Mid 20th Century
236-623: 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s The Attitude Era was a major era of professional wrestling within the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). The term "WWF Attitude" was used to describe its programming from November 9, 1997, to May 6, 2002. It began during the Monday Night War , a period in which WWF's Monday Night Raw (later Raw Is War ) went head-to-head with World Championship Wrestling 's (WCW) Monday Nitro in
472-470: A heel character, eventually leading to a long-term feud with Bret Hart from late-1996 to mid-1997, climaxing in a Submission Match at WrestleMania 13 . In 1997, a storyline involving Owen Hart and Austin (in which Owen botched a piledriver that caused severe neck injuries to Austin and ultimately led to his early retirement in 2003) culminated in Austin performing a Stone Cold Stunner on Vince McMahon to
708-473: A world heavyweight championship , calling it the only real world title left in professional wrestling. When recalling this event years later, Paul Heyman stated the following: The National Wrestling Alliance was old-school when old-school wasn't hip anymore. We wanted to set our mark, we wanted to breakaway from the pack, we wanted to let the world know that we weren't just some independent promotion. With this event, Eastern Championship Wrestling seceded from
944-446: A " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are the primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to the platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of
1180-535: A "Black Wedding". The ceremony was successfully ruined by Steve Austin after two attempts by former Corporation members Big Show , and Ken Shamrock failed. The Ministry would later merge with the Corporation, forming the Corporate Ministry , which would be involved with most major storylines until July, when they would disband. In August 1995, WWF debuted Tammy Lynn Sytch as "Sunny". According to
1416-509: A "PG-13" level of sex appeal. Although the formula had been popular during the MTV -fueled "rock n' Wrestling" era of the 1980s, fans in the 1990s began to gravitate towards more morally ambiguous characters, wrestlers whose personas were more grounded in reality, and metafiction storylines that acknowledged their awareness of backstage politics via the use of the Internet. With the introduction of
1652-439: A "murderer," and accusing him of killing his parents and brother. In the weeks that followed on Raw , Bearer revealed that Kane was actually still alive and that Bearer had an affair with The Undertaker's mother, which produced Kane, meaning Bearer was Kane's biological father. Kane officially debuted at Badd Blood: In Your House , interfering in the inaugural Hell in a Cell match between Undertaker and Shawn Michaels . Following
1888-511: A "plague of evil" was coming to the WWF. During the weeks that followed, he reignited his feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin, whom he blamed for costing him the WWF title. At Rock Bottom: In Your House , Austin defeated the Undertaker in a Buried Alive match with the help of Kane, writing him off of WWF television for a month. As a result, The Corporation had Kane committed to an insane asylum. Kane
2124-592: A 45-minute draw. The NWA repeated the practice again the following year, with a Clash coinciding with WWF's WrestleMania V . Although the main event of the Clash saw NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ricky Steamboat defeat Flair in a best-of-three-falls match that lasted for almost an hour, ratings and attendance for the event fell well below expectations compared to WrestleMania V. Thus, the practice of conflicting major events would cease for six years. By 1988, Crockett's acquisition spree had severely drained his coffers. As
2360-545: A Cell match between Mankind and The Undertaker remains one of the most iconic and memorable Hell in a Cell matches to ever take place, with its level of extreme violence and dangerous spots, such as Mankind getting legitimately knocked unconscious and suffering multiple injuries. Though Mankind lost the match, he has been well praised for the brutality he endured during the match. On the January 4, 1999 edition of Raw , Foley won his first WWF Championship, defeating The Rock with
2596-521: A WWF Championship opportunity, and Triple H began referring to himself in interviews as "The Game". After failed attempts at winning the championship, Triple H, along with Mankind, challenged then-WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin to a triple threat match at SummerSlam , which featured Jesse "The Body" Ventura as the special guest referee. Mankind won the match and the title by pinning Austin. The following night on Raw , Triple H defeated Mankind to win his first WWF Championship. However, he would lose
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#17327759264852832-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over
3068-472: A battle for Nielsen ratings each week from September 4, 1995, to March 26, 2001. The era officially started on November 9, 1997, at Survivor Series 1997 , when a video package aired ending with the first use of the "WWF Attitude" scratch logo; this was immediately before the main event featuring Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels , which retrospectively would be known as the Montreal Screwjob due to
3304-484: A beer truck and spraying Vince, Shane McMahon , and The Rock with beer. At Fully Loaded in 1999, Vince McMahon added a special stipulation to the scheduled first blood match between The Undertaker and Austin for the WWF Championship. The stipulation was that if Austin won, McMahon would kayfabe step away from the WWF, but if Austin lost, he would never receive a shot at the WWF Championship again. Austin won
3540-503: A bitch has got this coming! Let him go! I'm going to kill that son of a bitch! Get out of the fucking way!", with none of the profanity censored. The angle polarized fans and shocked the USA Network, which was not accustomed to airing a program with the profanity and level of violence presented in the vignettes. Although the WWF (and Pillman himself) were forced to issue apologies to avoid Raw being canceled for breach of contract,
3776-423: A bitter event-scheduling war broke out between McMahon and Jim Crockett, Jr. , the owner of JCP. Throughout the 1980s, Crockett had steadily bought out other NWA-affiliated promotions in an attempt to make his organization a national one similar to the WWF. As a result, the term "NWA" became virtually synonymous with JCP. On Thanksgiving night 1987, McMahon's WWF aired Survivor Series on pay-per-view (PPV) against
4012-527: A brief revival in popularity. The main event, a heavily promoted ironman match between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart , lasted for more than an hour. In April 1996, two of the WWF's top performers, Kevin Nash (Diesel) and Scott Hall (Razor Ramon), signed contracts with WCW. Prior to their departure, the men had been part of The Kliq , a tight-knit affiliation of wrestlers in the WWF whose backstage influence allowed them to wield an enormous amount of power over
4248-532: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so
4484-519: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
4720-450: A chair (a total 13 times over the match) until he fell unconscious on the concrete. Finally, Mankind was heard shouting "I quit!" three times in a row; the audio was actually a recording from a promo Mankind made on Heat in the match build up, so Mankind never actually quit, but the Rock was still declared the winner of the match. Backstage In 2000, Foley reprised his Cactus Jack persona and
4956-585: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from
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#17327759264855192-488: A character Foley created when he and his high school friends participated in backyard wrestling in his hometown of Long Island, New York . Foley debuted both Dude Love and Cactus Jack in the WWF in mid-1997, while Mankind debuted at Foley's first-ever WWF event on April 1, 1996, during the Raw after WrestleMania XII . Foley's creative versatility allowed him to create distinct characteristics for each character. The 1998 Hell in
5428-663: A close, real-life friendship that would afford Hogan a degree of influence over the day-to-day operations of the company. WCW's first major pay-per-view event since Hogan's hiring, Bash at the Beach , saw Hogan defeat Ric Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The match was a reworking of a long-teased but never realized feud between the men while they were still working for the WWF: An intended main event match between them at WrestleMania VIII
5664-538: A contract to work for WCW beginning that December. Vince McMahon sought to prevent Hart from leaving the WWF as its champion, allegedly not wanting Hart to potentially appear on WCW television with the WWF Championship, and proposed having Hart lose to Michaels at their scheduled match at Survivor Series on November 9. Hart refused due to his personal issues with Michaels becoming too great, with Bret using his "creative control" clause included in his WWF contract as leverage. Both parties seemingly came to an agreement in which
5900-479: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Monday Night War Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s The Monday Night War or
6136-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers
6372-486: A four-year hiatus from in-ring wrestling to recuperate from a severe back injury. Triple H cut a promo claiming that he was taking over D-Generation X and had ejected the absent Michaels for "dropping the ball" after losing the WWF Championship the previous night. Triple H would then recruit the New Age Outlaws ( "Road Dogg" Jesse James and "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn ) and X-Pac . On April 28, 1998, WCW's Nitro event
6608-414: A genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has a more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for
6844-498: A hiring binge in the early and middle part of the decade, which had been aimed at acquiring large portions of the WWF's talent roster. Behind the scenes, executives who had longed to see WCW removed from the Turner organization were eventually able to see that desire come to fruition after Turner Broadcasting 's merger with Time Warner and their merger with America Online (AOL). With Turner no longer in control, corporate executives of
7080-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have
7316-744: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned
Attitude Era - Misplaced Pages Continue
