Mid 20th Century
95-625: The Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament was a professional wrestling tag team, a single-elimination tournament held by the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion in 2005. It was held to honor the TNA wrestler Chris Candido , who died in April 2005 as a result of acute pneumonia. It is the only edition held as of 2024 despite being announced as an annual event. The competition began and concluded on August 16, 2005, at
190-507: A Four Way Elimination Tag Team match for the NWA World Tag Team Championship at TNA's Unbreakable PPV event on September 11. The tournament featured sixteen TNA wrestlers: Abyss , Shark Boy , Alex Shelley , Sean Waltman , B.G. James , Cassidy Reilly , Chris Sabin , Shocker , Kip James , Petey Williams , Konnan , Lance Hoyt , Mikey Batts , Simon Diamond , Ron Killings , and Sonjay Dutt . The tournament
285-472: A Six Sides of Steel Cage match . During the encounter, Candido suffered an injury, which was later diagnosed as a dislocated ankle, broken tibia, and a broken fibula, which required surgery. Candido had an operation on April 25 to have a plate, screws, and pins placed in his ankle to fix the problem, with him being sidelined from competing for two to three months heal. However, Candido hoped to be fully recovered in six to eight weeks. On April 28, Candido
380-435: A bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether the individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in
475-415: A performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in the 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance
570-415: A professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from
665-491: A Four Way Elimination Tag Team match. Johnny replaced Waltman, who missed the event for undisclosed reasons. Shelley began the bout alone, until Johnny, who was in attendance along with several of Candido's family members, jumped the railing to join Shelley as his tag team partner by taking a tag from Shelley. A bit later, Douglas kicked Candido in the crotch and pinned him with a roll-up pin , thus eliminating Shelley and Candido from
760-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over
855-520: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so
950-513: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
1045-574: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from
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#17328875429101140-549: A contract from time to time. The Naturals went to IWA in mid-2007, where they held the IWA World Tag Teams Championships until they vacated the titles after leaving the IWA. The Naturals competed in a taped match for the 21 March 2008 episode of SmackDown , teaming with Luke Hawx in a losing effort against The Big Show . Stevens wrestled Jack Swagger on ECW in a losing effort on September 16, 2008. Stevens
1235-1200: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . The Naturals The Naturals were a professional wrestling tag team made up of Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens . They are best known for their work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where they are former three-time NWA World Tag Team Champions . While working for USA Championship Wrestling, Douglas and Stevens were paired together by booker Bob Ryder . They were briefly known as "Natural Heat" before shortening their name to "The Naturals". In USA CW, The Naturals were old-school Southern style heels . Douglas and Stevens began working for Jerry Lawler's Memphis Wrestling promotion in 2003, where they were renamed "The Alternative Express". The Alternative Express—a gothic pair of rock fans who wore black clothing and recolored their hair and fingernails—were managed by The Goddess Athena. Athena later left The Naturals after
1330-404: A distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by the broader public. In the United States, wrestling
1425-422: A falling out, and they gained a new manager, April Pennington. Douglas and Stevens were brought into Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in late 2003 as "The Naturals", immediately beginning a lengthy feud with America's Most Wanted (AMW). In the course of the feud, they defeated AMW for the NWA World Tag Team Championship on July 7, 2004 in a twelve-second long match after hitting James Storm with one of
1520-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers
1615-459: A legit tag team since their first round match in the tournament," going on to say that he hoped for a Waltman and Shelley victory at Unbreakable to "give the tag division a fresh team to build around." Chris Sabin's jaw was broken in the final round match. Sabin needed serious medical assistance afterward backstage due to excessive bleeding from the mouth. As a result, Sabin had to cancel an August 19 Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) appearance. Shelley
1710-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have
1805-754: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned
1900-532: A memorial to Candido. At Hard Justice, a ten-bell salute was held while a photo of Candido, a pair of boots, and one-half of the NWA World Tag Team Championship positioned on a steel chair sat in the center of the ring. TNA donated some Lockdown DVD sale profits to the Chris Candido Memorial Fund. TNA originally planned to remove Candido's match from the DVD but was given his family's blessing to include it in
