Mid 20th Century
215-487: Kevin Scott Nash (born July 9, 1959) is an American retired professional wrestler and actor currently signed to WWE under a legends contract . He is also known for his tenures with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Nash first gained exposure in the professional wrestling industry by performing for WCW from 1990 to 1993 under multiple ring names. In 1993, Nash signed with
430-597: A disqualification victory (as the signature move of both men, the Jackknife Powerbomb, had been ruled an "illegal" move by WCW leadership due to its high potential for injury). This rivalry culminated in a tag team match at Bash at the Beach in July 1999 which pitted Nash and Sting against Savage and Sid. A stipulation was added that whoever got the pin in the match would become WCW World Heavyweight Champion. Nash
645-589: A draw due to interference from several wrestlers, including Shawn Michaels. Michaels was irate about his former bodyguard having beaten him to the WWF Championship and was sufficiently motivated to win the Royal Rumble match later that evening, earning himself a title shot at WrestleMania XI . At WrestleMania XI on April 2, Nash, accompanied to ringside by actress Pamela Anderson (who was supposed to valet for Michaels), defeated Michaels to retain
860-422: A single-elimination bracket. Thirty-two teams automatically qualify for the tournament by winning their conference tournament, played during the two weeks before the tournament, and thirty-six teams qualify by receiving an at-large bid based on their performance during the season. The Selection Committee determines the at-large bids, ranks all the teams 1 to 68, and places the teams in the bracket, all of which
1075-533: A wheelchair , Nash was helpless as he watched Shelley lose the match to Sabin. Nash remained out of action due to the injury, but returned prior to Bound for Glory , and announced The Kevin Nash Open Invitational X Division Gauntlet Battle Royal . Austin Starr won the match. Nash took an interest in Starr, which seemed to be at the behest of Shelley. Nash then worked with the X Division stars in
1290-446: 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
1505-468: A $ 250,000 challenge to Bret Hart for its May 24 program. However, Bret's brother, Owen , died in a wrestling stunt just as Bret was flying to Los Angeles ; this immediately canceled their match and the feud. Nash then entered a feud with the returning Randy Savage, who was later joined by a returning Sid Vicious at The Great American Bash in June when he powerbombed Nash during the match, thus giving Nash
1720-588: A No. 11 seed. Since 2012, the committee has released the No. 1 to 68 true seed list after announcing the bracket. Since 2017, the Selection Committee has released a list of the top 16 teams three weeks before Selection Sunday. This list does not guarantee any team a bid, as the Committee re-ranks all teams when starting the final selection process. The seed line of the four at-large teams competing in
1935-413: 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
2150-532: 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
2365-602: A catastrophic leg injury during the tournament. This tradition is credited to Everett Case , the coach of North Carolina State , who stood on his players' shoulders to accomplish the feat after the Wolfpack won the Southern Conference tournament in 1947. CBS, since 1987 and yearly to 2015, in the odd-numbered years since 2017, and TBS, since 2016, the even-numbered years, close out the tournament with " One Shining Moment ", performed by Luther Vandross . Just as
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#17327929934592580-519: 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
2795-585: 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
3010-455: 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 . NCAA Men%27s Division I Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament , branded as March Madness ,
3225-410: 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
3440-592: A five-year WWE Legends contract. On April 2, Nash, along with Sean Waltman , was on hand to celebrate the induction of Shawn Michaels into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2011 . Triple H inducted Michaels, and after Michaels gave his speech, Nash and Waltman joined the two on stage to celebrate. Nash, no longer billed as Diesel, returned at SummerSlam in August, attacking CM Punk after he became WWE Champion , which allowed Alberto Del Rio to cash in his Money in
3655-414: 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
3870-660: A geographical district. Multiple conferences were considered part of each district, such as the Missouri Valley and the Big Seven conferences in one district and the Southern and Southeastern conferences in another, which often led to top-ranked teams being left out of the tournament. The issue came to a head in 1950 , when the NCAA suggested that third-ranked Kentucky and fifth-ranked North Carolina State compete in
4085-521: A handicap match, after Hulk Hogan, who was scheduled to team with Jarrett and Joe, was forced to pull out due to back surgery. At the end of the match Jarrett abandoned Joe and left him to be pinned by Nash. At the end of the event it was revealed that Nash and Sting had been right about Hogan and Bischoff all along, as they aligned themselves with Jarrett, Abyss and Jeff Hardy. On October 13, 2010, Nash's contract with TNA expired and he announced his retirement from professional wrestling. His last TNA appearance
4300-621: A heart attack on April 4, 1968, aged 36, when Nash was eight years old. On December 27, 1994, Nash's mother, Wanda, died after a four-year struggle against breast cancer . He attended Aquinas High School and the University of Tennessee , where he majored in psychology and minored in educational philosophy . At the University of Tennessee, Nash was a center for the Tennessee Volunteers basketball team. He remained on
4515-405: 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
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#17327929934594730-799: 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
4945-442: A match between Hall, Nash, Sting and The Giant (who had recently rejoined the nWo after being kicked out two years prior), Hall turned on Nash by hitting him with his tag team title belt and leaving the ring. The Wolfpac, however, was not down for long as Lex Luger joined Nash's team. Sting would eventually become a member as well, after being recruited heavily by both sides towards the middle of 1998. After Sting won Giant's half of
5160-490: A match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at Bound for Glory on October 23. In the weeks preceding the event, Nash and Jarrett had several heated confrontations, on one occasion brawling with one another and with guest referee Tito Ortiz . On October 22, one day before Bound for Glory, Nash was hospitalized with chest pains . At Bound for Glory, a battle royal was held to determine
5375-440: 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
5590-640: A new gimmick could be developed. On October 27, he lost to Bill Kazmaier at Halloween Havoc . Nash wrestled as Oz throughout the remainder of 1991 and went on a lengthy losing streak, suffering defeats by Kazmaier, Rick Steiner , Dustin Rhodes , and Arachnaman . He later used the gimmick for New Japan Pro Wrestling as the Great Oz in May 1992. On January 21, 1992, at Clash of the Champions XVIII , he
5805-575: A one-on-one match on Impact! with the winner qualifying for the Three Ways to Glory match at No Surrender . On the September 11 episode of Impact , prior to No Surrender, he seemingly parted ways with Joe on good terms. One month later, Nash returned at Bound for Glory IV and in a swerve , struck Joe in the back with Sting's bat, helping Sting win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship , turning heel once again in
6020-594: A part of a loosely organised "creative team" which also included Dusty Rhodes and Kevin Sullivan. The following month at World War 3 , Nash entered the 60-man, three ring battle royal that was a staple of the pay-per-view, with the winner getting a shot at the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Starrcade the following month. Nash survived to the end after literally clearing his ring out and big booting Lex Luger, who had Scott Hall in
6235-426: A playoff game for a bid, but Kentucky refused, believing they should be given the bid as the higher-ranked team. In response, the NCAA doubled the field to 16 in 1951 , adding two additional districts and six spots for at-large teams. Conferences could still only have one team in the tournament, but multiple conferences from the same geographic district could now be included through at-large bids. This development helped