7552-412: A match where Kane turned heel on Undertaker by chokeslamming him through the ring, and the two feuded with each other once again. This culminated in a match at SummerSlam , which resulted in a no contest when Undertaker unmasked Kane, causing him to flee the ring. On April 19, 2001, episode of SmackDown! The Undertaker and Kane defeated Edge and Christian in a no disqualification tag team match to win
7788-497: A more "alternative" image, and her popularity greatly increased. In June 2000, the trio began a storyline with T & A ( Test and Albert ), with Lita engaging in a rivalry with their manager, Trish Stratus . Lita also began a concurrent feud with WWF Women's Champion Stephanie McMahon , who was promoted at the time as being one of the biggest stars in the company. On the August 21, 2000 episode of Raw , Lita defeated McMahon for
8024-495: A more aggressive stance in his capacity as vice president. He declared open war on the WWF and aggressively recruited high-profile former WWF wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage , using Turner's funds. Because of their high profiles, Hogan and Savage were able to demand – and get – several concessions not usually allowed to wrestlers at the time. Notably, the men negotiated total creative control over their characters, in addition to multiyear, multimillion-dollar contracts at
8260-431: A neutral/ babyface position and Heenan unashamedly cheering on the heels . The chemistry between Monsoon and Heenan made this show popular with fans for many years despite the fact it was not considered one of the WWF's "primary" shows for most of its history, and many other wrestling programs attempted to copy this formula, with varying degrees of success. During a span of five months between November 1987 and March 1988,
8496-426: A new challenge. In contrast to professional wrestling of the time, which was marketed more towards families, Eastern Championship Wrestling was geared more toward adults and fans who craved a more athletic and violent wrestling product. Its eventual successor, Extreme Championship Wrestling, aimed its product at males between 18 and 35, breaking a few taboos in professional wrestling such as blading . Heyman saw ECW as
8732-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to
8968-515: A no contest. Austin would go on to win the 2001 Royal Rumble match and face The Rock for the WWF Championship in the main event of WrestleMania X-Seven . At WrestleMania, Austin officially turned heel after aligning with his former rival Vince McMahon and defeated The Rock to regain the WWF Championship. During the Invasion storyline, Austin entered a rivalry with Kurt Angle , losing the WWF Championship to Angle at Unforgiven . Dwayne Johnson ,
9204-715: A number of wrestlers who left WCW during this period, including Chris Jericho , Eddie Guerrero , Chris Benoit , and the Big Show . The era also saw the resurgence of tag team wrestling, namely The Hardy Boyz , The Dudley Boyz , and Edge & Christian , who were featured in several destructive, physical and stunt-filled Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches during this era. Distinguished stables were established in this era, such as D-Generation X , Nation of Domination , The Corporation , Ministry of Darkness , Corporate Ministry and The Brood , among others, and developed major rivalries among each other. The Hardcore Championship
9440-415: A one-off appearance at Backlash 2000) for nine months. Upon Austin's return at Unforgiven 2000, he confronted and questioned several superstars, hoping to find his assailant. Rikishi would ultimately admit responsibility for the attack on Austin, claiming the assault was done as a favor per the request of Austin's prior rival, The Rock. Austin faced off against Rikishi at No Mercy , the match ending in
9676-486: A positive crowd response and led to Austin being kayfabe arrested. Another storyline from 1996 to 1997 was the personal feud between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels , who had legitimate issues with one another outside of wrestling. The conflict behind the scenes spilled into their on-screen storyline, where both men made deeply personal remarks in interviews and promo segments that were often rooted in these issues. On November 1, 1997, then-WWF Champion Hart officially signed
Attitude Era - Misplaced Pages Continue
9912-511: A protege of Diller who was also one of the few USA Network executives to speak out against the plan to cancel Raw, worked extensively with head writer Vince Russo in reinventing the World Wrestling Federation. After Stone Cold Steve Austin won the 1998 Royal Rumble, former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson , who was in attendance at the pay-per-view, made a guest appearance on Raw the following night. Tyson, who at
10148-522: A result of the feud, an angle with Triple H and Stephanie began, which carried the WWF throughout the next seventeen months; together, they were known as The McMahon-Helmsley Regime. Triple H participated in the Fatal Four-Way Elimination match main event of WrestleMania 2000 with Stephanie at his corner for the WWF Championship, becoming the first heel to win the main event of WrestleMania. He would continue to feud with The Rock in
10384-635: A result, he was forced to sell his company to Turner, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, who wanted to retain the steady, strong ratings of the JCP wrestling programs. Turner named the company World Championship Wrestling (WCW) after the flagship television show; it remained affiliated with the NWA until 1993. As 1993 began, PTW was struggling in the ratings and was canceled by USA Network. The show that succeeded it, Monday Night Raw , changed how wrestling on cable television would be presented. The WWF decided that it should use its cable time as
10620-477: A segment denoted as "The Cure For The Common Show". He harkened back to the phrase " sports entertainment ", to describe the pairing of athleticism now delving deeper beyond sports mediums in favor of broader spectrums like popular television programs of the time. McMahon discussed the idea of blurring the lines more for fans between the typical hero and villain (or babyface and heel ) dynamic which would ring true for popular anti-hero Steve Austin. He referred to
10856-486: A series of taunts from Bearer and Kane, who cost him the WWF Championship at the Royal Rumble , Undertaker, who had previously stated that he would never fight his own brother, agreed to face Kane at WrestleMania XIV . The Undertaker won the match at WrestleMania and proceeded to win the first ever Inferno Match the following month at Unforgiven . Kane then teamed with The Undertaker's rival Mankind , and they won
11092-429: A short presented before WrestleMania XII , which killed off all the characters. WrestleMania XII also began a brief turning point for the WWF, after which Raw would overtake Nitro for two consecutive months. The event saw the return of 1980s fan favorite "Rowdy" Roddy Piper , who made a face turn to fight Goldust . Another 1980s fan favorite returning that evening was The Ultimate Warrior , who would go on to enjoy
11328-454: A showcase for original matches and storylines that would serve as the major build-up to the quarterly pay-per-view broadcasts. The original Raw 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 very different than that of Prime Time Wrestling : instead of taped matches, with studio voice overs and taped chat, Raw
11564-505: A small live, in-studio audience, as were most professional wrestling television shows of the period. They featured wrestling matches, plus melodramatic monologues and inter-character confrontations, similar to the programming offered by other territories, including the Northeast -based WWF. GCW's show, which aired on Saturday evenings, was complemented by a Sunday evening edition. Jim Barnett , Jack and Gerald Brisco had major stakes in
11800-415: A successful acting career, while Mick Foley published a New York Times -bestselling autobiography; Stone Cold Steve Austin quickly became the company's most popular star and its flagship performer, and would be featured in mainstream media all over the U.S., from Nash Bridges to Dilbert . The heightened profiles of WWF wrestlers helped to draw the attention of both new and casual wrestling fans to
12036-607: A talk show segment on its programming called A Flair for the Gold . At Slamboree 1993 , WCW reunited the Four Horsemen with Flair, Arn Anderson and Paul Roma . Ole Anderson was part of the group as an advisor but made only one appearance on A Flair for the Gold . A Flair for Gold would eventually play host to one of the most infamous incidents of 1990s wrestling: On a live Clash of the Champions XXIV building up
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#173277592648512272-403: A television ratings battle between WWF's Monday Night Raw and WCW's Monday Nitro , the WWF began to transition from the "traditional way" wrestling had long been presented, instead opting for a product which "pushed the envelope" according to then-head writer Vince Russo . The creative side of the product during the era's early stages in 1997 was spearheaded by Russo, who drastically changed
12508-483: A third-generation wrestler, made his debut at the 1996 Survivor Series as "Rocky Maivia", naming himself after his grandfather Peter Maivia and his father Rocky Johnson . Despite being a babyface with an impressive winning streak and an Intercontinental Championship reign, he was frequently met with negative reception from live audiences, such as loud boos, "Rocky sucks!" chants, and even crowd signs that read "Die Rocky Die". Maivia officially turned heel when he joined
12744-556: A time when many top wrestlers were only receiving around $ 1 million a year. Bischoff's concessions to Hogan and Savage would set a precedent for WCW's hiring process that would prove problematic in later years: As Bischoff began to aggressively pursue rival talent for jobs with WCW, performers—aware of the deals Hogan and Savage had been given—began to demand similar contracts, ultimately causing wrestlers' salaries to soar out of control. Concurrent with Hogan's arrival in WCW, he and Bischoff formed
12980-436: A triple threat match to win the WWF Championship. Professional wrestling Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling ) is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling
13216-503: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in
13452-586: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point
13688-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted
13924-425: Is delicate and fragile, a sharp contrast to her character. Backstage, however, the male wrestlers initially hesitated to let a woman be seen overpowering them on television. Despite this, she would become a prominent member of D-Generation X, and besides competing in the women's division, she would regularly compete against male wrestlers in intergender matches. Chyna being considerably stronger than any other women in
