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115-708: They previously wrestled in WWE , where they are the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions , and later renamed as The Dyad on the NXT brand . They won numerous titles in their native England, being three-time Progress Tag Team Champions , and holding the Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) Undisputed British Tag Team Championship once. They also run their own promotion in the UK called Burning Heart Pro Wrestling, launched in 2024. In 2017, Zack Gibson and James Drake formed

230-499: A villainous tag team called Grizzled Young Veterans. Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Chris Brookes and Kid Lykos of CCK to become the Progress Tag Team Champions. They successfully defended the titles against Aussie Open at Progress Chapter 59. At Chapter 61, Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Moustache Mountain ( Tyler Bate & Trent Seven ) to retain their championships. In 2018, Gibson took part of

345-404: A " Rock 'Em Sock 'Em " tournament. Past non-physical challenges include making 30-second promos on a given topic and selling programme within a time limit. During the first two seasons, the winner of the weekly challenge receives a special prize such as a main event match, a talk show segment or a feature on WWE's official website. One of the more frequent prizes given out to the winner

460-616: A "complete revamp" overseen by Triple H . However, due to undergoing heart surgery in September, Levesque stepped away from NXT with Shawn Michaels stepping in to oversee the changes. On the September 14, 2021 episode of NXT , the program was relaunched as NXT 2.0 to mark the changes, introducing a new rainbow-colored logo and redesigned studio. In September 2022, Michaels' role was made permanent, with his job title confirmed as Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative, responsible for both creative and development at NXT. At

575-420: A competition to become WWE's next "breakout star", with the help of mentors from WWE's Raw and SmackDown brands. Five seasons of this iteration were broadcast, with Wade Barrett , Kaval , Kaitlyn , and Johnny Curtis as winners. In June 2012, WWE ended the seasonal competition format and opted to revamp the show as a developmental wrestling program, replacing FCW. NXT became the flagship television show of

690-417: A deal with Endeavor Group Holdings, under which it would merge with Zuffa , the parent company of mixed martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to form TKO Group Holdings, a new public company majority-owned by Endeavor, with McMahon serving as executive chairman of the new entity, and Nick Khan becoming president. The merger was completed on September 12, 2023. In 2024, McMahon, who

805-596: A deal with UPN, McMahon shut down the XFL. WWE maintained control of the XFL trademark before McMahon reclaimed the XFL brand, this time under a separate shell company from WWE, in 2017 with intent to relaunch the XFL in 2020 . On June 24, 2002, episode of Raw , Vince McMahon officially referred to the start of the next era, called the "Ruthless Aggression" era. On May 6, 2002, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) changed both its company name and

920-495: A live audience. The pairings also enabled the show to crossover into WWE's Raw and SmackDown programs. As the length of each season differed, features of the competition occur at different times accordingly. In addition to matches, weekly challenges were held during the competition to further test the Rookies' physical and mental skills. Past physical challenges include a keg carrying contest, an assault course contest and

1035-599: A monopoly on the world title. In a now infamous situation, the NWA sent former five-time world champion and legitimate wrestler Lou Thesz to Toronto to face Rogers on January 24, 1963. Thesz recalls this was not planned and prior to the match remembered telling Buddy "we can do this the easy way or the hard way." Rogers agreed to lose the fall and title in a one fall match versus the traditional two out of three fall matchup that most world title matches were defended. Once word reached back to Mondt and McMahon, at first they simply ignored

1150-581: A pay cut, and the company has also suspended construction on its new headquarters for at least six months. The firings caused significant backlash by fans; with Business Insider calling them "livid." Both fans and several media outlets pointed out that while WWE claimed that these actions were "necessary due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic", the WWE also claimed to have "substantial financial resources. Available cash and debt capacity currently total approximately $ 0.5 billion". DeSantis's claimed WWE

1265-401: A pre-recorded format. NXT continued to air from Full Sail University, but under similar restrictions. Live broadcasts returned on April 13, with the existing arrangements continuing; WWE stated to ESPN.com that "we believe it is now more important than ever to provide people with a diversion from these hard times", and that the company's programming "bring[s] families together and deliver

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1380-734: A publicly traded company, trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with the issuance of stock then valued at $ 172.5 million. The company is traded on the NYSE under ticker symbol WWE. By the fall of 1999, the Attitude Era had turned the tide of the Monday Night War into WWF's favor. After Time Warner merged with America Online (AOL), Ted Turner 's control over WCW was considerably reduced. The newly merged company lacked interest in professional wrestling as

1495-496: A sense of hope, determination and perseverance". It was subsequently reported that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had deemed WWE a business critical to the state's economy, and had added an exception under the state's stay-at-home order for employees of a "professional sports and media production" that is closed to the public and has a national audience. The decision was met with criticism from media outlets, with several media outlets pointing out that DeSantis's actions happened on

1610-473: A third brand on May 26, 2006. Two years later, WWE adapted a more family-friendly format and their programming received a TV-PG rating . The final ECW program aired on February 16, 2010, after which it was replaced with NXT . During this time many new and young wrestlers would join the company, many which would become household names for the next years to come such as John Cena , Randy Orton , Brock Lesnar , and Batista . On April 7, 2011, WWE, via

1725-456: A time of record low revenues. This helped drive many WWF wrestlers over to rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW), including 1980s babyface hero Hulk Hogan. During this period, the WWF promoted wrestlers of a younger age comprising "The New Generation", featuring Bret Hart , Shawn Michaels , Diesel , Razor Ramon and The Undertaker among others in an effort to promote new talent into

