Misplaced Pages

#420579

74-531: The Million Dollar Championship was a professional wrestling championship in the American promotion WWE . The title was originally introduced in 1989 by "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase , who was unable to win or purchase the WWF Championship (now WWE Championship). In storyline, the title was an unsanctioned championship that DiBiase rarely defended. After DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster won

148-507: A feud with DiBiase after encountering him in a jewelry store over their watches. Over the next few weeks, "The Million Dollar Man" would continue to one-up Grimes, outbidding him in various purchases. The two then had a "Million Dollar Face-Off" on the May 25 episode where LA Knight defended and allied with DiBiase. At TakeOver: In Your House Knight defeated Grimes in a Ladder Match for the title. After this, WWE added an official title history for

222-594: A few isolated championship matches. On rare occasions, a male wrestler will compete in championship matches for championships generally contested exclusively in the women's division. Such examples include Harvey Wippleman becoming the only male to capture the WWF Women's Championship in 2000, and Eric Young winning one half of the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship in 2012. Gimmick match classifications sometimes factor into

296-624: A gender specification, though Chyna defeating Jeff Jarrett to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship in 1999 and Tessa Blanchard defeating Sami Callihan to win the Impact World Championship in 2020 are notable exceptions. In promotions featuring only a single gender (such as Women of Wrestling or Shimmer Women Athletes ), gender classifications are often unnecessary as well. Titles specifically designated for women may fall into any of

370-787: A hardcore championship is the FTW Championship in All Elite Wrestling (AEW), which is primarily contested in FTW Rules matches . A past such title is WWE Hardcore Championship , which was active from 1998 to 2002. In recent years, style-based championships have centered around what is known as "scientific" or technical wrestling. Examples of this include the NXT Heritage Cup (which is specifically contested under "British Round Rules") in WWE 's NXT brand, and

444-553: A knee infection. In All Elite Wrestling , when a champion gets injured, a match is held to determine an interim champion until the lineal champion is cleared to compete, after which a match is held between the two to crown an undisputed champion. For example, Jon Moxley became interim AEW World Champion in June 2022 after then-lineal champion, CM Punk, was sidelined with a foot injury. When Punk returned in August, Moxley defeated him in

518-622: A match against Savio Vega on May 28, 1996), the title was again abandoned. In May 2002, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE, which became an orphaned initialism in 2011). After several years, the Million Dollar Championship reappeared on WWE television in 2009 when DiBiase, the guest host of the night, appeared on the July 6 episode of Raw , carrying the belt as he fulfilled his guest host duties. Nearly

592-466: A match to become the undisputed champion. These interim reigns are not recognized as official reigns. However, if the lineal champion's injury renders them indefinitely sidelined, they can forfeit the championship and the interim champion becomes the lineal champion. An example of this happened in November 2022, when it was announced that then-lineal AEW Women's World Champion , Thunder Rosa relinquished

666-416: A measure of their performance ability and drawing power. The most accomplished or decorated wrestlers tend to be revered as legends. American wrestler Ric Flair has had multiple world heavyweight championship reigns spanning over three decades. Japanese wrestler Último Dragón once held and defended a record 10 titles simultaneously . Professional wrestling's championship belts are modeled similarly to

740-580: A pioneering radio talk show in New York City in 1954, was one of the early users of a tape delay system that was invented by his engineer, Russell Tinklepaugh. Another announcer who was said to use a tape-delay was talk show pioneer Jerry Williams at WMEX in Boston in the late 1950s. In 1977, the capacity of RAM ( random-access memory ) had reached 16  kilobits per chip, enough to think about using computerized digital audio means to create

814-568: A scheduling conflict prevents a live telecast, or a broadcaster seeks to maximize ratings by airing an event in a certain timeslot. That can also be done because of time constraints of certain portions, usually those that do not affect the outcome of the show, are edited out, or the availability of hosts or other key production staff only at certain times of the day, and it is generally applicable for cable television programs. In countries that span multiple time zones and have influential domestic eastern regions, such as Australia , Canada, Mexico, and

SECTION 10

#1732791678421

888-754: A severe injury and despite the championship being quite important. In 1998, Shane Douglas kept the ECW World Heavyweight Championship while sidelined. In 2005, Trish Stratus kept the WWE Women's Championship while sidelined with a herniated disk for four months. In 2012, CM Punk kept the WWE Championship while undergoing and recovering from knee surgery. In 2015, Ryback kept the WWE Intercontinental Championship while recovering from

