1.
Rusev (wrestler)
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Miroslav Barnyashev is a Bulgarian professional wrestler and former powerlifter and rower. He is currently signed to the American professional wrestling promotion WWE and he is currently on hiatus due to injury. A two-time former WWE United States Champion, Barnyashev is the first Bulgarian to have wrestled for WWE, Rusev was born on December 25,1984 in the then-Peoples Republic of Bulgaria. He attended a school while growing up and competed in rowing and powerlifting as an adult. In the mid-2000s, Barnyashev emigrated from Bulgaria to the United States with the ambition of becoming a professional wrestler and he originally lived in Virginia, before relocating to Torrance, California, where he began training as a wrestler under Gangrel and Rikishi at the Knokx Pro Wrestling Academy. Barnyashev debuted in the San Diego, California-based independent promotion New Wave Pro Wrestling on November 22,2008, under the ring name Miroslav Makaraov, in 2010, Barnyashev joined the Santa Maria, California-based independent promotion Vendetta Pro Wrestling, shortening his ring name to Miroslav. While wrestling for VPW, he was managed by Markus Mac, in September 2010, Barnyashev was signed to a contract by the professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Entertainment. He was assigned to WWEs Florida Championship Wrestling developmental territory in Tampa, Florida and he wrestled his first televised match on the July 17,2011, episode of FCW, defeating Mike Dalton while being managed by Raquel Diaz. Shortly after debuting in FCW, Rusev tore both his anterior cruciate ligament and his meniscus and spent six months rehabilitating, Rusev returned to FCW in March 2012 with Nick Rogers as his manager. In the summer of 2012, Rusev suffered a broken neck, while rehabilitating, Barnyashev travelled to Thailand, where he studied the martial art Muay Thai. In August 2012, WWE rebranded FCW as NXT, Rusevs first singles match on NXT came about on August 21, losing to Dolph Ziggler. On the October 30 episode of NXT, Rusev ended his affiliation with Lefort by attacking him during a tag team bout, Rusev proceeded to adopt Lana as his social ambassador, a pairing compared by WWE to Ivan and Ludmilla Drago from the 1985 film Rocky IV. In matches taped before his main roster debut, Rusev defeated main roster wrestlers Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, and Sin Cara in singles matches, Rusev made his main roster debut at the Royal Rumble. The sixth entrant in the match, Rusev was eliminated by the joint effort of four wrestlers. After months of self-promotional videos and speeches by Rusev and his manager Lana, Rusevs return match on the roster came on the April 7 episode of Raw. In May, Rusev adopted a Russophillic, anti-American gimmick that saw him announced as having relocated to Russia and this angle brought Barnyashev much legitimate heat in his native Bulgaria. In the same month, his name was shortened to simply Rusev. Over the next months, Rusev feuded with Xavier Woods and R-Truth and Big E, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry
2.
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
3.
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
4.
Stone Cold Steve Austin
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Steve Austin, better known by the ring name Stone Cold Steve Austin, is an American actor, media personality, producer, and retired professional wrestler who is signed to a Legends contract with WWE. Veteran pro wrestling journalist Wade Keller remarked that Austin is in conversation for the greatest wrestling act of all time, as well as for the most profitable. This persona of Austins became the poster boy of the Attitude Era and he also devised the long-standing What. Several prominent industry figures, including McMahon, have declared Austin to be the biggest star in WWF/E history, while stressing that he surpassed the popularity of Hulk Hogan. He was also the winner of the 1996 King of the Ring tournament, as well as the 1997,1998, furthermore, under The Ringmaster moniker, he was awarded the unsanctioned Million Dollar Championship by the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase. Austin has headlined multiple pay-per-view events for the WWF, including three WrestleManias and he was forced to retire from in-ring competition in 2003 due to a series of knee injuries and a serious neck injury. Throughout the rest of 2003 and 2004, he was featured as the Co-General Manager, since 2005, he has continued to make occasional appearances, and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009 by Vince McMahon. In 2011, Austin returned to WWE to host the reboot of the reality series Tough Enough, Austin was born in Austin, Texas. His parents, James and Beverly Anderson, divorced when he was around a year old and his mother moved to Victoria, Texas, and in 1968, married Ken Williams. Austin adopted his stepfathers surname and later, legally changed his name to Steven James Williams and he spent most of his childhood in Edna, Texas. After finishing his schooling from Edna High School, Austin got a scholarship at Wharton County Junior College. Austin has three brothers, Scott, Kevin, and Jeff and one sister, Jennifer. Kevin is less than a younger and Austin has hypothesized in his autobiography that their father may have left because he couldnt handle having another child so soon. Deciding to become a wrestler, Austin joined Chris Adams school in the Dallas Sportatorium, Adams training was purely technical, teaching Austin the moves, but nothing relating to kayfabe or business. His first lesson in that came from Tony Falk, the referee in his 1989 televised WCCW debut against Frogman LeBlanc, who called the spots to lead him to a pinfall and a $40 payday. He later returned to Dallas and feuded with Adams, managed by Percy Pringle and it was during this time Austin adopted the Stunning nickname that followed him to WCW. Austin left the USWA in 1990 and signed with WCW the next year and he was originally paired with a valet named Vivacious Veronica, but was later joined by Jeannie Adams, known as Lady Blossom. Just weeks after his debut, Austin defeated Bobby Eaton for his first WCW World Television Championship on June 3,1991, later that year, Austin joined Paul E. Dangerouslys Dangerous Alliance
5.
