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130-514: In 1992 the NWA board of directors decided to sanction one world-level NWA World Tag Team Championship, working with WCW to hold a tournament to determine the inaugural officially recognized, NWA World Tag Team Championship. In 1993, the NWA and WCW severed their relationship and the NWA took with it the tag team championship. The NWA would briefly allow the World Wrestling Federation to control

260-466: A Gauntlet for the Gold , multi-man elimination match, with the final two competitors moving to the finals along with their respective tag team partners. The Gauntlet for the Gold was won by Brian Lee and Chris Harris. Immediately after the match Harris and partner James Storm (America's Most Wanted) defeated Brian Lee and his chosen partner Ron Harris to win the championship. On February 4, 2004, A.J. Styles

390-403: A NWA World Tag Team Championship in 1992 they reached out to World Championship Wrestling to organize the initial tournament as well give them the rights to control the championship on a day-to-day basis. WCW pulled together a 16-team tournament that saw seven teams made up of regular WCW competitors as well as teams from various countries such as Japan, Mexico, Canada and more. The eight matches of

520-399: A de facto "World" championship, moving from a regional championship and later recognized as a "World Championship" by Pro Wrestling Illustrated , the premier wrestling magazine at the time. In 1988 the cost of the rapid expansion of JCP forced Crockett to sell his promotion to Turner Broadcasting System . Turner began to rebrand the promotion as World Championship Wrestling , but still used

650-417: A deal with Endeavor Group Holdings, under which it would merge with Zuffa , the parent company of mixed martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to form TKO Group Holdings, a new public company majority-owned by Endeavor, with McMahon serving as executive chairman of the new entity, and Nick Khan becoming president. The merger was completed on September 12, 2023. In 2024, McMahon, who

780-582: A deal with UPN, McMahon shut down the XFL. WWE maintained control of the XFL trademark before McMahon reclaimed the XFL brand, this time under a separate shell company from WWE, in 2017 with intent to relaunch the XFL in 2020 . On June 24, 2002, episode of Raw , Vince McMahon officially referred to the start of the next era, called the "Ruthless Aggression" era. On May 6, 2002, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) changed both its company name and

910-522: A legal dispute with the World Wildlife Fund , the WWF was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In 2011, the promotion ceased branding itself as World Wrestling Entertainment and began solely branding itself with the initials WWE . Prior to September 2023, the company's majority owner was its executive chairman, third-generation wrestling promoter Vince McMahon , who retained a 38.6% ownership of

1040-550: A monopoly on the world title. In a now infamous situation, the NWA sent former five-time world champion and legitimate wrestler Lou Thesz to Toronto to face Rogers on January 24, 1963. Thesz recalls this was not planned and prior to the match remembered telling Buddy "we can do this the easy way or the hard way." Rogers agreed to lose the fall and title in a one fall match versus the traditional two out of three fall matchup that most world title matches were defended. Once word reached back to Mondt and McMahon, at first they simply ignored

1170-494: A new promotion called NWA Total Nonstop Action (NWA-TNA) based in Nashville. The Jarretts reached an agreement with the NWA board of directors to allow NWA-TNA to control both the singles and tag team versions of the world heavyweight championship. Both championships were vacated to allow NWA-TNA to hold tournaments for the new champions. On July 3, 2002 A.J. Styles and Jerry Lynn defeated The Rainbow Express Bruce and Lenny in

1300-578: A pay cut, and the company has also suspended construction on its new headquarters for at least six months. The firings caused significant backlash by fans; with Business Insider calling them "livid." Both fans and several media outlets pointed out that while WWE claimed that these actions were "necessary due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic", the WWE also claimed to have "substantial financial resources. Available cash and debt capacity currently total approximately $ 0.5 billion". DeSantis's claimed WWE

1430-497: A period of time where it was held by several teams working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling . The Skullcrushers (Rasche Brown and Keith Walker ) held the championship for 777 days, making them the longest reigning champions in the history of the NWA board-recognized championship. Three teams have held the championship for just one day: David Flair and Dan Factor, Glacier and Jason Sugarman, and The Heatseekers (Sigmon and Elliot Russel). In 1948 six professional wrestling promoters in

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1560-401: A pre-recorded format. NXT continued to air from Full Sail University, but under similar restrictions. Live broadcasts returned on April 13, with the existing arrangements continuing; WWE stated to ESPN.com that "we believe it is now more important than ever to provide people with a diversion from these hard times", and that the company's programming "bring[s] families together and deliver

