1.
WWE
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Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. was an American professional wrestling promotion and the sanctioning body for the World Wide Wrestling Federation and later World Wrestling Federation. Founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt in 1953, Capitol Wrestling Corporation is the precursor to todays WWE, run by Jess grandson, Jess McMahon was a successful boxing promoter who began working with Tex Rickard in 1926. With the help of Rickard, he began promoting boxing at the third Madison Square Garden, a few years prior, professional wrestler Toots Mondt had created a new challenge of professional wrestling that he called “Slam Bang Western Style Wrestling”. He convinced wrestler Ed Lewis and his manager Billy Sandow to implement this new solution, after much success, a disagreement over power caused the trio to dissolve and, with it, their promotion. Mondt later formed partnerships with other promoters, including Jack Curley in New York City. Mondt eventually took over the New York wrestling scene, due to the fact Curley was dying, with the aid of several bookers, together, McMahon and Mondt created the Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. which later joined the National Wrestling Alliance in 1953. In November 1954, Jess McMahon died and Ray Fabiani, one of Mondts associates, both men left the company in protest following the incident and formed the WWWF in the process, awarding Rogers the new WWWF World Heavyweight Championship in April of that year. He lost the championship to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17,1963, after gaining a television program deal and turning preliminary wrestler Lou Albano as a manager for Sammartinos heel opponents, the WWWF was doing sell out business by 1970. Mondt left the company in the late 1960s and although the WWWF had withdrawn from the NWA, Vince McMahon, at the annual meeting of the NWA in 1983, the McMahons and WWF employee Jim Barnett all withdrew from the organization. By March 1979, for marketing purposes, the World Wide Wrestling Federation was renamed the World Wrestling Federation and that same year, Vincent J. McMahons son, Vincent K. McMahon, founded Titan Sports, Inc. incorporated on February 21,1980, originally in Massachusetts. In 1982, Titan Sports Inc. acquired Capitols operations, effectively relocating its headquarters to Greenwich, in an attempt to make the WWF the premier wrestling promotion in the world, McMahon began an expansion that fundamentally changed the industry. In the end, the elder McMahon would never live to see his company grow from a promotion to what is now a worldwide organization. He died from cancer at 69 years old on May 24,1984. By 1985, Titan moved to Stamford, Connecticut then establishing a new entity in 1987 in Delaware which later merged with the old company in 1988. Titan later changed its name to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. before finally becoming World Wrestling Entertainment, list of independent wrestling promotions in the United States
2.
Sponsor (commercial)
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Sponsoring something is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is known as sponsor. Sponsorship is a cash and/or in-kind fee paid to a property in return for access to the commercial potential associated with that property. While the sponsoree may be nonprofit, unlike philanthropy, sponsorship is done with the expectation of a commercial return, while sponsorship can deliver increased awareness, brand building and propensity to purchase, it is different from advertising. Unlike advertising, sponsorship can not communicate specific product attributes, nor can it stand alone, as sponsorship requires support elements. A range of psychological and communications theories have been used to explain how commercial sponsorship works to impact consumer audiences, cornwell, Weeks and Roy have published an extensive review of the theories so far used to explain commercial sponsorship effects. Title sponsor is highest status of sponsorship and it characterizes the most significant contribution to a company in organizing and hosting an event. Often the name of sponsor is placed next to the name of competition, teams. In case of title sponsors presence the general sponsor position may remain free, general sponsor is a sponsor that makes one of the largest contributions and that receives for it the right to use the image of competition as well as extensive media coverage. If necessary, the status of the sponsor may be supplemented by the general sponsors for certain categories. Official sponsor is a sponsor that makes a part of raised funds. Typically, the status may be granted by category. Technical sponsor is a sponsor which promotes organization of sporting events through the partial or full payment of goods, participating sponsor is a company, the sponsorship fee size of which usually does not exceed 10% of total raised funds. Informational sponsor is an organization that provides support through media coverage, conducting PR-actions, joint actions. All sponsorship should be based on contractual obligations between the sponsor and the sponsored party, sponsors and sponsored parties should set out clear terms and conditions with all other partners involved, to define their expectations regarding all aspects of the sponsorship deal. Sponsorship should be recognisable as such, the terms and conduct of sponsorship should be based upon the principle of good faith between all parties to the sponsorship. There should be clarity regarding the rights being sold and confirmation that these are available for sponsorship from the rights holder. Sponsored parties should have the right to decide on the value of the sponsorship rights that they are offering
3.
Sony Interactive Entertainment
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Sony Interactive Entertainment is a multinational video game company and is an owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products and Services Group of Sony. The company was founded and established on November 16,1993, as Sony Computer Entertainment, since the successful launch of the original PlayStation console in 1994, the company has since been developing the PlayStation lineup of home video game consoles and accessories. Expanding upon North America and other countries, the company soon became Sonys main resource for research and development in video games, in 1994, Sony Computer Entertainment America, began to produce the original PlayStation console in North America. The starting price for this console was originally listed at $299.99, in April 2016, SCE and Sony Network Entertainment was restructured and reorganized into Sony Interactive Entertainment, carrying over the operations and primary objectives from both companies. Sony Interactive Entertainment handles the research and development, production, alongside, it is also a developer and publisher of video game titles and is composed of several subsidiaries of Sonys largest markets, North America, Europe and Asia. As of September 30,2016, the company has sold more than 486 million PlayStation consoles worldwide. Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. was jointly established by Sony, the original PlayStation console was released on December 3,1994, in Japan. The companys North American operations, Sony Computer Entertainment of America, were established in May 1995 as a division of Sony Electronic Publishing. Located in Foster City, California, the North American office was headed by Steve Race. On August 7,1995, Race unexpectedly resigned and was named CEO of Spectrum HoloByte three days later and he was replaced by Sony Electronics veteran Martin Homlish. The PS console was released in the United States on September 9,1995, as part of a worldwide restructuring at the beginning of 1997, SCEA was re-established as a wholly owned subsidiary of SCEI. The launch of the second PS console, the PlayStation 2 was released in Japan on March 4,2000, on July 1,2002, chairman of SCEI, Shigeo Maruyama, was replaced by Tamotsu Iba as chairman. Jack Tretton and Phil Harrison were also promoted to vice presidents of SCE. The PlayStation Portable was SCEIs first foray into the handheld console market. Its development was first announced during SCEs E3 conference in 2003, the system was released in Japan on December 12,2004, in North America on March 24,2005, and in Europe and Australia on September 1,2005. On September 14,2005, SCEI formed Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, shuhei Yoshida was named as President of SCE WWS on May 16,2008, replacing Kazuo Hirai, who was serving interim after Harrison left the company in early 2008. On December 8,2005, video game developer Guerrilla Games, on January 24,2006, video game developer Zipper Interactive, developers of the Socom series, was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment as part of its SCE WWS. Sony also stated that the service would always be connected, free, the launch date for the PS3 was announced by Hirai at the pre-Electronic Entertainment Expo conference held at Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles, U. S. on May 8,2006
4.
Allstate Arena
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Allstate Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Rosemont, Illinois, United States. It is home to the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League, the DePaul Blue Demons mens basketball team from DePaul University, and it is located near the intersection of Mannheim Road and Interstate 90, adjacent to the city limits of Chicago and OHare International Airport. The facility opened in 1980 as Rosemont Horizon and seats 18,211 for basketball and 17,500 for ice hockey. The Village of Rosemont issued $19 million in bonds to finance the cost of the arena with exclusive contracts with Araserv, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and MFG International. On August 13,1979, the roof of the Rosemont Horizon collapsed, killing five construction workers. The collapse was featured in the Engineering Disasters episode of Modern Marvels and it was also intended to be the home of the WHAs Chicago Cougars, but the team folded in 1975, three years before construction on the arena started. The first concert held at the Horizon was Fleetwood Mac on May 15,1980, the Rosemont Horizon was featured in many music videos, including the 1985 music video Big City Nights by Scorpions. Insurance company Allstate signed a 10-year contract worth more than $10 million on June 9,1999, to acquire naming rights to the arena and renovate it. On December 14,2003, the floor at the Allstate Arena was named Ray and Marge Meyer Court in honor of Basketball Hall of Famer Ray Meyer, Meyer coached DePauls mens team for 42 seasons and is the schools all-time winningest coach. Allstate Arena is primarily known as the home of DePaul University mens basketball since the programs 74–56 win over Gonzaga on December 1,1980, the Blue Demons previously played on campus at Alumni Hall. That gym has since replaced with McGrath-Phillips Arena, the home to the womens basketball program. The building hosted the NCAA basketball tournament three times, the 1987 and 1993 Midwest Regional first and second-round games, and the 2005 Chicago Regional Finals, the Arena Football League also has a long history with Allstate Arena. The Horizon hosted an arena football test game in 1987 and the Chicago Bruisers were an original Arena Football League team when the league began in 1987, the Bruisers played from 1987 to 1989, and hosted ArenaBowl II in Rosemont, losing to the Detroit Drive, 24-13. In 2001, Arena Football returned to the arena with the Chicago Rush, the Rush increased its home attendance each year from 2001 to 2008, and from 2004 to 2008 averaged between 14,000 and 16,000 fans per game. The Rushs highest home attendance is 16,391 on June 23,2007 against the Kansas City Brigade, after the AFL restructured in 2009, the Rush returned to the Arena Football League. The Allstate Arena is also the venue when WWE visits Chicago. It is one of two venues to host WrestleMania three times, namely the second segment of WrestleMania II in 1986, WrestleMania 13 in 1997, wrestlemania 22 is also notable for being the last WrestleMania to date to be held in a smaller arena. Due to the rapid growth in popularity, from WrestleMania 23 at Detroits Ford Field
5.
Rosemont, Illinois
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Rosemont is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located immediately northwest of Chicago. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 4,202, the village was incorporated in 1956, though it had been settled long before that. The residential sections of Rosemont are a community, as a result of the 1995 decision by residents to enclose the residential portions of the city. According to the 2010 census, Rosemont has an area of 1.79 square miles. As of the 2000 census, there were 4,224 people,1,692 households, the population density was 2,423.6 per square mile. There were 1,745 housing units at a density of 1,001.2 per square mile. The racial makeup of the village was 79. 24% White,1. 35% African American,0. 88% Native American,4. 40% Asian,0. 02% Pacific Islander,11. 55% from other races, and 2. 56% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 35. 35% of the population, Rosemont was tied for first place in 2000 with Bowdon, Georgia as the place in the United States with the highest percentage of people reporting Bulgarian ancestry. The percentage of people so reporting in 2000 was 2. 7%,35. 0% of all households were made up of individuals and 13. 4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the family size was 3.31. In the village, the population was out with 24. 4% under the age of 18,10. 4% from 18 to 24,35. 7% from 25 to 44,18. 4% from 45 to 64. The median age was 32 years, for every 100 females there were 110.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 111.2 males, the median income for a household in the village was $34,663, and the median income for a family was $44,939. Males had an income of $30,066 versus $30,015 for females. The per capita income for the village was $19,781, about 10. 6% of families and 14. 9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23. 6% of those under age 18 and 10. 6% of those age 65 or over. Rosemont is positioned between OHare International Airport and the rest of the City of Chicago, due to its location, much of the village is occupied by large hotels and office buildings. According to Colliers Bennett & Kahnweiler, the Rosemont/OHare office market encompassed approximately 13,500,000 square feet of total inventory in 2008, additionally, Rosemont operates several visitor related-forums. Among these are the Donald E, the village is the sponsor of the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps
6.
