Mid 20th Century
147-572: The New Age Outlaws are an American professional wrestling tag team in World Wrestling Federation (WWF) made up of Brian James ("Road Dogg" Jesse James) and Monty Sopp ("Badd Ass" Billy Gunn). The duo became popular in the late 1990s as members of the second incarnation of the professional wrestling stable D-Generation X . Regarded as one of the greatest tag teams of all time, the promotion has described James and Gunn as "the most popular duo of WWE's Attitude Era ." Over
294-459: A Shake, Rattle and Roll from Road Dogg and a Famouser from Billy Gunn against Scott Dawson . Professional wrestling 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling ) is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling
441-708: A stable with Konnan and Ron "The Truth" Killings known as The 3Live Kru (3LK). The trio went on to become fan favorites and eventually won the NWA World Tag Team Championship on two occasions, which they defended collectively under the Freebird Rule . Billy Gunn debuted in TNA at Against All Odds on February 13, 2005, interfering in the NWA World Heavyweight Championship bout between Jeff Jarrett and
588-403: A worked-shoot promo announcing they were quitting the company out of frustration. During the promo B.G. claimed that TNA had mismanaged him during his run there, and as Kip attempted to speak into the microphone it was cut off. Attempts to use an announcers microphone and scream directly to the crowd were met with another microphone cutting and then the show abruptly going to commercial. After
735-446: 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 the platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of
882-477: A "streak vs. career" match, forcing Michaels to retire from wrestling for good. A new entrant came out approximately every 90 seconds. – Winner ^ Referee Jack Doan was inadvertently kicked by Phineas I. Godwinn during his elimination, resulting in the referee suffering a concussion. ^ Triple H and Chyna were not entrants in the Royal Rumble Match; they arrived in
1029-607: A November 11 house show in Connecticut (where World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is based) was canceled, TNA filmed a vignette at WWE headquarters featuring the James Gang discussing the show cancellation, posting it on their website two days later. This vignette was followed with a promo on the November 16 Impact! , during which they announced that they had been given "creative control", and were changing their name to
1176-413: 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
1323-600: A big fight between the DX members and themselves. Hermie Sadler of the UWF promotion later offered to host the "Million Dollar Challenge" at a UWF show during the weekend of WWE's Armageddon pay-per-view event (scheduled for December 17) citing that his event was close to Richmond, Virginia , the site of Armageddon. After the challenge was ignored, they narrowed it on the January 4 Impact! , challenging just Hickenbottom to meet them at
1470-408: A brief fight in the ring but going back into the casket when Undertaker missed a flying clothesline and his momentum caused him to tumble inside. Michaels climbed to the top rope and delivered an elbow drop into the casket and the two briefly fought inside the closed coffin. After eventually climbing out, both men made it back to the ring where Undertaker gave Shawn a chokeslam . Undertaker then dragged
1617-532: 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
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#17327910299011764-519: 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
1911-585: 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
2058-623: A crutch in a tag title match against A.J. Styles and Tomko , thus ending the team. TNA creative writer Vince Russo stated that the Voodoo Kin Mafia ended when Triple H was injured, as there was nowhere else to go with the gimmick. On July 23, 2012, the New Age Outlaws returned to WWE on the 1000th episode of Raw to re-unite with X-Pac , Shawn Michaels and Triple H to reform D-Generation X for one night only. On December 17, Billy Gunn and Road Dogg appeared to present
2205-460: A crutch. Michaels, too, failed to close the coffin's lid on Undertaker, forcing the fight back into the ring where Shawn tried to weaken Undertaker for good, executing a high-flying elbow drop and hitting Undertaker with Sweet Chin Music . So sure of the win, and with Undertaker lying in the casket, Michaels chose instead to taunt Undertaker, giving a crotch-chop which Undertaker seized on, leading to
2352-476: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Royal Rumble (1998) The 1998 Royal Rumble was the 11th annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by
2499-410: 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
2646-435: A feud with Team 3D over which of them was the greatest tag team. The James Gang picked up a victory over Team 3D at Sacrifice after Kip used a pipe on Brother Devon . They met again at Slammiversary , with Team 3D picking up the win this time. With the teams standing at 1-1 (and Brother Runt returning to in-ring action), Team 3D challenged The James Gang to find themselves a partner and face them (Brother Runt included) in
2793-403: A few kicks until Ken Shamrock mistimed a hurricanrana, allowing Rocky Maivia to slam him down. After being kicked to the corner, Shamrock replied with a crossbody that only gained him a two-count, as did a fisherman suplex pin . Maivia then took control by reversing an Irish whip into a DDT , before putting the challenger in a headlock. Rocky's next attempt at a DDT was reversed, however, into
