Mid 20th Century
110-577: Joseph Ruud (born November 28, 1981) is an American professional wrestler better known by the ring name Erick Rowan . As of May 2024, he is signed to WWE , where he performs on the Raw brand and is a member of The Wyatt Sicks . Having previously wrestled in Japan, where he trained and performed for Pro Wrestling Noah , Ruud signed a contract with WWE in 2011. He was sent to its developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), before debuting on
220-565: A fatal four-way tag team elimination match to unify the NXT UK Tag Team Championship into the NXT Tag Team Championship. Jensen and Briggs were recognized as the final NXT UK Tag Team Champions, while Pretty Deadly went forward as the unified NXT Tag Team Champions. The original NXT Tag Team Championship belts featured a simple design. The center plate was an irregular polygon. Prominently down
330-573: A tag team with Wyatt's "first son" Luke Harper , and they defeated Percy Watson and Yoshi Tatsu on the January 9, 2013 episode of NXT . On the January 23 episode of NXT , Harper and Rowan again defeated Watson and Tatsu in the opening round of the NXT Tag Team Championship tournament . Following a win over Bo Dallas and Michael McGillicutty in the semi-finals after Wyatt's interference, Harper and Rowan were defeated in
440-446: 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
550-559: A Cell , and Kane on the October 26 episode of Raw . At TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs , The Wyatt Family defeated ECW Originals in an eight-man tag team elimination tables match , with Rowan being the only Wyatt Family member eliminated from the match. On January 24, 2016, Rowan would go on to compete in the Royal Rumble match with fellow The Wyatt Family members and was eliminated by Brock Lesnar , but he would later return to
660-531: A Cell , where Reigns and Bryan defeated Rowan and Harper in a tornado tag team match . As part of the 2019 draft , Rowan was drafted to Raw, disbanding his team with Luke Harper, who remained on SmackDown. Starting in November, he would revert to his previous ring name Erick Rowan and began coming to the ring carrying a cage with a hidden cloth over it, as he would squash various local competitors , and Rowan would be shown to be very protective and affectionate of
770-413: 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
880-511: A brief return in the start segment of SmackDown , which was a segment dedicated to his late friend Bray Wyatt , who died due to a heart attack the day before. In May 2024, it was reported that he had signed a contract with WWE and will be returning to the company. On the June 17 episode of Raw , Ruud made his return, reprising the Erick Rowan character as a part of a new stable under
990-532: 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
1100-519: 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
1210-585: 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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#17327945735121320-434: 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 . NXT Tag Team Championship#Inaugural tournament As Individual (3 reigns): The NXT Tag Team Championship
1430-410: 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
1540-741: A feud with The Usos , unsuccessfully challenging for the Tag Team Championship at Money in the Bank and Battleground . Beginning on September 29, vignettes were shown of Rowan and Harper being "set free" by Wyatt, marking the dissolution of The Wyatt Family and the transition of its members into singles competition. On the November 17 episode of Raw , Rowan had a brief feud with the Authority when he joined Team Cena for Survivor Series , going after his former Wyatt Family partner Luke Harper, who had joined Team Authority, turning face in
1650-414: 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
1760-405: 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
1870-744: 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
1980-521: A match also involving The New Day; this marked Rowan's first main roster championship win. They would go on to successfully defend the titles against The Usos at the Greatest Royal Rumble event, against Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson at Money in the Bank , and against Team Hell No at Extreme Rules . The Bludgeon Brothers lost by disqualification in a championship defense against The New Day at SummerSlam , resulting in them retaining
2090-440: 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
2200-475: A part of Team Cena. On the January 19 episode of Raw , Rowan, Ziggler and Ryback were rehired after Cena won a 3-on-1 handicap match against Seth Rollins, Big Show and Kane following assistance from Sting . On the January 22 episode of SmackDown , Rowan lost to Luke Harper in a qualifying match for the 2015 Royal Rumble . Despite this, Rowan appeared during the Royal Rumble match and attacked number 6 entrant Curtis Axel , before Axel could make his entrance to
2310-408: A returning John Cena came to his aid. The next night on Raw , The Wyatt Family attacked The League of Nations , starting a feud between the heel factions. Rowan and Strowman were set to compete in a match at Payback , but Wyatt suffered a calf injury as well as Harper, who dislocated his patella and tore his medial patellofemoral ligament in late March. These injuries resulted in the suspension of
