Wrestler Theme Song
The Rock “Alive” by POD
WWE History “Lonely Road Of Faith” by Kid Rock
Triple H “Beautiful Day” by U2
WWE Superstars “My Sacrifice” by Creed
WWE Superstars “Weathered” by Creed
Jeff Hardy “Not Enough” by Our Lady Peace
Chris Jericho “King of My World” by Saliva
Mick Foley “So Far Away” by Staind
Matt Hardy “Live for the Moment” by Monster Magnet
Kurt Angle “Clocks” by Coldplay
The Undertaker “Adrenaline” by Gavin Rossdale
Chris Benoit “One Thing” by Finger Eleven
Jeff Hardy “Rooftops” by Lost Prophets

Pay-per-View Theme Song
SummerSlam 1998 “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC
Armageddon 2000 “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynard Synard
Royal Rumble 2001 “Dominatrix” - Production Theme
No Way Out 2001 “Burning Tree” - Production Theme
WrestleMania 17 (2001) “My Way” by Limp Bizkit
Backlash 2001 “Frenzy” - Production Theme
Insurrextion 2001 “Burning Tree” - Production Theme
Judgment Day 2001 “Tenderloin” - Production Theme
King of the Ring 2001 “Rhesus Pieces” - Production Theme
Invasion 2001 “Fight Song” by Marilyn Manson
Invasion 2001 “Creature Discomfort” - Production Theme
SumerSlam 2001 “Bodies” by Drowning Pool
Unforgiven 2001 “Terror Town” - Production Theme
No Mercy 2001 “Click Click Boom” by Saliva
Survivor Series 2001 “Control” by Puddle Of Mudd
Vengeance 2001 “Sinner” by Drowning Pool
Royal Rumble 2002 “Cocky” by Kid Rock
No Way Out 2002 “Feel So Numb” by Rob Zombie
WrestleMania X8 (2002) “Tear Away” by Drowning Pool
WrestleMania X8 (2002) “Superstar” by Saliva
Backlash 2002 “Young Grow Old” by Creed
Judgment Day 2002 “Broken” by 12 Stones
King of The Ring 2002 “Ride Of Your Life” by Neurotica
Vengeance 2002 “Downfall” by Trust Company
Global Warning Melbourne Tour “Mental” - Production Theme
SummerSlam 2002 “Fight” - Production Theme
Unforgiven 2002 “Adrenaline” by Gavin Rossdale
No Mercy 2002 “No Mercy” (WWE Produced)
Rebellion 2002 Rebellion Theme (WWE Produced)
Survivor Series 2002 “Always” by Saliva
Armageddon 2002 “The End is Here” - Remix (WWE Produced)
Royal Rumble 2003 “Falling Apart” by Trust Company
No Way Out 2003 “Bring Me to Life” by Evanscence
WrestleMania 19 (2003) “Crack Addict” by Limp Bizkit
Backlash 2003 “Remedy” by Cold
Bad Blood 2003 “Headstrong” by Tapt
Vengeance 2003 “Price to Play” by Staind
SummerSlam 2003 “St. Anger” by Metallica
Unforgiven 2003 “Enemy” by Sevendust
No Mercy 2003 “Today Is the Day” by Dope
Survivor Series 2003 “Build a Bridge” by Limp Bizkit
Armageddon 2003 “The End is Here” - Remix (WWE Produced)
Royal Rumble 2004 “Nothing Left to Lose” by Puddle of Mudd
No Way Out 2004 “Crossing Borders” by Rey Misterio Jr.
WrestleMania 20 (2004) “Step Up” by Drowning Pool
Backlash 2004 “Eyes Wide Shut” by Edge Water
Judgment Day 2004 “Tenderloin” - Production Theme
Bad Blood 2004 “Sold Me” by Seether
Great American Bash 2004 “?” - Production Theme
SummerSlam 2004 “Summertime Blues” by Rush
Unforgiven 2004 “Survival of the Sickest” by Saliva
No Mercy 2004 “No Mercy” by WWE Produced
Taboo Tuesday 2004 “Taboo Tuesday” by WWE Produced
Survivor Series 2004 “Ugly” by The Exies
New Year’s Revolution 2005 “Race Againts Time” by James Johnston
Royal Rumble 2005 “Find the Real” by Alter Bridge
No Way Out 2005 “Enemy” by Fozzy
WrestleMania 21 (2005) “Big Time” by The Soundtrack of Our Lives
WrestleMania 21 (Recap) (2005) “Beyond Those Eyes” by 3 Doors Down
Backlash 2005 “Stronger” by Trust Company
ECW One Night Stand 2005 “Bodies” by Drowning Pool
Vengeance 2005 “Happy?” by Mudvayne
Great American Bash 2005 “Pay the Price” by Eric and The Hostiles
SummerSlam 2005 “Remedy” by Seether
Unforgiven 2005 “Calling” by Taproot
No Mercy 2005 “Save Me” by Shine Down
Taboo Tuesday 2005 “Twisted Transistor” by Korn
Survivor Series 2005 “Lights Out” by P.O.D.
New Year’s Revolution 2006 “Stricken” by Disturbed
No Way Out 2006 “No Way Out” by Theory of a Deadman
No Way Out 2006 (alternative theme) “Deadly Game” by Theory of a Deadman
WrestleMania 22 (2006) “Big Time” by Peter Gabriel
WrestleMania 22 (alternative theme) “I Dare You” by Shinedown
Backlash 2006 “Baby Hate Me” by Danko Jones
Judgment Day 2006 “This Fire Burns” by Killswitch Engage
ECW One Night Stand 2006 “Bodies” by Drowning Pool
Vengeance 2006 “Victim” by Eighteen Visions
Great American Bash 2006 “Lonely Train” by Black Stone Cherry
SummerSlam 2006 “The Enemy” by GodSmack
SummerSlam 2006 “Cobratwist” by The Teddybears
Unforgiven 2006 “Run” by Day of Fire
Cyber Sunday 2006 “Game On” by Disciple
Survivor Series 2006 “Are You Ready?” by Hazen Street
New Year’s Revolution 2007 “Race Againts Time” by James Johnston
Royal Rumble 2007 “Drones” by Rise Against
No Way Out 2007 “Powertrip” by Monster Magnet
WrestleMania 23 (2007) “Ladies and Gentlemen” by Saliva
Backlash 2007 “There and Back Again” by Daughtry
Judgment Day 2007 “I Don’t Wanna Stop” by Ozzy Osborne
One Night Stand 2007 “Famous” by Puddle of Mudd
Vengeance 2007 “Gone” by Fuel
Great American Bash 2007 “The Church of Hot Addiction” by Cobra Starship
SummerSlam 2007 “Whine Up” by Kat DeLuna
Unforgiven 2007 “Rise Today” by AlterBridge
Cyber Sunday 2007 “Fast Fuse” by Kasabian
Survivor Series 2007 “Tick Tick Boom” by The Hives
Royal Rumble 2008 “Stand Up For Rock and Roll” by Airbourne
No Way Out 2008 “Fake It” by Seether
WrestleMania 24 (2008) “Snow (Hey, Oh” by Red Hot Chili Peppers
WrestleMania 24 (2008) “Light It Up” by Rev Theory
Backlash 2008 “All Summer Long” by Kid Rock
Judgment Day 2008 “Take It All” by Zididada
One Night Stand 2008 “Hell Yeah” by Rev Theory
Night of Champions 2008 “Devour” by ShineDown

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) is a publicly traded, privately controlled integrated media (focusing in television, internet, and live events), sports, and entertainment company dealing primarily in the professional wrestling industry, with major revenue sources also coming from movies, music, product licensing, and direct product sales. 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-Levesque, the McMahons hold approximately 70% of WWE’s economic interest and 96% of all voting power in the company. The company’s global headquarters are located at 1241 East Main Street in Stamford, Connecticut, with international offices in Los Angeles, New York City, London, and Toronto. The company was previously known as Titan Sports, Inc. before changing to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc., and most recently becoming World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.

WWE’s business focus is on professional wrestling. It is currently the largest professional wrestling promotion in the world, and holds an extensive library of videos representing a significant portion of the visual history of professional wrestling. The promotion previously existed as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, which promoted under the banner of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), and later the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). WWE promotes under three brands; RAW, SmackDown! and ECW. WWE is also home to three of the eight world heavyweight championships recognized by Pro Wrestling Illustrated.

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 as WWE.

History

The beginning/Capitol Wrestling

Roderick James “Jess” McMahon was a boxing promoter whose achievements included co-promoting a bout in 1915 between Jess Willard and Jack Johnson. In 1926, while working with Tex Rickard (who actually despised wrestling to such a degree he prevented wrestling events from being held at Madison Square Garden between 1939 and 1948), he started promoting boxing in Madison Square Garden in New York. The first match during their partnership was a light-heavyweight championship match between Jack Delaney and Paul Berlenbach.

Around the same time, professional wrestler Joseph Raymond “Toots” Mondt created a new style of professional wrestling that he called Slam Bang Western Style Wrestling to make the sport more appealing to spectators. He then formed a promotion with wrestling champion Ed Lewis and his manager Billy Sandow. They persuaded many wrestlers to sign contracts with their Gold Dust Trio. After much success, a disagreement over power caused the trio to dissolve and, with it, their promotion. Mondt formed partnerships with several other promoters, including Jack Curley in New York City. When Curley was dying, Mondt moved to take over New York wrestling with the aid of several bookers, one of whom was Jess McMahon.

Together, Roderick McMahon and Raymond Mondt created the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC). The CWC joined the National Wrestling Alliance in 1953. Also in that year, Ray Fabiani, one of Mondt’s associates, brought in Vincent J. McMahon to replace his father Jess in the promotion. McMahon and Mondt were a successful combination, and within a short time, they controlled approximately 70% of the NWA’s booking, largely due to their dominance in the heavily populated Northeast region. Mondt taught McMahon about booking and how to work in the wrestling business.

World Wide Wrestling Federation

The NWA recognized an undisputed NWA World Heavyweight Champion that went from wrestling company to wrestling company in the alliance and defended the belt around the world. In 1963, the champion was “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers.

The rest of the NWA was unhappy with Mondt because he rarely allowed Rogers to wrestle outside of the Northeast. Mondt and McMahon wanted Rogers to keep the NWA World Championship, but Rogers was unwilling to sacrifice his $25,000 deposit on the belt (title holders at the time had to pay a deposit to insure they would honor their commitments as champion). Rogers lost the NWA World Championship to Lou Thesz in a one-fall match in Toronto, Ontario on January 24, 1963, which led to Mondt, McMahon and the CWC leaving the NWA in protest, creating the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in the process.

In April, Rogers was awarded the new WWWF World Championship following an apocryphal tournament in Rio de Janeiro. He lost the title to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17, 1963, after suffering a heart attack shortly before the match. To accommodate Rogers’ condition, the match was booked to last under a minute.

Mondt left the company in the late sixties for unclear reasons, probably due to old age.

Although the WWWF had withdrawn from the NWA, Vince McMahon Sr. still sat on the NWA Board of Directors, no other territory was recognized in the Northeast, and several “champion vs. champion” matches occurred (usually ending in a double disqualification or some other non-decisive ending).

In March 1979, the WWWF became the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The change was purely cosmetic, and the ownership and front office personnel remained unchanged during this period.

World Wrestling Federation

The World Wrestling Federation logo (1998 - 2002) that WWE is now prohibited from using after its agreement with the conservation organization WWF.