1995-546: A month of intense training overseen by The Franchise, faced and defeated The Diamonds in the Rough in a rematch at Victory Road . The Naturals then entered a feud with Team 3D, even handing Team 3D their first loss in a Tables Match in TNA, but after a loss to Team 3D in a Tables Match one month later, Shane Douglas abandoned them, saying "This experiment is over". After the end of the Shane Douglas angle TNA were said to be done with
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#17328875429102090-424: A more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise
2185-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to
2280-501: A second time. The sudden death of Candido two days later led to them turning face due to fan reaction. They stated later in May that they were being advised through the ordeal by a "legendary figure" in professional wrestling, though they declined to say who at the time. On June 19, 2005 at Slammiversary the Naturals were assisted in a title defense against Team Canada by Jimmy Hart , who
2375-517: A tag-team match being taped for the October 29 episode of Impact! The injury was minor, and not expected to require surgery. The match, however, was omitted, and a replacement match was taped the next day. He returned on November 13 at Genesis . The Naturals went to the background in the early months of 2006. After Scott Steiner brutalized Douglas in March, Stevens spent about two months in singles action in
2470-497: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in
2565-575: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point
2660-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted
2755-434: Is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain a " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are
2850-427: Is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as a genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has
2945-609: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In
Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament - Misplaced Pages Continue
3040-528: The X Division with limited success. When Douglas returned and they tagged again and "The Franchise" Shane Douglas (no relation to Douglas), a former NWA World Heavyweight Champion and TNA official, took an interest in them. After they lost to The Diamonds in the Rough on June 15, Shane confronted them, telling them they were squandering their talent. Invoking his friend and their former manager Chris Candido , he offered to be their new manager. With much audience approval, they accepted Shane's offer, and, after
3135-543: The independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in the United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including
3230-431: The spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from the competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on
3325-465: The tapings of TNA's television program TNA Impact! . It was broadcast from August 19 to September 9 with episodes of Impact! It was known by various names: the 2005 Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament, The Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament, and The Chris Candido Cup Tournament. The concept of the tournament was to have eight teams consisting of one veteran wrestler and one rookie wrestler competing against each other to gain entry into
3420-577: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in
3515-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in
3610-506: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
3705-813: The April ;29 episode of Impact! , which had been taped on April 25 before his death. In the tournament, eight tag teams were determined randomly, with one veteran wrestler being placed with a younger wrestler from the company. The competition was also called the "Chris Candido Memorial Cup Tournament". The teams chosen at random were Abyss (veteran) and Shark Boy (young), Alex Shelley (young) and Sean Waltman (veteran), B.G. James (veteran) and Cassidy Reilly (young), Chris Sabin (young) and Shocker (veteran), Kip James (veteran) and Petey Williams (young), Konnan (veteran) and Lance Hoyt (young), Mikey Batts (young) and Simon Diamond (veteran), and last of all Ron Killings (veteran) and Sonjay Dutt (young). On
3800-641: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike
3895-488: The August 19 episode of Impact! . The team of Chris Sabin and Shocker were pitted against the team of Mikey Batts and Simon Diamond in the first. Sabin and Shocker won the bout after Sabin slammed Batts back-first into the mat with his signature Cradle Shock maneuver and followed with the pin at 7 minutes and 1 second. In the second, the team of B.G. James and Cassidy Reilly fought the team of Ron Killings and Sonjay Dutt. Dutt won
Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament - Misplaced Pages Continue
3990-858: The August ;26 episode of Impact! , NWA Championship Committee member Larry Zbyszko announced that a Four Way Elimination Tag Team match for the NWA World Tag Team Championship was planned for TNA's Unbreakable PPV event on September 11, in which The Naturals would defend against AMW, Team Canada ( A-1 and Eric Young ), and the winners of the Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament. The Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament featured seven matches involving different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines . Wrestlers portrayed villains , heroes , or less distinguishable characters in
4085-580: The Four Way Elimination Tag Team match for the NWA World Tag Team Championship scheduled for Unbreakable. James Caldwell of the Pro Wrestling Torch felt that Chris Sabin and Shocker versus Simon Diamond and Mikey Batts was "solid wrestling" and a "nice opening match" for the tournament. Regarding the second tournament match, B.G. James and Cassidy Reilly versus Ron Killings and Sonjay Dutt, Caldwell felt that James and Killings "undermined