962-489: A short, TV-friendly time limit, usually 10 or 15 minutes. These titles were originally introduced during a time when weekly TV shows were seen as a vehicle to promote the money-making live shows, where major title defenses took place. Television titles provided a championship that would be defended on the weekly television shows. Examples of a television championship include the AEW TNT Championship (named after

1036-417: A show to air at the same time for the local market as is sometimes done with nationally broadcast programs in countries with multiple time zones . Considered as time shifting , that is often achieved by a "tape delay", using a video tape recorder , modern digital video recorders , or other similar technology. Tape delay may also refer to the process of broadcasting an event at a later scheduled time because

1110-426: A sufficient delay for content deletion. By storing audio digitally, it was possible to move a "virtual tape head" along recorded audio. Eventide, Inc. created the first digital broadcast delay for this purpose. The device (known colloquially as a "dump box") had a large "DUMP"/"DELAY DUMP" button that would bring the delay to zero, thus removing unwanted segments. In addition to this convenience, it would also "rebuild"

1184-467: A wrestler and defended in sanctioned matches, but are not recognized as legitimate titles by the promotion. Examples of unsanctioned championships include: Broadcast delay A short delay is often used to prevent profanity , bloopers , nudity , or other undesirable material from making it to air. In this instance, it is often referred to as a "seven-second delay" or "profanity delay". Longer delays, however, may also be introduced, often to allow

1258-514: A year later, when DiBiase was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 27, 2010, he had the Million Dollar Championship belt with him. Then, on the April 5 episode of Raw , after DiBiase's son Ted DiBiase Jr. disbanded his tag team, Legacy , DiBiase Jr. came out holding the Million Dollar Championship, claiming his father had given it to him. WWE's official website confirmed the reactivation of

1332-567: Is WWE's NXT Heritage Cup , which is represented with a trophy. The fate of a title depends on the champion's condition and the importance of the title to the promotion (e.g. Gregory Helms held the WWE Cruiserweight Championship , despite being sidelined with an injury, because the Cruiserweight Championship was not a major championship). The champion may be forced to vacate his or her title if

1406-564: Is a recognition promoted by professional wrestling organizations . Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches , in which competitors are involved in predetermined rivalries. These narratives create feuds between the various competitors, which cast them as villains and heroes (heels and faces respectively). The bookers in a company will place the title on the most accomplished performer, or whom they believe will generate fan interest in terms of event attendance and television viewership. Professional wrestling portrays

1480-427: Is becoming increasingly rare as champions are needed to be present in regular tours even when titles are not defended. Professional wrestling championships are often split up into various different classifications, each of which designate varying levels of importance to the belts. The world heavyweight championship (also just world championship) is the name given to the championship that is typically presented as being

1554-510: Is largely patterned from the U.S. format. In countries that span multiple time zones and are the most populous in their western or central regions, like Brazil , Russia and Indonesia , all television schedules nationwide are simultaneous with their broadcast sources, enabling full nationwide live telecasts regardless of time zones (although Russia conducts separate live primetime newscast versions for each range of time zones in that country). The continents of Europe and Africa, which both fall in

SECTION 20

#1732791678421

1628-472: Is often implicitly understood. Other tag team championships include 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 formats, which are often explicitly stated within the championship name to distinguish them from the 2-on-2 championships. Some teams may invoke what is called the Freebird Rule , in which a stable of three or more wrestlers are all officially recognized as champion, allowing any pairing of the stable's members to defend

1702-556: Is scripted, there is no promotion or group of people that recognize one official world title of the industry (the closest was the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship during the territory days during the mid to late 20th century). Instead, each promotion can promote their top title as a world title, with some of them promoting title matches around the world to claim the designation. Some promotions may even recognize multiple world championships, such as

1776-497: Is the case with WWE, as due to the large size of its roster, the promotion splits its roster into what they call brands where talent exclusively perform and their two main brands ( Raw and SmackDown) each have their own world championship. The first widely recognized world heavyweight championship was the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship , created in 1905, and the inaugural champion

1850-500: Is very common for these variations to be the second most prestigious championship in a promotion, but exceptions have existed, like the now defunct WWE European Championship , which served as the company's tertiary singles championship, and the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship , which many NWA territories created versions of and promoted as their most prestigious championship whenever