In Your House 13: Final Four
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In Your House 13, Final Four was the thirteenth In Your House professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. The event was presented by Western Union and took place on February 16,1997 at the UTC Arena in Chattanooga, the main event was a four corners elimination match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, which had been vacated by Shawn Michaels three days before the event. The main matches on the undercard were Owen Hart and The British Bulldog versus Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon, the main feud heading into In Your House 13 was between Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker, and Vader over the finish of the Royal Rumble. As per stipulation, the winner of the Rumble match would face the WWF Champion for his title at WrestleMania 13. According to Bret Hart, Michaels was scheduled to drop the title to him at WrestleMania in return for Hart having dropped the title to Michaels at the event one year earlier. He stated that he had to find his smile again, which he had lost somewhere down the line, Michaels spent time rehabbing his knee at the same time Steve Austin was rehabbing his knee injury at HealthSouth in San Antonio. This did not sit well with Hart, who had legitimate backstage problems with Michaels at this time, Hart and Austins rivalry began shortly after Austin won the 1996 King of the Ring tournament. Hart had taken time off following his loss to Michaels at WrestleMania. Austin insulted Hart in an attempt to goad the former champion into accepting his challenge for match, Hart eventually returned and agreed to the match, with the two facing each other at Survivor Series where Hart defeated Austin. Undertaker and Vaders paths crossed due to Undertakers continued bad blood with his former manager Paul Bearer, Bearer turned on Undertaker and cost him a Boiler Room Brawl against Mankind at SummerSlam 1996, and after that he began feuding with wrestlers managed by Bearer. Bearer assisted Vader in defeating Undertaker at the Royal Rumble, thus aligning himself with the massive wrestler Later that night all four men were entered into the Royal Rumble match. Austin was the first of the four to enter, coming out fifth, by order of entry, the other six were Hart, Diesel, Terry Funk, Mankind, Vader, and Undertaker. The first two eliminations among this group would set in motion the events that followed. Shortly after Mankind eliminated Rocky Maivia from the match, he turned his attention to Funk and this culminated in Mankind using his Cactus clothesline as Funk was against the ropes, knocking both men to the apron. Funk came back into the ring and tried to suplex Mankind, Mankind did not leave the apron, however, and Undertaker eliminated him with a boot to the floor. Funk then began arguing with the officials on the side of the ring from which he had been eliminated, all of the officials surrounding the ring ran over to the fracas to try and break it up and send both men to the back. While this was happening, Hart took advantage of a lapse in concentration by Austin, who had just finished attacking Diesel. As Austin got to his feet, he realized that none of the officials had seen his feet touch the floor as they were too busy with breaking the brawl up on the opposite side of the ring
7.
In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker
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In Your House 14, Revenge of the Taker was the fourteenth In Your House professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. The event took place on April 20,1997 at the Rochester Community War Memorial in Rochester, the main event was a one-on-one match between Steve Austin and Bret Hart. The main feud heading into In Your House 14 was between Steve Austin and Bret Hart and their rivalry began in 1996 after Austin won the 1996 King of the Ring tournament and began taunting Hart, who was inactive at the time. Austin insulted Hart in his speeches so Hart could accept his challenge to a match, Hart returned in October and accepted Austins challenge, with the two facing each other at Survivor Series where Hart defeated Austin. Their rivalry continued as Hart and Austin were the two participants in the 1997 Royal Rumble match. They were participants in a Four Corners Elimination match for the vacant WWF Championship at In Your House 13, Final Four, Hart had almost the match won, until Undertaker interfered and helped Sid in getting the victory. At WrestleMania 13, Hart faced Austin in a No Disqualification Submission match where he applied the Sharpshooter on Austin in the end of the match, Austin was heavily bleeding and passed out. Hart won the match but he did not release the hold and it resulted in a double turn, as Hart turned heel and Austin turned babyface. Hart then reformed the Hart Foundation by recruiting Owen Hart and The British Bulldog, brian Pillman joined on April 21 and Jim Neidhart joined on April 28. The entire faction feuded with Austin, the other feud heading into the event was between The Undertaker and Mankind. On the April 1,1996, edition of Monday Night Raw, Undertaker faced Justin Bradshaw in the event where Mankind interfered and attacked Undertaker. At King of the Ring, Mankind defeated Undertaker in their first encounter, Mankind invented Boiler Room Brawl match and the first-ever Boiler Room Brawl took place at SummerSlam, which Mankind won after Undertakers manager Paul Bearer betrayed him. Undertaker invented a Buried Alive match and the first-ever Buried Alive match took place at In Your House 11, Buried Alive and they faced each other in a normal one fall match at Survivor Series, which Undertaker won. On the March 31 edition of Raw is War, Bearer asked WWF Champion Undertaker to forgive him, Mankind came out and attacked Undertaker, while former champion Sid saved Undertaker. This led to a match between Undertaker and Mankind at In Your House 14, before the event aired live on pay-per-view, The Sultan defeated Flash Funk at Free for All. The first match aired live was a tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship. The champions Owen Hart and British Bulldog defended the titles against Legion of Doom, LOD won the match after a Doomsday Device on Bulldog and pinned him, but the match continued because Owen was the legal man in the ring. Bret Hart made a run-in during the match, however, Hart and Bulldog were disqualified and Legion of Doom won the match but did not become champions, because a title cannot change hands via disqualification
8.
WrestleMania
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WrestleMania, WWEs flagship event, is the most successful and longest-running professional wrestling event in history. It contributes to the commercial success of WWE through media, merchandise. WrestleMania was conceptualized by WWE owner Vince McMahon and long time WWE ring announcer, WrestleManias widespread success helped transform professional wrestling. The event has facilitated the rise to stardom of several top WWE wrestlers, celebrities such as Aretha Franklin, Cyndi Lauper, Muhammad Ali, Mr. The first WrestleMania was held in Madison Square Garden in New York City, WrestleMania III in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan was the highest-attended indoor sports event in the world, with 93,173 fans in attendance. In 2016, WrestleMania 32 surpassed WrestleMania III as the professional wrestling event ever held in America. All editions of the event have been hosted in North American cities, with 30 in the United States, most WrestleMania events have taken place in sports arenas in large cities, with some in large stadiums. Since moving to large stadiums and running WrestleMania Axxess, the event produces a local economy boost for the host cities, other WWE championships are also contested for, while gimmick matches and personal feud matches also take place on the match card. Since 1993, the winner of the annual Royal Rumble match has been able to receive a guaranteed WWE Championship match at the same years WrestleMania. With the introduction of the World Heavyweight Championship in 2002, the winner was given the option to choose between the world title or the WWE championship. The creation of the ECW brand in June 2006 gave the Rumble winner a third option and this option was made available from 2007 until the brand was retired in 2010. However, this option was never chosen, WrestleMania 21 saw the introduction of the Money in the Bank ladder match. This lasted until 2010 when the Money in the Bank pay per view was introduced, for five of the first six WrestleManias Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura served as the color commentators, while Bobby Heenan, Gene Okerlund, Lord Alfred Hayes and others filled guest roles. For WrestleMania VII and VIII, Monsoon and Heenan provided color commentary, in the mid to late 1990s the commentator team comprised Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry The King Lawler. At WrestleMania XXV the first three-man inter-brand commentary team since the WWE Brand Extension was used, and consisted of Jim Ross, Jerry The King Lawler, the following year Jim Ross was replaced by Matt Striker at WrestleMania XXVI. Four French commentators were at ringside, Jean Brassard and Raymond Rougeau, Phillippe Chéreau, the World Wrestling Federation staged the first WrestleMania on March 31,1985 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In attendance were business celebrity Sy Sperling and broadcasting executive Tony DAngelo, WrestleMania 2 was held the following year and took place in three venues across the country. The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, the Rosemont Horizon in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois, and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles
9.
WrestleMania XII
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WrestleMania XII was the twelfth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on March 31,1996, at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, in the main event, Bret Hart lost the WWF World Heavyweight Championship to Shawn Michaels in a 60-minute Iron Man match. In his return to the company after a hiatus, The Ultimate Warrior defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley. The event featured the WWF debut of rival promotion World Championship Wrestling mainstay Marc Mero, roddy Piper competed in his first match since 1994, after which he left for WCW. The main attraction of this WrestleMania was the WWF World Heavyweight Championship contested in an Iron Man match, WrestleMania XII received generally positive reviews from critics, who aimed praise particularly at the main event. Rob McNew of 411mania called the opening match really good, and gave it 3 and he gave the main event the highest score of the night, with 4 stars. However, he says the match isnt for everyone, continuing, he says, Its about a three star match for the first 40 minutes, the last 20+ are an easy five stars. He gave the event a score of 7 out of 10. In 2015, Ryan Dilbert of Bleacher Report called it the 16th greatest of the first 30 WrestleMania events, the Official Website of WrestleMania XII
10.
WrestleMania XIV
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This pay-per-view event was notable for the involvement of boxer Mike Tyson, who acted as a ring enforcer for the main event. The main event also saw the start of Stone Cold Steve Austins first WWF World Heavyweight Championship reign and his victory in the main event, against Shawn Michaels, has been cited as the beginning of the Attitude Era. After Legion of Doom lost their WWF Tag Team Championship to The New Age Outlaws, they were assaulted by The New Age Outlaws, following this, he turned his attention to Hunter Hearst Helmsley and the European Championship that Michaels had given to Helmsley as a Christmas present. After Hart won the match, WWF Commissioner Slaughter declared the disguise so convincing that he upheld the decision, the following week in a match against Barry Windham, Hart landed awkwardly on his ankle suffering a injury. During the match, Chyna appeared and hit his ankle with a bat, although the two worked well together, Goldusts valet Luna Vachon grew vocally disdainful of Sable, who was also being mocked by Mero and Goldust, causing Sable to eventually fight back. As the two brawled, their partners tried to separate them but when Goldust grabbed Sable to restrain her. Goldust then challenged Mero and Sable to a tag team match at WrestleMania XIV. The Rock convinced the referee that it was in fact he who suffered an illegal attack, the masked man was revealed to be Kane, Undertakers half-brother and, despite the animosity and the presence of Paul Bearer, Undertaker vowed never to fight his little brother. Before Undertakers casket match with Michaels, D-Generation X claimed Kane had joined them, the alliance was short lived, however, as during the Royal Rumble event, Kane came to the ring and locked Undertaker in his casket before setting it ablaze, presuming his brother dead. After he did, more bells were heard to ring, this time signalling Undertakers theme music, the ringing continued much longer than normal, with Bearer denying the possibility of it being Undertaker. In January, Stone Cold Steve Austin won the Royal Rumble while Shawn Michaels retained his WWF World Heavyweight Championship, at the ensuing press conference, McMahon announced that due to the explosive situation Tysons role was being changed to that of ring enforcer. The following week, Austin stole the belt from Michaels in the hope of baiting him in a singles match. This led to a non-sanctioned eight-man tag match at No Way Out of Texas, In Your House, which Michaels declined to participate in and that Austin won by pinning Road Dogg. With WrestleMania drawing closer, on the March 2 episode of Raw Is War, Tyson appeared once again to be interviewed only for Michaels to interrupt and challenge Tyson to a fight. Also that week, a St. Chris Warren and The DX Band opened the show by performing hard rock versions of America the Beautiful, the audience did not react well to the performance, booing the band during and after their songs. This segment was edited off all subsequent home video releases as well as the WWE Network, the night began with the secret guests in the tag team battle royal being revealed as the united Legion of Doom, with Sunny as their new valet. Savio Vega was first eliminated, meaning his tag team partner, kurrgan illegally entered the ring to enact revenge on Sniper and Recon on behalf of The Jackyl, Barry Windham also illegally entered to eliminate Chainz, and so left his partner Bradshaw. The final four teams lasted a while until Skull was eliminated by Phineas, when The Godwinns were thrown out, they returned and attacked the LOD with slop buckets before leaving
11.