2940-427: A full-time return to wrestling. Michaels' back injury kept him out of all wrestling until the main event at WrestleMania, despite being billed on the card for the next PPV, No Way Out of Texas . His last-minute replacement was Savio Vega, who appeared in the main event eight-man tag team match, which saw a number of high-profile feuds converge on the road to WrestleMania. The New Age Outlaws would go on to take part in
3087-414: A genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has 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
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#17327910299013234-405: 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
3381-745: A losing effort. On the January 13 episode of Raw , the Outlaws again teamed with Punk in a rematch against The Shield , only to abandon Punk and lose the match, thus turning heel in the process for the first time since 1999. Four days later on SmackDown , they defeated WWE Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Goldust in a non-title match. At the Royal Rumble , the Outlaws defeated Rhodes and Goldust to become WWE Tag Team Champions, their first reign with these particular title, their sixth overall tag team championship reign in WWE and first in over 14 years, marking
3528-744: 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
3675-440: 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
3822-489: A powerslam prompting the Nation members to storm the ring. With the referee distracted after Maivia's Nation of Domination teammate D'Lo Brown became entangled in the ropes, The Rock used brass knuckles to nail Shamrock and hid the knuckles inside of Shamrock's trunks. By the time the referee looked back to the ring, he could only make a two count. Shamrock then recovered and pulled off a belly to belly suplex slam , winning
3969-428: A robbery. The name 'New Age Outlaws' was first used during their feud with LOD on the 12/15/97 episode of Monday Night Raw , the Outlaws joined Triple H and Shawn Michaels , collectively known as D-Generation X , in assaulting the team, including shaving off one of Road Warrior Hawk 's mohawks and throwing Road Warrior Animal through the announcers' table. The name stuck and the New Age Outlaws quickly became one of
4116-404: A series of vignettes began airing on Impact! with B.G. and Kip in and around Stamford, Connecticut , calling out Paul Levesque , Michael Hickenbottom , and Vince McMahon. During the vignettes they said they were trying to get a cease and desist letter signed and get WWE to stop using the DX name. The vignettes were notable for using the same style of humor as the original DX while running down
4263-424: A severe back injury when he took a back body drop on top of the casket, landing on his tailbone on the casket's outer mid-section. Michaels herniated two discs in his back and crushed a third, and the injury forced him to retire from wrestling immediately following WrestleMania. As it transpired, during a one-off match with Triple H at the 2002 SummerSlam , Michaels realized his back no longer hampered him and he made
4410-458: A six-man tag match at Victory Road . Whereas Team 3D expected them to get someone from their family (such as "Bullet" Bob Armstrong), the James Gang "made a deal with the devil" and paid James Mitchell to have Abyss team up with them instead. The James Gang and Abyss won the no-disqualification six-man tag match after Abyss Black Hole Slammed Brother Runt onto a table and got the pin. On the November 2 edition of Impact! , Kip and B.G. James cut
4557-503: 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
New Age Outlaws - Misplaced Pages Continue
4704-586: 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
4851-564: A wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWF's writers, while storylines were produced on WWF's weekly television show, Raw is War . In the weeks leading up to the pay-per-view, Ken Shamrock had been facing various members of the Nation of Domination ahead of his booked match against Intercontinental Champion Rocky Maivia (The Rock) , defeating Kama Mustafa and Faarooq with his ankle lock submission despite interference from other Nation members. The final Raw
4998-533: Is War before the Rumble saw Shamrock team up with Mark Henry against Maivia and D'Lo Brown , but just as Shamrock looked set to lock his ankle lock submission on The Rock, Henry turned on him, joining the Nation in giving him a post-match beat down. After winning their first tag team title , the New Age Outlaws further humiliated the former champions, the Legion of Doom, by shaving one of Hawk's mohawks and, with
5145-410: 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
5292-428: 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 is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain
5439-797: Is the first Royal Rumble of the Attitude Era. The main event was a casket match between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker for the WWF Championship, which Michaels won to retain the title. The main match on the undercard was the 1998 Royal Rumble match, which Stone Cold Steve Austin won by lastly eliminating Rocky Maivia , thus becoming the third person to win two Royal Rumble matches, and back-to-back, after Hulk Hogan in 1990-91 and Shawn Michaels in 1995-96. Additionally, The Legion Of Doom ( Hawk and Animal ) defeated The New Age Outlaws ( "Road Dogg" Jesse James and "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn ) by disqualification therefore, not winning