6450-467: A private interview to Alex Shelley one week later. The interview saw Nash claim to be the most profitable WWF World Heavyweight Champion of all time and describe the X Division as "basically filler". Nash went on to announce that he intended to destroy the X Division in order to reassert his position within TNA. He began his campaign at Sacrifice on May 14, powerbombing Puma and continued his campaign on
6665-459: A quadriceps tear in a tag match on the July 8 episode of Raw . On the July 15 episode of Raw , the nWo was officially disbanded by Vince McMahon as Eric Bischoff became Raw general manager. After a nine-month injury, Nash returned as a face on the April 7, 2003 episode of Raw , much to the delight of both Shawn Michaels and Triple H, who were feuding with each other when Nash returned. As part of
Kevin Nash - Misplaced Pages Continue
6880-447: A rematch from Bound for Glory, and Nash had a ringside seat. After the match went on a bit, Angle and Sting were out of the ring and when Angle pushed Sting onto Nash, Sting turned around and hit Nash in the face with a right hand shot, leading to Nash interfering on Angle's behalf, even though earlier he said he was not going to help Angle. Following the match, which Angle won, Nash offered a hand shake to Angle only to be " flipped off " by
7095-470: A returning Goldberg until Road Wild , where Hogan defeated Nash in a "retirement" match. On October 4, 1999, Nash returned to WCW along with Scott Hall, which was later revealed to be a new version of the nWo involving Nash, Hall, Bret Hart, and Jeff Jarrett called 'nWo 2000'. This would not last long either due to the injury of Hart, and Nash spent most of 2000 feuding with the likes of Terry Funk , Mike Awesome , Scott Steiner , and Booker T . Nash won
7310-488: A reunion of D-Generation-X and Nash was awarded the title of being an honorary member of the stable. Nash then helped DX take down Damien Sandow . Nash competed in the 2014 Royal Rumble match as the 14th entrant, eliminating Jack Swagger before being eliminated by Roman Reigns . He inducted his real-life close friend and former tag team partner, Scott Hall, into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2014 . Nash appeared on
7525-492: A scheduled Lethal Lockdown match at Lockdown on April 24 pitting Nash, Waltman, and Diamond Dallas Page against Jarrett, The Outlaw, and "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown . Nash, however, was removed from the card and replaced with B.G. James after contracting a staph infection , which left him sidelined for much of 2005. Nash returned to TNA on October 1 for the first episode of Impact! on Spike TV , attacking and powerbombing Jarrett. Nash went on to challenge Jarrett to
7740-401: A separate location a week later, establishing the format with two final rounds of the tournament (although the name "Final Four" would not be used in branding until the 1980s). The 1953 tournament expanded to include 22 teams and added a fifth round, with ten teams receiving a bye to the regional semifinals. The number of teams would fluctuate from 22 to 25 teams over the next two decades, but
7955-536: A spot in the Band, claiming that what happened in Destination X was just business and nothing personal. Young refused the offer and in the main event of the evening, teamed up with Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy to defeat the Band in a six-man tag team steel cage match. Nash gained a measure of revenge on Young by defeating him in a steel cage match at Lockdown . Later in the night, Nash replaced Syxx-Pac, who no-showed
8170-424: A team is not moved out of their preferred geographical region an inordinate number of times based on their placement in the previous two tournaments. To follow these rules and preferences, the committee may move a team off of their expected seed line. Thus, for example, the 40th overall ranked team, originally slated to be a No. 10 seed within a particular region, may instead be moved up to a No. 9 seed or moved down to
8385-503: 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
8600-586: 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
8815-577: A weekly segment known as the Paparazzi Championship Series (a play on the "Bowl Championship Series"). He also began continuing these skits along with Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal , in a segment called "Paparazzi Idol". Nash became a manager of sorts for Lethal, helping him adopt a gimmick where he impersonated "Macho Man" Randy Savage. At Sacrifice , Lethal and Dutt had an altercation. Nash broke it up, but Sonjay kicked him. Sonjay apologized, and Nash forgave him. Dutt then became
Kevin Nash - Misplaced Pages Continue
9030-496: A win against Road Dogg and Billy Gunn. On September 23, 2012, Nash made his debut for All Japan Pro Wrestling , teaming with Keiji Mutoh in a tag team match, where they defeated Seiya Sanada and Taiyō Kea with Nash pinning Sanada with the Jackknife Powerbomb for the win. Nash briefly signed with Global Force Wrestling as a "Legend" to help promote events and tours, making appearances at two GFW events on August 28 and 29, 2015. On August 10, 2018, Nash defeated Flex Armstrong for
9245-555: Is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the Division I level in the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Played mostly during March, the tournament consists of 68 teams and was first conducted in 1939 . Known for its upsets of favored teams, it has become one of the biggest annual sporting events in
9460-410: 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
9675-487: Is a two-time WWE Hall of Famer , as he was inducted individually into the class of 2015 and in 2020 as an nWo member alongside Hogan, Hall and Waltman. He headlined numerous pay-per-view events for WCW , WWF/WWE and TNA , including WCW's flagship event, Starrcade , where he ended Bill Goldberg 's undefeated streak after 173 wins in 1998 . Nash was born on July 9, 1959, to a devout Christian family in southwest Detroit, Michigan . Nash's father, Robert, died of
9890-605: Is considered a "home court". For the First Four and the Final Four, the home court prohibition does not apply because only one venue hosts these rounds. The First Four is regularly hosted by the Dayton Flyers ; as such, the team competed on their home court in 2015 . Because the Final Four is hosted at indoor football stadiums, it is unlikely that a team will play on their home court in the future. The last time this
10105-428: Is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain
10320-417: Is played over three weekends, with two rounds occurring each weekend. Before the first weekend, eight teams compete in the First Four to advance to the first round. Two games pair the lowest-ranked conference champions and two games pair the lowest-ranked at-large qualifiers. The first and second rounds are played during the first weekend, the regional semifinals and regional finals during the second weekend, and
10535-605: Is revealed publicly on the Sunday before the tournament, dubbed Selection Sunday by the media and fans. There is no reseeding during the tournament and matchups in each subsequent round are predetermined by the bracket. The tournament is divided into four regions, with each region having sixteen to eighteen teams. Regions are named after the U.S. geographic area of the city hosting each regional semifinal and regional final (the tournament's third and 4th round overall). Host cities for all regions vary from year to year. The tournament
10750-470: The COVID-19 pandemic ; in the subsequent season, the tournament was contested completely in the state of Indiana as a precaution. Thirty-seven different schools have won the tournament to date. UCLA has the most with 11 championships; their coach John Wooden has the most titles of any coach with 10. The University of Kentucky (UK) has eight championships, the University of Connecticut (UConn) and
10965-715: The Diamond Mine , a stable led by Diamond Dallas Page that also included the Diamond Studd and Scotty Flamingo . In the summer of 1992, after Studd and Flamingo left the stable (Studd leaving for the WWF and Flamingo striking out on his own), Page and Vegas began teaming together as the Vegas Connection . The tag team split in late 1992 after Page was fired by Bill Watts . Nash spent the first half of 1993 teaming with Big Sky . In June, he decided to depart for
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#173279299345911180-566: The Gießen 46ers ) when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament . With his basketball career over, Nash enlisted in the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 202nd Military Police Company in Giessen , West Germany . He served in a secure NATO facility for two years, during which time he was promoted to the rank of specialist . After the Army, he worked on an assembly line at Ford Motor Company and as