Business advances

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 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.

Acquisition of WCW and ECW

With the success of the Attitude Era, WCW’s already shaky financial situation deteriorated even further. It only survived because Ted Turner retained control over it as a result of Turner Broadcasting System’s merger with Time Warner. However, after Time Warner merged with AOL, Turner’s power was considerably reduced, and the newly merged company decided to shed its dead weight, namely WCW which was now losing scores of millions of dollars each year. In March 2001, WWF Entertainment, Inc. acquired World Championship Wrestling, Inc. from AOL Time Warner for a number reported to be around $7 million. With this purchase, WWF was now the largest wrestling promotion in the world, and practially the only one in North America. It would remain so until the launch of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2002.

The assets of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), which had folded after filing for bankruptcy protection in April 2001, were purchased by WWE in mid-2003.

World Wrestling Entertainment

In 2000, the World Wildlife Fund (also WWF), an environmental organization now called the World Wide Fund for Nature, sued the World Wrestling Federation. A British court agreed that Titan Sports had violated a 1994 agreement which had limited the permissible use of the WWF initials overseas, particularly in merchandising.[4]

On Sunday May 5, 2002, the company quietly changed all references on its website from “WWF” to “WWE”, while switching the URL from WWF.com to WWE.com. The next day, a press release announced the official name change from World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. to World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., or WWE, and the change was publicized later that day during a telecast of Monday Night RAW, which emanated from the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut. For a short time, WWE used the slogan “Get The ‘F’ Out”. The company had also been ordered by court to stop using the old WWF Attitude logo on any of its properties and to censor all past references to WWF, as they no longer owned the trademark to the initials WWF in ’specified circumstances’.

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. 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.

On May 26, 2006, WWE revived Extreme Championship Wrestling as its third brand. The new ECW program airs Tuesday nights, on the Sci Fi Channel.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In 1994, Jim Crockett’s non-compete agreement with Ted Turner, who purchased World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from Crockett in 1988, was up and he decided to start promoting with the NWA again. Crockett went to Tod Gordon and asked him to hold a tournament for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the ECW Arena on August 27, 1994. NWA President Dennis Coralluzzo thought that Crockett and Gordon were going to try to monopolize the title (much like Crockett did in the 1980s) and told them they didn’t have the NWA board’s approval so he took control over the tournament. Gordon was upset at Coralluzzo for his power plays so Gordon and Shane Douglas, who was booked to win the title against 2 Cold Scorpio, planned to have Douglas throw the title down after he won it and break ECW from the NWA. In a now classic post-match speech, Shane Douglas said that he didn’t want to be a part of an organization that “died” seven years earlier (presumably when Jim Crockett sold his NWA super territory to Turner Broadcasting in 1988).

After ECW withdrew from the NWA and officially changed its name from Eastern Championship Wrestling to Extreme Championship Wrestling, it became an underground sensation. The group would showcase many different styles of professional wrestling, popularizing bloody hardcore wrestling matches and the 3-Way Dance. ECW was always intended to be counter-culture and a grittier alternative to multi-million dollar organizations such as World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and WCW. In addition to their hardcore match types, they provided an alternative to North American wrestling with technical wrestling that was common overseas. International stars such as Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko anchored a solid technical wrestling core in ECW. Rey Misterio, Jr., Psicosis, Konnan and Juventud Guerrera brought a lucha libre style rarely seen in the national wrestling promotions.

Wrestlers such as Shane Douglas, Tommy Dreamer, Raven, The Sandman, Cactus Jack, Terry Funk, Sabu, Public Enemy and The Tazmaniac were seen as being too dangerous for the multi-million dollar companies and were given a chance in ECW. They also helped launch the new ECW at this time. One of the promotion’s marquee feuds was the long-standing feud between Tommy Dreamer and Raven, which involved many ECW wrestlers over a period of two and a half years. Another was between Raven and the Sandman, which included the crucifixion angle, one of the most controversial angles in wrestling history.

The bulk of ECW’s shows remained at the ECW Arena, a rundown bingo hall secluded under a section of Interstate 95. Seating comprised simple folding chairs and four sets of portable bleachers, and the whole sort of unconventional set up reflected the gritty style of the wrestling itself. Shows were actually broadcast on a Philadelphia local cable sports station (SportsChannel America’s local affiliate, Sports Channel Philadelphia) on Tuesday evenings. After Sports Channel Philadelphia went off the air in 1997, the show moved to WPPX-TV 61. It later moved to a former independent broadcast station (WGTW 48) in Philadelphia on either Friday or Saturday night at 1 or 2 a.m. Due to the obscurity of the stations and ECW itself, many times expletives and violence were not edited out of these showings, helping to get ECW noticed.

After noticing ECW’s growing popularity, the “Big Two” (World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation) started adopting their ideas and hiring away their talent. Paul Heyman believes that ECW was the first victim of the “Monday Night Wars” between WCW Monday Nitro and Monday Night RAW. While the WWF had somewhat of a working relationship with ECW (going as far as allowing cross-promotional angles, and providing financial aid to Heyman for a considerable period of time), WCW refused to even mention ECW by name (the sole exception being a passing remark by Raven in late 1996), referring to it as “barbed wire city” and “a major independent promotion” that wrestled in bingo halls during a segment directed at Diamond Dallas Page.

Vince McMahon claimed that he put Paul Heyman on the WWF’s payroll as compensation for the talent (namely Tazz, Steve Austin, Mick Foley, and The Dudley Boyz) leaving ECW for the WWF. On the other hand, Heyman believed that Eric Bischoff never compensated him for ECW bred talent such as Mikey Whipwreck, Raven, The Sandman, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, Steven Richards, Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock) and Chris Jericho leaving to go to WCW.

Cross-promotion

Storyline-wise, Vince McMahon first became “aware” of ECW while at the 1995 King of the Ring event in ECW’s home base of Philadelphia. During the match between Mabel and Savio Vega, the crowd suddenly started to angrily chant “ECW.” At the September 22, 1996 In Your House: Mind Games event in Philadelphia, ECW stars (The Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, Paul Heyman, and Taz) were on hand in the front row with Sandman even interfering in one match (when he spat beer on Savio Vega during his strap match with Justin “Hawk” Bradshaw). McMahon acknowledged ECW’s status as a local, up and coming organization on the air.

On February 24, 1997, ECW “invaded” Monday Night RAW from the Manhattan Center. They advanced a storyline, plugged their first ever pay-per-view and worked three matches in front of the WWF audience while Vince McMahon called the action with both Jerry Lawler and Paul Heyman.

The Manhattan Center in New York was peppered with a large number of ECW fans, who gave the WWF wrestlers “BO-RING” chants when they felt it was warranted. Likewise, when the ECW performers arrived, they popped and introduced the WWF Monday night audience to some trademark ECW group chants. It was said that this episode was the beginning of what would eventually be called The Attitude Era of the WWF.

After a series of struggles, on April 13, 1997, ECW broadcasted its first pay-per-view wrestling card, Barely Legal, highlighted by Terry Funk winning the ECW World Heavyweight Title.

At the 1997 Wrestlepalooza event, Jerry Lawler, a noted critic of ECW made a surprise appearance at the ECW Arena. Wrestlepalooza ‘97 featured Raven’s final ECW match before leaving for WCW. In this match, Tommy Dreamer finally beat his long time nemesis Raven. Dreamer’s celebration was short-lived, though, as Jerry Lawler, along with Sabu and Rob Van Dam showed up to attack Dreamer. This set up a match between Tommy Dreamer and Jerry Lawler at the 1997 Hardcore Heaven PPV on August 17, which was won by Dreamer.

In March 2000, Mike Awesome suddenly left ECW to join WCW even though he was still the reigning ECW World Heavyweight Champion. There were rumors that Eric Bischoff wanted to drop the ECW belt in the trash can on television, as he did with the WWF Women’s title with Alundra Blayze. This led to threats of legal action from ECW, so Awesome agreed to return to ECW to drop the title to anyone - which turned out to be Tazz, who was working for the WWF at that time. This would mark the only time that a WCW contracted wrestler would wrestle against a WWF contracted wrestler in an ECW sanctioned event.

In August 1999, ECW began to broadcast nationally on TNN (for what was initially a three year contract). Despite no advertising and a low budget, ECW became TNN’s highest rated show. ECW on TNN was canceled in October 2000 (with the final episode airing on October 6, 2000) in favor of WWE RAW moving to the network.

To this day, Paul Heyman strongly believes that the lack of a national television deal (especially after the TNN ordeal) was the main cause of ECW’s demise.

Bankruptcy

ECW struggled for months after the cancellation, trying to secure a new national TV deal. On December 30, 2000, ECW Hardcore TV aired for the last time and Guilty as Charged 2001 was the last PPV aired on January 7, 2001. Living Dangerously was going to air on March 11, 2001, but because of financial trouble it was cancelled before March 11. Despite help from the WWF, Heyman could not get out of financial trouble and filed for bankruptcy on April 4, 2001.

The company was listed as having assets totaling $1,385,500. Included in that number was $860,000 in accounts receivable owed the company by iN DEMAND Network (PPV), Acclaim (video games), and Original San Francisco Toy Company (action figures). The balance of the assets were the video tape library ($500,000), a 1998 Ford Truck ($19,500) and the remaining inventory of merchandise ($4,000).

The liabilities of the company totaled $8,881,435.17. The bankruptcy filing included hundreds of claims, including production companies, buildings ECW ran in, TV stations ECW was televised on, travel agencies, phone companies, attorney’s fees, wrestlers, and other talent. Wrestlers and talent were listed, with amounts owed ranging from $0 for Sabu and Steve Corino to hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars. The highest amounts owed to talents were Rob Van Dam ($150,000), Tommy Dreamer ($100,000), Joey Styles ($50,480), Shane Douglas ($48,000), and Francine ($47,275).

Revivals

Alliance storyline

A few months after the promotion’s 2001 demise, ECW resurfaced as a stable as part of the World Wrestling Federation Invasion storyline. As a participant in the inter-promotional feud between Shane McMahon’s WCW and Vince McMahon’s WWF, ECW was initially “owned” by Paul Heyman and harbored no loyalty to either promotion. Soon after, it was revealed Stephanie McMahon was ECW’s new “owner”, and she would soon conspire with her brother Shane to oust their father from his leadership position in the World Wrestling Federation. With the creation of The Alliance, the inter-promotional feud shifted into an internal power struggle among the McMahon family. The defection of WWF superstars to The Alliance continued the shift as less focus was placed on WCW and ECW performers. The feud lasted six months and concluded with WWF defeating The Alliance at the 2001 Survivor Series. The WWF’s victory also marked the end of the Invasion storyline, and WCW and ECW wrestlers were reintegrated into the WWF.

Documentaries

In the summer of 2003, WWE purchased ECW’s assets in bankruptcy court, acquiring the rights to ECW’s video library. They used this video library to put together a two-disc DVD entitled The Rise and Fall of ECW. The set was released in November 2004. The main feature of the DVD was a three-hour documentary on the company’s history, with the other disc featuring matches from the promotion. The DVD sold well, and is currently ranked as WWE’s second highest-selling DVD of all time, behind WrestleMania 21.

An unauthorized DVD called Forever Hardcore was produced by former WCW crew member Jeremy Borash in response to The Rise and Fall of ECW. The DVD had stories of wrestlers who were not employed by WWE telling their side of ECW’s history.