1840-515: A whole and decided to sell WCW in its entirety. Although Eric Bischoff , whom Time Warner fired as WCW president in October 1999, was nearing a deal to purchase the company, in March 2001 McMahon acquired the rights to WCW's trademarks, tape library, contracts, and other properties from AOL Time Warner for a number reported to be around $ 7 million. Shortly after WrestleMania X-Seven , the WWF launched

1955-539: A wrestling supercard was nothing new in North America; the NWA had begun running Starrcade a few years prior. In McMahon's eyes, however, what separated WrestleMania from other supercards was that it was intended to be accessible to those who did not watch wrestling. He invited celebrities such as Mr. T , Muhammad Ali , and Cyndi Lauper to participate in the event, as well as securing a deal with MTV to provide coverage. The event and hype surrounding it led to

2070-710: Is additionally involved in licensing its intellectual property to other companies to produce video games and action figures . The promotion was founded in 1953 as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), a Northeastern territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Following a dispute, CWC left the NWA and became the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in April 1963. After rejoining

2185-411: Is an "Immunity Pass", which gives the holder immunity from elimination in the next round of polls. During the last three seasons a greater emphasis on challenges was placed on the show. Instead of awarding prizes to the winner of the challenges, points are instead awarded to the winner with a cumulative tally of points recorded before each of the first three polls. The Rookie with the most points before

2300-602: Is an American professional wrestling television program. It is produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE , featuring performers from the promotion's NXT brand division . The show currently airs live on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on The CW . NXT initially debuted in 2010 as a seasonal show which was presented as a hybrid between WWE's scripted live event shows and reality television , in which talent from WWE's then-developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) participated in

2415-952: Is based at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida . Overall, WWE programming is available in more than one billion homes worldwide in 30 languages. The company's global headquarters is located in Stamford, Connecticut , with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, and Munich. As in other professional wrestling promotions, WWE shows are not true contests but entertainment-based performance theater, featuring storyline -driven, scripted , and partially choreographed matches; however, matches often include moves that can put performers at risk of injury, even death, if not performed correctly. The pre-determined aspect of professional wrestling

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2530-527: Is targeted at career and athletic development for the company's wrestlers. Full Sail is also home base to WWE's NXT brand, which served as a developmental territory for WWE. On February 24, 2014, WWE launched WWE Network , an over-the-top streaming service that would feature archive content from WWE and its predecessors, all pay-per-views, (which would continue to be sold through television providers as well), and original programming. Beginning in 2015 WWE started to push Roman Reigns as their face of

2645-611: The American Bang song "Wild and Young" had been used for each season with the exception of the third. During season three, the show's opening theme song was " You Make the Rain Fall " by Kevin Rudolf . " Get Thru This " by Art of Dying was also used as bumper music during the initial five seasons of the show. NXT, as a game show, were held in large arenas as a part of the taping schedules of WWE's other shows which featured

2760-549: The COVID-19 pandemic . The two returned on the 25 November episode of NXT , attacking Ever-Rise . In early January 2021, the Grizzled Young Veterans took part in the 2021 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic where they defeated Ever-Rise in the first round, the team of Kushida and Leon Ruff in the second round, and Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa in the semi-finals, earning the opportunity to face MSK in

2875-480: The NXT material from their website on June 19. NXT was then aired exclusively on Hulu and Hulu Plus in the United States, while continuing to be broadcast internationally. NXT returned to cable on December 20, 2017, airing a 1-hour special on USA Network . In September 2019, NXT permanently moved to USA Network and was revamped as a live, two-hour program on Wednesday nights, with replays available

2990-515: The WWE Network from ( February 27, 2014 ) to April 5, 2017. A remix of the same song was used starting on June 15, 2016. From April 12, 2017, the theme song was "Rage" by CFO$ , followed by "Resistance" by Powerflo; which was first used on the May 31, 2017 episode. On the April 4, 2019 episode, " All Out Life " by Slipknot was used as the new theme song. From April 13, 2021, to September 7, 2021,

3105-696: The WWE Network . Rogers Media secured the rights to Canadian WWE programming until 2024, after which go to Netflix in January 2025. Although the show moved in October 2024 to The CW (which is widely carried on Canadian television providers), Rogers has not yet decided whether to air NXT on its broadcast network Citytv to invoke potential simsub rights. WWE NXT was broadcast in the United Kingdom on TNT Sports from January 2020 until January 2024 when it moved back to WWE Network. In South Africa , WWE NXT airs live on SuperSport on Wednesdays. In

3220-707: The WWWF World Heavyweight Championship was created, with the promotion claiming that inaugural champion Rogers had won a tournament in Rio de Janeiro on April 25, 1963, defeating long time Capitol favorite Antonino Rocca in the finals. In reality, Rocca was no longer in the area, as he was working for Jim Crockett Sr. in the Carolinas. Rogers also had already suffered what would later be a career ending heart attack on April 18 in Akron, Ohio, and

3335-470: The XFL , a new professional football league that debuted in 2001. The league had high ratings for the first few weeks, but initial interest waned and its ratings plunged to dismally low levels (one of its games was the lowest-rated prime-time show in the history of American television). NBC walked out on the venture after only one season, but McMahon intended to continue alone. However, after being unable to reach