4180-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from
4275-477: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
4370-674: The Naturals as a team, saying that they had given the team several opportunities to show their charisma, but had not delivered. The situation has since been rectified to an extent and after two house show appearances for TNA, one in January and one in March (2007), The Naturals returned to TNA on Xplosion , in mid-April 2007. The Naturals appeared at the Lockdown FanFest held in St. Louis on April 14, 2007. Stevens and Douglas were released from TNA Wrestling as of May 10, 2007, but TNA Mobile announced soon afterward that they would be working for TNA without
4465-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight
4560-494: The arena. Professional wrestling 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling ) is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches
4655-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that
4750-550: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As
4845-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
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#17328875429104940-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards
5035-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling
5130-508: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about
5225-467: The contest was explained on the August 19 episode of Impact! prior to the opening bout of the tournament. The tournament was set up in a way that mimicked Candido's role at the time of his death. Before his death, the veteran Candido was managing the young tag team of The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens ). Candido managed the team to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship from America's Most Wanted ( Chris Harris and James Storm ; AMW) on
5320-423: The contest, Sabin accidentally hit his teammate Shocker in the face. This led to confusion in the match, allowing Killings to get a near-fall on Sabin. This was later resolved, with Sabin getting the pin on Dutt via la magistral . The final round occurred on the September 9 episode of Impact! , with Sabin and Shocker versus Shelley and Waltman. This contest lasted 7 minutes and 20 seconds. Sabin and Shelley started
5415-521: The contest. TNA did not use Waltman again until their Final Resolution PPV event on January 15, 2006. There, Waltman defeated Raven in a Raven's Rules match , forcing Raven to leave TNA in the storyline. The company did not use Waltman because management was angered by his failure to participate in Unbreakable. Despite not showing up to the event, Waltman was in Orlando dressed to compete but arrived after
5510-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine
5605-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and
5700-597: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to
5795-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In
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#17328875429105890-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as
5985-455: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
6080-513: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with
6175-471: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore
6270-487: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by
6365-408: The match at 4 minutes and 14 seconds for his team after a 450° aerial splash onto Reilly and the pin. The last two were held on the August 26 episode of Impact! . The Alex Shelley and Sean Waltman team faced Abyss and Shark Boy in a bout lasting 4 minutes and 10 seconds. Shelley pinned Shark Boy after slamming him face-first into the mat with his signature Shellshock maneuver. The second encounter
6460-423: The match, Hoyt hit Waltman with a boot to the face and went for the pin, but the referee was distracted by Kip James, who came down to ringside. Hoyt went to get the referee, allowing Waltman to hit him in the groin and follow up by slamming him face-first into the mat with his signature X-Factor maneuver. Sabin and Shocker defeated Dutt and Killings in the second semifinal match at 7 minutes and 49 seconds. During
6555-457: The match, with Shelley dominating Sabin with mat submission holds . The wrestling left the ring as Waltman performed a somersault splash to the ringside area onto Shocker and Sabin. Later, Sabin ascended to the top rope to perform a dropkick on Shelley, only to have Shelley dodge out of the way, resulting in Sabin hitting his partner Shocker instead. After checking on Shocker, Sabin turned around and
6650-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in
6745-625: The primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to the platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of the venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as
6840-714: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During
6935-436: The publication. A tribute to Candido was included on the DVD by TNA. The tournament was announced in August 2005 by TNA editor Bill Banks. He revealed the official name for the competition, the "2005 Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament", and that TNA was planning on it being an annual contest. Banks also announced that the tournament format involved veteran wrestlers teaming with young wrestlers to compete. The idea behind