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
12.
PlayStation
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It is created and owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment since December 3,1994, with the launch of the original PlayStation console in Japan. The original console in the series was the first video game console to ship 100 million units,9 years and 6 months after its initial launch and its successor, the PlayStation 2, was released in 2000. The PlayStation 2 is the home console to date, having reached over 155 million units sold as of December 28,2012. Sonys next console, the PlayStation 3, was released in 2006 and has sold over 80 million consoles worldwide as of November 2013. Sonys latest console, the PlayStation 4, was released in 2013, selling 1 million consoles in its first 24 hours on sale, the first handheld game console in the PlayStation series, sold a total of 80 million units worldwide by November 2013. Its successor, the PlayStation Vita, which launched in Japan on December 17,2011, PlayStation TV is a microconsole and a non-portable variant of the PlayStation Vita handheld game console. The main series of controllers utilized by the PlayStation series is the DualShock, the PlayStation Network is an online service with over 110 million users worldwide. PlayStation Mobile is a framework that provides PlayStation content on mobile devices. Content set to be released under the framework consist of only original PlayStation games currently, 7th generation PlayStation products also use the XrossMediaBar, which is an award-winning graphical user interface. A new touch screen-based user interface called LiveArea was launched for the PlayStation Vita, additionally, PlayStation 2 and original PlayStation 3 consoles also featured support for Linux-based operating systems, though this has since been discontinued. The series has also known for its numerous marketing campaigns. The consoles origins date back to 1988 where it was originally a joint project between Nintendo and Sony to create a CD-ROM for the Super Famicom. However, a day after the announcement at CES, Nintendo announced that it would be breaking its partnership with Sony, opting to go with Philips instead but using the same technology. The deal was broken by Nintendo after they were unable to come to an agreement on how revenue would be split between the two companies. The breaking of the partnership infuriated Sony President Norio Ohga, who responded by appointing Kutaragi with the responsibility of developing the PlayStation project to rival Nintendo. At that time, negotiations were still on-going between Nintendo and Sony, with Nintendo offering Sony a non-gaming role regarding their new partnership with Philips. This proposal was rejected by Kutaragi who was facing increasing criticism over his work with regard to entering the video game industry from within Sony. At the meeting, Kutaragi unveiled a proprietary CD-ROM-based system he had working on which involved playing video games with 3D graphics to the board
13.
Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage
14.
Professional wrestling match types
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Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called concept or gimmick matches in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some of them occur relatively frequently, while others are developed so as to advance an angle, because of professional wrestlings long history over decades, many things have been recycled. These match types can be organized into several loose groups, the singles match is the most basic of all professional wrestling matches, which involves only two competitors competing for one fall. Victory is obtained by pinfall, submission, knockout, countout or disqualification, commentators and bookers generally explain it as saying the challenger must beat the champion. Playing into this, some storylines have heel champions protect their titles by losing in such ways. Time Limit matches were invented during the days of professional wrestling as a way to stop matches that went on for too long. A Battle of Respect is often held in tribute to another wrestler, on most occasions, one member of the team competes in the ring with one or more of his/her teammate standing behind the ropes. Wrestlers switch positions by tagging one another, usually similar to a five and, as a result. This can create tension during the match as a wrestler in the middle of the ring attempts to reach his/her teammate. In typical tag team matches, standard wrestling rules apply with an ending by pinfall, submission, countout. Promotions usually have established tag teams that most often compete in team matches rather than singles matches, though teams will often break up to pursue a singles career, teams often consist of real-life friends or relatives. On other occasions, teams are booked together by promoters based on their face or heel alignment in order to increase the amount of wrestlers on the card or to advance multiple storylines at once. Though common in Mexican lucha libre, at one point, World Championship Wrestling had a championship for teams of three, matches in which the entire team competes at once is often referred to as a tornado tag match, specifically in WWE. Matches can be held under standard rules or as a specialty match, such as a cage match or a ladder match. One famous example of this match is the Survivor Series match held in WWE at their annual Survivor Series pay-per-view, teams of four or five, though on some occasions as many as seven, compete under elimination rules. All other standard rules apply, and team members may tag in, while some teams are already established stables, others may need to recruit members for their team. In lucha libre promotions, a torneo cibernetico is a type of match between teams of up to eight wrestlers who enter in a predetermined order. A Winner Takes All match is a match where both wrestlers are champions going into the match, and the winner receives the championship of the loser and this is not the same as a championship unification match
15.
The Undertaker
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Mark William Calaway, better known by the ring name The Undertaker, is a retired American professional wrestler, who is signed to WWE. Calaway began his career with World Class Championship Wrestling in 1984. Calaway is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestler of all time, as The Undertaker, Calaways gimmick was a horror-themed, macabre entity who employed scare tactics and held links to the supernatural. The character was reinvented as a biker during a period in the early 2000s before returning to his previous gimmick in 2004, the Undertaker was the storyline of older half-brother of fellow WWE wrestler Kane, with whom he has alternately feuded and teamed with as The Brothers of Destruction. The Undertaker has been involved in various storylines and matches within WWE history. The Undertaker was known for The Streak, a run of 21 straight victories at WWEs leading pay-per-view, WrestleMania. He also won the 2007 Royal Rumble, Calaway was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Frank Compton Calaway and Betty Catherine Truby. He has four brothers, David, Michael, Paul. Calaway attended Waltrip High School, where he was a member of the football and basketball teams and he graduated in 1983 and began studying at Angelina College in Lufkin, Texas on a basketball scholarship. In 1985, he enrolled in Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1986, Calaway dropped out of university to focus on a career in sports, and he briefly considered playing professional basketball in Europe before deciding to focus on professional wrestling. Calaway made his debut in 1984 for World Class Championship Wrestling under the ring name Texas Red and his first match was a loss against Bruiser Brody. In 1988, after four years in the promotion, he left and joined the Continental Wrestling Association, after his second match the next week, he stayed in the ring by challenging USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lawler to an impromptu match. The Master of Pain easily dominated Lawler until Mantel entered the ring, Lawler agreed to a title match, and on April 1, The Master of Pain won his first professional wrestling championship. He held it for just over three weeks before Lawler became the first man to pin him, winning it back, while performing as The Punisher, Calaway won the WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship on October 5,1989, when Eric Embry forfeited the title. In 1989, Calaway joined World Championship Wrestling as a villain and adopted the ring name Mean Mark Callous, a name devised for him by Terry Funk. He was portrayed as a character, he wore predominantly black ring attire and was described by announcer Jim Ross as having a fondness for pet snakes. The new team gained notoriety at Clash of the Champions X when they beat down The Road Warriors after their match. However, Callous partner Dan Spivey left WCW days before their Chicago Street Fight against The Road Warriors at WrestleWar, Callous and a replacement masked Skyscraper were defeated in the street fight, and the team broke up soon afterwards
16.
Sid Eudy
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Sidney Raymond Eudy is an American professional wrestler. He is best known under the ring names Sid Vicious, Sid Justice, Sycho Sid, or simply Sid, between those promotions, Eudy has enjoyed major championship success and performed to an international television audience in three decades from the 1980s to the early 2000s. Eudy is a world champion, having won the WWF Championship twice, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship twice. In addition to world title success, Eudy held the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship once, Eudy entered the wrestling industry after an encounter with Randy Savage and his brother Lanny Poffo. After being trained by Mötley Cruz, Eudy made his debut as he teamed with Austin Idol and wrestled the team of Nick Bockwinkel and he then adopted the masked wrestler persona known as Lord Humongous. Eudy began his career in Continental Championship Wrestling in 1987, under a mask and he also competed in New Japan Pro Wrestling NJPW), where he challenged Tatsumi Fujinami for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship under the name Vicious Warrior, but was unable to win the title. In 1989, Eudy signed with World Championship Wrestling and retained his Sid Vicious ring name and he made his debut on June 16,1989 at a WCW Pro taping in Cleveland, Ohio where he defeated DeWayne Bruce. Originally slated as a wrestler, Eudy was eventually paired with Danny Spivey to form The Skyscrapers. Managed by Teddy Long, The Skyscrapers feuded with The Steiner Brothers, during this time, he incorporated the Powerbomb as his finishing move. Sid was the muscle of the group and initially brought in to counter-act the strength of RoboCop at Capital Combat and his first televised match back was a 26-second loss to Lex Luger on Clash of the Champions XI, Coastal Crush in which the referee performed a fast three count. As one of the Horsemen, Eudy feuded with Paul Orndorff and he attacked NWA World Heavyweight Champion Sting following the champions title match of Clash of the Champions XII, Mountain Madness/Fall Brawl 90, setting up his first feud as a singles wrestler. At Halloween Havoc, a fake Sting, in collusion with Sid, however, they were thwarted when the real Sting came out and beat Sid to retain the title. Following this match Eudy made a return to heel status, ending Trucker Norms WCW run in January 1991 and squashing Joey Maggs at Clash of the Champions XIV. He returned to full-fledged Horsemen activity and participated in the WarGames match at WrestleWar, the Horsemen amicably split in April 1991, during which time he entered negotiations with the WWF. Despite a huge contract offer and a promise of a championship run. Before departing he had a feud with 77 tall El Gigante. At a Superstars taping on May 28,1991, Eudy would make his WWF debut in a segment that saw him clear the ring of The Mountie following Mounties open challenge for a brawl. He faced Ted DiBiase in his first WWF match at a non-televised event o n July 8, where Sid won
17.
WWE Championship
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The WWE Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the SmackDown brand. It is one of two titles in the WWE, alongside the WWE Universal Championship that was created for the Raw brand as a result of the 2016 WWE draft. The title is held by Randy Orton, who is in his ninth reign. The inaugural champion was Buddy Rogers, since its inception, the title has undergone many name changes due to company name changes and title unifications. From its inception until 2001, it was promoted as WWEs sole primary championship, an additional world title, the WCW Championship, was added after the then-World Wrestling Federations purchase of World Championship Wrestling in early 2001. The titles were unified as the Undisputed Championship. After the first brand extension in 2002 and the promotion becoming the WWE, the championship exclusive to SmackDown. ECW became a brand in 2006, adding the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. Over the course of the first brand extension, the WWE Championship switched between brands, usually as a result of the annual draft, the ECW Championship was deactivated in 2010, and the World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the WWE Championship in 2013. The championship was again the world title of WWE until the reintroduction of the brand extension in 2016. The title was introduced in 1963 with Buddy Rogers becoming the first champion, however, its origin is attributed to events that began in the National Wrestling Alliance, which had various territorial member promotions. In the 1950s, Capitol Wrestling Corporation was a member of the NWA and by 1963, during this time, Buddy Rogers held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship until January 24, when Lou Thesz defeated Rogers for the championship in a one fall match. After several years, the WWWF became affiliated with the NWA once again, although the full name appeared on the championship belts until 1998, the name was often abbreviated to WWF Championship, which became its official name in 1998. In 1991, World Championship Wrestling, a member of the NWA, in 1993, WCW seceded from the NWA and grew to become a rival promotion to the WWF. Both organizations grew into prominence and were eventually involved in a television ratings war. Near the end of the war, WCW began a financial decline. As a result of the purchase, the WWF acquired, among other assets, thus, there were two world titles in the WWF, the original WWF Championship and the WCW Championship, which was eventually renamed to the World Championship. In December 2001, the two championships were unified at Vengeance, at the event, Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Kurt Angle to retain the WWF Championship, while Chris Jericho defeated The Rock for the World Championship
18.