5586-624: 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
5733-693: The Slammy Award to Jerry Lawler for Comeback of the Year. Starting on December 26 in Detroit at the Joe Louis Arena , the team reunited to face Team Rhodes Scholars in a house show loop. On the March 4, 2013, episode of Old School Raw , the New Age Outlaws competed in their first televised tag team match in WWE since February 2000, where they defeated Primo and Epico . The following week on Raw ,
5880-776: 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 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
6027-607: The WWF Tag Team Championship , and "The Rock" Rocky Maivia defeated Ken Shamrock to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship . The Royal Rumble is an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) produced every January by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania , SummerSlam , and Survivor Series , which were dubbed
New Age Outlaws - Misplaced Pages Continue
6174-865: The WWF World Tag Team Championship five times and the WWE Tag Team Championship once. The duo hold the record for the most time between title reigns in WWE history after becoming the WWE Tag Team Champions at the 2014 Royal Rumble PPV, more than 14 years after their previous Tag Team title reign. The Outlaws first formed on the October 4, 1997 episode of Shotgun Saturday Night when struggling superstars Billy Gunn and "Road Dogg" Jesse James, then known as Rockabilly and "The Real Double J" Jesse James respectively, ended their feud and teamed up. On
6321-602: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on January 18, 1998, at the San Jose Arena in San Jose, California . Six matches were contested on the event's card. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania . For the 1998 event, the winner received a match for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania XIV . This
6468-802: The evil Hemme brought in The Heartbreakers ( Antonio Thomas and Romeo Roselli ) in to TNA as mystery opponents at Destination X , but VKM made quick work of them. Around this time, Lance Hoyt began hanging around with VKM, keeping Christy Hemme out of VKM's matches. In April, at Lockdown , Hemme had Serotonin face VKM on the pre-show, but again VKM came out victorious. At Sacrifice 2007 , VKM lost to Hemme's new team Damaja and Basham formerly known as The Basham Brothers in World Wrestling Entertainment, though not fairly, as Basham and Damaja injured (kayfabe) BG James before
6615-469: The "Big Four", and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with King of the Ring . It is named after the Royal Rumble match , a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. The match generally features 30 wrestlers and the winner traditionally earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For 1998,
6762-584: 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
6909-400: 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
7056-509: 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
7203-411: 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 the spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from
7350-588: The Alamo in his hometown of San Antonio the following Wednesday. VKM declared themselves victorious in their "war" during a promo at Final Resolution citing WWE's refusal to acknowledge their presence while fans loudly chanted both "TNA" and "VKM" during the January 8 episode of WWE Raw . In the same promo, they entered an angle with Christy Hemme , who declared that women deserve respect in wrestling and found herself heavily disagreed with and mocked by Kip James, while B.G. attempted to agree with her. To shut VKM up,
7497-653: 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
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#17327910299017644-638: The Hardcore title as well. In March, the pair started to team once again, leading to a match with Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart at Backlash in April. A week later, Gunn turned heel on Road Dogg, resulting in a feud and a match at Over the Edge . The following month, Gunn went on to win the King of the Ring tournament. During the fall of 1999 the Outlaws reunited, first as faces , but then as heels when they rejoined
7791-408: 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
7938-488: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
8085-473: The Nation of Domination had four members (Maivia, D'Lo Brown , Mark Henry and Kama Mustafa ) in the ring, although they seldom worked together. All fighting in the ring ceased when Austin's music played for #24 but, after a lengthy wait, Stone Cold appeared from the crowd, coming into the ring before tossing out Marc Mero and 8-Ball . Savio Vega , who entered #26, was accompanied by the rest of Los Boricuas who went straight after Austin. Faarooq completed
8232-430: The Nation stable in the ring, but went straight after teammate Maivia before Foley's third appearance as Dude Love. Soon, only four men remained (Maivia, Austin, Dude Love and Faarooq). Austin and Dude Love, former tag team partners, teamed up against the two Nation members, until Austin turned on Dude, allowing Faarooq to clothesline him out of the match. When Faarooq then turned to Austin, Maivia tossed his teammate out of
8379-433: The New Age Outlaws answered a challenge to take on Rhodes Scholars, but during the match they were attacked by Brock Lesnar , who was in a feud with Triple H at the time. On the January 6, 2014, episode of Old School Raw , the Outlaws were in the corner of CM Punk during his match against Roman Reigns . On the January 10 episode of SmackDown , the Outlaws teamed with CM Punk in a six-man tag match against The Shield in
