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129-537: Shane Helms and Shannon Moore both signed contracts in May 1999. In December 1999, Jimmy Hart put them together with Evan Karagias as a group to both capitalize on and make fun of the success of boy bands at the time. Their gimmick was first introduced to the public with vignettes disguised as music videos for their (Hart penned) pop song "Can't Get You Outta My Heart". From there they progressed to performing live on WCW Monday Nitro , dancing on green circles in

258-567: A storyline huge fan. Abbott hung around ringside when 3 Count performed and began protecting them from other wrestlers, and eventually started inserting himself as an (uninvited) back-up dancer during performances. 3 Count's feud with the Jung Dragons continued as the Dragons tried to steal 3 Count's Gold album and recording contract. This led to a ladder match at New Blood Rising . Abbott helped 3 Count to win, and afterwards left with both

387-523: A 3 Count song during TNA 's Total Nonstop Deletion . The WCW Hardcore Championship was held jointly among Helms, Moore, and Karagias using the Freebird Rule . Gregory Helms Gregory Shane Helms (born July 12, 1974) is an American professional wrestler . He is signed to WWE under a legends contract, as a wrestler and as a backstage producer. In WWE, Helms has wrestled as The Hurricane , Gregory Helms , and Hurricane Helms . He

516-465: A bar. A police report stated that Helms had punched Jericho and the other passengers in the cab they were sharing. Helms and Jericho were given tickets for public intoxication and released after each posted a $ 120 bail bond . On March 13, 2011, Helms was cited for affray following an altercation at a bar in Smithfield, North Carolina. On May 5, 2011, Helms and his girlfriend were involved in

645-787: A boy named Sebastian. Helms is a weekly guest on the podcast "Keepin it 100" on the Jericho network. In 2016 and 2017, he appeared on a weekly podcast for Fightful.com. On May 6, 2008, Helms was assaulted in a club in Johnston County, North Carolina , by an acquaintance, Dustin Narron. An argument between the two of them led to Narron hitting Helms in the face. Narron was later charged with assault and battery. On January 27, 2010, Helms and fellow WWE wrestler Chris Jericho were arrested in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky , after leaving

774-591: A broken nose. After complaining to Long about having to wrestle on the March 10 episode of SmackDown! , Long told Helms that he did not have to defend his title, but put Helms in a champion versus champion match against the United States Champion , Chris Benoit . During the match, Helms attempted to leave, but was blocked by other cruiserweights who threw Helms back into the ring, resulting in Helms losing

903-629: A contract with Lucha Libre USA . In the promotion, Helms allied himself with Marco Corleone , and in his debut for the promotion at the January 22 tapings, he defeated Corleone's rival and Lucha Libre USA Champion Lizmark Jr. via disqualification. On January 29, 2011, Helms made his debut for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), during the WrestleReunion 5 weekend, in a match, where he was defeated by Joey Ryan . He also took part in 20-Man Legends Battle Royale, making his second appearance of

1032-417: A deal with Endeavor Group Holdings, under which it would merge with Zuffa , the parent company of mixed martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to form TKO Group Holdings, a new public company majority-owned by Endeavor, with McMahon serving as executive chairman of the new entity, and Nick Khan becoming president. The merger was completed on September 12, 2023. In 2024, McMahon, who

1161-596: A deal with UPN, McMahon shut down the XFL. WWE maintained control of the XFL trademark before McMahon reclaimed the XFL brand, this time under a separate shell company from WWE, in 2017 with intent to relaunch the XFL in 2020 . On June 24, 2002, episode of Raw , Vince McMahon officially referred to the start of the next era, called the "Ruthless Aggression" era. On May 6, 2002, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) changed both its company name and

1290-483: A losing streak, mainly caused by The Hurricane's on-screen injuries. During the October 17 episode of Raw , The Hurricane was assaulted by Kurt Angle at the request of Vince McMahon . After the beating, footage was shown of The Hurricane ripping off his mask and striking Rosey because he did not help him fend off Angle. The next week, The Hurricane no-showed a World Tag Team Championship match, leaving Rosey to face

1419-630: A match at New Year's Revolution . At the 2006 Royal Rumble , Helms participated in an Open Invitational match for the Cruiserweight Championship and won, even though he was a Raw superstar and the championship was defended solely on SmackDown! . As a result, he returned to the SmackDown! brand in February 2006 to start a feud with Nunzio , Kid Kash and the other cruiserweights. During this time, Helms defeated Nunzio in

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1548-834: A member of 3 Count . During his time there he won both the WCW Hardcore Championship and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship . When WCW was bought by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), Helms' contract was kept by WWF. Helms renamed himself "The Hurricane" and won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship . He later picked up a sidekick, Rosey , and they won the World Tag Team Championship together. He dropped

1677-462: A modified version of his old ring name "The Hurricane", and mocked heel superstars including Shelton Benjamin and Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder . In the following weeks, he mocked several other superstars in the "Hurrapops", ending each promo with the phrase, "I'm just sayin'!". On the November 28 episode of SmackDown , a "Hurrapop" appeared in which Helms announced that he would make his return to

1806-599: A monopoly on the world title. In a now infamous situation, the NWA sent former five-time world champion and legitimate wrestler Lou Thesz to Toronto to face Rogers on January 24, 1963. Thesz recalls this was not planned and prior to the match remembered telling Buddy "we can do this the easy way or the hard way." Rogers agreed to lose the fall and title in a one fall match versus the traditional two out of three fall matchup that most world title matches were defended. Once word reached back to Mondt and McMahon, at first they simply ignored

1935-480: A month before losing the titles to Chris Jericho and Christian on the October 14 episode of Raw . In early 2003, The Hurricane feuded with The Rock . In backstage segments, The Rock referred to The Hurricane as "The Hamburglar " (in part because his mask was similar to the Hamburglar's). The feud culminated in a match on the March 10 episode of Raw , in which The Rock dominated. The Hurricane, however,

2064-474: A motorbike accident in North Carolina, for which Helms was charged with driving under the influence . Helms suffered a broken leg, ankle, jaw and nose during the accident, as well as sustaining other fractures and receiving over 200 stitches, while his girlfriend sustained a broken neck. As a result of the accident, Helms' foot had to be reconstructed with four plates and 22 screws. Helms