Bret Hart
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Bret Sergeant Hart, better known by the ring name Bret The Hitman Hart, is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler, retired amateur wrestler, writer and actor. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling background, wrestling at Ernest Manning High School. Hart is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Sky Sports noted that his legacy is that of one of, if not the greatest, Hart joined his father Stu Harts promotion Stampede Wrestling in 1976, and made his in-ring debut in 1978. He gained championship success throughout the 1980s and 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation and he left for World Championship Wrestling following the controversial Montreal Screwjob in November 1997, where he remained until October 2000. Having been inactive from in-ring competition since January 2000, owing to a December 1999 concussion, he retired in October 2000. He returned to sporadic in-ring competition from 2010–2011 with WWE, where he won his championship, headlined the 2010 SummerSlam event. Throughout his career, Hart headlined WrestleManias IX, X, and XII, Hart has held championships in five decades from the 1970s to the 2010s, with a total of 32 held throughout his career, and 17 held between the WWF/WWE and WCW. He is a world champion, having held the WWF World Heavyweight Championship five times. Hart is also the 1994 Royal Rumble match winner, and the only two-time King of the Ring, winning the 1991 tournament and the first King of the Ring pay-per-view in 1993. Stone Cold Steve Austin, with whom Hart headlined multiple pay-per-view events as part of a rivalry from 1996 to 1997. The eighth child of wrestling patriarch Stu Hart, Bret Hart was born in Calgary and he is of Greek descent through his maternal grandmother and Irish through his maternal grandfather. His father was mainly of Scots-Irish descent but also had Scottish and English ancestry, Hart is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States since his mother Helen was born in New York. Hart has stated that he himself to be North American. Hart spent the vast majority of his childhood in the Hart family mansion which was owned by his father. Hart grew up in a household with eleven siblings and he was close with his older brother Dean who was the nearest to him in age of all his older brothers, being three years his senior. Together they would fight with Brets two older sisters Ellie, who was two years older, and Georgia, who was one year older. His introduction to professional wrestling came at an early age, as a child, he witnessed his father training future wrestlers like Billy Graham in the Dungeon, his household basement which served as a training room. Before school, Harts father, also a promoter, had him hand out fliers to local wrestling shows
19.
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
20.
The Road Warriors
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The Road Warriors were a professional wrestling tag team composed of Michael Hawk Hegstrand and Joseph Animal Laurinaitis. Under either name, their gimmick was the same – two imposing muscular wrestlers in face paint, for brief periods, other wrestlers were added as stand-in partners for both men. In Japan in the 1990s, Kensuke Power Warrior Sasaki often teamed with Hawk and Animal, separately, Hawk and Animal were known for their impressive physiques, and revolutionized the business by popularizing the use of face paint, and introducing a tandem maneuver known as the Doomsday Device. Both men used the move as a team finisher throughout their careers, the Road Warriors are regarded by many as the greatest tag team in professional wrestling history. Animal had briefly competed as the Road Warrior before Ole Anderson paired him up with fellow Chicagoan Hawk to form the Road Warriors in 1983. They were initially brought into Precious Paul Ellerings stable as a replacement for his team of Matt Borne and Arn Anderson, after a few months of rapid success, the Road Warriors dumped Ellering as manager, claiming they needed no manager. This was shortlived, as in early 84, along with Precious Paul Ellering formed a stable called The Legion of Doom in the National Wrestling Alliance s Georgia Championship Wrestling territory, the group consisted of the Road Warriors, Jake The Snake Roberts, The Spoiler. The stable was short lived and the name Legion of Doom soon referred only to the Road Warriors and Ellering with either name used interchangeably throughout their career. Animal reveals in the Road Warriors, The Life and Death of the Most Dominant Tag-Team in Wrestling History DVD set that the name Legion of Doom was taken from the Super Friends cartoon. In Georgia, the team rose to the top despite being very young. They gained a reputation for being stiff and not selling simply because they could. They won the NWA National Tag Team Championship upon their debut, in 1984, the Road Warriors moved on to Verne Gagnes American Wrestling Association along with their manager Paul Ellering. On August 25,1984, they defeated The Crusher and Baron von Raschke for the AWA World Tag Team Championship, the Road Warriors were brought in by Gagne to work as heels, but their squash matches soon won over fans. They became the AWAs top draw throughout 1984 and 1985, feuding primarily with The Fabulous Ones, Hawk and Animal eventually lost the AWA title to Jimmy Garvin and Mr. Electricity Steve Regal on September 29,1985, due to the interference of the Freebirds. The Road Warriors last appearance in the AWA was on April 20,1986 at WrestleRock where they defeated the team of Garvin, during their AWA stint the team became well known for using the Black Sabbath song Iron Man as their entrance theme. This and subsequent dominant victories garnered the Road Warriors a lot of Japanese wrestling media headlines and their tours with AJPW in 1985 and 1986 made the Road Warriors such legends in Japan that they toured the country whenever they were “between contracts” of the big three. Their last match in Japan during this period was on July 22,1990, for New Japan Pro Wrestling, losing to Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh by disqualification. On April 19,1986, The Road Warriors won the inaugural Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament by beating Ron Garvin and Magnum T. A. in the finals
21.
Nation of Domination
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The Nation of Domination was a professional wrestling stable in the World Wrestling Federation from November 18,1996 to November 28,1998. The group was formed by newcomer Faarooq in 1996 and remained a faction in the company. While in the group, The Rock was a one-time Intercontinental Champion, the original Nation of Domination was formed in 1996 in the United States Wrestling Association. The group was led by PG-13, the group also consisted of Kareem Olajuwon, Sir Mohammad, Elijah, Brakkus, Shaquille Ali, Randy X, and Queen Moisha. This group never really got off the ground in the USWA, the most well-known Nation of Domination faction with this name was the heel group formed in the WWF when wrestler Faarooq was joined by manager Clarence Mason. The two men were accompanied by three unnamed actors, Albert Armstrong, Charles Hines, and Richard Beach, who were supposed to represent other members of the Nation. The group was based loosely on the Nation of Islam and the Black Panther Party, the extremism of the groups pro-black theme at times including the Nation Salute and Faarooqs angry tirades on the microphone garnered them an excessive amount of heat from fans in arenas. Many wrestlers joined the stable over time including PG-13, Crush, DLo Brown. Their first feud was with Ahmed Johnson, who had a rivalry with Faarooq since SummerSlam, at the Royal Rumble, the Nation assisted Faarooq during his match against Johnson. Faarooq lost by disqualification after Crush interfered and attacked Johnson, Faarooq, Crush, and Vega were the members of Nation of Domination who wrestled while others supported them during their matches. At A Cold Day In Hell, the Nation faced Johnson in a Gauntlet match, Johnson defeated Crush and Vega in the Gauntlet before losing to Faarooq. This led to the induction of Kama Mustafa and Ahmed Johnson into the group after Johnson turned on then WWF Champion The Undertaker during a tag match against Faarooq. Johnson would be forced out of the due to a legit injury. He was replaced by Rocky Maivia, meanwhile, former Nation members Vega and Crush formed their own rival factions, Los Boricuas, and The Disciples of Apocalypse respectively. This led to a WWF style gang war, in the following months, the Nation feuded with Los Boricuas and the Disciples of Apocalypse. This feud culminated in a triple threat match between Faarooq, Vega, and Crush who were the leaders of Nation, Los Boricuas, and DOA respectively at Ground Zero, which Vega won. They restarted their feud with the Legion of Doom, whom the Nation defeated at Badd Blood, as part of his heel turn, Rocky Maivia shortened and changed his ring name to The Rock. Around this time, Ahmed Johnson restarted the feud with the Nation as well and joined the Legion of Doom and this led to a Survivor Series match at Survivor Series, which the Nation lost to the Legion of Doom, Johnson, and Shamrock
22.
Chicago metropolitan area
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The Chicago metropolitan area, or Chicagoland, is the metropolitan area associated with the city of Chicago, Illinois, and its suburbs. With an estimated population of 9.4 million people, it is the third largest metropolitan area in the United States, Chicagoland is the area that is closely linked to the city through geographic, social, economic, and cultural ties. The Chicago metropolitan area is one of the world’s largest and most diversified economies, with more than four million employees, the region is home to more than 400 major corporate headquarters, including 31 in the Fortune 500. The Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area was originally designated by the United States Census Bureau in 1950 and it comprised the Illinois counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and Will, along with Lake County in Indiana. As surrounding counties saw an increase in their population densities and the number of their residents employed within Cook County, the Chicago MSA, now defined as the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the third largest MSA by population in the United States. The 2015 census estimate for the MSA was 9,427,676 and this loss of population has been attributed to taxes, political issues, and other factors. A breakdown of the 2009 estimated populations of the three Metropolitan Divisions of the MSA are as follows, The OMB also defines a larger region as a Combined Statistical Area. The Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI Combined Statistical Area combines the areas of Chicago, Michigan City. This area represents the extent of the market pool for the entire region. The CSA has a population of 9,928,312, the Chicago urban agglomeration, according to the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects report, lists a population of 9,545,000. The term “urban agglomeration” refers to the contained within the contours of a contiguous territory inhabited at urban density levels. It usually incorporates the population in a city plus that in the surrounding area, Chicagoland is an informal name for the Chicago metropolitan area. The term Chicagoland has no definition, and the region is often considered to include areas beyond the corresponding MSA. Colonel Robert R. McCormick, editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune, mcCormicks conception of Chicagoland stretched all the way to nearby parts of four states. The first usage was in the Tribunes July 27,1926 front page headline, Chicagolands Shrines, A Tour of Discoveries and he stated that Chicagoland comprised everything in a 200-mile radius in every direction and reported on many different places in the area. The Tribune was the dominant newspaper in a vast area stretching to the west of the city, today, the Chicago Tribunes usage includes the city of Chicago, the rest of Cook County, eight nearby Illinois counties, and the two Indiana counties of Lake and Porter. Illinois Department of Tourism literature uses Chicagoland for suburbs in Cook, Lake, DuPage, Kane, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce defines it as all of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties. For example, many residents who live in some of the more distant satellite counties nonetheless refer to themselves as being from Chicago or Chicagoans
23.
