Mid 20th Century
221-816: The WWE Championship is a men's professional wrestling world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE , defended on the SmackDown brand division . Since April 2022, the title has been jointly held and defended with the WWE Universal Championship as the Undisputed WWE Championship , but both titles have maintained their individual lineages. It is one of three world titles in WWE, alongside its companion Universal Championship on SmackDown, and
442-609: A Steel cage match in 1980. The main event of the 1976 event was a "Boxer vs Wrestler" fight between Muhammad Ali and Antonio Inoki which ended in a draw. At that event, Sammartino had retained the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship against Stan Hansen . The 1972, 1976 and 1980 events each had attendance figures of 22,508, 32,000, and 36,295 respectively. Toots Mondt left the WWWF in the late sixties, and Vincent J. McMahon assumed complete control of
663-677: A Winner Takes All match to claim both world championships and then become recognized as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. WWE billed the match as a championship unification match and Reigns as a double champion, defending both titles together across both brands as the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship . On the April 24, 2023, episode of Raw , WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H announced that regardless of what brand Reigns
884-435: 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 the individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in
1105-415: A performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in 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
1326-415: 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
1547-410: A Last Man Standing match at No Mercy in 2007 but a year later losing to him in another Last Man Standing match at One Night Stand in 2008. Rising star CM Punk made his WWE debut in 2006, wrestling his first main roster match at Survivor Series that year in a 5-on-5 Survivor Series elimination match as part of Team DX in a clean sweep victory over Team Rated-RKO . In 2008, he won the money in
1768-470: A babyface champion facing a heel challenger for one to three meetings in each scheduled town; for longer programs the heel would often win the first match in a non-decisive manner such as a countout or via excessive blood loss, and the champion would then retain in an ultraviolent blow-off match such as a steel cage match or Texas Death match . Unlike most of the NWA territories, the main event would occur in
1989-413: 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
2210-693: A blueprint for WWE's men's and women's world championships, with the only differences being the name at the bottom of the center plate and the colors, as well as the women's being smaller. First was the WWE Women's Championship in April 2016, which became the Raw Women's Championship later that year, although it reverted to its original name in June 2023. After the WWE World Heavyweight Championship became exclusive to SmackDown as
2431-532: 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
SECTION 10
#17327825538112652-470: 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
2873-585: 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
3094-411: A cheaper salary. On July 9, 2001, the stars of WCW and Extreme Championship Wrestling (acquired by Stephanie McMahon in a related storyline) joined forces, forming " The Alliance " with WCW owner Shane McMahon and the new owner of ECW Stephanie McMahon leading the charge, with the support and influence of original ECW owner Paul Heyman . At Invasion , Stone Cold Steve Austin turned on WWF and helped
3315-632: A controlling stake over NWA operations. During this time, Buddy Rogers held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship until January 24, when Lou Thesz defeated Rogers for the championship in a one-fall match. Claiming the title can only be contested in a traditional two-out-of-three falls match, CWC disputed the title change, and thus seceded from the NWA and became the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). The WWWF World Heavyweight Championship
3536-469: A custom design that meant something, later said that WWE probably decided to go with the Rated R Spinner version in order to sell more merchandise. During Daniel Bryan's fourth reign (2018–2019) as part of his environmentalist heel gimmick, he threw the standard title belt in a garbage can (bemoaning the fact it was made from leather) and introduced a new custom belt, dubbed the "Planet's Championship", featuring
3757-413: A customized belt for John Cena, remained the standard title belt from 2005 to 2013. During Edge 's second reign in 2006, he introduced his own variation, the "Rated R Spinner" design, replacing the WWE scratch logo with his "Rated R Superstar" logo. Edge had sketched a completely new custom design, but due to creative differences, it did not get made. Edge, who was not a fan of his spinner version and wanted
3978-457: 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 . History of WWE#World Wide Wrestling Federation The history of American professional wrestling promotion WWE dates back to
4199-734: A deposit to insure they honored their commitments as champion). Rogers lost the NWA World Heavyweight Championship to Lou Thesz in a one-fall match in Toronto , Ontario , Canada on January 24, 1963, which led to Mondt, McMahon, and the CWC leaving the NWA in protest, creating the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in the process. The World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) was formed on January 24, 1963. On April 25, 1963, Buddy Rogers
4420-404: 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 the broader public. In the United States, wrestling
4641-410: 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
SECTION 20
#17327825538114862-574: A globe in the center, along with Roman columns and olive branches. It read "World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion" and included the famous WWF block logo at the top, while four side plates had flags (two flags per side plate) representing the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Soviet Union, and Italy. On February 5, 1988, just before ending his first championship reign, Hogan introduced another new design,
5083-409: A highly acclaimed Hell in a Cell match at Vengeance . Although Batista would have major success in the months following his championship win, he would suffer an injury in early 2006 and miss that year's WrestleMania. After returning and eventually winning another world championship, at WrestleMania 23 in 2007, Batista would defend the title against The Undertaker in a classic encounter, though he lost
5304-583: A highly acclaimed match. He remained the top wrestler of the company after winning the WWE title until his untimely death on November 13, 2005. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the following year. Guerrero's death due to his drug addictions caused WWE to implement the WWE Wellness Policy to prevent wrestlers from taking drugs. The circumstances of his death would provide a medium for his on- and off-screen friend Rey Mysterio to emerge as
5525-405: A large center plate dominated by a cut out of the current WWE logo (encrusted with diamonds) inside an irregular heptagon with the capital words "World Heavyweight Champion" along the bottom edges, in very small print. The backing behind the logo was again the black leather strap with nugget texture. The belt retained the gold divider bars introduced in the previous design. The large side plates, like
5746-417: A large irregular heptagonal plate, with the border of the plate featuring diamonds and other gems. The backing behind the logo was the black leather strap itself with a nugget texture. The word "Champion" appeared in a large gold banner underneath the logo. Gold divider bars separated the center plate from its two large side plates. The side plates featured a removable center section that could be customized with
5967-405: 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
6188-541: A major American inter-promotional feud possible, but the Invasion turned out to be a disappointment to many fans. One main reason would be that many of WCW's big-name stars were still under contract to WCW's old parent company, AOL Time Warner , rather than WCW itself, and their contracts were not included in the purchase of the company. These wrestlers chose to sit out the duration of their contracts and be financially supported by AOL Time Warner rather than work for WWF for
6409-550: A major main-eventer and win the 2006 Royal Rumble match and the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 22 . Mysterio had begun a rivalry with the villainous nephew of Eddie, Chavo Guerrero , who had cost him the World Heavyweight Championship during a match with King Booker . During the feud Mysterio injured his knees and would be sidelined for the rest of 2006 and much of 2007, halting his main event push. Mysterio returned and defeated Chavo in
6630-799: 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
6851-714: A member of the NWA, established the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to replace the NWA's world title. In 1993, WCW seceded from the NWA and grew to become a rival promotion to the WWF. Both organizations grew into mainstream prominence and were eventually involved in a television ratings war, dubbed the Monday Night War . Near the end of the ratings war, WCW began a financial decline , which culminated in WWF purchasing WCW in March 2001. As
WWE Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue
7072-424: 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 the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise
7293-456: A much more effective drawing card in the region. The rest of the NWA was unhappy with McMahon and Toots Mondt because he rarely allowed Rogers to wrestle outside of the Northeast. Mondt and McMahon wanted Rogers to keep the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, but Rogers was unwilling to sacrifice his $ 25,000 deposit on the championship belt (championship holders at the time had to pay
7514-470: A name plate, and like the previous two designs, it had an eagle atop the globe. There were also stars seemingly shooting out from the globe. It originally had the WWF scratch logo and read "World Wrestling Federation Champion"; after the promotion was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in May 2002, both the scratch logo and wording were changed accordingly. The inner side plates on this design also contained
7735-440: 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
7956-506: A new single title belt to represent the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. It features the same "Network Logo" design on a black strap, but the WWE logo is encrusted with black diamonds, it has a gold nugget-textured background behind the logo which was made as part of the metal plate instead of colored leather, and the text at the bottom of the plate says "Undisputed Champion"; the side plates remained
8177-450: A possible eight-year prison term and a $ 500,000 fine if convicted. The trial began on July 7, 1994, with the prosecutor, who promised to expose "the dark, corrupt underbelly" of WWF, claimed McMahon distributed steroids "like candy" and pressured wrestlers into taking the drug. Wrestler Nailz testified that McMahon had once said to him: "I strongly suggest you go on the gas". Days later, Hogan admitted that steroid use amongst WWF wrestlers
8398-658: A result of the 2016 brand split, the design would also be used for the WWE Universal Championship that was introduced for the Raw brand. The design was also used for the SmackDown Women's Championship introduced in August until that title received a new design in June 2023 when it was renamed Women's World Championship. The NXT United Kingdom Championship and NXT UK Women's Championship belts also used
8619-639: A result of the purchase, the WWF acquired, among other assets, WCW's championships . Thus, there were two world titles in the WWF: the original WWF Championship and the WCW Championship, which was eventually renamed the "World Championship". In December 2001, the two championships were unified at Vengeance . At the event, Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Kurt Angle to retain the WWF Championship, while Chris Jericho defeated The Rock for
8840-559: A strong tag team division for WWF. Towards the end of the "Golden Age", Bret Hart of the Hart Foundation began to break out on his own as a singles competitor, with his most memorable match early on taking place at SummerSlam in 1992 against "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith . Hart would eventually capture the WWF World Heavyweight Championship from Ric Flair later that year and would win
9061-575: A title to London police officer Charlie Guenigault for his "exceptional bravery" during the 2017 London Bridge attack , and to the U.S. servicemen and women who have helped in hosting WWE Tribute to the Troops (since 2015) as well as for their continued service to the country. In 2020, WWE Championship belts were also presented to Christophe Agius and Philippe Chéreau, WWE announcers in France for 20 consecutive years presenting WWE on French television. With
WWE Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue
9282-506: A torn quadriceps muscle in 2007 at New Year's Revolution . Eddie Guerrero , from the famous Mexican Guerrero wrestling family , achieved huge stardom during this period. He gained a large fanbase in 2003 on SmackDown! , which led to a rapid increase in his popularity, promoting him to main event status, and he ultimately won his first world championship, the WWE Championship, at No Way Out in 2004, defeating Brock Lesnar in
9503-569: A tradition for WWE, and they have since created custom WWE Championship belts for winners in professional sports, with the side plates commemorating the achievement. They have also presented a custom belt to exceptionally notable people for their efforts in their profession. WWE had originally presented custom WWE Championships to winners in both male and female sports, but in 2018, they began presenting those in female sports with custom Women's Championship belts. Since that original gift in 2014, WWE has presented custom WWE Championship belts to winners of
9724-503: 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
9945-586: 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
10166-490: A year including its flagship event " WrestleMania ", and holds approximately 320 live events a year throughout the world. In 2014, WWE launched the first 24/7 streaming network which would eventually showcase the entire WWE video library . WWE's origins can be traced back as far as the 1950s when on January 7, 1953, the first show under the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was produced. There
10387-436: Is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which
10608-410: 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
10829-427: 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 a genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has
11050-470: Is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain 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
11271-406: Is some uncertainty as to who the founder of the CWC was. Some sources state that it was Vincent J. McMahon while other sources cite McMahon's father, Roderick James “Jess” McMahon (who died in 1954) as the original founder of CWC. The NWA recognized an undisputed NWA World Heavyweight Champion that went to several different professional wrestling promotions in the NWA. The championship
SECTION 50
#173278255381111492-510: The King of the Ring tournament the following year. In 1991, it was reported that Hulk Hogan , Roddy Piper , Rick Martel , Brian Blair , and Dan Spivey were to testify that they had purchased steroids from WWF physician Dr. George T. Zahorian, who was being charged with the illegal distribution of the drug. Two years later, Vince McMahon was indicted due to his connection to Zahorian, and faced
11713-479: The NWA Television Championship at the time. The '84 belt consisted of a dual-plated gold and silver main plate as well as two dual-plated side plates on each side. The main plate was engraved with red lettering. The '85 belt had a silver and black main plate with raised silver lettering and the same side plates as the '84 belt. Both belts included black straps. Both center plates read "WWF" at
11934-624: 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
12155-599: The New York Stock Exchange in October 2000. In 1999, WWF launched a secondary program known as SmackDown! on the UPN network to compete with WCW's Thunder . SmackDown! ' s pilot debuted as a special on April 29, 1999. Beginning on August 26, 1999, the WWF program was aired weekly. In 2000, WWF, in collaboration with television network NBC , created XFL , a new professional football league. XFL
12376-545: The Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Mr. McMahon feud, the rise of The Rock , and Mick Foley 's three face pushes during the Attitude Era , which helped put Raw ahead of Nitro in the ratings. Russo's booking style was often referred to as "Crash TV," which included edgy, controversial storylines involving sexual content, profanity , swerves or unexpected heel turns , and worked shoots in
12597-544: The TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view on December 15, 2013, to unify the titles. Subsequently, the unified championship was renamed WWE World Heavyweight Championship and retained the lineage of the WWE Championship; the World Heavyweight Championship was retired. Orton and subsequent champions held both championship belts until a single championship belt was given to reigning champion Brock Lesnar in August 2014. After Dean Ambrose became champion in June 2016,
12818-493: The Undisputed Championship . Jericho held the championship for four months until he lost it at WrestleMania X8 against Triple H , who was soon after presented with a single championship belt. The Undisputed Championship continued up through the beginning of the first brand split , which saw wrestlers being drafted to the company's main television programs , Raw and SmackDown , each show representing
13039-664: The WCW Championship , was added after the then- World Wrestling Federation 's (WWF) purchase of World Championship Wrestling in early 2001. The titles were later unified as the Undisputed WWF Championship . After the first brand split in 2002 and the promotion being renamed to WWE , the championship became exclusive to SmackDown, dropping the "undisputed" moniker, while the World Heavyweight Championship (2002–2013 version)
13260-408: The World Heavyweight Championship on Raw . The current champion is Cody Rhodes , who is in his first reign. He won the undisputed title by defeating previous champion Roman Reigns in a Bloodline Rules match at WrestleMania XL Night 2 on April 7, 2024. The original world championship of the promotion, it was established by the then- World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) on April 25, 1963, as
13481-541: The World Series , Super Bowl , NBA Finals , FIFA Women's World Cup , College Football Playoff National Championship , Stanley Cup Finals , Australian Open , Premier League , Bundesliga , Indian Premier League , Liga MX , Argentine Primera División , Major League Baseball Home Run Derby , Formula One World Championship , UEFA Champions League , Overwatch League , Cricket World Cup , Men's US Open , and Canadian Football League Grey Cup . WWE also presented