11395-876: The Insiders . They feuded with the Perfect Event ( Shawn Stasiak and Chuck Palumbo ) and won the WCW World Tag Team Championship at Mayhem on November 26, 2000. Shortly after, they were stripped of the title by Commissioner Mike Sanders in mid-December. Weeks later, they won the title back at Starrcade . In 2001 (WCW's final months), the Insiders continued their feud with the Natural Born Thrillers. Nash lost another "retirement" match to Scott Steiner at SuperBrawl Revenge , but it would not be long before WCW announced
11610-544: The Legends Championship , his first title in TNA. However, Nash lost the title only three days later to Mick Foley . Under a month later at Hard Justice , Nash defeated Foley to reclaim the Legends Championship. At Bound for Glory Nash lost the Legends Championship to Eric Young in a 3-way match, which also included Hernandez . On the following episode of Impact! , after Angle announced
11825-819: The National Invitation Tournament . Founded by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association one year before the NCAA tournament, the NIT was held entirely in New York City at Madison Square Garden. Because New York was the center of the press in the United States, the NIT often received more coverage than the NCAA tournament in early years. Additionally, good teams were often excluded from the NCAA tournament because each conference could only have one bid and conference champions were even excluded because of
12040-624: 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
12255-719: The Steiner Brothers , but were defeated in two occasions. They were squashed on television in 52 seconds by the Steiners in a match that aired on Worldwide on February 2, 1991. Following this loss, their momentum dissipated as they lost to the Southern Boys and Ricky Morton and Tommy Rich , and they disbanded at the end of the month. Nash was then rebranded as the Master Blaster in February 1991, who
12470-468: The Torture Rack , over the top rope, and earned his shot at the title. At Starrcade , Nash won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Goldberg (who had an officially given 173–0 win–loss record before the match) after Hall shocked Goldberg with a stun gun . In doing so, Nash broke Goldberg's long running undefeated streak. On January 4, 1999, Nash and Goldberg were set to meet in a rematch, but
12685-776: 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
12900-424: The University of North Carolina have six championships, Duke University and Indiana University have five championships, the University of Kansas (KU) has four championships, and Villanova University has three championships. Seven programs are tied with two national championships, and 23 teams have won the national championship once. All tournament games are broadcast by CBS , TBS , TNT , and truTV under
13115-509: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and had his final WCW match on June 3, teaming with Big Sky in a losing effort against The Cole Twins , this match would air on Worldwide after his WWF debut. In June 1993, Nash left WCW, signing a contract with the WWF at the request of Shawn Michaels . He was given the stage name of "Big Daddy Cool Diesel" ("Diesel" or "Big Daddy Cool" for short), with an alpha-male gimmick. For
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#173279299345913330-414: The promotion in a bad financial situation, he simply could not afford it. Nash signed his contract shortly thereafter. Diesel lost to The Undertaker at WrestleMania XII on March 31, after which he finally turned heel and went on to feud with Shawn Michaels once again after he turned on him at a Madison Square Garden live event. In his last televised WWF appearance until 2002, Diesel challenged Michaels for
13545-614: The " Feast or Fired " match and won the briefcase containing a shot at the TNA World Tag Team Championship . On the January 4, 2010, special live, three-hour Monday night edition of Impact! Hogan made his debut in TNA, and Scott Hall and Sean Waltman made their return to the company to greet him. Nash, Hall and Waltman quickly reformed their alliance, but Hogan kept himself out of the group, claiming that times have changed. At Genesis in their first match back together Nash and Syxx-Pac, who replaced Scott Hall in
13760-460: The 1900 children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz . Oz, managed by The Great Wizard , was pushed strongly for about a month, he squashed several wrestlers before losing to Ron Simmons at The Great American Bash on July 14. In reality, all plans for Oz were immediately scrapped when Nash refused to sign a $ 300/night guarantee as WCW was cutting costs. A decision was made to retain Nash until
13975-584: 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
14190-400: 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
14405-460: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
14620-411: 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
14835-812: The 2004 Punisher film. His last match in WWE was at SummerSlam in an Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship against Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Goldberg, Chris Jericho, and Randy Orton . He was the first to be eliminated after Jericho pinned him following Sweet Chin Music from Michaels. Before leaving, however, he executed a Jackknife Powerbomb on Jericho and Orton. Nash then stepped away from in-ring action and underwent neck surgery. Nash debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) alongside
15050-519: The 2021 women's tournament about the differing facility quality and branding, both the men's and women's tournaments were branded as "NCAA March Madness" starting in 2022 with variations of the same tournament-wide logo used by the men's tournament. Additionally, the Final Four for the men's tournament was branded as the "Men's Final Four" beginning in 2022, reflecting the "Women's Final Four" branding in use for that tournament since 1987 . The tournament consists of 68 teams competing in seven rounds of
15265-457: The 8-district system before 1950. Teams often competed in both tournaments during the first decade, with City College of New York winning both the NIT and NCAA tournament in 1950. Soon after, the NCAA banned teams from participating in both tournaments. Two major changes over the course of the early 1970s led to the NCAA becoming the preeminent post-season tournament for college basketball. First,
15480-653: 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
15695-534: The August 11 episode of Raw to reunite the nWo with Hulk Hogan and Scott Hall as part of Hogan's birthday celebration. Nash was suspended by WWE on December 24, 2014, following his arrest, but was quickly reinstated when the charges were dropped. On the January 19, 2015 episode of Raw , Nash appeared with X-Pac and Scott Hall to reunite the nWo, and along with The Acolytes Protection Agency and The New Age Outlaws , they beat down The Ascension , who had been insulting legends from past weeks. On March 23, 2015, it
15910-747: The August 26 episode of Impact! , Nash defeated Jarrett in a singles match, after an interference from Sting. The following week Nash helped Sting defeat Jarrett. After the match Samoa Joe aligned himself with Jarrett and Hogan and drove Nash and Sting away. At No Surrender Jarrett and Joe defeated Nash and Sting in a tag team match, after Jarrett hit Sting with a baseball bat. On the September 16 episode of Reaction , Nash and Sting were joined by D'Angelo Dinero , who claimed to have gotten inside information from Bischoff's secretary Miss Tessmacher , that would suggest that Nash and Sting were right about Hogan and Bischoff being up to something. At Bound for Glory Nash, Sting and Dinero faced Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe in
16125-456: The Bank briefcase and win the title, thus turning heel. The following night on Raw , Nash claimed Triple H, on-screen chief operating officer of WWE, had instructed him by text to attack the winner. Punk verbally berated Nash on the microphone, so Nash attacked him the next week. He also distracted Punk in a match, making him miss out on a championship match. Nash was signed to an on-screen contract
16340-595: The Big Time Wrestling Heavyweight Championship. This would become his last match, confirming his retirement on January 5, 2020, to heal his body. On January 30, 2011, at the Royal Rumble , Nash, billed as Diesel for the first time since 1996 , returned to the promotion, taking part in the Royal Rumble Match. He entered the match at number 32, but was eliminated by Wade Barrett . It was announced that he had signed
