The York Foundation was a professional wrestling stable in World Championship Wrestling between 1990 and 1992. It was led by tech-savvy businesswoman Alexandra York , and comprised former babyfaces who adopted formal wear and formalized their ring names upon joining.
93-475: Miss Alexandra York entered WCW near the end of 1990 as the manager and financial analyst of Mike Rotunda . According to the storyline Rotunda had inherited a lot of money, turned heel and then adopted the name “Michael Wallstreet” (a gimmick patterned after Gordon Gekko from the film Wall Street ). Miss York would use her laptop to analyze Wallstreet's opponents and help him win matches. Wallstreet started off strong by defeating The Starblazer at Clash of
186-694: A Southern Baptist , but later became non-denominational. Runnels has worked with various charities, including the Make-a-Wish Foundation , Big Brothers Big Sisters of America , Boys & Girls Clubs of America , Children's Miracle Network , and Hermie & Elliott Sadler Foundation and Fit Kids Marathon. She dated Brian Pillman in 1990 while they were both in WCW. In 1993, she married Dustin Runnels , whom she met while they were both working for WCW, taking his last name as her own. They have
279-435: 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
372-415: 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
465-432: A plant from a ringside seat and later became the bodyguard for Triple H. Later, Brian Pillman feuded with Goldust over Marlena. As part of the angle , Pillman won Marlena in a match and sent Goldust a picture of her handcuffed in a bed. Pillman, however, died in the middle of the storyline. Originally, the plan was to have the rivalry culminate in an on-air wedding where Marlena would leave Goldust for Pillman. After
558-415: 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
651-477: A " Stink Face match " at SummerSlam , which The Kat won by first performing the move on Runnels. On June 8, 2000, she competed in the first ever women's battle royal to determine the #1 contender to the WWF Women's Championship , but was eliminated by Lita . Runnels subsequently became the onscreen girlfriend and manager of Perry Saturn , who was a member of The Radicalz alliance. She accompanied Saturn to
744-532: A Florida judge ordered Jack to stop selling nude and bloody photographs of Runnels. Runnels filed suit, accusing Jack of making libelous comments about her and requested that a court ban him from distributing sexually-explicit photographs of her. Jack said that he took the photos, that they belonged to him and that he should be free to pass them on to whoever he pleases. A judge in Sanford, Florida, temporarily banned Jack from distributing photographs of Runnels ahead of
837-557: A Steel Cage match between Jeff Hardy and Al Snow on an episode of RAW . She continued interfering in matches until she was injured when Bubba Ray Dudley powerbombed her through a table. She returned on February 27 at No Way Out and cost the Hardy Boyz a match. She then became the manager of Edge and Christian, and the storyline originally called for her to come between the duo, resulting in them becoming singles wrestlers with Runnels managing Christian . The storyline, however,
930-494: A US soldier 15 years her junior. The couple remained together for over five years. Terri began dating former professional wrestler New Jack in 2009. Jack professed his love for her in an interview with host Fat Man After Dark on the Future Endeavors wrestling radio show and described some of the pitfalls, even today, of a mixed-race relationship. As of July 2011, the couple was no longer together. In August 2011,
1023-413: 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
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#17327909864651116-532: 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
1209-519: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
1302-585: 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
1395-430: A daughter, Dakota, who was born in 1994. Dustin Runnels's strained relationship with his father Dusty Rhodes caused problems in their marriage, and Terri alleges that Dusty spread rumors about her that included infidelity and gold-digging. The couple divorced in 1999 after six years of marriage. Years after the divorce, they were able to have a "better relationship". In 2003, she began a relationship with Tyree Clowe,
1488-404: 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
1581-410: 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
1674-757: A hearing. On May 29, 2019, Runnels was arrested in Hillsborough County, Florida , and charged with felony possession of a firearm after bringing a loaded gun into the Tampa International Airport . She was later released on $ 2,000 bond and posted a video to her Twitter page, explaining her side of the incident. In June 2019, the charges against Runnels were dropped. Professional wrestling Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling )
1767-561: A host and interviewer. During her time with the World Wrestling Federation (or WWE), she briefly held the Hardcore Championship , her only championship during her career. After leaving the wrestling business, Runnels became involved in philanthropic work. Runnels was originally a make-up artist for CNN from 1985 to 1991, where she worked on Larry King 's make-up. On the weekends, she did makeup for
1860-405: 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
1953-799: 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
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#17327909864652046-424: 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
2139-440: 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
2232-488: A result, she then became the manager of Raven , a member of The Alliance , who stole Saturn's mop and fed it into a woodchipper . In late 2001, Terri replaced Trish Stratus as the host of the WWF recap program Excess . She briefly feuded with Stratus, resulting in a wet T-shirt contest between the two on Raw . During this time, she also became the backstage interviewer on Raw and began to wrestle occasionally against
2325-503: 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
2418-586: 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
2511-588: A “ruthless tax collector” known as Irwin R. Schyster. With no one to manage, Miss York started to scout WCW, looking for her next “project”. At Clash of the Champions XIV Miss York found her man. During a match between Terry Taylor and Ricky Morton Miss York appeared at ringside, distracted Morton and allowed Taylor to win the match. Taylor's turn did not come as any surprise as he was mistakenly introduced as “the Computerized Man of
2604-436: 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
2697-410: 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
2790-678: Is an American retired professional wrestling manager , television host , and part-time professional wrestler . Runnels began her professional wrestling career in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as Miss Alexandra York , manager of the York Foundation . She later joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), later renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where she worked for two years as Marlena , and then under her real name. In
2883-427: 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
York Foundation - Misplaced Pages Continue
2976-470: 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
3069-624: 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
3162-557: 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
3255-431: 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
3348-584: 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
3441-400: 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
3534-460: 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
3627-488: The 90s” before the match. Taylor joined the York Foundation and insisted on being known as Terrence Taylor from now on and started wearing a business suit . Miss York also added Mr. Hughes as a bodyguard. Next Miss York set her sights on Dustin Rhodes (later her real-life husband) wanting him to join her foundation. When Dustin Rhodes turned her down, Taylor attacked him, kicking off a long-running feud between Rhodes and
3720-653: 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
3813-469: The Champions XIII before engaging in a feud with Terry Taylor . Miss York claimed that her computer program predicted that Wallstreet could beat Taylor in less than nine minutes, so during their Starrcade 1990 match a nine-minute countdown clock was used. Wallstreet won the match within the time limit. In early 1991, Rotunda left WCW and signed with the World Wrestling Federation where he became
York Foundation - Misplaced Pages Continue
3906-629: The Marlena-Goldust alliance dissolved, Goldust revealed Luna Vachon as his new manager. Runnels later re-emerged in 1998, under her real name, as the on-screen girlfriend of Val Venis . When Runnels claimed to be pregnant with Venis' baby, he dumped her. She later joined forces with Jacqueline Moore , who had just ended her alliance with Marc Mero , to form the Pretty Mean Sisters (P.M.S.). They later formed an alliance with D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry , accompanying them to
3999-408: 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
4092-408: 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
4185-493: The Terri Invitational Tournament, a best-of-five series, between Edge and Christian and The Hardy Boyz , with the winner receiving her managerial services and the sum of $ 100,000. The Hardy Boyz won the tournament, which culminated in a ladder match at No Mercy (with the prize money suspended above the ring in a bag). Runnels spent the next few months as their manager, notably getting involved in
4278-629: The York Foundation, a group of wrestlers with finance-themed gimmicks . The York character was created over a lunch with Tony Schiavone , one of WCW's announcers. She worked at WCW for two years. Runnels debuted in the World Wrestling Federation at the Royal Rumble in 1996 as Marlena, a character modeled after Marlene Dietrich . She debuted as a coolly unconcerned and indifferent television director -like manager, often sitting at ringside in her director's chair . With her cigar-smoking, seductive, nonchalant and mysterious gimmick, she acted as