Reunion shows

The strong sales of both The Rise and Fall of ECW and Forever Hardcore prompted both World Wrestling Entertainment and Shane Douglas to run ECW reunion shows in 2005. Douglas’s first Hardcore Homecoming show was held before WWE’s ECW One Night Stand and subsequently went on tour.

Lawsuits

Mass Transit

On November 23, 1996, aspiring wrestler Eric Kulas teamed with D-Von Dudley to wrestle The Gangstas. Substituting for Axl Rotten, Kulas was beaten with various weapons and suffered a deep cut as a result of blading incident by his opponent New Jack. Kulas sued ECW and New Jack for physical and psychological damage claiming they were unaware the match was going to be a hardcore match. Furthermore, criminal charges were filed by the State of Massachusetts against New Jack. During the civil trial, it was revealed that Kulas and his father lied that Kulas was 19 years old instead of 17. Also, Kulas had misrepresented his wrestling experience by stating he was trained by retired wrestler Killer Kowalski. In the end, ECW and New Jack were acquitted of the charges, however, ECW suffered long term repercussions. The lawsuit delayed the broadcast of ECW’s first pay-per-view after distributors viewed video of the incident. Eric Kulas died on May 12, 2002 at the age of 22 due to complications from gastric bypass surgery.

Tod Gordon

In December 2005, Eastern Championship Wrestling founder Tod Gordon challenged WWE’s ownership of the Eastern Championship Wrestling section of the ECW video library, claiming that the state didn’t have the right to sell that section of the video library to Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment. He also claims that Eastern Championship Wrestling, Inc. was separate from Extreme Championship Wrestling. On May 8, 2006 the case was thrown out and Gordon plans to appeal the decision. Tod Gordon is now one of the owners of Pro Wrestling Unplugged, running out of the New Alhambra Arena.

Tradition

There were several distinctive fans that were always in the front row at ECW shows. Among them were Sign Guy,Tye Dye Guy, Hat Guy(also known in the Philadelphia area as Straw Hat), Faith No More Guy, and Kato. They gained their respective nicknames because Sign Guy always had different creative signs with him, Hat Guy always wore a straw hat and Hawaiian shirt, Faith No More Guy bore an uncanny resemblance to “Big” Jim Martin, former guitarist for rock band Faith No More and Kato resembled OJ Simpson house guest Kato Kaelin. Regular patrons of ECW Arena events were given Club ECW status by the promotion and were able to reserve seats ahead of the general public. Many members of Club ECW were present at Shane Douglas’s 2005 Hardcore Homecoming shows in Philadelphia, and at ECW One Night Stand.

Crowds at ECW events were well known for their rowdiness and distinctive chants that either supported or demeaned what was transpiring in the ring. ECW Chants such as “You fucked up” and “Holy shit” became infamous during those shows, and are still used by fans of other promotions.

In ECW, there were virtually no rules. Weapons were abundant, with much blood spilled. There were referees, but their role was normally limited to counting pinfalls and acknowledging submissions, occasionally performing tag team maneuvers with a wrestler during the match, several times becoming the winner of the match themselves though not officially a part of the bout.

ECW was known for making popular several types of matches:

Barbed Wire Match
Flaming Tables Match
Singapore Cane Match
Stairway to Hell Match
Three-Way Dance
ECW was also infamous for regularly holding Bring Your Own Weapon Nights at the ECW Arena in the early days of the promotion. Fans were encouraged to bring their own weapons to give to wrestlers, as fighting in the crowd was a staple of ECW matches. A dollar store located next to the ECW Arena often supplied the bulk of the weapons, with fans purchasing them while they waited in line for each show. Memorable weapons included crutches, a large piece of cardboard with the words “Use Me!” handwritten on it but actually concealing a full-sized Stop sign, a two-man kayak, a Leonard Cohen vinyl record, a VCR (with remote), and a Nintendo Entertainment System. An accident actually helped put an end to Bring Your Own Weapon Night when wrestler Cactus Jack, believing the weapon he was holding to be an inexpensive aluminum pan, swung the object full force into The Sandman’s head. When he heard the resulting “clang” noise, he realized the object was in fact a cast-iron skillet, and The Sandman’s resulting injury put him out of action for two weeks.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion which, in its proper form, existed from 1988 to 2001. Although the name “World Championship Wrestling” had been used as a brand and television show name by various National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)-affiliated promotions (most notably Georgia Championship Wrestling and Jim Crockett Promotions) since 1983, it was not until five years later that an actual NWA-affiliated promotion called World Championship Wrestling appeared on the national scene, under the ownership of Atlanta, Georgia-based media mogul Ted Turner.

For the entirety of its existence as a separate promotion, WCW was the chief rival of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), and even the owners of its NWA-affiliated forerunner promotions regarded the WWF as their major competitor. At the outset of WCW’s existence, as well as with the promotions that came before it, the company was strongly identified with the Southern style of professional wrestling (or rasslin’), which emphasized athletic in-ring competition over the showmanship and cartoonish characters of the WWF . This identification persisted into the 1990s, even as the company signed former WWF stars such as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. WCW dominated pro wrestling’s television ratings from 1996 to 1998, mainly due to its incredibly popular New World Order (nWo) storyline, but thereafter began to lose heavy ground to the WWF, which had recovered greatly due to its new WWF “Attitude” branding. The promotion began losing large amounts of money, leading to parent company AOL Time Warner selling the name, copyrights and tape library to the WWF for $4.3 million in 2001 [3].

History

The NWA years

Although World Championship Wrestling was a brand name used by promoter Jim Barnett for his Australian promotion,[4] the first promotion in the United States to use the World Championship Wrestling brand name (though it was never referred to as “WCW”) on a wide scale was Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW, although Vincent J. McMahon’s Northeast-based Capitol Wrestling Corporation, then also affiliated with the NWA, also sometimes used the name in house show promotion). GCW, owned primarily by Jack Brisco and Gerald Brisco and booked by Ole Anderson, was the first NWA territory to gain cable TV access.

In 1982, Vince McMahon Jr. purchased his father’s Capitol Wrestling Corporation. The CWC changed its name to the WWF and became the top promotion in North America, and GCW devised the name “World Championship Wrestling” in an effort to compete. In 1982, GCW changed the name of its television show (and thus its public face) to World Championship Wrestling since it was already starting to run shows in “neutral” territories such as Ohio and Michigan. These efforts helped to keep GCW competitive against the WWF, as both promotions had secured TV deals and were trying to become national, as opposed to regional, entities. The change in name helped make GCW the top promotion once again, until the WWF was able to officially leave the NWA and create the show WWF All American Wrestling. The NWA, led by President Jim Crockett, countered by creating Starrcade in the fall of 1983, thus propelling it back to the top, but Vince McMahon again regained the lead with Hulk Hogan’s dramatic World title victory at Madison Square Garden in January 1984.[7], as well as the creation of the television show Tuesday Night Titans.

On April 9, 1984, the Brisco brothers sold their shares in GCW, including their prime time slot on the TBS cable TV network, to Vince McMahon. However, GCW’s core audience was not interested in the WWF’s cartoonish approach, preferring a more athletic style. As a result, when GCW’s faithful television viewers tuned into TBS on July 14, 1984 and saw WWF programming instead of the GCW wrestlers they were used to seeing, they were outraged, and sent many complaints to the network, demanding the return of GCW. This day has since gone down in wrestling lore as Black Saturday. Adding fuel to the fire was the fact that, despite originally promising to produce original programming for the TBS timeslot, McMahon chose instead to provide only a clip show for TBS featuring highlights from other WWF programming, a move which angered network head Ted Turner and was a major factor in his decision to discontinue showing the WWF on his network. Luckily for Turner, Ole Anderson had refused to sell his shares in GCW to the WWF, and he teamed with fellow holdout shareholders Fred Ward and Ralph Freed to create Championship Wrestling from Georgia. Turner quickly secured a TV deal with the new promotion, as well as with Bill Watts’ Mid-South Wrestling.

Jim Crockett Promotions

In March 1985, McMahon sold his TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions [11] (owned by Jim Crockett, Jr.) under pressure from Ted Turner, who resurrected the World Championship Wrestling name (Turner Broadcasting had copyrighted it and prevented McMahon from using it). The WWF and Hulk Hogan, however, were now the superior figures of wrestling after the success of WrestleMania I, so the sale took place to successfully put the company in better shape. The new WCW, which was now a combination of Jim Crockett Promotions (Mid Atlantic Wrestling) and Championship Wrestling from Georgia, was now the top show on TBS, and Jim Crockett Jr. became NWA President for the second time.[12]

By 1986, Jim Crockett, Jr. controlled key portions of the NWA under the name Jim Crockett Promotions, including the traditional NWA territories in The Carolinas, Georgia, and St. Louis. Crockett merged his various NWA territories into one group, promoting under the banner of the National Wrestling Alliance (in fact, JCP virtually became synonymous with “the NWA”). A feud between Crockett and Vince McMahon’s WWF sprang up, and both companies attempted to outmaneuver the other to acquire key TV slots. It was the WWF, however, who was able to become a big hit in St. Louis (and the rest of Missouri as well), which brought trouble to the NWA Central States. The WWF was able to become a hit across the country as well, as the feud between Hulk Hogan and Paul Orndorff appealed to a large audience. Following this, Bob Geigel became the NWA President once again.[12]

In the same year, JCP also purchased Heart of America Sports Attractions Inc. (HASA),[13] promoters of the the Central States territory, which owned the rights to promote wrestling shows through several central states (Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa).

A national promotion

In 1987, JCP would enter into agreement to control Championship Wrestling from Florida (though JCP never bought that company), and Universal Wrestling Federation (which covered Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana), and which was not an NWA member; this helped make him NWA President once again. The Florida & Mid-South territories (along with those companies’ rosters of wrestlers) were absorbed into JCP. Jim Crockett now owned NWA St Louis, the UWF, his own Jim Crockett Promotions, Georgia Championship Wrestling, Central States Wrestling, Championship Wrestling from Georgia and the CWF as well.[14]

Crockett had almost accomplished his goal of creating a national promotion. Between his purchasing several NWA territories, World Class Championship Wrestling in Texas leaving the NWA[15] in 1986 (and later merging with Jerry Jarrett’s Championship Wrestling Alliance in Memphis to create the United States Wrestling Association brand)[16], and the once highly viable Portland territory going bankrupt (it closed in 1992), he was the last bastion of the NWA, and the last member with national TV exposure. Since it was all they now saw, many people began to believe that Jim Crockett Promotions was the NWA. Although JCP and the NWA were still two separate entities, with Crockett as NWA President, they were very much on the same page. The NWA was effectively an on-paper organization funded by Crockett, and allowed Crockett to use the NWA brand name for promoting.