14160-428: Is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain
14396-590: Is unclear and often debated among fans, with moments such as Steve Austin's "Austin 3:16" speech at the 1996 King of the Ring and Vince McMahon 's promo on the December 15, 1997 episode of Raw about not being " passé " often being referenced. Meanwhile, the WWE Network lists WrestleMania 13 as the earliest event under their Attitude Era section. The 1996 King of the Ring tournament saw Austin's first usage of
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#173277592648514632-426: The 2000 King of the Ring tournament and be crowned the 2000 King of the Ring. Kurt Angle would then be involved in a love triangle with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon during the summer of 2000, stemming from interactions between Angle and McMahon beginning in December 1999. This would lead to Angle's first PPV main event, where he would face The Rock and Triple H for the WWF Championship at SummerSlam . Following
14868-864: The 2001 King of the Ring event Kurt Angle defeated Shane McMahon in a highly acclaimed Street Fight match notable for its extreme brutality, which included spots like Angle throwing McMahon through glass walls and both men suffering legitimate injuries. Kurt Angle has been cited having the greatest rookie year of not only the Attitude Era but in WWE history, quickly becoming a main star. At Unforgiven in 2001, Kurt Angle defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin to win his second WWF Championship. D-Generation X officially formed on August 11, 1997, edition of Raw after Hunter Hearst Helmsley , Chyna, and Rick Rude helped Shawn Michaels win his main event match against Mankind. The night after WrestleMania XIV , Shawn Michaels began
15104-470: The Attitude Era , a period in which the WWF used the term "WWF Attitude" to describe its programming from November 9, 1997 to May 6, 2002. The rating war was part of a larger overall struggle between the WWF and WCW, originating in personal animosity between respective owners Vince McMahon and Ted Turner . The rivalry steadily escalated throughout the 1990s to include the use of cutthroat tactics and
15340-481: The Disney/MGM Studios which would become known as the " Disney tapings ". The Disney tapings would ultimately prove disastrous to the company's reputation, largely due to WCW's underestimation of growing internet culture: because the events were recorded weeks, and sometimes months, in advance, fans in attendance had time to disseminate the results not only to wrestling magazines but also online. Seating at
15576-712: The Fall Brawl pay-per-view, WCW decided to introduce a "mystery partner" for the babyfaces, a masked man known as The Shockmaster . The Shockmaster was supposed to crash through a fake wall and intimidate the heels. However, he tripped through the wall, fell on live television and briefly knocked off his helmet. The incident would be talked about for years to come in the burgeoning internet wrestling culture, and, along with WWF's Gobbledy Gooker , "Shockmaster" became wrestling parlance for an exceptionally poorly executed idea. That same year, WCW began taping matches months in advance for syndicated programming like WCW WorldWide at
15812-565: The Fingerpoke of Doom – effectively killed WCW's credibility in the eyes of many fans, and the company was never able to recreate the initial level of popularity that it had enjoyed in the middle of the decade. Simultaneously, WCW experienced financial woes due to the amount of money it had promised wrestlers in their contracts in the early and mid 1990s. The company was ultimately unable to sustain itself while paying wrestlers their contracted salaries, and it went up for sale. The war ended with
16048-471: The Monday Night Wars , was an era of mainstream televised American professional wrestling , from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001, in which the World Wrestling Federation 's (WWF; now WWE) Monday Night Raw (later Raw Is War ) and World Championship Wrestling 's (WCW) Monday Nitro were broadcast opposite each other in a battle for Nielsen ratings each week. It largely overlapped with
16284-601: The Nation of Domination in late 1997 and renamed himself "The Rock". As a member of the Nation of Domination, The Rock won the Intercontinental title for a second time. The Rock eventually overthrew Faarooq to become the leader of the Nation. After the Nation disbanded in late 1998, The Rock began referring to himself as the "People's Champion" and began to receive the support of the audience, which led Vince McMahon and
16520-624: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In
16756-562: The New World Order (nWo). Hogan's statements, which broke with his earlier face persona, inspired enough vitriol in the audience that they began to pelt the ring with debris: a wayward beer bottle broke Okerlund's nose, and one fan jumped the security railing and attempted to attack Hogan. The following evening on Nitro, most of WCW's top stars gave faux indignant interviews, expressing their feelings of betrayal and disappointment with Hogan's actions. The ensuing storyline, in which
16992-694: The Toronto Sun , she was able to use "sex appeal, looks and serious wrestling moves" to become famous beyond wrestling, and was named by AOL as the "most downloaded woman of the year". Rena Mero made her WWF debut at WrestleMania XII in March 1996; using the name "Sable", she escorted Hunter Hearst Helmsley to the ring when he faced The Ultimate Warrior , and her first major angle involved her then real-life husband "Wildman" Marc Mero . Sable quickly eclipsed both her husband and Sunny in popularity, first leading to her becoming an in-ring performer, and later to
17228-776: The United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including a distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by
17464-462: The " era of the superhero urging you to say your prayers and eat your vitamins " as passé; as of that time former WWF Champion Hulk Hogan had also transitioned from larger than life superhero into the leader of the villainous faction The New World Order on WCW television. It verbally represented a transition further from the Hulkamania era of the 1980s as well as the " New Generation " period of
17700-584: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in
17936-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in
18172-457: The 1970s, local stations were often retransmitted to new markets as superstations . When Atlanta television station WTCG (later WTBS, then WPCH) became a superstation in the late 1970s, Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), an NWA member which aired on the station, reached a national audience. GCW's television show, hosted by Gordon Solie , was recorded in one of WTBS's studios at 1050 Techwood Drive in downtown Atlanta . Shows were taped before
18408-460: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
18644-411: The 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance the spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from
18880-653: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike
19116-518: The Attitude Era, following Shawn Michaels ' severe back injury and subsequent retirement from wrestling in 1998, Triple H assumed leadership of D-Generation X . At SummerSlam , Triple H defeated The Rock in a ladder match with the help of fellow D-X member Chyna to win the Intercontinental Championship . At WrestleMania XV , Triple H lost to Kane after Chyna interfered on his behalf and seemingly rejoined D-X. Later on in
19352-405: The Attitude Era. In his book, Vince Russo mentions the debut of the character Goldust in 1995 as a pivotal turning point, while Brian Pillman 's "Loose Cannon" persona and the infamous " Pillman's got a gun " segment from 1996 has also been viewed as a key moment of change within the company. In 1996, the WWF had also begun playing up female sexuality, led by Sunny and Sable . On March 10, 1997,
19588-522: The Austin-McMahon rivalry, McMahon founded two heel factions : The Corporation and The Corporate Ministry . The feud between the two also involved some of the most iconic moments of the Era, including Austin driving a Zamboni to the ring to attack McMahon; Austin visiting and attacking McMahon in a hospital; Austin filling McMahon's Chevrolet Corvette with cement; and Austin driving to the ring in
19824-411: The Corporation to target him. Survivor Series 1998 marked the first PPV headlined by The Rock. During the final match of a tournament against Mankind to crown a new WWF Champion, a double turn occurred with the help of McMahon, similar to the previous year's Survivor Series, revealing that Rock was working with The Corporation all along, leading to The Rock's victory. The Rock officially joined McMahon as
20060-512: The Curtain Call incident by insinuating that Hall's departure from the WWF had been a ruse and that he was, in fact, staging an "invasion" of WCW on behalf of the WWF. Two weeks later, a second WWF defector, Kevin Nash (who had wrestled as Diesel), appeared on Nitro . Hall and Nash were dubbed " The Outsiders ", and would show up unexpectedly during Nitro broadcasts, usually jumping wrestlers backstage, distracting wrestlers by standing in
20296-401: The Fatal Four-Way Elimination match main event of WrestleMania 2000 against the Rock, The Big Show and Triple H, which was won by Triple H. Foley would then serve as storyline WWF Commissioner under his real name beginning in the summer of 2000. He lost the position that December after being kayfabe fired onscreen by Mr. McMahon during which he also received a brutal beat down. At the start of
20532-579: The February 13, 2000, episode of Sunday Night Heat , where Rios won the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship from Gillberg . During the match, Lita captured the attention of the fans and viewers by mimicking Rios' moves, notably the moonsault and hurricanrana . Lita eventually left Rios' side and allied with The Hardy Boyz , and the trio formed a stable known as Team Xtreme . As a member of Team Xtreme, Lita developed
20768-640: The Grand Ballroom at the Manhattan Center , a New York City theater, and aired live each week. The combination of an intimate venue and live action proved highly successful. However, the weekly live schedule became a financial drain on the WWF, and the company began taping shows; sometimes up to a month's worth of shows were taped at a time. In the same year as the premiere of Raw , WCW promoted former commentator and American Wrestling Association (AWA) announcer/sales associate Eric Bischoff to
