1.
Seth Rollins
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Colby Daniel Lopez is an American professional wrestler and actor currently signed to WWE, where he performs under the ring name Seth Rollins on the Raw brand. After signing with WWE in 2010, he was sent to its developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling where he was the first FCW Grand Slam Champion, after WWE rebranded FCW into NXT, he became the inaugural NXT Champion. Rollins debuted on WWEs main roster in 2012 alongside Dean Ambrose, Rollins is a two-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion, a one-time United States Champion, a one-time WWE Tag Team Champion, the 2014 Money in the Bank winner, and the 2015 Superstar of the Year. Along with CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and Kevin Owens, Rollins is one of four men to have been champion in WWE. Rollins has headlined numerous major events for WWE, including WrestleMania 31. Lopez was born in Buffalo, Iowa and he is of Armenian, German, and Irish descent. His surname, Lopez, comes from his Mexican-American stepfather, Lopez debuted in 2005 for Scott County Wrestling. He later won the SCW Heavyweight Championship, and spray-painted the championship belt black to mark The Black Era in SCW and he soon joined NWA Midwest and won the promotions tag team championship with Marek Brave. The two successfully defended the NWA Midwest Tag Team Championship against Ryan Boz and Danny Daniels, Brett Wayne and Hype Gotti and he also faced Eric Priest and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling superstar A. J. He briefly appeared in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and teamed with Jeff Luxon in a loss to The Latin American Xchange on Impact. in October 2006, at FIPs event on December 20,2008, Black defeated Go Shiozaki to win the FIP World Heavyweight Championship. At FIPs event on May 2,2009, Davey Richards was awarded the FIP World Heavyweight Championship by forfeit when Black was unable to compete, Jacobs announced that the three had formed a stable called The Age of the Fall. The angle was so controversial that ROH decided to remove the footage from the pay-per-view that was being taped at the event, however, the footage was heavily requested by ROH fans, so it was shown on the ROH Videowire for the week of September 15. Later on in the event, Black faced Jack Evans in a dark match, a six-man tag team match between The Age of the Fall and Jack Evans and The Irish Airborne ended in a no contest when Necro Butcher attacked the referee. The following night, Black defeated Alex Sugarfoot Payne, but was attacked by The Briscoe Brothers following the match and he appeared with The Age of the Fall in their match against The Briscoe Brothers during the main event. At Final Battle 2007, Black and Jacobs defeated The Briscoe Brothers to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship, at Take No Prisoners, ROHs sixth pay-per-view, Black challenged Nigel McGuinness for the ROH World Championship in a losing effort. At Up For Grabs, Black and Jacobs won a tournament to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship for a second time. The two lost the championship at Driven to the team of Kevin Steen and El Generico, at Final Battle 2008, after Black lost a number one contender match to Austin Aries, Jacobs turned on him, and Black was then attacked by Aries. At Full Circle, Black was given a match against then ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness on January 16
2.
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
3.