2193-407: A one-on-one match. The next week, he was supposed to defend against Kid Kash, but Kash was away on a family emergency, so Scotty 2 Hotty took his place. Helms defeated him and declared that he was better than all the other cruiserweights. As a result, all the cruiserweights at the show invaded the ring and attacked Helms. It was later announced by SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long that at

2322-581: A pay cut, and the company has also suspended construction on its new headquarters for at least six months. The firings caused significant backlash by fans; with Business Insider calling them "livid." Both fans and several media outlets pointed out that while WWE claimed that these actions were "necessary due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic", the WWE also claimed to have "substantial financial resources. Available cash and debt capacity currently total approximately $ 0.5 billion". DeSantis's claimed WWE

2451-401: A pre-recorded format. NXT continued to air from Full Sail University, but under similar restrictions. Live broadcasts returned on April 13, with the existing arrangements continuing; WWE stated to ESPN.com that "we believe it is now more important than ever to provide people with a diversion from these hard times", and that the company's programming "bring[s] families together and deliver

2580-734: A publicly traded company, trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with the issuance of stock then valued at $ 172.5 million. The company is traded on the NYSE under ticker symbol WWE. By the fall of 1999, the Attitude Era had turned the tide of the Monday Night War into WWF's favor. After Time Warner merged with America Online (AOL), Ted Turner 's control over WCW was considerably reduced. The newly merged company lacked interest in professional wrestling as

2709-543: A result, Cade and Murdoch earned a title match at the Unforgiven pay-per-view. During the title match, Murdoch delivered an elevated DDT on The Hurricane to the outside. The DDT caused The Hurricane to suffer a storyline " stinger " and allowed Cade and Murdoch to beat The Hurricane and Rosey later in the match to win the World Tag Team Championship. During the next few weeks, the pair began

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2838-496: A sense of hope, determination and perseverance". It was subsequently reported that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had deemed WWE a business critical to the state's economy, and had added an exception under the state's stay-at-home order for employees of a "professional sports and media production" that is closed to the public and has a national audience. The decision was met with criticism from media outlets, with several media outlets pointing out that DeSantis's actions happened on

2967-512: A six-man tag team match. Helms continued to defend his belt during pay-per-views, but he made more regular appearances on SmackDown!' s sister show, Velocity . Helms continued defending his title against other cruiserweights, while on occasion facing off against SmackDown!'s other title holders in champion versus champion matches. Helms faced World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio on June 16 and United States Champion Bobby Lashley on July 7 but lost both matches. Eventually, Helms became

3096-458: A tag team with Lance Storm who was now managed by Ivory and Hurricane later picked up a sidekick, in Molly Holly who began to call herself "Mighty Molly", and the two came to the arena in a custom "Hurri-Cycle" (with Molly in the sidecar). The team of The Hurricane and Storm began feuds with teams like The Hardy Boyz and Big Show and Spike Dudley . The Hurricane and Storm got a shot at

3225-473: A third brand on May 26, 2006. Two years later, WWE adapted a more family-friendly format and their programming received a TV-PG rating . The final ECW program aired on February 16, 2010, after which it was replaced with NXT . During this time many new and young wrestlers would join the company, many which would become household names for the next years to come such as John Cena , Randy Orton , Brock Lesnar , and Batista . On April 7, 2011, WWE, via

3354-456: A time of record low revenues. This helped drive many WWF wrestlers over to rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW), including 1980s babyface hero Hulk Hogan. During this period, the WWF promoted wrestlers of a younger age comprising "The New Generation", featuring Bret Hart , Shawn Michaels , Diesel , Razor Ramon and The Undertaker among others in an effort to promote new talent into

3483-492: A tournament for the OMEGA Championship. On November 16, 2013, Helms was defeated by Chris Hero at a Pro Wrestling Syndicate event. In March 2015, Helms received a tryout for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA, now Impact Wrestling ) as an agent and began working for the company within that capacity that same month. At Bound for Glory , Helms made his on-screen debut under his full birth name to congratulate

3612-408: A whole and decided to sell WCW in its entirety. Although Eric Bischoff , whom Time Warner fired as WCW president in October 1999, was nearing a deal to purchase the company, in March 2001 McMahon acquired the rights to WCW's trademarks, tape library, contracts, and other properties from AOL Time Warner for a number reported to be around $ 7 million. Shortly after WrestleMania X-Seven , the WWF launched

3741-539: A wrestling supercard was nothing new in North America; the NWA had begun running Starrcade a few years prior. In McMahon's eyes, however, what separated WrestleMania from other supercards was that it was intended to be accessible to those who did not watch wrestling. He invited celebrities such as Mr. T , Muhammad Ali , and Cyndi Lauper to participate in the event, as well as securing a deal with MTV to provide coverage. The event and hype surrounding it led to

3870-710: Is additionally involved in licensing its intellectual property to other companies to produce video games and action figures . The promotion was founded in 1953 as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), a Northeastern territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Following a dispute, CWC left the NWA and became the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in April 1963. After rejoining

3999-485: Is also known for his time with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he wrestled as " Sugar " Shane Helms . Helms first began wrestling in 1991 at the age of 17, and wrestled in numerous independent promotions , including the Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts , winning numerous light heavyweight and tag team championships . In 1999, he signed with WCW, and gained fame as "Sugar" Shane Helms,

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4128-952: Is based at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida . Overall, WWE programming is available in more than one billion homes worldwide in 30 languages. The company's global headquarters is located in Stamford, Connecticut , with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, and Munich. As in other professional wrestling promotions, WWE shows are not true contests but entertainment-based performance theater, featuring storyline -driven, scripted , and partially choreographed matches; however, matches often include moves that can put performers at risk of injury, even death, if not performed correctly. The pre-determined aspect of professional wrestling

4257-517: Is good friends with Jeff Hardy , Matt Hardy and Shannon Moore . He appears on The Hardy Show , The Hardys' internet show. He also performed as the stunt double of actor David Arquette in the movie Ready to Rumble . On March 19, 2007, Sports Illustrated posted on its website an article in its continuing series investigating a steroid and HGH ring used by a number of professional athletes in several sports. That article mentioned several current and former WWE wrestlers, including Helms who