21004-518: The Hart vs. Michaels match, debuting the “Attitude” promo that included the first instance of the WWF "scratch" logo. During the match, Michaels placed Hart in the Sharpshooter, Hart's signature finishing maneuver. McMahon – who was at ringside, a rarity at the time, as he was primarily working as an on-screen commentator – quickly ordered referee Earl Hebner to call for the bell and award Michaels
21240-460: The Invasion storyline, by being the sole survivor after last eliminating his rival Austin and celebrated the win with Vince McMahon. Mick Foley played three different personas during this era: Mankind, Dude Love, and Cactus Jack. While Mankind was his main WWF persona, and Cactus Jack was previously used in his days in WCW, ECW, Japan, and various independent promotions, Dude Love was inspired by
21476-553: The Kliq's influence within the company, the WWF's official stance was that they could not match WCW's contract offer. On May 19, 1996, in their last WWF match before leaving for WCW, Nash and Hall were involved in a highly publicized incident at Madison Square Garden dubbed "The Curtain Call", in which four members of The Kliq (Nash, Hall, Michaels, Helmsley) broke character in the ring after their match to say goodbye to Nash and Hall (Waltman
21712-601: The Ministry of Darkness, the latter of which would lead to an eventual merge. The merger would lead to the creation of the Corporate Ministry , a mega-faction led by Shane McMahon and The Undertaker, as well as suffering defections with the creation of the short-lived Union . Upon his return, The Undertaker introduced his Ministry of Darkness , a satanic-themed stable which would consist of The Acolytes ( Faarooq and Bradshaw ), Mideon , Viscera and The Brood ( Edge , Christian , and Gangrel ). The storyline continued over
21948-463: The NWA and became Extreme Championship Wrestling. The revamped promotion's unorthodox style and controversial storylines made it popular among fans in the 18- to 35-year-old male demographic. It showcased many different styles of professional wrestling, popularizing hardcore wrestling matches as well as lucha libre and Japanese wrestling styles. ECW was promoted as counterculture and a grittier alternative to multimillion-dollar organizations such as
22184-557: The NWA's Starrcade , which Crockett marketed as the NWA's answer to WrestleMania . However, many cable companies could only offer one live PPV event at a time. The WWF then threatened that any cable company that chose not to carry Survivor Series would not carry any WWF PPV events sixty days before and twenty-one days after the show. Therefore, the WWF PPV was cleared 10–1 over Starrcade, as only three cable companies opted to remain loyal to their contract with Crockett. After this incident,
22420-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from
22656-408: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
22892-466: The November 6, 2000, episode of Raw , Chyna, Road Dogg, Billy Gunn, and Triple H, as part of D-Generation X, took on The Radicalz ( Chris Benoit , Eddie Guerrero , Dean Malenko , and Perry Saturn ) in an eight-person tag team match, which D-X won. This would be their final match while united in the Era, after which Triple H and Chyna began receiving their own singles pushes while the others fell into
23128-536: The PPV industry warned McMahon not to schedule PPV events simultaneously with the NWA again. However, McMahon was still not willing to fully cooperate with Crockett. On January 24, 1988, another scheduling conflict took place between the WWF and NWA: the NWA presented the Bunkhouse Stampede on PPV, while WWF aired the Royal Rumble for free on the USA Network. Later that year, with WWF's WrestleMania IV around
23364-530: The Tag Team Championship on two occasions. In the interim, Kane would win the WWF Championship from Stone Cold Steve Austin during a First Blood main event match at King of the Ring 1998 , which was preceded by a Hell in a Cell match between Mankind and The Undertaker that Undertaker had won, but Kane lost the title to Austin the following night on Raw . A few weeks later, thanks to the influence of The Undertaker, Kane turned on Mankind. Following
23600-435: The U.S. However, the WWF's show on WTBS was a ratings disaster, as GCW fans, disliking the cartoonish characters and storylines of the WWF, simply stopped watching. Two weeks after Black Saturday, WTBS debuted the show of a successor promotion to GCW created by holdout shareholders, Championship Wrestling from Georgia , albeit on early Saturday mornings. Moreover, despite originally promising to produce original programming for
23836-516: The USA Network was finalized in February 1998, and longtime USA Network managing head Kay Koplovitz would be ousted from the network she founded two months later. Shaun Assael and Mike Mooneyham's book Sex, Lies, and Headlocks: The Real Story of Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment stated that "the terrain shifted completely under everyone's feet" following Diller's purchase of the USA Network, which began in October 1997, and that Koplovitz
24072-728: The WTBS time slot in Atlanta, McMahon chose instead to provide only a clip show for WTBS, featuring highlights from other WWF programming as well as matches from house shows at Madison Square Garden , Boston Garden and other major arenas. This format would eventually be the cornerstone of the WWF Prime Time Wrestling ( PTW ) program. In May 1985, McMahon sold the WTBS time slot to another Southern -based and NWA-affiliated wrestling company, Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), under heavy pressure from station owner Ted Turner , who
24308-495: The WWF Champion again. A rematch, known as "Half-Time Heat", took place during halftime of that year's Super Bowl, which saw Mankind win the match and the title. The Rock would receive another rematch at St. Valentine's Day Massacre, in a last-man-standing match for the chance to headline WrestleMania XV as the WWF Champion. The bout ended in a draw after both men were unable to stand before the ten count. Despite Mankind being
24544-551: The WWF Champion, he gave The Rock one more shot at the title in a ladder match on Raw . This was their final match, as the Big Show interfered in it and choked Mankind off the ladder, leaving The Rock all by himself and allowing him to win the match and headline WrestleMania XV as the WWF Champion. At WrestleMania XV, The Rock defended the title against the challenger, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Despite interference from Vince McMahon attacking Austin on his behalf, The Rock went on to lose
24780-665: The WWF Championship by submission, despite Hart not submitting. Hart, realizing that he had been the victim of a so-called " screwjob ", spit on McMahon, destroyed television equipment, and traced the letters "WCW" in the air with his finger while fans in the arena threw garbage into the ring area and expressed their support for Hart. The incident would go on to be dubbed the Montreal Screwjob . One week later, on Raw , McMahon gave an interview with Jim Ross in which McMahon explained his actions and infamously claimed that "Bret Hart screwed Bret Hart." The WWF successfully went on to parlay fan resentment towards McMahon – whose position as owner of
25016-505: The WWF Championship to Mr. McMahon on the September 16, 1999, episode of SmackDown! before regaining it at Unforgiven in a Six-Pack Challenge that included British Bulldog , Big Show , Kane, The Rock, and Mankind. He defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin at No Mercy before dropping the title to Big Show at Survivor Series . Triple H then continued his feud with Mr. McMahon by marrying his daughter Stephanie McMahon and defeating McMahon at Armageddon , which saw Stephanie betray Vince. As
25252-406: The WWF Championship, but the decision was reversed by referee Earl Hebner under pressure from Triple H. Therefore, the company does not officially recognize Jericho's supposed title reign. Jericho continued to feud with Triple H throughout 2000, leading to a Last Man Standing match at Fully Loaded , which Triple H won. Jericho would maintain a prominent spot on the roster, becoming a fixture in both
25488-526: The WWF Championship. Austin once again defeated The Rock to regain the title and joined forces with his nemesis Mr. McMahon. Later in 2001, upon his return to the company following a brief hiatus, The Rock would defeat Booker T at SummerSlam to win the WCW Championship , which was now part of the WWF following WWF's purchase of WCW earlier that March. Later that year at Survivor Series , The Rock led Team WWF to victory over Team Alliance as part of
25724-491: The WWF Tag Team Championship. Kurt Angle , the 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist, debuted at the 1999 Survivor Series as a heel who opposed the society and culture of the Attitude Era. Citing his "three I's"; Intensity, Integrity, and Intelligence, Angle would hypocritically chastise crowds each week to the crowd's disapproval. In his initial push, he remained undefeated for several weeks, eventually losing to
25960-667: The WWF Women's Championship belt on the December 18, 1995, edition of Nitro and insulted her former employers before throwing the belt in the garbage. Raw and Nitro traded wins in the "Monday Night War" early on, but WWE has conceded that by December 1995 "WCW had the advantage over WWE in the storied Monday Night War." Nitro began airing a weekly segment entitled Where the Big Boys Play! composed of stock footage of matches featuring current WWF wrestlers who had started their careers as jobbers in WCW, all of which ended in
26196-469: The WWF agreeing to drop the suit in exchange for the right to bid on WCW properties should they ever come up for liquidation. Raw , and the WWF in general, was considered to be at a creative nadir before Nitro started. Into the early 1990s, the WWF had continued the creative formula that had given the company success in the 1980s: clear-cut face vs. heel storylines, colorful wrestlers with themed gimmicks, and alluring female valets who nonetheless maintained
26432-689: The WWF and WCW. Monday Nitro premiered on September 4, 1995 as an hour-long weekly show, and Bischoff was instrumental in the launching of the show. During their mid-1995 meeting, Turner asked Bischoff how WCW could compete with the WWF. Bischoff, not expecting Turner to comply, said that the only way would be a prime-time slot on a weekday night, possibly up against the WWF's flagship show Monday Night Raw . Surprisingly for Bischoff, Turner granted him one live hour on TNT every Monday night, which specifically overlapped with Raw . This format expanded to two live hours in May 1996 and later three. Bischoff himself
26668-573: The WWF debuted a second cable show, also on USA, called Tuesday Night Titans ( TNT ), a late-night talk show spoof hosted by WWF owner Vince McMahon and Lord Alfred Hayes . While still running steadily, Barnett and the Briscos sold their entire stock in GCW (including the television deal) to McMahon, and on July 14, 1984 (otherwise known as " Black Saturday "), the WWF took over GCW. With this move, McMahon controlled all nationally televised wrestling in