1924-842: The Academy Awards , Golden Globe Awards , Grammy Awards , Emmy Awards and Tony Awards , yearly specials like the Miss Universe and Miss World pageants, and major sporting events like the Olympic Games , FIFA World Cup and the National Football League 's Super Bowl , air to totality live on both television and the internet virtually all across the world's time zones in and out of their countries of origin. In addition, television networks nowadays mandate prime time rebroadcasts (featuring edits as desired by broadcasters) for regions that are not covered by

1998-525: The Eastern and Central time zones, while "west" feeds are usually oriented towards the Pacific time zone . As a result, until today, many live programs, such as music and talent competition shows, are usually tape delayed for the western half of the country and aired as-live (although they may include edits to streamline the broadcast or resolve technical faults). Australian network television schedule

2072-557: The ROH Pure Championship in Ring of Honor (which is contested under "Pure Wrestling Rules"). A variation that was prominent in the 1980s and 1990s and made a return in the 2020s is a "television championship" or "iron man championship", which involves more frequent title defenses as well as the stipulations that the belt can only change hands on television (as opposed to non-televised house shows ) with title matches having

2146-780: The Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the Beijing Olympics in 2008, daytime events were occurring at early morning hours in the Americas, Africa, and Europe but were aired in the afternoon and evening hours live entirely in Asia, Australia, and Oceania. That made some broadcasters show high-profile events twice (live and then rebroadcast during prime time), but others withheld the same event to be broadcast solely during prime time. Often, tape-delaying of those events would mean editing them down for time considerations, highlighting what

2220-560: The TNA Digital Media Championship , which was created in 2021 to reflect TNA 's online platforms or WWE's Speed Championship which is named after the X (Twitter) exclusive streaming show WWE Speed . In 2021, AEW introduced the first TV title specifically for female wrestlers, the AEW TBS Championship , named for the network that is the home of Dynamite as of January 5, 2022, serving as

2294-487: The WWF Tag Team Championship in 1992, the Million Dollar Championship was abandoned. The title has since been revived on three occasions. The first was in 1996 for DiBiase's protégé, The Ringmaster , who shortly after became Stone Cold Steve Austin, but the title was abandoned after DiBiase left the promotion a few months later. In 2010, the title was revived for DiBiase's son, Ted DiBiase Jr. , but

Million Dollar Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

2368-528: The WWF Tag Team Championship on February 7, 1992, DiBiase abandoned the Million Dollar Championship. Ted DiBiase would later go on to award the championship to his newest protégé, The Ringmaster , on his arrival in the WWF in January 1996 ( pre-taped in December 1995). The Ringmaster would shortly after become known as Stone Cold Steve Austin. After DiBiase left WWF (with the storyline reason of Austin lost

2442-522: The home network of AEW's Rampage and Collision broadcasts plus other AEW programming) and the ROH World Television Championship . A modern take on the traditional TV title are internet championships. As professional wrestling began having events on streaming and online platforms, some promotions modified their television championships to be promoted as internet championships to reflect this. Examples of this include

2516-538: The "Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F." (the Mexico City Boxing and Wrestling Commission), the main regulatory body in Mexico: Gender occasionally plays a role in the classifications of championship belts. Due to professional wrestling being a male dominated sport, only women's titles are given official gender classifications. Generally, only men are allowed to win the championships without

2590-542: The "legitimacy" of their own titles, although cross-promotion does happen. When one promotion absorbs or purchases another, the titles from the defunct promotion may continue to be defended in the new promotion or be decommissioned, usually through championship unification . Behind the scenes , the bookers in a company will place the title on the most accomplished performer, or those the bookers believe will generate fan interest in terms of event attendance and television viewership. Lower ranked titles may also be used on

2664-566: The Boss Man's services. The Boss Man then told both Slick and DiBiase that he could not be bought and immediately returned the bag to Roberts, who had been left handcuffed to the ring ropes. The Boss Man then released Roberts, walked back to the Brother Love set, pushed Slick, and again told an irate DiBiase that he could not be bought before walking off to the cheers of the crowd, cementing his face turn. DiBiase had his bodyguard Virgil get

2738-440: The Million Dollar Championship to their website, thus recognizing the title as an official championship in the promotion. During the following episode of NXT , Knight turned on and attacked DiBiase, who was saved by Grimes. Grimes then defeated Knight to win the title at TakeOver 36 on August 22. On the following episode of NXT , Grimes gave the title back to DiBiase, who said that Grimes should keep it, but DiBiase actually kept