4386-464: Is inspired by the Green Lantern. It was picked and inked the same days as his cousin, fellow pro wrestling trainee, and comic book fan Mike Helm had the symbol of his favorite character, Green Lantern, tattooed on his own bicep. In 2008, he got a tattoo of his last name on his upper back. Helms owns a motorcycle called "The Hurri-Cycle", which he got when he was using The Hurricane gimmick. Helms

4515-527: Is targeted at career and athletic development for the company's wrestlers. Full Sail is also home base to WWE's NXT brand, which served as a developmental territory for WWE. On February 24, 2014, WWE launched WWE Network , an over-the-top streaming service that would feature archive content from WWE and its predecessors, all pay-per-views, (which would continue to be sold through television providers as well), and original programming. Beginning in 2015 WWE started to push Roman Reigns as their face of

4644-505: The ECW brand where he reverted to his Gregory Helms name, and became a backstage interviewer. In mid-2009, he brought back The Hurricane character, and appeared as both Gregory Helms and The Hurricane on the ECW brand. After the ECW brand ended, Helms was released by WWE in February 2010, however he returned as a surprise entrant in the 2018 and 2021 Royal Rumble matches. Helms began wrestling at

4773-524: The No Way Out pay-per-view event, Helms would face all the cruiserweights in a match for the title. Helms was able to retain the championship. Later, Long mandated that Helms had to defend his title against a cruiserweight each week on SmackDown! to prove that he truly was better than all the cruiserweights. Helms' first defense under this new rule was against Psicosis of The Mexicools ; Helms retained by cheating. In early March 2006, Helms suffered

4902-759: The SCW Tag Team Championship , and Helms also won the SCW Heavyweight Championship . SCW would mark the end of the Serial Thrillaz, as Helms vacated both titles before moving on to NWA Worldwide. Once there, Helms joined the Bad Street Boys with Shannon Moore , Christian York , and Joey Matthews . Helms and his friend Shannon Moore signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in May 1999. In WCW, Helms, along with Moore and Evan Karagias , formed

5031-571: The TNA X Division Champion Tigre Uno . On the February 2, 2016 episode of Impact Wrestling , Helms assisted Trevor Lee in defeating Tigre Uno for the X Division Championship, turning villainous in the process. Helms would then soon bring in Andrew Everett to officially form The Helms Dynasty . On the December 15 episode of Impact Wrestling dubbed " Total Nonstop Deletion ", Helms

5160-417: The WCW Cruiserweight Championship at Starrcade , in which both Moore and Helms grabbed the contract at the same moment. As a result, Moore and Helms had match to determine who would challenge for the title, which Helms won. He lost the subsequent Cruiserweight Championship match, however, against Chavo Guerrero Jr. at Sin in January 2001. Helms and Moore split when, during a number one contenders match for

5289-609: The WCW Cruiserweight Championship . Moore, Helms, and Karagias would go on to the then World Wrestling Federation . The 3 Count trademark is still owned by Turner Broadcasting System Inc. As announced by Shane Helms on Twitter , 3 Count would be reuniting in November 2014. The trio appeared at WrestleCade in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on November 29 at the Benton Convention Center. Helms, along with his proteges Trevor Lee and Andrew Everett , performed

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5418-534: The WCW Hardcore Championship by pinning Brian Knobbs on February 28, 2000. They re-lost the title to Knobbs a month later, when he pinned all three members consecutively. In the process, however, Moore became the youngest champion in WCW history. After losing the Hardcore Championship, Helms was legitimately taken out of action with a broken nose. Upon his return, 3 Count was joined by Tank Abbott ,

5547-615: The WCW Tag Team Championship against The Hardy Boyz at No Mercy in a losing effort. During 2002, The Hurricane won the WWF Hardcore Championship at WrestleMania X8 , but Molly betrayed him, hitting him in the back of the head with a frying pan, and defeating him for the championship. The Hurricane was later drafted to the SmackDown! brand following the brand extension , and he won

5676-457: The WWE 24/7 Championship from R-Truth whilst he was being interviewed by IGN , though he was unable to do so. On July 22, 2019, The Hurricane made an appearance for the special Raw Reunion episode of Monday Night Raw . On April 15, 2020, Helms was furloughed by WWE, but returned to the promotion on November 22. The Hurricane once again appeared at the 2021 Royal Rumble event on January 31 in

5805-707: The WWWF World Heavyweight Championship was created, with the promotion claiming that inaugural champion Rogers had won a tournament in Rio de Janeiro on April 25, 1963, defeating long time Capitol favorite Antonino Rocca in the finals. In reality, Rocca was no longer in the area, as he was working for Jim Crockett Sr. in the Carolinas. Rogers also had already suffered what would later be a career ending heart attack on April 18 in Akron, Ohio, and

5934-516: The World Tag Team Championship . Not long after winning the championship, Stacy Keibler joined Rosey and The Hurricane as their sidekick, "Super Stacy". In August 2005, Rosey and The Hurricane lost Keibler as their sidekick when she and Christy Hemme were traded to the SmackDown! brand. On the September 5 episode of Raw , The Hurricane and Rosey were defeated by Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch during Cade and Murdoch's debut match on Raw . As

6063-470: The XFL , a new professional football league that debuted in 2001. The league had high ratings for the first few weeks, but initial interest waned and its ratings plunged to dismally low levels (one of its games was the lowest-rated prime-time show in the history of American television). NBC walked out on the venture after only one season, but McMahon intended to continue alone. However, after being unable to reach

6192-485: The heel (villainous) stable (faction) 3 Count , and the trio debuted on the December 23 episode of WCW Thunder . The trio was a parody of the boy bands 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys , and their gimmick involved making music videos and performing songs before their matches. 3 Count collectively won the WCW Hardcore Championship on WCW Monday Nitro in February 2000. This win made 3 Count

6321-582: The 2000s and 2010s. As The Hurricane, Gregory Helms has been featured in several WWE video games , including WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It (2001), WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain (2003), WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006 (2005), and WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 (2007) for the PlayStation 2 , WWE WrestleMania X8 (2002) for the Nintendo GameCube , and WWF Raw (2002) and WWE Raw 2 (2003)