8526-422: The New Age Outlaws lost the titles to Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie in a Dumpster match . The next night on Raw , however, with the aid of Triple H and X-Pac , the Outlaws regained the titles in a steel cage match and officially joined DX. The growing popularity of the "new" DX quickly turned the group from heels to tweeners , eventually becoming faces , and they feuded with many different tag teams over
8673-439: The October 11, 1997 edition of Shotgun , Jesse James walked out to the ring following a loss by Rockabilly to Flash Funk and asked him to turn on his manager The Honky Tonk Man , who had been responsible for Rockabilly's defeat, and team with him. Rockabilly answered by smashing a guitar on Honky Tonk Man's head and telling James he was in. Rockabilly re-dubbed himself "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn and Jesse James rechristened himself
8820-582: The Outlaws away from DX and failed, which led to the Outlaws losing the title to Corporation members Ken Shamrock and Big Boss Man . As 1999 started, the Outlaws slowly began to drift apart, with each man striving for singles gold. Road Dogg held both the Hardcore Title and the Intercontinental Championship in the first few months of 1999 (including a successful IC title defense at Wrestlemania XV ), and Gunn briefly held
8967-462: The Outlaws successfully defended their titles against The Usos , but lost the championship in a rematch to The Usos on the March 3 episode of Raw . The New Age Outlaws, now billed as "The Corporate Outlaws", teamed with Kane to take on The Shield in a losing effort at WrestleMania XXX . Billy Gunn got injured on the night by a Triple Power Bomb that The Shield delivered to him. He developed hemoptysis and The New Age Outlaws did not appear on Raw and
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#17327910299019114-600: The Radicalz in a traditional Survivor Series match. Afetrwards Road Dogg continued to team with K-Kwik. Gunn went on his own. Road Dogg was released from his WWF contract in January 2001 due to ongoing drug issues while Gunn was released from his contract in November 2004 after eleven years with the company. On September 18, 2002, "Road Dogg" Jesse James debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under his birth name B.G. James. In July 2003, he formed
9261-531: The Road Dogg. The team made an immediate impact on the WWF tag team scene with blatant attacks against other tag teams and, initially not having an entrance theme, walking out to the ring with only Road Dogg making a rant against their opponents over the PA system. The team became known for pulling wins out of nowhere via cheating and use of weapons. Through their attitude, charisma and antics, they began to get over with
9408-499: The Royal Rumble were in the ring, waiting to draw their number of entry, when Austin ran in through the crowd and began to throw punches all over the ring, sparking a brawl between the various wrestlers feuding in the ring, and kicking the number generator out of the ring. The main event for the WWF Championship was a rematch between champion Shawn Michaels and challenger The Undertaker . Their feud had begun after SummerSlam
9555-516: The Rumble, he would live by the motto "Do unto others, before they do unto me". This led to Austin interfering in matches regularly on Raw is War , or appearing just as matches finished, delivering the Stone Cold Stunner to anyone in sight, as well leaving other wrestlers backstage buried under tables and chairs. In the final segment of the Raw is War preceding the event, all competitors of
9702-471: The Undertaker. However, when the casket was opened, no one was inside. Undertaker's voice then was heard throughout the arena to say "Kane, until our paths cross again, I shall never rest in peace!" In 2010, Jack Bramma of 411Mania gave the event a rating of 7.0 [Good], stating, "Worth a look for historical purposes if nothing else. Rocky was clearly on his way to being a star, Austin wasn't quite yet
9849-439: The Voodoo Kin Mafia (VKM for short, a play on Vince McMahon 's initials) and declaring "war" on WWE. During the "war" they called out the revived D-Generation X (DX), calling it a "failure" and stated that the original run was saved by their insertion as The New Age Outlaws in 1998. During their matches and promos on TNA television they continually included references to DX, including use of their signature taunts and maneuvers. Soon
9996-403: The arena during Honky Tonk Man's entry and worked together to eliminate Owen. Owen then ran after both of them to the backstage area. ^ Owen was unable to compete in the Rumble for a while as he was beaten up by Jeff Jarrett on the way to the ring; he joined in the Rumble later on after Jarrett's entry, taking his revenge on Jarrett and eliminating him. ^ Skull never made it to
10143-401: 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
10290-418: 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
10437-561: 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
10584-469: The bell rang. The LOD then quickly turned the match in their favor, chasing the Outlaws up the ramp as the champions tried to lose by count out. Still holding control, the LOD took turns on Road Dogg who eventually handcuffed Hawk to the corner outside the ring. Regardless, Animal successfully dominated both Road Dogg and Billy Gunn , powerslamming Gunn into a pin that was broken up by a chair shot, causing