16555-546: The Blasters upended the Southern Boys and began to move up the WCW tag team ratings. Their winning streak ended on November 22, when Tom Zenk and Brian Pillman handed them their first defeat with Pillman pinning Blade. They rebounded to go on another undefeated streak by defeating the Southern Boys as well as Alan Iron Eagle and Tim Horner, and earning a NWA United States Tag Team Championship title shot against then champions
16770-576: The Final Four has exclusively been played in large indoor football stadiums. Beginning in 2001 , the field was expanded from 64 to 65 teams, adding to the tournament what was informally known as the "play-in game" . This was in response to the creation of the Mountain West Conference during 1999. Originally, the winner of the Mountain West's tournament did not receive an automatic bid, as doing so would have eliminated one of
16985-399: The First Four games pit 16 seeds against each other. The two other games, however, pit the last at-large bids against each other. The seeding for the at-large teams will be determined by the selection committee and fluctuates based on the true seed ranking of the teams. Explaining the reasoning for this format, selection committee chairman Dan Guerrero said, "We felt if we were going to expand
17200-429: The First Four has varied each year, depending on the overall ranking of the at-large teams in the field. In the men's tournament, all sites are nominally neutral; teams are prohibited from playing tournament games on their home courts during the first, second, and regional rounds. Under NCAA rules, any court on which a team hosts more than three regular-season games (not including preseason or conference tournament games)
17415-606: The First Round and the Second Round and the First Four became the official name of the opening round. In 2016 , the NCAA introduced a new "NCAA March Madness" logo for tournament-wide branding, including fully-branded courts at each of the tournament venues. Previously, the NCAA had used the existing court or a generic NCAA court. Beginning in 2017 , the #1 overall seed picks the sites for their first and second round games and their potential regional games. Additionally,
17630-686: The Guru with Nash humming mantras backstage. He then began managing The Motor City Machine Guns , but this was short-lived before he next appeared in the role of Dr. Nash, psychiatrist and adviser to Kurt and Karen Angle . Nash then engaged in a brief program with TNA Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle, which eventually culminated in Nash aiding Angle. Nash warned the Angles about how dangerous Sting can be based on Nash's experience feuding with Sting in WCW. At Bound for Glory , Nash interfered on Angle's behalf during his World Title defense against Sting. However, it
17845-504: The Intercontinental Championship back to Ramon the following night at SummerSlam . The alliance between Diesel and Michaels dissolved after Survivor Series , when Michaels accidentally performed a superkick on Diesel. Diesel then chased Michaels, and despite failing to catch him, the reaction from the crowd turned him babyface . However, Nash was no longer a tag team champion, as Michaels' actions resulted in
18060-399: The June 15 episode of Impact! , where Nash wrestled a comedy match against a midget Shelley dubbed a "Sabin-type wrestler". Nash defeated Sabin at Slammiversary in his second televised match in almost a year, albeit with the assistance of Shelley. Around this time, Nash and Shelley formed a stable known as Paparazzi Productions, with Johnny Devine as a cameraman. Nash then decided to go for
18275-503: The May 19 episode of Impact! by attacking Chris Sabin shortly after he had defeated Petey Williams to win the TNA 2006 World X Cup Tournament for Team USA . Nash continued to attack X Division wrestlers over subsequent weeks, leading to Sabin challenging him to a match at Slammiversary . Nash's attacks were also coupled with pre-taped segments with Shelley (some appearing only on the internet website YouTube ) and his "X Division debut" on
18490-405: The NCAA added a rule in 1971 that banned teams who declined an invitation to the NCAA tournament from participating in other post-season tournaments. This was in response to eighth-ranked Marquette declining its invitation in 1970 and instead participating in and winning the NIT after coach Al McGuire complained about their regional placement. Since then, the NCAA tournament has clearly been
18705-474: The NCAA compete with the National Invitation Tournament for prestige. In the eight team format, the tournament was split into the East and West Regions, with champions meeting in the national championship game. The first two rounds for each region were conducted at the same site and the national championship and, from 1946 , consolation game occurred a week later. Some years, the site of the national championship
18920-534: The NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Nash received a title shot against Jarrett on February 13, 2005, at Against All Odds , but lost following interference from the debuting Outlaw . Following the defeat, Nash joined forces with Sean Waltman and began feuding with the newly formed Planet Jarrett . At Destination X on March 13, Nash lost to The Outlaw in a First Blood match following interference from Jarrett, who struck Nash with his title belt. The rivalry between Planet Jarrett and Nash and his allies culminated in
19135-408: 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
19350-488: 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
19565-469: The No. 5 true seed will not be paired with the No. 1 true seed. The committee ensures competitive balance among the top four seeds in each region by adding the true seed values up and comparing the values among the regions. If there is significant deviation, some teams will be moved among the regions to balance the true seed distribution. If a conference has two to four teams in the top four seeds, they will be placed in different regions. Otherwise, teams from
19780-473: The Olympics awards gold, silver, and bronze medals for first, second, and third place, respectively, the NCAA awards the national champions a gold-plated wooden NCAA national championship trophy. The loser of the championship game receives a silver-plated national runner-up trophy for second place. Since 2006, all four Final Four teams receive a bronze plated NCAA regional championship trophy; prior to 2006, only
19995-872: The Phoenix regional in 2004, the Chicago regional in 2005, and the Minneapolis regional in 2006, but reverted to the traditional geographic designations beginning in 2007 . For the 2011 tournament, the South Region was the Southeast Region and the Midwest Region the Southwest Region; both returned to their previous names in 2012. The 1996 Final Four was the last to take place in a venue built specifically for basketball. Since then,
20210-560: The Royal Rumble match, eliminating seven men in under 18 minutes of in-ring time. Diesel won the Intercontinental Championship from Razor Ramon , following interference from Michaels on the April 30, 1994 episode (taped April 13, 1994) of Superstars . The duo of Diesel and Michaels defeated The Headshrinkers to win the WWF Tag Team Championship on August 28, making Nash a double champion. However, Diesel lost
20425-805: The TNA World Tag Team Championship. Nash later named Young one third of the champions under the Freebird Rule . At the June 14 tapings of the June 17 episode of Impact! , The Band was stripped of the Tag Team Championship, due to Scott Hall's legal problems. The following day it was reported that Hall had been released from his contract with TNA. On the June 24 episode of Impact! , Nash and Young decided to part ways, as Nash intended to go after Hogan, whom he blamed for what had happened to Hall and Waltman, and did not want Young to get into trouble for it. After Nash
20640-460: The US. The 68-team format was adopted in 2011 ; it had remained largely unchanged since 1985 when it expanded to 64 teams. Before then, the tournament sized varied from as little as 8 to as many as 53. The field was restricted to conference champions until at-large bids were extended in 1975 and teams were not fully seeded until 1979 . In 2020 , the tournament was cancelled for the first time due to
20855-627: The WCW World Heavyweight Championship again from Booker T on the August 28, 2000 episode of Monday Nitro in Las Cruces, New Mexico . He eventually lost it to Booker T later on at Fall Brawl . He even had a stint as WCW Commissioner , and he served as a coach/mentor to the Natural Born Thrillers , who would eventually turn on Nash. Nash aligned himself with Diamond Dallas Page, reuniting the Vegas Connection, but renamed