6450-478: The August 11, 2009 episode of ECW , Helms was attacked by Paul Burchill after Helms denied being The Hurricane. The Hurricane later attacked Burchill in the ring dressed in his Hurricane attire, to save Yoshi Tatsu . The next week on ECW, he made his in-ring debut for the brand as The Hurricane, and defeated Burchill. He continued to feud with Burchill, who attempted to expose The Hurricane's true identity, until

6579-574: The Cruiserweight Championship after winning a match at SuperBrawl Revenge , but was attacked by Karagias and Moore afterwards. Despite the attack, Helms would go on to defeat Guerrero for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship at Greed and was the reigning Cruiserweight Champion immediately before WCW was bought out by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Helms' contract with WCW was one of twenty-five that were included in WWF's purchase of WCW. Helms made his WWF debut on

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6708-495: The Cruiserweight title at SuperBrawl Revenge , Moore attacked Helms instead of Hayashi of the Jung Dragons. Helms, however, later eliminated Moore, and went on to win the match. As WCW was slowly dying, Moore and Karagias put aside their differences and formed a tag team which vied for the short lived WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship , but never got their hands on them before the company closed. Helms, however, won

6837-406: The Dragons attempting to steal 3 Count's fictional recording contract. This led to a ladder match between the two teams at New Blood Rising , which 3 Count won due to Abbott's interference. As a result, Abbott claimed that he should be the lead singer of 3 Count, and was kicked out by the other three members, leading to a feud. 3 Count later disbanded as Moore and Helms kicked Karagias out of

6966-486: The Invasion storyline, integrating the incoming talent roster from WCW and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). With this purchase, WWF now became by far the sole largest wrestling promotion in North America and in the world. The assets of ECW, which had folded after filing for bankruptcy protection in April 2001, were purchased by WWE in 2003. In 2000, the WWF, in collaboration with television network NBC , launched

7095-730: The July 5, 2001 episode of SmackDown! , using the name "Hollywood" Gregory Helms. He was part of the Invasion storyline as a member of The Alliance losing his Cruiserweight Championship in a one-on-one match to another Alliance member, Billy Kidman . Helms began wrestling as "The Hurricane" on August 27, and also began wearing a superhero costume. That night, he won the WWF European Championship from Matt Hardy with help from Ivory , but lost it to Bradshaw on October 22, 2001. In September 2001, The Hurricane formed

7224-518: The Montreal Screwjob, which took place at the 1997 Survivor Series , former WCW talent were being hired by the WWF, including Stone Cold Steve Austin , Mankind , and Vader . Austin was slowly brought in as the new face of the company despite being promoted as an antihero , starting with his " Austin 3:16 " speech shortly after defeating Jake Roberts in the tournament finals at the King of

7353-548: The NWA in 1971, the WWWF was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979 before the promotion left the NWA for good in 1983. In 2002, following a legal dispute with the World Wildlife Fund , the WWF was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In 2011, the promotion ceased branding itself as World Wrestling Entertainment and began solely branding itself with the initials WWE . Prior to September 2023,

7482-590: The November 17 episode of ECW when The Hurricane defeated Burchill in a mask versus career match . He would then feud with Zack Ryder . On February 26, 2010, Helms was released from his WWE contract. Following his WWE release, Helms began wrestling on the independent circuit , including for the Canadian Wrestling's Elite as Hurricane Helms. On October 23, 2010, Helms made his debut for Jersey All Pro Wrestling , where he, under his Hurricane gimmick, defeated Azrieal. On January 10, 2011, Helms signed

7611-503: The November 7 episode of Raw , Helms and Rosey faced off in a singles match, which Helms won. Subsequently, Helms wrestled mostly on Raw' s sister show, Heat . On the January 2, 2006 episode of Raw , Helms confronted Jerry Lawler over jokes that Lawler had been making at Helms' expense, and Lawler said that when Helms was The Hurricane, he was entertaining and called Helms a joke. Helms responded by slapping Lawler, who hit Helms back. This confrontation led to Lawler defeating Helms in

7740-767: The Performance Center in a similar setup dubbed the Capitol Wrestling Center. It had many of the same features as the ThunderDome, but with a small crowd of select live fans included, in addition to the virtual fans. The name is also an homage to WWE's predecessor, the Capitol Wrestling Corporation. On May 21 WWE brought back fans full time, beginning with a 25-city tour, thus ending the ThunderDome residency. The July 16 episode of SmackDown started WWE's return to

7869-485: The Performance Center with paying fans, thus being WWE's last event to have ticketed fans in attendance before the pandemic took full effect. WrestleMania 36 was scheduled to take place on April 5 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa but on March 16, was moved to Orlando to be held behind closed doors. WrestleMania, as well as Raw and SmackDown for a period before and after WrestleMania, shifted from live broadcasts to

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7998-615: The Ring pay-per-view in 1996. On April 29, 1999, the WWF made its return to terrestrial television , airing a special program known as SmackDown! on the fledgling UPN network. The Thursday night show became a weekly series on August 26, 1999 – competing directly with WCW's Thursday night program titled Thunder on TBS . In the summer of 1999, Titan Sports, Inc. was renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. On October 19, 1999, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. launched an initial public offering as

8127-498: The WWE Corporate website, the company ceased using the full name World Wrestling Entertainment and henceforth referred to itself solely as WWE, making the latter an orphan initialism . This was said to reflect WWE's global entertainment expansion away from the ring with the ultimate goal of acquiring entertainment companies and putting a focus on television, live events, and film production. WWE noted that their new company model

8256-630: The WWE Cruiserweight Championship from Tajiri and Billy Kidman in a triple threat match on the May 16 episode of SmackDown! . He lost it to Jamie Noble at King of the Ring . Later in 2002, The Hurricane was traded to the Raw brand, won the WWE Tag Team Championship with Kane as they defeated The Un-Americans ( Christian and Lance Storm) on the September 23 episode of Raw , and held them for around