2812-591: The Million Dollar Championship was again deactivated. After more than a decade of being off television, the title was brought back in 2021 for WWE's NXT brand . On the February 10, 2021 episode of NXT , Cameron Grimes made his return from injury and claimed to have become a GameStop investor during his time away (in reference to the GameStop stock rise ), thus making him the "richest man in NXT". Grimes then began

2886-682: The NWA World Heavyweight Champion was not around. Another common classification of championships are by weight classes . Given the scripted nature of professional wrestling matches, weight classes are not always strictly adhered to. Typically, promotions prefer to have a heavyweight title as their top prize, with other designations, such as cruiserweight , middleweight , or light-heavyweight titles. Promotions often have one sub-heavyweight classification, while others sometimes may have more. Mountevans' committee (a governing body that instilled rules for professional wrestling in

2960-485: The UK) created seven formal weight divisions: Classifying championships into weight classes is also common practice in the lucha libre promotions of Mexico . Lucha libre has a detailed weight class system patterned after boxing. Each weight class has an official upper limit, but examples of wrestlers who are technically too heavy to hold their title can be found. The following weight classes exist in lucha libre, as defined by

3034-472: The United States , television networks usually delay the entirety of their schedule for stations in the west, so prime time programming can be time shifted to air in local primetime hours to improve accessibility and viewership. Although Mexico and Canada have now regularly televised their live programs in real time simultaneously across all of their territories, in the U.S., "east" feeds usually target

Million Dollar Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

3108-411: The back. The strap itself is made up of multiple metal dollar signs that go around the entire circumference of the strap; there are small hinges between each dollar sign so that the strap can go around the title holder's waist. All of the metal on the belt is gold plated . Although the belt was billed as being worth US$ 1,000,000, DiBiase claimed the cost was around $ 40,000, while Bruce Prichard claimed

3182-472: The belt back from Roberts at WrestleMania VI after Roberts was counted out during their match at the SkyDome . In 1991, DiBiase's bodyguard Virgil rebelled, turned face, and challenged DiBiase at SummerSlam for the Million Dollar Championship. Virgil won the match, however, DiBiase regained the championship with the help of Repo Man at Survivor Series Showdown . When DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster won

3256-472: The belt during his feud with DiBiase. This also led to a face turn for the Big Boss Man , who resented his manager Slick selling his services to DiBiase in order to retrieve the belt from Roberts. After attacking Roberts and stealing the bag containing the belt and Roberts' pet python named Damien, DiBiase, the Boss Man, and Slick headed for " The Brother Love Show " where DiBiase bragged about buying

3330-472: The broadcaster feels are the most interesting portions of the event, or advertising, resulting in reduced desired TV coverage for the given multiple sporting events. However, since many live events became available via social media in the late 2000s, tape delays have become increasingly irrelevant because of live television 's resurgence as a broadcast format. Since the mid-2010s, several high-profile entertainment programs with huge live global audiences like

3404-480: The broadcaster time to censor the audio (and video) feed. This can be accomplished by cutting directly to a non-delayed feed, essentially jumping past the undesired moment (something that can be quite jarring to a viewer or listener). In other cases, dedicated hardware units similar to the original digital unit but with improved quality and editing capability can be used. These products can even "build up" delay with difficult program material such as music. Alternatively,

3478-458: The championship belts in boxing , and other combat sports such as mixed martial arts . They are made of elaborately designed plates of gold or other precious metals , usually bearing the name of the title and the wrestling promotion, and is on a leather strap. The color and designs vary with each title and promotion. A wrestler may win a sanctioned championship and redesign the belt itself. Some (such as John Cena 's Spinner Belt) later became

3552-411: The championship. This rule is most commonly applied to the standard 2-on-2 tag team championship, though it has also been applied to the other variants. Tag team championships are also often combined with regional modifiers, gimmick modifiers, gender modifiers, and weight class modifiers to further distinguish them. In such cases, the primary title is usually called the world tag team championship , with

3626-424: The cost was close to $ 50,000 during an episode of his podcast, Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard . Over the championship's 32-year history, there were seven reigns between six champions as well as three vacancies. Ted DiBiase was the inaugural champion and had the most reigns at two. His first reign was also the longest reign at 922 days and he had the longest combined reign at 1,010 days. Cameron Grimes had