10731-428: The biggest name in the industry but was close, and Michaels' (sort of) career-ending injury. And oh yeah four quality matches". In 2019, Thomas Hall of Wrestling Rumors gave the event a rating of D, stating, "Good main event aside, this was a REALLY dull show overall. 1998 would wind up being an awesome year, but this wasn't the best start to it in the world. We saw a lot of the relics of the bad times here, but Austin
10878-412: The broader public. In the United States, wrestling 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
11025-437: The building, watching the main event match - featuring DX - from an upper-level seat. At December's Turning Point , they performed a parody of DX, then, in response to Jim Ross commenting on his website that Vince McMahon probably would not respond to the "war", and in response to their still receiving of legal warnings from WWE, they issued a "Million Dollar Challenge" to Vince McMahon and DX, offering to put up $ 1 million for
11172-424: 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
11319-418: 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
11466-414: The casket before rolling it to the top of the entrance ramp where Kane chopped holes in the casket with an axe. Kane then doused the casket with gasoline and set it on fire. After the show went off the air, with the casket still burning, Kane and Bearer left the arena, while various emergency officials extinguished the fire. WWF Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter and others tried to break open the casket to free
11613-676: The challenging Kevin Nash . Gunn struck Nash with a chair, but he was able to kick out of Jarrett's subsequent pin attempt. After Gunn seized the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt in order to strike Nash with it, B.G. James ran to the ring and wrestled it away from him. B.G. James and Gunn, now renamed The New Age Outlaw (later shortened to just The Outlaw), came into conflict once more on April 24, at Lockdown , when Jarrett, The Outlaw and Monty Brown faced Diamond Dallas Page , Sean Waltman and B.G. James (who
11760-567: The champion to the ring apron and hit a jumping tombstone piledriver , depositing Michaels into the casket and seemingly securing the victory. Before Undertaker could close it, however, the New Age Outlaws and Los Boricuas ran in and collectively pummeled Undertaker until the lights went out in the arena. Kane's music played, and the Big Red Monster single-handedly took out everyone in the ring, coming to his brother's aid. In
11907-423: 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
12054-512: 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
12201-468: 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 the independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in
12348-471: The course of 1998. Their immense popularity was part of what helped the WWF challenge World Championship Wrestling for ratings supremacy during the Monday Night War . They lost the tag title to Kane and Mankind in the summer of 1998, only to regain the titles from that same team at SummerSlam in a handicap match after Kane no-showed . In late 1998 Vince McMahon 's Corporation tried to tempt
12495-531: The crowd as heels. James and Gunn defeated the Legion of Doom for the Tag Team Championship in November 1997. This marked Gunn's fourth Tag Team Title reign and Road Dogg's first. Not only did the team win the titles that night, but they also got their "Outlaws" nickname when they "stole" the win and then ran to a waiting car, prompting Raw announcer Jim Ross to liken them to outlaws leaving
12642-540: 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
12789-427: The early advantage, tagging frequently while the heel team were regularly thrown under the bottom rope and replaced with a fresh member. Max Mini used Sunny to help him dropkick Battalion, Tarantula and then El Torito in order, before delivering a top rope hurricarana to Torito, and winning the match with a backslide pin. Next up, the Intercontinental Championship bout began with an exchange of punches and
12936-475: The eight-man main event at No Way Out of Texas, sparring opposite Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie ahead of their WrestleMania title match. Their alliance with Triple H in this match saw them eventually join the newly-formed "DX Army" the day after WrestleMania. The Legion of Doom went on to suffer a series of losses, ending in another loss against the Outlaws on the February 23 episode of Raw is War, after which
13083-405: 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
13230-517: The event. Following an altercation with Austin, however, Tyson's role was changed to special enforcer and he soon allied with D-Generation X. At WrestleMania, however, Tyson showed his true colors and stepped in when the referee was knocked down, making the three-count for Austin. To this day, many see this moment as the official genesis for the " Attitude Era " and WWF's resurging dominance over chief rivals World Championship Wrestling (WCW). During his match with The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels suffered
13377-603: 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
13524-498: The face of Konnan and his new group after LAX attacked B.G.'s real-life father "Bullet" Bob Armstrong . Their official in-ring reunion took place the next night at Final Resolution , where they defeated The Diamonds in the Rough . Their feud with LAX continued and included several more appearances by "Bullet" Bob Armstrong, including an Arm Wrestling match between Konnan and the 67-year-old Armstrong. In May 2006, The James Gang began