8385-440: The WWF were former AWA or NWA talent. The WWF would tour nationally in a venture that would require a huge capital investment, one that placed the WWF on the verge of financial collapse. The future of McMahon's experiment came down to the success or failure of McMahon's groundbreaking concept, WrestleMania . WrestleMania was a major success and was (and still is) marketed as the Super Bowl of professional wrestling. The concept of

8514-402: The WrestleMania III main event between WWF champion Hulk Hogan and André the Giant took place on The Main Event I in 1988 and was seen by 33 million people, the most-watched wrestling match in North American television history. In 1983, Titan moved its offices to Stamford, Connecticut . Subsequently, a new Titan Sports, Inc. (originally WWF, Inc.) was established in Delaware in 1987 and

8643-568: The aforementioned draft), and airs live instead of the previous pre-recorded format. Due to the return of the brand split, a new World Championship , called the WWE Universal Championship was introduced at the August 21, 2016 SummerSlam event with Finn Bálor defeating Seth Rollins to become the inaugural WWE Universal Champion. On November 29, 2016, WWE introduced a new program specifically for their cruiserweight division (wrestlers 205 lbs. and under) called WWE 205 Live . The program focuses exclusively on those wrestlers who qualify for

8772-439: The age of 17 in 1991. He won his first championship shortly afterwards, by defeating "Playboy" T.C. Cruise to become the Southern Wrestling Alliance (SWA) Light Heavyweight Champion. Helms spent the majority of his early career in his home state of North Carolina , winning numerous light heavyweight championships. Helms began calling himself "The Show" Shane Helms, and teamed with "Big Daddy" Mike Maverick , initially using

8901-425: The album and the contract. Abbott claimed that he should be the lead singer of 3 Count, with which Helms, Moore and Karagias disagreed, leading to a feud between 3 Count and Abbott. It ended when Abbott left WCW soon after. After feuding with the Misfits in Action , 3 Count began to have problems, as Moore and Helms accused Karagias of attempting to hog the limelight. Eventually, Moore and Helms kicked Karagias out of

9030-420: The champions Cade and Murdoch alone. During the match, The Hurricane (out of costume) appeared at the top of the entrance ramp, reverting to his real name, Gregory Helms, and watched as Rosey was double teamed and defeated. After the match, Helms announced that he was fed up with being funny for the crowd, and that he was sick of carrying Rosey as a tag team partner, turning heel for the first time since 2001. On

9159-523: The company since having him win the 2015 Royal rumble match , amidst mixed reception . By 2017 Roman Reigns became their highest merchandise seller. On May 25, 2016, WWE relaunched the brand split, billed as the "New Era". Subsequently, Raw and SmackDown have each featured their unique rosters, announcers, championships and ring sets/ropes. A draft took place to determine which wrestlers would appear on what show. SmackDown also moved from Thursdays to Tuesday nights, which began on July 19 (the night of

9288-530: The company's majority owner was its executive chairman, third-generation wrestling promoter Vince McMahon , who retained a 38.6% ownership of the company's outstanding stock and 81.1% of the voting power. The current entity, which was originally named Titan Sports, Inc. , was incorporated on February 21, 1980, in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts , but reincorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law in 1987. It acquired Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd.,

9417-497: The company. The actual date of sale is still unknown but the generally accepted date is June 6, 1982; however, this was likely only the date the deal was struck but not finalized. On WWF television, Capitol Wrestling Corporation maintained copyrights and ownership past the June 1982 date. The World Wrestling Federation was not solely owned by Vincent J. McMahon but also by Gorilla Monsoon , Arnold Skaaland and Phil Zacko. The deal between

9546-642: The division. The cruiserweights – who first became a fixture in WWE with the Cruiserweight Classic tournament – were originally exclusive to the Raw brand before landing their own brand . On December 15, 2016, WWE established a new WWE United Kingdom Championship , with the inaugural champion being decided by a 16-man tournament to air on WWE Network featuring wrestlers from the UK and Ireland during January 2017. WWE executive Paul "Triple H" Levesque said

9675-470: The entire Cruiserweight division on SmackDown! . During this feud, Helms' reign as Cruiserweight Champion came to an end at No Way Out , when he was unable to win a Cruiserweight open invitational, which saw Chavo Guerrero win the championship. Shortly after losing the championship, Helms formed a tag team with Guerrero, but they did not win any matches as a team. On May 18, 2007, WWE reported that Helms had broken two vertebrae in his neck, one of which

9804-515: The eventual plan with the new title and tournament was to establish a UK-based brand with its own weekly television show. WWE subsequently launched its UK-based brand as an offshoot of NXT, NXT UK , in June 2018, with Johnny Saint serving as inaugural general manager. Starting in September 2019, NXT had a weekly, live, two-hour show Wednesday nights on the USA Network and WWE began promoting NXT as their "third brand". However, in 2021 NXT

9933-480: The film Rocky III . McMahon signed Roddy Piper as Hogan's rival, and then shortly afterward Jesse Ventura as an announcer. Other wrestlers joined the roster, such as The Iron Sheik , Nikolai Volkoff , Junkyard Dog , Paul Orndorff , Greg Valentine , and Ricky Steamboat , joining existing stars such as Jimmy Snuka , Don Muraco , Sgt. Slaughter and André the Giant . Many of the wrestlers who would later join

10062-560: The first time that professional wrestling had been broadcast on network television since the 1950s when the now-defunct DuMont Television Network broadcast matches of Vincent J. McMahon's Capitol Wrestling Corporation. The 1980s "Wrestling Boom" peaked with the WrestleMania III pay-per-view at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1987, which set an attendance record of 93,173 for the WWF for 29 years until 2016 . A rematch of

10191-426: The first trio to win the Hardcore Championship. At Uncensored , Brian Knobbs defeated all members of 3 Count to win the Hardcore Championship. During a match, Helms suffered a broken nose, and was sidelined while he recovered. Upon his return, Tank Abbott had been added to the group, as a fan, and was utilized in an enforcer role. 3 Count had a long-running feud (scripted rivalry) with The Jung Dragons , with

10320-500: The founder of the CWC was. Some sources state that it was Vincent J. McMahon , while other sources cite McMahon's father Jess McMahon as founder of CWC. The CWC later joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and famous New York promoter Toots Mondt soon joined the promotion. Vincent J. McMahon and Toots Mondt were very successful and soon controlled approximately 70% of the NWA's booking power, largely due to their dominance in