3700-487: The counterpart to the male TNT Championship. Sister promotion ROH introduced a similar title for their women's division, ROH Women's World Television Championship . Tag team championships are yet another different form of wrestling title. Some consider it to be a style championship, but tag team championships are unique in their ability to include multiple wrestlers on teams competing for multiple belts. The most common form of tag team championships are in 2-on-2 format, which

3774-520: The creation of title belts. In these classifications, special skills in a certain type of match or a certain style of wrestling is the signature of the division, and the champion is considered to be the most skilled wrestler at that specific style. Gimmick championships often take very differing forms. A common variation is the "hardcore championship", a title often defended in weapons-filled and bloody competitions with fewer rules (count outs and disqualifications are not usually allowed). An active example of

SECTION 50

#1732791678421

3848-426: The delay time by unnoticeably lengthening the normal pauses in spoken material. Thus, a minute or so later, the broadcaster would again have full delay, often leaving the listener unaware that material had been deleted. In modern systems, a profanity delay can be a software module manually operated by a broadcast technician that puts a short delay (usually, 30 seconds) into the broadcast of live content. This gives

3922-510: The injury becomes too severe and the championship is too important. In May 2015, Daniel Bryan vacated the WWE Intercontinental Championship due to a major concussion and a year before, he had to vacate the world title due to neck surgery. In November 2015, Seth Rollins vacated the WWE World Heavyweight Championship due to a knee injury that required surgery. However, a champion may keep their title despite

3996-576: The most prestigious of those contested within a promotion. The wrestler holding a championship with this name is most commonly referred to as the "world heavyweight champion" or "world champion" (though some promotions may use synonymous/alternate terms, such as the AAA Mega Championship of Lucha Libre AAA World Wide or the Undisputed WWE Championship , the premier title of WWE ). Since professional wrestling

4070-432: The official belt design. Others (such as Stone Cold Steve Austin 's Smoking Skull Belt, Edge 's Rated-R Spinner, Daniel Bryan 's eco-friendly belt, and The Fiend Bray Wyatt 's Universal title with his face on it) were not used after their respective title reign. While rare, there are cases of championships being represented with items other than belts, such as championship trophies, medals, crowns, etc. An example of this

4144-463: The original live primetime broadcasting and previously and solely relied on delayed telecasts on prime time among these otherwise live events. In certain professional competitions, like chess, broadcast delays may be used to prevent cheating or other irregularities. The radio station WKAP in Allentown, Pennsylvania , introduced a tape delay system consisting of an external playback head, which

4218-552: The other categories listed here (e.g. women's world titles or women's tag team titles). Andy Kaufman once used gender classifications to his advantage, turning inter-gender competitions into a unique wrestling side-show. Kaufman declared himself the "Inter-Gender Champion of the World", and offered $ 1,000 to any woman who could pin him. None were successful during the run of the gimmick; though in other promotions such as WCW and WWE , women have successfully pinned men, most notably in

4292-413: The other championships seen as secondary titles. Examples of 2-on-2 tag team championships: Examples of 3-on-3 tag team championships: Examples of 4-on-4 tag team championships: Examples of 5-on-5 tag team championships: The concept of championships, and their central role in wrestling, allows for the potential for angles . One such angle is an unsanctioned championship title. These are claimed by

4366-465: The performers who show potential, thus allowing them greater exposure to the audience. However, other circumstances may also determine the use of a championship. A combination of a championship's lineage, the caliber of performers as champion, and the frequency and manner of title changes, dictates the audience's perception of the title's quality, significance, and reputation. A wrestler's championship accomplishments can be central to their career, becoming

4440-803: The promotion is based, an example being WWE's United States Championship . Sometimes it may specify a specific state or territory, such as the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship . It is also common to be a smaller division of the world, an example being the WWE Intercontinental Championship , the AEW International Championship (previously known as the All-Atlantic Championship), or the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship . It

4514-430: The same range of time zones, are receptive to each other's live telecasts, while most of Asia from India eastwards, which includes China alongside the most populous time zone in the world , also receive simultaneous live telecasts within those cluster of regions. International tape delays of live global events, intended by major television networks, dominated world television until the early 2010s. For example, during

SECTION 60

#1732791678421

4588-442: The shortest reign at 1 day (2 days as recognized by WWE due to tape delay ) and was the final champion. Virgil was the oldest champion, winning the title at 40 years old, while Ted DiBiase Jr. was the youngest at 27 years, 147 days old. Professional wrestling championship Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s A championship or title in professional wrestling

