World Wrestling Entertainment

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World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) is a publicly-traded company dealing with wrestling entertainment. It also had failed venues in football (the XFL) and body building. The WWE puts on live and telecast wrestling shows, produces video games and licenses various products. The company was previously known was the WWF (World Wrestling Federation), and before 1979 the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), before changing its name in 2002. It is the largest entertainment wrestling organization in the world.

Vince McMahon is the majority owner and Chairman of the company and his wife Linda McMahon holds the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Together with their children, Executive Vice President of Global Media Shane McMahon and Senior Vice President of Creative Writing Stephanie McMahon, the McMahons hold approximately 70% of WWE's economic interest and 96% of all voting power in the company.

The company's main headquarters is located at 1241 East Main Street in Stamford, Connecticut. There are also international offices in Los Angeles, New York City, London, and Toronto.

Some promotional names that the WWE maintains:

WWE's revenue in fiscal 2006 (from May 2005 to April 2006) was approximately $400 million (US), with a net profit of approximately $47 million. As of August 2006, the company's market capitalization is over $1 billion (US). Its stock is traded on the NYSE.[1]

History

The World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) was born in 1963 when Vincent J. McMahon split off from the larger National Wrestling Alliance, an umbrella organization of "mom and pop" wrestling territories with each promotion staying in its own territory. The company was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979. Under Vince McMahon, Vincent J. McMahon's son, the WWF would start to go national in the 1980s, breaking the unwritten rule of not encroaching on the turf of other regional wrestling territories. As his revenue increased, he also started to sign the best known names from other promotions, including the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and the NWA's flagship promotion, Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP).

The breakthrough signing that became the first nationally recognized superstar was former AWA wrestler Hulk Hogan who, due to his appearance in the movie Rocky III, had a national recognition that few other wrestlers could manage. Other big named wrestlers were brought in including Andre the Giant. Superstardom hit paydirt with the production of the first nationwide Pay per view WrestleMania in 1985. Incorporating well known actors such as Mr. T into the production helped to turn the WWF and WrestleMania into a mainstream hit.

Allegations of steroid abuse hit the WWF in 1994 as well as sexual harassment claims. They were a costly public relations nightmare that led to big cuts in salary for the wrestlers and staffs and saw many wrestlers leave to Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (the former JCP, which Turner bought in 1988), including Hulk Hogan.

Due to the steroid allegations, as well as WCW signing away many wrestlers from WWE, the company began promoting what they called the New Generation around 1994. This era focused less on wrestlers with bodybuilder physiques and more on performance. The two big names during this time were Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, who were smaller, but were known to be great performers. Other wrestlers who were prominent during this time included the Undertaker, Diesel, and Razor Ramon. Talent who would become prominent in the Attitude Era also began to be shown during this time. Most notably, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mick Foley, The Rock, and Triple H. In 1996, Diesel (Kevin Nash) and Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) would leave for WCW. Their last night with the company has been known as the "Curtain Call." At a house show at Madison Square Garden, Hall and Nash, along with Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Triple H) and Shawn Michaels broke character to bid each other farewell. The four were part of a backstage group known as "The Kliq," which also consisted of Sean Waltman, who was not with the company at the time. As a result, only Triple H was punished for the incident. Hall and Nash were leaving for WCW and Shawn Michaels was the WWE Champion at the time. Originally, Triple H was to win the 1996 King of the Ring, but did not. Instead, Stone Cold Steve Austin would win, leading to his now famous Austin 3:16 line and his eventual rise in the company. However, Triple H would win in 1997. Meanwhile, Hall and Nash would appear on WCW television in the summer of 1996. Eventually, they would form the New World Order, or nWo, with Hulk Hogan.