10449-405: The four major sports leagues closed locker rooms to the media as a precautionary measure. As other sports cancellations and postponements were being introduced, WWE began to film its weekly programs at the Performance Center without spectators and with only essential staff present, beginning with the March 13 episode of SmackDown  – the March 11 episode of NXT had been recorded at

10578-411: The group for attempting to steal the spotlight. At the same time, the Jung Dragons turned on Jamie Noble , who formed a team with Karagias. The three teams met in a Triangle match at Mayhem , which 3 Count won. They also wrestled each other in a number one contendership ladder match at Starrcade , to earn a WCW Cruiserweight Championship match, in which both Moore and Helms grabbed the contract at

10707-423: The group, and he joined forces with Jamie Knoble of the Jung Dragons, on whom the other Jung Dragons members had turned. Moore and Helms continued together to feud with the remaining Dragons ( Kaz Hayashi and Yang ) and the new team of Karagias and Knoble. The three teams met in a Triangle match at Mayhem in November 2000, which 3 Count won. They also met in a ladder match to decide the number one contender for

10836-583: The heavily populated Northeastern United States . In 1963, McMahon and Mondt had a dispute with the NWA over "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers being booked to hold the NWA World Heavyweight Championship . Mondt and McMahon were not only promoters but also acted as his manager and were accused by other NWA promoters of withholding Rogers making defenses in their cities versus only defending in Mondt and McMahon's own cities thus maintaining

10965-417: The holding company for the WWF, in 1982. Titan was renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. in 1999, and then World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. in 2002. In 2023, its legal name was changed to World Wrestling Entertainment, LLC . WWE is the largest wrestling promotion in the world. Its main roster is divided into two touring brands , Raw and SmackDown . Its developmental brand , NXT ,

11094-411: The longest cruiserweight champion in WWE history, as well as the longest reigning champion of any kind in SmackDown! history. For much of late 2006, he feuded with Matt Hardy, with whom Helms exchanged several victories in matches on SmackDown! . In Helms' hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina , at No Mercy , Hardy beat Helms. The two rivals also joined opposing teams at Survivor Series , where Helms

11223-687: The longest world title reign in the WWE since Hulk Hogan from 1984 to 1988. WWE remained at the Amway Center up through early December before relocating the ThunderDome to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida . The ThunderDome relocated to Yuengling Center , located on the campus of the University of South Florida in Tampa, beginning with the April 12, 2021, episode of Raw . In October 2020, NXT events were relocated from Full Sail University to

11352-409: The match. Helms underwent successful surgery on his nose and was expected to miss five to six weeks. During this time SmackDown! announcers stated that Helms had a no-compete clause in his contract allowing him to waive the thirty-day title defense rule due to any injury. Helms returned to the ring on the April 28 episode of SmackDown! , teaming with MNM to face Super Crazy , London and Kendrick in

11481-618: The name of its wrestling promotion to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) after the company lost a lawsuit initiated by the World Wildlife Fund over the WWF trademark. Although mainly caused by an unfavorable ruling in its dispute with the World Wildlife Fund regarding the "WWF" initialism, the company noted it provided an opportunity to emphasize its focus on entertainment. In March 2002, WWE decided to create two separate rosters, with each group of wrestlers appearing on one of their main programs, Raw and SmackDown! , due to

11610-648: The namesake match. He entered at number 23 and was quickly eliminated by Big E and Bobby Lashley . Helms announced on March 24, 2022, that he had signed a Legends deal with WWE. Helms made an appearance in All Elite Wrestling on November 7, 2020, during the Elite Deletion match under both The Hurricane and reporter Gregory Helms personas, in a supporting effort for Matt Hardy against Sammy Guevara . The Wrestling Figure Checklist records that Helms has had 20 different action figures released in

11739-433: The night. He eliminated Cruel Connection, but later was thrown out by Shane Douglas and Terry Funk . In April 2011, Helms wrestled at Carolina Wrestling Federation (Mid-Atlantic) where he defeated Ric Converse and won the vacant PWI International Heavyweight Championship. In 2013, Helms returned to the revived OMEGA, now called OMEGA Championship Wrestling, and on October 12, he defeated Shane Williams to advance in

11868-582: The organization. McMahon also 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, eventually ending the territory system, which was in use since the founding of the NWA in the 1940s. In addition, the company used income generated by advertising, television deals, and tape sales to secure talent from rival promoters. In an interview with Sports Illustrated , McMahon

11997-441: The other were available for wrestlers from any show to compete for; the "Supershow" format would mark the end of the brand split, as all programming and live events (until July 2016) featured the full WWE roster. In 2013, the company built the sports medicine and training facility WWE Performance Center in the east Orange County, Florida in partnership with Full Sail University from Winter Park, Florida . The training facility

12126-432: The overabundance of talent left over from the Invasion storyline and the ensuing absorption of WCW and ECW contracts. This was dubbed as the " brand extension ". Beginning in 2002 a draft lottery was held nearly every year to set the rosters, with the first draft to determine the inaugural split rosters, and subsequent drafts designed to refresh the rosters of each show. WWE expanded the brand split by relaunching ECW as

12255-569: The pandemic to have ticketed fans in attendance with a maximum of 25,000 spectators for each night with COVID-19 protocols in place. Also around this time, the WWE Network in the United States became exclusively distributed by Peacock on March 18, 2021 (ahead of Fastlane and WrestleMania 37). The merger of the WWE Network and Peacock did not affect the service outside of the United States. The move to Peacock received some criticisms from fans particularly due to Peacock's heavy censorship policy,

12384-482: The pandemic, including releasing a number of performers ( Karl Anderson , Kurt Angle , Aiden English , EC3 , Epico , Luke Gallows , Curt Hawkins , No Way Jose , Sarah Logan , Mike Kanellis , Maria Kanellis , Primo , Erick Rowan , Rusev , Lio Rush , Zack Ryder , Heath Slater , and Eric Young ), three producers ( Dave Finlay , Shane Helms and Lance Storm ), referee Mike Chioda , and multiple NXT/Performance Center trainees and staff. WWE executives also took