SECTION 60
#173278255381113702-557: The independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in 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
13923-589: The nWo at the No Way Out pay-per-view in February 2002. However, Hogan proved to be too popular with nostalgic fans of the Golden Era's "Hulkamania" and soon turned face at WrestleMania X8 after his classic match with The Rock, which The Rock won. With an excess of talent employed as a result of having purchased WCW and later ECW, the WWF needed a way to provide exposure for all of its talent. This problem
14144-431: The spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from 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
14365-461: The "PG Era" early on, references from wrestlers themselves would come later such as Triple H in his "Thy Kingdom Come" documentary and Natalya on an episode of "Table for 3". Another notable example was that John Cena 's famous finishing move, the F-U , was renamed Attitude Adjustment . Intentionally blading , which was common until then, became forbidden in the WWE. John Cena remained the top star of
14586-421: The "Spinner Belt", which had a gold and diamond bling-bling style reflecting his hip hop character at the time. Although originally a custom belt for Cena, it became the WWE Championship's primary design from April 12, 2005, until February 18, 2013. The scratch WWE logo, placed between an eagle on top and the word "Champ" and a name plate below, could be spun like spinner wheels or a turntable in keeping with
14807-436: The "Winged Eagle" championship belt, which became the primary design for the next decade with many wrestlers holding this version, and is considered the most popular design of the championship. Its nickname is derived from the eagle's wings seemingly coming off of the center plate, which included the block WWF logo and read "World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion". The championship belt also had four identical side plates. Apart from
15028-529: The "scratch" logo which would be the company's signature throughout the Attitude Era and on December 15, 1997, Vince McMahon aired a promo on Raw Is War addressing the audience on the company embarking on a "more innovative and contemporary campaign", which would advise parent discretion for a younger audience. This same episode also marked the beginning of the scratch logo being officially used for WWF television broadcasts and went into full effect, replacing
15249-584: 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
15470-400: 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
15691-460: 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
15912-435: The 2006 SummerSlam event, respectively. Along with Edge, he would form the villainous tag team Rated-RKO and find success in the tag team division. After returning to singles competition Orton became a multi-time WWE Champion . In 2007 Orton began a long lasting on and off rivalry with John Cena, which lasted until 2014. Orton would also be involved in a lengthy rivalry with former Evolution leader Triple H, defeating him in
16133-558: The 2007 edition of SummerSlam and remained a popular fan-favorite wrestler. John Cena was one of the biggest breakout stars of the Ruthless Aggression era. Upon his debut, Cena quickly proved popular due to his "Doctor of Thuganomics" white rapper gimmick on the SmackDown brand, receiving a WWE Championship match against Brock Lesnar in the spring at Backlash in 2003, and had a major feud with The Undertaker during
16354-570: The Alliance win the Inaugural Brawl. At Survivor Series , WWF finally defeated WCW and ECW in a "Winner Takes All Match" and the angle was concluded. In the aftermath of the Invasion angle, WWF made several major changes to their product. Ric Flair returned to the WWF as "co-owner" of the company, feuding with Vince McMahon. Jerry Lawler returned to the company after a nine-month hiatus, after his replacement on commentary, Paul Heyman ,
16575-653: 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
16796-692: The Bank match was held, which was won by Carmella . By 2004, WWE began reintroducing Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) through content from the ECW video library and a series of books, which included the release of The Rise and Fall of ECW . On May 26, 2006, WWE relaunched the franchise with its own show on NBC Universal 's Sci Fi Channel, later to be known as Syfy , starting June 13, 2006. Despite initial concerns that professional wrestling would not be accepted by Sci Fi Channel's demographic, network President Bonnie Hammer stated that she believed ECW would fit
17017-531: The Federation; this affected licensed merchandise such as action figures, video games, and home video releases with its previous logo, which was replaced by a new "scratch" logo with only the two letters W and a red scar at the bottom of the logo. However, the older “Block” logo, which the company was no longer using at the time of the legal dispute and the full-length "World Wrestling Federation" name can be used by WWE when referencing history. During this time,
17238-676: The Hogan '86 version. A much larger version similar to the Hogan '86 championship belt was created for André the Giant before WrestleMania III , although he never wore it as champion. A custom championship belt was used by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin during his second reign (1998), which included his "Smoking Skull" logo as well as rattle snakes. As an answer, The Rock also had a custom championship belt designed and constructed, including his trademark "Brahma Bull" logo, but due to creative reasons, it never appeared on television. The Spinner Belt, originally
17459-515: The June 2, 2023, episode of SmackDown , Triple H presented Reigns with a new singular championship belt to represent the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Amidst confusion of the lineages, Fightful reported that WWE confirmed to them that the two championships are still in fact separate lineages, represented by one belt. This has also been represented on WWE.com, with both Reigns and Cody Rhodes , who defeated Reigns at WrestleMania XL , being shown as champions of both individual titles rather than
17680-534: The McMahon family crest of a lion holding a shield that had the company logo. The championship would drop the "undisputed" moniker in September 2002, becoming the WWE Championship again when it became exclusive to SmackDown!, while the Big Gold Belt was resurrected to represent the World Heavyweight Championship for Raw. After John Cena won the WWE Championship in April 2005, he introduced his own custom belt,
17901-408: 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
18122-488: 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
18343-701: The New Generation logo. In 1997, McMahon also informed Bret Hart that he could no longer afford to pay him what his contract stated, and suggested that he go back to the more lucrative deal that WCW had offered him. Hart signed with WCW, but a behind-the-scenes controversy developed over Hart's final matches, resulting in the Montreal Screwjob . Hart was defending the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Shawn Michaels at 1997 Survivor Series, when McMahon ordered
18564-685: The November 7, 2017, episode of SmackDown . This was also the first time in nearly 15 years that the championship changed hands on an episode of SmackDown ; the last time was in 2003 when Brock Lesnar defeated Kurt Angle for the title. At Crown Jewel on October 31, 2019, SmackDown wrestler "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt won the Universal Championship, thus transferring the title to SmackDown. Also at that event, after reigning WWE Champion Brock Lesnar had defeated Cain Velasquez to retain
18785-585: The SmackDown General Manager and Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon named Mick Foley the Raw General Manager. Below is a list of dates indicating the transitions of the WWE Championship between the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands. When introduced in 1963, the original WWWF World Heavyweight Championship was represented by a United States championship belt that Buddy Rogers had defended in various territories prior to becoming
19006-422: The U.S. and if I hadn't bought out my dad, there would still be 30 of them, fragmented and struggling. I, of course, had no allegiance to those little lords. Upon taking over the company, McMahon immediately worked to get WWF programming on syndicated television all across the United States. This angered other promoters and disrupted the well-established boundaries of the different wrestling promotions. In addition,
19227-402: The Undisputed WWE Universal Champion at WrestleMania 38 in April 2022, both the standard versions of the WWE Championship and Universal Championship belts were used in tandem to represent the undisputed title, although both titles retained their individual lineages. On the June 2, 2023, episode of SmackDown , in celebration of Reigns reaching 1,000 days as Universal Champion, he was presented with
19448-560: The Undisputed WWE Universal Championship (WWE and Universal Championships) by defeating Roman Reigns in a Bloodline Rules match at WrestleMania XL Night 2 on April 7, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . Following his win, the undisputed title's name was truncated to Undisputed WWE Championship. Professional wrestling 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling )
19669-490: The WWE Championship has switched brands, usually as a result of the WWE Draft ; the 2023 draft moved it back to SmackDown. The title was introduced in 1963 with Buddy Rogers becoming the first champion. Its backstory began in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), which had various territorial member promotions . In the 1950s, Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was a member of the NWA and by 1963, its executives held
19890-494: The WWE Championship switched brands as a result of the annual draft . In June 2006, WWE established ECW as a third brand, on which former Extreme Championship Wrestling stars and newer talent competed. When ECW's Rob Van Dam won the WWE Championship at ECW One Night Stand on June 11, 2006, the championship briefly became a world title of the ECW brand; the ECW World Heavyweight Championship
20111-483: The WWF Championship at WrestleMania X-Seven with help from his former rival, Mr. McMahon, turning into a villain in the process. At this point WWF won the Monday Night War against WCW. In the Invasion storyline, Shane McMahon ( kayfabe ) acquired World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in April 2001 and WCW personnel invaded WWF. For the first time since the Monday Night War, WWF's purchase of WCW had made
20332-560: The WWF and World Championships into the Undisputed WWF Championship, the "Big Eagle" championship belt was used in tandem with the " Big Gold Belt ", the former WCW Championship belt, until a single Undisputed Championship belt was introduced to champion Triple H on the April 1, 2002, episode of Raw . This new belt, dubbed the "Undisputed Championship Belt", was designed by New York -based tattoo artist Keith Ciaramello. Taking inspiration from WCW, this design included
20553-632: The WWF in a different direction with more realistic characters and edgier storylines. One of the most prominent stars was Stone Cold Steve Austin , whose rise to popularity began with his 1996 King of the Ring win and famous "Austin 3:16" speech. Despite starting out as a villain , Austin's popularity would start to gradually exceed those of the top fan favorites in the promotion. The D-Generation X group (consisting of Shawn Michaels , Triple H , Rick Rude , X-Pac , Road Dogg , Billy Gunn and Chyna ) proved to be prominently successful during this time. At Survivor Series on November 9, 1997, WWF debuted
20774-474: The WWF in spite of a lucrative offer by WCW. At Badd Blood: In Your House in 1997 the first Hell in a Cell match would be held between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels , which Michaels won after interference from Undertaker's storyline half brother Kane . The match received critical acclaim. The Hell in a Cell match has since become one of the most popular gimmick matches in wrestling history. In 1997, Vince McMahon responded to WCW's big success by taking
20995-447: The WWF the premier wrestling promotion in the world, he began an expansion process that fundamentally changed the industry. In an interview with Sports Illustrated , McMahon noted: In the old days, there were wrestling fiefdoms all over the country, each with its own little lord in charge. Each little lord respected the rights of his neighboring little lord. No takeovers or raids were allowed. There were maybe 30 of these tiny kingdoms in
21216-576: The WWF wrestlers are separated between two brands, Raw and SmackDown!. This became effective on April 1, 2002. In 2002, the World Wrestling Federation lost a lawsuit initiated by the World Wildlife Fund over the WWF trademark. The World Wrestling Federation was forced to rebrand itself and changed its business name to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on May 6, 2002. The company also dropped its "WWF Attitude" moniker that same day and shortly thereafter, it eliminated all elements that used
21437-410: The WWF. The increased revenue allowed McMahon to sign more talent, such as Brutus Beefcake , Tito Santana , Jake "The Snake" Roberts , Butch Reed , and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan . However, for McMahon to truly turn WWF into a national promotion, he needed to have WWF touring the entire United States. Such a venture was impossible with the revenue WWF currently had, so McMahon envisioned a way to obtain
21658-419: The WWWF World Heavyweight Championship, after the promotion seceded from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) following a dispute over the NWA World Heavyweight Championship . The inaugural champion was Buddy Rogers . Since its inception, the title has undergone many name changes due to company name changes and title unifications. It is the oldest championship currently active in WWE, and is presented as being
21879-447: The WWWF was renamed World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and then after conclusively ending its affiliation with the NWA in 1983, the title regained its "world championship" status and was renamed the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Although the full name appeared on the championship belts until 1998, the name was often abbreviated to WWF Championship, which became its official name in 1998. In 1991, World Championship Wrestling (WCW),
22100-840: The World Championship. After this, Jericho then defeated Austin, unifying the WWF and World Championships, and becoming the first Undisputed WWF Champion; the Undisputed championship retained the lineage of the WWF Championship and the World Championship was retired. Subsequently, the Big Eagle Belt (formerly representing the WWF Championship) and the Big Gold Belt (formerly representing the World Championship) were used in tandem to represent
22321-407: The World Wide Wrestling Federation was renamed as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 1980, Vincent K. McMahon , the son of Vincent J. McMahon, founded Titan Sports, Inc. and applied trademarks for the initials "WWF". Two years later in 1982, McMahon purchased Capitol Sports, the parent company of the WWF, from his father and associates Gorilla Monsoon and Arnold Skaaland . Seeking to make
22542-401: 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
22763-418: 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
22984-561: 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
23205-429: The bank briefcase, and on the June 30 episode of Raw , he cashed it in on the then- World Heavyweight Champion Edge, winning the title. The same night, he had to defend the title against John "Bradshaw" Layfield in the main event, but retained it. The final WWE event to receive an adult-oriented rating was the pay-per-view The Great American Bash in 2008, where Triple H retained the WWE Championship against Edge in
23426-475: The brand extension and wrestlers (including all champions), were then free to appear on any program. On July 19, 2016, SmackDown moved to Tuesdays and became a live show with its own set of wrestlers and writers, separate from Raw , thus reintroducing the brand split. The draft took place on the live premiere of SmackDown . On the July 18 episode of Raw , SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon named Daniel Bryan
23647-518: The brand of the same name, with championships assigned to and authority figures appointed for each brand. The holder of the Undisputed Championship was the only male wrestler allowed to appear on both shows. In May 2002, the WWF was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the championships were renamed accordingly. At first, the championship remained unaffiliated with either brand as wrestlers from both brands could challenge
23868-418: The branded name remained WWE. WWE is the largest pro wrestling promotion in the world. It has promoted some of the most successful wrestlers and storylines, and featured some of the most iconic and significant matches and moments in the history of sports entertainment . WWE airs several high-profile programs, such as Raw and SmackDown , in more than 150 countries, hosts at least 12 pay-per-view events
24089-424: 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
24310-418: 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
24531-474: The champion's logo in lieu of a nameplate; the default side plates consisted of a red globe with the WWE logo on the globe underneath a crown. After Randy Orton unified the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship, with the latter being retired, the "Big Logo Belt" was used in tandem with the "Big Gold Belt" to represent the renamed WWE World Heavyweight Championship. On the August 18, 2014, episode of Raw , reigning champion Brock Lesnar , who had won
24752-433: The champion. Following the appointment of Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon as General Managers of Raw and SmackDown , respectively, Stephanie McMahon convinced then-Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar to become exclusive to the SmackDown brand, leaving the Raw brand without a world title. In response, on September 2, Bischoff disputed Lesnar's status as champion, stating Lesnar was refusing to defend his title against
24973-413: The championship belt was updated several times. First in 1971, this design was on an indigo colored strap and contained three shield-shaped plates. Below the center plate, which read "World Heavyweight Champion" and had a cross at its center, a separate horizontal plate read "WWWF". This was replaced with another design in 1972. This version, on a red strap, read "WWWF Heavyweight Wrestling Champion" around
25194-498: The championship from one wrestler to another, and they generally kept the title for no more than a single month-long program before dropping it to the next babyface. Graham was the only heel character to keep his championship for longer than one month, as the WWWF felt it needed time to build Backlund up as championship material. The WWWF was relatively conservative for promotions of its day; running its major arenas monthly rather than weekly or bi-weekly. Programs generally involved
