1.
Stevie Ray Vaughan
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Stephen Stevie Ray Vaughan was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. AllMusic describes him as a powerhouse of a guitarist who gave blues a burst of momentum in the 80s. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Vaughan began playing guitar at the age of seven, in 1971 he dropped out of high school, and moved to Austin the following year. He played gigs with bands, earning a spot in Marc Bennos band, the Nightcrawlers. He then formed his own group, Triple Threat Revue, before renaming the band Double Trouble after hiring drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon. He gained fame after his performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1982, the ten-song album was a commercially successful release that sold over half a million copies. After achieving sobriety in late 1986, he headlined concert tours with Jeff Beck in 1989 and Joe Cocker in 1990 before his death in a crash on August 27,1990. Vaughan was inspired musically by American and British blues rock and he favored clean amplifiers with high volume and contributed to the popularity of vintage musical equipment. He often combined several different amplifiers together and used minimal effects pedals, however, Vaughan occasionally used pedals to augment his sound, mainly to boost the signal, although he occasionally employed a rotating speaker cabinet and wah pedals for added textural flair. Vaughan received several awards during his lifetime and posthumously. In 1983, readers of Guitar Player voted him Best New Talent, in 1984, the Blues Foundation named him Entertainer of the Year and Blues Instrumentalist of the Year, and in 1987, Performance Magazine honored him with Rhythm and Blues Act of the Year. Earning six Grammy Awards and ten Austin Music Awards, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2000, Rolling Stone ranked Vaughan as the twelfth greatest guitarist of all time. In 2015, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Vaughans ancestry has been traced back to his great-grandfather, Robert Hodgen LaRue. Robert LaRue had a daughter named Laura Belle, Vaughans paternal grandmother and she married Thomas Lee Vaughan and moved to Rockwall County, Texas, where they lived by sharecropping. On September 6,1921, they had a son named Jimmie Lee Vaughan, steves father Jim Vaughan, also known as Big Jim, dropped out of school at age sixteen, and enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II. After his discharge, he married Martha Cook on January 13,1950, Stephen Ray Vaughan was born on October 3,1954, in Dallas, Texas, he was three-and-a-half years younger than his brother Jimmie. Big Jim secured a job as a worker, an occupation that involved rigorous manual effort. The family moved frequently, living in states such as Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi
2.
Houston
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Houston is the most populous city in the state of Texas and the fourth-most populous city in the United States. With a census-estimated 2014 population of 2.239 million within an area of 667 square miles, it also is the largest city in the southern United States and the seat of Harris County. Located in Southeast Texas near the Gulf of Mexico, it is the city of Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land. Houston was founded on August 28,1836, near the banks of Buffalo Bayou and incorporated as a city on June 5,1837. The city was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had commanded, the burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the citys population. Houstons economy has an industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics. Leading in health care sectors and building equipment, Houston has more Fortune 500 headquarters within its city limits than any city except for New York City. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled, the city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse city in Texas and has described as the most diverse in the United States. It is home to cultural institutions and exhibits, which attract more than 7 million visitors a year to the Museum District. Houston has a visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District. In August 1836, two real estate entrepreneurs from New York, Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding a city. The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the general at the Battle of San Jacinto. The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through the slave trade. New Orleans was the center of trade in the Deep South. Thousands of enslaved African Americans lived near the city before the Civil War, many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. Houston was granted incorporation on June 5,1837, with James S. Holman becoming its first mayor, in the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas
3.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
Booker T (wrestler)