With the large amount of capital needed to take a wrestling federation on a national tour, Crockett’s territorial acquisitions had seriously drained JCP’s coffers.[17] He was in a similar situation to that of the WWF in the early 1980s: a large debt load, and the success or failure of a federation hinging on the success or failure of a series of PPVs. Crockett marketed Starrcade ‘87 as the NWA’s answer to WrestleMania. However, the WWF-promoted Survivor Series 1987 on the same day. The WWF informed cable companies that if they chose to carry Starrcade, they would not be allowed to carry future WWF events [18] . The vast majority of companies showed Survivor Series (only three opted to remain loyal to their contract with Crockett). In January 1988, JCP promoted the Bunkhouse Stampede PPV, and McMahon counter-programmed with the first Royal Rumble on USA Network. Both NWA PPVs achieved low buyrates and the resulting financial blow due to the low buyates both Starrcade and Bunkhouse Stampede were in many ways both the beginning of the end for Jim Crockett Promotions and the birth of WCW in which would take Jim Crockett Promotions’ place. In addition, the decision to hold these events in Chicago and New York alienated the Crockett’s main fanbase in the Carolinas, hampering their drawing power for arena shows in the Southeast. [19]

Dusty Rhodes as booker

In 1985, Crockett had signed Dusty Rhodes and made him booker for JCP. Rhodes had a reputation for creativity and authored many of the memorable feuds and storylines of this period and gimmick matches like WarGames. By 1988, after three years of trying to compete with Vince McMahon, and a long, drawn-out political struggle with champion Ric Flair, Rhodes was burned out [20] . Fans were getting tired of the “Charlotte Clique” (Rhodes, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Nikita Koloff among others), and the Dusty finish (and other non-endings for shows) had obliterated the once-profitable house show market. One of the last creative things Dusty Rhodes could do was create the first Clash of The Champions, on the night of WrestleMania IV, and gained a high amount of viewers- even over WrestleMania IV, for a whole quarter-hour- as the Ric Flair vs. Sting match continued to take place; and as an epic match, that also made Sting now a top player for WCW; However, this main event match ended long before the four-hour WrestleMania IV ended, and people soon afterwards saw Randy Savage win his first WWF title, and insured more victory for the WWF. By the end of 1988, Rhodes was booking cards seemingly at random, and planning at one point to have mid-card wrestler Rick Steiner defeat Ric Flair in a five-minute match at Starrcade for the NWA World Championship. At the end of 1988, Rhodes was fired by the promotion after an angle he booked where Road Warrior Animal pulled a spike out of his shoulder pad and jammed it in Rhodes’s eye busting it wide open, despite a strict “no-blood” policy laid down by Turner after his recent purchase of the company.[21]

WCW Under Ted Turner: The Early Years

To preserve the inexpensive network programming provided by professional wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions was purchased outright by Turner on November 21, 1988. Originally incorporated by TBS as the Universal Wrestling Corporation, Turner promised the fans that WCW would be the athlete-oriented style of NWA.

Despite this influx of talent, WCW soon began working to gradually incorporate much of the glamour and showy gimmicks for which the WWF was better known. Virtually none of these stunts- such as the live cross-promotional appearance of RoboCop at a PPV event in 1990[22], the Chamber of Horrors gimmick and the notorious Black Scorpion[23] storyline- succeeded. Behind the scenes, WCW was also becoming more autonomous and slowly started separating itself from the historic NWA name. In January 1991, WCW officially split from the NWA and began to recognize its own WCW World Heavyweight Championship and WCW World Tag Team Championship.

Both the WCW and the NWA recognized Ric Flair (who was by now no longer the head booker) as their World Heavyweight Champion throughout most of the first half of 1991, but WCW, particularly recently-installed company president Jim Herd, turned against Flair for various reasons and fired him just prior to the July 1991 Great American Bash PPV after failed contract negotiations. In the process, they officially stripped him of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship[24]. However, according to Flair’s autobiography, they refused to return the $25,000 deposit he had put down on the (physical) belt, so he kept it and took it with him when he was hired by the WWF at the request of Vince McMahon. Flair then incorporated the belt into his gimmick, dubbing himself “The Real World’s Champion”.

WCW later renegotiated the use of the NWA name as a co-promotional gimmick with New Japan Pro Wrestling, and sued WWF to stop showing Flair with the old NWA World title belt on its programs, claiming a trademark on the physical design of the belt. The belt was returned to WCW by Flair when Jim Herd was let go and he received his deposit back plus interest, and it was brought back as the revived NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

Final split with the NWA

During the period that WCW operated with its own World Champion while also recognizing the NWA’s world title, Flair would later leave the WWF on good terms and returned to WCW, regaining the title from Barry Windham in July 1993[24]. Immediately, the other, now smaller, member organizations of the NWA began demanding that Flair defend the title under their rules in their territories, as mandated by old NWA agreements. The title was later scheduled to be dropped by Flair to Rick Rude, a title change which was exposed by the Disney Tapings, the months-in-advance taping of WCW’s syndicated television shows at Disney-owned studios in Orlando, Florida. The NWA board of directors, working separately from WCW, objected to Rude, with WCW finally leaving the NWA for good again in September 1993.

However, WCW still legally owned and used the actual belt which represented the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (Rick Rude even defended it as The Big Gold Belt) but they could no longer use the NWA name. The title thus became known as the WCW International World Heavyweight Title (meaning the World heavyweight championship as sanctioned by “WCW International,” a fictional organization made up of promoters from around the world, essentially their in-house version of the real NWA).[25]

WCW realized that the title belt, because of its rich in-ring history and visual impact, was highly sought after and respected in Japan and as such created this fictional subsidiary dubbed WCW International to inject some credibility back into the belt. WCW claimed that “WCWI” still recognized the belt as a legitimate World Championship. For a short while, there were essentially two World titles up for competition in the organization.

Sting eventually won the WCW International Championship and lost the belt to then-WCW World Champion Ric Flair in a unification match[26] on June 23, 1994 when the experiment was jettisoned. The Big Gold belt (or “Big Goldy”) was then used to represent the lone World title in the company. It was used as such until WCW’s closure in 2001. The belt (in a slightly altered design) is still seen today in WWE as the World Heavyweight Championship on their SmackDown! brand (previously on RAW). WWE considers it a separate title and WWE.com officially lists the title history of the World Heavyweight Championship as beginning with Triple H being awarded the belt by Eric Bischoff on RAW on September 2, 2002,[27] however they also cite the older title (and NWA World Title) as being part of its lineage. [28]

The Eric Bischoff era begins

The creative product of the company sank very noticeably in 1991 and 1992 under the presidency of Jim Herd and, subsequently, Bill Watts. There were signs of gradual recovery in early 1993 when former commentator Eric Bischoff was appointed as Executive Vice President of WCW. Bischoff, originally brought in as a secondary commentator behind Jim Ross after the AWA became defunct, was desperate to give WCW a new direction and impressed Turner’s top brass with his unconfrontational tactics and business savvy.[29]

Bischoff’s first year running the company was considered extremely unsuccessful. Dusty Rhodes and Ole Anderson were still in full creative control at this point, and under their watch WCW presented cartoonish storylines as well as seemingly pointless feuds with little or no buildup (for instance, the “Lost in Cleveland” and “Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal” angles involving Cactus Jack and Sting respectively, as well as the “White Castle of Fear” and Beach Blast mini-movies).[30]

The summertime saw the company’s reputation take another hit due to a mishap at a live televised event. In 1993, Ric Flair returned to WCW from his WWF tenure, but was constrained by a no-compete clause from his WWF contract. In response, WCW gave him a talk show segment on its television shows called “A Flair for the Gold,” in the mold of the old “Piper’s Pit” segments from 1980s WWF programming starring Rowdy Roddy Piper. During a segment of the talk show on an August Clash of the Champions event building up the Fall Brawl PPV, WCW decided to introduce a “mystery partner” for the babyfaces, a masked man known as The Shockmaster. The Shockmaster (previously known as “Typhoon” in the WWF) was supposed to crash through a fake wall and intimidate the heels. Instead, he tripped through the wall and fell on his face on live television, inadvertently rendering himself a joke character (despite winning some matches).

Late in 1993, WCW decided to once again base the promotion around Ric Flair. This was seen as more or less a necessity after prospective top babyface Sid Vicious was involved in an incident with Arn Anderson (which resulted in hospitalisation of both men)[31] while on tour in England, four weeks before Starrcade, and was fired. Flair won the title at Starrcade and was once again made booker.[32]

Beginning of aggressive competition with the WWF

Beginning in 1994, Bischoff declared open war on McMahon’s WWF in the media and aggressively recruited high-profile former WWF superstars such as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage to work for WCW. Using Turner’s monetary resources, Bischoff placed his faith in established stars with proven track records. Because of their high profiles, however, Hogan and Savage were able to demand and get several concessions not usually allowed to wrestlers at the time, such as multi-year, multimillion dollar guaranteed contracts and significant creative control over their characters. This would later become a problem during subsequent years of competition with the WWF, as other wrestlers were able to make similar demands, and contract values soared out of control. Hogan in particular was able to gain considerable influence through a friendship with Bischoff. Another thing Bischoff may have failed to consider was the fact that many WCW fans (especially those who had followed the company since its NWA days) watched it as an alternative product to the WWF that focused on in-ring action as opposed to cartoonish characters and storylines. As such, these fans viewed Bischoff’s signing of former WWF talent as an attempt to copy its success instead of remaining true to the idea of WCW being an alternative to the WWF.

Nevertheless, WCW’s first major PPV event since Hogan’s hiring, Bash at the Beach, saw the former WWF mainstay cleanly defeat Ric Flair for the WCW World championship. The two had worked for the WWF at the same time from 1991 to 1992, and a feud was teased between them, but the big-money match originally planned for WrestleMania VIII was changed to Flair/Savage and Hogan/Sid. When WCW delivered the match, the PPV drew a high buyrate by WCW standards due to mainstream intrigue and hype. Despite being a critical and financial success, the glory would not last long, as the Hogan/Flair feud was only a one-off match and the hoped for long-term effects on PPV buyrates and ratings did not materialize. Turner management came to this realization when they checked up on the state of the company in mid-1995. Hence, Bischoff called Turner and requested a private meeting, which he was granted.

The company was, at one point, losing $10 million dollars a year, but Bischoff turned that around into $350 million in sales and $40 million in profit.[33]

WCW Monday Nitro

Bischoff would be instrumental in launching the weekly show WCW Monday Nitro, which debuted on September 4, 1995 live from the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.[34][35] Turner asked Bischoff how WCW could conceivably compete with McMahon’s WWF. Bischoff, not expecting Turner to comply, said that the only way would be a primetime slot on a weekday night, possibly up against WWF’s flagship show, Monday Night RAW. Turner granted him a live hour on TNT every Monday night, which specifically overlapped with RAW. [36] This format quickly expanded to two live hours in May 1996, and then later three. Bischoff himself was initially the host, alongside Bobby Heenan and ex-NFL star Steve “Mongo” McMichael.

Scott Hall and Eric Bischoff.The initial broadcast also featured the re-debut of Lex Luger to the WCW audience,[37] who had been absent since the very early ’90’s. WCW’s coup of obtaining Luger was significant for several reasons. Because Nitro was live at the time, premiering major stars on the show would signal to the fans the amount of excitement the broadcasts would contain. Also, Luger had just come off a successful run in WWF; and was at one time one of the company’s top stars.[38] Finally, because Luger had been employed with WWF as recently as a week prior to his Nitro appearance, WCW fans would be intrigued to see others possibly “jump ship.”

Dominance

The tide began to turn in WCW’s favor on Memorial Day 1996 when Scott Hall (who wrestled as Razor Ramon in WWF) interrupted a match by walking down through the crowd into the ring. He delivered his famous “You want a war?” speech, stating that he and two of his associates were going to “take over.” Hall challenged the best WCW wrestlers to stand up and defend the company against their onslaught. This officially kicked off the nWo storyline.[39]

The next week, Hall reappeared on Nitro and pestered the WCW announcers. Sting confronted him, and was rewarded with a toothpick in the face for his efforts. Sting retaliated by slapping Hall across the face, and in response Hall promised Sting a “little… no… BIG surprise” the next week in Wheeling, West Virginia. This surprise ended up being Hall’s good friend and former WWF World Heavyweight Champion Kevin Nash, and in the weeks following Hall and Nash were collectively referred to as “The Outsiders.” Both men took to showing up unexpectedly during Nitro broadcasts, usually jumping wrestlers backstage, distracting wrestlers by standing in the entranceways of arenas, or walking around in the audience. Within a couple of weeks, they announced the forthcoming appearance of a mysterious third member.