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#17327945735122420-513: A stable have the most reigns at three, while individually, stable member Kyle O'Reilly has the most reigns, also at three. The inaugural champions were the British Ambition (Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey ). The team with the longest reign is The Ascension ( Conor O'Brian/Konnor and Rick Victor/Viktor ), who held the title for 364 days, while the shortest reign belongs to Moustache Mountain ( Tyler Bate and Trent Seven ), who held
2530-485: A tag team match. Although Rowan continued to compete in both singles and tag team matches with Bronson, he was not involved in any further feuds and did not challenge for any titles on FCW TV . After FCW was rebranded to NXT Wrestling , Rowan made his debut on the December 12, 2012 episode of NXT as a follower of Bray Wyatt , who introduced Rowan as his "second son". As a member of The Wyatt Family , Rowan formed
2640-506: A team, and Rowan's second reign individually. At Money in the Bank , Rowan and Bryan were defeated by The Usos in a non-title match. The following month at Super ShowDown event, Rowan competed in the 51-man battle royal , but failed to win. At Stomping Grounds , Rowan and Bryan retained the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against Heavy Machinery ( Otis and Tucker ). At Extreme Rules , Rowan and Bryan lost
2750-517: A torn bicep , leaving him out of action. Rowan returned on the October 19 episode of Raw as a member of The Wyatt Family once again, against Dean Ambrose , Roman Reigns , and Seth Rollins, which his team won by disqualification after Ambrose attacked new The Wyatt Family member Braun Strowman with a kendo stick. Rowan took part in The Wyatt Family's feud with The Brothers of Destruction , after they kidnapped The Undertaker at Hell in
2860-503: 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
2970-586: 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
3080-522: Is a men's professional wrestling tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE . It is defended on NXT , the promotion's developmental brand . The current champions are Nathan Frazer and Axiom , who are in their second reign, both as a team and individually. They won the title by defeating previous champions Chase U ( Andre Chase and Ridge Holland ) at No Mercy on September 1, 2024. Established on January 23, 2013,
3190-410: 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
3300-538: The Clash of Champions pay-per-view event , The Bludgeon Brothers defeated Breezango ( Fandango and Tyler Breeze ) in a squash match . On March 11, 2018, The Bludgeon Brothers made an appearance at Fastlane , interfering during the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match between The Usos and The New Day. The team won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 34 from The Usos,
3410-518: The Creed Brothers ) in a winning effort. Since 2019, Ruud has been married to his wife Leah. He has one child from a previous marriage. In his spare time, he plays the guitar. Professional wrestler 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
Erick Rowan - Misplaced Pages Continue
3520-647: The NXT brand in 2012, a member of The Wyatt Family . He went on to become a one-time NXT Tag Team Champion (with Luke Harper ) and a two-time SmackDown Tag Team Champion (once with Harper and once with Daniel Bryan ). Ruud was released from WWE in April 2020, and returned to the independent circuit under the ring name Erick Redbeard , and appeared in All Elite Wrestling (AEW), also under said ring name. He returned to WWE in June 2024. Joseph Ruud
3630-624: 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
3740-776: 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
3850-638: The WWE Championship against AJ Styles , and forming an alliance with Bryan. On the February 26 episode of SmackDown Live , Rowan competed in his first match since August 2018, teaming with Bryan in a losing effort to Kofi Kingston and Kevin Owens . On the May 7 episode of SmackDown Live , Rowan and Bryan defeated The Usos for the vacant SmackDown Tag Team Championship , beginning their first reign as
3960-400: The "X". At the top of the plate right above the vertical NXT logo is a banner that reads "Tag Team", while at the bottom of the plate below the logo is a banner that reads "Champions". Black, silver, and gold ornamentation fills in the rest of the plate. Unlike the previous design, the design does not differentiate between the two championships. Coming in line with WWE's other championship belts,
4070-584: 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
4180-400: 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
4290-509: 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
4400-411: 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
4510-653: 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
Erick Rowan - Misplaced Pages Continue
4620-488: The June 5 episode of NXT , Harper and Rowan successfully retained their championship against Corey Graves and Kassius Ohno , and on the June 19 episode of NXT , The Wyatt Family defeated the team of Neville, Graves and Ohno. On the July 17 episode of NXT (which was taped on June 20), Harper and Rowan lost the NXT Tag Team Championship to Neville and Graves. From the May 27 episode of Raw , WWE aired vignettes promoting
4730-408: 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
4840-488: 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
4950-566: The NXT Tag Team Championship. In June 2012, WWE established NXT as their developmental territory , replacing Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). The following year on the January 23 episode of NXT , special guest and WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels announced that there would be an eight-team single-elimination tournament to crown the first NXT Tag Team Champions. On the January 31 taping of NXT ( aired February 13), British Ambition ( Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey ) defeated The Wyatt Family ( Luke Harper and Erick Rowan ) in