26904-488: The WWF officially debuted its Raw Is War moniker to signify it was waging "war" with WCW's Monday Nitro . One week later, on the March 17 episode , after losing a steel cage match against Sycho Sid in an attempt to win back the WWF Championship , Bret Hart angrily shoved Vince McMahon to the mat during a post-match interview and went into a profanity-laced tirade. The actual start of the Attitude Era itself
27140-500: The WWF on June 30, 1999. On the August 9 episode of Raw , he officially made his debut, referring to himself as "Y2J" (a play on the Y2K frenzy) and began feuds with The Rock, Chyna, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit while capturing the Intercontinental and European championships on several occasions in the era. On the April 17, 2000 episode of Raw , Jericho defeated Triple H to seemingly win
27376-524: The WWF was rarely acknowledged on-screen prior to the Montreal Screwjob – into creating the "Mr. McMahon" character, a villainous, overbearing boss. McMahon's new heel character would become a major part of the WWF's transition to reality-based storylines, particularly his rivalry with Stone Cold Steve Austin. On the December 15th, 1997 edition of Raw, McMahon expressed the change into the new era as an evolution towards more contemporary tones in
27612-534: The WWF wrestler suffering a humiliating loss. Bischoff also began to give away the results of Raw matches on Nitro , as Raw was usually taped a week prior to airing. These moves prompted retaliatory tactics by the WWF; in January 1996, Raw began airing skits before and after commercial breaks entitled Billionaire Ted's Wrasslin' Warroom , depicting parodies of Ted Turner ("Billionaire Ted"), Hulk Hogan ("The Huckster"), "Macho Man" Randy Savage ("The Nacho Man"), and "Mean" Gene Okerlund ("Scheme Gene"). While
27848-484: The WWF's top babyface star. The team won the WWF Tag Team Championship on an episode of Raw in 1999. After the Rock 'n' Sock connection broke up, The Rock went back into the main event picture of the WWF, battling the likes of Triple H and his stable, the McMahon-Helmsley Regime. Late in the Attitude Era, The Rock faced Stone Cold Steve Austin again at WrestleMania X-Seven in the main event match for
28084-557: The Women's Championship, her first championship win. McMahon would later describe the moment as an "incredible privilege". In 2001, Stratus and McMahon took part in their own storyline revolving around Stephanie's father Vince; Stratus later noted that the female performers had moved from being on the side of storylines to being a "viable part of the program". Frustrated over WCW's refusal to allow him to wrestle Goldberg , as well as various other issues, Chris Jericho left WCW and signed with
28320-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight
28556-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that
28792-561: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As
29028-441: The auspices of Eric Bischoff , WCW introduced a new, complex metastory involving the defection of multiple wrestlers to a rival organization called the New World Order (nWo). McMahon's controversial treatment of Bret Hart in an incident known as the Montreal Screwjob immediately precipitated Hart's departure from the WWF to WCW, alienating a large segment of the WWF's fanbase at the same time WCW came to employ virtually all of
29264-412: The broader public. In the United States, wrestling is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as
29500-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
29736-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards
29972-522: The catchphrase "Austin 3:16", the major marketing tool for WWF during the era. After winning the tournament by defeating Jake "The Snake" Roberts , Austin mocked Roberts' recital of the biblical passage John 3:16 by saying, "You sit there and you thump your Bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere! Talk about your Psalms , talk about John 3:16... Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!" Austin's popularity gradually started to rise as an anti-hero despite being portrayed on-screen as
30208-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling
30444-425: The closing moments of the match, Tyson counted Austin's victorious pinfall on Michaels. Tyson was paid $ 4 million for his role. Following his crowning as champion, a long-term storyline pitting Austin and McMahon as rivals began, and it proved pivotal in increasing the WWF's revenues from merchandise sales, arena events, and PPV sales, as well as television ratings. Week by week, Austin would regularly have to overcome
30680-504: The combined AOL Time Warner sold WCW's assets. Despite efforts to salvage the company, it was ultimately sold to McMahon, ending the Monday Night War. In retrospect, wrestling commentators have come to see the Monday Night War as a golden age of professional wrestling, along with the 1940s–1950s and 1980s booms, with the competition between the WWF and WCW bringing out their best quality product both in terms of creativity and
30916-512: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about
31152-402: The company from 1987 to 1992, when it was still affiliated with the NWA, before joining the WWF the following year. WCW's coup of obtaining Luger was significant for several reasons. Because Nitro was live at the time, premiering major stars on the show would signal to the fans the amount of excitement the broadcasts would contain. Secondly, Luger had just come off a successful run in the WWF and
31388-407: The company to his partner, Tod Gordon , who renamed the promotion Eastern Championship Wrestling. When Eastern Championship Wrestling was founded, it was a member of the NWA, and "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert was its head booker. After a falling-out with Gordon, Gilbert was replaced in September 1993 by Paul Heyman (known on television as Paul E. Dangerously), who had just left WCW and was looking for
31624-444: The company's programming. In the late 1990s, WCW's ratings began to suffer as fans grew tired of the nWo storyline, which many viewers perceived as having been allowed to go on for too long. Fans also responded negatively to several gimmicks intended to reinvigorate interest in the promotion, including the introduction of actor David Arquette as WCW World Heavyweight Champion. The company was able to briefly reinvigorate itself after
31860-468: The competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on the independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in
32096-413: The conclusion of this storyline, The Undertaker and Kane united to form a tag team that became known as The Brothers of Destruction. In late 1998, The Undertaker turned on Kane and realigned himself with Paul Bearer, both wrestlers executing a double turn in the process. Now a heel and proclaiming himself as the "Ministry of Darkness", Undertaker began taking a more macabre and darker persona, claiming that
32332-511: The corner, Crockett decided to use McMahon's own tactics against him, developing his own PPV-caliber event and airing it for free on WTBS opposite WrestleMania. The result was the Clash of the Champions I . On March 27, 1988 – the same night as WrestleMania IV – the first Clash of the Champions aired. This show made Sting a star after he wrestled NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair to
32568-423: The crown jewel of The Corporation, abandoning his previous moniker as "The People's Champion" and declaring himself "The Corporate Champion". The Rock had a lengthy feud with Mankind, who won the title on an episode of Raw in January 1999. The reign was short-lived. However, The Rock received his rematch at the 1999 Royal Rumble in an I Quit Match. The Rock won the I Quit Match in a controversial fashion and became
32804-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine
33040-481: The debuting Tazz by passing out at the 2000 Royal Rumble . Angle would go on to win the European and Intercontinental championships, holding both titles simultaneously and dubbing himself the "Eurocontinental" champion. Angle lost both the Intercontinental and European championships in a two-fall triple threat match to Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho, respectively, without losing a single fall. Angle would go on to win
33276-566: The decision was made to fire Sid. Sid's departure resulted in a further problem for the company: As he had been scheduled to defeat Big Van Vader for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Starrcade 1993 , several weeks worth of Disney Tapings had been filmed with Sid as the champion, with the intention not to air it until the following year. Sid's departure from the company meant that hours worth of footage had suddenly become worthless. In 1994, Bischoff took
33512-407: The defections of employees between the two promotions. Throughout the war, the WWF and WCW would both adopt different concepts and narrative techniques. Meanwhile, both companies would establish both formal and informal partnerships with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), with ECW performers either appearing on WWF and WCW shows while still under contract, or outright leaving ECW to work for one of
33748-476: The direction of the company. The group, composed of Nash, Hall, Shawn Michaels , Hunter Hearst Helmsley (later known as Triple H) and Sean Waltman (1-2-3 Kid), often used their influence to advance one another's careers, and in some instances harm or ruin the careers of performers who displeased them. Accounts varied as to the reason for Nash and Hall's departure: Whereas wrestling analysts speculated that their contracts had been allowed to expire in order to break
33984-408: The early 1990s, McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF; now WWE) and Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) – and, as a result, their programming – became a venue through which the business feud could continue, with each company working to drive the other out of business. WCW dominated the ratings through much of the mid-1990s, as Turner's financial resources allowed the company to purchase
34220-413: The early-to-mid-1990s. McMahon laid out a campaign to continue adapting creatively with the times as a means of furthering the WWF's longevity. He advised parental discretion for parents of younger viewers among an increased viewer base who would now be watching RAW and War Zone . In October 1997, USA Network owners at Seagram agreed to sell the network to media mogul Barry Diller . Diller's purchase of
34456-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and
