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37-473: Jess McMahon was a successful professional boxing promoter who began working with Tex Rickard in 1926. With the help of Rickard, he began promoting boxing at the third Madison Square Garden . McMahon would later take over the wrestling side of Rickard's promotional business; Rickard was noted for disliking wrestling and prevented wrestling events from being held at Madison Square Garden. A few years prior to 1926, professional wrestler Toots Mondt had created

74-558: A ring announcer and commentator for WWWF television programs since 1969. Beginning in 1971, he began promoting events for his father in isolated regions of the WWWF territory, primarily in Maine . In 1982, Titan Sports, Inc. acquired Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd., effectively relocating its headquarters from New York City to Greenwich, Connecticut . At the annual meeting of the NWA in 1983,

111-448: A championship division was instituted for these teams, but the concept failed to become widely popular; outside Mexico , multi-man tag matches are seen as a special attraction. Typically, a tag team championship is awarded to and defended by a team of two. However, during the 1970s and 1980s, a dominant trio in the NWA known as The Fabulous Freebirds won several regional tag team championships and were allowed to employ any combination of

148-615: A commercial diploma at the age of 17. The McMahon brothers showed a higher interest in sports than in a banking career. By 1909, the McMahon brothers were managing partners of the Olympic Athletic Club and bookers at the Empire Athletic Club and St. Nicholas Athletic Club , located in or near Harlem . Because of a loss of public interest in boxing, the two McMahons expanded their affairs in 1911, founding

185-570: A new style of professional wrestling that he called “Slam Bang Western Style Wrestling”. The advent of Slam Bang Western Style Wrestling ultimately transformed professional wrestling from a legitimate combat sport into a series of predetermined pseudo-competitive exhibitions. Mondt convinced wrestler Ed Lewis , who then held the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship , and his manager Billy Sandow to embrace this new predetermined style of wrestling, with

222-449: A single opponent). All other members of the team wait outside the ropes (on the ring apron or the floor) in the team's specified corner. Only an active/legal wrestler is allowed to score a fall or have a fall scored against him/her. But any wrestler, legal or outside, may face disqualification for himself or his team for violating rules. Once a tag is made, the wrestler tagging out has a grace period (typically five to ten seconds) to leave

259-431: A tag. The tension builds as the legal man is unable to tag out until something happens (a second wind, miscommunication between the opponents or another stroke of luck) that allows the first team to tag and reverse the momentum of the match in their favor. When done well, this results in a large audience reaction, and was the typical climax of tag matches for decades. WWE employs this tactic in nearly every tag team match to

296-662: A territorial Northeast-based wrestling promotion into a worldwide entertainment organization. He died from pancreatic cancer at 69 years old on May 24, 1984. In October 2020, WWE's NXT brand introduced the "Capitol Wrestling Center", a new home studio in Orlando, Florida within the WWE Performance Center training facility, which was named as a tribute to the CWC. Jess McMahon Roderick James " Jess " McMahon Sr. (October 29, 1882 – November 21, 1954)

333-751: A young New York City woman named Rose E. Davis in 1912 who was of Irish descent, and together they had three children: sons Roderick James Jr. and Vincent James, and daughter Dorothy. On November 22, 1954, as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage , Jess died at a hospital in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania . Upon his death, his second son, Vincent, took over the business, eventually creating the World Wide Wrestling Federation promotion, known today as WWE . Tag team Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Tag team wrestling

370-405: Is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name and identity. In most team matches, only one competitor per team is allowed in the ring at a time. This status as

407-557: The Garden than for his 20 years as a wrestling promoter. On January 7, 1953, the first show under the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) banner was produced. It is not certain who the founder of the CWC was. Some sources state that it was Jess' son Vincent J. McMahon while other sources (including the website of the CWC's successor, WWE ) credit Jess himself as the founder of the CWC. McMahon married

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444-636: The NWA World Heavyweight Championship to Lou Thesz . McMahon and Mondt continued to promote Rogers as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, despite his loss to Thesz, until April 11 when they awarded him the inaugural WWWF World Heavyweight Championship . Rogers lost the WWWF title to Bruno Sammartino on May 17. Despite the change in the promotion's trade name , the company was still known legally as Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd., which served as

481-702: The New York Lincoln Giants , a black baseball team, which played at Olympic Field in Harlem. With a team that included five of the best black players in the nation (who the McMahons recruited away from teams in Chicago and Philadelphia), the Lincoln Giants dominated black and white opponents for three seasons. In 1914, financial difficulties forced them to sell the team; however, they retained