The nWo formation.

At Bash at the Beach, Hall and Nash were scheduled to team with their mystery partner against Lex Luger, Randy Savage and Sting. At the onset of the match, Hall and Nash came out without a third man, telling Announcer “Mean” Gene Okerlund that he was “in the building”, but that they did not need him yet. Shortly into the match, a Stinger Splash resulted in Luger being crushed behind Kevin Nash, and being taken away on a stretcher, reducing the match to The Outsiders vs. Sting and Savage. Hall and Nash took control of the match when Hulk Hogan came to the ring. After standing off with The Outsiders for a moment, he suddenly attacked Savage, showing himself to be the Outsider’s mysterious third man. Giving an interview with Okerlund directly after the match, Hogan claimed the reason for the turn was that he was tired of fans that had turned on him. Hogan labeled the new faction a “new world order of professional wrestling”, beginning a feud between wrestlers loyal to WCW and the nWo. The fans in attendance were so outraged at Hogan’s betrayal that they pelted the ring with debris, such as paper cups and plastic bottles, for the duration of his interview. One fan even jumped the security railing and tried to attack Hogan in the ring, but was quickly subdued by Hall, Nash, and arena security.[40]

Shortly after, the World Wrestling Federation filed a lawsuit, alleging that the New World Order storyline implied that Hall and Nash were invaders sent by Vince McMahon to destroy WCW, despite the fact that Bischoff asked Nash point blank on camera at a WCW show “Are you employed by the WWF?” to which Nash emphatically replied “No.” Another reason for the lawsuit was WWF claimed Scott Hall acted in a manner too similar to the character Razor Ramon which was owned by WWF. The lawsuit would drag out for several years before being settled out of court. One of the settlement’s terms was the right for the WWF to bid on WCW’s properties, should they ever be up for liquidation; a settlement that would prove invaluable in 2001.

Largely due to the events described above, Nitro would defeat RAW for 84 consecutive weeks. During this time, WCW would, though infrequently, “give away” the endings to pre-taped matches on RAW during it’s live Nitro broadcast, adding fuel to the bad feeling between the two companies.

Starrcade 1997

In 1997, WCW entered its peak, largely due to the nWo storyline. During that time, the nWo feuded with the revived (and face-turned) Four Horsemen as well as returning WCW hero Sting (who now had a gimmick that resembled The Crow). The latter feud served to build up the Starrcade pay-per-view in December. When WCW delivered the Sting vs. Hogan match for the WCW World Championship, the PPV drew WCW’s biggest buyrate and Bischoff was largely praised in the months leading up to this pay-per-view because of his refusal to “hotshot” (give away a big money PPV match before proper build up, causing a lesser buy rate) Sting vs. Hogan for the WCW World Title.[41]

However, some wrestling fans consider this show to be the beginning of the end for WCW, even though WCW was dominating the WWF in the television ratings at the time.[42] Hogan was heavily criticized for not doing a clean finish to the match, which confused and irritated fans who had waited over a year to see Sting take down the nWo. The finish actually involved a recently-introduced Bret Hart (who had refereed the preceding match between Bischoff and Larry Zbyszko for control of Monday Nitro) coming down to the ring after Hogan had supposedly won the match. Hart alleged that referee Nick Patrick had performed a fast count on Sting, and wanted to “make things right.”[43] Although, according to Eric Bischoff, in his book Controversy Creates Ca$h the count looked like a normal count. Bret Hart insisted the match continue (with himself as referee) in order to prevent Sting from being “screwed” just like he had been in the WWF with the Montreal screwjob.

Signs of a decline

When Hart left the WWF after the Montreal Screwjob at the 1997 Survivor Series, it looked as though WCW was in position to push the WWF straight into perpetual ratings ruin. WCW seemingly possessed the biggest stars in the industry, such as Hogan, Savage, Sting, Flair, Hart, Hall, and Nash. In addition, the company also had credible midcard stars such as Chris Benoit and Raven, as well as an exciting cruiserweight division featuring high-flying competitors from Mexico (the luchadors) and Japan as well as the United States and Canada. However, things would not unfold as WCW had planned.

Popular opinion was that the Screwjob and the acquisition of Hart were deathblows for the WWF and major victories for WCW. The combination of a company screwing over a popular wrestler and angering many fans should have dealt a massive blow to the WWF and given WCW a great amount of hype to work with. However, after WrestleMania XIV in March 1998, Vince McMahon regained the lead in the Monday Night Wars with his new WWF “Attitude” branding, led in particular by rising stars “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, and Mankind. The classic feud between McMahon (who was re-branded as the evil company chairman) and Austin (who Bischoff had released via telephone by in the summer of 1995[44]) captured the imagination of fans. The April 13, 1998 episode of RAW, headlined by a match between Austin and McMahon, marked the first time that WCW lost the head-to-head Monday night ratings battle in 84 weeks (since 1996). The WWF did not stop there – their ratings increased to unprecendented levels over the next two years. WCW attempted to counter this by dividing the nWo into the Hogan-led heel nWo Hollywood faction and the Nash-led face nWo Wolfpac faction, but many felt that it was a poor rehash of the original WCW vs. nWo storyline. Undeterred, WCW launched a brand new Thursday night show on TBS, WCW Thunder, in January of 1998.

A television ratings comparison for the period of the Monday Night WarsWCW’s next big attempt to regain ratings supremacy was by marketing ex-NFL player Bill Goldberg as an invincible monster with a record-breaking winning streak. Goldberg was incredibly popular from the outset, with chants of ‘Gold-berg, Gold-berg’ heralding his approach to the ring, but business still quickly fell off for WCW, especially as the list of stars ready to be destroyed by Goldberg grew shorter. One of WCW’s last genuine wins in the Monday night ratings war was on July 6, 1998, when WCW aired the long-awaited World Title match in Atlanta between Hogan and Goldberg (which Goldberg won), on free television. This significantly increased the rating for the show, but only for that week.[46] On September 14, 1998, WCW won the ratings war once again with a memorable moment that featured Ric Flair’s return to WCW and the reformation of the legendary Four Horsemen. On October 25, 1998, WCW’s Halloween Havoc PPV ran longer than the time allocated because of the last-minute addition of a Tag Team Title match. As a result, several thousand people lost their PPV feed at 11pm during the World Title match between Diamond Dallas Page and Goldberg.[47] The following night, WCW decided to correct the fault by airing the entire match for free on Nitro and won the ratings war for the final time.

At this time, Kevin Nash was in charge of booking the shows. After winning the World War 3 battle royal in November 1998, he went on to end Goldberg’s winning streak and win the World Title on the Starrcade PPV just one month later. Then came the infamous “fingerpoke of doom” match between Nash and Hogan in January 1999. The match was originally advertised as a Starrcade rematch between Nash and Goldberg. As a result, the Georgia Dome in Atlanta was a complete sellout, with over 40,000 people watching live expecting to see the rematch. Throughout the broadcast the announcers hyped the main event as being the “biggest match in the history of our sport” and said that “unlike the other guys, we have a real main event.” Instead, Goldberg was forced to forego his title match and was replaced by Hogan. Hogan knocked Nash to the mat by poking him in the chest with one finger and then pinning him, winning the World Heavyweight Title and further damaging the credibility of it as a result.[49] This outcome also damaged the credibility of the company as a whole, having failed to present the advertised match and using underhand tactics to sell out the arena for that night’s telecast. On the same episode of Nitro, Tony Schiavone mockingly announced Mick Foley’s WWF Title win, which ended up being counter-productive as Nielsen ratings showed that over 100,000 households[50] changed channel to watch the historic victory and shifted the ratings for the night in the WWF’s favor.

Decline

WCW slid into a period of extravagant overspending and what was viewed almost universally as creative decline, though the reasons and people responsible are still a matter of debate. One possible reason was the overuse of celebrities (such as Dennis Rodman[52] and Jay Leno[53]) to wrestle PPV matches. Another was that WCW’s credibility was badly damaged by embarrassing product placement, like Rick Steiner trading barbs with Chucky the killer doll (which was roundly booed by the in-house audience on the live Nitro broadcast) in the hopes of generating interest in the 1998 film Bride of Chucky.[54] Yet another possible reason was the fact that the top-level stars had no motivation to excel in the ring due to their long-term guaranteed-money contracts, only giving their utmost when it suited them to do so. What is known is that WCW programming slowly started to go downhill in quality, with people turning off their TVs or switching to WWF programming, and in reaction the company began to panic and tried to solve its problems by throwing money at a variety of personalities, a practice it could ill-afford to engage in. Many talents were reportedly signed simply to keep them from appearing on WWF television. At one point, WCW held over 260 individual performers under guaranteed contracts, and often paid many of them to simply stay at home and collect a paycheck.

Also in 1998, The Ultimate Warrior, a former WWF star, was recruited by Eric Bischoff to feud with Hogan (Warrior’s WrestleMania VI opponent). Their October 1998 encounter at Halloween Havoc was mostly seen as sub-par[55], and Warrior vanished soon after. The Ultimate Warrior also insisted on a number of elaborate and costly apparatuses such as a trapdoor in the ring, which badly injured The British Bulldog when he landed on it.

In addition, no matter who was in charge, WCW did not promote its younger stars to the company’s top slots. Despite having many talented younger wrestlers like Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Billy Kidman, Chavo Guerrero, Jr., Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, Raven, Booker T, and Rey Mysterio, Jr. on its roster, they were kept away from the main event scene.

Bischoff was eventually removed from control of the promotion on September 10, 1999, after a failed push for the 1970s rock group KISS through WCW shows, and a storyline involving rapper Master P and The No Limit Soldiers.[57] The “No Limit Soldiers” stable flopped so badly that the West Texas Rednecks heel stable that they were feuding with was cheered by the WCW’s traditional southern fanbase).[58] An announced “million-dollar contest” was later cancelled [59] and a planned Nitro animated series was scrapped, as well.

Another factor that led to the demise of the WCW, which has largely gone unnoticed, is that unlike Nitro, the locations WCW hired for their PPV events had capacities much lower than could have been sold. WCW staged some of their biggest wrestling matches in arenas with only moderate capacity. For example, the much awaited encounter between Randy Savage and Ric Flair at the 1995 Great American Bash was scheduled at the Hara Arena, in Dayton, Ohio, which had a capacity of only 6,000 seats. Similarly, the match between Sting and The Giant for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at the 1996 Slamboree took place at the Riverside Centroplex in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where less than 8,000 seats were available.

Bischoff replaced by Russo

Bischoff was unexpectedly replaced by former WWF head writer Vince Russo and his colleague Ed Ferrara. Russo and Ferrera had been writers involved in the creation of the WWF “Attitude” era, but billed themselves as the brains behind the operation. WCW offered them lucrative contracts to jump ship in October 1999 in an effort to revitalize their own flagging product and weaken the product of the WWF. Russo and Ferrera tried to push the younger WCW talents straight away, and phase out aging stars such as Hogan and Flair.