25415-539: The channel's theme of "stretching the imagination". On June 13, Paul Heyman , former ECW owner and newly appointed figurehead for the ECW brand , recommissioned the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to be the brand's world championship and awarded it to Rob Van Dam as a result of winning the WWE Championship at One Night Stand 2006. Under the WWE banner, ECW was presented in a modernized style to that when it
25636-423: 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
25857-500: The combined Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, which was shortened to Undisputed WWE Championship after Rhodes won the title. With the first brand split, an annual draft was established in 2002. Each year (except 2003), the General Managers participated in a draft lottery in which select members of WWE's roster were assigned to a brand. The revived ECW became a third brand from 2006 to 2010. On August 29, 2011, WWE ended
26078-461: 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
26299-749: The company in 2003 and 2004, respectively, while newcomers such as Brock Lesnar, who would become the youngest WWE Champion, and Randy Orton , who became the youngest World Heavyweight Champion, saw huge success. Triple H would also be featured prominently during this time, winning several of his fourteen world championships , as would The Undertaker , whose WrestleMania win streak started gaining fame. Eddie Guerrero , Rey Mysterio , Kurt Angle , Chris Benoit , Edge , Brock Lesnar , Randy Orton , John Cena , Batista , John "Bradshaw" Layfield , and Rob Van Dam were also given main event opportunities and all ended up becoming multiple-time world champions. From mid-2002 to 2003, WWE brought several prominent WCW stars to
26520-531: The company launched WWE Studios , which was originally formed as WWE Films. On June 24, 2002, episode of Raw , Vince McMahon officially named the new era "Ruthless Aggression". Later that same year, after WWE Champion Brock Lesnar became exclusive to the SmackDown! brand and with the creation of the World Heavyweight Championship , all the championships became show-exclusive too. Additionally, both Raw and SmackDown! began to stage individual pay-per-view events featuring only performers from that brand, with only
26741-495: The company used income generated by advertising, television deals, and tape sales to secure talent from rival promoters. Capitol Sports already controlled most of the northeastern territory, but the younger McMahon wanted the WWF to be a national wrestling promotion, something the NWA did not approve of. He withdrew his promotion from the NWA, much like the American Wrestling Association , which controlled
26962-591: The company, including Eric Bischoff , Scott Steiner , Goldberg , Kevin Nash and Ric Flair . The Great American Bash , originally a WCW pay-per-view event, made its debut as a WWE event. In August 2002, Shawn Michaels would also return as a wrestler at SummerSlam after a hiatus of over four years. He would achieve great success, and won the World Heavyweight Championship in the first Elimination Chamber match at Survivor Series . The match between Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 21 has been named one of
27183-540: 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
27404-419: The designated No. 1 contender, Triple H, and awarded the latter with the newly created World Heavyweight Championship . Immediately afterward, Lesnar's championship dropped the epithet "Undisputed" and became known as the WWE Championship. Over the course of the first brand split, the WWE Championship was used as the world title of the SmackDown brand twice and of the Raw brand three times. In all but two cases,
27625-447: The early 1950s when it was founded on January 7, 1953 as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC). The public branding of the company has undergone several name changes throughout the years, from the CWC to the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in 1963, then the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979, and to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002. Since 2011, it has branded itself solely as WWE. On September 12, 2023, Endeavor ,
27846-405: The edges with an eagle at the center, while six side plates represented several countries. 1973 saw the introduction of another yet similar design; this one was on a black strap and contained two grapplers above a differently designed eagle. This version was subsequently held by Stan Stasiak , Bruno Sammartino, "Superstar" Billy Graham – who wore a red leather variation – and Bob Backlund . During
28067-405: 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
28288-400: The end of the first brand split, a storyline saw CM Punk vowing to leave the company with the WWE Championship when his contract expired on July 17, 2011, the date of the 2011 Money in the Bank pay-per-view. At the event, Punk succeeded in defeating the defending champion John Cena to win the title, and left the company with the physical championship belt. Subsequently, the championship
28509-532: The event helped propel WrestleMania to become a staple in popular culture, and the use of celebrities has been a staple of the company to the present day. With the success of WrestleMania, other promotions which tried hard to keep the regional territory system alive started to merge under Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). Starrcade and The Great American Bash were the JCP versions of WrestleMania , but even when operating inside of its territory, JCP had trouble matching
28730-603: 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
28951-653: The face of the WWF would last until he departed from the company in the summer of 1993. Other stars such as "Macho Man" Randy Savage , "Rowdy" Roddy Piper , The Ultimate Warrior , The Honky Tonk Man , "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase , and others also helped make WWF a financial success in this period. Jim Duggan won the first Royal Rumble match in 1988. While these talents were recognizable as individuals, some talent became better known for their teamwork as part of tag teams. Stables or groups such as Demolition , Strike Force , The Hart Foundation , The British Bulldogs , The Rockers and The Fabulous Rougeaus helped create
29172-470: 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
29393-436: The first time a heel wrestler had won the main event of Wrestlemania. Stone Cold Steve Austin would make his return to the company at Unforgiven 2000 and then would make his in-ring return at No Mercy , to gain revenge on Rikishi, who had been revealed as the driver of limousine that had struck Austin at Survivor Series. Austin would go on to win the next year's Royal Rumble match and come out victorious against The Rock for
29614-482: The first time, setting up the "McMahon in Every Corner" four-way elimination main event between Big Show (managed by Shane McMahon ), The Rock (managed by Mr. McMahon), Triple H (managed by Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley), and future WWF Commissioner Mick Foley (managed by Linda McMahon ). Triple H won after Mr. McMahon turned on The Rock and thus retained the WWF Championship. This was historically significant as
29835-610: 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
30056-404: 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
30277-413: The greatest matches in WWE history. Though Angle won the match, Michaels received praise for his "courageous effort". In 2006, Michaels would reunite with Triple H to once again form the popular 1990s group D-Generation X (DX). They would have major feuds with The Spirit Squad , the McMahon family, and the newly established Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton), which ended prematurely when Triple H suffered
30498-459: The highest-rated segment in Raw history. The Attitude Era saw WWF expand its television coverage and its business structure, as well. During the summer of 1999, WWF's parent company, Titan Sports, was renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. (WWFE, Inc. or WWFE), and on October 19, 1999, became a publicly traded company, offering 10 million shares priced at $ 17 each, and began trading on
30719-415: The hip-hop theme. The WWE logo was encrusted with diamonds while other parts of the championship were emblazoned with various other jewels. The inner side plates read "WWE Champion", though before 2008, one side plate indicated the brand the title was designated to. The spinning function was phased out in later years and the logo set in a fixed place, most notably during The Miz 's first reign (2010–2011) when
30940-432: The image for the WWE Championship; the Universal Championship title history remains a picture of the previous blue belt. Custom championship belts have been created to honor certain reigning champions or match their characters . During Hogan's reign in 1986, he had a modified version of the Hogan '86 made, which included a picture of himself at the center. Not much is known about this "mystery belt" as he quickly reverted to
31161-439: The inaugural WWWF world champion. The center plate of this belt was an outline of the continental United States and there were two shield-shaped side plates with grapplers on them; the plates were on a red leather strap. On the center plate, there was a circle flanked by grapplers, and the circle was designed to contain a photograph of the titleholder. Above the circle was a shield with an eagle atop it with stars on opposite sides of
31382-526: 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
31603-480: 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
31824-496: 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