1690-706: A publicly traded company, trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with the issuance of stock then valued at $ 172.5 million. The company is traded on the NYSE under ticker symbol WWE. By the fall of 1999, the Attitude Era had turned the tide of the Monday Night War into WWF's favor. After Time Warner merged with America Online (AOL), Ted Turner 's control over WCW was considerably reduced. The newly merged company lacked interest in professional wrestling as

1820-496: A sense of hope, determination and perseverance". It was subsequently reported that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had deemed WWE a business critical to the state's economy, and had added an exception under the state's stay-at-home order for employees of a "professional sports and media production" that is closed to the public and has a national audience. The decision was met with criticism from media outlets, with several media outlets pointing out that DeSantis's actions happened on

1950-576: A show in Dyersburg. On April 27, 2019, the National Wrestling Alliance announced on their Twitter page that the winners of the 2019 Crockett Cup tournament would be awarded the vacated NWA World Tag Team Championship as a reward. Later that night, Villain Enterprises ( Brody King and PCO ) defeated the wild card team of Royce Isaacs and Thomas Latimer defeated in the finals to win

2080-523: A specific NWA World Tag Team Championship. This meant that each territory was free to create their own "World Tag Team Championship" as they saw fit and use it within their territory without board approval. Tag team wrestling first rose to popularity on the west coast of the United States, which led to the Los Angeles territory, promoted by Johnny Doyle, creating the first NWA World Tag Team Championship of

2210-473: A third brand on May 26, 2006. Two years later, WWE adapted a more family-friendly format and their programming received a TV-PG rating . The final ECW program aired on February 16, 2010, after which it was replaced with NXT . During this time many new and young wrestlers would join the company, many which would become household names for the next years to come such as John Cena , Randy Orton , Brock Lesnar , and Batista . On April 7, 2011, WWE, via

2340-419: A three team tournament to determine the new champions. On July 8, 2007, The Real American Heroes ( Karl Anderson and Joey Ryan ) defeated the teams of Billy Kidman / Sean Waltman and Incognito / Sicodelico Jr. in a three-way match to win the championship. On October 4, 2008, The Skullcrushers (Rache Brown and Keith Walker ) defeated Los Luchas (Phoenix Star and Zokre) to win the championship. This marked

2470-578: A tie with his former partner Harris, who had seven total reigns as champion including a single reign with Elix Skipper as his partner. The current champions are Knox and Murdoch , who are in their first reign as a team. They won the titles by defeating Blunt Force Trauma ( Carnage and Damage ) on NWA Powerrr on June 1, 2024 in Knoxville, Tennessee . When the National Wrestling Alliance Board of Directors decided to finally endorse

2600-407: A time of record low revenues. This helped drive many WWF wrestlers over to rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW), including 1980s babyface hero Hulk Hogan. During this period, the WWF promoted wrestlers of a younger age comprising "The New Generation", featuring Bret Hart , Shawn Michaels , Diesel , Razor Ramon and The Undertaker among others in an effort to promote new talent into

2730-416: A tournament for the vacant NWA World Tag Team Championship until almost two years later, holding a one night tournament on April 11, 1995. The tournament was won by The Rock 'n' Roll Express ( Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson ), defeating the team of Dick Murdoch and Randy Rhodes in the finals. In 1998 the NWA board of directors reached an agreement with the World Wrestling Federation to feature several of

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2860-506: A whole and decided to sell WCW in its entirety. Although Eric Bischoff , whom Time Warner fired as WCW president in October 1999, was nearing a deal to purchase the company, in March 2001 McMahon acquired the rights to WCW's trademarks, tape library, contracts, and other properties from AOL Time Warner for a number reported to be around $ 7 million. Shortly after WrestleMania X-Seven , the WWF launched

2990-532: A wrestling supercard was nothing new in North America; the NWA had begun running Starrcade a few years prior. In McMahon's eyes, however, what separated WrestleMania from other supercards was that it was intended to be accessible to those who did not watch wrestling. He invited celebrities such as Mr. T , Muhammad Ali , and Cyndi Lauper to participate in the event, as well as securing a deal with MTV to provide coverage. The event and hype surrounding it led to

3120-505: Is an American professional wrestling promotion . It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings , a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into fields outside of wrestling, including film , football , and various other business ventures . The company is additionally involved in licensing its intellectual property to other companies to produce video games and action figures . The promotion

3250-618: Is located in Stamford, Connecticut , with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, and Munich. As in other professional wrestling promotions, WWE shows are not true contests but entertainment-based performance theater, featuring storyline -driven, scripted , and partially choreographed matches; however, matches often include moves that can put performers at risk of injury, even death, if not performed correctly. The pre-determined aspect of professional wrestling