Shane Douglas
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Troy Allan Martin is an American professional wrestler and promoter, better known by his ring name Shane Douglas. Martin held a dozen championships between ECW, WCW and the WWF and is a world champion, a four-time ECW World Heavyweight Champion. He is also a one-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, a two-time ECW World Television Champion, a one-time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion and he achieved the biggest success of his career in ECW, where he debuted in 1993 and captured the ECW Heavyweight Championship twice in his rookie year. He helped ECW into becoming the pioneer of hardcore wrestling and brought extremism to the company, within ECW, he adopted nickname The Franchise in reference to his status as the franchise player of the promotion. WWE, who purchased that organization, asserted, Without Shane Douglas and he headlined many events for the ECW including three editions of the companys premier pay-per-view event November to Remember in 1996,1997 and 1998. Martin was born one of six children, the son of a veteran of World War II and he graduated cum laude from Bethany College in 1986 with a bachelors degree in history and political science. He is an alumnus of the Psi Chapter of Beta Theta Pi, after earning his degrees, he was offered to join the Saba University School of Medicine but declined in order to continue wrestling. Martin was trained by Dominic DeNucci in the Pittsburgh suburb of Freedom, Pennsylvania and he had been wrestling professionally to earn money since 1982. When he started, he used the character of Troy Orndorff, in 1986, he wrestled Randy Savage at a WWF Superstars of Wrestling taping using his real name. He also wrestled Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff in the episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge. Later that year, he began wrestling as a fan favorite for the Universal Wrestling Federation using the name Shane Douglas, Douglas defeated Gilbert for the World Television Championship on August 3,1987, but did not rise above mid-card status. Douglas soon lost the title on September 2 to Terry Taylor, eventually, he signed with the promotion World Championship Wrestling, member of the National Wrestling Alliance. He retained his Shane Douglas ring name and was put into a tag team of skateboarders known as The Dynamic Dudes with Johnny Ace. Mick Foley has opined that since neither Ace nor Douglas knew how to skateboard, Jim Cornette, who was managing The Midnight Express at the time, decided to manage the duo to help them get over. When Eaton and Lane in storyline did not approve, they forced a match between the two teams with Cornette remaining neutral at ringside and he ended up turning on Douglas and Ace and the teams feuded for a couple of months. Cornette turn was to have established The Dynamic Dudes as a top fan favorite tag team, the Dynamic Dudes broke up in 1990 after Ace began competing progressively more for All Japan Pro Wrestling, which was breaking its ties to the NWA. Jim Cornette also states that the end of the Dynamic Dudes came when Douglas went over his head to Jim Herd about having a finish changed to him look stronger. Cornette, who was part of the committee, washed his hands of working with them afterwards
4.
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
5.
Jeff Hardy
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Hardy is best known for his work during his first run in the World Wrestling Federation, later renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment, and he also worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Before gaining prominence in WWE, Hardy performed for the Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts, after being signed by WWE, the brothers worked as enanchment talents, before gaining notoriety in the tag team division, partly due to their participation in Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches. With the addition of Lita, the became known as Team Xtreme. As a tag team wrestler, Hardy is a world tag team champion – all with his brother Matt. On the independent circuit, Jeff was also one-half of the OMEGA Tag Team Champions with Matt in their second reign and one-half of the The Crash Tag Team Champions with Matt in their first reign. As a singles wrestler, Hardy is a world champion. Between WWE, TNA, and ROH, Hardy has won 25 total championships, Hardy is involved in motocross, music, painting, and other artistic endeavors. He is currently a member of the band PeroxWhy. Gen, Jeff Hardy is the son of Gilbert and Ruby Moore Hardy, and the younger brother of Matt Hardy. Their mother died of cancer in 1986, when Hardy was nine. He developed an interest in motocross aged 12 and got his first bike and he had his first race when he was in ninth grade. Hardy played baseball as a child, but had to stop after he crashed during a motocross race and he also played football during high school as a fullback and linebacker. He briefly competed in wrestling in high school. He had to stop playing football in school, after he was ordered to pick between professional wrestling and football, and he chose wrestling. Hardys favorite subjects in school were U. S. history and art, Hardy, along with his brother Matt and friends, started their own federation, the Trampoline Wrestling Federation and mimicked the moves they saw on television. Later on, the TWF went under different names, eventually being integrated into a county fair in North Carolina. The brothers and their friends began to work for other independent companies. They drove all over the East Coast of the United States, working for such as ACW. Before arriving in the WWF, Jeff and Matt formed their own wrestling promotion, the promotion was a more successful version of the original TWF and included talent such as both Hardy brothers, Shannon Moore, Gregory Helms, Joey Matthews, and Steve Corino, among others
6.