32045-404: The introduction of the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship belt in June 2023, WWE have since presented custom versions of it. The WWE Championship was the first world championship introduced into the promotion in 1963. The inaugural champion was Buddy Rogers, and there have been 55 different official champions overall and 11 vacancies. The longest reigning champion is Bruno Sammartino , who held
32266-416: The latter's reign, the promotion's name was shortened to World Wrestling Federation (WWF), but the physical championship belt still read "WWWF". After the previous design was destroyed, a new design was introduced in January 1983, nicknamed the "Big Green Belt" due to its size and the color of its strap. This was the first to be created under the WWF name. It included eight (later ten) side plates dedicated to
32487-421: The logo was turned upside down to look like an "M". On the February 18, 2013, episode of Raw , The Rock unveiled a new WWE Championship belt, often dubbed the "Big Logo Belt". The new title was partially designed by Orange County Choppers of American Chopper fame, as well as well-known belt maker Dave Millican. The championship included a large cut-out of the scratch WWE logo (encrusted with diamonds) inside
32708-977: The longest continuous world championship reign in men's wrestling history. Although Sammartino was the face of the WWWF, wrestlers such as Superstar Billy Graham and Bob Backlund were also hugely popular. The WWWF gained notoriety in the 1970s by holding their biggest shows at Shea Stadium or Madison Square Garden and doing strong business across the entire Northeast megalopolis . They leveraged former, but still popular, wrestlers such as Captain Lou Albano , "Grand Wizard of Wrestling" Ernie Roth and "Classy" Freddie Blassie to act as managers for Sammartino's heel (villainous) opponents. At this time, only babyface (fan favorite) wrestlers were allowed to have long championship reigns, such as Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales and Bob Backlund, who all retained for more than one year each. The heel champions, such as Ivan Koloff and Stan Stasiak , were used to " transition "
32929-492: The main event match. Following the event, WWE shifted to TV-PG, family-friendly programming. The concept for the Money in the Bank match was introduced in March 2005 by Chris Jericho . Jericho pitched the idea on an episode of Raw to general manager Eric Bischoff , who liked it and promptly signed it for WrestleMania 21, assigning Jericho, Christian , Chris Benoit , Edge , Shelton Benjamin , and Kane to participate in
33150-415: The main events of WrestleMania 22 and WrestleMania 23 , respectively. A popular wrestler during the period was Bobby Lashley from the ECW brand . Cena would defeat Lashley at The Great American Bash in 2007 in a well-received match, shortly after which Lashley left the WWE. After being sidelined due to a shoulder injury for the latter half of 2007, Cena returned in the 2008 Royal Rumble match, winning
33371-420: The major four pay-per-views Royal Rumble , WrestleMania , SummerSlam and Survivor Series remaining dual-branded. The practice of single-brand pay-per-view events was abandoned following WrestleMania 23 . In effect, Raw and SmackDown were operated as two distinct promotions, with a draft lottery taking place each year to determine which talent was assigned to each brand. This lasted until August 2011, when
33592-469: The major wrestling companies increased. In January 1993, WWF created their prime time cable TV program Monday Night Raw , which aired on the USA Network . In 1994, WCW signed Hulk Hogan and other former WWF stars to multi-year contracts, and in 1995 launched Monday Nitro on TNT , to go head to head with Raw , starting the Monday Night War . At WrestleMania X in 1994 a ladder match between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon received critical acclaim and
33813-434: The match. Triple H, Randy Orton, Ric Flair, and Batista were part of the villainous stable Evolution , who were prominently featured between 2003 and 2005 until their eventual break-up. Beginning in early 2005, the popularity of Batista would soar much like Cena's, winning the 2005 Royal Rumble and the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 21 from Triple H. Later in 2005, Batista would go on to defeat Triple H in
34034-582: The match. However, Batista defeated The Undertaker at Cyber Sunday . Cena and Batista would not face each other for the first time until SummerSlam in 2008, with Batista winning. Randy Orton became prominent during this period, becoming the youngest world champion in WWE history at the age of 24, defeating Chris Benoit at the 2004 SummerSlam event. Dubbed "the Legend Killer," he would go on to have feuds with legendary wrestlers such as The Undertaker and Hulk Hogan, facing them at WrestleMania 21 and
34255-465: The match. Edge won this inaugural match, and since, many times the match became a way to help elevate new stars to the main event, with winners such as CM Punk , The Miz , Daniel Bryan , Alberto Del Rio , Seth Rollins , and Dean Ambrose . The match format was originally exclusive to the annual WrestleMania until 2010, when the Money in the Bank pay-per-view debuted. In 2017, the first women's Money in
34476-498: 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
34697-406: The middle of the arena show cards, allowing the company to build upon the match's finish in order to sell tickets to the next event; reliable, popular workers such as Chief Jay Strongbow would then wrestle at the end of the show to send the crowd home happy. The WWWF also featured popular wrestlers based out of non-WWWF territories such as Dusty Rhodes and retained the services of (at the time)
34918-412: The most popular and highly paid wrestler in the world, André the Giant , in between his territorial and international obligations. WWWF held their then-major event Showdown at Shea three times at Flushing, New York's Shea Stadium in 1972, 1976 and 1980. Bruno Sammartino main evented the 1972 and 1980 events, wrestling Pedro Morales to a 75-minute time limit draw in 1972, and defeating Larry Zbyszko in
35139-451: The most recognizable and popular faces in professional wrestling. With reasonable revenue being made, McMahon was able to secure television deals, and WWF was being shown across the United States. McMahon also began selling videotapes of WWF events outside the Northeast through his Coliseum Video distribution company, again angering other promoters. The syndication of WWF programming forced promotions to engage in direct competition with
35360-476: The necessary capital through a risky all-or-nothing gamble on a supercard concept called WrestleMania in 1985. WrestleMania would be a pay-per-view extravaganza, viewable on closed-circuit television and marketed as the Super Bowl of professional wrestling. WrestleMania was not the first supercard seen in professional wrestling, as the NWA had previously run Starrcade in 1983. However, McMahon's vision
35581-591: The organization in 1971. Later that year, The Mongols created controversy after they left the WWWF with the WWWF International Tag Team Championship . As a result, the championship would be considered inactive until Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler won a tournament to claim the championship. They then defeated the Mongols in November 1971, voiding any claim The Mongols had to the championship. In March 1979, for marketing purposes,
35802-409: The parent company of mixed martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship , and WWE merged the two companies into a new parent company, TKO Group Holdings . WWE and UFC continue to operate as separate divisions of the company with WWE focusing on professional wrestling and UFC focusing on mixed martial arts . In 2023, WWE's legal name was changed to World Wrestling Entertainment, LLC, though
36023-437: The platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of 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
36244-452: The previous champions. The center plate featured a wrestler holding up a championship belt with a globe behind him. This design, held by Bob Backlund, The Iron Sheik , and Hulk Hogan , was replaced first by the "Hogan '84" design during the spring of 1984, then by the nearly identical "Hogan '85" design, which first appeared at WrestleMania 1. Both were called "Hogan" belts as they were only worn by Hulk Hogan, and they were similar in design to
36465-413: The previous design, included removable round center sections, allowing the holder's personal logo to be added to the championship belt; the default plates showed gold and red world maps with the WWE logo over them but without the crown from the previous design. Customizable side plates have since become a prominent feature with the majority of WWE's championship belts. The "Network Logo" design would become
36686-717: 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
36907-403: The promotion's most prestigious title, with many matches for the title having headlined pay-per-view and livestreaming events —including WWE's flagship event WrestleMania . In professional wrestling in general, it is considered to be one of the most prestigious championships of all time. From its inception until 2001, it was promoted as WWE's sole primary championship. An additional world title,
37128-486: The referee to award the match and the championship to Michaels as if Hart had submitted. While Hart went on to WCW, McMahon received enormous backlash from the media, wrestlers and fans alike, inspiring him to create the Mr. McMahon character, a villainous extension of his status as a promoter. Following Hart's departure, the company implemented a heavy push of popular anti-hero character Stone Cold Steve Austin, whose popularity