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
6.
Kalisto (wrestler)
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Emanuel Alejandro Rodriguez is a Mexican-American professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Kalisto. In 2006, Rodriguez made his wrestling debut on the Midwestern United States independent circuit, working under a mask. After establishing himself as one of the top high-flyers in the area, the same year, he made his debut for Mexican promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración, where, in November, he was repackaged as Octagón Jr. the storyline protégé of well-known luchador Octagón. He has also worked for Combat Zone Wrestling, Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South, National Wrestling Alliance, in May 2013, he signed with WWE and was assigned to their developmental territory NXT, where he was renamed Kalisto. In September 2014, Kalisto, with Sin Cara as The Lucha Dragons, in February 2015, Kalisto was promoted to WWEs main roster. In January 2016, he won his first singles title in WWE, the United States Championship, Rodriguez was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, but spent his first years living in Mexico City, Mexico. As a child, he bought both Tinieblas and Octagóns replica masks, in the mid-90s, when he was still in primary school, Rodriguezs family moved back to Chicago, though they kept making regular trips to Mexico City. While attending Curie Metropolitan High School, Rodriguez also started watching independent promotions like Ring of Honor as well as Japanese promotions, growing up, Rodriguez participated in a number of sports, including gymnastics, taekwondo, jujutsu, amateur wrestling, and American football. Rodriguez has later noted that his trainers were extremely strict on account of his youth, Rodriguez made his debut for WCPW after only three weeks of training. Much like his idols, Rodriguez also began wrestling under a mask. During his first few years, Samuray began making a name for himself around the Midwestern United States independent circuit, in 2010, Samuray began branching out of the Midwest, making his debuts for Pennsylvania-based International Wrestling Cartel and New York-based East Coast Lucha Libre. During 2010, Samuray made his first wrestling tour of Mexico, though he was not offered a contract, knowing that he was on WWEs radar reinvigorated Rodriguez to continue his career and return to the independent circuit. During mid-2011, Mexican luchador Crazy Boy, who saw Samuray during his Mexican debut, while taking part in the program, Samuray also returned to Crazy Boys DTU promotion. During the taping of the program, he underwent further training under veteran luchador Gran Apache. During September, Samuray worked several multi-man tag team matches against Los Inferno Rockers, while training with Teddy Hart in Canada, Samuray received a call from AAA booker Konnan, who offered him a regular spot on the promotions roster. On October 7,2012, at Héroes Inmortales, Samuray was placed in his first storyline in AAA, when he approached Octagón backstage after a match. On November 15, Octagón was ambushed during an interview by El Consejo members Silver King and Toscano. Afterwards, Octagón gave Samuray a new mask similar to the one he was wearing himself and officially adopted him as his protégé, renaming him Octagón Jr
7.
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
8.
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
9.
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
10.
San Francisco
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San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
11.