Stone Cold Steve Austin rose as a star in the late 1990s in what is known as The Attitude Era, which saw a movement away from family fun to attacking authority, more violence, and swearing. The WWF and WCW went head to head during this time, including having competing wrestling shows on Monday nights. As a response to the nWo, WWE formed their own faction in D-Generation X, or DX for short. In contrast to the nWo, which had more of a gang mentality, DX took a more juvenile prankster approach. The group was originally composed of Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Chyna. After WrestleMania XIV, Michaels would leave WWE for the next four years, only coming back periodically. Triple H took control of DX, and added Sean Waltman, who had been known as the 1-2-3 Kid years prior in WWE, and was known as Syxx in WCW as X-Pac. The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn), who had already been associated with DX formed the DX Army. At SummerSlam 1997, Austin suffered a neck injury during a match with Owen Hart in which Hart botched a piledriver. At Survivor Series 1999, he was written out of WWE storylines in order to have neck surgery that would keep him out of action for the majority of 2000. During Austin's absence, fellow WWE superstar The Rock would begin to rise in popularity. Eventually, he would become just as big as Austin was, becoming the top babyface in the company during Austin's absence. Although some would argue that The Rock became an even bigger star than Austin. It was also during this time another superstar began to rise in Triple H, who had become the top heel in the company. In September 2000, Austin returned to the WWE at the Unforgiven pay-per-view. However, it would be another month or so before he would begin competing in matches on a regular basis. In March 2001, the WWF bought WCW, ending the Monday Night Wars, as well as The Attitude Era. In the years following, many talent from WCW would have runs in WWE. These include Booker T, Buff Bagwell, and Diamond Dallas Page, who were arguably three of the biggest names WWE brought over in the immediate months following the purchase. Bagwell was released in July 2001, while Booker T and Page would be apart of the Invasion storyline, which ran for the better part of 2001. Other WCW talent who would come over to WWE included Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, and Rey Mysterio. On March 31, 2003, Goldberg, who was WCW's most famous home-grown talent made his debut in the WWE, he left a year later at WrestleMania XX.

In the summer of 2001, WWE attempted to negotiate with WCW wrestler, Sting. However, a segment on SmackDown featuring The Rock and Booker T convinced him to decline. For the next 13 years, WWE tried to get Sting, but were unsuccessful. A noticeable attempt was made in 2011, leading up to WrestleMania XXVII, with the 2.21.11 promo. Many believed this to be Sting, however, it was a promo for the Undertaker. In July 2014, Sting signed a deal with WWE, and anyone who pre-ordered the game WWE 2K15 would receive a code in which they could play as Sting. On November 23, 2014, at Survivor Series, Sting finally made his official WWE debut, 13 years after the purchase of WCW. His first match was at WrestleMania 31, where he lost to Triple H.

From 2002-2008, WWE entered the Ruthless Aggression Era. It retained many aspects of the Attitude Era, but also focused more on in-ring action. Talent who would become prominent during this time period included Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Batista, Randy Orton, CM Punk, and Edge, who had already been with the company for a while but was a mid-carder. Lesnar, Cena, Batista, and Orton all made their television debuts within 2002.

In 2008, WWE started the PG Era. With no competition to worry about, as well as the unwanted attention garnered by the Chris Benoit murders, WWE decided to go back to more family-friendly programming similar of the late 1980s to early 1990s. Talent such as Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, Ryback, and Dolph Ziggler would become major names.

On February 24, 2014, WWE launched the WWE Network. The network contains the entire past pay-per-view events from WWE, WCW, and ECW, as well as original programming. It also features Over the Edge 1999, the event in which Owen Hart died from a botched accident, in its entirety. Although the fifteen minutes in which paramedics got Hart out of the ring, and the backstage interview with Jeff Jarrett have been edited out. It also features events featuring Chris Benoit, although an advisory is shown prior.

On February 22, 2016, Shane McMahon made his first appearance on WWE programming since 2009. This was to set up a match between McMahon and The Undertaker at WrestleMania 32. Afterward, McMahon would return to Raw, co-running it with his sister, Stephanie McMahon. On May 25, 2016, it was announced that another Brand Extension would take place and SmackDown would start airing live on Tuesdays on the USA Network starting July 19, 2016. This has been referred to as the New Era.