3450-400: The "NXT" trademark in favor of a new one before the show's debut. The show's format was revealed in an article by Variety on February 16, with a press release from WWE made shortly later that day. NXT is the second reality-based series produced by WWE, the first being WWE Tough Enough which aired between 2001 and 2004. Due to WWE's nature of airing weekly shows without hiatus,

3565-615: The Grizzled Young Veterans made their return to AEW and stared down AEW World Tag Team Champions the Young Bucks before attacking FTR . WWE World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) is an American professional wrestling promotion . It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings , a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into fields outside of wrestling, including film , football , and various other business ventures . The company

Grizzled Young Veterans - Misplaced Pages Continue

3680-415: The Grizzled Young Veterans took part in the 2022 Men's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic where they defeated Chase University ( Andre Chase and Bodhi Hayward) in the first round, but lost to The Creed Brothers in the semifinals. On 19 July episode of NXT , Joe Gacy 's masked allies were revealed to have been James Drake and Zack Gibson, now under the ring names Jagger Reid and Rip Fowler, officially renaming

3795-486: The Invasion storyline, integrating the incoming talent roster from WCW and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). With this purchase, WWF now became by far the sole largest wrestling promotion in North America and in the world. The assets of ECW, which had folded after filing for bankruptcy protection in April 2001, were purchased by WWE in 2003. In 2000, the WWF, in collaboration with television network NBC , launched

3910-973: The July 4 episode of NXT , the Dyad defeated the Creeds in a loser leaves town match. However, the Creeds would defeat the Dyad in a steel cage match on August 29, being reinstated with NXT in the process; it was Reid and Fowler's last match in WWE. On the September 12 edition of NXT , Gacy confirmed Fowler and Reid were no longer members of Schism in a pre-taped vignette. On September 14, Reid and Fowler departed WWE after their contracts expired. On 14 October 2023, both Drake and Gibson announced that they would take independent bookings. The following day, they made their first independent appearance since being released at Deadlock Pro-Wrestling's Live 3 event where they answered an open challenge set by DPW's tag team champions, The Workhorsemen. On April 25, 2024, Drake and Gibson announced

4025-518: The Montreal Screwjob, which took place at the 1997 Survivor Series , former WCW talent were being hired by the WWF, including Stone Cold Steve Austin , Mankind , and Vader . Austin was slowly brought in as the new face of the company despite being promoted as an antihero , starting with his " Austin 3:16 " speech shortly after defeating Jake Roberts in the tournament finals at the King of

4140-627: The NWA in 1971, the WWWF was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979 before the promotion left the NWA for good in 1983. In 2002, following a legal dispute with the World Wildlife Fund , the WWF was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In 2011, the promotion ceased branding itself as World Wrestling Entertainment and began solely branding itself with the initials WWE . Prior to September 2023,

4255-488: The NXT brand, and has since received a positive reception and high viewership, with praise for its high quality of wrestling and captivating storylines, particularly from 2014 to 2018. The initial version of the show made its debut on Syfy on February 23, 2010, replacing WWE ECW , but was replaced by SmackDown in October. It then aired as an hourly webcast on WWE.com in the United States until June 13, 2012, before it

4370-767: The Performance Center in a similar setup dubbed the Capitol Wrestling Center. It had many of the same features as the ThunderDome, but with a small crowd of select live fans included, in addition to the virtual fans. The name is also an homage to WWE's predecessor, the Capitol Wrestling Corporation. On May 21 WWE brought back fans full time, beginning with a 25-city tour, thus ending the ThunderDome residency. The July 16 episode of SmackDown started WWE's return to

4485-485: The Performance Center with paying fans, thus being WWE's last event to have ticketed fans in attendance before the pandemic took full effect. WrestleMania 36 was scheduled to take place on April 5 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa but on March 16, was moved to Orlando to be held behind closed doors. WrestleMania, as well as Raw and SmackDown for a period before and after WrestleMania, shifted from live broadcasts to

4600-615: The Ring pay-per-view in 1996. On April 29, 1999, the WWF made its return to terrestrial television , airing a special program known as SmackDown! on the fledgling UPN network. The Thursday night show became a weekly series on August 26, 1999 – competing directly with WCW's Thursday night program titled Thunder on TBS . In the summer of 1999, Titan Sports, Inc. was renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. On October 19, 1999, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. launched an initial public offering as

4715-580: The St. Louis show was later moved to a smaller venue—The Factory at The District—in the suburb of Chesterfield, Missouri . On October 21, 2024, WWE announced that it would broadcast NXT 2300 from 2300 Arena in Philadelphia (the former home arena of ECW ) on November 6, a special Wednesday night broadcast due to The CW simulcasting corporate sibling NewsNation 's coverage of the 2024 United States presidential election . In its original incarnation,

Grizzled Young Veterans - Misplaced Pages Continue

4830-571: The Super Strong Style 16 Tournament, defeating Joey Janela in the first round and Pete Dunne by disqualification in the quarter finals before he was eliminated by Kassius Ohno in the semi-finals. In January 2017, Drake participated in the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament to crown the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Champion , losing to Joseph Conners in the first round. Gibson

4945-498: The WWE Corporate website, the company ceased using the full name World Wrestling Entertainment and henceforth referred to itself solely as WWE, making the latter an orphan initialism . This was said to reflect WWE's global entertainment expansion away from the ring with the ultimate goal of acquiring entertainment companies and putting a focus on television, live events, and film production. WWE noted that their new company model