WrestleMania 2
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WrestleMania 2 was the second annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on Monday, April 7,1986, making it the only WrestleMania that was not held on the customary Sunday, as with the first WrestleMania, the matches were shown on closed-circuit television across North America. The event was also the first WrestleMania to air on the national pay-per-view market, the ring announcers were Howard Finkel, Chet Coppock, and Lee Marshall. Each venue had its own card, the respective final matches were a boxing match pitting Mr. The professional wrestling matches at WrestleMania 2 featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, storylines between the characters played out on WWFs primary television programs, Championship Wrestling, All-Star Wrestling, Saturday Nights Main Event and Prime Time Wrestling. Hogan and André won the match, on March 1, Hogan defended his WWF title against The Magnificent Muraco. Just as Hogan was about to pin Muraco, Bundy ran into the ring and—with Muracos help—initiated a 2-on-1 assault on Hogan, Hogan had a very serious injury, while Bundy challenged Hogan for the title. With revenge on his mind, Hogan decided not to heed his doctors advice and accepted the challenge, the second feud heading into the event was between Mr. T and Rowdy Roddy Piper. T feud restarted in 1986 after their real-life hatred for each other became known, Piper and others disliked Mr. T because he was an actor and was unskilled wrestling-wise. In response, Mr. T became a special WWF boxer, on the March 1 Saturday Nights Main Event, Mr. T defeated Orton in a boxing match. After the match, Piper distracted Mr. T, allowing Orton to attack from behind, Mr. T then demanded revenge, leading to his boxing match against Piper. The third main feud heading into WrestleMania was between The Dream Team and The British Bulldogs over the WWF Tag Team Championship, on August 24,1985, Beefcake and Valentine won the tag titles from The U. S. Express. Immediately after their win, they were challenged by British Bulldogs for the titles. They retained their titles against Bulldogs at a show on September 11 by getting disqualified. They defended the titles against Bulldogs again on Saturday Nights Main Event, after Bulldogs failed in winning the titles twice, Dream Team agreed to defend their titles against Bulldogs for a final time with a title match set at WrestleMania. The other major feud heading into WrestleMania 2 was Randy Macho Man Savage and George the Animal Steele and its genesis came after Steele, who used a Neanderthal, missing link-type gimmick, became smitten with Savages manager, the beautiful Miss Elizabeth. Along with former champion Tito Santana Steele became one of Savages top challengers for the title, in the first match of the show and the New York arena, Paul Orndorff faced The Magnificent Muraco. Both men fought to a double countout, next was a WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship match between Macho Man Randy Savage and George The Animal Steele
24.
Attitude Era
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The Attitude Era is a period in the World Wrestling Federation and professional wrestling history that arose in the latter half of the 1990s. Other prominent Attitude Era performers who became world champions in WWE were Edge, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Bradshaw, Christian. In particular, The Dudleys, The Hardys and Edge and Christian featured in several Tables, top female stars such as Sable and Chyna achieved mainstream notoriety and even competed against male performers. While other prominent female stars saw their beginning during the era such as Trish Stratus, Lita, Molly Holly, the era also saw an increase in the McMahon familys on-screen presence, starting with Chairman Vince McMahons Mr. The company ceased usage of the official WWF Attitude logo – first used on November 9,1997 – on May 6,2002. Since the end of the Attitude Era and mainly since 2008, during which Shane threw himself off the top of the cell onto The Undertaker, reminiscent of the bumps performed by Mankind during the infamous 1998 Hell in a Cell match. They have also said that King of the Ring 1996, the company ceased its Attitude promotion on May 6,2002. World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. officially became World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. by 2001, WCW had become so unsuccessful that it lost its primetime television deal. During the Monday Night Wars, a battle between WWFs Monday Night Raw and WCWs Monday Nitro, WWF would transform itself from a family-friendly product into a more adult oriented product. This era was spearheaded by Chairman Vince McMahon and head writer Vince Russo, russos booking style was often referred to as Crash TV — short matches, backstage vignettes, and shocking television. Several miscellaneous events outside the major benchmarks have been credited with helping transition to the Attitude Era, a few years after the Hulkamania era, WWF needed more sales. In his book, Russo mentions the debut of the character Goldust in 1995 as a point in portraying a more adult character. Brian Pillmans loose cannon persona has also credited, highlighted by a 1996 segment when he pulled a gun on Austin. By 1996, WWF had also begun playing up female sexuality, led by Sunny, another important feud from 1996 to 1997 was between Hart and Shawn Michaels, who had legitimate issues with one another outside of wrestling. The conflict behind the scenes spilled out into their story line. In 1997, Michaels stuffed gauze in the area of skin-tight biker shorts for an interview while making sexual gestures. McMahon legitimately fined Michaels $10,000 for the incident, which led to Michaels pushing McMahon on adult humor as the direction WWF needed to go, Hart was upset with the companys direction preferring a more family-oriented product, this philosophical difference added to the real-life tension. While the feud between Michaels and The Undertaker was short, it was important in adding a new rivalry, a contract was put in place outlining what Hart had stated verbally, if Hart lost, he would never compete in the United States again
25.
WWE Raw
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WWE Raw, also known as Monday Night Raw or simply Raw, is a professional wrestling television program that currently airs live on Monday evenings at 8 pm EST on the USA Network in the United States. The shows name is used to refer to the Raw brand, in which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform on that program. The show debuted on January 11,1993 and has since been considered as the program of WWE. Raw moved from the USA Network to TNN in September 2000, on October 3,2005, Raw returned to the USA Network, where it remains today. As of December 9,2016, all episodes of the show are now available on demand on the WWE Network, since its first episode, Raw has broadcast live from 208 different arenas in 171 cities and towns in eleven different nations. Following the 1000th episode on July 23,2012, Raw became a three-hour broadcast from two hours, a format that had previously reserved for special episodes. Beginning as WWFs Monday Night Raw, the program first aired on January 11,1993 on the USA Network as a replacement for Prime Time Wrestling, the original Raw was sixty minutes in length and broke new ground in televised professional wrestling. Traditionally, wrestling shows were taped on sound stages with small audiences or at large arena shows, the Raw formula was considerably different from the taped weekend shows that aired at the time such as Superstars and Wrestling Challenge. Instead of matches taped weeks in advance with studio voice overs and taped discussion, Raw was a shot and aired to a live audience. Raw originated from the Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center Studios, a small New York City theater, the combination of an intimate venue and live action proved to be a successful improvement. However, the live schedule proved to be a financial drain on the WWF. From Spring 1993 up until Spring 1997, Raw would tape several weeks worth of episodes after an episode had aired. The WWF taped several weeks worth of Raw from the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York in April 1993, up until that point, unless it was part of an ongoing feud or a title match, most matches on nationally televised WWF programs were primarily squash matches. Only Saturday Nights Main Event and The Main Event generally featured the type of matches Raw had, though unlike Raw, huge storyline-developing matches were regularly featured, such as Ric Flair vs. Mr. Perfect in January 1993, this would be Flairs last appearance in the company for almost 9 years, also, The 1–2–3 Kids upset victory over Razor Ramon in May 1993 would result in The Kid becoming an upper roster mainstay for years to come. Vince McMahon, Randy Savage and Rob Bartlett were the hosts of the show. Bartlett, a comedian who previously had nothing to do with the wrestling industry, Lawler has since been named as a permanent co-host for SmackDown and later pre-shows. Corey Graves would later replace JBL, on September 4,1995, the WWFs chief competitor World Championship Wrestling began airing its new wrestling show, Monday Nitro, live each week on TNT
26.
Big Van Vader
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Leon Allen White, better known by his ring name Big Van Vader, or simply Vader, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler and former professional football player. White wrestled as a heavyweight wrestler capable of aerial maneuvers such as the Vadersault. Although he never held a championship in the WWF, White challenged for all of the heavyweight titles, including multiple WWF Championship matches on pay-per-view. White was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996, White was born in Lynwood, California, and grew up in Compton, California. His father was a US Marine, while attending Los Angeles Bell High School, he competed in shotput on the track and field team, wrestled, and played football. White was a nationally ranked center who was recruited by forty colleges and he played offensive line at the University of Colorado, where he became a two-time All-American and earned a business administration degree. In the 1978 NFL Draft, White was drafted as a center by the Los Angeles Rams with the 24th pick of the 3rd Round. During Whites first season, he was put on the reserve list. He was forced to retire after only a couple of seasons due to a ruptured patella, while working out at a gym, White was spotted by a man who remembered him from his college football days who suggested he look into professional wrestling. Trained by Brad Rheingans, White got his first national exposure in the American Wrestling Association and he went by the moniker Baby Bull, which was later changed to Bull Power. Although originally signed to All Japan Pro Wrestling, AJPW owner Giant Baba traded Whites contract over to New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1987 after consideration, upon joining NJPW, White was given the ring name Big Van Vader and began to wear a black wrestling mask. His new identity was based on a warrior of the same name from Japanese folklore. He was introduced as the jewel of the Takeshi Puroresu Gundan stable that was managed by Takeshi Kitano. After a match where Riki Choshu had challenged Antonio Inoki in an effort, Vader demanded a match with the already worn down Inoki. After winning the match of an eight-man tournament against Shinya Hashimoto. He was the first gaijin wrestler to hold the title, on May 25, one month after being crowned champion, Vader lost the title to Russian suplex master Salman Hashimikov. Hashimikov dropped the title to Vaders old rival, Riki Choshu, on August 10, Vader defeated Choshu to become a two-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Shortly after winning the title again, White traveled to Europe, again using the name Bull Power and he continued to travel between Japan and Europe, defending his titles
27.
Glossary of professional wrestling terms
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Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable nomenclature throughout its existence. Much of it stems from the origins in the days of carnivals and circuses. In the past, professional wrestlers used such terms in the presence of fans so as not to reveal the nature of the business. In recent years, widespread discussion on the Internet has popularized these terms, many of the terms refer to the financial aspects of professional wrestling in addition to performance-related terms. A-show A wrestling event where a companys biggest draws wrestle, a-team A group of a wrestling promotions top stars who compete at an A-show. Abort To discontinue a feud, angle, or gimmick suddenly, usually without explanation or due to a lack of fan interest, ace A term typically only used in Japanese puroresu for a wrestler designated as the face of the promotion. Not necessarily the same as the top champion, examples of modern aces include Hiroshi Tanahashi in New Japan Pro Wrestling and Suwama in All Japan Pro Wrestling. Agent A management employee, often a former wrestler, who helps set up matches, plans storylines. Often acts as a liaison between wrestlers and higher-level management, referred to as producers by WWE and sometimes by other companies. Sometimes they help train and teach younger active wrestlers and give criticism, Alliance A cooperative relationship developed between two or more wrestlers, whether wrestling as a tag team or in individual matches. Alliances are often formed for the purpose of retaining titles between the members of the alliance, or to counter a specific foe or group of foes. The formation of an alliance can be a storyline of its own, an angle usually begins when one wrestler attacks another, which results in revenge. An angle may be as small as a match or a vendetta that lasts for years. It is not uncommon to see an angle become retconned due to it not getting over with the fans, Apter mag An old-style professional wrestling magazine that sticks to kayfabe articles. The term refers to the magazines at one time connected to journalist Bill Apter, B-show A wrestling event featuring the middle and lower-level talent of a wrestling promotion. Sometimes includes well-known wrestlers making a return or finishing up their career, b-team The group of wrestlers on a B-show. Babyface A wrestler positioned as a hero, who the crowd are typically cheering for in a match, often simply known as a face. Beat down A situation in which a wrestler or other performer is the recipient of a one-sided beating, blading A wrestler intentionally cutting themself to provoke bleeding
28.