13671-564: The feud at Badd Blood in October 1997 in the first-ever Hell in a Cell match, which ended with the debut of Undertaker's ( kayfabe ) brother, Kane , giving Michaels the unfair win by delivering a tombstone piledriver on Undertaker, allowing the battered and bloody Michaels to steal the win. In an effort to mock Undertaker, Triple H and Chyna brought a casket to the ring only for Michaels to appear from inside and spray paint it in D-Generation X slogans . The following week, while Michaels
13818-474: The feud, before attacking the stable and being outnumbered. Kane made a surprise appearance and helped Undertaker, fighting DX up to the ramp before turning and reaching his hand out in an Undertaker-like salute which his brother returned. The opening match began with Dustin Rhodes attacking Vader as he entered the ring. Vader soon recovered and threw Rhodes into the turnbuckle, before eventually falling out of
13965-470: 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
14112-503: The following night on SmackDown . On January 19, 2015, on Raw, they along with the APA and nWo , returned as faces and attacked The Ascension . This set up a match between the Outlaws and The Ascension at the Royal Rumble . They went on to lose to The Ascension after a Fall of Man on Gunn. At WrestleMania 31 The Outlaws, along with X-Pac and Shawn Michaels, assisted their DX partner Triple H in defeating Sting and also fought against
14259-610: 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
14406-460: 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
14553-421: The help of D-Generation X , powerbombing Animal through the announcer's table, damaging his back. Although he was advised not to compete by doctors, Animal rested through the first few weeks of the year while the Outlaws ran roughshod through the tag division before this pay-per-view. The buildup to the Royal Rumble match itself focused almost entirely on Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin declared that going into
14700-526: 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
14847-492: The individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in 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
14994-480: 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
15141-496: 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
15288-461: The longest time between reigns in WWE history. The following night on Raw , Rhodes and Goldust invoked their rematch clause, with the Outlaws retaining the title after losing by disqualification after Brock Lesnar interfered and attacked both Rhodes and Goldust. On the February 3 episode of Raw , Triple H granted Rhodes and Goldust a rematch for the titles in a steel cage match, in which the Outlaws would retain their title. At Elimination Chamber ,
15435-532: The match and the title. However, as Shamrock celebrated, Maivia appealed to Mike Chioda who, upon discovering the foreign object in Shamrock's trunks, reversed the decision and took the belt from a bemused Shamrock. Chioda gave the title back to Maivia, making him the winner via disqualification. A furious Shamrock then attacked the referee for stripping him of the title. In the tag team match, New Age Outlaws prematurely began by attacking Legion of Doom before
15582-558: The match by pinning The Rock and, as a result, faced him at WrestleMania once again for the Intercontinental title. At WrestleMania, Shamrock originally won the match, but would not release his ankle lock; thus, Shamrock was disqualified and The Rock retained the championship. The Undertaker would not return to action until WrestleMania, where he defeated Kane in a singles match. Their feud continued with an inferno match at Unforgiven: In Your House in April. Two months later,
15729-467: The match to end via disqualification. The disqualification gave the victory to LOD while the New Age Outlaws retained the belts. After the match, the Outlaws double teamed Animal until Hawk broke free from the cuffs to save his partner. The Royal Rumble match then began with Mick Foley 's persona Cactus Jack as entrant #1, bringing trash cans to the ring. The second entrant was Terry Funk 's alter-ego and Cactus Jack's partner, Chainsaw Charlie, who came to
15876-481: The match, making it a handicap match. VKM finally defeated Basham and Damaja at Slammiversary after Kip pinned Basham, but Lance Hoyt turned on VKM after the match. Weeks later, at the Victory Road pay-per-view, VKM debuted a new valet/accomplice, the so-called "Voodoo Queen" Roxxi Laveaux . She attacked Hemme after VKM's match. On February 21, 2008, Kip turned on his partner by hitting him and his father with
16023-423: The meantime, Chyna and Triple H helped a visibly hurt Shawn Michaels out of the casket. Just then, Kane suddenly turned on Undertaker, punching him and chokeslamming him into the casket. DX quickly capitalized on the opportunity and shut the lid, thus ending the match and allowing Michaels to retain his title. Kane was not done, however, as Paul Bearer came to ringside and the two padlocked Undertaker inside
16170-498: 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
16317-460: The most hated teams in the WWF. Shortly before the Royal Rumble in 1998, the New Age Outlaws began a feud with Mick Foley , first fighting him as Dude Love, then as Mankind and finally Cactus Jack. When it became apparent that he needed help dealing with the Outlaws, Foley brought in Terry Funk as Chainsaw Charlie. Following a disqualification against The Legion of Doom at the Royal Rumble,