4662-555: The structure of title match combat sports . Participants compete for a championship, and must defend it after winning it. These titles are represented physically by a championship belt that is worn or carried by the champion(s). In the case of team wrestling, there is a belt for each member of the team. Almost all professional wrestling promotions have one major title, and some have more. Championships are designated by divisions of weight, height, gender, wrestling style, and other qualifications. Typically, each promotion only recognizes

4736-399: The time prohibited the broadcasting of a live telephone conversation. However, there was no rule prohibiting a taped playback of a telephone call, provided that a "beep" tone was heard by the caller every 15 seconds so that the caller knew he was being recorded. The six-second delay constituted a "taped" telephone conversation, thus complying with FCC regulations. The broadcast profanity delay

4810-558: The title and instead gave Grimes a replica. In September 2021, the championship was quietly removed from WWE.com with Grimes being referred to as a former champion, thus deactivating the title with Grimes recognized as the final champion. The Million Dollar Championship belt was designed by Terry Betteridge of Betteridge Jewelers in Greenwich, Connecticut . The center plate features three large dollar signs that are entirely filled with cubic zirconia , and there are three small diamonds on

4884-510: The title due to a back injury she suffered in August. As a result, then-interim champion, Jamie Hayter , became the official champion. Before the 1980s when title matches were rare, some champions could keep their titles even when injured; Bruno Sammartino kept his WWWF World Heavyweight Championship from April to June 1976 despite being injured by a botched body slam from Stan Hansen . In Mexico , this situation still occurs, but in Japan , it

4958-559: The title, DiBiase decided that if he could not win or buy the WWF Championship, he would purchase his own belt. In 1989, DiBiase unveiled a new championship belt, which he called the Million Dollar Championship. This championship was not officially sanctioned by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and DiBiase would rarely put his "championship" on the line in matches. In early 1990, Jake Roberts stole

5032-457: The unsanctioned championship under DiBiase Jr.'s profile. On the October 4 episode, Goldust attacked DiBiase Jr. and gained possession of the belt. On the November 8 episode, Aksana stole the Million Dollar Championship belt from him. Goldust stole the belt back the following week and returned it to "The Million Dollar Man", who then offered to return it to his son, who rejected the offer, thus

5106-646: Was George Hackenschmidt . The lineage of many prominent contemporary world championships can be traced back to the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship, with the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship considered its direct successor , with many world championships having been spun of from the NWA's title. A very common championship variation. The championship usually specifies the location on where

5180-451: Was again abandoned later that same year when DiBiase Jr. returned the title to his father. The third revival came in 2021 for the NXT brand division for a storyline between DiBiase, Cameron Grimes , and LA Knight . During this time, the title was officially recognized by WWE; however, it was deactivated in August of that year when Grimes, who won the title, gave it back to DiBiase. The title

5254-522: Was created during the storyline where Ted DiBiase , known as "The Million Dollar Man", was unable to win the WWF Championship (now WWE Championship), having lost the final match of the WWF Championship tournament at WrestleMania IV to Randy Savage . During the Summer of 1988, DiBiase teamed with André the Giant , in a team known as " The Mega Bucks ", while chasing the WWF Championship. Still unable to win

5328-494: Was invented by C. Frank Cordaro (July 13, 1919 – February 20, 1997), who was Chief Engineer of WKAP during the 1950s and early 1960s. Ogden Davies, then-General Manager of WKAP, assigned Cordaro the task of developing a device whereby profanity during a "live" conversation could be deleted by the radio talk show host before it was broadcast. This new device was to be used on the Open Mic radio talk show. The device Cordaro developed

5402-414: Was spaced far enough away from the record head to produce a six-second delay. A system of rollers guided the tape over the playback head before it wound up on the take up reel. This system was introduced in 1952, when WKAP started a talk show called Open Mic . It is believed that this was the first time a telephone call-in show was broadcast with the telephone conversation "live" on the air. The FCC rules at

5476-512: Was the first tape delay system. WKAP was one of several stations owned by the Rahal brothers of West Virginia (later Rahal Communications). First tested and used at WKAP, this tape system for broadcast profanity delay was then installed at the other Rahal-owned radio stations. From the Rahal brothers' stations, the broadcast profanity delay went into common usage throughout the US. John Nebel , who began

#420579