5060-498: The WWF were former AWA or NWA talent. The WWF would tour nationally in a venture that would require a huge capital investment, one that placed the WWF on the verge of financial collapse. The future of McMahon's experiment came down to the success or failure of McMahon's groundbreaking concept, WrestleMania . WrestleMania was a major success and was (and still is) marketed as the Super Bowl of professional wrestling. The concept of

5175-692: The WrestleMania III main event between WWF champion Hulk Hogan and André the Giant took place on The Main Event I in 1988 and was seen by 33 million people, the most-watched wrestling match in North American television history. In 1983, Titan moved its offices to Stamford, Connecticut . Subsequently, a new Titan Sports, Inc. (originally WWF, Inc.) was established in Delaware in 1987 and

5290-700: The aforementioned draft), and airs live instead of the previous pre-recorded format. Due to the return of the brand split, a new World Championship , called the WWE Universal Championship was introduced at the August 21, 2016 SummerSlam event with Finn Bálor defeating Seth Rollins to become the inaugural WWE Universal Champion. On November 29, 2016, WWE introduced a new program specifically for their cruiserweight division (wrestlers 205 lbs. and under) called WWE 205 Live . The program focuses exclusively on those wrestlers who qualify for

5405-566: The announce table was repositioned. After NXT 2.0 was reverted to NXT, the ring ropes were reverted to white and the logo became white with black and gold accents in October 2022. NXT aired initially on Global Television Network taking the old slot of ECW. In July 2010, the series moved to The Score (renamed to Sportsnet 360 in 2013). In February 2021, NXT began to broadcast live on Wednesday aligning with USA Network schedule. This continued when NXT returned to Tuesday nights in April 2021. All archived broadcasts of NXT are available on

5520-400: The authority figure and match coordinator, with Matt Striker being retained as the show's host. On May 30, 2012, it was revealed that a sixth season of NXT under its original format was set to air. The season was supposed to star Big E , Seth Rollins , Damien Sandow , Hunico , Bo Dallas and Adam Rose as the season's rookies, but ultimately was cancelled before airing. In May 2012,

5635-400: The brand's equivalent to the main roster's pay-per-view shows. WWE continued to air NXT Redemption , hoping a new television deal could be made. WWE.com revealed on June 13 that the new version of NXT would be made available online via WWE.com and YouTube beginning on Wednesday, June 20; when WWE would begin airing the episodes they taped at Full Sail on May 17. However, WWE removed all of

5750-454: The brand, such as: "a new logo, new lighting, a focus on younger talents and a different format to the TV shows." Dave Meltzer reported that, after having lost the ratings war with AEW, NXT will likely go back to their developmental roots, with "talent that are younger, bigger and that could someday main event at WrestleMania ." WWE President Nick Khan subsequently confirmed that NXT would undergo

5865-470: The company began the removal of some of the contents that were considered iconic moments of the Attitude Era that were deemed inappropriate by Peacock, these archived contents would no longer be available under any of WWE's authorized platforms. Amdist the criticisms, in April 2021 WWE executive Triple H defended WWE's move to Peacock. WWE NXT WWE NXT , also known simply as NXT ,

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5980-523: The company since having him win the 2015 Royal rumble match , amidst mixed reception . By 2017 Roman Reigns became their highest merchandise seller. On May 25, 2016, WWE relaunched the brand split, billed as the "New Era". Subsequently, Raw and SmackDown have each featured their unique rosters, announcers, championships and ring sets/ropes. A draft took place to determine which wrestlers would appear on what show. SmackDown also moved from Thursdays to Tuesday nights, which began on July 19 (the night of

6095-530: The company's majority owner was its executive chairman, third-generation wrestling promoter Vince McMahon , who retained a 38.6% ownership of the company's outstanding stock and 81.1% of the voting power. The current entity, which was originally named Titan Sports, Inc. , was incorporated on February 21, 1980, in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts , but reincorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law in 1987. It acquired Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd.,

6210-497: The company. The actual date of sale is still unknown but the generally accepted date is June 6, 1982; however, this was likely only the date the deal was struck but not finalized. On WWF television, Capitol Wrestling Corporation maintained copyrights and ownership past the June 1982 date. The World Wrestling Federation was not solely owned by Vincent J. McMahon but also by Gorilla Monsoon , Arnold Skaaland and Phil Zacko. The deal between

6325-439: The conclusion of the September 13, 2022 episode of NXT (which marked the one-year anniversary of the relaunch), an updated NXT logo was unveiled, removing the "2.0" branding and returning to a gold color scheme. On November 7, 2023, WWE announced that NXT would move to The CW in October 2024 under a five-year deal. The network had previously broadcast SmackDown (as a carry-over from its co-predecessor, UPN ), as well as

6440-642: The division. The cruiserweights – who first became a fixture in WWE with the Cruiserweight Classic tournament – were originally exclusive to the Raw brand before landing their own brand . On December 15, 2016, WWE established a new WWE United Kingdom Championship , with the inaugural champion being decided by a 16-man tournament to air on WWE Network featuring wrestlers from the UK and Ireland during January 2017. WWE executive Paul "Triple H" Levesque said

6555-515: The eventual plan with the new title and tournament was to establish a UK-based brand with its own weekly television show. WWE subsequently launched its UK-based brand as an offshoot of NXT, NXT UK , in June 2018, with Johnny Saint serving as inaugural general manager. Starting in September 2019, NXT had a weekly, live, two-hour show Wednesday nights on the USA Network and WWE began promoting NXT as their "third brand". However, in 2021 NXT