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Booker T. Huffman Jr. better known by his ring name Booker T, is an American retired professional wrestler and promoter, signed with WWE. He is also the owner and founder of the independent promotion Reality of Wrestling in Texas City, Booker is a six-time world champion, having won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship five times and WWEs World Heavyweight Championship once. He is the first non-mixed race African American to become a champion in WWE. Booker has also gained success as a tag team wrestler. Additionally, he was the winner of the King of the Ring tournament in 2006, the sixteenth Triple Crown Champion, as the ninth Triple Crown Champion in WCW history, Booker is one of four men in history to achieve both the WWE and WCW Triple Crowns. Longtime wrestler Kurt Angle said of Booker, Hes done it all and he legitimately is one of the top five best of all time. Booker was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 6,2013, by his brother, Booker T Huffman was born the youngest of eight children, in Houston Texas. By the time Booker was fourteen, both of his parents had died, and his older brother Lash Stevie Ray Huffman stepped in to raise him, in high school, Booker was a drum major. He also played football and basketball. Booker spent nineteen months in prison after pleading guilty to armed robberies at Wendys restaurants in Houston, Booker and his partners wore Wendys uniforms during the holdups since they had been working there for 2½ years. Booker pleaded guilty in December 1987 to two aggravated robbery counts and was sentenced to five years in prison and he was released after serving about one-third of that term, and was placed on parole until April 1992. As a single father working at a company in Houston, Texas, Huffman was looking to make a better life for himself. His brother Lash suggested that he and Booker check out a new wrestling school being opened, run by Ivan Putski and his boss from the storage company sponsored the money to pay for the wrestling lessons. Booker trained under Scott Casey, who helped to turn Bookers background as a gangster and dancer into sports entertainment, teaching the newcomer in-ring psychology, eight weeks later, Booker debuted as G. I. Bro on Putskis Western Wrestling Alliance Live, the character was a tie-in to the raging Gulf War and the WWFs Sgt. Even though the WWA met its demise some time later, Booker continued to wrestle on the Texas independent circuit, often with his brother Lash and they were spotted by Skandor Akbar who hired them to work for the Global Wrestling Federation, where he and Eddie Gilbert were involved. Gilbert teamed Stevie Ray and Booker T together as the Ebony Experience, during their time with GWF, they held the tag title a total of three times. Subsequently, Booker T and Stevie Ray left the GWF to work for World Championship Wrestling, Booker and his brother Stevie Ray signed with World Championship Wrestling after Sid Vicious recommended they sign with the company
5.
Professional wrestling
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Professional wrestling is a dramatized athletic performance that portrays a combat sport. Various forms of weaponry are sometimes used, the content – including match outcomes – is scripted and choreographed, and the combative actions and reactions are performed to appear violent without injuring the wrestlers. Before the 1980s, these facts were considered trade secrets, in the mid-90s, the presentation of scripted events as legitimate is known as kayfabe. Although the combative content is staged and communicated between the wrestlers, there are physical hazards involved - including permanent injury and death. While it has declined in Europe, in North America it has experienced several different periods of prominent cultural popularity during its century. The advent of television gave professional wrestling a new outlet, unlike in Europe, show wrestling has become especially prominent in Japan and in North America. In Brazil, there was a popular wrestling television program from the 1960s to the early 1980s called Telecatch. High-profile figures in the sport have become celebrities or cultural icons in their native or adopted home countries, although professional wrestling started out as petty acts in sideshows, traveling circuses and carnivals, today it is a billion-dollar industry. Revenue is drawn from live event ticket sales, network television broadcasts, pay-per-view broadcasts, personal appearances by performers, branded merchandise, pro wrestling was also instrumental in making pay-per-view a viable method of content delivery. Annual shows such as WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, and formerly Bash at the Beach, Halloween Havoc, home video sales dominate the Billboard charts Recreational Sports DVD sales, with wrestling holding anywhere from 3 to 9 of the top 10 spots every week. Due to its persistent cultural presence and to its novelty within the performing arts, there have also been many fictional depictions of wrestling, the 2008 film The Wrestler received several Oscar nominations and began a career revival for star Mickey Rourke. Because actual events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines for the performers, special care must be taken when talking about people who perform under their own name. The actions of the character should be considered fictional events, wholly separate from the life of the performer and this is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers will incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and those who participated felt that it was necessary that spectators should be kept in a constant and complete illusion of a real competition to keep audience interest. For decades, up until the mid-1980s, wrestlers lived their lives as though they were their characters. Wrestlers, bookers and promoters all rigorously enforced the illusion and very few were allowed into the society of professional wrestling to maintain suspension of disbelief. The practice of keeping the illusion, and the methods used to do so, came to be known as kayfabe within wrestling circles. An entire lexicon of slang jargon and euphemism developed to allow performers to communicate without outsiders knowledge of what was being said, occasionally a performer will deviate from the intended sequence of events
6.