3380-527: Is targeted at career and athletic development for the company's wrestlers. Full Sail is also home base to WWE's NXT brand, which served as a developmental territory for WWE. On February 24, 2014, WWE launched WWE Network , an over-the-top streaming service that would feature archive content from WWE and its predecessors, all pay-per-views, (which would continue to be sold through television providers as well), and original programming. Beginning in 2015 WWE started to push Roman Reigns as their face of

3510-730: The American Wrestling Association . This meant that the Minneapolis, Chicago, Iowa-Nebraska, Indianapolis and Idaho-Utah versions of the championship were all abandoned, replaced by the AWA World Tag Team Championship that was recognized in all of those territories. While the NWA lost some territories with the exodus to the AWA, others were added and additional NWA World Tag Team Championships were still being introduced. In 1961 Championship Wrestling from Florida created

3640-664: The Florida version of the championship as the Von Brauners ( Kurt and Karl Von Brauner ) became regular performers in Florida. In 1964 the Detroit-based Big Time Wrestling announced that Chris and John Tolos had won the newly created Detroit version of the championship on February 16, 1965. In 1966 NWA All-Star Wrestling introduced their own version , but by mid-1968 the promotion discontinued using them in favor of

3770-688: The Killer Elite Squad ( Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer ) defeated Scott Summers and Ryan Genesis to win the championship, the Killer Elite Squad was also the IWGP Tag Team Champions at the time of the title victory. On November 3, 2013 The IronGodz ( Jax Dane and Rob Conway ) won the NWA World Tag Team Championship in a special two falls match that saw Tencozy ( Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima ) with

3900-759: The NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship . In 1968 the Amarillo territory stopped using their version of the world championship, favoring the NWA Western States Tag Team Championship instead. Only months later the Eastern Texas version was abandoned as well, once more in favor of a more regional championship name, the NWA Texas Tag Team Championship . Georgia Championship Wrestling followed the trend in 1969, with

4030-796: The NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship . By 1970 the Ohio-Upstate New York territory left the NWA and became known as the National Wrestling Federation , in the process they rebranded the tag team championship as it became known as the NWF World Tag Team Championship. No territory created a new world tag team championship until 1975 where the NWA Mid-Atlantic promotion in the Carolinas introduced

NWA World Tag Team Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

4160-615: The NWA North American Heavyweight Championship . As part of the storyline the Rock 'n' Roll Express lost the tag team championship to WWF regulars The Headbangers ( Mosh and Thrasher ) on February 17, 1998, during an episode of Raw is War . The Headbangers later lost the championship to The Midnight Express ( Bombastic Bob and Bodacious Bart ) as the NWA Invasion angle was being phased out. On August 14, 1998,

4290-558: The NWA World Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship . Those two championships were controlled by the board, who would meet to vote on who should be given the championship next. At the time tag team wrestling, or matches where teams of two wrestlers would fight each other, was not popular across all territories, so the board of directors did not sanction

4420-629: The WWWF World Heavyweight Championship was created, with the promotion claiming that inaugural champion Rogers had won a tournament in Rio de Janeiro on April 25, 1963, defeating long time Capitol favorite Antonino Rocca in the finals. In reality, Rocca was no longer in the area, as he was working for Jim Crockett Sr. in the Carolinas. Rogers also had already suffered what would later be a career ending heart attack on April 18 in Akron, Ohio, and

4550-467: The XFL , a new professional football league that debuted in 2001. The league had high ratings for the first few weeks, but initial interest waned and its ratings plunged to dismally low levels (one of its games was the lowest-rated prime-time show in the history of American television). NBC walked out on the venture after only one season, but McMahon intended to continue alone. However, after being unable to reach

4680-517: The "National Wrestling Alliance" while officially being known as Jim Crockett Promotions . The consolidation of the Crockett brand was done in part to combat the country-wide expansion of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the early 1980s, breaking with the territory approach of the NWA. With JCP gaining national television deals the Mid-Atlantic version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship became

4810-401: The 2019 Crockett Cup.[10] From January 24 to January 26, 2019, Ring of Honor held a 12-team Tag Wars tournament as part of their Road To G1 Supercard tour of Texas. Villain Enterprises (Brody King and PCO) won the three-day tournament by defeating The Kingdom (Vinny Marseglia and TK O'Ryan) in the first round, The Bouncers (Brian Milonas and Beer City Bruiser) and the team of Kenny King and MVP in