6670-428: The film Rocky III . McMahon signed Roddy Piper as Hogan's rival, and then shortly afterward Jesse Ventura as an announcer. Other wrestlers joined the roster, such as The Iron Sheik , Nikolai Volkoff , Junkyard Dog , Paul Orndorff , Greg Valentine , and Ricky Steamboat , joining existing stars such as Jimmy Snuka , Don Muraco , Sgt. Slaughter and André the Giant . Many of the wrestlers who would later join

6785-480: The finals at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day . At the event, the Grizzled Young Veterans were defeated by MSK, once again failing to win in the tournament finals. On the 21 December episode of NXT , they faced The Creed Brothers (Brutus Creed and Julius Creed) which ended in a no-contest when both teams got into a brawl with Kushida and Ikemen Jiro (wrestling as the tag team Jacket Time) who were on commentary as well as Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen . In January 2022,

6900-434: The finals of a tournament to become the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions . After some defenses, they would lose the titles to Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster at NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff in a triple threat tag team match also involving Gallus . On September 11, Drake and Gibson unsuccessfully challenged Andrews & Webster in a rematch. They would have another title match at NXT UK Takeover: Blackpool II against

7015-560: The first time that professional wrestling had been broadcast on network television since the 1950s when the now-defunct DuMont Television Network broadcast matches of Vincent J. McMahon's Capitol Wrestling Corporation. The 1980s "Wrestling Boom" peaked with the WrestleMania III pay-per-view at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1987, which set an attendance record of 93,173 for the WWF for 29 years until 2016 . A rematch of

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7130-500: The following day on WWE Network. Due to scheduling overlap with the final episodes of Suits , the second hour of the program was aired on WWE Network until October 2, when it began airing in its entirety on USA. This started the Wednesday Night Wars , during which NXT was broadcast in direct competition with rival wrestling show AEW Dynamite , which aired in the same time slot on TNT . Several publications noted

7245-500: The founder of the CWC was. Some sources state that it was Vincent J. McMahon , while other sources cite McMahon's father Jess McMahon as founder of CWC. The CWC later joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and famous New York promoter Toots Mondt soon joined the promotion. Vincent J. McMahon and Toots Mondt were very successful and soon controlled approximately 70% of the NWA's booking power, largely due to their dominance in

7360-405: The four major sports leagues closed locker rooms to the media as a precautionary measure. As other sports cancellations and postponements were being introduced, WWE began to film its weekly programs at the Performance Center without spectators and with only essential staff present, beginning with the March 13 episode of SmackDown  – the March 11 episode of NXT had been recorded at

7475-411: The full results and rankings from the poll were revealed. However, since August 17, 2010 only the elimination is revealed. The first poll, usually held a third of the way through the competition, determines the Rookies' rankings. Subsequent polls are held several weeks later near the end of the season, where the lowest ranked Rookie without immunity is eliminated. Season 2 was set to use this format, but

7590-583: The heavily populated Northeastern United States . In 1963, McMahon and Mondt had a dispute with the NWA over "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers being booked to hold the NWA World Heavyweight Championship . Mondt and McMahon were not only promoters but also acted as his manager and were accused by other NWA promoters of withholding Rogers making defenses in their cities versus only defending in Mondt and McMahon's own cities thus maintaining

7705-417: The holding company for the WWF, in 1982. Titan was renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. in 1999, and then World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. in 2002. In 2023, its legal name was changed to World Wrestling Entertainment, LLC . WWE is the largest wrestling promotion in the world. Its main roster is divided into two touring brands , Raw and SmackDown . Its developmental brand , NXT ,

7820-662: The launch of their professional wrestling promotion, Burning Heart Wrestling. The promotion's first event took place on June 21. In January 2024, the Grizzled Young Veterans debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling at the pay-per-view Hard To Kill , challenging for the TNA World Tag Team Championship , along with The Rascalz ( Zachary Wentz and Trey Miguel ) and Speedball Mountain ( Mike Bailey and Trent Seven ), against champions ABC ( Chris Bey and Ace Austin ), which

7935-687: The longest world title reign in the WWE since Hulk Hogan from 1984 to 1988. WWE remained at the Amway Center up through early December before relocating the ThunderDome to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida . The ThunderDome relocated to Yuengling Center , located on the campus of the University of South Florida in Tampa, beginning with the April 12, 2021, episode of Raw . In October 2020, NXT events were relocated from Full Sail University to

8050-618: The name of its wrestling promotion to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) after the company lost a lawsuit initiated by the World Wildlife Fund over the WWF trademark. Although mainly caused by an unfavorable ruling in its dispute with the World Wildlife Fund regarding the "WWF" initialism, the company noted it provided an opportunity to emphasize its focus on entertainment. In March 2002, WWE decided to create two separate rosters, with each group of wrestlers appearing on one of their main programs, Raw and SmackDown! , due to

8165-426: The new champions Gallus, Andrews & Webster and Imperium in a ladder match where the champions retained. In parallel to their NXT UK Tag Team Championship pursuit at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II, Drake and Gibson competed in the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic . They defeated Kushida and Alex Shelley in the quarterfinals and NXT Tag Team Champions Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly of The Undisputed Era in

8280-400: The next upcoming poll is awarded immunity. In season three, one point is awarded for winning the challenge. In October 2010, WWE moved their show SmackDown to Syfy, with NXT leaving the network at the same time. Despite WWE's stated intention of broadcasting the show on another TV channel, NXT began to be aired as a webcast on WWE's website for American visitors. In season four,