King of the Ring
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King of the Ring was a professional wrestling single-elimination tournament held by WWE. The tournament was held annually from 1985 to 2002, with the exception of 1990 and 1992, and from 1993 to 2002, the tournament endured a four-year hiatus until its return in 2006 as an exclusive event of the SmackDown brand. The tournament returned as an event for both WWE and Raw in 2008,2010, and 2015. WWE released a best of King of the Ring DVD in late 2011, although the King of the Ring tournament was not made into a pay-per-view event until 1993, the original King of the Ring tournament was held in 1985. This gimmick led to several notable feuds for Race with Junkyard Dog, Hulk Hogan, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Race eventually returned from his injury and briefly feuded with King Haku, but was unable to regain the crown at the 1989 Royal Rumble. King Haku then lost the crown to Hacksaw Jim Duggan in May 1989, King Hacksaw then lost it in September 1989 to Macho Man Randy Savage, who rebranded himself Macho King. Savage abandoned the Macho King gimmick upon his retirement in 1991, following which only wrestlers who had won the tournament, william Regal won the tournament while serving as General Manager of Raw and began displaying King Lear signs of tyranny and delusion. Triple H alluded to his King of the Ring victory as part of his integrated gimmick starting 2006 as the King of Kings, the King of the Ring was an event in which typically sixteen wrestlers wrestled in a one-on-one single elimination bracket. When a wrestler wins a match in the bracket, he advances to take on another wrestler who has also won, the final few matches would then take place at that years King of the Ring event. The winner of the match is officially crowned the King of the Ring. There were also matches that took place at the King of the Ring event since it was a traditional three-hour pay-per-view. After a five-year hiatus, the tournament returned in 2015 on the April 27 episode of Raw, bad News Barrett defeated Neville in the final round. From 1993 through 2002, King of the Ring was produced as a pay-per-view event, in 2006, the tournament finals were featured as part of the Judgment Day pay-per-view. In 2008 and 2010, the tournament was featured as a tournament that aired on Monday Night RAW. In 2015, the tournament was started on Monday Night RAW, the King of the Ring was the only one of the WWEs Big Five pay-per-view events to never be hosted at least once at Madison Square Garden. As of 2017, the King of the Ring will return as a WWE Network pay-per-view event, the tournament was held on July 8,1985 at the Sullivan Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. ^ Tito Santana fought Jim Brunzell to a draw, Brunzell then won a toss to determine who would continue in the tournament. ^ Rudy Diamond was a substitute for Bob Orton, ^ Mr. X was a substitute for Hercules Hernandez
29.
Survivor Series (1996)
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Survivor Series was the tenth annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It was presented by Milton Bradleys Karate Fighters, and took place on November 17,1996 at Madison Square Garden in New York, the main event was a standard wrestling match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Shawn Michaels defended the title against Sycho Sid, Sid won the title by pinning Michaels after hitting him with a television camera and performing a Powerbomb. ^1 ^2 ^3 ^42007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts, hoffco-inc. com - Survivor Series 96 review 1996 Survivor Series Results Official 1996 Survivor Series website
30.
Royal Rumble (1997)
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Royal Rumble was the tenth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on January 19,1997, from the Alamodome in San Antonio, the attendance of 60,477 is the highest recorded in the Royal Rumbles history. The main event was between Shawn Michaels and Sycho Sid for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, the feud between Goldust and Hunter Hearst Helmsley centered around Goldusts manager, Marlena. During the free broadcast prior to In Your House 12, Helmsley attempted to seduce Marlena, Goldust responded by attacking Helmsley during matches in the following weeks. The feud escalated on the December 30,1996 episode of Monday Night Raw during a match between Goldust and Jerry Lawler, Helmsley came to the ring and tried to carry Marlena away. Marc Mero, who had dropped the WWF Intercontinental Championship to Helmsley, blocked Helmsleys path, on July 22,1996, Faarooq Asad made his WWF debut by attacking Ahmed Johnson, the Intercontinental champion. He claimed that he attacked Johnson because Johnson was not from the streets, soon after the attack, Johnson was diagnosed with a legitimate kidney problem, so the WWF claimed that Faarooqs attack had hospitalized Johnson. Johnson was unable to compete for several months and was forced to vacate the Intercontinental Championship, when Johnson returned to the WWF, he interfered in several matches involving Faarooqs stable, the Nation of Domination. He attacked them with a two-by-four, which led to an angle in which Johnson was suspended for the attacks, by December, Johnsons injury had recovered sufficiently to allow him to resume wrestling, and a match was scheduled for the next pay-per-view, the Royal Rumble. Vader and The Undertaker did not have a buildup to their match at Royal Rumble 1997. Vader had joined other heel wrestlers to attack The Undertaker on several occasions, the Undertaker had been involved in a feud with Paul Bearer that dated back to SummerSlam 1996, when Bearer had turned on The Undertaker. On the January 5,1997 episode of WWF Superstars, The Undertaker attacked Vaders manager, Jim Cornette, the feud between Sid and Shawn Michaels dated back to 1995, when Michaels had hired Sid as a bodyguard. On the following episode of Monday Night Raw, Michaels told Sid that he would not be needed in the case of a Michaels vs. Diesel rematch. Sid responded by turning on Michaels and powerbombing him three times and this attack led to a feud between Sid and Diesel, but Sid and Michaels were reunited as partners in an elimination match at Survivor Series 1995. During the match, Michaels accidentally kicked Sid in the face, Sid retaliated by powerbombing Michaels again. Once again, the feud was not developed, as Sid left the WWF, Sid returned to the WWF on the July 8,1996 episode of Monday Night Raw when Michaels introduced him as a partner in a six-man match at In Your House 9. Sid helped Michaels several times in the months by saving him from attacks by other wrestlers. At In Your House 11, Sid defeated Vader to win a WWF World Heavyweight Championship match against Michaels at Survivor Series 1996, during the match at Survivor Series, Sid attacked Jose Lothario, Michaels manager, with a television camera
31.
Referee (professional wrestling)
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In professional wrestling, a referee is an authority figure present in or near the ring during matches. Like wrestlers, referees are also responsible for maintaining kayfabe, and they also have a key role in ensuring that the wrestlers are physically capable to continue, and to stop the match/inform the opponent if there is a risk of injury present. Presently, referees wear wireless earpieces, to allow officials to communicate with them during matches. The purpose of this discrepancy is purely to emphasize the height, weight and musculature of some of the larger wrestlers. Although professional wrestling is worked, real injuries can be sustained, in such an event, the referee raises his hands above his head into an X shape to alert backstage officials and paramedics, as well as any other wrestlers that what is going on is really happening. An X sign across the chest is a warning, it signifies that a wrestler may be injured, in recent times, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and WWE have used the X Sign to signify storyline as well as legitimate injuries. An example of this is when A. J, styles was kayfabe injured after being hit with a powerbomb off the stage through a table by Bully Ray. Flair re-entered the match minutes afterwards, showing he was not legitimately injured, after the X sign is given, the officials backstage would communicate to the referee, if necessary, revised plans to end the match quickly. There is also a blow off sign, raising both arms straight up, if a wrestler seemed injured but feels he can continue, most professional wrestling promotions have a kayfabe rule that referees do not make decisions based on anything they do not personally witness. Distraction or incapacitation of the referee is usually a precursor to the wrestler either performing a normally illegal move without any consequence. Less commonly, the heroic wrestler might appear to win the match by pinfall or submission if not for the referee being distracted or incapacitated and these pre-planned temporary injuries to the referee are known as bumps. Distracting the referee is usually a deliberate tactic done by the villain, his manager and it can also take the form of the referee taking an inordinate amount of time to talk to the heroic wrestler for violating the rules. When any of these happen, the referee appears to be knocked unconscious for a period of time by a move that is not considered particularly devastating when applied to a wrestler. Also known as special guest referee is any match in which the referee is replaced with a guest filling in as the official. Celebrities, managers and other wrestlers can guest as the special referee, in some cases, a special referee is put into a match which is already a different match type or stipulation. The special referee would often be biased towards or against one of the competitors or could be assigned as the referee to ensure the match is called down the line. Also known as special enforcer or special guest enforcer is same as the special referee, special enforcers can become regular referees if the original inside referee becomes permanently incapacitated. An effective gimmick for the wrestlers is to have a personal referee
32.
Mick Foley
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Foley has wrestled under his real name and various personas, including Dude Love, Cactus Jack, and Mankind, also known as the Three Faces of Foley. He is a world champion, an 11-time world tag team champion, a one-time TNA Legends Champion. Foley was born in Bloomington, Indiana and he had an older brother named John. Soon after, Foleys family moved to East Setauket, New York, where Foley attended Ward Melville High School, played lacrosse, Foley was a high school classmate of comic actor Kevin James. The two were on the team together and attended the same college. While a student at State University of New York at Cortland, he hitchhiked to Madison Square Garden to see his favorite wrestler, Jimmy Snuka, Foley has said that Snukas flying body splash from the top of the cage inspired him to pursue a career in pro wrestling. Foley had a front row seat and is visible on the video of the event, Mick Foley formally trained at Dominic DeNuccis wrestling school in Freedom, Pennsylvania, driving several hours weekly from his college campus in Cortland, New York, and debuted in 1986. In one of these matches, Foley and Les Thornton faced the British Bulldogs, during these squash matches, Foley also faced other top level talent at the time, such as Hercules Hernandez. His run would not last long, as he had not signed a contract with the promotion at the time, during this run, he was also billed from different hometowns and at different weights. After several years of wrestling in the independent circuit, Foley began receiving offers from various regional promotions and he joined the Memphis-based Continental Wrestling Association as Cactus Jack, where he teamed with Gary Young as part of the Stud Stable. Cactus and Young briefly held the CWA tag titles in late 1988, on November 20, Foley left CWA for Texas-based World Class Championship Wrestling. In World Class Championship Wrestling, Cactus Jack, billed as Cactus Jack Manson, was a part of Skandor Akbars stable. Foley also won titles, including the companys light heavyweight and tag team titles before leaving the company. He then briefly competed in Alabamas Continental Wrestling Federation before completing a stint with World Championship Wrestling. For much of his there, he would team with jobbers. When the jobber would lose the match for them, Cactus Jack would attack his partner, throw out of the ring. His biggest match at the time was against Mil Máscaras at Clash of the Champions X and it was during this period that Foley was involved in a car accident that resulted in the loss of his two front teeth, adding to the distinctive look for which he is famous. Following the short stint with WCCW, Foley then signed with Herb Abramss Universal Wrestling Federation, in UWF, Foley teamed with Bob Orton to feud with Don Muraco, Sunny Beach, and Brian Blair
33.
Terry Funk
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Terrence Terry Funk is an American retired professional wrestler and actor. He headlined ECWs premier annual event, November to Remember. Funk has been inducted into halls of fame, among them WWE, WCW. Funk was born in Hammond, Indiana on June 30,1944 and his father, Dory Funk, was a professional wrestler and promoter. Following the end of World War II, the relocated to Amarillo, Texas. After graduating from school, Funk attended West Texas State University. Funk started his career in 1965, working in his father Dory Funk, Sr. s promotion in Amarillo, Texas. He and his brother, Dory Funk, Jr. quickly rose up the ranks as a team and in matches against top names like Ernie Ladd. They became big money wrestlers by the end of the decade, in 1975, Terry defeated Jack Brisco for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in Miami, when Dory failed to appear for a title shot. He began a fourteen-month title reign defending the title against Jack Brisco, Dusty Rhodes, Carlos Rocha, Giant Baba, in addition to North America, he defended the belt in Australia, Japan and Singapore. The historic reign ended in Toronto when he was defeated by Handsome Harley Race, Race lifted Funk for a shinbreaker and then trapped him in an Indian death leglock. When Funk failed to respond to referee Fred Atkins the match was stopped, Terry and Dory, Jr. also made a name for themselves in Japan. Terry became a star in the eyes of the Japanese fans with his over the top mannerisms, sometimes colorful get-ups, in Japan, the Funks were heels until they faced The Sheik and Abdullah The Butcher in Tokyo. The two later faced Stan Hanson, Bruiser Brody, and Giant Baba in memorable feuds as well, Terry Funk made his World Wrestling Federation debut in 1985 after a brief run in the AWA. In his televised debut on Championship Wrestling, he not only beat Aldo Marino, Funk attacked Phillips, after Phillips made the mistake of putting on Funks cowboy hat. Funk also had a gimmick of carrying an iron with him to ringside. The attack on Phillips lead to a feud with Junkyard Dog, in the mid-1980s, Funk teamed with Dory and Jimmy Jack Funk, a storyline brother. They were managed by Jimmy Hart, at the time, he had a heated rivalry with the Junkyard Dog which led to a match between Terry Funk and Hoss Funk and the team of Tito Santana and Junkyard Dog at WrestleMania 2
34.