Russo and Ferrera struggled to gain approval for their near-the-knuckle ideas from WCW management, such as a Novermber 15 1999 “Piñata on a Pole” match[64] between Mexican wrestlers. In late 1999, Russo and Ferrera revived the nWo storyline, this time with Jeff Jarrett and Bret Hart at the helm. They next targeted WWF announcer Jim Ross with a parody character called “Oklahoma,” who was played onscreen by Ferrera (Ross suffered from Bell’s palsy, and the character lampooned his resultant facial defects). Bad luck struck in December 1999 when Hart suffered a genuine (and ultimately career-ending) concussion at the hands of Goldberg, who severely damaged his own hand less than a week later while punching through a limousine window in Salisbury, Maryland as part of a storyline that was written by Russo. Russo himself became an on-screen character during this period, though one whose face was never shown on camera, in a manner similar to Doctor Claw from Inspector Gadget and the George Steinbrenner character from Seinfeld. Only his hand and the back of his chair were ever actually seen, as he called wrestlers into his office to receive their marching orders for the night.

Both Russo and Ferrera were suspended just three months later amid rumors that they wanted to make former UFC fighter Tank Abbott the WCW champion (Abbott, despite his legitimate fighting background, had little wrestling experience and had failed to connect with WCW audiences). Kevin Sullivan, who had been an on/off booker over the course of several years, was placed in charge in the interim. The new writing team attempted to appease the demoralized wrestlers and fans by making Chris Benoit the WCW champion at the Souled Out PPV in January 2000. However, because of the real-life personal issues between himself and Sullivan (Sullivan’s wife Nancy had left him for Benoit) , let alone that prior to the PPV he and a few other wrestlers demanded their releases from the company, Benoit handed the belt back right after winning it and the next day left WCW. He signed with the WWF along with his similarly frustrated friends Perry Saturn, Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko. The four quickly became popular in the WWF as “The Radicalz.”

On February 11, 2000, 12 wrestlers including African American Harrison Norris and Japanese manager Sonny Onoo launched racial discrimination lawsuits against WCW, claiming that, as a result of their ethnicities, they had not been pushed, had not been paid as well as other wrestlers and personalities, and had been given offensive gimmicks. Some speculated that the charges of racism brought against WCW (and the resultant bad publicity for the company, which had been dogged by accusations of racism for years), were partially responsible for black wrestler Booker T winning the WCW championship later that year and his brother Stevie Ray being made a color commentator, with Ray himself acknowledging that it might have been a factor.

In April 2000, with ratings hitting new lows, both Russo and Bischoff were reinstated by WCW. They formed an on-screen union that stood up for the younger talent in the company (which they dubbed the New Blood) in their battle against the Millionaires Club, which consisted of the older, higher-paid, and more visible stars such as Hogan, Sting, and Diamond Dallas Page. Though initially well-received, the storyline quickly degenerated into yet another nWo rehash, with the heel nWo recast as the New Blood and the face WCW embodied in the Millionaire’s Club. As well, the unorthodox and often controversial storylines continued. These included making actor David Arquette the WCW champion in order to promote a WCW-themed movie, Ready to Rumble; Russo himself winning the WCW championship in September 2000 (Russo, like Arquette, was not a trained wrestler); a botched June heel turn for Goldberg that greatly diminished his drawing power; and a shoot speech by Russo at Bash at the Beach 2000 aimed at

Hulk Hogan which led to Hogan resigning and filing a defamation of character lawsuit against the company [80](which was eventually dismissed in 2002). Bischoff vanished once more in July 2000, and Russo was gone from WCW completely by late 2000, leaving Terry Taylor holding the reins.

Meanwhile, when Time Warner bought out Turner’s cable empire in 1996, it also purchased WCW. Even though Turner was faithful to the professional wrestling shows on his stations (a professional wrestling program had helped get Turner’s very first TV station, WTBS, off the ground, and WCW was, in fact, the modern incarnation of the promotion that Turner had run on WTBS back in those days) regardless of whether it was losing him money, Time Warner did not share his loyalty, especially when accounts showed that WCW was losing between $12-$17 million a year because of its decline. However, Turner was still the single largest Time Warner shareholder, and WCW was supported at his behest. When AOL merged with Time Warner in 2000, Turner was effectively forced out of his own empire. The new AOL Time Warner finally had the power to auction off WCW, which they saw as an unnecessary drain on resources.

In late 2000, Bischoff and a group of private investors, calling themselves Fusient Media Ventures, inquired about buying WCW and indeed a deal was reported to be in place. However Fusient backed out when Turner networks head (and The WB founder) Jamie Kellner formally cancelled all WCW programming from its TV networks[84]. With no network to air its programming, WCW was of little value to Fusient, whose offer was dependent on the Turner networks continuing to air WCW programming.

On March 23, 2001, all of WCW’s trademarks and archived footage, as well as twenty-five of the lower-tier-to-mid-card wrestler contracts was sold to Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. [86]

Acquisition by the World Wrestling Federation

A gloating McMahon opened the last-ever episode of WCW Monday Nitro simulcast with RAW on March 26, 2001 with a self-praising speech.[87] US Champion Booker T cleanly defeated the world champion, Scott Steiner[88], to become WCW’s final World Heavyweight Champion, as well as its final US Heavyweight Champion. Sting vs. Ric Flair (won by Sting) was the highlight nostalgia match of the final broadcast, ending affectionately with a respectful embrace.

When the WWF bought WCW in March 2001, several top WCW wrestlers, including Flair, Goldberg, Kevin Nash, and Sting had high-priced contracts with AOL Time Warner that the WWF was unwilling to pick up.[90] WCW was not seen as a powerhouse organization invading the WWF when most of their top stars did not appear. However, all of the above wrestlers except Sting eventually signed contracts with the WWF/E after the Invasion subsided.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Below are the salaries of various wrestlers:

Ashley Massaro: $131,000
Batista: $813,000 (First class flight tickets paid for every week)
Big Show: $1,000,000 (Base salary)
Bob Holly: $217,000
Booker T: $375,000
Candice Michelle: $64,000
Carlito: $319,000
Chavo Guerrero: $206,000
Chris Benoit: $488,000 (First class flight tickets paid for every week)
Chris Masters: $253,000
Christian: $396,000
Danny Basham: $130,000
Doug Basham: $126,000
Eddie Guerrero: $372,000
Edge: $704,000
Eugene: $189,000
Funaki: $124,000
Gene Snitsky: $292,000
Gregory Helms: $277,000
John Cena: $1,743,000 (First class flight tickets, hotel accommodations, and ground transportation paid for every week)
John Layfield: $786,000 (Five star hotel accommodations paid for every week)
Jerry Lawler: $204,000 (First class flight tickets, hotel accommodations, and ground transportation paid for every week)
Jillian Hall: $52,000
Joey Mercury: $134,000
Johnny Nitro: $143,000
Jonathan Coachman: $175,000
Kane: $ 851,000 (First class flight tickets paid for every week)
Ken Kennedy: $133,000
Kid Kash: $62,000
Kurt Angle: $1,023,000 (First class flight tickets paid for every week)
Lance Cade: $118,000
Lilian Garcia: $90,000
Lita: $286,000 (Mostly downside paid due to lack of wrestling)
Maria: $41,000
Mark Henry: $300,000 (Base pay)
Matt Hardy: $322,000 (Missed over $70,000 of pay due to firing)
Matt Striker: $43,000
Melina: $155,000
Mickie James: $72,000
Nunzio: $186,000
Orlando Jordan: $145,000
Paul London: $177,000
Psicosis: $122,000
Randy Orton: $711,000 (First class flight tickets paid for every week)
Rene Dupree: $289,000
Rey Mysterio: $414,000
Ric Flair: $508,000 (First class flight tickets paid for every week)
Rob Conway: $186,000
Rob Van Damn: $220,000 (Only received downside and royalties due to injury)
Rosie: $105,000
Shawn Michaels: $1,045,000 (First class flight tickets, hotel accommodations, and ground transportation paid for every week)
Shelton Benjamin: $366,000
Simon Dean: $132,000
Stacy Keibler: $178,000 (Only downside paid during absence)
Steven Richards: $94,000
Torrie Wilson: $260,000
Trevor Murdoch: $48,000
Triple H: $2,013,000 (Allowed the personal use of company jet (10) times per year. First class flight tickets, hotel accommodations, and ground transportation paid for every week)
Trish Stratus: $618,000 (Receives 20% of all Trish Stratus merchandise sold)
Tyson Tomko: $127,000
Undertaker: $1,811,000 (First class flight tickets, hotel accommodations, and ground transportation paid for every week)
Val Venis: $210,000
Victoria: $275,000
Viscera: $130,000
William Regal: $225,000