8395-473: The number of points vary on the difficulty of the challenge. In the result of a tie-break, the audience is then asked to vote for the Rookie they want to get immunity. Season four also saw the introduction of challenge matches involving the entire roster of Pros or Rookies where the winner would be given the chance to swap their respective Rookie or Pro for another. In various weeks, polls were held to evaluate

8510-414: The official theme song for NXT was "Say Cheese" by Poppy , first performed at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver . When NXT was relaunched as NXT 2.0 on September 14, 2021, the official theme song is "Down South" by Wale featuring Yella Beezy & Maxo Kream . The new set features multicolored LED screens with an arch. The ring mat turned white and the ring ropes became white before turning blue and

8625-519: The organization. McMahon also worked to get WWF programming on syndicated television all across the United States. This angered other promoters and disrupted the well-established boundaries of the different wrestling promotions, eventually ending the territory system, which was in use since the founding of the NWA in the 1940s. In addition, the company used income generated by advertising, television deals, and tape sales to secure talent from rival promoters. In an interview with Sports Illustrated , McMahon

8740-638: The original air date. On February 2, 2010, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon introduced a new weekly program that would replace the canceled ECW in its time slot on Syfy. McMahon described the show as "the next evolution of WWE; the next evolution of television history". The new show's name, NXT , was later discovered to be trademark already in the United Kingdom by National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliate Scottish Wrestling Alliance (SWA) which also used "NXT" as their brand for upcoming stars. Both parties ultimately reached an agreement that resulted in SWA releasing

8855-441: The other were available for wrestlers from any show to compete for; the "Supershow" format would mark the end of the brand split, as all programming and live events (until July 2016) featured the full WWE roster. In 2013, the company built the sports medicine and training facility WWE Performance Center in the east Orange County, Florida in partnership with Full Sail University from Winter Park, Florida . The training facility

8970-487: The overabundance of talent left over from the Invasion storyline and the ensuing absorption of WCW and ECW contracts. This was dubbed as the " brand extension ". Beginning in 2002 a draft lottery was held nearly every year to set the rosters, with the first draft to determine the inaugural split rosters, and subsequent drafts designed to refresh the rosters of each show. WWE expanded the brand split by relaunching ECW as

9085-569: The pandemic to have ticketed fans in attendance with a maximum of 25,000 spectators for each night with COVID-19 protocols in place. Also around this time, the WWE Network in the United States became exclusively distributed by Peacock on March 18, 2021 (ahead of Fastlane and WrestleMania 37). The merger of the WWE Network and Peacock did not affect the service outside of the United States. The move to Peacock received some criticisms from fans particularly due to Peacock's heavy censorship policy,

9200-482: The pandemic, including releasing a number of performers ( Karl Anderson , Kurt Angle , Aiden English , EC3 , Epico , Luke Gallows , Curt Hawkins , No Way Jose , Sarah Logan , Mike Kanellis , Maria Kanellis , Primo , Erick Rowan , Rusev , Lio Rush , Zack Ryder , Heath Slater , and Eric Young ), three producers ( Dave Finlay , Shane Helms and Lance Storm ), referee Mike Chioda , and multiple NXT/Performance Center trainees and staff. WWE executives also took

9315-437: The plan for NXT was to split the year's set of episodes into multiple seasons . NXT was formed in 2010 when they paired up wrestlers from WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (dubbed "Rookies") with wrestlers from WWE's existing Raw and SmackDown brands (dubbed "Pros"). Each episode featured the rookies being mentored by the pros as they develop their gimmick and performance skills in front of

9430-419: The polls, Rookies could still be eliminated via an executive decision from WWE management, as the first season saw both Daniel Bryan and Michael Tarver eliminated by management for a lack of self-confidence. Starting in 2012, the all-rookie competition was abandoned with the show now featuring past and present rookies alongside lower cardmembers of the main WWE roster. William Regal would also take over as

9545-458: The ring ropes yellow and used the same HD set used by WWE's other weekly programs. Upon its reboot and arrival at Full Sail University , " Welcome Home " by Coheed and Cambria was used from the show's relaunch on June 20, 2012, to February 24, 2014, but it retains the yellow ropes and used the black mat. "Roar of the Crowd" by CFO$ served as the official theme song for NXT since its arrival to

9660-604: The road, taking place at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. In January 2021, WWE moved WrestleMania 37 , which was originally to be held in Inglewood, California on March 28, to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida – WrestleMania 36's original location – as a two-night event on April 10 and 11, with fans in attendance, though to a limited capacity. This marked WWE's first event during

9775-520: The same day a pro- Donald Trump political action committee led by Linda McMahon , who was previously a part of Trump's cabinet, pledged to spend $ 18.5 million in advertising in Florida, and that, also on the same day, Vince McMahon was named part of an advisory group created by Trump to devise a strategy in re-launching the US economy. On April 15, WWE started a series of cuts and layoffs in response to

9890-519: The semifinals, before losing to The BroserWeights ( Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne) in the finals. On the February 19, 2020, episode of NXT , the Grizzled Young Veterans joined the NXT brand as tweeners , defeating Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde before announcing their intent to take over NXT's tag team division. However the two would soon disappear from television as a result of travel issues from

10005-535: The short-lived Saturday Morning Slam (as part of the Saban Brands -produced Saturday morning block Vortexx ). NXT premiered on The CW October 1, 2024; as part of the launch, the program scheduled two weeks of travel shows while the Performance Center studio was redesigned, with the season premiere from Allstate Arena in Rosemont, followed by Enterprise Center in St. Louis the following week. However,