Big Show
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Paul Donald Wight II is an American professional wrestler and actor, better known by his ring name Big Show. He is signed to WWE, where he has performed since 1999 and he currently wrestles on the Raw brand. He began his career in World Championship Wrestling, where he was known by the ring name The Giant, having also been Intercontinental, United States and Hardcore Champion, Big Show is the 24th Triple Crown and 12th Grand Slam winner in WWE history. Between WWE and WCW, Wight has held 23 total championships and he has also won WCWs 1996 World War 3 60-man battle royal and the 30-man André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 31. Wight has headlined many shows for WCW and the WWF/E since 1995, including the 2000 edition of WWEs premier annual event. In 2010, he had his first lead role in the comedy film Knucklehead, Wight was born in Aiken, South Carolina. After school, Wight worked various jobs including bouncing, bounty hunting, through doing the latter for a karaoke company, he met Danny Bonaduce in a live microphone amateur contest on his morning radio show. Bonaduce introduced Wight to his friend Hulk Hogan and they had an informal basketball game, as part of a World Championship Wrestling promotion for an upcoming show at the Rosemont Horizon. Hogan liked how Wight worked the crowd, and recommended him to World Championship Wrestling Vice President Eric Bischoff, Wight went to the Horizon show, and was invited into the locker room, where he met Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Paul Orndorff. He later met Bischoff there and came to a deal, Wight had earlier attempted to inquire about joining the WWF, also at the Horizon, during an autograph session. Promoter and scout Bob Collins turned him away after he admitted he had no experience and he paid Larry Sharpes Monster Factory $5000, but due to Sharpes gout at the time, he was only very minimally trained. While there, he made a tape and gave it to Mike Chioda. Chioda forwarded it to Pat Patterson, who did not bother watching it because he assumed Wight was another wrestler, only when he saw The Giant debut in WCW did Patterson realize his mistake, to Vince McMahons displeasure. Wight made his debut at Halloween Havoc, defeating Hulk Hogan via disqualification. A week later, however, The Giant was stripped of the due to the controversial finish of the match. The Giants attempt at reclaiming the vacant title failed at World War 3 when he and Hogan eliminated each other, allowing Randy Savage to become champion. The Giant teamed with Ric Flair to defeat Hogan and Savage at Clash of the Champions XXXII, after a short feud with Loch Ness, The Giant regained the World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Flair. After Hogan formed the New World Order, he defeated The Giant for the title at Hog Wild following interference from Scott Hall, the Giant joined the nWo 23 days later, citing Ted DiBiases money as his primary motivation, feuding with Lex Luger and the Four Horsemen
7.
Rey Mysterio
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Óscar Gutiérrez, better known by his ring names Rey Mysterio Jr, or simply Rey Mysterio, is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in WWE from July 2002 to February 2015. He is also known for his work in Extreme Championship Wrestling, Asistencia Asesoría y Administración, Gutierrez was trained by his uncle Rey Misterio, Sr. learning the high flying Lucha Libre style that has been his trademark. Rey Misterio is Spanish for King Mystery, but subsequently dropped the Junior from his name when he began working for WWE in July 2002 until February 2015. In WCW, he won the WCW World Tag Team Championship three times, and the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship once with Billy Kidman as part of The Filthy Animals. In WWE, Mysterio is a world champion, having held WWEs World Heavyweight Championship twice. He has also held the WWE Tag Team Championship a record-tying four times, all totaled, Mysterio has won 21 titles between WWE and WCW, including a record eight Cruiserweight Championships. He was the 21st person to complete the WWE Triple Crown, Gutierrez made his debut in Mexico on April 30,1989 when he was 14 years old. He was trained by his uncle Rey Misterio, Sr. and he had ring names such as La Lagartija Verde and Colibrí before his uncle gave him the name of Rey Misterio, Jr. In 1991, Mysterio was awarded Most Improved Wrestler in Mexico while wrestling as Colibrí, in Asistencia Asesoría y Administración, Mysterio feuded with Juventud Guerrera. Mysterios uncle Misterio, Sr. also took on Guerrera in a tag match, Misterio, Sr. and Mysterio, Jr. facing Guerrera, Mysterio signed with Paul E. Dangerouslys Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1995. He