Sharpshooter (professional wrestling)
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The Sharpshooter, originally named Sasori-gatame, Scorpion Hold in English, is a professional wrestling submission hold. The Sharpshooter hold begins with the opponent supine on the mat, the applying wrestler steps between the opponents legs with their own left leg and wraps Os legs at shin level around that leg. If A decides to cross Os legs around As own right leg, holding Os legs in place, A then grabs Os leg which he has crossed over the other and steps over O, flipping O over into a prone position before leaning back to compress Os lower back. This move is used commonly by Canadian wrestlers, typically in Canada, to give A a bigger crowd reaction, since the move is associated with Bret Hart. Hart revealed that the person in the locker room who knew how to execute the move was Konnan. Its name was based on Harts Hit Man nickname, in WWF publications of the era, Brets father Stu Hart, long known as a trainer in the game, was generally given credit for devising the move. Retired WWE superstar Edge innovated a variation where he would apply the hold normally, only to face the opposite direction, the Sharpshooter was infamously used in the Montreal Screwjob at Survivor Series in 1997. Shawn Michaels applied Harts own Sharpshooter on him, vince McMahon double-crossed Hart by ordering referee Earl Hebner to ring the bell and award the match to Michaels, despite Hart never having submitted. Another occurred on the March 18,2006 edition of Saturday Nights Main Event, however, instead of stepping over the opponent to flip the opponent, the applying wrestler flips the wrestler over from left-to-right, keeping the opponent in front of him/her. The applying wrestler then leans over the opponent and grabs his/her arms, the applying wrestler then squats back, lifting the opponents torso into the air. The move was used by Bull Nakano and later used by current WWE wrestler Paige
35.
Powerbomb
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A powerbomb is a professional wrestling throw in which an opponent is lifted and then slammed back-first down to the mat. The standard powerbomb sees an opponent first placed in a standing headscissors position and he is then lifted on the wrestlers shoulders and slammed down back-first to the mat. A prawn hold is used for a pinning powerbomb. Powerbombs are sometimes used in mixed martial arts competitions, when a fighter attempts to slam another fighter who has him trapped in a triangle choke, in professional wrestling, it is also sometimes used by a bigger wrestler as a counter to an attempted hurricanrana by a smaller wrestler. While it was associated with super-heavyweight wrestlers, the move was innovated by Lou Thesz, often the wrestler drops to a seated position while spinning the opponent. Styles with the name Rack Bomb, also known as a sitout two-handed chokeslam and a choke driver. The most common move referred to as a chokebomb sees a wrestler grasps an opponents neck with both hands and then lift them up into the air. From here the wrestler would throw the opponent back down to the mat while falling to a seated position. This would see the opponent land in a position where their legs are wrapped around the wrestler with their back and this allows the attacking wrestler to lean forward and place both his/her arms on the opponent for a pinfall attempt. A falling version exists, and usually ends with the attacking wrestler pinning the opponent immediately while still holding the throat after the move has already been executed. The wrestler places his opponents head in between his legs then grabs the opponents stomach and lifts his opponent over his shoulder and holds both his arms in a position over his head. The wrestler finally runs or falls to his/her knees and throws his opponent onto the mat back/neck first, WWE superstar Sheamus employs the running variation, dubbing it the High Cross. The falling variation is associated with Razor Ramon, who called it Razors Edge. This move is used by Roman Reigns as a signature move and was also commonly performed by Matt Hardy. A top rope version was used by Konnan as well, one opponent is placed on the attackers shoulders as per a standard powerbomb, then the other will be placed on the first opponents shoulders, facing in the same direction. This is normally performed by putting the first opponents head between the legs while they are sitting on the second or top turnbuckle. Finally, both opponents will be slammed to the mat, also known as a Tiger Bomb. The wrestler faces a bent over opponent, and hooks each of the arms behind the opponents back
36.
Road Warrior Hawk
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Michael Hegstrand was an American professional wrestler. He is best known as Road Warrior Hawk, one half of the tag team known as The Road Warriors, outside of The Road Warriors, Hawk was a sporadic challenger for world heavyweight championships on pay-per-view from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s. He headlined the 1993 edition of ECWs premier annual event, November to Remember, while living in Minneapolis, Hegstrand attended Patrick Henry High School where he graduated in 1976. After high school, he had various odd jobs to make ends meet such as a butcher, due to his size and love of power lifting, he was an imposing figure and thus a very effective bouncer. He would work as a bouncer at Gramma Bs in the Twin Cities where he caught the eye of Eddie Sharkey, Sharkey thought that Hegstrand, along with Joe Laurinaitis, Rick Rood and Barry Darsow could make it big in professional wrestling. Hegstrand had started his career as part of the Traveling All-Stars and he was billed as Crusher Von Haig and wrestled in Vancouver. He was considered small at the time and people felt he lacked the skill to make it in the business, Hawk soon grew weary of the road and would get homesick. He traveled back home with another Sharkey trainee, Rick Rude, in 1983 fate struck these two again. Animals partner for the night would find himself in legal trouble, needing a quick replacement, Ole Anderson gave Hawk a call. They would be paired again, this time as tag team partners. Anderson gave them the name the Road Warriors, neither man knew at the time that they would make wrestling history that day. To look more intimidating the two shaved their heads into Mohawks and started wearing studded dog collars, spiked shoulder pads, the look and name was taken from Mad Max 2, The Road Warrior, helping to paint the two as no-mercy monsters. Their interview style was vicious, yet charismatic and a bit humorous, Hawk was known for often beginning his promos with his trademark yell of WELLLLLLLLLLLLLL. and ending with his catch phrase of OOOOOOOOOH, WHAT A RUUUUUUUUUUUUSH. The team was an instant hit, revolutionizing the tag-team scene with their moves, no mercy attitudes. Their hard hitting style, no nonsense attitude, and winning ways made the Road Warriors fan favorites wherever they went, even when they were booked as heels, the fans refused to boo them. The move paid off instantly as they won the inaugural Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament and feuded with the top stars of the NWA such as The Four Horsemen and The Russian Team. During their initial run in the NWA they helped popularize the WarGames match, the Scaffold match, in 1988 the Road Warriors engaged in a violent feud with The Powers of Pain, the first team that could truly match the Road Warriors in power. The Powers of Pain even went so far as to injure Animal’s eye during a weightlifting competition, when Animal returned, he initially wore a hockey goalie mask to protect his eye
37.
Road Warrior Animal
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Joseph Michael Laurinaitis is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Road Warrior Animal. Along with Road Warrior Hawk, Animal was one-half of the tag team the Road Warriors/the Legion of Doom, also a sporadic singles competitor, he headlined the 2001 WCW pay-per-view event Sin, in contention for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. While living in Chicago, Laurinatis met Michael Hegstrand, later known as Road Warrior Hawk, and the two became close friends. When Laurinaitis was around eight years old, he and Hegstrand both moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota Laurinaitis grew up in Minnesota, having to work for a living from a early age. Because of his size and love of power lifting, Laurinaitis was an imposing figure and he worked as a bouncer at Grandma Bs in the Twin Cities where he caught the eye of Eddie Sharkey, a well known wrestling trainer. Sharkey thought that Laurinaitis and Mike Hegstrand, Richard Rood, and Barry Darsow could make it big in professional wrestling, Laurinaitis made his debut in November 1982, competing as The Road Warrior using a biker gimmick. After only a few matches as a competitor, Joe’s career. Thus, the Road Warriors were born and they first started out as biker gimmicks, on The Road Warriors DVD, Animal said he felt like one of the Village People. To look more intimidating, the two shaved their heads into Mohawks and started wearing studded dog collars, spiked shoulder pads, the look and name were taken from The Road Warrior, helping to paint the two as no-mercy monsters. Their interview style was vicious, yet charismatic and a bit humorous, the team was an instant hit, revolutionizing the tag-team scene with their power moves, no mercy attitudes, and innovative face paint that would spawn many future imitators in wrestling. Their hard hitting style, no nonsense attitude, and winning ways made the Road Warriors fan favorites, even when they were booked as heels, the fans refused to boo them. They started to split their time between the AWA and the National Wrestling Alliance until finally leaving the AWA for big contracts with the NWA. The move paid off instantly as they won the inaugural Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament and feuded with the top stars of the NWA such as The Four Horsemen and The Russian Team. During their initial run in the NWA, they helped popularize the WarGames match, the Scaffold match, in 1988, the Road Warriors engaged in a violent feud with The Powers of Pain the first team that could truly match the Road Warriors in power. The Powers of Pain even went so far as to injure Animals eye during a weightlifting competition, when Animal returned, he initially wore a hockey goalie mask to protect his eye. Near the end of 1988, the Road Warriors captured the NWA World Tag Team Championship from The Midnight Express whom they mauled in short order to win the titles. After being the Uncrowned champions for a time the Road Warriors run with the tag team titles was short lived. Teddy Long used a fast count to cheat the Road Warriors out of their titles
38.
Ron Simmons
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Ronald Simmons is an American retired professional wrestler and football player. He is signed with WWE, working in their Legends program and he was also a one-time WCW World Tag Team Champion with Butch Reed and a one-time WCW United States Tag Team Champion with Big Josh. In ECW, Simmons headlined the 1994 edition of the premier annual pay-per-view event, November to Remember. In the WWF, he was a three-time WWF Tag Team Champion with Bradshaw as one half of the Acolytes Protection Agency and he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2012. He played college football for Florida State University, and was recognized as an All-American and he played professionally for the NFLs Cleveland Browns, the CFLs Ottawa Rough Riders and the USFLs Tampa Bay Bandits. Born in Perry, Georgia, Simmons attended Warner Robins High School, in 1976, he was named lineman of the year, and first team All-State by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. While at Florida State, Simmons entered a plea of no contest in court and was given a one-year probation for his part in the buying of stolen goods from a local store. Ron Simmons was considered one of Florida States greatest recruiting victories when he signed out of high school, Simmons played four years as a defensive nose guard at FSU under coach Bobby Bowden, earning Consensus All-America honors in 1979 and 1980. The Seminoles were 39–8 during Simmonss years at the school, finishing in the Associated Press Top 20 three times, and earning back-to-back Orange Bowl trips after Simmonss junior and senior seasons, in 1979 Simmons finished ninth in the Heisman voting behind the winner, Charles White of USC. In 1988, Simmonss jersey was retired by FSU, the time a number has been retired in school history. Simmons was inducted into the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame for his accomplishments while playing at Florida State and he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008. He later had a career in the National Football League. He played for the Cleveland Browns in 1981 and 1982, and the USFLs Tampa Bay Bandits from 1983 to 1985, and it was in Tampa where he was a teammate of future professional wrestler Lex Luger. Simmons joined Jim Crockett Promotions in 1987, appearing on the first show of the Great American Bash tour when he defeated The Tahitian Prince in Lakeland, Florida on July 1. Simmons wrestled only preliminary level competition that summer, but on August 7 he scored the biggest victory of his career when he defeated Ivan Koloff in St Louis, five days later on a house show in Los Angeles Simmons defeated a young Rodney Anoai. On September 5, the rookie defeated The Barbarian in Baltimore, on the October 24th episode of Power Pro Wrestling he became involved in his first televised angle when he was attacked by Tiger Conway Jr. and Shaska Whatley in an interview. He remained undefeated in singles actions until finally losing to Ivan Koloff on a show at the Omni in Atlanta in February 14,1988. Simmons was dominant through the first half of the year against lower level competition on house shows, including Whatley, Simmons teamed with Steve Williams at the 3rd Annual Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup in Greenville, South Carolina on April 22,1988
39.