12513-565: The ring and lip syncing their song before their matches. Later on they recorded a new song, "Dance With 3 Count", which replaced "Can't Get You Outta My Heart" as their theme music. They had a long-standing feud with another cruiserweight trio known as The Jung Dragons . Helms and Moore squared off in the first round of the WCW Cruiserweight title tournament, with Moore advancing at the expense of his partner. The group were received as heels , and after three months captured (together)

12642-611: The ring on the next episode of SmackDown . On the December 5 episode of SmackDown , Helms defeated Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) in his ring return. Helms was quickly scripted into a feud with the United States Champion Shelton Benjamin , defeating him in two non-title matches on SmackDown , although he failed to win a championship match on December 26. In January 2009, Helms worked in house shows against Vladimir Kozlov and Umaga until February he became inactive. On April 15, 2009, Helms

12771-604: The road, taking place at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. In January 2021, WWE moved WrestleMania 37 , which was originally to be held in Inglewood, California on March 28, to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida – WrestleMania 36's original location – as a two-night event on April 10 and 11, with fans in attendance, though to a limited capacity. This marked WWE's first event during

12900-520: The same day a pro- Donald Trump political action committee led by Linda McMahon , who was previously a part of Trump's cabinet, pledged to spend $ 18.5 million in advertising in Florida, and that, also on the same day, Vince McMahon was named part of an advisory group created by Trump to devise a strategy in re-launching the US economy. On April 15, WWE started a series of cuts and layoffs in response to

13029-601: The same time. As a result, they later wrestled for the opportunity to wrestle for the championship, which Helms won, although he lost the subsequent championship match to Chavo Guerrero Jr. at the Sin pay-per-view. Moore and Helms would leave WCW briefly in 2001 to wrestle in NWA Wildside, where they held the Wildside Tag Team Championship for one day. Helms became the number one contender for

13158-422: The spotlight. In January 1993, the WWF debuted its flagship cable program Monday Night Raw . WCW countered in September 1995 with its own Monday night program, Monday Nitro , which aired in the same time slot as Raw . The two programs would trade wins in the ensuing ratings competition (known as the " Monday Night War ") until mid-1996. At that point, Nitro began a nearly two-year ratings domination that

13287-462: The superhero gimmick in 2005, and began wrestling under his real name. He once again won the Cruiserweight Championship in early 2006, and held it for over a year, becoming the longest reigning Cruiserweight Champion and the longest reigning champion of any kind in SmackDown history. After being out of action for over a year after neck fusion surgery Helms returned to SmackDown in September 2008, referring to himself as Hurricane Helms, before moving to

13416-538: The team name Assault and Battery. They later dubbed themselves The Serial Thrillaz, and won several independent tag championships. The pair also began wrestling in the Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts (OMEGA), which was founded by The Hardy Boyz ( Matt and Jeff ). The Serial Thrillaz won the OMEGA Tag Team Championship twice between 1997 and 1998, before they began competing for Southern Championship Wrestling (SCW). They won

13545-459: The term Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection , due to the cross-promotion of popular culture and professional wrestling. The WWF business expanded significantly on the shoulders of McMahon and his babyface hero Hulk Hogan for the next several years after defeating The Iron Sheik at Madison Square Garden on January 23, 1984. The introduction of Saturday Night's Main Event on NBC in 1985 marked

13674-471: The three business partners receiving roughly $ 815,000 among them and Vincent J. McMahon receiving roughly $ 185,000. Seeking to make the WWF the premier wrestling promotion in the country, and eventually, the world, he began an expansion process that fundamentally changed the wrestling business. At the annual meeting of the NWA in 1983, the McMahons and former Capitol employee Jim Barnett all withdrew from

13803-686: The title change. From January until April 1963, Rogers was promoted as the NWA World Champion, or simply the World Heavyweight Champion, in their area. The World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) was not an immediate creation after Rogers's one fall loss to Thesz. Mondt and McMahon both eventually left the NWA in protest and formed the WWWF in the process. They brought along with them Willie Gilzenberg , long time boxing and wrestling promoter in New Jersey. In April 1963,

13932-419: The two McMahons was a monthly payment basis, in which if a single payment was missed, ownership would revert to the elder McMahon and his business partners. Looking to seal the deal quickly, McMahon took several loans and deals with other promoters and the business partners (including the promise of a job for life) in order to take full ownership by May or June 1983 for an estimated total of roughly $ 1 million with

14061-782: The video game for the Xbox . Additionally, he is featured in WWE 2K22 as a DLC character ( Stand Back Pack ) alongside A-Kid , Wes Lee , and Stacy Keibler . Helms was born in Smithfield, North Carolina , but he was raised in Wooster, Ohio . Helms is a comic book fan, and one of his favorite characters is the Green Lantern . He has a tattoo on his right shoulder which is the Lantern's logo and his original WWE character, The Hurricane,

14190-540: The wrestlers' entrances on a level similar to that of pay-per-view productions pre-pandemic. Nearly 1,000 LED boards were installed to allow for rows and rows of virtual fans. It was free of charge for fans to virtually attend the events, though they had to reserve their virtual seat ahead of time. During this time, Roman Reigns began his historic world title reign with the WWE Universal Championship , which would eventually surpass 1,000 days; being

14319-420: Was "essential", which meant that the company's revenues loss would be limited. In August 2020, WWE relocated from the Performance Center to Orlando's Amway Center for a long-term residency, broadcasting episodes of Raw , SmackDown , and pay-per-views through a virtual fan viewing experience called WWE ThunderDome . Inside the ThunderDome, drones, lasers, pyro, smoke, and projections were utilized to enhance

14448-523: Was able to roll up The Rock from behind after The Rock was distracted by Stone Cold Steve Austin 's appearance on the ramp. In August 2003, The Hurricane "discovered" Rosey's potential as a superhero and christened him "Rosey, the Super Hero in Training" (the "S.H.I.T."). On May 1, at Backlash , The Hurricane and Rosey defeated La Résistance in the finals of a Tag Team Turmoil match to win