Harlem
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Harlem is a large neighborhood in the northern section of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Since the 1920s, Harlem has been known as a major African-American residential, cultural, originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. Harlems history has been defined by a series of economic boom-and-bust cycles, African-American residents began to arrive by a lot in 1905, with numbers fed by the Great Migration. In the 1920s and 1930s, Central and West Harlem were the focus of the Harlem Renaissance, however, with job losses in the time of the Great Depression and the deindustrialization of New York City after World War II, rates of crime and poverty increased significantly. Harlems African-American population peaked in the 1950s, in the second half of the 20th century, Harlem became a major hub of African-American businesses. In 2008, the United States Census found that for the first time since the 1930s, less than half of residents were black, since New York Citys revival in the late 20th century, long-time residents of Harlem have been experiencing the effects of gentrification and new wealth. Harlem is located in Upper Manhattan, often referred to as Uptown by locals. Central Harlem is bounded by Fifth Avenue on the east, Central Park on the south, Morningside Park, St. Nicholas Avenue and Edgecombe Avenue on the west, and the Harlem River on the north. A chain of three large linear parks—Morningside Park, St. Nicholas Park and Jackie Robinson Park—are situated on steeply rising banks, on the east, Fifth Avenue and Marcus Garvey Park, also known as Mount Morris Park, separate this area from East Harlem. The bulk of the falls under Manhattan Community Board No.10. In the late 2000s, South Harlem, emerged from area redevelopment, the West Harlem neighborhoods of Manhattanville and Hamilton Heights comprise part of Manhattan Community Board No.9. The two neighborhoods area is bounded by Cathedral Parkway on the South, 155th Street on the North, nicholas/Bradhurst/Edgecome Avenues on the East, and Riverside Park/the Hudson River on the west. Morningside Heights is located in the southern most section of West Harlem, Manhattanville begins at roughly 123rd Street and extends northward to 135th Street. The northern most section of West Harlem is Hamilton Heights, the New York City Police Department patrols six precincts located within Harlem. The New York City Fire Department operates 9 firehouses in Harlem, as many as several hundred farmed the Harlem flatlands. Between 1637 and 1639, a few settlements were established, during the American Revolution, the British burned Harlem to the ground. It took a time to rebuild, as Harlem grew more slowly than the rest of Manhattan during the late 18th century. After the American Civil War, Harlem experienced an economic boom starting in 1868, the neighborhood continued to serve as a refuge for New Yorkers, but increasingly those coming north were poor and Jewish or Italian
7.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
8.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
9.
Sting (wrestler)
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Steve Borden, better known by the ring name Sting, is an American retired professional wrestler, actor, author and former bodybuilder signed to WWE under a Legends contract. Borden is regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Stings 14-year tenure with WCW and its predecessor, Jim Crockett Promotions, began in 1987. Sting has been described as the WCW counterpart to the WWFs Hulk Hogan, against Hogan, upon the acquisition of WCW by the WWF in March 2001, Sting and his long-term rival Ric Flair were chosen to perform in the main event of the final episode of Nitro. He is the man to hold the NWA, WCW. His last ever bout, at Night of Champions in 2015, marked his sole pay-per-view main event, Sting headlined the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2016 on April 2, where he announced his retirement. His induction renders him the first performer to be inducted into both the WWE and TNA Hall of Fame, as well as the man to be inducted while an active WWE wrestler, after Ric Flair. Sting held 25 total championships throughout his career, including 21 between WCW and TNA, readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated named him Most Popular Wrestler of the Year on four occasions, a record he shares with John Cena. In 2016, Sting was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame, sports wrote that he holds a lofty level of prestige that few will ever touch. Steve Borden was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and raised in Southern California and he played competitive football and basketball in high school, and later embarked on a career in bodybuilding, once co-owning a Golds Gym health club. Borden is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, Borden, originally wrestling under the ring name Flash, teamed with Jim Justice Hellwig as two members of Power Team USA in independent All-California Championship Wrestling. Power Team USA was a unit also featuring Garland Glory Donahoe and Mark Commando Miller. Hellwig and Borden later moved to the Continental Wrestling Association, a company based in Memphis, Tennessee. Fans were slow to respond to the hulks, so the team turned heel. The Freedom Fighters left the CWA after a run, the highlight of which was an angle in which they broke the leg of veteran wrestler Phil Hickerson. The duo surfaced in the Universal Wrestling Federation, a run by Bill Watts and based in Shreveport. Borden changed his name from Flash to Sting, while Hellwig became known as Rock. They soon joined Hotstuff & Hyatt International, a stable headed by Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert. Together with Russian wrestler Kortsia Korchenko, the Blade Runners became henchmen in Gilberts on-screen feud with Watts, Hellwig, who would later become The Ultimate Warrior in the World Wrestling Federation, left the promotion in mid-1986, leaving Sting without a partner
10.
