in WCW, from 1989–1990 and again in 1994, Flair was the first titleholder of both the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship. In being the inaugural WCW World Heavyweight Champion, he became the first WCWs Triple Crown Champion, having already held the United States Heavyweight. He then completed WWEs version of the Triple Crown when he won the Intercontinental Championship, after holding the WWF Championship. Richard Fliehr was born on February 25,1949 in Memphis, in the opening chapter of his autobiography To Be the Man, he notes that his birth name is given on different documents as Fred Phillips, son of Olive and Luther Phillips. He was adopted, at the time of his adoption, as reported in the chapter of his autobiography entitled Black Market Baby. Shortly afterward, the family settled in Edina, Minnesota, where the young Fliehr lived throughout his childhood, as a teen, Fliehr took a summer job as a lifeguard at a local pool in Minnesota. He received his first exposure to the business when he met the Vachon brothers. He dropped out of college without receiving his degree and he then worked as a bouncer at a nearby club, where he met Olympic weightlifter Ken Patera, who was preparing for a ring career at Verne Gagnes wrestling school. Patera introduced Flair to Verne Gagne, who agreed to him on as a member of his training class. Under the tutelage of Josh Klemme and Billy Robinson, Flair was friends with Ken Patera before entering wrestling, Patera had an association with Verne Gagne through his weightlifting career and with that relationship an opportunity arose for Flair to train with Verne Gagne as a professional wrestler. Flair attended Gagnes first wrestling camp with Greg Gagne, Jim Brunzell, Iron Sheik, the intensity of Gagnes training camp, which spawned several champions including Flair, caused Flair to nearly quit the camp until Gagne persuaded him to continue. On December 10,1972, He made his debut in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, Flair originally considered Rambling Ricky Rhodes, in tribute to Dusty Rhodes. Weighing nearly 300 pounds with brown hair, Flair scarcely resembled his future Nature Boy image. During his time in the American Wrestling Association, Flair had matches with Dusty Rhodes, André the Giant, Larry Hennig, Flair first competed in Japan in 1973 for International Wrestling Enterprise, due to a working agreement between AWA promoter Verne Gagne and the IWE. After Flair left the AWA for Jim Crockett Jr. s Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling in 1974, on April 27,1978, Flair challenged for the NWA United National Championship in a losing effort
11.
Bill Goldberg
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Regarded as one of the more popular professional wrestlers of the late 1990s, Goldberg was the top star and public face of World Championship Wrestling at the peak of the Monday Night Wars. Goldberg is best known for his time in WCW, where he performed between 1997 and 2001, Goldberg rose to fame in WCW with a lengthy undefeated streak in singles competition from 1997 to 1998, which is considered the longest winning streak in professional wrestling. During this time, he became WCW United States Champion and WCW World Heavyweight Champion and he was also a one-time WCW World Tag Team Champion, making him along with Hart the fifth WCW Triple Crown winner. Following WCWs closure in 2001, Goldberg wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling between 2002 and 2003, and for WWE between 2003 and 2004, becoming a one-time World Heavyweight Champion in the latter. Goldberg headlined multiple pay-per-view events for WCW and WWE, including closing WCWs premier annual event, Starrcade, before he was a professional wrestler, Goldberg was a professional football player. After first retiring from wrestling, he began working as a commentator for the mixed martial arts promotion EliteXC until its closure. He hosted 26 episodes of Garage Mahal on the DIY Network from 2009 to 2011, Goldberg was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he had a bar mitzvah at Temple Israel and graduated from Tulsa Edison High School. He acquired a love for early in life and was a bouncer at age 16. Goldbergs mother, Ethel, is a classical violinist, while his father, Jed and they divorced, and Jed died in late 2006. Ethel also breeds flowers and created a hybrid orchid, which she named after Goldberg. His brother, Michael, is the owner of a club in Aspen. Goldberg is proud of his Jewish heritage and refused to hide it in the wrestling world and his Romanian great-grandfather, Marcel, emigrated from Bucharest and came to the U. S. through Ellis Island. His other great-grandfather, Willie, was a Russian immigrant, Goldberg earned a scholarship to play for the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team where he served as a defensive tackle. He was taken by the Los Angeles Rams in the 11th round, with the 302nd overall selection and he played for the Los Angeles Rams in the 1990 NFL season, followed by a stint with the CFL Sacramento Gold Miners and Atlanta Falcons from 1992 to 1994. After being cut from the Falcons, in 1995 he was selected by the new team, the Carolina Panthers, in the 1995 NFL expansion draft. He was the first player to have been cut by the Panthers, Goldbergs NFL career ended when he tore his lower abdomen off his pelvis. He had hopes of returning to the league after rehabilitation but, due to his lack of success, wasnt considered a major asset. Goldberg has described playing in the NFL as an emotional experience because, despite reaching the goal of simply playing in the NFL
12.
Kenny Dykstra
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Kenneth George Doane Jr. is an American professional wrestler. He previously performed for WWE as Kenny Dykstra and Kenny, Doane was trained by former professional wrestler Killer Kowalski, and made his wrestling debut at the age of fifteen in 2001. He began working for Ohio Valley Wrestling, per WWE request, in May 2003, Doane made his WWE television debut as Ken Phoenix. During his time in OVW, he won the Television Championship once, after losing the title, Doane became part of The Spirit Squad faction. The team debuted on Raw in January 2006, and won the World Tag Team Championship three months later, following the split of the Spirit Squad, Doane was the only member to remain on WWE television. He debuted to a new ring name Kenny Dykstra, in June 2007, he was drafted to the SmackDown. Brand, but was released from his WWE contract in November 2008 and he later began working on the independent circuit, wrestling for promotions including Dragon Gate USA and Evolve. Doane made his wrestling debut in 2001 at the age of fifteen. He started his wrestling career in the New England area under the name Broadway Kenn Phoenix. He was later trained by professional wrestler and trainer Killer Kowalski in Malden, after being contacted by World Wrestling Entertainment, he was asked to make appearances for their developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling. Doane made his first national appearance in WWE at the age of 17 on the May 12,2003 episode of WWE Raw as Ken Phoenix. Along with his brother, Mike Phoenix, he was a participant in Rodney Macks ongoing 5-Minute White Boy Challenge where Mack defeated Caucasian wrestlers in under five minutes, Mack defeated the pair in 1,31, forcing them both to submit to his new Blackout finishing hold. He made another appearance, losing to Lance Storm on an episode of Sunday Night Heat before being signed to a developmental deal. On June 3,2005, Doane had his first match, at the promotion, against Kenzo Suzuki, three weeks later, on June 25,2005, he won the Television Championship from Deuce Shade. He had successful defenses, but Doane lost the title to CM Punk on November 9,2005. After losing the Television Championship, Doane became a part of the Spirit Squad, on the January 23,2006, episode of Raw, the group helped Jonathan Coachman win a Royal Rumble qualifying match against Jerry The King Lawler by performing cheers for Coachman and distracting Lawler. They later became a part of the scripted feud between WWE chairman Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels. The villainous McMahon brought in the Squad to attack Michaels on numerous occasions, after winning the championship, all five members of the team were recognized as the champions, allowing any combination of them to defend the championship