(Chris) Kanyon - Chris “Kanyon” Klucsarits
(El) Vampiro - Ian Hotchkinson
(M I) Smooth - Harold Hogue
1-2-3 Kid - Sean Waltman
A J Styles - Allen Jones
Adam Bomb - Bryan Clark
Adrion Adonis - Keith Franke
Ahmed Johnson - Tony Norris
Air Paris - Frank Parris
Akeem - George Gray
Al Snow - Allen Sarven
Albert - Matt Bloom
Aldo Montoya - P.J. Walker
Alex Porteau - Alex Porteau
Alex Wright - Alex Wright
Alundra Blayze - Debra Ann Miceli
Andre the Giant - Andre Roussenof
Animal (Road Warriors/LOD) - Joe Laurindas
Arn Anderson - Marty Lunde
Arnold Skaaland - Arnold Skaaland
Asya - Christi Wolf
Avalanche - Fred Ottman
Avitar - Allen Savern
Ax - Bill Eadie
Bad News Brown - Allen Coage
Bam Bam Bigelow - Scott Bigelow
Barry Darsow - Barry Darsow
Barry Horrowitz - Barry Horrowitz
Barry Windham - Brian William
Bart Gunn - Michael Plocheck
Bastian Booger - Mike Shaw
Batista - Dave Bautista
Beau Beverly - Wayne Bloom
Beaver Cleavage - Chaz Warrington
Berlyn - Alex Wright
Bertha Faye - Rhonda Singh
Berzerker - John Nord
Big Boss Man - Ray Traylor
Big Bubba Rogers - Ray Traylor
Big Bully Busick - Nick Busick
Big John Studd - Johm William Minton
Big T - Tony Norris
Big Van Vader - Leon White
Big Vito - Vito LoGrasso
Bill Goldberg - William Goldberg
Billy Graham - Eldrige Waynen Coleman
Billy Gunn - Kip Sop
Billy Kidman - Peter Gruner
Blake Beverly - Mike Enos
Blue Blazer - Owen Hart
Bob Backlund - Robert Backlund
Bob Holly - Bob Howard
Bob Orton - Robert Orton Jr.
Bobby Duncum, Jr. - Bobby Duncum, Jr.
Bobby Eaton - Bobby Eaton
Bobby Heenan - Robert Heenan
Bobby Roode - Bobby Roode
Bobo Brazil - Houston Harris
Booker T - Booker Hoffman
Boris Zhukoff - Jim Darrel
Brad Armstrong - Brad Armstrong
Bradshaw - John Layfield
Bret “The Hitman” Hart - Bret Hart
Brian Adams - Brian Adams
Brian Christopher - Brian Christopher Lawler
Brian Knobbs - Brian Yandrisovitz
British Bulldog - David Smith
British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith - David Smith
Brock Lesnar - Brock Edward Lesnar
Brooklyn Brawler - Steve Lombardi
Brother Bruti - Ed Leslie
Brother Love - Bruce Prichard
Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake - Ed Leslie
Bryan Clark - Bryan Clark
Bull Buchanon - Barry Buchanon
Bull Nakano - Keiko Nakano
Butch (Bushwhackers) - Butch Miller
Cactus Jack - Micheal Francis Foley
Carlos Colon - Carlitos Colon
Chainsaw Charlie - Terry Funk
Chainz - Brian Lee
Charles Silverman - William E Daley
Chavo Guerrero, Jr. - Salvador Guerrero IV
Chaz - Chaz Warrington
Chief Jay Strongbow - Joe Scarpa
Chris Benoit - Chris Benoit
Chris Candido - Chris Candido
Chris Jericho - Chris Irvine
Chris Sabin - Chris Sabin
Christian - Jay Reso
Christopher Nowinski - Christopher Nowinski
Chyna - Joanie Lee Laurer
Classy Freddie Blassie - Fred Blassman
Coach - John Tolos
Col. Mustafa - Hossein Khsrow Vaziri
Col. Robert Parker - Robert Welch
Crowbar - Chris Ford
Crush - Bryan Adams
Curt Hennig - Curt Hennig
D J Ran - Randy Gaskins
Daffney - Shannon Spruill
Damien Dimento - Phil Theis
Dangerous Danny Davis - Danny Davis
Darren “Puke” Drozdov - Darren Drozdov
David Flair - David Fliehr
Dawn Marie - Dawnmarie Psaltis
Dean Douglas - Shane Douglas
Dean Malenko - Dean Simon
Debra - Debra Gale Williams
Diamond Dallas Page - Page Falkenberg
Diesel - Kevin Nash
Dino Bravo - Adolph Bresciano
Disco Inferno - Glen Gilberny
Do or Die [Belo Zero] - Darnell Smith
Doink - Steve Lombardi
Dok Hendrix - Michael Seitz
Doug Furnas - Doug Furnas
Dr. Death Steve Williams - Steve Williams
Dude Love - Micheal Francis Foley
Duke “The Dumpster” Droese - Mike Droese
Dustin Runnels - Dustin Runnels
Dusty Rhodes - Virgil Runnels
Dutin Rhodes - Dustin Runnels
Dynamite Kid - Tom Billington
Earl Hebner - Earl Hebner
Earthquake - John Tenta
Eddy Guerrero - Eddy Guerrero
Edge - Adam Copeland
Eric Bischoff - Eric Bischoff
Ernest Miller - Ernest Miller
EZ Ryder - Eleanor Kerrigan
Faarooq - Ron Simmons
Fabulous Moolah - Lillian Ellison
Fatu - Solofa Fatu
Fit Finlay - David Finlay
Flash Funk - Charles “Scorpio” Scaggs
Freddie Joe Floyd - Tracey Smothers
Frenchie Martin - Pierre Vignault
Gangrel - David Heath
George “The Animal” Steele - James Meyers
Gerald Brisco - Floyd Gerrald Brisco
Giant Gonzales - Jorge Gonzales
Glacier - Ray Lloyd
Goldust - Dustin Runnels
Gorilla Monsoon - Gino Marella
Greg “The Hammer” Valentine - John Wisniski
Guardian Angel - Ray Traylor
Hacksaw Jim Duggan - James Duggan
Haku - Uliuli Fifita
Hakushi - Kensuke Shinzaki
Hammer - Mike Hildreth
Hardcore Holly - Bob Howard
Harvey Wimpleman - Bruno Lauer
Hawk - Michael Hegstrand
Haystacks Calhoun - William Calhoun
Henry Godwinn - Mark Canterbury
Hercules Hernandez - Ray Hernandez
Hillbilly Jim - Jim Morris
Hollywood Hulk Hogan - Terry Bollea
Honky Tonk Man - Roy Wayne Ferris
Howard Finkel - Howard Finkel
Hugh Morrus - William DeMott
Hunter Hearst-Helmsley - Jean Paul Levesque
Ice Train - Mike Hoag
Interrogator (Truth Commission) - Robert Mallay
Iron Sheik - Hossein Vaziri
Isaac Yankem, DDS - Glen Jacobs
Ivan Putski - Ivan Bednardski
Jack Brisco - Fred Joe Brisco
Jacqueline - Jackie Moore
Jacques Rougeau - Jacques Rougeau, Jr
Jake “The Snake” Roberts - Aurelian Smith, Jr
James Vandenburg - James Mitchell
Jamie Knoble - Jamie Knoble
Jamie Noble - James Gibson
Jean-Pierre LaFitte - Karl Pierre Ouellette
Jeff Jarrett - Jeff Jarrett
Jerry “The King” Lawler - Jerry Lawler
Jesse “The Body” Ventura - James Janos
Jesus Castillo - Jesus Castillo
Jim Cornette - Jim Cornette
Jim Neidhart - Jim Neidhart
Jim Ross - Jim Ross
Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka - Jim Reiher
Jimmy Del Ray - James Richland
Jimmy Hart - Jimmy Hart
Jimmy Wang-Yang - James Wang
John Cena - John Cena
Johnny B Badd - Marc Mero
Johnny Fairplay - Jon Dalton
Johnny Grunge - Mike Durham
Johnny Polo - Scott Levy
Johnny Stamboli - John Hugger
Johnny the Bull - Jon Hugger
Jose Estrada - Jose Estrada
Junkyard Dog - Silvester Ritter
Juventud Guerrera - Eduardo Anibal Gonzalez-Hernandez
K-Krush - Ron Killings
K-Kwik - Ron Killings
Kama (Mustafa) - Charles Wright
Kamala - Jim Harris
Kane - Glen Jacobs
Ken Kennedy - Ken Anderson
Ken Patera - Ken Patera
Kendall Windham - Kendall Windham
Kerry Von Erich - Kerry Adkisson
Kevin Nash - Kevin Nash
Kevin Sullivan - Kevin Sullivan
Killer Kowalski - Walter “Killer” Kowalski
Kim Chee - Steve Lombardi
Kimberly - Kimberly Falkenberg
Kimona - Kristina Laum
King Kong Bundy - Chris Pallies
Kloudi - Jimmy Shoulders
Koko B Ware - James Ware
Konnan - Carlos Ashenoff
Kurt Angle - Kurt Angle
Kwang - Juan Rivera
Lana Star - Lana Kinnear
Lance Storm - Lance Evers
Larry Zbyszko - Lawrence Whistler
Leia Meow - Kristina Laum
Leif Cassidy - Allan Sarven
Lex Luger - Larry Pfohl
Linda McMahon - Linda McMahon
Lita - Amy Christine Dumas
Lord Alfred Hayes - Alfred Hayes
Louie Spiccoli - Louie Mucciolo
Ludvig Borga - Tony Halme
Luke (Bushwhackers) - Luke Williams
Luna Vachon - Angelle Vachon
Mable - Nelson Frazzier
Madusa - Debbie Ann Micieli
Major Gunns - Tylene Buck
Man Mountain Rock - Darryl Peterson
Mankind - Micheal Francis Foley
Mantaur - Jack Neu
Marc Mero - Marc Mero
Marcus Alexander “Buff” Bagwell - Marcus Bagwell
Mark Canterbury - Mark Canterbury
Mark Henry - Mark Henry
Marlena - Terry Boatwright-Runnels
Marty Jannetty - Marty Jannetty
Masa Chono - Masa Chono
Maven - Maven Huffman
Max Moon - Tom Boric
Mean Mark Callaway - Mark Callaway
Meat - Shawn Stipich
Meng - Uliuli Fifita
Michael Hayes - Michael Seitz
Michael Shane - Matt Bentley
Midian (Mideon) - Dennis Knight
Miguel Perez - Miguel Perez
Mike Sanders - Michael Edwin Neil Sanders
Miss Elizabeth - Elizabeth Heulette
Miss Jones - Carmel Macklin
Missing Link - Byron Robertson
Mo - Bobby Horne
Monty Brown - Monty Brown
Mordecai - Kevin Fertig
Mortis - Chris “Kanyon” Klucsarits
Mosh - Chaz Warrington
Mr. Fuji - Harry Fujiwara
Mr. Hughes - Curtis Hughes
Mr. Perfect - Curt Hennig
Mr. Wall Street - Mike Rotundo
Ms. Hancock - Stacy Keibler
MVP (Baseball guy) - Steve Lomdardi
MVP (Montell Vontavious Porter) - Alvin Burke, Jr
Nailz - Kevin Wacholz
Nick Patrick - Nick Hamilton
Nidia - Nidia Guenard
Nikolai Volkoff - Josip Peruzovic
Oklahoma - Ed Ferrara
One Man Gang - George Gray
Owen Hart - Owen Hart
Paisley - Sharmell Sullivan
Pat Patterson - Pierre Clermont
Paul Bearer - William Moody
Paul Ellering - Paul Ellering
Paul London - Paul London
Paul Orndorff - Paul Martin
Paul Roma - Paul Centopani
Pedro Morales - Pedro Morales
Phil LaFon - Phil LaFon
Phinneas Godwinn - Dennis Knight
Playboy Buddy Rose - Paul Perschman
Prince Iaukea - Mike Haynor
Psicosis - Dionico Castellanos
Rad Radford - Louie Mucciolo
Randy Savage - Randy Poffo
Raven - Scott Levy
Ray Traylor - Ray Traylor
Razor Ramon - Scott Hall
Recon - Barry Buchanon
Rene Goulet - Bob Bedard
Reno - Rick Cornell
Rey Mysterio, Jr - Oscar Gutierrez
Rhonda Singh - Rhonda Singh
Ric Flair - Richard Morgan Fliehr
Rick “The Model” Martell - Richard Vignault
Rick Steiner - Rick Rechsteiner
Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat - Ricky Blood
Ricky Mortin - Richard Mortin
Rico - Amarico Sebastiano Constantino
Robert Gibson - Ruben Kane
Rocco Rock - Ted Petty
Rocky Maivia - Dwayne Johnson
Ron Simmons - Ron Simmons
Rowdy Roddy Piper - Roderick GeorgeToombs
Rugged Ronnie Garvin - Roger Barnes
Saba Simba - Tony White
Salvatorre Sincere - Johnny Gunn
Savio Vega - Juan Rivera
Scott Armstrong - Scott Armstrong
Scott Hall - Scott Hall
Scott Norton - Scott Norton
Scott Putski - Scott Bednardski
Scott Steiner - Scott Rechesteiner
Scotty Flamingo - Scott Levy
Scotty Riggs - Scott Anton
Sean Stasiak - Shawn Stipich
Sgt. Slaughter - Robert Remus
Shane Douglas - Shane Douglas
Shane McMahon - Shane McMahon
Sharmell - Sharmell Sullivan
Shawn Michaels - Michael Hickenbottom
Sid - Sid Eudy
Sid Vicious - Sid Eudy
Simon Diamond - Pat Kenney
Sister Sherri - Sherri Russel
Skinner - Steve Kerne
Skip - Chris Candido
Smash (Demolition) - Barry Darsow
Sniper (Truth Commission) - Luc Poirier
Spider Loc - Curtis Williams
Spike Dudley - Matt Hyson
Stephanie McMahon - Stephanie McMahon
Steve Armstrong - Steve Armstrong
Steve McMichael - Steve McMichael
Steven Dunn - Steve Doll
Steven Regal - Darrin Matthews
Stevie Ray - Lane Hoffman
Stevie Richards - Michael Manna
Sting - Steve Borden
Stonecold Steve Austin - Steve Williams
Sunny - Tamara Lynn Sytch
Syxx - Sean Waltman
T.L. Hopper - Tony Anthony
Tajiri - Yoshihiro Tajiri
Taka Mitchinoku - Yoshida Takao
Tank Abbot - Dave “Tank” Abbot
Tatanka - Chris Chavis
Ted DiBiase - Theodore Marvin DiBiase
Tennessee Lee - Robert Fuller
Terri Gold - Heather Lee Millard
Terri Runnels - Terry Boatwright-Runnels
Terry Funk - Terry Funk
Terry Taylor - Paul Taylor
Test - Andrew J Martin
The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Iaukea - Mike Haynor
The Barbarian - Sionne Vailahi
The Demon - Dale Torborg
The Diamond Studd - Scott Hall
The Disciple - Ed Leslie
The Genius - Lanny Pafo
The Giant - Paul Wight
The Godfather - Charles Wright
The Goon - Bill Irwin
The Grand Wizard - Ernie Roth
The Great Muta - Keiji Mutoh
The Mountie - Jacques Rougeau, Jr
The Patriot - Delbert Wilkes
The Red Rooster - Paul Taylor
The Repo Man - Barry Darsow
The Road Dogg - Brian James Armstrong
The Roadie - Brian James Armstrong
The Rock - Dwayne Johnson
The Shockmaster - Fred Ottman
The Stalker - Barry Windham
The Sultan - Solofa Fatu
The Undertaker - Mark Callaway
The Wall - Michael Jerry Tuite
The Warlord - Terry Szopinski
The Warrior - Jim Helwig
Thrasher - Glen Ruth
Tiger Ali Singh - Ali Singh
Timothy Well - Mark Smith
Tom Brandi - Johnny Gunn
Tom Pritchard - Tom Pritchard
Tom Zenk - Tom Zenk
Tony Atlas - Anthony White
Tony Garea - Tony Garea
Triple H - Jean Paul Levesque
Tugboat - Fred Ottman
Tully Blanchard - Tully Blanchard
Tygress - Vanessa Sanchez
Typhoon - Fred Ottman
Tyson Tomko - Travis Tomko
Ultimate Warrior - Jim Hellwig
Ultimo Dragon - Yoshihiro Asai
Val Venis - Sean Morley
Victoria - Lisa Marie Varon
Vince McMahon - Vincent Kennedy McMahon, Jr.
Vincent - Mike Jones
Viscera - Nelson Frazzier
Waylon Mercy - Dan Spivey
William Regal - Darrin Matthews
Wrath - Bryan Clark
X-Pac - Sean Waltman
Xanta Klaus - John Rickner
Yang - James Yun
Yokozuna - Rodney Anoia
Zeus - Tom Lister
Zip - Tom Pritchard