4940-438: The 9th weekly TNA PPV show on August 14, 2002, then-champions A.J. Styles and Jerry Lynn defended the championship against the team of Jeff Jarrett and Ron Killings . The match ended with Jarrett pinning Lynn while Styles pinned Killings, which lead to the championship being held up due to the inconclusive outcome of the match. On September 18 NWA-TNA held a tournament to determine new champions. The tournament had two stages, first

5070-759: The Canadian Athletic Promotion, based in Montreal, used the NWA World Tag Team Championship name as well, but by the end of the year they had abandoned it. Also in 1954, Georgia Championship Wrestling introduced the Georgia version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship , using the Chicago version (held by Reggie Lisowki and Art Neilson) to start the Georgia branch. The following year NWA founders Paul "Pinkie" George and Max Clayton introduced an Iowa-Nebraska version , with

5200-499: The Corsicans ( Corsica Joe and Corsica Jean) as champions when they made their debut for NWA Mid-America. No new championships were introduced in 1958 or 1959, but with all versions being active but that of Montreal, thirteen versions were being defended across the United States in 1957. In 1959/1960 the unity of the NWA was strained as several promotions broke away from the NWA, choosing to join with Minnesota promoter Verne Gagne to form

5330-570: The Crockett Cup would be returning in 2019.[8] It was later revealed that the event would take place on April 27, 2019, at Cabarrus Arena in Concord, North Carolina. The event was co-produced by the NWA and Ring of Honor (ROH).[1] At the NWA New Years Clash, The War Kings (Crimson and Jax Dane) (with Road Warrior Animal) defeated Caleb Konley and Jay Bradley to become the first team to qualify for

NWA World Tag Team Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

5460-498: The IWGP championship in the other fall. Conway was the reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion, making him the first person to hold both championships at once. On April 6, 2014, Tencozy defeated the Iron Godz to win the NWA championship and would later lose those to the Killer Elite Squad on October 10, 2014. On October 15, 2015, The Heatseekers (Sigmon and Elliot Russel) won the championship on

5590-529: The Invasion storyline, integrating the incoming talent roster from WCW and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). With this purchase, WWF now became by far the sole largest wrestling promotion in North America and in the world. The assets of ECW, which had folded after filing for bankruptcy protection in April 2001, were purchased by WWE in 2003. In 2000, the WWF, in collaboration with television network NBC , launched

5720-450: The Japanese promotion control of the championship. IWA Japan held a multi-week, multi-team round-robin tournament to crown new champions. The finals saw Mr. Gannosuke and Tarzan Goto defeat the team of Cactus Jack and Tiger Jeet Singh to become the eight overall champions. The table below was derived from the results page. In June 2002 the NWA vacated the tag team championship to allow

5850-406: The Los Angeles territory closed, abandoning their version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship. This meant that the Mid-Atlantic version of the championship became the only NWA World Tag Team Championship that was still active from that point forward. In 1980 MACW owner and promoter Jim Crockett Jr. became president of the NWA and started to consolidate the south eastern promotion, branding them as

5980-553: The Mid-Atlantic version , the first new championship in nine years. This championship would later also be recognized by Georgia Championship Wrestling. In 1977 the NWA Mid-America territory was split in two as Jerry Lawler and Jerry Jarrett took over a large part of the territory when they created the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA). After the territory split, NWA Mid-America abandoned their version of

6110-550: The Mid-Atlantic version of the championship The Rock 'n' Roll Express defeat Dick Murdoch and Randy Rhodes to win the championship. The NWA Board of Directors stripped the Rock 'n' Roll Express of the championship on August 4, 1995, when Ricky Morton was suspended by Smokey Mountain Wrestling and thus was unable to defend the championship. During the fall of 1995 the NWA reached an agreement with their Japanese member, International Wrestling Association of Japan (IWA Japan) to give

6240-642: The Midnight Express lost the championship to The Border Patrol (Agent Gunn and Agent Maxx), ending the association with the WWF. Over the following years the championship changed hands at various minor shows as well as the NWA 50th Anniversary Show where The Brotherhood ( Knuckles Nelson and Erich Sbraccia) won the championship. In 2002 The Shane Twins ( Mike and Todd ) won the championship from The New Heavenly Bodies ( Chris Nelson and Vito DeNucci). In early 2002, Jeff Jarrett and his father Jerry Jarrett started

6370-506: The Montreal Screwjob, which took place at the 1997 Survivor Series , former WCW talent were being hired by the WWF, including Stone Cold Steve Austin , Mankind , and Vader . Austin was slowly brought in as the new face of the company despite being promoted as an antihero , starting with his " Austin 3:16 " speech shortly after defeating Jake Roberts in the tournament finals at the King of