21070-415: The WWF Championship (which he had won from Hart at WrestleMania XII) at In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies on April 28. He wrestled Michaels for the title once again in a steel cage match at a house show on May 19, but was again defeated. After the match, Diesel, Michaels, Razor Ramon and Hunter Hearst Helmsley , a group of off-screen friends known collectively as " The Kliq ", hugged one another in
21285-579: The WWF Championship by defeating King Mabel , who had won the King of the Ring tournament. On September 24 at In Your House 3 in Saginaw, Michigan , Diesel and Michaels challenged the reigning WWF Tag Team Champions Owen Hart and Yokozuna . The match had a winner-take-all stipulation, as in addition to the tag belts, Diesel's WWF Championship and Michaels' recently won Intercontinental Championship were also on
21500-468: The WWF Championship from Hart in a steel cage match , losing after The Undertaker attacked him in retaliation for his actions at the Royal Rumble. Shortly before WrestleMania XII , Nash's contract status was in a state of flux. At the time, WCW was offering large amounts of money to the WWF's talent by Eric Bischoff , WCW Executive Vice President, to jump ship. In fact, Bischoff had succeeded in convincing several high-profile WWF stars to sign with WCW over
21715-739: The WWF and returned to WCW in 1996, where he performed under his real name, partnering with Hall as the Outsiders and founding the New World Order (nWo) with Hulk Hogan . As the nWo storyline became one of the most prominent of the Monday Night War , Nash maintained his status as a top star, winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship five times and the WCW World Tag Team Championship nine times. After WCW went out of business, Nash returned to
21930-591: The WWF in 2002, where he briefly reformed the nWo and feuded with Triple H over the World Heavyweight Championship . He then performed in TNA for seven years, and he held their Legends and Tag Team championships once each. In 2011, Nash returned to WWE under a legends contract and he continues to make sporadic appearances for the promotion. During his in-ring career, Nash won 20 major championships , including six world championships and twelve world tag team championships . Furthermore, he
22145-521: The World Elite, while also hinting at the return of the nWo once Hulk Hogan arrived in TNA, as when a paranoid Mick Foley came to him for information on who Hogan would be coming with, he facetiously suggested names such as Syxx-Pac , Scott Steiner , Buff Bagwell , and Scott Hall. Further suspicion was aroused to Hall's return when Nash said that he was getting "the band" back together, hinting at an nWo return. At Final Resolution Nash took part in
22360-643: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) under the name Diesel (nicknamed "Big Daddy Cool" and "Big Sexy"). While performing as Diesel, he achieved status as a top star in the company, winning the WWF World , Intercontinental and Tag Team Championships (the WWF Triple Crown ). His 358-day reign as WWF Champion is the longest of the 1990s. While in the WWF, Nash was part of The Kliq , an influential backstage group that included Shawn Michaels , Triple H , Scott Hall and Sean Waltman . Nash left
22575-399: The X Division championship. He got penciled into a Number One Contendership match for the title against Sabin at Hard Justice . He claimed that he had developed an 840° somersault splash that he would unveil in the match. However, over the weekend, he suffered a mysterious neck injury, supposedly while practicing it with Tito Ortiz , and named Alex Shelley as his replacement in the match. From
22790-452: The announcer's table with a Jackknife Powerbomb. The next month, they fought again in a Hell in a Cell match at Bad Blood with Mick Foley as the special guest referee, but Nash lost the match. In August 2003, Nash feuded with Chris Jericho and was forced to cut his hair after losing a hair vs. hair match against Jericho on the August 18 episode of Raw . This was made to cover Nash having to cut his hair for his role as The Russian for
23005-401: 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
23220-418: 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
23435-530: The at-large bids. As an alternative to eliminating an at-large bid, the NCAA expanded the tournament to 65 teams . The #64 and #65 seeds were seeded in a regional bracket as 16 seeds, and then played the opening round game on the Tuesday preceding the first weekend of the tournament. This game was always played at the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio. Starting in 2004 , the selection committee revealed
23650-561: 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
23865-486: The bracket, the Committee ranks the whole field from 1 to 68; these are referred to as the true seed . The committee then divides the teams amongst the four regions, giving each a seed between No. 1 and No. 16. The same four seeds in all the regions are referred to as the seed line (i.e. the No. 6 seed line). Eight teams are doubled up and compete in the First Four . Two of the paired teams compete for No. 16 seeds, and
24080-412: 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
24295-424: 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
24510-418: 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
24725-436: The championship was moved to Monday evening in 1973 , where they have remained since. Before the championship had been played on Saturday and the semifinals two days before. The third-place games were eliminated during this era, with the last regional third-place games played in 1975 and the last national third-place game played in 1981 . In 1985 , the tournament expanded to 64 teams, eliminating all byes and play-ins. For
24940-423: 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
25155-461: 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
25370-502: The company, Nash also returned alongside his friend on June 10, 1996, after Hall interrupted Eric Bischoff. The duo were known as The Outsiders, and the storyline originally pushed them as "invaders" from the WWF (which WCW eventually had to scale back due to legal concerns from the WWF). At Bash at the Beach , Hall and Nash fought the team of Lex Luger , Sting , and Randy Savage and promised to add one more man to their entourage. After Luger
25585-468: 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
25800-540: 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
26015-481: The death of The Main Event Mafia and turned face , Nash also became a face as he began feuding with Eric Young and the World Elite. However, the following month at Turning Point Nash helped World Elite members Doug Williams and Brutus Magnus retain their TNA World Tag Team Championship. On the following episode of Impact! Nash congratulated Young on outsmarting him at Bound for Glory and aligned himself with
26230-405: 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
26445-415: The event, and teamed up with Hall in a St. Louis Street Fight, where they were defeated by Team 3D . On the May 3 episode of Impact! , Eric Young turned on Team 3D and joined The Band. On May 4, at the tapings of the May 13 episode of Impact! , after TNA World Tag Team Champion Matt Morgan had been attacked by Samoa Joe, Nash cashed in his "Feast or Fired" contract, teaming with Hall, and pinned him to win
26660-603: 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
26875-472: The field it would create better drama for the tournament if the First Four was much more exciting. They could all be on the 10 line or the 12 line or the 11 line." As part of this expansion, the round of 64 was renamed the Second Round and the round of 32 was renamed the Third Round, with the First Four being officially the First Round. In 2016 , the rounds of 64 and 32 returned to their previous names of
27090-485: The first edition not to be held, and decided against releasing the brackets that the Selection Committee had been working on. In 2021 , the tournament was held entirely in the state of Indiana to reduce travel. This was to date the only time the tournament was conducted in one state. As a COVID-19 precaution, all participating teams were required to stay in NCAA-provided accommodations until they lost. The schedule
27305-470: 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
27520-602: The first time, all teams had to win six games to win the tournament. This expansion led to increased media coverage and popularity in American culture. Until 2001 , the First and Second Rounds occurred at two sites in each region. In 1985, the Mideast Region was renamed the Southeast Region. In 1997 , the Southeast Region became the South Region. From 2004 to 2006 , the regions were named after their host cities, e.g.