14577-667: Was alleged to have obtained HGH. WWE has since made a statement on this situation, mentioning that the allegations preceded the Talent Wellness program WWE launched in April 2006. On August 30, 2007, an article by Sports Illustrated named Helms and nine other wrestlers to be given growth hormone not in compliance with the WWE Talent Wellness program. He was said to have received testosterone , HGH and nandrolone between November 2003 and February 2007. In June 2012, Helms' girlfriend gave birth to his first child,

14706-530: Was announced that Helms signed with Ring of Honor . He worked as wrestler and producer, including a feud against Marty Scurll . On January 28, 2018, at the Royal Rumble , Helms, as The Hurricane, entered the titular match as a surprise entrant at number 21 but was quickly eliminated by John Cena . One year later on January 28, 2019, it was announced that he would return to WWE in a backstage producer role. On July 19, 2019, The Hurricane attempted to win

14835-405: Was by now no longer the majority WWE stockholder, ended his ties with the company amid a sex trafficking scandal . Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s 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 is uncertainty as to whom

14964-495: Was consolidated with the Massachusetts entity in February 1988. The WWF was hit with allegations of steroid abuse and distribution in 1992. This was followed by allegations of sexual harassment by WWF employees the following year. McMahon was eventually exonerated, but the allegations brought bad public relations for the WWF, and an overall bad reputation. The steroid trial cost the company an estimated $ 5 million at

15093-420: Was drafted to the ECW brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft . Helms made his ECW debut as a backstage interviewer on April 28, 2009, reverting to his Gregory Helms ring name, interviewing Evan Bourne . He started a storyline where, while he was interviewing someone, a scripted accident would occur, leading to Helms leaving the interview seconds before the person in distress was saved by The Hurricane. On

15222-498: Was in Team Rated-RKO , and Hardy was a member of Team DX ; Team Rated-RKO lost the match. Helms went on to feud with Jimmy Wang Yang over the Cruiserweight Championship, after a tag team match in which Matt Hardy and Yang defeated Helms and Sylvan on the November 10 episode of SmackDown! . The feud ended after Helms defeated him to retain the title at Armageddon in December 2006. In 2007, Helms once again feuded with

15351-445: Was in an Ohio hospital during the time the alleged tournament took place. Rogers lost the championship to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17, with the promotion beginning to be built around Sammartino shortly after. In June 1963, Gilzenberg was named the first president of the WWWF. Mondt left the promotion in the late 1960s and although the WWWF had previously withdrawn from the NWA, McMahon quietly re-joined in 1971. The WWWF

15480-647: Was largely fueled by the introduction of the New World Order (nWo), a stable led by former WWF performers Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall (the former Razor Ramon), and Kevin Nash (the former Diesel). As the Monday Night War continued between Raw Is War and WCW's Nitro , the WWF would transform itself from a family-friendly product into a more adult-oriented product, known as the Attitude Era . The era

15609-581: Was moved to Tuesday nights, having conceded the Wednesday Night Wars to rival promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and in September of that year was reinstated to its original function as the developmental brand for the main roster (Raw and SmackDown), under the name "NXT 2.0". In March 2020, WWE began to be impacted by the American onset of the COVID-19 pandemic . In mid-March, three of

15738-640: Was part of the group called 3 Count , which won the title jointly, and the WCW Hardcore Championship was defended under the Freebird Rule . WWE World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) is an American professional wrestling promotion . It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings , a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into fields outside of wrestling, including film , football , and various other business ventures . The company

15867-433: Was pressing on his spinal cord. He underwent surgery with Dr. Lloyd Youngblood to repair them approximately a week later. Following the surgery, Helms was announced to be out for a year and a half due to the injury. Helms returned on the September 19, 2008, episode of SmackDown in a non-wrestling role. Throughout the show, he appeared in short video promos, called "Hurrapops", referring to himself as "Hurricane Helms",

15996-503: Was publicly acknowledged by WWE's then-owner Vince McMahon in 1989 in order to avoid taxes from athletic commissions. WWE markets its product as sports entertainment , acknowledging professional wrestling's roots in competitive sport and dramatic theater. In 2023, WWE began to explore a potential sale of the company, amidst an employee misconduct scandal involving McMahon that had prompted him to step down as chairman and CEO, although he returned as executive chairman. In April 2023, WWE made

16125-658: Was put into effect with the relaunch of Tough Enough , being a non-scripted program (contrary to the scripted nature of professional wrestling) and with the launch of the WWE Network (at the time scheduled to launch in 2012; later pushed back to 2014). However, the legal name of the company still remains as World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Beginning with the August 29, 2011, episode, Raw - referred to as Raw Supershow - featured talent from both Raw and SmackDown (the "Supershow" epithet would be dropped on July 23, 2012). Championships previously exclusive to one show or

16254-637: Was quoted as saying: "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 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." McMahon gained significant traction when he hired American Wrestling Association (AWA) talent Hulk Hogan , who had achieved popularity outside of wrestling, notably for his appearance in

16383-631: Was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979. Vincent J. McMahon's son, Vincent K. McMahon , and his wife Linda , established Titan Sports, Inc., in 1980 in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts and applied trademarks for the initials "WWF". The company was incorporated on February 21, 1980, in the Cape Cod Coliseum offices, then moved to the building on Holly Hill Lane in Greenwich, Connecticut . The younger McMahon bought Capitol from his father in 1982, effectively seizing control of

16512-493: Was spearheaded by WWF VP Shane McMahon (son of owner Vince McMahon) and head writer Vince Russo . 1997 ended with McMahon facing real-life controversy following Bret Hart 's controversial departure from the company, dubbed as the Montreal Screwjob . This proved to be one of several founding factors in the launch of the Attitude Era as well as the creation of McMahon's on-screen character, " Mr. McMahon ". Before

16641-489: Was thrown into the "Lake of Reincarnation", and emerged as his 3 Count alter ego "Sugar" Shane Helms, and after insulting Lee and Everett's dance moves, was once again knocked into the lake by his teammates, Helms would later emerge from the lake as the Hurricane, where he would go on to assist Matt Hardy in defeating Lee and Everett. On June 19, 2017 Helms announced his departure from Impact Wrestling. In June 2018, it

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