518-564: The 1930s, the McMahons operated the Commonwealth Casino, on East 135th Street in Harlem. Boxing was the primary attraction. The McMahons booked black fighters to cater to Harlem's growing black population; fights between blacks and whites drew the largest, racially mixed crowds. In 1922, they established a black professional basketball team, the Commonwealth Big 5, to try to attract patrons to the casino. For two years,

555-542: The CWC. Together, Vincent J. McMahon and Toots Mondt were very successful and controlled approximately 70% of the NWA board's booking decisions, largely due to their dominance in the heavily populated northeastern United States . In early 1963, the CWC pulled out of the NWA and transformed into the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), the precursor to current-day WWE , following a dispute over CWC wrestler Buddy Rogers being booked to lose

592-808: The McMahons and WWF employee Jim Barnett all withdrew from the organization. In 1984, in an attempt to make the WWF the premier wrestling promotion in the world, McMahon began a national (and later international) expansion that fundamentally changed the wrestling industry and brought an end to its territorial era. By 1985, Titan Sports moved its headquarters to Titan Towers in Stamford, Connecticut and, in 1987, reincorporated itself under Delaware General Corporation Law . Titan Sports later changed its name to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. in 1999, and World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) in 2002. Vincent J. McMahon would not live to see his company transform from

629-493: The New York City wrestling scene. Mondt's control over wrestling in New York City ended after promoter Jack Pfefer revealed the predetermined nature of wrestling to the area's sports writers, harming wrestling's popularity in the city. Mondt additionally had major disagreements with his top star Antonino Rocca , which led to Mondt's partner Ray Fabiani aligning with other promoters to appease Rocca. On January 7, 1953,

666-673: The Rens to become the dominant black team of the 1920s and 1930s. After 1915, Jess anchored in Long Island , where he became the first McMahon to promote professional wrestling, at the Freeport Municipal Stadium. The wrestling wars led McMahon to ally himself with another independent faction, captained by Carlos Louis Henriquez. Together they booked the Coney Island and Brooklyn Sport Stadiums, with Carlos being

703-538: The active or legal wrestler may be transferred by physical contact, most commonly a palm-to-palm tag which resembles a high five . The team-based match has been a mainstay of professional wrestling since the mid-twentieth century, and most promotions have sanctioned a championship division for tag teams. The first "World" tag team championship was promoted in San Francisco in the early 1950s. Tag matches with three-man teams were developed, and in some territories,

740-722: The basic tag team match is referred to as Lucha de Parejas (Doubles Fight), a six-man match as a Lucha de Trios , and an eight-man match as a Lucha Atómica (Atomic Fight). A "bookend" tag team is a (sometimes derogatory) term for a tag team where the members look and/or dress alike (e.g., The Killer Bees , the British Bulldogs , Los Conquistadores , the Hart Foundation , etc.). Bookends are common in North America , Europe and Mexico , but not in Japan as

777-472: The contracts of many of the players, and for three more years they operated another team, the Lincoln Stars , using Lenox Oval on 145th Street as a home field. Touring with the squad, McMahon and his brother ventured to Havana, Cuba, in 1915, where they co-promoted the fight between Jess Willard and then-champion Jack Johnson , scheduled for 45 rounds (Willard won by knockout in the 26th round). In

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814-589: The first show under the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) banner was produced. It is not certain who the founder of the CWC was. Some sources state that it was Jess' son Vincent J. McMahon while other sources (including the website of the CWC's successor, WWE ) credit Jess himself as the founder of the CWC. Shortly after its founding, the CWC joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and Mondt soon after joined

851-468: The floor, are employed to maintain order for this type of match. In independent discussion and analysis of matches, certain terms are used to describe specific scenarios involving tag team matches. These are planned and timed to inject drama into a match. One spot common to many tag team match is the hot tag . One member of one team is in the ring, too weakened to move or otherwise impaired, while his partner watches helplessly, struggling to reach him for

888-485: The group's members in their title defenses. In kayfabe , this made it difficult for challengers to prepare for their upcoming title fights since the challengers did not know exactly whom they were facing. This was an effective gimmick and is still utilized by other wrestling companies. The stipulation has become traditionally known as the "Freebird Rule". A common storyline is former tag team partners turning on each other with one member usually turning heel or babyface in

925-496: The holding company for the WWWF and later the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) until 1982. The WWWF operated in a conservative manner compared to other wrestling promotions of its time; it ran its major arenas monthly rather than weekly or bi-weekly, usually featuring a babyface champion wrestling various heels in programs that consisted of one to three matches. After gaining a television deal and turning