5060-401: 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
5170-418: 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
5280-420: The attacker was merely a man who resembled Rowan. However, Rowan later turned on Bryan and revealed that he was the attacker the entire time, ending the alliance between the two. During this time, his ring name was reverted to Erick Rowan. Rowan would then face Reigns in a no disqualification match at Clash of Champions , which he won after interference from a returning Luke Harper. The feud concluded at Hell in
5390-561: 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
5500-412: 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
5610-424: 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
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#17327945735125720-418: 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
5830-458: The center of the plate was a vertical NXT logo in gold; to the left center side of the logo read "Tag" while the right center side read "Team". The two side plates contained the WWE logo. The plates were on a black leather strap. A unique feature of this original design was that the two belts were slightly different. On one belt, the left side of the center plate was black with "Tag" written in gold while
5940-424: The championship to The New Day in a triple threat match also involving Heavy Machinery, ending their reign at 68 days. In August, Rowan and Bryan became involved in a storyline with Roman Reigns, as Reigns was being targeted for attacks by a mystery conspirator. Reigns suspected Rowan as his attacker due to testimony from Buddy Murphy , as well as seemingly incriminating video footage, but Bryan instead revealed that
6050-423: 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
6160-461: 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
6270-655: The company. Following his release from WWE, Ruud began taking bookings under the ring name "Erick Redbeard". On October 21, 2020, it was announced that he would be competing in the United Wrestling Network World Title tournament. He would make his debut on October 31, losing to Fred Rosser in the first round of the tournament by disqualification. Following the death of his former WWE tag team partner Jon Huber (who performed as Luke Harper in WWE and Mr. Brodie Lee in All Elite Wrestling ) on December 26, 2020, Ruud (as Erick Redbeard) appeared on
6380-468: 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
6490-433: The creature in the cage destroying whoever tried to look inside the cage. Despite this, the creature would bite Rowan on multiple occasions which would force him to take out his pain on his opponents. At the Royal Rumble pay-per-view on January 26, 2020, Rowan entered Royal Rumble match at number 3, and was quickly eliminated by Brock Lesnar. On March 2 episode of Raw in a backstage segment with No Way Jose , Rowan revealed
6600-540: 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
6710-405: 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
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#17327945735126820-603: 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
6930-443: The feud between The Wyatt Family and The League of Nations. The Wyatt Family (minus Harper) returned on the June 20 episode of Raw , subsequently getting into a feud with The New Day , who interrupted Wyatt during his return speech. The feud culminated at Battleground , where The Wyatt Family defeated The New Day. On July 19, as part of 2016 draft , Rowan was drafted to SmackDown brand along with Bray Wyatt, while Braun Strowman
7040-440: The finals by Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey . On the May 2 episode of NXT , Harper and Rowan won a triple threat elimination tag team match by last pinning Adrian Neville. On the May 8 episode of NXT (which was taped on May 2), Harper and Rowan defeated Adrian Neville and Bo Dallas (who was filling in for the injured Oliver Grey) to win the NXT Tag Team Championship , Rowan's first professional wrestling championship . On
7150-470: 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
7260-428: The first team to hold the championship on more than one occasion when they defeated American Alpha ( Chad Gable and Jason Jordan ) at TakeOver: The End . Although NXT had been established as WWE's developmental territory, over the years it grew to establish itself as WWE's third major brand. This would become official in September 2019 when NXT was moved to the USA Network , thus making the NXT Tag Team Championship
7370-610: 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
7480-460: 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
7590-528: The inaugural championship team was British Ambition ( Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey ). In September 2019, the company began promoting NXT as its " third brand " when the NXT television program was moved to the USA Network . Two years later, however, NXT reverted to its original function as WWE's developmental brand. In September 2022, the NXT UK Tag Team Championship was unified into
7700-526: 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
7810-492: 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
7920-480: 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
8030-496: 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