Brian Adams (wrestler)
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Brian Keith Adams was an American professional wrestler. Adams is well known for his time with the World Wrestling Federation, under the name Crush, in 2002, he briefly tried a career in boxing until he was forced to retire due to back and shoulder injuries. He died of respiratory failure from a combination of buprenorphine, carisoprodol, chlordiazepoxide. Brian Adams was born in Kona, Hawaii and was raised in Kealakekua, Hawaii, after graduating from high school, Adams joined the US Air Force, where he began boxing. It was during his time in the USAF, while stationed in Japan, Adams was trained in wrestling by famed Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist Antonio Inoki. In 1986, after training in Japan, Adams came to the United States and began working in Portland, Brian Adams made his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1986. However, his visa expired, forcing him to return to the United States. Adams and Denton were the Pacific Northwest Tag Team Champions for a time and worked a feud with the Southern Rockers, Steve Doll, in May 1988, he took part in Billy Jack Haynes short-lived Oregon Wrestling Federation. In 1990, he won the Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship after winning a tournament final match against Larry Oliver in Portland on April 21,1990 for the vacant title and he lost the title to Scott Norton on May 12,1990 in Portland. In September 1987, Adams returned to NJPW with a couple of victories over Kenichi Oya, by February 1988, he began wearing a mask and going by the name The Midnight Soldier. Although he was usually on the end of most of the matches, he wrestled to a double countout with George Takano. In January 1989, Adams went to All Japan Pro Wrestling for its New Years Giant Series tour, in June 1990, while still working for the PNW, Adams debuted in the World Wrestling Federation as Crush, the third member of the Tag Team Champions Demolition. With Adams joining Demolition, the stable exercised the Freebird Rule allowing any combination of the three to defend the tag title, which allowed Crush to become a Tag Team Champion. He was brought in as a substitute for Ax to defend the titles with Smash, Crush debuted in a non-televised match on June 5, where he and Smash successfully defended the titles against The Rockers. On the June 23 edition of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, Crush made his debut with Demolition, teaming with Smash in a squash victory over Paul Diamond. On the July 28 edition of WWF Saturday Nights Main Event, Crush and Smash retained the titles against The Rockers, after Ax clotheslined and pinned Shawn Michaels. After SummerSlam, Demolition shifted focus from the belts to their already incipient feud with The Legion of Doom which had intensified after the latter team interfered in the title change match. Adams continued to perform as part of Demolition until after WrestleMania VII where he and Smash lost to Genichiro Tenryu, after WrestleMania, the WWF decided to disband Demolition as a team
40.
Savio Vega
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During the 1990s, he worked for the World Wrestling Federation, initially under a mask as Kwang. He later portrayed Savio Vega, the leader of a Puerto Rican stable. In 2011, he was featured in the first interpromotional angle between IWA and WWC, Rivera was born and raised in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. After graduating from school, he went to Miami, Florida. He was managed by El Profe Ángel Pantoja Rivera, and first feuded with Chicky Starr and he won his first championship, the WWC North American Heavyweight Championship, on May 2,1987, by defeating Miguel Pérez. On July 11, he became a champion, winning the WWC World Tag Team Championship with Mr. Pogo. To close the year, he teamed up with Abdullah the Butcher in All Japan Pro Wrestling, losing to Hiroshi Wajima and he also wrestled early in his career at Mid-South Wrestling as the masked El Corsario. On January 30,1988, TNT lost the North American title to Abdullah the Butcher, on June 18, he won the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship from Hercules Ayala. Two months later, he dropped it to Buddy Landel and he regained it 28 days later, and held it for another two months before dropping it to Jason the Terrible. On February 4,1989, he won the vacant WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship and he won his third Caribbean Heavyweight Championship on March 4, and dropped it to Rip Rogers on May 14. On June 17, he won the vacant WWC Television Championship, during the last half of 1989, TNT had a midcard feud with Leo Burke, which was interrupted midway through when Burke defeated Carlos Colón, Sr. for the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship. TNT was originally expected to win the belt, given his status as a fan favorite, on February 9,1990, he defeated Burke for the Universal Heavyweight Championship, and vacated the Television Championship. He held the title for a month, before dropping it to Abdullah the Butcher, on April 25,1990, TNT won his second Television Championship, holding it until January 1991, when it was vacated. Prior to Aniversario 1990, the WWCs anniversary show, TNT turned heel and began feuding with Colón, the feud ended at Aniversario, where they wrestled to a sixty-minute draw. On September 30,1990, he lost to Masahiro Chono at New Japan Pro Wrestlings Antonio Inoki 30th Wreatling Anniversary event, in early 1991, he feuded with a wrestler who had originally used the name TNT, winning the rights to the name on March 2,1991. The feud concluded later that month, when Rivera defeated the wrestler for his third Television Championship, in the following three months, he lost and regained the championship, then lost it to David Sierra on October 19. The following week, he won it for a time by defeating Sierra in a rematch. This was his final WWC championship, having gained much wrestling experience, Rivera was recalled to the United States
41.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
42.
World Tag Team Championship (WWE)
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The World Tag Team Championship was the original professional wrestling world tag team championship contested for in the World Wrestling Entertainment promotion. Both titles were unified in November 2001, retiring WCWs championship, both titles were unified in 2009 into the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, but remained independently active until the World Tag Team Championship was decommissioned in 2010. The championship was contested in wrestling matches. Bouts for the title headlined WWF events including In Your House 3, Fully Loaded, In Your House, the inaugural champions were the team of Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler, and the final champions were The Hart Dynasty. The World Tag Team Championship was originally known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation World Tag Team Championship, following the titles introduction in 1971, Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler became the inaugural champions on June 3. In 1979, the became known as the World Wrestling Federation World Tag Team Championship when the promotion was renamed the World Wrestling Federation. It began to be referred to as the WWF Tag Team Championship for short in the mid 1990s, in March 2001, the WWF purchased World Championship Wrestling. Soon after, The Invasion took place in which the WCW/ECW Alliance was ultimately dismantled, at the 2001 Survivor Series pay-per-view, the title was unified with the WCW Tag Team Championship in a steel cage match. The WCW Tag Team Champions, the Dudley Boyz, defeated the WWF Tag Team Champions, the Hardy Boyz, after the WWF/WWE name change in 2002, the championship was subsequently referred to as the World Wrestling Entertainment Tag Team Championship. Then, during a period of free agency after the brand extension. Brand without a tag team title, general Manager, Stephanie McMahon, commissioned a new WWE Tag Team Championship to be the exclusive tag team titles for the SmackDown. With the introduction of the World Heavyweight Championship on the Raw brand after the WWE Championship was moved to the SmackDown, brand, the WWE Tag Team Championship on Raw was now being referred to as the World Tag Team Championship. This was done so that the names of both tag team titles would mirror the names of the top championships on their respective brands. When the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship switched brands during the 2005 WWE draft lottery, on the March 17 episode of ECW on Syfy, it was announced that at WrestleMania XXV both teams would defend their titles against each other and the winning team would hold both titles. The Colons defeated Morrison and Miz, and thus unified the titles into the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, the champions could appear and defend the titles on any WWE brand. On August 16,2010, the World Tag Team Championship was decommissioned in favor of continuing the lineage of the WWE Tag Team Championship, following the presentation of new championship belts to then-champions The Hart Dynasty by Bret Hart. Despite this, holders of the WWE Tag Team Championship in recent years have honored holders of the title when citing former champions. Following the events of the WWE brand extension, an annual WWE draft was established, after the World Tag Team Championship was unified with the WWE Tag Team Championship as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, the champions could appear on and defend the titles on any WWE brand
43.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
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The WWE Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the SmackDown brand. Along with the United States Championship on the Raw brand, it is one of the two titles of the promotion. The current champion is Dean Ambrose, who is in his second reign and it is the third oldest championship currently active in WWE, behind the WWE Championship and United States Championship. It has been called a stone to the WWE Championship. In November 2001, the then-WCW United States Championship was unified into the Intercontinental Championship, in 2002 after the first brand extension, it became exclusive to Raw and the WWF was renamed to WWE. Later that year, the European and Hardcore championships were unified into the Intercontinental Championship, the following year, however, it was reactivated for Raw, followed by the United States Championships reactivation as a counterpart title on SmackDown. As a result of the 2016 draft, the Intercontinental Championship became exclusive to the SmackDown brand, the term intercontinental in the title originally referred to North and South America. In 1985, the belt design changed, the centerplate now centered on the Atlantic Ocean, in a map including western Africa. On April 10,1989, the championship was first defended outside of North America, by Rick Rude against The Ultimate Warrior in Milan, Italy. On March 30,1991, Mr. Perfect made the first Asian defense against The Texas Tornado at a WWF co-promotion with Super World of Sports in Tokyo, Japan. It first came to Africa on April 6,1997, when champion Rocky Maivia pinned Savio Vega in Durban, shelton Benjamin made the first Australian defense on April 7,2006, pinning Gene Snitsky in Brisbane. WWF North American Heavyweight Champion Pat Patterson became the champion on September 1,1979. Mr. Perfect would then go on to win a tournament to crown a new Intercontinental Champion, on October 17,1999, Chyna became the only woman to hold the Intercontinental Championship by defeating Jeff Jarrett at No Mercy. Then-United States Champion Edge defeated then-Intercontinental Champion Test, in 2002, after the first brand extension had begun and the WWF was renamed to WWE, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff began unifyng his brands singles championships. On August 19,2002, Bischoff made a six-minute gauntlet match for the Hardcore Championship, tommy Dreamer successfully retained his title in that match, but lost to Van Dam in a hardcore match the next week. On September 30,2002, Bischoff scheduled another unification match, the match took place at No Mercy the following month and saw then-World Heavyweight Champion Triple H defeat then-Intercontinental Champion Kane, making him the Raw brands sole male singles champion. Christian won the royal to win the championship and restore a secondary singles title for Raw wrestlers to compete for. The first brand extension would end on August 29,2011, on May 31,2015, the championship was contested for in an Elimination Chamber match for the first time
44.
SummerSlam (1996)
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SummerSlam was the ninth annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on August 18,1996, at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, faarooq Asad had been scheduled to face Ahmed Johnson in a match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship at the event, but the match did not take place as Johnson was legitimately injured. During the Free for All match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Yokozuna, the top rope broke when Yokozuna attempted a Banzai Drop, todd Pettengill hosted the Bikini Beach Blast-Off party during the Free for All, where a pool was set up for everyone. Guests included Sunny, Sable, Marc Mero, The Smoking Gunns, Marlena, Goldust, T. L. Hopper, Who, Jerry Lawler, The Bushwhackers, Aldo Montoya, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, and Shawn Michaels. Paul Bearer turned on his long-time protege, The Undertaker, to himself with Undertakers arch-enemy. WWF President Gorilla Monsoon allowed this when Michaels agreed, onlineworldofwrestling. com - SummerSlam 96 results twnpnews. com - SummerSlam hoffco-inc. com - SummerSlam 96 review