Ted Turner
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Robert Edward Ted Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the Cable News Network, in addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television. As a philanthropist, he is known for his $1 billion gift to support the United Nations, which created the United Nations Foundation, Turner serves as Chairman of the United Nations Foundation board of directors. Additionally, in 2001, Turner co-founded the Nuclear Threat Initiative with US Senator Sam Nunn, NTI is a non-partisan organisation dedicated to reducing global reliance on, and preventing the proliferation of, nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. He currently serves as Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors, Turners media empire began with his fathers billboard business, Turner Outdoor Advertising, which he took over in 1963 after his fathers suicide. His purchase of an Atlanta UHF station in 1970 began the Turner Broadcasting System, CNN revolutionized news media, covering the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 and the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Turner turned the Atlanta Braves baseball team into a popular franchise. Turners penchant for controversial statements earned him the nicknames The Mouth of the South, Turner has also devoted his assets to environmental causes. He was the largest private landowner in the United States until John C. Malone surpassed him in 2011 and he uses much of his land for ranches to re-popularize bison meat, amassing the largest herd in the world. He also created the animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers. Turner was born on November 19,1938 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Florence and Robert Edward Turner II, when he was nine, his family moved to Savannah, Georgia. He attended The McCallie School, a boys preparatory school in Chattanooga. Turner attended Brown University and was vice-president of the Brown Debating Union and he became a member of Kappa Sigma. Turners father wrote saying that his choice made him appalled, even horrified, Turner later changed his major to Economics, but before receiving a diploma, he was expelled for having a female student in his dormitory room. Turner was awarded an honorary B. A. from Brown University in November 1989 when he returned to campus to keynote the National Association of College Broadcasters second annual conference. After leaving Brown University, Turner returned to the South in late 1960 to become manager of the Macon. Following his fathers March 1963 suicide, Turner became president and chief executive of Turner Advertising Company when he was 24 and turned the firm into a global enterprise. He joined the Young Republicans, saying he felt at ease among these budding conservatives and was following in Ed Turners far-right footsteps
12.
Edge (wrestler)
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Adam Joseph Copeland is a Canadian actor and retired professional wrestler better known by his ring name Edge, currently signed to WWE. He is known for his tenure in the professional wrestling promotion WWE. Copeland was trained by professional wrestlers Sweet Daddy Siki and Ron Hutchison, throughout the 1990s, he wrestled in various U. S. independent promotions. During his time in these promotions, he competed in singles and tag team competition, in 1997, Copeland signed a developmental deal with the WWF and began competing for the company later that year, he made his televised debut the following June under the ring name Edge. In July 1999, he won the WWF Intercontinental Championship at a show in Toronto. He and Christian, billed as brothers and later childhood friends in WWF/WWE storylines, during this time, they gained notoriety in the tag team division, partly due to their participation in Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches. He is WWEs 14th Triple Crown Champion and 3rd Grand Slam Champion and he headlined multiple pay-per-view events for WWE, including WrestleMania XXIV, and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Christian in 2012. His wife Beth Phoenix joined the Hall of Fame in 2017, aside from professional wrestling, Copeland appeared in the fantasy film Highlander, Endgame and WWE Studios Bending the Rules. He has made guest appearances on shows such as Weakest Link, Mind of Mencia, Deal or No Deal, MADtv. He appeared on the SyFy series Haven as recurring character Dwight Hendrickson, Copeland was born in Orangeville, Ontario, the son of Judy Copeland, a single parent who worked two jobs to support her son. To this day, he has never met his father or seen a picture of him and he became interested in professional wrestling at a young age, his favorite wrestlers included Mr. Perfect, Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Ricky Steamboat, Shawn Michaels, and Bret Hart. A notable photo exists of Copeland attending Wrestlemania VI wearing a Hulk Rules T-shirt, when he was 17, he won an essay contest with his local gym, and his prize was free wrestling training with Sweet Daddy Siki and Ron Hutchison in Toronto. He put his wrestling aspirations aside to pay the bills. He held numerous jobs and then attended Humber College, where he graduated with a degree in radio broadcasting, during Copelands training, he trained one weekday and all weekend. The schools practice ring was a 12-by-14-foot boxing ring with a harder mat than that of a wrestling ring. The ceiling above it was low, with exposed pipes, preventing top-rope moves from being performed, Copeland later credited this environment with forcing him to drill and improve his technical mat-based wrestling. His classmates included Johnny Swinger, Joe E. Legend, throughout the 1990s, Copeland wrestled on the independent circuit in Ontario and the Great Lakes region of the United States under the ring name Sexton Hardcastle. He became a part of the tag team Sex and Violence with Joe E. Legend, in the mid-1990s, he wrestled as Adam Impact for Tony Condellos Winnipeg promotion