8140-519: The leadership of Uncle Howdy called The Wyatt Sicks . He would sport a rabbit mask, resembling Ramblin' Rabbit from Bray Wyatt's "Firefly Funhouse" . On the July 15th edition of Raw , Rowan was seen unmasked in a vignette, where he was interviewed by Howdy, mourning the losses of his original Wyatt Family teammates, Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper . On August 5th, Rowan would make his in-ring return alongside fellow Wyatt Sicks stablemates Dexter Lumis and Joe Gacy to face American Made ( Chad Gable and
8250-498: 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
8360-834: The memorial AEW Dynamite episode " Brodie Lee Celebration of Life " on December 30, where he protected Dark Order members from being attacked by Wardlow during a six-man tag team match. After the match, he embraced the Dark Order, cried, and held up a sign that read: "Goodbye for now, my brother. See you down the road." Redbeard returned to AEW on the March 4, 2022 episode of AEW Rampage and aligned himself with Death Triangle ( Pac and Penta Oscuro ). The trio would team against House of Black ( Malakai Black , Brody King , and Buddy Matthews ) at Revolution 's "Buy-In" pre-show event. The match would end with Redbeard getting pinned by Black. On August 25, 2023, Ruud (as Erick Rowan) made
8470-465: The mystery creature inside the cage to be a large spider. The next week on Raw , Rowan competed in his final match against Drew McIntyre , where mid-way through the bout, McIntyre crushed the cage with steel steps. On April 15, 2020, Rowan was released from his WWE contract along with several other superstars as a result of budget cuts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic , ending his 9-year tenure with
8580-421: The next few months, Rowan and Harper competed as a tag team and went on a winning streak over many teams, until Cody Rhodes and Goldust handed them their first loss on the October 11 episode of SmackDown . In early 2014, Rowan took part in The Wyatt Family's feud with The Shield , while also supporting Bray Wyatt in his feud against John Cena . While Cena and Wyatt's feud continued, Rowan and Harper also started
8690-512: The premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling 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
8800-527: The process. At Survivor Series, Rowan scored no eliminations and was himself eliminated by Harper, with the assistance of Seth Rollins ; however, Team Cena later won the match. Afterwards, Rowan started a feud with Big Show , the team member who had betrayed the rest of Team Cena at the event. At TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs , Rowan was defeated by Big Show in a stairs match . On the January 5, 2015 episode of Raw , Rowan, along with Dolph Ziggler and Ryback were ( kayfabe ) fired by The Authority for being
8910-717: 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
9020-627: The promotion, he began feuding with Big Brody Hoofer, with the pair exchanging wins across several events. In February 2011, Ruud signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was assigned to their developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) under the ring name "Erick Rowan". He made his FCW TV debut in August 2011 with a win over Kenneth Cameron , while being accompanied by Byron Saxton and James Bronson. To tie in with Saxton's feud with Titus O'Neil , Rowan and Bronson lost to O'Neil and Leakee in
9130-439: 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
9240-458: The right side of the center plate was gold with "Team" written in black; the other belt was the opposite. The side plates also reflected this coloring; the side plate on the black side was dominated by a black background behind the WWE logo while the side plate on the gold side had a dominant gold background behind the WWE logo. When first introduced, the side plates had the WWE scratch logo but in August 2014, all of WWE's pre-existing championships at
9350-404: The ring along with another members to eliminate Lesnar. On April 3, Rowan competed in his first ever WrestleMania singles match at WrestleMania 32 against The Rock , after the latter confronted The Wyatt Family. Rowan was defeated by The Rock in six seconds, breaking the record for the quickest WrestleMania match of all time; after the match, when The Wyatt Family attempted to attack The Rock,
9460-544: The ring name "Thoruf Marius", competing for various promotions throughout the Midwest until 2007. He was invited to go to Pro Wrestling Noah 's (NOAH) dojo in Japan to live, train, and wrestle. During this time, he competed in both tag team and singles matches . Following his tour in Japan, Ruud returned to the United States in 2008 and began competing for the Minnesota-based F1rst Wrestling promotion. Albeit, without much success. Upon joining
9570-631: The ring, sparking a brief The Wyatt Family reunion with Harper and Wyatt, before all three men brawled. At Fastlane , Rowan teaming up with Ziggler and Ryback in a six-man tag team match against Seth Rollins, Big Show and Kane, which they lost. Rowan participated in the second annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 31 , but was eliminated by Big Show. In May, Rowan reunited with former tag team partner Luke Harper after attacking Harper's opponent Fandango , turning heel once again. In late June, Rowan suffered
9680-440: 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
9790-426: 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,