16464-609: The nWo, who had come to aid Sting. On January 22, 2018, on the 25th anniversary of Raw , The New Age Outlaws got together with DX, and Scott Hall . During the segment, the historic stable established an alliance for one night only, with the Bálor Club . Later that evening, the Bálor Club defeated the Revival , and after the match the legends of the past performed on the latter, their classic finishers and signature taunts, with
16611-476: The previous August after Michaels, who was the special referee in the match between then-champion Undertaker and Bret Hart , hit Undertaker with a chair meant for Hart and counted the pin to cost Undertaker the championship. The first match between the two came at Ground Zero: In Your House the following month, a match that ended in a no contest due to outside interference from Michaels' D-Generation X cohorts, Triple H and Chyna . Michaels and Undertaker resumed
16758-717: 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
16905-439: The purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise 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
17052-523: The reformed and now heel DX. No Way Out saw the final end of the Outlaws when Gunn received a serious arm injury during a match with the Dudley Boyz . Gunn was soon kicked out of DX after "losing his cool" and getting into a fight with all of the DX members; in reality, he needed to have surgery to repair his torn rotator cuff . The two would reunite one more time as faces at Survivor Series , teaming up with K Kwik and former DX teammate Chyna against
17199-536: The revived DX for doing the same thing. When The Hardys reunited for December to Dismember and issued an open challenge the TNA website quickly posted a message from VKM accepting, though it had already been accepted by MNM . On December 1, VKM showed up at a WWE house show at the Knoxville Civic Center with Vince Russo , Jeremy Borash , and a camera crew. They interviewed fans outside, filmed themselves purchasing tickets and eventually entered
17346-429: The ring apron stopped it from being shut. As Undertaker went to shut the casket, Michaels threw it open and dazed Undertaker by throwing powder into his eyes, leaving him stunned. Despite a throat shot, Undertaker began to lose his dominance of the match as things moved outside of the ring, with Michaels delivering a vicious piledriver on top of the steel steps, before fellow degenerate , Triple H , hit Undertaker with
17493-476: The ring where he also shoved Luna Vachon to the ground. After a suplex and a big splash , Rhodes was dragged to the corner so Vader could attempt his Vader Bomb , but a low blow stopped him. Vader then attempted the move for the second time, only to have Luna jump on his back. Vader hit the move anyway, and scored the pin. With Sunny as the special guest referee , a six-man tag match of lucha libre midget wrestling took place. The face team took most of
17640-418: The ring wielding his chainsaw before Cactus hit him with a chair and the two engaged in a hardcore battle briefly interrupted by the third entrant, Tom Brandi , who they both eliminated over the top rope. As Rocky Maivia entered at #4, he was met with a trash can over the head, being bundled out of the ring under the bottom rope briefly. As the ring began to fill up, Cactus Jack went to clothesline Charlie over
17787-421: The ring, leaving the former Intercontinental Champion against the current champion. Maivia survived almost being thrown out, only for Austin to nail him with a Stunner before he was finally eliminated, giving Stone Cold the win. The main event then began with The Undertaker mostly dominating Shawn Michaels . After walking on the top rope, Undertaker rolled Michaels into the casket , but Michaels' hand grabbing
17934-484: The same period, The New Age Outlaws had the third highest merchandise sales in the WWF after Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock . Upon parting ways with the WWF, the team reformed in several promotions, mostly notably in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling where, under the ringnames B.G. James and Kip James, they performed collectively as the James Gang and then as the Voodoo Kin Mafia , the latter of which
18081-440: 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
18228-450: The team were confronted by DX who told them they needed to start making waves by acting more controversially. In response to this, the Outlaws locked Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie in a dumpster and threw it off the entrance ramp on to the concrete floor. The Outlaws initially looked concerned, but ultimately attacked their injured rivals in what Foley would describe as "one of the funnier examples of bad sportsmanship". At WrestleMania XIV ,
18375-426: 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,
18522-414: The top WrestleMania matches pretty well. At least Mike Tyson botching his interview and saying "Cold Stone" made me laugh". By winning the Royal Rumble match, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin won the right to face Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania XIV. Mike Tyson's presence in the director's box was revealed the following night to be because he was taking the role of special guest referee for