2 Cold Scorpio-1986
8 Ball-1988
911-1994
Abdullah the Butcher-1958
Ahmed Johnson-1989
Al Snow-1982
Alex Wright-1994
Animal (LOD) -November 1982
Axl Rotten-1987
Ballz Mahoney-1987
Bam Bam Bigelow-August 23, 1985
Barbarian, The-1981
Baron Von Raschke-1966
Barry Horowitz-1979
Bart Gunn-1992
Bastion Booger-1979
Big Dick Dudley-1993
Billy Gunn-1992
Bob Armstrong-1966
Bob Backlund-1973
Bob Holly-1993
Bobby Duncam Jr.-Sep 1992
Bobby Eaton-May 1976
Booker T-1989
Big Bossman-1985
Blue Meanie-1994
Brad Armstrong-1981
Bradshaw-Sep 23, 1992
Bret Hart-1976
Brian Knobs-1985
British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith-1978
Bruce Hart-Jan 14, 1974
Bryan Adams-1986
Buddy Landell-1979
Buh Buh Ray Dudley-1994
Bunkhouse Buck-1968
Bushwacker Butch-1965
Bushwacker Luke-1965
Cactus Jack-June 24, 1985
Chainz-1989
Chavo Guerrero-1972
Chavo Guerrero Jr.-May 1994
Chris Benoit-January 1986
Chris Candido-1986
Chris Jericho-1991
Christian-1995
Curt Henning-1979
D’Lo Brown-February 1994
Dan Severn-1991
David Sammartino-1980
DDP-1991
Dean Malenko-1979
Dennis Knight-1990
Devon Storm-Mar 1993
Disciple, The-1984
Disco Inferno-Nov 20, 1991
Dory Funk Jr.-July 1963
Doug Furnas-1986
Duke Droese-1987
Eddie Guerrero-1988
El Samurai-1986
Faarooq-Oct. 1986
Gangrel-1988
Giant, The-1995
Glacier-1989
Godfather, The-Sep 16, 1989
Goldberg-Sep 22, 1997
Goldust-Sep 13, 1988
Golga-1988
Great Muta-Oct. 5, 1984
Great Sasuke-Mar 1, 1990
Greg Valentine-1968
Hacksaw Jim Duggan-Sep 1977
Hawk (LOD) -June 1983
Heavy Metal-Feb 1988
Hector Guerrero-1977
Hulk Hogan-1978
Hunter Hearst Helmsley -Mar. 1992
Honkey Tonk Man-1979
Horace Boulder-Jan 31, 1990
Ian Rotten-1990
Ice Train-1993
Iron Sheik-1972
Italian Stallion-Feb 1984
Ivan Putski-1971
Jacques Rougeau-1977
Jake “The Snake” Roberts-May 13, 1975
Jeff Jarrett-Apr, 1986
Jerry Estrada-1977
Jerry Lawler-1970
Jerry Sags-1985
Jesse Henning-June 1994
Jim Brunzell-1972
Jim Neidhart-1979
Jimmy Cicero-1992
Jimmy Snuka-1969
John Kronus-1989
Johnny Grunge-1987
Julio Sanchez-1983
Junk Yard Dog-1978
Justin Credible-1992
Juventud Guerrera-1992
Kamala-1974
Kamala 2-1987
Kane-1994
Kanyon-1996
Keith Hart-1976
Ken Shamrock-1989
Kendall Windham-June 11, 1984
Kevin Nash-1990
Kevin Von Erich-Aug 16, 1976
Kidman-1994
King Kong Bundy-1982
Koko B. Ware-1978
Konnan-1988
La Parka-1987
Lance Storm-Dec 10, 1990
Lanny Poffo-1973
Larry Zbyszko-1972
Lex Luger-Oct 31, 1985
Louie Spicolli-1989
Ludvig Borga-1989
Mabel-1991
Man Mountain Rock-June 1987
Mando Guerrero-1974
Marc Mero-1991
Mark Bagwell-1990
Mark Cannebury-1989
Marty Jannety-Apr 5, 1984
Meng-1977
Metal Maniac-Nov 1991
Michael Hayes-May 1977
Miguel Perez Jr.-1986
Mike Quackenbush-1991
Mike Rotundo-Sep 22, 1981
Mike Samples-1991
Mikey Whipwreck-1994
Mo-1991
Mosh-1991
Mr. Hughes-1988
Nailz-1985
New Jack-1992
Nikolai Volkoff-1967
Owen Hart-May 30, 1986
Pat Tanaka-1985
Patriot, The-1988
Paul Orndorff-1976
Phil Lafon-1982
Paul Roma-1986
Pit Bull 1 -1990
Pit Bull 2-1990
Prince Iaukea-Apr. 1996
Psychosis-1991
Randy Savage-Nov 1973
Raven-Feb, 20 1988
Raymond Rougeau-1971
Reckless Youth-Sep 1995
Renegade-Mar 19, 1995
Rey Mysterio Jr.-1991
Ric Flair-Dec. 10, 1972
Rick Martel-June 7, 1972
Rick Steiner-1983
Ricky Santana-1982
Ricky Steamboat-Dec. 7, 1986
Road Dog Jesse James-1992
Rob Van Dam-June 1991
Rocco Rock-1978
Rock, The-1995
Roddy Piper-1972
Sabu-1985
Sandman, The-1989
Saturn-1989
Savio Vega-1986
Scott Armstrong-1983
Scott Hall-Oct. 1984
Scott Norton-1988
Scott Putski-1986
Scott Steiner-1986
Sgt. Slaughter-1972
Shane Douglas-1985
Shawn Michaels-Oct. 16, 1984
Sheik, The-1960
Skull (DOA) -1988
Spellbinder-1992
Spike Dudley-1995
Steve Armstrong-1984
Steve Austin-Dec 1989
Steve Williams-1982
Steven Dunn-1984
Steven Regal-Aug 1986
Stevie Ray-1989
Stevie Richards-Feb 25, 1992
Sting-1985
Sultan, The-1985
Super Nova-Jan 1991
Taka Michinoku-1991
Tatanka-Jan 13, 1990
Taz-June 3, 1987
Terry Funk-Dec 9, 1965
Test - 1998
Thrasher-1991
Tiger Ali Singh-Nov 19, 1992
Tito Santana-1975
Tom Brandi-Sep 1985
Tom Pritchard-1978
Tom Zenk-1984
Tommy Dreamer-1989
Tony Atlas-1977
Triple H-Mar. 1992
Typhoon-1984
Ultimo Dragon-1985
Undertaker-1989
Vader-1986
Vincent-1985
Warlord, The-1986
Warrior, The-1985
Wayne Hart-1972
Wolfie D-1991
Wrath-1991
Yokozuna-1984
X-Pac-1990

The following are the WWE PPVs scheduled in 2008. To order tickets, click HERE.

Royal Rumble
Date: 1/27/08
Location: New York, NY
Venue: Madison Square Garden

No Way Out
Date: 2/17/08
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Venue: Thomas & Mack Center

Wrestlemania XXIV
Date: 3/30/08
Location: Orlando, FL
Venue: Citrus Bowl

Backlash
Date: 4/27/08
Location: Baltimore, MD
Venue: 1st Mariner Arena

Judgment Day
Date: 5/18/08
Location: Omaha, NB
Venue: Qwest Center Omaha

One Night Stand
Date: 6/01/08
San Diego, CA
Venue: San Diego Sports Arena

Vengeance
Date: 6/29/08
Location: Dallas, TX
Venue: American Airlines Center

The Great American Bash
Date: 7/20/08
Venue: Location: Uniondale, NY
Nassau veterans Memorial Coliseum

SummerSlam
Date: 8/17/08
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Venue: Conseco Fieldhouse

Unforgiven
Date: 9/07/08
Location: Cleveland, OH
Venue: Quicken Loans Arena

No Mercy
10/05/08
Location: Portland, OR
Venue: Rose Garden

Cyber Sunday
Date: 10/26/08
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Venue: US Airways Center

Survivor Series
Date: 11/23/08
Location: Boston, MA
Venue: TD Banknorth Garden

Armageddon
Date: 12/21/08
Location: Buffalo, NY
Venue: HSBC Arena

The Survivor Series “screwjob” is an event in World Wrestling Federation which will remain in the minds of many for a long time. The following is a detailed account of what happened before, during and after the match in question. To best explain and describe one of the most infamous sagas in all of professional wrestling, we have posted an article by professional wrestling journalist, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer and credit goes to him for this.

It will go down in history as the single most famous finish of a pro wrestling match in the modern era. Twenty or th