9900-911: The third major tag team title for men in WWE, along with the WWE World Tag Team Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship . However, WWE revamped NXT in September 2021 and returned the brand to its original function as a developmental territory. In August 2022, WWE announced that the NXT UK brand would go on hiatus and would relaunch as NXT Europe at a later time. As such, NXT UK's championship's were unified into their respective NXT championship counterparts. On September 4, 2022, at Worlds Collide , Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson) defeated Gallus ( Mark Coffey and Wolfgang ), reigning NXT Tag Team Champions The Creed Brothers (Brutus Creed and Julius Creed), and NXT UK Tag Team Champions Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs in
10010-513: The time received a minor update, changing the scratch logo to WWE's current logo that was originally used for the WWE Network that launched earlier that year in February. On April 1, 2017, at WrestleMania Axxess , NXT General Manager William Regal announced that all of the NXT title belts would be redesigned. The new title belts were unveiled at TakeOver: Orlando that same night and given to
10120-405: The title for 2 days. However, due to tape delay , which are the air dates that WWE recognizes for the NXT Tag Team Championship's history, The Ascension's reign is regarded as lasting 343 days (still the longest) and that Moustache Mountain's reign was 22 days; as a result, MSK 's ( Nash Carter and Wes Lee ) second reign of 6 days (5 days according to WWE) is recognized as the shortest. Tyler Bate
10230-477: The titles. Two nights later on the August 21 episode of SmackDown Live , The New Day defeated The Bludgeon Brothers in a no disqualification match to win the championships, ending their reign at 135 days. The following day, it was announced that Rowan had suffered a torn right bicep and would have surgery later in the week. Rowan returned from injury at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event on January 27, 2019, interfering on behalf of Daniel Bryan to help him retain
10340-480: The tournament final to become the inaugural champions. In the first title defense, however, Neville and Bo Dallas defended the title against The Wyatt Family due to Grey being injured, where they lost; Dallas was not recognized as champion. On the June 20 taping of NXT (aired July 17), Neville and Corey Graves defeated The Wyatt Family for the title, making Neville the first two-time champion. On June 8, 2016, The Revival ( Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder ) became
10450-519: 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
10560-471: 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
10670-417: The upcoming main roster debut of The Wyatt Family. The vignettes showed The Wyatt Family's backwoods origins and Rowan wearing a sheep mask. On the July 8 episode of Raw , The Wyatt Family made their debut by assaulting Kane . Rowan made his WWE in-ring debut on the July 26 episode of SmackDown , where he teaming up with Harper to defeat Tons of Funk ( Brodus Clay and Tensai ) in a tag team match. Over
10780-426: The updated design features side plates with a removable center section that can be customized with the champion's logo; the default side plates feature the WWE logo. As a result, the championship was the first WWE tag team championship to feature customizable side plates. As of November 28, 2024, there have been 38 reigns between 29 teams composed of 60 individual champions, and three vacancies. The Undisputed Era as
10890-405: 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
11000-535: 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
11110-401: The winners of their respective matches. Both the center plate and side plates of the new NXT Tag Team Championship belts are the same shape as the previous design and are again on black leather straps. The differences are the design on the plates themselves. The center plate maintains the vertical NXT logo prominently in the center, but now in silver with the WWE logo affixed at the very center of
11220-420: 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
11330-425: 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
11440-582: Was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota , on November 28, 1981. He grew up in Montrose, Minnesota . He is of Norwegian descent, with his ancestors having emigrated to the U.S. from Nannestad . He also has German ancestry. He attended the University of Minnesota Morris , where he played football . Ruud began his professional wrestling career after training with Eddie Sharkey in 2003. He debuted under
11550-488: 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
11660-516: Was drafted to Raw . While Rowan kept wrestling with Wyatt, in October Rowan underwent surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and would be out of action for eight months. He made his return on the April 4, 2017 episode of SmackDown Live . On April 10, The Wyatt Family disbanded again when Wyatt was moved to the Raw brand as part of Superstar Shake-up . The short rivalry between Rowan and Luke Harper
11770-443: Was ended at Backlash on May 21, where Harper defeated Rowan. On the October 10 episode of SmackDown Live , Rowan returned to television in a vignette where he was once again aligned with Luke Harper. The duo were dubbed as The Bludgeon Brothers , where his ring name shortened to "Rowan". The team wrestled their return match on the November 21 episode of SmackDown Live , defeating The Hype Bros ( Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley ). At
11880-650: 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
11990-415: 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
12100-417: 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
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