27735-407: The first to sign with the company and was offered a contract that paid him "above Sting money" (at the time, Sting was one of the highest paid wrestlers in the company and although Ric Flair , Hulk Hogan, and Randy Savage had been making more, Sting's contract was used as a measuring stick). Hall also informed Nash that he had been given " most favored nation " status, which meant that if someone new
27950-752: The floor manager of a strip club in Atlanta, Georgia . He then decided to try professional wrestling. Nash debuted in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as the orange- mohawked "Steel", one half of the tag team known as the Master Blasters . He was initially partnered with Master Blaster Iron, with whom he made his debut at the Clash of the Champions XII on September 5, 1990, defeating Brad Armstrong and Tim Horner . At
28165-590: The following Worldwide taping on September 7, the Masters Blasters began a feud with Tim Horner and Mike Rotunda . They beat Horner and Rotunda on several house shows . On September 22, Nash's partner Master Blaster Iron was replaced by " Blade ". The reconstituted Master Blasters continued their undefeated streak in October. Meanwhile, Steel had his first singles match on September 28 by defeating Tom Zenk . At Halloween Havoc on October 27, 1990,
28380-610: 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
28595-460: 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
28810-457: The guest Match Commissioner for the night, a title given to him at the request of Dusty Rhodes. After announcing this to the crowd, Nash was interrupted by Heath Slater to whom he promptly delivered his finisher, effectively turning face. Nash later again appear on the January 20 tapings of NXT to reunite with members of The Kliq , allowing him to effectively settle all issues with Triple H , embracing him once again. The reunion also turned into
29025-400: The highest ranked teams normally get the closest sites. The possible pods by seeding are: * Vacated title not included A total of 333 teams have appeared in the NCAA tournament since 1939. Because the NCAA did not split into divisions until 1957 , some schools that have appeared in the tournament are no longer in Division I . Among Division I schools, 46 have never made
29240-526: 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
29455-492: 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
29670-480: 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
29885-496: 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
30100-437: The line. When Hart did not show up at the event, he was replaced by Davey Boy Smith . In the course of the match, Hart arrived at ringside, entered the ring and was pinned by Diesel for the win and the title, making him and Michaels holders of all three major WWF championships. The reign did not last long, however, as Hart and Yokozuna had the titles returned to them the next night on Raw due to Hart not being an official part of
30315-500: The main event of the evening, helping Chris Jericho retain his Undisputed WWF Championship against Austin. At WrestleMania X8 , Nash continually interfered in the match between Hall and Austin to the point where he was forced to return backstage. Later that night, he and Hall turned on Hogan after he had offered congratulations to The Rock for defeating him. In March, Nash suffered a biceps injury that put him out of action for several months and almost immediately upon returning, suffered
30530-465: The major one, with conference champions and the majority of the top-ranked teams participating. Second, the NCAA allowed multiple teams per conference starting in 1975 . This was in response to several highly ranked teams being denied bids during the early 1970s. These included South Carolina in 1970, which was undefeated in conference play but lost in the ACC tournament; second-ranked USC in 1971 , which
30745-456: The match after Triple H hit him with a sledgehammer as he was attempting a Stinger splash. Professional wrestling 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling ) is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling
30960-452: The match did not happen because of Goldberg being arrested for stalking Miss Elizabeth . That night also marked the return of Hulk Hogan after his "retirement" two months prior. With Goldberg unable to wrestle, Nash challenged Hogan instead. Hogan simply poked Nash in the chest , who proceeded to fall down and willingly allow Hogan to pin him for the title. The gesture marked the reunion of the feuding nWo factions into one. The return, however,
31175-500: The match when he was pinned. Diesel's WWF Championship reign continued until November 19, when he was defeated by Bret Hart at Survivor Series . Following the loss, Diesel attacked Hart and began a tweener turn. At In Your House 5 in December 1995, Diesel defeated Owen Hart , who had injured Diesel's ally Shawn Michaels in a match the prior month. In January 1996, Diesel competed in the Royal Rumble , entering at number 22. Diesel
31390-467: The match, Nash interfered on Savage's behalf and jackknifed Hogan to the mat, signaling the breakup of the nWo into two separate factions (Nash's interference was not enough to prevent Hogan from regaining his championship, thanks to Bret Hart's interference shortly thereafter). Nash became the leader of nWo Wolfpac , alongside Savage, Curt Hennig , and Konnan . Hennig, however, shortly thereafter defected over to Hogan's nWo Hollywood faction. Then, during
31605-425: The match, he attacked Triple H with a Jackknife Powerbomb and attacked him again the following night with his sledgehammer, preventing him from receiving medical attention and taking him off television. The following Monday, on October 31, Laurinaitis again signed Nash to a new contract. He continued to appear on Raw SuperShow , attacking Santino Marella with a Jackknife Powerbomb and cutting promos about how Triple H
31820-469: The match, were defeated by Beer Money, Inc. On the February 4 episode of Impact! , Hall and Syxx-Pac turned on Nash. At Destination X Nash and Young faced Hall and Syxx-Pac in a tag team match, where The Band 's TNA futures were on the line. Nash turned on Young and helped the Band pick up the victory, which finally gave them contracts with the company. On the March 29 episode of Impact! , Nash offered Young
32035-498: 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
32250-455: The nWo in order to destroy the WWF – of which Ric Flair was now a co-owner, which McMahon could not tolerate. Billed as the original nWo, Nash, Hall, and Hogan returned to the WWF at No Way Out on February 17, 2002. In the course of the evening, the nWo delivered an interview in which they claimed to have reformed, gave a six pack of beer to Stone Cold Steve Austin (which he refused), and traded insults with The Rock . They interfered in
32465-496: The nWo, and became a sort of "second in command" alongside Hogan. Nash, Hall, and Sean Waltman distinguished themselves from the rest of the nWo, calling themselves the "Wolfpac" in 1997. After a while, however, the nWo began to fight within its ranks, with Hogan and Nash battling for control. The situation came to a head on April 20, 1998, during a match between Hogan and recent nWo inductee (and rival) Randy Savage for Savage's recently won WCW World Heavyweight Championship . During
32680-497: The national semifinals and championship game during the third weekend. Regional rounds are branded as the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight and the third weekend is branded as the Final Four, all named after the number of teams remaining at the beginning of the round. All games, including the First Four, are scheduled so that teams will have one rest day between each game. This format has been in use since 2011, with minor changes to
32895-615: The national semifinals were rotated on a yearly basis instead of the two eastern and two western regions always playing. Seeding also began during this era, adding drama and ensuring better teams had better paths to the Final Four. In 1978 , teams were seeded in two separate pools based on their qualification method. Each region had four teams which automatically qualified ranked Q1–Q4 and four teams which received an at-large bid ranked L1–L4. In 1979 , all teams in each region were seeded 1 through 10, without regards for their qualification method. The national semifinals were moved to Saturday and
33110-417: The new champ. An enraged Nash demanded a match with Angle, but TNA Management 's public face, Jim Cornette , instead booked Nash into a tag team match as Angle's partner against Sting and a partner of his choosing, with the stipulation being that the person gaining the pinfall or submission would be crowned the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion. After a red herring that Scott Hall was the mystery partner, it
33325-489: The next week by John Laurinaitis and demanded a match against Punk. After Triple H booked himself in the match against Punk instead, Nash attacked them both at a contract signing and was fired on screen. At Night of Champions , Nash interfered in their match, alongside The Miz and R-Truth . Triple H then attacked Nash with a sledgehammer before winning the match. Nash returned at the following pay-per-view, Vengeance to help The Miz and R-Truth defeat Punk and Triple H. After
33540-422: The number of rounds remained the same. The double region naming was kept until 1956 , when the regions were named the East, Midwest, West, and Far West. In 1957 , the regions were named East, Mideast, Midwest, and West, which remained until 1985. Regions were paired in the national semifinals based on their geographic locations, with the two eastern regions meeting in one semifinal and two western regions meeting in
33755-432: The number one contender; Rhino won and then defeated Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Nash was later discharged from the hospital, having suffered a mild cardiac episode. He made a partial return to the ring in December 2005, wrestling several matches on a tour of South Africa . Nash returned to TNA once more on the April 27, 2006 episode of Impact! , announcing in a pre-taped segment that he would give