4371-779: The York Foundation. In April and May, she had Taylor team with Arn Anderson and Larry Zbyszko as potential recruits, but they decided to form a tag team called the Enforcers instead of joining the York Foundation. She also gave "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel a few tryouts but did not sign him as he lost these matches. At Clash of the Champions XV on June 12, 1991, the York Foundation Ricky Morton - now renamed Richard Morton - joined in an attack on Dustin Rhodes and also beat up his longtime Rock 'N Roll Express partner Robert Gibson just as he announced he
4464-401: 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
4557-418: 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
4650-561: 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
4743-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
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#17327909864654836-418: 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
4929-423: 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
5022-512: 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
5115-540: 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
5208-477: The early years of her career with the WWF, she managed her (then) real-life husband Dustin Runnels (known on-screen as Goldust) and was a member of the Pretty Mean Sisters alliance. She also managed both Hardy Boyz and Edge & Christian following the Terri Invitational Tournament in 1999. Subsequently, she had an on-screen rivalry with The Kat , managed The Radicalz stable , and worked as
5301-405: 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
5394-603: 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
5487-470: 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
5580-610: 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
5673-460: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
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#17327909864655766-526: 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
5859-480: 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
5952-496: 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
6045-592: The likes of Molly Holly , Victoria and Stratus. She also became the subject of Kane 's affections and they regularly flirted during backstage segments. On May 27, 2002, she briefly held the perpetually contested Hardcore Championship when she pinned Steven Richards , though he immediately pinned her to regain the title. On the August 19 episode of RAW , Eric Bischoff placed her a battle royal featuring former Hardcore champions such as Tommy Dreamer , Bradshaw and Jeff Hardy . She eliminated herself immediately when
6138-528: The manager of her (then) real-life husband Dustin , who was wrestling under the gimmick of Goldust. Complementing Goldust, the Marlena character too was representative of all things gold (sporting gold dresses, seated in a gold director's chair, carrying a gold purse sometimes consisting of actual gold dust used to throw in the eyes of Goldust's opponents). Often, Marlena took to lasciviously making out with Goldust when she wasn't coaching and encouraging him to do
6231-536: The match began. On the September 2 edition of RAW she defeated Stacy Keibler in a "Lingerie pillow fight", but was hit with a clock by Keibler and humiliated after the match, thus igniting a brief feud between the two. Her final match was a losing effort alongside the returning Lita against divas Molly Holly and Gail Kim on the November 10 edition of Raw . After eight years with the company, in March 2004, Runnels
6324-527: The members of the York Foundation were used more as “Enhancement Talent” to make wrestlers such as Van Hammer or Big Josh . The sole highlight was Richard Morton's participation in the tournament to crown the first ever WCW Light Heavyweight Championship where he reached the finals before losing to Flyin’ Brian . The York Foundation's final feud was with The Fabulous Freebirds and was cut short when it disbanded in January 1992. Terri Runnels Terri Lynne Boatright Runnels (born October 5, 1966)
6417-498: 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
6510-437: 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
6603-717: 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
6696-539: The ring at Fully Loaded in July 2000, where Saturn defeated Eddie Guerrero for the European Championship . Saturn, Runnels, and Radicalz member Dean Malenko also had a series of matches with Team Xtreme (The Hardy Boyz and Lita ). The on-screen partnership lasted until Saturn, who had hit his head during a match, opted to continue seeing "Moppy" (a mop he believed was alive) instead of Runnels. As