37349-435: The roster included: Big John Studd , André the Giant , Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka , "The Magnificent" Don Muraco , Junkyard Dog , "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff , Greg "The Hammer" Valentine , Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat , and Nikolai Volkoff . In 1984, Hogan was pushed to main event status. He defeated WWF World Heavyweight Champion The Iron Sheik at Madison Square Garden on January 23, 1984, and thus evolved into one of
37570-533: The rosters were merged and the Brand Extension was quietly phased out. After the company transitioned into its Ruthless Aggression era, this period still featured many elements of its predecessor the Attitude Era , including the levels of violence, sex, and profanity, but there was less politically incorrect content, and a further emphasis on wrestling was showcased. The two top stars of the Attitude Era, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, eventually left
37791-405: The same base outline but with a different design on the center plate itself. After the introduction of the Universal Championship, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship subsequently reverted to being called the WWE Championship, although from July to December 2016, it was called the "WWE World Championship". The physical belt retained the text "World Heavyweight Champion". After Roman Reigns became
38012-490: The same design as the "Network Logo" belt, but made from "entirely sustainable materials" (such as the strap being made from hemp and the center and side plates carved from wood of a naturally fallen oak tree ; the side plates also had his name instead of the WWE logo). In October 2014, WWE presented the San Francisco Giants a replica of the "Network Logo" belt for winning the 2014 World Series . This began
38233-500: The same. Despite this, his manager Paul Heyman had continued to carry around the previous WWE and Universal Championship belts until the end of July. On WWE's website, pictures of the previous title belts were still used for the individual title histories of each championship until April 2024 when the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship (subsequently referred to as the Undisputed WWE Championship) belt replaced
38454-456: The shield. The caption "World's Champion" was added below the circle. This title belt was worn by the inaugural champion Buddy Rogers in 1963 and the second champion Bruno Sammartino. After Sammartino became champion, a new title belt on a blue strap was created and used until 1965. The enlarged center piece contained a crowned globe and two grapplers, and read "WWWF World Champion"; the two side plates commemorated Sammartino's title win. This belt
38675-470: The side plates were updated with the inner side plates containing the McMahon family crest of a lion holding a shield that had the WWF logo. When it was unveiled, it originally contained the block WWF logo and was on a blue strap, but was updated in November 1998 to the WWF scratch logo and on a black strap. In addition to the logo, it read "World Wrestling Federation Champion". After Chris Jericho unified
38896-476: The spotlight over the next several years. By mid-1993, Bret "Hit Man" Hart , Shawn Michaels , The Undertaker , Razor Ramon , Diesel , Lex Luger , Yokozuna , Owen Hart , Crush , Tatanka and others all became the stars of what the WWF eventually branded as the "New Generation". Hulk Hogan would leave the company in the summer of 1993 and Hart would become one of the most popular stars of this period until his departure in 1997. Meanwhile, competition between
39117-440: 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
39338-496: The storylines. As well as short matches, backstage vignettes, shocking angles and levels of depicted violence. WWF rebounded in its ratings and popularity, with Raw Is War finally beating Nitro for the first time in 84 weeks on April 13, 1998. Ratings would continue to rise through 1998 and 1999; a 12-minute match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Undertaker drew a 9.5 rating on June 28, 1999. It currently stands as
39559-420: The success of WWF. After Ted Turner purchased majority of JCP's assets, the promotion would become World Championship Wrestling (WCW), providing WWF with a competitor until 2001, when WCW and its trademarks were purchased by WWF. WrestleMania would become an annual pay-per-view phenomenon, being broadcast in nearly 150 countries and almost 20 different languages. Perhaps the peak of the 1980s wrestling boom
39780-591: The success of WrestleMania to create more annual pay-per-views such as SummerSlam , the Royal Rumble and the Survivor Series , the latter two both receiving their names from unique stipulation matches featured at the event. These four shows would be jointly known as the “Big Four” of the company's programming up until the modern day. During the 1980s, Hulk Hogan would cross over into mainstream prominence presented as an all-American hero. Hogan's time as
40001-641: The summer. At WrestleMania 21 , he won his first world championship when he defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield, the WWE Champion at that time. Cena's popularity soared when he was drafted to Raw, where he quickly became the face of WWE, a rise not seen since Austin and Hulk Hogan . Cena's popularity has led to him becoming the all-time record "wish maker" for the Make-A-Wish Foundation , granting over 500 wishes as of August 2017. Cena secured victories over veterans Triple H and Shawn Michaels in
40222-426: 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,
40443-427: The title for the first time at the age of 25 years, 44 days during SummerSlam 2002 in August 2002, while the oldest champion is Mr. McMahon , who won the title for the first and only time at the age of 54 years, 21 days during the September 16, 1999 episode of SmackDown. John Cena holds the record for most reigns with 13 which occurred between 2005 and 2017. Cody Rhodes is the current champion in his first reign. He won
40664-399: The title from May 17, 1963, to January 18, 1971, for a total of 2,803 days (7 years, 8 months, and 1 day); Sammartino also holds the record for longest combined reign at 4,040 days. André the Giant is the shortest reigning champion, officially holding the title for 1 minute, 48 seconds due to selling the title to Ted DiBiase following his title win. The youngest champion is Brock Lesnar, who won
40885-490: The title the night before at SummerSlam , was presented with a single championship belt, retiring the Big Gold Belt in the process. This new standard belt, often dubbed the "Network Logo" belt, had a slightly updated design from the belt introduced by The Rock in 2013 as a result of WWE changing their corporate logo to the one originally used for the WWE Network , which had launched earlier that year in February. It included
41106-426: The title's name was reverted to WWE Championship. In light of the return of the brand split the following month, Ambrose was drafted to SmackDown . Ambrose then retained his title at Battleground on July 24 against Raw draftees Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns , making the title exclusive to SmackDown. On the July 25 episode of Raw , to address the lack of a world title for the brand, the WWE Universal Championship
41327-404: The title, he was attacked by Raw's Rey Mysterio , who Lesnar had attacked a few weeks prior. The following night on Friday Night SmackDown , Lesnar quit SmackDown and went to Raw to continue his feud with Mysterio, thus transferring the WWE Championship to Raw. At WrestleMania 38 Night 2 on April 3, 2022, SmackDown's Universal Champion Roman Reigns defeated reigning WWE Champion Brock Lesnar in
41548-409: The title. Following the end of the first brand split in August 2011, both the WWE Champion and World Heavyweight Champion could appear on both Raw and SmackDown . In November 2013, the night after Survivor Series , reigning World Heavyweight Champion John Cena made a challenge to reigning WWE Champion Randy Orton to determine WWE's undisputed world champion. Orton defeated Cena in a TLC match at
41769-423: The top, below that was an eagle with two banners below it reading "World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion". The bottom read "World Wrestling Federation" and above that was a name plate commemorating Hogan's title win, while the side plates noted previous champions. In October 1985, a new belt was introduced and was again only worn by Hogan. This belt is erroneously known as the "Hogan '86" belt. The center plate featured
41990-519: 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
42211-471: 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
42432-552: The upper Midwest. To become a national promotion, the WWF would have to become bigger than the AWA or any NWA promotion. McMahon's vision for his promotion was starting to become possible when he signed AWA talent Hulk Hogan , who had achieved popularity outside of wrestling – notably for his appearance in Rocky III as Thunderlips. McMahon signed Rowdy Roddy Piper as Hogan's rival, and shortly afterward signed Jesse "The Body" Ventura . Other significant wrestlers who were part of
42653-406: The usual black leather strap, The Ultimate Warrior wore white, light blue, yellow, and purple variations, with the latter also worn by Sgt. Slaughter . In March 1998, after "Stone Cold" Steve Austin became champion, he was presented with a new design, often dubbed the "Big Eagle" or " Attitude Era " championship belt. The center plate was similar to the previous design, but became fully rounded, and
42874-535: 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
43095-420: 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