Goldust
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Dustin Patrick Runnels is an American professional wrestler who is currently signed to WWE on the Raw brand under the ring name Goldust, where he teams with R-Truth as The Golden Truth. He is the son of the late WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes, Runnels enigmatic, flamboyant, sexually ambiguous gimmick of Goldust has remained popular in WWF/E. He is also known for performing in various such as World Championship Wrestling. Among the other names Runnels has performed under are Black Reign, between WWF/E and WCW, Runnels has won 20 total championships. In WCW, he was a two-time United States Heavyweight Champion, a one-time Six-Man Tag Team Champion, in WWF/E, he is a three-time Intercontinental Champion, a nine-time Hardcore Champion, a one-time World Tag Team Champion, and a two-time WWE Tag Team Champion. Runnels professional wrestling debut came on September 13,1988, defeating Bob Cook in a match for the Tampa-based Championship Wrestling from Florida group, the company would be renamed Professional Wrestling Federation in February 1989 after his father, Dusty Rhodes, began wrestling there. Runnels would capture the Florida Heavyweight Championship on May 23,1989 from Al Perez, in December 1988, Runnels began performing as Dustin Rhodes and would begin working for the newly Ted Turner-owned World Championship Wrestling. Rhodes teamed with Kendall Windham in an tag team called The Texas Broncos that saw success against The Cruel Connection. Their first defeat came against The Original Midnight Express at a show on December 10,1988 in Philadelphia. Dustins first singles match came two days later at a TV taping in Atlanta, GA when he defeated Trent Knight, Rhodes initial WCW run lasted only a few months, as he exited the company two months after his father. In March 1989, he toured Japan for All Japan Pro Wrestling in its annual Champion Carnival, under the name Dusty Rhodes and he returned to AJPW for a ten and a twenty-day tour in the spring and summer of 1990. Runnels began wrestling in United States Wrestling Association in July 1989, There he feuded mainly with Tony Anthony for Anthonys CWA Heavyweight Championship but never won the belt. He left the USWA in the spring of 1990, Runnels debuted as a fan favorite in the World Wrestling Federation in late 1990, wrestling as Dustin Rhodes. In December 1990, Rhodes defeated Ted DiBiase in a televised ten-minute challenge match, on January 19,1991, at the Royal Rumble, Rhodes and his father Dusty lost to Ted DiBiase and Virgil in a tag team bout, and both left immediately after. In February 1991, Runnels joined World Championship Wrestling, wrestling as The Natural Dustin Rhodes and he feuded with Larry Zbyszko until April 1991, when he refused to join Alexandra Yorks York Foundation, thus beginning a feud with Foundation member Terrence Taylor. In late 1991, Rhodes formed a tag-team with Barry Windham, the pair received a title shot at Clash of the Champions XVII, but Windham was injured prior to the event. A returning Ricky Steamboat was chosen to partner Rhodes, and the duo won the WCW World Tag Team Championship. They lost the belts on January 16,1992, to Arn Anderson and they held the belts for about two months before losing them to Steamboat and Shane Douglas in a memorable match on the November 18 edition of Clash of the Champions
11.