33970-480: The other semifinal. Beginning in 1946 , a national third-place game was held before the championship game. Regional third-place games were played in the West from 1939 and the East from 1941 . Despite expansion in 1951 , there were still only two regions, each with a third-place game. The 1952 tournament had four regions each with a third-place game. This era of the tournament was characterized by competition with
34185-472: The other two paired teams are the last at-large teams awarded bids to the tournament and compete for a seed line in the No. 10 to No. 14 range, which varies year to year based on the true seeds of the teams overall. The top four overall seeds are placed as No. 1 seeds in each region. The regions are paired so that if all the No. 1 seeds reached the Final Four true seed No. 1 would play No. 4 and No. 2 would play No. 3. The No. 2 teams are preferably placed so that
34400-448: The outcomes of the most games. In 2023, Sports Illustrated reported that an estimated 60 to 100 million brackets are filled out each year. The first tournament was held in 1939 and was won by Oregon . It was the idea of Ohio State coach Harold Olsen . The National Association of Basketball Coaches operated the first tournament for the NCAA. From 1939 to 1950, the NCAA tournament consisted of eight teams, with each selected from
34615-441: The overall rankings among the #1 seeds. Based on these rankings, the regions were paired so that the #1 overall seed would play the #4 overall seed in a national semifinal if both teams made the Final Four. This was to prevent the top two teams from meeting before the finals, as was largely considered the case in 1996 when Kentucky played Massachusetts in the Final Four. Previously, regional pairings rotated yearly. In 2010 , there
34830-464: The previous two years, including five-time former WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and his on-again, off-again friend and two-time former WWF Champion Randy Savage , and was in the process at the time of talking to Nash's friend Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall about a contract as Hall's too was set to expire. Nash explained on the WWE Classics on Demand exclusive series Legends of Wrestling that Hall had been
35045-438: The process. On October 23, he formally joined Sting, Booker T, Scott Steiner, and Kurt Angle to create a villainous stable called The Main Event Mafia . He explained that he never forgave Joe for his scathing comments directed at his best friend Scott Hall's no-show almost a year prior, and befriending him was all part of a long-term plan to screw him out of the title. He then went on to defeat Joe at Turning Point . Nash, however,
35260-454: The program name NCAA March Madness . With a contract through 2032, Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery pay $ 891 million annually for the broadcast rights. The NCAA distributes revenue to participating teams based on how far they advance, which provides significant funding for college athletics. The tournament has become part of American popular culture through bracket contests that award money and other prizes for correctly predicting
35475-717: 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
35690-439: 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
35905-671: The returning Scott Hall on November 7, 2004, at the inaugural monthly TNA pay-per-view , Victory Road , with the duo helping NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett retain his title in a ladder match with Jeff Hardy . In subsequent weeks, the trio identified themselves as the Kings of Wrestling and began feuding with Hardy and A.J. Styles . At Turning Point on December 5, the Kings of Wrestling were defeated by Hardy, Styles, and Randy Savage. Hall left TNA in early 2005, and Nash and Jarrett separated after Nash made clear his desire to win
36120-464: The ring and wished each other farewell. This incident, later referred to as the " Curtain Call " or "MSG Incident", was a serious breach of character, as it showed heels and babyfaces consorting with one another. Shortly thereafter, with his obligations to the WWF now completely fulfilled, Nash left for WCW. After two weeks of Scott Hall returning on WCW programming and taunting announcers, wrestlers, and
36335-434: The role, he grew long hair, taking on the appearance and demeanor of a cocky thug from Detroit , sporting black sunglasses and leather garments. The name of Diesel, suggested by Shane McMahon , was a play on the fact that Nash was from Detroit, known famously as the "Motor City". His initial entrance music was a series of truck engine and horn noises. Diesel started out as the bodyguard /best friend of Shawn Michaels, with
36550-442: The sale of the company to the World Wrestling Federation. As he had a guaranteed contract with AOL Time Warner , Nash elected to wait out the remainder of his contract, which expired on December 31, 2001. Following the expiration of his AOL Time Warner contract, Nash, along with Scott Hall and Hulk Hogan, were rehired by the WWF. Their rehiring was announced several weeks before their debut, with Vince McMahon claiming to have hired
36765-415: The same conference are placed to avoid a rematch before the regional finals if they have played three or more times in the season, the regional semifinals if they have played twice, or the second round if they have played once. Additionally, the committee is advised to avoid rematches from the regular season and the previous years' tournament in the First Four. Finally, the committee will attempt to ensure that
36980-440: The schedule in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The Selection Committee, which includes conference commissioners and university athletic directors appointed by the NCAA, determines the bracket during the week before the tournament. Since the results of several conference tournaments occurring during the same week can significantly impact the bracket, the Committee often makes several brackets for different results. To make
37195-404: The selection committee began releasing the top 16 seeds three weeks before Selection Sunday as a bracket preview. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the NCAA cancelled the 2020 tournament. Initially, the NCAA discussed holding a shortened version with only 16 teams in the Final Four host city of Atlanta. Once the vast scale of the pandemic was understood, the NCAA cancelled the tournament, making it
37410-440: 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
37625-429: The storyline, Nash was given a choice to remain friends with either Michaels or Triple H. After Nash would not make the decision, Triple H made the decision for him and turned on him with a low blow . This led to Nash and Triple H feuding with one another. Nash teamed up with Michaels and Booker T against Triple H, Ric Flair and Chris Jericho in a six-man tag team match at Backlash which ended with Triple H picking up
37840-544: The tag team title at the Great American Bash that June, Nash became Sting's partner. They defended the championship until July 20, when they were defeated by Hall and The Giant. Nash then set his sights on his former partner, and the rivalry came to a head at Halloween Havoc on October 25. During the course of the match, Nash jackknifed Hall twice but, instead of pinning him, left the ring and lost via countout. In November 1998, Nash and Diamond Dallas Page became
38055-482: The team being forced to vacate the titles. On November 26, 1994, Diesel faced Bob Backlund for the WWF Championship he had won from Bret Hart three days prior at Survivor Series . In the match at Madison Square Garden , Diesel defeated Backlund in the first ten seconds of the bout. Diesel then promised Hart a match for his title, which they had the next month at the Royal Rumble . The match ended in
38270-768: The team from 1977 to 1980, during which time the team made it to the NCAA Sweet 16 . Following a physical altercation with head coach Don DeVoe and a series of other on-campus incidents, Nash did not play a fourth year for the Volunteers, and he attempted to transfer to Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio . Nash reconsidered his options and instead moved to Europe , where he played basketball professionally for various teams. His career ended just one year later in 1981 in Germany (while playing for
38485-426: 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,
38700-500: The title. After the match, he left the ring with both Anderson and Michaels' replacement for her, Jenny McCarthy . The next night on Monday Night Raw , Michaels was betrayed by his new bodyguard, Sycho Sid , prompting Diesel to come to his rescue and thus reunited the tag team. Diesel successfully defended the WWF Championship against Sycho Sid at the inaugural In Your House pay-per-view on May 14, and at In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks on July 23. At SummerSlam , Diesel retained
38915-561: The tournament due to COVID-19 protocols during the 48 hours after the brackets were announced. Only one game was declared a no contest due to COVID-19, with Oregon advancing to the second round because VCU could not participate due to COVID-19 protocols. VCU was not replaced by one of the first four teams out because the COVID-19 infections started more than two days after the brackets were announced. The tournament returned to its regular format in 2022 . In response to protests from players in
39130-417: The tournament expanded to 40 teams and added a sixth round; 24 teams received byes to the second round. Eight more teams were added in 1980 with only 16 teams receiving byes, and the restriction on the number of at-large bids from a conference was removed. In 1983 , a seventh round with four play-in games was added; an additional play-in game was added in 1984 . Beginning in 1973 , the regional pairings for
39345-419: The tournament, including 11 that are ineligible because they are transitioning to Division I. Key For each season starting in 1979, the 4 teams seeded No. 1 are shown with double underline , and 12 teams seeded between No. 2 and No. 4 are shown with dotted underline . Bold indicates an active current streak as of the 2024 tournament. *Kansas's 2018 appearance was vacated. As a tournament ritual,
39560-519: 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
39775-471: 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