18669-463: The top rope, but inadvertently threw himself over and was eliminated. Owen Hart came out at #9, but before he was able to enter the ring, NWA North American Champion Jeff Jarrett and his manager Jim Cornette attacked him. Soon after, at #16, Mick Foley returned to the ring in his Mankind gimmick, returning the favor by eliminating Chainsaw Charlie, while Ken Shamrock and Maivia resumed their feud from earlier. Jarrett officially came out at #18 and
18816-519: 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
18963-471: 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
19110-540: The two entered a storyline where Undertaker was eventually revealed to be in cahoots with his brother, which concluded with Paul Bearer reuniting with Undertaker and turning on Kane which eventually led to the formation of the Ministry of Darkness at the beginning of 1999. This also marked the last time Undertaker would face Shawn Michaels in a singles match until the two met at WrestleMania 25 ; Undertaker would wrestle Michaels once more at WrestleMania XXVI , where he won
19257-458: The two had an in-ring brawl and announced the dissolution of their team. They would then reappeared in a modified form as "LOD 2000" in the opening WrestleMania match, with Sunny as their valet. Rocky Maivia's feud with Ken Shamrock spilled out into a ten-man tag match between the Nation of Domination and Shamrock's team, consisting of Ahmed Johnson and the Disciples of Apocalypse. Shamrock won
19404-405: 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 a performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in
19551-535: 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
19698-458: The winner earned a match for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania XIV . The 1998 event was the 11th event in the Royal Rumble chronology and was scheduled to be held on January 18, 1998, at the San Jose Arena in San Jose, California . The event comprised six matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes , villains , or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in
19845-420: 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
19992-425: 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
20139-635: Was a play on the initials of their former boss in the WWF Vince McMahon . The team returned to periodic active competition in WWE under its original name in 2013 (with both members also having full-time backstage jobs with the company as well). Today only James is employed with the WWE in a backstage role while Sopp currently performs in All Elite Wrestling managing the tag team The Acclaimed ( Max Caster and Anthony Bowens ). They are six-time tag team champions in WWE, having held
20286-488: 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
20433-412: Was coming and there was absolutely nothing WCW could do to stop him. This wasn't a good show at all, but it was a necessary evil to get us to the glory days". In 2022, John Canton of TJR Wrestling gave the event a rating of 6/10, stating, "It was another average Royal Rumble event that was lacking in terms of great matches aside from the main event. When it comes to that Undertaker/Shawn match, while it
20580-477: Was delivering a promo , the same casket appeared again, to which Michaels believed it was just Triple H and Chyna playing a prank on him. However, this time, Undertaker appeared from inside, grabbing Michaels by the throat and dragging him into the coffin. Undertaker made his full presence known the following week, interrupting an interview in which Michaels was claiming to introduce the newest DX member: Kane. Undertaker warned Michaels and DX to leave his family out of
20727-679: Was obviously helping the Kru at every turn, Konnan refused to trust Kip. On the November 26 episode of TNA Impact! , and even though Konnan had his doubts, 3LK inducted Kip into the group and renamed themselves the 4Live Kru. At Turning Point , however, Konnan turned on the group, eventually forming his own group, The Latin American Xchange (LAX). Killings also went out on his own afterward, leaving only Kip and B.G. together. On January 14, 2006, Kip James and B.G. James, now calling themselves The James Gang, announced that they had reunited in
20874-571: 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
21021-459: Was replacing an injured Kevin Nash ) in a Lethal Lockdown match . Page, Waltman and James were victorious, although during the match James and The Outlaw refrained from fighting one another. Through October and November 2005, "The Outlaw" (now using the name Kip James, due to threats from the WWE that "The Outlaw" sounded too similar to their trademarked New Age Outlaws name) helped 3LK numerous times during their feud with Team Canada . Although he
21168-415: 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
21315-422: Was soon joined in the ring by Owen Hart, who ran out from the back and eliminated Jarrett. Hart himself was soon distracted by the non-competing Triple H , who hit Owen with a crutch as Chyna yanked him out. When the clock counted down to #22, no contestant appeared with Jerry Lawler on commentary claiming that the number was given to Stone Cold Steve Austin , who had reportedly been taken out backstage. By #23,
21462-417: 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
21609-421: Was very good, it's not their most famous match or their best match. The other undercard matches were poor, so that hurt the card quite a bit. In addition to that, the Royal Rumble match was probably the most predictable Rumble ever with Steve Austin winning. Aside from a few fun moments, it wasn’t very interesting at all. The crowd was engaged most of the night, so that's a positive and I also felt like they built up
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