34692-406: The ensuing discussion of the incident in the fan community generated the most attention the WWF had received since the beginning of the Monday Night War. This prompted the WWF creative team to begin looking into the idea of more adult-oriented storylines and characters and mimicking WCW's metafiction elements. On February 3, 1997, Monday Night Raw changed to a two-hour format. In an attempt to break
34928-462: The entranceways of arenas or walking around in the audience. A week later, they announced the forthcoming appearance of a mysterious third member of their group. At Bash at the Beach , Hall and Nash were scheduled to team with their mystery partner against Lex Luger, Randy Savage, and Sting. At the onset of the match, Hall and Nash came out without a third man, telling Okerlund that he was "in the building", but that they did not need him yet. Shortly into
35164-546: The established wrestling stars then in competition. Throughout the late 1990s, the WWF began to rise in popularity after it rebranded itself as a more adult-themed, sexualized and violent product, a period in the company's history now referred to as the Attitude Era . The shift in programming helped lead the company to achieve mainstream success similar to the 1980s professional wrestling boom . Concurrently, many WWF performers became crossover successes: during this period The Rock would become very popular and then would embark on
35400-409: The events was also partially contingent upon wearing merchandise promoting different wrestlers, and audience members being made to respond on-cue to particular in-ring events. This was regarded as a major breach of kayfabe at the time and ultimately led to WCW's departure from the NWA in September 1993. By the end of the year, WCW decided to once again base the promotion around Ric Flair. The decision
35636-603: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to
35872-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In
36108-425: The first wrestler to appear on the cover of Playboy . Sable was considered the "blonde bombshell", the usage of Sable's appealing appearance to draw more male viewers reignited the interest in the women's division and wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer has described her as a "huge ratings draw". Sable later said that it was written into her contract that she was not allowed to take bumps. Even rival WCW 's management
36344-426: The following months, which included a 60-minute Iron Man match between the duo at Judgment Day , a match Triple H won. However, Triple H would lose the title to The Rock in a Six-Man Tag Team Elimination Match at that year's King of the Ring. Triple H would then be involved in a love triangle with Kurt Angle and Stephanie before revealing himself to be the man who convinced Rikishi to run over Stone Cold Steve Austin
36580-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as
36816-460: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
37052-420: The help of Steve Austin. This match is regarded as a major turning point of the Monday Night War , shifting the ratings permanently in the WWF's favor. The duo fought in an infamous "I quit" match at the 1999 Royal Rumble event . The match was notable for its brutality, in the ending The Rock chased a bloodied Mankind out of the ring and up the walkway while having Mankind handcuffed, hitting him repeatedly with
37288-461: The help of a group of friends should Austin appear. At the end of the evening, the final vignette depicted Austin breaking into Pillman's home, prompting Pillman to pull a gun on Austin , and the feed being "interrupted" in the ensuing chaos, with Vince McMahon (serving as a commentator) stating that he had been informed of "a couple explosions". When the feed resumed, Austin was shown being dragged out of Pillman's house as Pillman screamed, "That son of
37524-526: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with
37760-492: The individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in a professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from
37996-480: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore
38232-496: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by
38468-403: The internet. The incident marked one of the first times that pro wrestlers had so flagrantly broken character in front of an audience, and forced both the WWF and WCW to begin acknowledging fans' growing awareness of the backstage happenings of their respective companies. The Curtain Call would go on to influence the narrative course both companies took by encouraging WCW, and later the WWF, to blur
38704-512: The introduction of Bill Goldberg (known monymously as Goldberg), who was presented as an unbeatable force who won matches within a matter of minutes or even seconds. Goldberg quickly rose to stardom within the organization and became a crossover star similar to the WWF's performers, with appearances in commercials and music videos. However, a controversial backstage decision to end his winning streak, followed quickly by an anticlimactic match involving Kevin Nash and Hollywood Hogan – now known as
38940-480: The lines of fantasy and reality in wrestling, incorporating wrestlers' real names and details of their lives into their character's stories. On the Memorial Day 1996 edition of Nitro , Scott Hall interrupted a match and, apparently out of character, challenged the wrestlers of WCW to a fight against him and unnamed companions. Though Hall was employed by WCW, the storyline took advantage of fans' knowledge of
39176-399: The love triangle, Kurt Angle defeated The Rock to win his first WWF Championship at No Mercy . Kurt Angle successfully defended the WWF Championship in the first and only 6-man Hell in a Cell match at Armageddon that included The Rock, Stone Cold, Triple H, The Undertaker, and Rikishi. In February 2001, Angle would lose the WWF Championship back to The Rock at No Way Out . Later that year at
39412-523: The match and the championship. After being fired from the Corporation by Shane McMahon following WrestleMania, The Rock once again declared himself the People's Champion and went on a number of small feuds during the latter part of 1999. During this time, The Rock's popularity began to flourish again, and he aligned with his former rival Mankind to create the tag team, The Rock 'n' Sock Connection . In November 1999, The Rock surpassed Stone Cold Steve Austin as
39648-399: The match would have a disqualification finish – which would not result in a title change – therefore, Hart would retain the championship and either lose or forfeit the title at a later date. However, McMahon, Michaels, and other WWF employees covertly went on to change the outcome of the match without Hart's knowledge. During the pay-per-view broadcast, a video package aired immediately before
39884-418: The match's controversial finish. WWF's programming in this era featured adult-oriented content, which included increased depicted violence, profanity, and sexual content. This era was part of a wider surge in the popularity of professional wrestling in the United States and Canada as television ratings and pay-per-view buy rates for the WWF and its rival promotions saw record highs. The Attitude Era marked
40120-565: The match, a Stinger Splash resulted in Luger being crushed behind Nash and being taken away on a stretcher, turning the match into The Outsiders vs. Sting and Savage. Hall and Nash were in control of the match when Hulk Hogan came to the ring. After standing off with them, he attacked Savage, showing himself to be the Outsiders' mysterious third man and thus turning heel. In a post-match interview, Hogan christened his alliance with Hall and Nash as
40356-461: The match, thus leading to Vince temporarily being banned from the WWF. At Survivor Series , Austin was run down by a car driven by a mystery assailant in the parking lot. This was due to Austin needing to take time away from wrestling because of underlying spinal and neck issues caused by his initial injury at SummerSlam in 1997. Austin then underwent spinal fusion surgery by Dr. Lloyd Youngblood . Austin would not be seen on WWF television (aside from
40592-407: The material involving Hogan and Savage usually poked fun at their old ages, the skits aimed at Turner were decidedly more inflammatory in nature and contained material that could have been considered slanderous . Although Turner himself reportedly found the sketches amusing, the sketches stopped airing on the USA Network at the request of network president Kay Koplovitz, and were ended permanently in
40828-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in
41064-442: The mid and lower cards. In 1998, storylines involving Mr. McMahon struggling to maintain order within the WWF led to the creation of a new faction, the Corporation. The Corporation was officially formed on November 16, 1998, when Shane and Vince McMahon, along with Big Boss Man , Sgt. Slaughter , Pat Patterson , Gerald Brisco , and The Rock joined forces. The faction would feud heavily with Stone Cold, D-Generation X, and later
41300-494: The mid-card and upper-card. Jericho would go on to defeat Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock on the same night at Vengeance 2001 , becoming the first Undisputed WWF Champion in the process. In the main event of WrestleMania X8 , Jericho lost the Undisputed WWF Championship to Triple H. Many other WCW wrestlers, who were unhappy with the disorganization, backstage environment, and workplace politics of
41536-428: The momentum of Nitro , WWF entered into a cross-promotional agreement with ECW. Raw commentator Jerry Lawler insulted and "challenged" ECW on the show's February 17 episode, and in the weeks to come, several ECW wrestlers appeared on Raw in a story arc similar to the nWo storyline playing out in WCW, with the WWF pursuing the "renegade" ECW. On March 10, 1997, Raw was officially renamed Raw Is War in reference to
41772-432: The nWo waged a campaign of anarchy against WCW, blurred the lines between reality and scripted entertainment, a unique presentation that acknowledged fans' growing awareness of backstage wrestling politics and kayfabe . WCW and the nWo continued to grow in popularity, and for the next 84 consecutive weeks Nitro beat Raw in the ratings. At the outset of the storyline, the WWF filed a lawsuit against WCW, alleging that WCW
42008-544: The nWo, the June 10, 1996, episode of Raw would be the last rating victory for the WWF for nearly two years. On the November 4, 1996, episode of Raw , the WWF aired a storyline involving Stone Cold Steve Austin and Brian Pillman , two former friends who were feuding with each other. In a series of vignettes broadcast from Pillman's real-life home in Newport, Kentucky , Pillman – supposedly debilitated following an attack by Austin – vowed to protect himself and his wife with