7030-424: The scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match. The tournament consisted of three rounds: the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals. All three rounds were broadcast on Impact! . All three rounds were taped on August 16 and aired on the August 19, August 26, September 2, and September 9 episodes of Impact! . The first two matches of the quarterfinals took place on
7125-452: The spirit of the Candido tournament" by dancing mid-way through their encounter. Caldwell commented on the pairing of Alex Shelley and Sean Waltman for the tournament, saying they were a "natural fit working together" and expressing hope that they would be a permanent fixture after the tournament concluded. Regarding the semifinal matches, Caldwell thought Sabin and Shocker versus Dutt and Killings
7220-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For
7315-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,
7410-448: The title belts. The Naturals successfully defended their titles against Triple X , but were eventually beaten by Chris Harris and Elix Skipper (one member of each team) on September 8, 2004. In 2005, the Naturals formed a stable with Chris Candido , who also became their manager. They became peripheral members of Planet Jarrett in early 2005. On April 26 they defeated America's Most Wanted to become NWA World Tag Team Champions for
7505-505: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by
7600-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it
7695-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of
7790-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked
7885-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling
7980-528: Was a "solid match with a nice mini-storyline involving Sabin and Shocker having a miscommunication before settling their differences to win the match." As for the finals, Caldwell stated that Shelley and Waltman versus Sabin and Shocker was a "standard tag match" but it was "effective in telling the story of Waltman and Shelley doing whatever it takes to win while Shocker and Sabin continued to have differences that finally caused Shocker to go off." Caldwell concluded by saying that "Waltman and Shelley have impressed as
8075-554: Was also injured while taking part in the tournament. He suffered a legitimate back injury but ended up appearing at the PWG show that Sabin was forced to miss. There, he aggravated the injury further, forcing him to miss two Ring of Honor shows for which he was scheduled. At Unbreakable, The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens) defeated the teams of Alex Shelley and Johnny Candido, America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm), and Team Canada (A-1 and Eric Young) to remain champions in
8170-449: Was between the team of Lance Hoyt and Konnan and the team of Kip James and Petey Williams. The team of Hoyt and Konnan won the bout after Hoyt pinned Kip following a boot to the face at 6 minutes and 49 seconds. The semifinals were held on the September 2 episode of Impact! . Shelley and Waltman defeated the Hoyt and Konnan teams in the first semifinal match in 4 minutes and 22 seconds. During
8265-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in
8360-419: Was met with Shelley's kick to the jaw . Sabin left the ring after this due to a legitimate injury. With Shocker left and the referee attending to other matters, Waltman hit Shocker in the groin and followed by performing his X-Factor maneuver to gain the pinfall victory and win the tournament. Shelley and Waltman's victory made them the first winners of the expected annual tournament. They also gained entry into
8455-636: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
8550-474: Was revealed to be their secret advisor. Hart acted as their manager throughout the summer of 2005 before he left his voluntary on-screen capacities with TNA in September. In their feud with Team Canada, they briefly formed an alliance with AMW. Their animosity, however, won out as infighting cost them an eight-man tag team match with Team Canada at Sacrifice on August 14. The Naturals survived an Elimination Match involving Team Canada, AMW, and Alex Shelley (who
8645-481: Was rushed to the hospital after he collapsed, where he died a short time later. The cause of death was released by Candido's brother Johnny Candido , as a blood clot due to the surgery a few days prior. TNA released a public statement on April 29, regarding the subject. TNA paid tribute to Candido on the April 29 episode of TNA's television program TNA Impact! and at TNA's Hard Justice PPV event on May 15. The April 29, episode of Impact! Opened and ended with
8740-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted
8835-499: Was supposed to team with Sean Waltman , who no-showed , and instead was assisted by Johnny Candido ) to retain the titles at Unbreakable on September 11. Their reign ended on the October 22 episode of Impact! when they lost to AMW following interference from Jeff Jarrett and Gail Kim . They were defeated by AMW in their rematch at Bound For Glory on October 23, again following interference from Kim. On October 25, Stevens injured his neck when he landed bad on his head during
8930-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among
9025-543: Was well-received overall. James Caldwell of the Pro Wrestling Torch wrote in his review of the matches that they were "solid" and "effective in telling the story." Caldwell approved of the teaming of Shelley and Waltman, feeling that they were a "natural fit." Chris Candido was an American professional wrestler who wrestled for TNA starting in 2005. At TNA's Lockdown PPV event on April 24, 2005, Candido teamed with Lance Hoyt to face Apolo and Sonny Siaki in
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