962-832: The main fan favorite. The formation of "the Trust" calmed the New York territory enough to allow McMahon access to a larger pool of wrestlers. Among those wrestlers were Jim Browning , Hans Kampfer, Mike Romano and Everett Marshall . By 1937, wrestling's popularity was waning. However, while most bookers left the city for fresher ground, Jess dug in for the long haul. His contacts allowed him to freely trade wrestlers with promoters in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Connecticut. A perpetual force in Northeastern sports, McMahon may be more remembered for his spell as matchmaker at

999-407: The match, a referee may overlook any of these at his discretion, and during the frenzied action, often will be more lenient with them. In some multi-man tag matches in lucha libre , a wrestler can make himself the team's legal man simply by setting foot in the ring, and his partner then leaves. This allows for action to become nearly continuous. Two referees, one stationed inside the ring and one on

1036-565: The mid-1960s. McMahon later made Mondt a salaried employee of the WWWF, an arrangement that continued until Mondt's death on June 11, 1976. The WWWF rejoined the NWA in 1971. By March 1979, for marketing purposes, the World Wide Wrestling Federation was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The following year, Vincent J. McMahon's son, Vincent K. McMahon , founded Titan Sports, Inc., which incorporated on February 21, 1980, originally in Massachusetts . Vincent K. McMahon had served as

1073-406: The point that they fired a referee in 2008 after a botched finish that, while the match produced the intended finish, did not feature a hot tag . A common variation on the hot tag sees both wrestlers from the heel team attacking a face, while his partner protests to the referee about this bending of the rules (and therefore, unintentionally "distracting" the referee away from the heels). Eventually

1110-456: The process, which will invariably ignite a feud . This can be used when one member is being called on to develop a new gimmick . The basic tag team match has two teams of two wrestlers facing off against each other. All standard rules for singles wrestling apply to a team match. However, only one wrestler from each team, called the "legal man" is allowed in the ring at a time (although heels will often flout this rule in an attempt to gang up on

1147-409: The ring before risking disqualification. Offensive cooperation from a team member is allowed during this time window; thus it is rather commonplace for both members of a team, especially heel teams, to milk this grace period and have two men in the ring simultaneously with only one member of an opposing team The following are standard requisites for making a legal tag: As the ultimate authority over

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1184-569: The team defeated black and white opponents, including Harlem's other black professional team, the Rens . Sportswriters considered the Big 5 the best black team in the nation, although they could not defeat the dominant white team of the time, the Original Celtics . Despite their success, the Big 5 did not attract large crowds, and the McMahons shut the team down after the 1923/1924 season, leaving

1221-645: The three men forming a business partnership dubbed the " Gold Dust Trio ". The Gold Dust Trio formed what is considered the first modern promotion in professional wrestling history and were successful in getting many wrestlers of the time to sign contracts with their promotion. After much success, a power struggle amongst its members caused the trio to dissolve and, with it, their promotion. Mondt later formed partnerships with several other promoters, including Jack Curley in New York City . Curley's ill health led to Mondt, aided by Jess McMahon and others, taking over

1258-399: The true legal man, often from behind. A tag team match involving more than two wrestlers per team is often referred to by the total number of people involved (e.g. a six-man tag team match involves two teams of three), while a tag team match involving more than two teams is referred to by normal qualifiers (e.g. a triple threat tag team match involves three teams of two). In lucha libre ,

1295-407: The weakened face wrestler does make the tag to his partner, who comes in as the fresh man and is able to take on both opponents quite easily. A blind tag is a legal tag made without the legal opponent's knowledge, usually while his back is turned. This allows the team who uses it an opportunity to confuse the legal opponent, who turns to face what he assumes to be his opponent only to be attacked by

1332-436: The well-known tag team wrestler Lou Albano into a manager for Sammartino's heel opponents, the WWWF began doing sell out business and, by 1970, became one of the largest promotions of wrestling's territorial era . After disagreements over television deals which were compounded by issues caused by his gambling addiction , Mondt was "muscled out" of the leadership of the WWWF and ultimately sold off his shares to McMahon in

1369-699: Was an American professional wrestling and professional boxing promoter, and patriarch of the McMahon family , founders of Capitol Wrestling Corporation , precursor to the present-day WWE . Roderick James McMahon was born October 29, 1882, in Manhattan , New York, to hotel owner Roderick McMahon (1846–1922) and Elizabeth McMahon (1848–1911), from County Galway . His parents had recently moved from Ireland to New York City . He and his older siblings Lauretta (born 1876), Catharine (born 1878) and Edward (born 1880) attended Manhattan College . McMahon graduated with

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