10120-483: The show's format was revamped. The show began using more talent from FCW as well as talent from the main roster. The first four episodes under the new format were taped at Full Sail University on May 17. Beginning with NXT Arrival in February 2014, NXT has occasionally aired live specials on the WWE Network. These events would be aired under the NXT TakeOver banner from May 2014 to 2021, and effectively serve as

10235-491: The similarity between this ratings war and the Monday Night War that had involved Raw and WCW Monday Nitro . Beginning with the March 18, 2020, episode of NXT , WWE began filming all of its programs without an audience at Full Sail University as a result of restrictions imposed amid the COVID-19 pandemic . On October 4, 2020, NXT relocated from Full Sail to the WWE Performance Center 's main studio, citing logistical issues preventing it from continuing its residency at

10350-422: The spotlight. In January 1993, the WWF debuted its flagship cable program Monday Night Raw . WCW countered in September 1995 with its own Monday night program, Monday Nitro , which aired in the same time slot as Raw . The two programs would trade wins in the ensuing ratings competition (known as the " Monday Night War ") until mid-1996. At that point, Nitro began a nearly two-year ratings domination that

10465-462: The success of each Rookie and determine the winner of the competition. The poll rankings are entirely determined by votes from the Pros and starting from season 2, votes from fans via WWE's official website. In the Pros' votes, each of the Pros vote for their favorite Rookie, but cannot vote for their own Rookie. Their votes are based on the following four criteria: Initially, in the first two seasons

10580-559: The tag team "The Dyad" and turning heel once again. Gacy and the Dyad subsequently named their group "Schism". Schism gained an additional member on the 25 October episode of NXT , which was revealed to be Ava Raine. The Dyad would fail to win the NXT Tag Team Championship from Gallus on the April 18 episode of NXT in a triple-threat match involving the Creed Brothers and on the May 9 episode of NXT . On

10695-407: The term Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection , due to the cross-promotion of popular culture and professional wrestling. The WWF business expanded significantly on the shoulders of McMahon and his babyface hero Hulk Hogan for the next several years after defeating The Iron Sheik at Madison Square Garden on January 23, 1984. The introduction of Saturday Night's Main Event on NBC in 1985 marked

10810-471: The three business partners receiving roughly $ 815,000 among them and Vincent J. McMahon receiving roughly $ 185,000. Seeking to make the WWF the premier wrestling promotion in the country, and eventually, the world, he began an expansion process that fundamentally changed the wrestling business. At the annual meeting of the NWA in 1983, the McMahons and former Capitol employee Jim Barnett all withdrew from

10925-686: The title change. From January until April 1963, Rogers was promoted as the NWA World Champion, or simply the World Heavyweight Champion, in their area. The World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) was not an immediate creation after Rogers's one fall loss to Thesz. Mondt and McMahon both eventually left the NWA in protest and formed the WWWF in the process. They brought along with them Willie Gilzenberg , long time boxing and wrestling promoter in New Jersey. In April 1963,

11040-419: The two McMahons was a monthly payment basis, in which if a single payment was missed, ownership would revert to the elder McMahon and his business partners. Looking to seal the deal quickly, McMahon took several loans and deals with other promoters and the business partners (including the promise of a job for life) in order to take full ownership by May or June 1983 for an estimated total of roughly $ 1 million with

11155-716: The university. The studio—which had been used by Raw and SmackDown from March to August due to COVID-19—was reconfigured as the "Capitol Wrestling Center", which featured a virtual audience on a video wall, and a limited in-person audience shielded behind plexiglass barriers. COVID-19 measures in the studio began to be lifted in April 2021, and removed entirely in June. With the end of Wednesday Night Wars , on April 13, 2021, following WrestleMania 37 , WWE moved NXT back to Tuesday nights. After twelve NXT wrestlers were released from their contracts that August, Dave Scherer and Mike Johnson of Pro Wrestling Insider reported there had been internal talks of major changes to

11270-461: The wrestlers' entrances on a level similar to that of pay-per-view productions pre-pandemic. Nearly 1,000 LED boards were installed to allow for rows and rows of virtual fans. It was free of charge for fans to virtually attend the events, though they had to reserve their virtual seat ahead of time. During this time, Roman Reigns began his historic world title reign with the WWE Universal Championship , which would eventually surpass 1,000 days; being

11385-420: Was "essential", which meant that the company's revenues loss would be limited. In August 2020, WWE relocated from the Performance Center to Orlando's Amway Center for a long-term residency, broadcasting episodes of Raw , SmackDown , and pay-per-views through a virtual fan viewing experience called WWE ThunderDome . Inside the ThunderDome, drones, lasers, pyro, smoke, and projections were utilized to enhance

11500-401: Was announced for WWE 's WrestleMania Axxess during Wrestlemania 34 weekend as part of a WWE United Kingdom Championship invitational where he lost to Mark Andrews in the first round. On day four of Axxess, Grizzled Young Veterans retained their Progress Tag Team championships by disqualification against Heavy Machinery . Around this time, it was revealed by Wrestling Observer that Gibson

11615-405: Was by now no longer the majority WWE stockholder, ended his ties with the company amid a sex trafficking scandal . Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s WWE's origins can be traced back as far as the 1950s when on January 7, 1953, the first show under the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was produced. There is uncertainty as to whom