Going Public

On April 29, 1999, the WWF made its return to terrestrial television by launching a special program known as SmackDown! on the fledgling UPN network. The Thursday-night show became a weekly series on August 26, 1999.

On the back of the success of the Attitude Era, on October 19, 1999 the WWF's parent company, Titan Sports (by this time renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc.) became a publicly traded company, offering 10 million shares priced at $17 each. WWF announced its desire to diversify, including creating a nightclub in Times Square, producing feature films, and book publishing.

In 2000 the WWF, in collaboration with television network NBC, announced the creation of the XFL, a new professional American football league that debuted in 2001. The league had surprisingly 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 primetime 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 UPN demanded that SmackDown! be cut by half an hour, McMahon shut down the XFL.[2]

In March 2001 McMahon's empire grew when he acquired his main competitor WCW, which had been losing money and was sold for about $7 million.

In May 2002 the name of the company was changed from the WWF to WWE after it was ruled that the World Wildlife Fund owned the rights to the WWF label in the United Kingdom.[3][4]

Another smaller wrestling company, Extreme Championship Wrestling, was purchased in mid 2003.

Initially, WWE had planned to branch WCW into its own entity. The original plan was for RAW to be the WCW show, while SmackDown would become the WWE show. However, on July 2, 2001, at a show in Tacoma, the last 20 minutes of RAW were given to WCW. A match between Booker T and Buff Bagwell for the WCW Championship was met with negative criticism from fans. Attendees at the area had be chanting "This Match Sucks!" and "Boring!" A week later, the Invasion storyline began when ECW was added. In April 2002, about a month before the name change, WWE decided to create two separate rosters, one on RAW, the other on SmackDown! due to the overabundance of talent left over from the Invasion storyline (which involved talent from the absorbed ECW and WCW rosters interacting in WWF storylines). This is known as the WWE Brand Extension. For the first few months of the Brand Extension, the WWE Undisputed Champion appear on both shows. After SummerSlam 2002, Brock Lesnar who had won the Championship from the Rock, signed with SmackDown. With that, the Undisputed WWE Championship once again became the WWE Championship. A week later, Eric Bischoff introduced the WCW Championship (also called the World Championship), as the World Heavyweight Championship, and awarded it to Triple H. Following the Brand Extension, a yearly Draft Lottery was instituted to exchange members of each roster and generally refresh the lineups.

In August 2002, the company launched WWE Niagara Falls, a retail establishment in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

In 2003, WWE held their first annual "Tribute to the Troops" shows in Iraq and Afghanistan.[5]

On May 26, 2006, WWE revived Extreme Championship Wrestling as its third brand with the new ECW program airing Tuesday nights on the Sci Fi Channel (now SyFy).[6]

The final episode of WWE's ECW show aired on February 16, 2010. In that episode, the final ECW title match was held. Ezekiel Jackson won the bout and became the final man to hold the ECW title.

The next week, WWE aired a new breed of wrestling television show. WWE NXT aired on the SyFy network in ECW's stead. NXT has sinced been moved to a livestreaming internet format along with WWE Supertstars.

On August 29, 2011, it was announced that Raw would feature SmackDown Superstars full-time. As a result, the Brand Extension as well as the Draft, was discontinued. However, on May 25, 2016, WWE announced a new Brand Extension. On the July 19, 2016 episode of SmackDown, the Draft took place. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Dean Ambrose was drafted to SmackDown. In response, Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley announced the creation of the WWE Universal Championship. The WWE World Heavyweight Championship simply became the WWE World Championship. At SummerSlam 2016, Finn Bálor defeated Seth Rollins to become the first ever Universal Champion.