43316-459: The year, new talent began to emerge for WWF: The Rock , Triple H, Mick Foley , Kurt Angle , The Big Show and Kane strengthened WWF's singles division, while stables such as D-Generation X and the Nation of Domination helped the fight against rival company WCW. WWF head writer Vince Russo also contributed to the formation of D-Generation X in 1997, The Undertaker vs. Kane feud in 1998,
43537-575: Was WrestleMania III at the Pontiac Silverdome , which set a "claimed" attendance record of 93,173. In the main event Hulk Hogan retained the WWF Championship against André the Giant . Hogan and Andre faced each other in a rematch on February 5, 1985, in WWF The Main Event which drew a 15.2 Nielsen rating and 33 million viewers the highest in the history of professional wrestling, this time with Andre winning. McMahon used
43758-425: 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
43979-725: Was a failure, having only lasted a single year before closing its doors. Head writer Chris Kreski replaced Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara , who defected to WCW in 1999. Kreski's work was admired for well-planned and detailed storylines, and the transitional period saw feuds and storylines such as the Triple H/Cactus Jack feud, the Triple H/Kurt Angle/ Stephanie McMahon love triangle, and a highly successful feud between The Hardy Boyz , Edge and Christian , and The Dudley Boyz . At Survivor Series , WWF's top star, Stone Cold Steve Austin,
44200-406: Was an independent promotion and was produced following the same format as the other brands, with match rules, such as count outs and disqualifications , being standard. Matches featuring the ruleset of the ECW promotion were classified as being contested under " Extreme Rules " and were only fought when specified otherwise. The brand would continue to operate until February 16, 2010, when the brand
44421-493: Was awarded the new WWWF World Heavyweight Championship , supposedly winning an apocryphal tournament in Rio de Janeiro . He lost the championship to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17, 1963, after suffering a heart attack shortly before the match. To accommodate Rogers' condition, the match was booked to last under a minute. Sammartino would retain the title for seven years, eight months and one day (2,803 days), making his
44642-488: 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
44863-426: Was common, but denied ever being pressured into doing so by McMahon. A week later, McMahon was acquitted of all charges, and was quoted as saying "I'm elated. Just like in wrestling, in the end the good guys always win." With business down in 1992 because of bad press from the steroid scandal – as well as the ring boy and Rita Chatterton sexual assault allegations – Vince McMahon began pushing younger talents into
45084-490: Was created for Raw. ECW became a third brand in 2006, adding the ECW Championship . That title was deactivated in 2010, and the World Heavyweight Championship was unified into the WWE Championship in 2013. The championship was again the sole world title of WWE until the introduction of the Universal Championship with the 2016 brand split and then a new World Heavyweight Championship in 2023. During both brand splits,
45305-599: Was created; Finn Bálor became the inaugural champion at SummerSlam . After the unveiling of the Universal title, the WWE Championship was renamed WWE World Championship, but reverted to WWE Championship in December 2016 during AJ Styles ' first reign. The title changed hands for the first time outside of North America when AJ Styles defeated Jinder Mahal to win his second WWE Championship in Manchester , England on
45526-412: Was defended around the world. The NWA generally promoted strong shooters as champions, to give their worked sport credibility and guard against double-crosses. While doing strong business in the Midwest (the NWA's core region), these wrestlers attracted little interest in the CWC territory. In 1961, the NWA board decided instead to put the championship on bleach blond showman "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers ,
45747-427: Was drafted to in the 2023 WWE Draft , he and his undisputed championship would become exclusive to that brand. Triple H subsequently unveiled a new World Heavyweight Championship for the opposing brand as the counterpart to Reigns' Undisputed Championship, which was won by Seth "Freakin" Rollins at Night of Champions . As Reigns was drafted to SmackDown, the World Heavyweight Championship became exclusive to Raw. On
45968-442: Was fired on-screen by Vince McMahon. Several former Alliance stars were absorbed into the regular WWF roster, such as Booker T , The Hurricane , Lance Storm , and Rob Van Dam . At Vengeance 2001 , Chris Jericho went on to unify the WCW Championship and WWF Championship , beating both The Rock and Steve Austin on the same night. Eventually, Vince McMahon brought back Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall to reunite
46189-650: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
46410-613: Was rendered defunct. In the summer of 2008, WWE began distancing itself from the edgier content of years past, going with a more conservative approach. On July 22, 2008, all WWE programming transitioned to a PG television rating, with the 2008 SummerSlam event being the first pay-per-view event held under PG ratings. Although the SmackDown -brand TV shows were always held under TV-PG ratings since inception in 1999, in 2008, Raw TV shows, which were broadcast in TV-14 ratings, started to be broadcast under TV-PG ratings. While fans would dub this
46631-482: Was rising and was similar to Hulk Hogan 's popularity in the 1980s. During an angle involving Mike Tyson at WrestleMania XIV in March 1998, Austin became WWF Champion by beating Shawn Michaels, giving rise to the Austin era and the despotic Mr. McMahon character, which began a long-lasting feud with Austin; this feud would be very important in the WWF turning the tides in the ratings war with rival company WCW. Later in
46852-657: Was run over by a car at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan to write him off of television due to a serious neck injury. At SummerSlam in 2000, WWF debuted the highly popular Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match , the inaugural match seeing Edge and Christian defeating The Dudley Boyz and The Hardy Boyz for the WWF Tag Team Championship . Prior to WrestleMania 2000 , the McMahon family had gone into an on-screen rivalry with each other for
47073-571: Was said to be ground breaking and to have revolutionized the concept of ladder matches. By mid-1996, with the introduction of the New World Order (nWo), a stable led by former WWF wrestlers Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall (Razor Ramon), and Kevin Nash (Diesel), Nitro started a near two years of ratings domination. More talent would eventually leave WWF for WCW including Ted DiBiase , Curt Hennig , reigning WWF Women's Champion Alundra Blayze and The 1-2-3 Kid while Bret Hart decided to stay with
47294-399: Was solved by introducing a "Brand Extension", with the roster split in half and the talent assigned to either Raw or SmackDown! in a mock draft lottery. Wrestlers, commentators and referees became show-exclusive, and the shows were given separate on-screen General Managers. On the March 25, 2002, episode of Raw , the World Wrestling Federation had the first ever WWF draft lottery , which meant
47515-415: 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
47736-470: Was stolen in September 1965; a new belt was created with a mostly similar design with a couple of minor differences with the design of the side plates. This is the most recognizable version of Sammartino's belt that was used until 1971 and has been called the "holy grail of professional wrestling artifacts". After defeating Sammartino in January 1971, Ivan Koloff held Sammartino's belt for three weeks before losing it to Pedro Morales . During Morales's reign,
47957-494: Was subsequently reactivated for the ECW brand upon Van Dam's title win. Van Dam held both titles until he lost the WWE Championship to Raw's Edge the following month. The ECW brand was disbanded in 2010, subsequently deactivating the ECW Championship. In April 2011, WWE ceased going by its full name with the "WWE" abbreviation becoming an orphaned initialism , and the first brand split ended that August. Just prior to
48178-417: 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
48399-423: Was then established and awarded to Buddy Rogers with the explanation that he won a fictional tournament in Rio de Janeiro , supposedly defeating Antonino Rocca in the finals. After several years, the WWWF became affiliated with the NWA once again; one of the caveats of rejoining is that the championship would no longer be recognised as a "world championship", and only as a regional heavyweight championship. In 1979,
48620-526: Was to make WWF and the industry itself mainstream, targeting more of the general television audience by exploiting the entertainment side of the industry. With the inaugural WrestleMania, WWF initiated a joint-promotional campaign with MTV , which featured a great deal of WWF coverage and programming, in what was termed the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection . The mainstream media attention brought on by celebrities including Muhammad Ali , Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper at
48841-425: Was vacated and Rey Mysterio won an eight-man tournament by defeating The Miz in the finals to be crowned the new WWE Champion, only to subsequently lose it later that night to Cena, for the latter's record ninth reign . Punk then returned to WWE with his own championship belt, disputing Cena's claim to the title . The two WWE Champions wrestled each other at SummerSlam ; Punk defeated Cena to solidify his claim on
#810189