11730-428: Was changed to have the first poll an elimination poll. Season three also used the second season's format. The show continued until the season finale, where the final two or three Rookies appear. One or two final polls were then held to determine the winner of the competition. The prize for the winner is a WWE contract as well as a championship match at any list of WWE pay-per-view and WWE Network events . Outside of

11845-495: Was consolidated with the Massachusetts entity in February 1988. The WWF was hit with allegations of steroid abuse and distribution in 1992. This was followed by allegations of sexual harassment by WWF employees the following year. McMahon was eventually exonerated, but the allegations brought bad public relations for the WWF, and an overall bad reputation. The steroid trial cost the company an estimated $ 5 million at

11960-416: Was dropped from the title, and on October 1, 2024, NXT moved to The CW . The WWE Network ceased operations in the United States on April 5, 2021, with all content being moved to Peacock , which currently has most previous NXT episodes, excluding content that was censored or removed by Peacock TV's standards and practices department. Recent episodes are still available for on-demand viewing 30 days after

12075-565: Was expanded to international markets on the WWE Network in 2014. In 2019, NXT expanded into a live two-hour program on the USA Network, airing on Wednesday nights, at the same time as rival promotion All Elite Wrestling 's flagship show Dynamite on TNT , before moving to Tuesday nights in April 2021. In September 2021, NXT was revamped and rebranded as NXT 2.0 . A supplementary show titled NXT Level Up began airing on February 18, 2022, replacing 205 Live . In September 2022, "2.0"

12190-445: Was in an Ohio hospital during the time the alleged tournament took place. Rogers lost the championship to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17, with the promotion beginning to be built around Sammartino shortly after. In June 1963, Gilzenberg was named the first president of the WWWF. Mondt left the promotion in the late 1960s and although the WWWF had previously withdrawn from the NWA, McMahon quietly re-joined in 1971. The WWWF

12305-587: Was largely fueled by the introduction of the New World Order (nWo), a stable led by former WWF performers Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall (the former Razor Ramon), and Kevin Nash (the former Diesel). As the Monday Night War continued between Raw Is War and WCW's Nitro , the WWF would transform itself from a family-friendly product into a more adult-oriented product, known as the Attitude Era . The era

12420-526: Was moved to Tuesday nights, having conceded the Wednesday Night Wars to rival promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and in September of that year was reinstated to its original function as the developmental brand for the main roster (Raw and SmackDown), under the name "NXT 2.0". In March 2020, WWE began to be impacted by the American onset of the COVID-19 pandemic . In mid-March, three of

12535-503: Was publicly acknowledged by WWE's then-owner Vince McMahon in 1989 in order to avoid taxes from athletic commissions. WWE markets its product as sports entertainment , acknowledging professional wrestling's roots in competitive sport and dramatic theater. In 2023, WWE began to explore a potential sale of the company, amidst an employee misconduct scandal involving McMahon that had prompted him to step down as chairman and CEO, although he returned as executive chairman. In April 2023, WWE made

12650-599: Was put into effect with the relaunch of Tough Enough , being a non-scripted program (contrary to the scripted nature of professional wrestling) and with the launch of the WWE Network (at the time scheduled to launch in 2012; later pushed back to 2014). However, the legal name of the company still remains as World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Beginning with the August 29, 2011, episode, Raw - referred to as Raw Supershow - featured talent from both Raw and SmackDown (the "Supershow" epithet would be dropped on July 23, 2012). Championships previously exclusive to one show or

12765-637: Was quoted as saying: "In the old days, there were wrestling fiefdoms all over the country, each with its own little lord in charge. Each little lord respected the rights of his neighboring little lord. No takeovers or raids were allowed. There were maybe 30 of these tiny kingdoms in the U.S. and if I hadn't bought out my dad, there would still be 30 of them, fragmented and struggling. I, of course, had no allegiance to those little lords." McMahon gained significant traction when he hired American Wrestling Association (AWA) talent Hulk Hogan , who had achieved popularity outside of wrestling, notably for his appearance in

12880-631: Was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979. Vincent J. McMahon's son, Vincent K. McMahon , and his wife Linda , established Titan Sports, Inc., in 1980 in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts and applied trademarks for the initials "WWF". The company was incorporated on February 21, 1980, in the Cape Cod Coliseum offices, then moved to the building on Holly Hill Lane in Greenwich, Connecticut . The younger McMahon bought Capitol from his father in 1982, effectively seizing control of

12995-534: Was signed to a WWE contract. Both would participate in the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament with the winner facing Pete Dunne for the United Kingdom Championship. Drake lost to Flash Morgan Webster in the first round but Gibson won the tournament after defeat Travis Banks in the finals and would go on to challenge Dunne, the next night in a losing effort. In 2019, they defeated Moustache Mountain at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool in

13110-493: Was spearheaded by WWF VP Shane McMahon (son of owner Vince McMahon) and head writer Vince Russo . 1997 ended with McMahon facing real-life controversy following Bret Hart 's controversial departure from the company, dubbed as the Montreal Screwjob . This proved to be one of several founding factors in the launch of the Attitude Era as well as the creation of McMahon's on-screen character, " Mr. McMahon ". Before

13225-477: Was won by ABC. Director of Authority Santino Marella would then make a best of three series between the two teams over the titles, with the Grizzled Young Veterans winning the first match and ABC winning the second. The Grizzled Young Veterans lost the third and decisive match at No Surrender . The Grizzled Young Veterans made their All Elite Wrestling debut on the April 27, 2024 episode of Collision , losing to The Acclaimed . At All In on August 25, 2024,

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