Current Pay Per View/WWE Network Event Schedule

Current Championships and Accomplishments

Raw

Championship Current Champion Date Won
WWE Universal Championship Kevin Owens August 29, 2016
WWE Raw Women's Championship Charlotte Flair December 18, 2016
WWE United States Championship Chris Jericho January 9, 2017
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Rich Swann November 29, 2016
WWE Raw Tag Team Championship Cesaro and Sheamus December 18, 2016

SmackDown

Championship Current Champion Date Won
WWE Championship AJ Styles September 11, 2016
WWE Intercontiental Championship Dean Ambrose January 3, 2017
WWE SmackDown Women's Championship Alexa Bliss December 4, 2016
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan) December 27, 2016

NXT

Championship Current Champion Date Won
NXT Championship Shinsuke Nakamura December 3, 2016
NXT Women's Championship Asuka April 1, 2016
NXT Tag Team Championship DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa) November 19, 2016

United Kingdom

Championship Current Champion Date Won
WWE United Kingdom Championship Tyler Bate January 15, 2017

Accomplishments

Accomplishment Latest Winner Date Won
Royal Rumble Triple H January 24, 2016
Money in the Bank Dean Ambrose June 19, 2016
Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal Trophy Baron Corbin April 3, 2016
Cruiserweight Classic T.J. Perkins September 14, 2016
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic The Authors of Pain (Akam and Rezar) November 19, 2016

Defunct championships

  • World Heavyweight Championship (2002-2013) - Awarded to Triple H on the September 2, 2002 edition of Raw. Unified with the WWE Championship on December 15, 2013.
  • WWE Undisputed Championship (2001-2002) - Became the WWE Championship after Brock Lesnar signed with SmackDown on August 26, 2002.
  • WWE Hardcore Championship (1998-2002) - Briefly renamed the WWE Texas Hardcore Championship in the Summer of 2002 when it was held by Bradshaw.
  • WWE European Championship (1997-2002)
  • WCW World Heavyweight Championship (2001) - Renamed the World Championship from November 19, 2001 to December 9, 2001.
  • WCW World Tag Team Championship (2001)
  • WWF Light Heavyweight Championship (1981-2001) Officially recognized by WWE from 1997-2001.
  • Million Dollar Championship (1989-1992, 1995-1996, 2010)
  • WWF Intercontinental Tag Team Championship (1991)
  • WWF Women's Tag Team Championship (1983-1989)
  • WWF Canadian Championship (1985-1986)
  • WWF International Heavyweight Championship (1959-1963, 1982-1985)
  • WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship (1967-1985)
  • WWF International Tag Team Championship (1969-1985)
  • WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship (1978-1985; defended mainly in then-affiliated New Japan Pro Wrestling and became exclusive to New Japan after it split from the WWF in 1985, continuing until it was retired on December 31, 1989)
  • WWF North American Heavyweight Championship (1979-1981)
  • WWWF United States Championship (1970-1975)
  • WWWF United States Tag Team Championship (1963-1967)
  • ECW Championship (1994-2001, 2006-2010)
  • WWE World Tag Team Championship (1971-2010) Unified with the WWE Tag Team Championship to create the WWE Unified Tag Team Championship
  • ECW Television Championship (1992-2000)
  • ECW Tag Team Championship (1992-2000)
  • WWE Divas Championship (2008-2016) Retired on April 3, 2016 at WrestleMania 32. Replaced with the Women's Championship.
  • FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship (2008-2012)
  • FCW Florida Tag Team Championship (2008-2012)
  • FCW 15 Championship (2011-2012)

Defunct accomplishments

  • King of the Ring (1985-2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2015)
  • Diva Search (2003-2007)

References

  1. ↑ http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/wwe.html WWE
  2. ↑ sportsillustrated.cnn.com
  3. ↑ http://contracts.corporate.findlaw.com/agreements/wwf/worldwildlife.1997.01.20.html
  4. ↑ http://corporate.wwe.com/news/2002/2002_05_06.jsp
  5. ↑ http://corporate.wwe.com/community/troops.jsp
  6. ↑ http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/scifi%7Caccessdate

External links

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