6789-720: The ring for a match against Venis and The Godfather in December at Rock Bottom: In Your House . In January, Runnels claimed to have suffered a miscarriage after she was knocked off the ring apron by Brown. Weeks later, Brown discovered that Runnels had never been pregnant. P.M.S. gained a "love slave" named Meat in May, whom Runnels controlled using sex. As a part of the storyline, P.M.S. used Meat for his body, forcing him to have sex with them. The alliance, however, broke up by July, when Jacqueline Moore became frustrated with Runnels' infatuation with Meat. In late 1999, Runnels arranged
6882-567: The same with his fellow opponents. The cigar-smoking aspect of the character came about because Runnels enjoyed smoking them in real life. The risque characters helped bring about The Attitude Era of the late-1990s and the Diva division . During a feud between Goldust and Triple H over the Intercontinental Championship , on February 16, 1997, at In Your House 13: Final Four , Marlena was choked by Chyna , who debuted as
6975-440: 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
7068-426: 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,
7161-561: The third member of her foundation. Over the summer, the Foundation continued its feud with Dustin Rhodes, Tom Zenk and Bobby Eaton all of whom had turned down Miss York's offer of membership. The Foundation beat Dustin Rhodes, Tom Zenk and Big Josh for the WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Titles on October 8, 1991 and held the titles until they were abandoned in late November 1991. As fall turned to winter
7254-519: 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
7347-471: 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
7440-535: 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
7533-583: The women who made an impact outside the ring. During her tenure in the WWF, Runnels appeared on the show The Weakest Link in 2002 as part of a charity show where all the contestants were WWF personalities. On the show, she played for the Ronald McDonald House charity, which houses parents of hospitalized children for reduced or no cost. Runnels was the fourth contestant voted out of the game. Boatright grew up in Florida . She grew up as
7626-586: The world. On January 22, 2018, in the Raw 25 Years special episode , Runnels was honored as part of a segment involving women considered legends that contributed to the company's success, including Maryse , Kelly Kelly , Lilian Garcia , Michelle McCool , Maria Kanellis and the Hall of Famers Torrie Wilson , the Bella Twins , Jacqueline and Trish Stratus . In 2021, Runnels was listed by WWE.com as one of
7719-430: The wrestlers of Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). When the company was purchased by Ted Turner in 1988 and renamed World Championship Wrestling (WCW), she moved to Atlanta and continued doing make-up for some of the wrestlers. Booker Ole Anderson eventually asked her to become part of the roster as a manager . Runnels debuted in 1990 as Alexandra York, a laptop -carrying accountant who led an alliance known as
7812-420: 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
7905-425: 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
7998-488: 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
8091-571: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
8184-621: Was ready to return from a serious knee injury. In July, Richard Morton defeated Gibson at the Great American Bash 1991 . Gibson left WCW shortly after allowing Morton to focus on the York Foundation's feud with Dustin Rhodes & friends. At the Great American Bash, the Foundation lost the services of Mr. Hughes as he joined forces with Harley Race and Lex Luger , instead Miss York brought in Thomas Rich to be
8277-540: Was released from WWE prior to a massive firing spree. In an April 2015 interview with Vince Russo , Runnels stated that she was flown up on April 1, 2004, to the WWE offices for a meeting with WWE executives Kevin Dunn and John Laurinaitis where she was told that they were parting ways with her; the reason she was told that she was flown up was because the WWE respected her. After leaving the company, Runnels spent time traveling
8370-415: Was rewritten, and on an episode of SmackDown! , Edge and Christian—who would now continue wrestling as a tag team—revealed they no longer wanted Runnels' services. She, therefore, slapped Edge, who responded by spearing her. Runnels began a rivalry with The Kat , and at WrestleMania 2000 , Runnels (accompanied by The Fabulous Moolah ) defeated The Kat (with Mae Young ) in a catfight . Val Venis
8463-415: 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
8556-417: 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
8649-552: Was the Special Guest Referee, but was distracted when Young kissed him in response to Venis making out with both Runnels and The Kat. This distraction allowed Moolah to pull The Kat out of the ring, and when Venis saw her out of the ring, he declared Runnels the winner. Post-match, The Kat attacked Runnels by stripping her black body suit off to expose her nude colored thong. The rivalry continued in an arm wrestling match at Insurrextion . They later participated in
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