debuted in September at Gangstas Paradise, defeating Psicosis, who was making his ECW debut. A feud between the two began, which included a two out of three falls match and a Mexican Death match, Mysterio also had a series of matches with ECW-newcomer Juventud Guerrera during the first half of 1996. Mysterio made his World Championship Wrestling debut on June 16,1996, at The Great American Bash, challenging Dean Malenko for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, which Malenko retained by winning. In July at Bash at the Beach, he defeated longtime rival Psicosis in a number one contenders match to another opportunity at the Cruiserweight title. The next night, on the July 8 episode of WCW Monday Nitro and he reigned as champion for three months, which included title defenses against the likes of Ultimate Dragon, Malenko, and Super Caló before he lost the title to Malenko at Halloween Havoc. Following his Cruiserweight Championship reign, Mysterio challenged Ultimate Dragon for the J-Crown Championship, in early 1997, he feuded with Prince Iaukea over the WCW World Television Championship. Mysterio was defeated in his match against Iaukea at SuperBrawl VII after Lord Steven Regal attacked him
8.
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
9.
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
10.
History of WWE
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The history of WWE dates back to the early 1950s when it was founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt in 1952 as Capitol Wrestling Corporation. It underwent numerous changes throughout the years, from World Wide Wrestling Federation to World Wrestling Federation to World Wrestling Entertainment. WWE is the largest professional wrestling company in the world and it has promoted some of the most successful wrestlers and storylines, and featured some of the most iconic and significant matches and moments in the history of the sport. In 2014, WWE launched the first ever 24/7 streaming network which would showcase the entire WWE video library. The National Wrestling Alliance recognized an undisputed NWA World Heavyweight Champion that went to different professional wrestling promotions in the NWA. The championship was defended around the world, the NWA generally promoted strong shooters as champions, to give their worked sport credibility and guard against double-crosses. While doing strong business in the Midwest, these attracted little interest in the Capitol Wrestling Corporation territory. In 1961, the NWA board decided instead to put the championship on bleach blond showman Nature Boy Buddy Rogers, the rest of the NWA was unhappy with Mondt because he rarely allowed Rogers to wrestle outside of the Northeast. Mondt and McMahon wanted Rogers to keep the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, in April 25 that year, Rogers was awarded the new WWWF World Heavyweight Championship, supposedly winning an apocryphal tournament in Rio de Janeiro. He lost the championship to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17,1963, to accommodate Rogers condition, the match was booked to last under a minute. Sammartino would retain the title for seven years, eight months and one day, although Sammartino was the face of the WWWF, wrestlers such as Superstar Billy Graham and Bob Backlund were also hugely popular. The WWWF gained notoriety in the 1970s by holding their biggest shows at Shea Stadium or Madison Square Garden and doing strong business across the entire Northeast megalopolis. They leveraged former, but still popular, wrestlers such as Captain Lou Albano, Grand Wizard of Wrestling Ernie Roth and Classy Freddie Blassie to act as managers for Sammartinos heel opponents. At this time, only babyface wrestlers were allowed to have long championship reigns, such as Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales and Bob Backlund, who all retained for more than one year each. Graham was the heel character to keep his championship for longer than one month. The WWWF was relatively conservative for promotions of its day, running its major arenas monthly rather than weekly or bi-weekly, Toots Mondt left the WWWF in the late sixties, and Vincent J. McMahon assumed complete control of the organization in 1971. Later that year, The Mongols created controversy after they left the WWWF with the WWWF International Tag Team Championship, the championship would be considered inactive as a result until Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler won a tournament to claim the championship. They then defeated the Mongols in November 1971, voiding any claim The Mongols had to the championship, in March 1979, for marketing purposes, the World Wide Wrestling Federation was renamed the World Wrestling Federation