39990-593: The two being known as Two Dudes with Attitudes . He made his WWF debut at a house show on June 6, 1993, by assisting Michaels in defeating Marty Jannetty for the WWF Intercontinental Championship . He first appeared on television the next night on Raw , June 7, as he was introduced as Michaels's bodyguard. In January 1994, Diesel appeared at the Royal Rumble , first as one of the many wrestlers who assisted WWF Champion Yokozuna in defeating The Undertaker in their casket match and then in
40205-405: 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
40420-535: 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
40635-428: The win for his team, pinning Nash after hitting him with a sledgehammer . Following Backlash, Nash was granted a shot at Triple H's World Heavyweight Championship , and the two squared off at Judgment Day with Michaels and Flair in their respective corners. Triple H would get himself disqualified and kept the title as a result, but this did not stop Nash from attacking Triple H following the match, putting him through
40850-533: The winning team cuts down the nets at the end of regional championship games as well as the national championship game. Starting with the seniors, and moving down by classes, players each cut a single strand off each net; the head coach cuts the last strand connecting the net to the hoop, claiming the net itself. An exception to the head coach cutting the last strand came in 2013 , when Louisville head coach Rick Pitino gave that honor to Kevin Ware , who had suffered
41065-420: 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
41280-425: 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
41495-489: Was a taped broadcast on October 14, 2010, when Nash and Sting both announced they were walking away from TNA rather than being a part of Hogan and Bischoff's regime. In January 2011 Nash signed a new contract with TNA, but was granted a release before reappearing on television, after being contacted by WWE. Nash along with Hall and Waltman made an appearance at the 2011 Gathering of the Juggalos . Nash teamed with Waltman for
41710-405: Was adjusted to provided extended time for COVID-19 evaluation before the tournament began, with the First Four occurring entirely on Thursday, the First and Second Rounds pushed one day back to a Friday-Monday window, and the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight pushed to a Friday-Monday window as well. Teams ranked 69–72 by the Selection Committee were put on "standby" to replace any team that withdrew from
41925-451: Was announced that Nash would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015 . On March 28, he was inducted by long-time friend and Kliq member, Shawn Michaels . On March 29, Nash appeared at WrestleMania 31 alongside Hulk Hogan and Scott Hall, in their attempt to even the odds in favor of Sting in his match against Triple H, who had D-Generation X ( Billy Gunn , Road Dogg , Shawn Michaels, and X-Pac) in his corner. However, Sting lost
42140-488: 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
42355-560: Was for naught, as Sting captured the title from Angle via Scorpion Death Drop after fending off Nash and Angle's wife, Karen. The following Thursday on Impact! , Nash and Angle had an altercation because Angle blamed Nash for him losing the World Title. Angle eventually attacked Nash, who retaliated by Jackknife Powerbombing Angle in the middle of the ring. The following week, Sting defended the TNA World Title against Angle in
42570-437: Was hired for more money, Hall's contract would increase to match that contract. Bischoff ended up offering Nash a three-year guaranteed contract with a $ 1.2 million annual salary. Nash said to Vince McMahon that he did not want to leave the WWF and that if McMahon was willing to match the offer, he would stay. McMahon said no because, according to Nash, he would have had to offer matching contracts to other wrestlers and with
42785-481: Was left out because their conference was represented by top-ranked UCLA ; and Maryland in 1974 , which was ranked #3 but lost the ACC tournament championship game to eventual national champion North Carolina State . To accommodate at-large bids, the tournament expanded in 1975 to include 32 teams, allowing a second team to represent a conference in addition to the conference champion, and eliminated byes. In 1979 ,
43000-519: Was more of a boss than a friend. On the December 5 episode of Raw SuperShow , Nash competed in his first televised WWE match in eight years, defeating Santino Marella. Nash went on to face Triple H at TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs in a ladder match with a sledgehammer hanging above the ring which he lost by pinfall after a sledgehammer shot to the face, ending the feud in the process. In late 2012 and early 2013, Nash began appearing on WWE's developmental training show, NXT . Nash initially appeared as
43215-455: Was pinned by Junkyard Dog on February 27. He also lost to Brian Pillman in house show matches, while appearing in tag team matches with Stan Hansen and Arn Anderson . His final match in this guise was against Pillman at a house show on May 12. A week later, Nash reappeared under his new gimmick , having been repackaged as the silver-haired Oz, a character based on the Wizard of Oz from
43430-475: Was pinned by Savage and lost his championship, but would get his revenge the next night on Nitro in a title match between Savage and a returning Hulk Hogan, and in a similar situation to Savage's first title defense from the previous year, he used a Jackknife Powerbomb on Savage, preserving the victory for Hogan. The following week, however, Nash attacked Hogan during a match pitting Hogan against Vicious. Nash, Sid, and Rick Steiner then feuded with Hogan, Sting, and
43645-478: Was possible was the 1996 when the Continental Airlines Arena , home court of Seton Hall , hosted. For the first and second rounds, eight venues host games, four on each day of the round. Each venue hosts two sets of four teams, referred to as "pods." To limit travel, teams are placed in pods closer to their home unless seeding rules would prevent it. Because each pod includes a top 4 seed,
43860-571: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
44075-640: Was removed from the card for Genesis due to a staph infection , and was replaced by Cute Kip . Nash returned on the January 29 episode of Impact! when the Main Event Mafia took over the show. On Impact! on April 23, he began an on-screen relationship with Jenna Morasca , who subsequently began acting as his valet. At Slammiversary , he was reunited with Joe and helped Angle win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. At Victory Road , Nash defeated A.J. Styles for
44290-403: Was repackaged as Vinnie Vegas, a wisecracking pseudo-mobster based on Steve Martin 's character in the 1990 film My Blue Heaven . Vegas was quickly recruited into "A Half-Ton of Holy Hell", a stable of large wrestlers created by Harley Race which included WCW World Champion Lex Luger , Big Van Vader and Mr. Hughes . The stable separated in February 1992 after Luger left, and Vegas joined
44505-419: Was revealed to be Booker T. At Final Resolution , Nash and his partner Samoa Joe lost in a title match to TNA World Tag Team Champions A.J. Styles and Tomko after Nash abandoned and seemingly betrayed Joe. Yet on the following Impact, when Joe stormed into Nash's locker room looking for a fight, Nash was actually able to persuade Joe into accepting his Machiavellian mentorship. Nash lost to Kurt Angle in
44720-415: Was short-lived, and by May 1999, the nWo reunion was over due to injuries to Hogan, Hall, Luger and Steiner. Meanwhile, backstage, Nash became WCW's head booker in February 1999 and helped write some of the later angles for WCW. In May 1999, Nash won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship for the second time by defeating Diamond Dallas Page at Slamboree . He then appeared on The Tonight Show and put up
44935-415: 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
45150-404: Was speculation about increasing the tournament size to as many as 128 teams. On April 1, 2010, the NCAA announced that it was looking at expanding to 96 teams for 2011 . However, three weeks later the NCAA announced a new television contract with CBS/Turner that expanded the field to 68 teams, instead of 96, starting in 2011. The First Four was created by the addition of three play-in games. Two of
45365-470: Was taken out of the match, Hulk Hogan came out to make the save, only to turn on Savage and reveal himself as Nash and Hall's third man. Immediately after this, they began cutting promos calling themselves the New World Order (nWo) . During his return, he had dyed his hair blonde. Through late 1996 and into 1997, Nash normally teamed with Hall as the Outsiders, and they held the WCW World Tag Team Championship . Nash also began to show his leadership qualities in
45580-417: 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
45795-415: Was the last man to be eliminated from the Royal Rumble, being superkicked over the top rope by the winner, Shawn Michaels. Following the match, Diesel teased attacking Michaels before instead giving him a high five . Diesel went on to interfere in the main event between The Undertaker and WWF Champion Bret Hart, costing The Undertaker the title. At In Your House 6 on February 18, Diesel attempted to regain
46010-409: Was the same site as a regional championship and in other years a new site. With the expansion to 16 teams, the tournament retained the original format of the national semifinals being the regional finals in 1951 . For the 1952 tournament, there were four regions named East-1, East-2, West-1, West-2, all played at separate sites. The regional champions met for the national semifinals and championship at
46225-430: Was unable to convince Hogan to re–hire Hall and Waltman and failed to secure a meeting with Eric Bischoff, he set his sights on renewing his feud with Jeff Jarrett, who claimed that Nash had tried to hurt TNA by bringing Hall and Waltman in. On the August 5 episode of Impact! , Sting, who had feuded with Jarrett prior to his 30-day suspension, returned to TNA and, together with Nash, beat down Jarrett, Bischoff and Hogan. On
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