Lex Luger
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He is best known for his work with the National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling, and the World Wrestling Federation. Luger is a two-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion and one-time WWA World Heavyweight Champion and he is also a five-time NWA/WCW United States Heavyweight Champion who holds the records for consecutive days and total days as champion. Although he never won a championship in the WWF, he challenged for every title in the organization and was the 1994 Royal Rumble co-winner with Bret Hart. Pro Wrestling Illustrated readers voted Luger the Most Popular Wrestler of the Year in 1993, Luger attended high school and played football in Orchard Park, New York. He sat out the 1978 season as a transfer student in Coral Gables. In 1979, Luger played for the Miami Hurricanes, which featured future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly, Jim Burt, Mitch Guittar, Fred Marion and Mark Richt. Upon leaving Miami, he played football for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League where he played in the 67th Grey Cup against the Edmonton Eskimos. He returned to the Packers training camp in 1983, but he was released before the season began. Luger wore number 66 for the Packers, the last player to do so before it was retired for Ray Nitschke, in 1984, Luger finished his football career playing in the United States Football League for the Tampa Bay Bandits, Memphis Showboats and Jacksonville Bulls. He was a teammate with future WCW rival Ron Simmons while playing for the Tampa Bay Bandits, roop arranged for Luger to be trained by Hiro Matsuda, who had previously trained Hulk Hogan and Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff. Luger adopted the ring name Lex Luger, being a fan of the comic book villain Lex Luthor and he was featured alongside Percy Pringle and Rick Rude. Luger began wrestling in the Championship Wrestling from Florida territory of the National Wrestling Alliance and he got his first victory on October 31,1985, against Cocoa Samoa and won the Southern Heavyweight Championship from Wahoo McDaniel the next month. For a short time, he feuded with Barry Windham before they began teaming up against Sir Oliver Humperdink and his team of Ed The Bull Gantner, Kareem Muhammed, and The White Ninja. On September 1,1986, he fought NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair for the title at a show Battle of the Belts III, as a result, Flair retained the title. Towards the end of his run in Florida, Luger was involved in angles with Kevin Sullivan and he was also in a steel cage match with Bruiser Brody, where Brody stopped cooperating, leading to Luger climbing over the cage leaving the match. He was first booked as an associate to Ric Flairs Four Horsemen stable until Ole Anderson was kicked out and his first big feud was with Nikita Koloff, whom he defeated for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship on July 11,1987. Manager James J. Dillon threw a chair over the top of the cage while the referee, Luger knocked Koloff unconscious with it and then lifted up Koloff in the Torture Rack. A revived Hebner then dropped Koloffs arm three times with no response and awarded Luger a submission victory and he held the title until JCPs first pay-per-view event Starrcade in November, when he dropped it to Dusty Rhodes in a steel cage
12.
Scott Steiner
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Scott Carl Rechsteiner, better known by the ring name Scott Steiner, is an American professional wrestler. Steiner wrestled in World Championship Wrestling alongside his older brother Rick as The Steiner Brothers and he also wrestled for Jim Crockett Promotions, the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment, Extreme Championship Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Steiner headlined multiple pay-per-view events throughout his career, Steiner is a three-time world champion, having been a one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, a one-time WWA World Heavyweight Champion, and a one-time WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion. He has also held tag team championships internationally. Steiner is the seventh WCW Triple Crown Champion, before becoming a professional wrestler, Rechsteiner was an amateur wrestler. Wrestling at 190 lbs for the University of Michigan, he became a three time Big 10 runner-up, after finishing fifth as a freshman, in 1986, Rechsteiner became an NCAA Division I All American and placed sixth in the nation his senior year. Rechsteiner trained under Dr. Jerry Graham Jr. at Torios Health Club in Toledo, Ohio, on August 14,1986, in Dearborn, Michigan, Rechsteiner defeated The Great Wojo for the WWA World Heavyweight Championship. He held the title until May 3,1987, when he lost it to Wojo in Toledo and he then formed a tag team with his trainer, Graham. On October 6,1987, they defeated Chris Carter and Mohammad Saad for the WWA World Tag Team Championship, on December 6, they lost the title to Carter and Don Kent. In 1988, Rechsteiner joined the Memphis-based Continental Wrestling Association under his real name and he formed a tag team with Billy Joe Travis, and defeated the Cuban Choir Boys for the CWA World Tag Team Championship on May 29. On June 6, they lost the title to Gary Young, Rechsteiner and Travis regained the title on June 27, and lost it to The Rock n Roll RPMs on August 15. Rechsteiner formed a new tag team with Jed Grundy, and on February 18,1989, they dethroned CWA World Tag Team Champions Robert Fuller, rechsteiners third and final CWA reign ended on February 25, when Fuller and Golden regained the title. He left the CWA soon after, Scott would begin wrestling in singles bouts on WCW programming before the Steiners began teaming together. The Steiners lost their first high-profile bout to Kevin Sullivan & Rotunda at Clash of the Champions VII, the Steiners also compete in the King of the Hill two-ring battle royal earlier in the show but were unsuccessful. During this time, the Steiners were managed by Missy Hyatt, Rick nervously began a relationship with a shy fan named Robin Green who eventually received a make-over and transformed into Woman. Doom, with Woman in their corner, would defeat the Steiners at Halloween Havoc 89 after Woman interfered, on November 1,1989, in Atlanta, Georgia, The Steiner Brothers defeated The Fabulous Freebirds for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. They held the title for five months before losing it to Doom in Washington. The Steiner Brothers defeated The Midnight Express for the NWA United States Tag Team Championship on August 24, in East Rutherford, during their title reign, WCW withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance and the title was renamed the WCW United States Tag Team Championship