42244-482: The night, however, Triple H would betray his long-time friend and fellow D-X member X-Pac by helping Shane McMahon retain the European Championship and joined The Corporation, turning heel in the process. In April, he started moving away from his D-X look, taping his fists for matches, sporting new traditional wrestling trunks, and adopting a shorter hairstyle. His gimmick changed as he fought to earn
42480-404: The odds stacked against him by Mr. McMahon. Austin and McMahon were featured in numerous segments which led to a scheduled match between the duo on April 13, 1998, episode of Raw. Austin and McMahon were going to battle out their differences in an actual match, but the match was declared a no-contest when Mick Foley (Reprising his character Dude Love) interrupted. On that night, Raw defeated Nitro in
42716-480: The organization, while Ole Anderson was head booker and was in charge of operations. In 1982, in order to appear less regional in scope, the television show was renamed World Championship Wrestling , a name Barnett had used for promoting shows in Australia in the 1970s. In 1983, the WWF started its own cable show called WWF All American Wrestling , airing Sunday mornings on the USA Network . Later that year,
42952-453: The other two companies. While WCW was the dominant promotion for much of the mid-1990s, a variety of factors coalesced to turn the tide in the WWF's favor at the end of the decade, including a radical rebranding of their formerly family-friendly product into highly sexualized and violent shows geared towards older teens and adults. WCW ultimately ran into financial difficulties as a result of the amount of money they had promised wrestlers during
43188-823: The performances of their wrestlers. The Monday Night War largely sprang from a rivalry between WWF owner Vince McMahon and WCW owner Ted Turner , dating back to an incident in the 1980s known as Black Saturday , when McMahon acquired a monopoly on all nationally televised wrestling broadcasts by purchasing a stake in Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), whose flagship show aired on WTBS , Turner's own superstation based in Atlanta , Georgia . Turner, displeased with McMahon's handling of programming on his network, pressured McMahon into selling his time slot to Jim Crockett Promotions , another wrestling promotion. As wrestling began to grow in popularity in
43424-773: The position of Executive Vice President. During Bischoff's first year at the top of WCW, bookers Ole Anderson and Dusty Rhodes concocted cartoonish, unbelievable and poorly built-up storylines that were poorly received by fans, such as "Lost in Cleveland," a storyline in which Cactus Jack developed amnesia and disappeared in Cleveland , Ohio ; the White Castle of Fear, a match between Sting and Vader themed around B movies meant to promote SuperBrawl III ; and tongue-in-cheek, short beach-party movies used as promotional videos for Beach Blast . Anderson and Rhodes' booking style
43660-697: The professional wrestling equivalent to the grunge music movement of the early 1990s, and focused on taking the company in a new direction. In 1994, Jim Crockett Jr. 's non-compete agreement with Turner, to whom he had sold in 1988, expired and he decided to start promoting with the NWA again. Crockett went to Gordon and asked him to hold a tournament for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship , in ECW's home city of Philadelphia on August 27, 1994. NWA President Dennis Coralluzzo alleged that Crockett and Gordon were attempting to monopolize
43896-668: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During
44132-596: The promotion, jumped ship to the WWF. The first high-profile acquisition was Paul Wight , who had previously wrestled as "The Giant" in WCW since 1995. Wight allowed his WCW contract to expire on February 8, 1999, when Eric Bischoff denied his request for a pay increase. He signed with the WWF the next day and debuted at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House as "The Big Show" Paul Wight, Mr. McMahon's enforcer in The Corporation. At Survivor Series in November 1999, The Big Show defeated The Rock and Triple H in
44368-439: The purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise a bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether
44604-553: The reinstatement of the WWF Women's Championship . Sable would become the first WWF female to refer to herself as a "Diva"; the term would be coined and shortly thereafter became the official title for WWF's female performers. The use of Sable as an on-screen character was increasingly sexual, including competing in the first "bikini contest" against Jacqueline at Fully Loaded: In Your House . Her on-screen popularity resulted in her breaking through into mainstream pop culture, becoming
44840-440: The rise of many WWF wrestlers, including The Rock , Stone Cold Steve Austin , Chris Jericho , Triple H , Kane , Mick Foley (in various personas), Kurt Angle , and The Undertaker (who was already a veteran but continued to gain popularity). The Steve Austin– Vince McMahon feud was one of the longest-running and most prominent rivalries of the era. The WWF Women's Championship , which had lain dormant since December 13, 1995,
45076-626: The roster participated in several Intergender wrestling matches against mid-card male wrestlers and won the Intercontinental champion twice. She defeated Jeff Jarret at No Mercy in 1999 to win her first Intercontinental Championship title. Not long after losing the Intercontinental Championship title during her first reign, Chyna became the on-screen girlfriend of the recently debuted Eddie Guerrero . Originally seen as villains, they became fan favorites during
45312-399: The sale of WCW's assets by its parent company, AOL Time Warner , to the WWF. Television had been a significant part of professional wrestling presentation in the United States for decades, but after the 1950s it had been relegated to local stations as the national networks ceased airing it. Many local programmers turned to professional wrestling as a means to fill out their schedules, as it
45548-550: The services of numerous high-profile WWF performers, including Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage . The company also drew casual fans' attention by filming events at popular tourist venues such as Disney's Hollywood Studios , and reached out to Mexican and Japanese wrestling fans through its cruiserweight division, which featured wrestlers from a diverse array of ethnic and racial backgrounds competing in matches featuring styles of wrestling popular in Latin America and Asia. Under
45784-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For
46020-419: The summer of 2000, with Guerrero dubbing her his "Mamacita". They faced Val Venis and Trish Stratus in an intergender tag team match at SummerSlam with the Intercontinental Championship on the line. Chyna won the match, but her second reign ended when she lost the belt two weeks later to Guerrero in a Triple Threat match with Kurt Angle . The two officially split in November 2000 after Chyna, in storyline,
46256-445: The summer of 2000; at this time, Undertaker had recently taken on the "American Badass" biker persona instead of the satanic character he had portrayed previously. Now faces, the two challenged then-Tag Team Champions Edge and Christian for the titles on an episode of Raw , but due to interference from Kurt Angle, they were disqualified, meaning they didn't win the titles. On the August 14 episode of Raw, Undertaker faced Chris Benoit in
46492-439: The television ratings for the first time since June 10, 1996. Austin again wrestled McMahon on February 14, 1999, at St. Valentine's Day Massacre in a steel cage match, which he won when the debuting Big Show accidentally threw him through the cage wall, resulting in Austin earning a WWF title shot at WrestleMania XV , where he defeated The Rock , whom he also defeated in a rematch the following month at Backlash . Throughout
46728-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,
46964-530: The time was still suspended from boxing, was to be introduced as the "Special Guest Enforcer" referee for the championship match at WrestleMania XIV , but Vince McMahon's presentation of Tyson was abruptly interrupted by Austin, who flipped off Tyson, leading to a brief scuffle. In an interview with Austin, head writer Vince Russo described this moment as the start of the Attitude Era. Over the following weeks, Tyson aligned himself with Michaels, Austin's opponent at WrestleMania, and D-Generation X. At WrestleMania, in
47200-469: The title, and stated Crockett did not have the NWA board's approval, which resulted in Coralluzzo personally overseeing the tournament. Gordon took offense at Coralluzzo for his power plays and began contemplating a plan to secede ECW from the NWA in a controversial and public manner that would attract attention to ECW and insult the NWA organization. Gordon and Heyman planned to have Shane Douglas , who
47436-519: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by
47672-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it
47908-405: The venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as a performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in
48144-559: The way WWF television was written. Ed Ferrara would later join Russo in June 1998, when he was hired by the WWF. Russo's and Ferrara's booking style has been described as "Crash TV", where they contributed edgy, controversial storylines involving sexual content, profanity , swerves , unexpected heel turns , and worked shoots , as well as short matches, backstage vignettes, shocking angles and levels of depicted violence. Several moments have been credited with helping WWF transition into
48380-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of
48616-472: The weeks that followed, as Undertaker announced his intentions of taking over the WWF and claimed he was working for a "higher power". He began a feud with Vince McMahon and his daughter Stephanie , with the Ministry burning Undertaker's symbol in the McMahon family yard. At Backlash: In Your House , The Undertaker kidnapped Stephanie and attempted to marry her to Undertaker the next night on Raw by holding
48852-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked
49088-446: The year prior. At the 2001 Royal Rumble , Triple H lost to Kurt Angle in a WWF Championship match. Triple H would, unfortunately, suffer a severe quadriceps injury during an episode of Raw in May 2001, which would lead him to be out of action for the rest of the year. Chyna made her WWF debut on February 16, 1997, at In Your House 13: Final Four ; her character emerged as a plant from a ringside seat, choking Marlena while Goldust
49324-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling
49560-627: Was a "bad risk" and had the tendency to not appear at shows he was scheduled to wrestle at. Douglas ultimately decided to go through with Gordon and Heyman's plan, inspired by his father's motto of "doing right by the people that do right by you". He threw down the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, stating that he did not want to be champion of a "dead promotion". He then raised the Eastern Championship Wrestling title and declared it to be
49796-486: Was a show shot to a live audience, with storylines unfolding as they happened. The first episode featured Sean Mooney reporting from the streets of New York City and interviews by Bobby Heenan, Yokozuna defeating Koko B. Ware , The Steiner Brothers defeating The Executioners; WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels defeating Max Moon ; and The Undertaker defeating Damien Demento . The show also featured an interview with Razor Ramon . Raw originated from
50032-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in
50268-493: Was changed to Hogan vs. Sid and Flair vs Savage, and the rivalry was never realized. Bischoff's attempt to deliver a "dream match" never produced by the WWF paid off, and the PPV drew a disproportionately high buy rate by the company's standards. Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) had its origins in 1991 as the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance, owned by Joel Goodhart. In 1992, Goodhart sold his share of
50504-482: Was established on November 2, 1998, and this chaotic division involved no disqualification, falls count anywhere matches that would start and then would be taken outside the ring, with blunt weapons involved. The Attitude Era drew to a close on May 6, 2002, as WWF changed its name to WWE and ceased using "WWF Attitude" branding, leading into the Ruthless Aggression Era. During the Monday Night War ,
50740-435: Was even reported as showing less remorse than WWF owner Vince McMahon did over a controversial incident on the September 14, 1998 episode of Raw where the wrestler Jacqueline had one of her breasts exposed during an evening gown match, which network spokesman David Schwartz described as "not worse than anything you see on broadcast television at that time of night, such as NYPD Blue ." USA Network executive Bonnie Hammer ,
50976-399: Was generally in line with the lighthearted, morally uncomplicated narrative that had been popular in 1980s wrestling, but which was generally looked upon with growing disdain by younger wrestling fans. In February 1993, longtime NWA stalwart Ric Flair returned to WCW after an eighteen-month WWF tenure, but since Flair was constrained by a no-compete clause from his WWF contract, WCW gave him
51212-831: Was held at the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia , while Raw was held nearby at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia . With the ongoing war between WWF and WCW, D-X was sent to initiate an immediate "invasion" of Nitro , driving in an army Jeep and challenging WCW head Eric Bischoff . Soon after, D-X appeared at CNN Center (as well as WCW's stand-alone Atlanta offices) to call out WCW owner Ted Turner . The stable's popularity continued to rapidly grow, and they were eventually pushed as antihero fan favorites, much like Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. On
51448-557: Was illegally representing the nWo as a WWF affiliate and that Hall's persona was too close to his "Razor Ramon" character (itself a parody of Al Pacino 's character in Scarface ), to which the WWF retained the rights. WCW countered that in June, Hall and Nash had emphatically stated on-camera that they were no longer WWF employees, and that Hall's current persona was, in fact, a reworking of his previous WCW character, The Diamond Studd. The lawsuit dragged on for several years, culminating in
51684-408: Was in drug rehab and did not appear at the event). Michaels and Hall were playing babyface characters, while Nash and Helmsley were playing heel characters, and the four of them embracing saw an explicit breaking of kayfabe . Though the incident was not televised, it was nonetheless recorded by fans who had smuggled cameras and camcorders into the event, and photos and videos were widely disseminated on
51920-416: Was in fact planning to remove WWF programming from the USA Network prior to the purchase. Following the purchase, the WWF began to dominate cable television ratings with Raw episodes which were not only breaking away from traditional censorship, but that were also showing fans at ringside screaming obscenities, wearing risqué t-shirts, and holding signs that often sported controversial phrases. The USA Network
52156-403: Was in the ring with Triple H. Her original role in the promotion was as the stoic enforcer /bodyguard for Triple H and later D-Generation X, which was founded by both Triple H and Shawn Michaels. She often helped them cheat to win by physically interfering in matches by executing her trademark low blow to the groin. She was given the ring name "Chyna", an intentionally ironic moniker; fine china
52392-446: Was initially the host; he handled the second hour along with Bobby Heenan and former NFL football player Steve "Mongo" McMichael , with Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko hosting the first. Other co-hosts included Mike Tenay (usually for matches involving cruiserweights or international stars), Scott Hudson, and Mark Madden . The initial broadcast of Nitro also featured the return of Lex Luger to WCW. Luger had worked for
52628-418: Was involved in a major rivalry with Triple H over the WWF Championship. The duo had a critically acclaimed street fight match at the 2000 Royal Rumble which Triple H won, with the level of brutality displayed by the duo being praised. At No Way Out , Foley lost to Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match, and as per the stipulation, Foley was forced to retire from full-time competition. Despite this Foley competed in
52864-532: Was largely made out of necessity: The company had intended to place heavy emphasis on Sid Vicious , but he was involved in a legitimate altercation with fellow wrestler Arn Anderson while on tour in England . A heated argument between the men escalated into a physical altercation, which culminated in them stabbing one another with a pair of scissors. Because Sid's attack on Anderson was more violent, and because of Arn Anderson's close relationship with Ole Anderson,
53100-653: Was one of the company's top stars. In fact, he had been in line to get the WWF World Heavyweight Championship (he had had several previous title matches), and worked a WWF house show the night before. Since nobody but Bischoff and Luger's good friend Sting knew that Luger would return to WCW, the shock value generated by his appearance was great. Thirdly, Luger's defection created speculation among fans as to which other big-name stars would "jump ship". Notably, Luger would be followed by former WWF Women's Champion Alundra Blayze , who appeared with
53336-571: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
53572-453: Was reactivated on September 15, 1998. While most of the company's female talent, such as Sable , Sunny and Stacy Keibler during this time period were marketed as sex symbols booked in sexually provocative gimmick matches (e.g., "bra and panties", bikini, lingerie, etc.) in an effort to draw more male viewership, prominent female stars such as Chyna , Lita , and Trish Stratus among others were presented as serious wrestlers. WWF also signed
53808-454: Was relatively inexpensive to produce but drew high ratings. This reinforced the then-accepted organization of professional wrestling, which were consisted of a patchwork of territorial promotions aimed at – and broadcast to – local audiences, without a centralized, national promotion, though most territories were members of a common sanctioning body of championship titles , the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). As cable television arose in
54044-417: Was repeated by Chyna, who would be featured in a more prominent role; in addition to being prominently featured in legitimate wrestling matches against both women and men, she would also be featured twice on the cover of Playboy, and her autobiography reached number one on The New York Times Best Seller list , the fourth by a wrestler to achieve the feat. Lita made her WWF debut as a valet for Essa Rios on
54280-494: Was scheduled to face 2 Cold Scorpio in the tournament finals, throw down the NWA World Heavyweight Championship upon winning it as an act of defiance. Heyman pitched the plan to Douglas, noting that the only negative would be that NWA traditionalists would just see them as traitors to tradition. Additionally, there was animosity between Douglas and Coralluzzo, who had publicly criticized Douglas and advised NWA-affiliated bookers not to schedule him for shows, as he believed Douglas
54516-405: Was shown footage of Eddie cavorting in the shower with two other women. Chyna left the WWF on November 30, 2001, several months after she had been taken off of television. At SummerSlam in 1996, The Undertaker became embroiled in a feud with his former manager Paul Bearer . During the course of their conflict, Bearer threatened The Undertaker with the threat of revealing his "secret", calling him
54752-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted
54988-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among
55224-550: Was then forced to join The Corporation in order to stay out of the insane asylum. He was later betrayed by them and thrown out of the faction. A 12-minute match between The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin drew a 9.5 rating on June 28, 1999. It stands as one of the highest-rated segment in Raw history. The match was fought for the WWF World Heavyweight Title, and was won by Austin. The Undertaker and Kane briefly reformed The Brothers of Destruction in
55460-410: Was unhappy with the declining ratings. This set up a rivalry between McMahon and Turner that would continue for sixteen years. That same year, PTW replaced TNT on USA Network, which expanded to two hours the format of the WWF's WTBS program. The most-remembered Prime Time format featured Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon introducing taped matches and analyzing them afterward, with Monsoon taking
55696-522: Was worried about Sable's attractiveness being a huge drawing factor for male viewers during that time. The Sable character would eventually be transitioned into a heel, and soon after the relationship between the WWF and Mero would break down, with Mero filing a $ 110 million lawsuit, saying that the WWF had become increasingly "obscene, titillating, vulgar and unsafe", and alleged that she was asked to perform in lesbian storylines, as well as being requested to strip on live television. Sable's rise in popularity
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