6500-477: The NWA World Tag Team Championship. There have been 91 total officially recognized title reigns and five "unofficial reigns" from the time WCW controlled the championship. Rasche Brown and Keith Walker, known as the Skullkrushers, hold the record for longest reign, which lasted 777 days before they lost the belts to The Dark City Fight Club. The Skullkrushers, by virtue of such a lengthy run as champions, also hold

6630-420: The NWA championships on WWF television as part of an "Invasion" storyline. For the purposes of the storyline the then-champions Pat and C. W. Anderson were stripped of the championship and instead the Rock 'n' Roll Express were named the new champions so they could work with the WWF. The storyline saw WWF wrestler Jeff Jarrett lead a group of "Old School" wrestlers representing the NWA, including Jarrett winning

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6760-528: The NWA prefix for all of their championships at that point in time. In January 1991 WCW officially split from the NWA, spinning off the NWA Championships into WCW championships, which meant that then-reigning champions Doom ( Ron Simmons and Butch Reed ) became the first champions to officially be labeled as WCW World Tag Team Champions. At that point in time the NWA did not determine a new set of NWA World Tag Team Champions. A year after parting ways with

6890-517: The NWA, the two parties came to an agreement for WCW to host a tournament for the first ever officially board of directors sanctioned NWA World Tag Team Championship. To push the "world" aspect of the championship WCW and the NWA brought in several international teams for the tournament. Teams such as Silver King and El Texano from Mexico, Hiroshi Hase and Akira Nogami from Japan, Miguel Perez Jr. and Ricky Santana from Puerto Rico and Joe and Dean Malenko representing "Europe". The first round of

7020-689: The Olympics. He captured the AWA World Heavyweight Championship on December 10, 1930, from Gus Sonnenberg . Double-crossed by Ed "Strangler" Lewis in Los Angeles on April 13, 1931, George dropped the title to the Strangler. George refused to wrestle Lewis in a shoot contest , admitting he would lose to Lewis in a real match. However, promoter Paul Bowser maneuvered it back to George, who held it for nearly four years, finally losing it to Danno O'Mahony on June 30, 1935. George remained one of

7150-731: The Performance Center in a similar setup dubbed the Capitol Wrestling Center. It had many of the same features as the ThunderDome, but with a small crowd of select live fans included, in addition to the virtual fans. The name is also an homage to WWE's predecessor, the Capitol Wrestling Corporation. On May 21 WWE brought back fans full time, beginning with a 25-city tour, thus ending the ThunderDome residency. The July 16 episode of SmackDown started WWE's return to

7280-481: The Performance Center with paying fans, thus being WWE's last event to have ticketed fans in attendance before the pandemic took full effect. WrestleMania 36 was scheduled to take place on April 5 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa but on March 16, was moved to Orlando to be held behind closed doors. WrestleMania, as well as Raw and SmackDown for a period before and after WrestleMania, shifted from live broadcasts to

7410-611: The Ring pay-per-view in 1996. On April 29, 1999, the WWF made its return to terrestrial television , airing a special program known as SmackDown! on the fledgling UPN network. The Thursday night show became a weekly series on August 26, 1999 – competing directly with WCW's Thursday night program titled Thunder on TBS . In the summer of 1999, Titan Sports, Inc. was renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. On October 19, 1999, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. launched an initial public offering as

7540-631: The Steiner Brothers to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship. The finals took place at that year's The Great American Bash pay per view on July 12. For the second round Japanese wrestler Shinya Hashimoto replaced Akira Nogami who had been injured after he and Hiroshi Hase had qualified for the quarter-finals. Hase and Hashimoto defeated The Fabulous Freebirds in the quarter-finals only to lose to Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham in

7670-520: The United States in freestyle wrestling at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics , placing fourth in the heavyweight class (87 kg). During the years 1926–29, Ed Don George attended the University of Michigan, with his concentration of study in engineering. Later on, in 1929, at St. Bonaventure University, he graduated with a college degree. Quick and powerful, he took on the name "Ed Don George" and began his professional career shortly after returning from

7800-429: The United States joined to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as a governing body for a number of different wrestling promotions, which then became known as the NWA territories . The promoters, ( Pinkie George , Al Haft , Tony Stecher, Harry Light , Orville Brown and Sam Muchnick ) formed a board of directors and decided that they would endorse two wrestling championships that all territories would recognize,

7930-491: The WWE Corporate website, the company ceased using the full name World Wrestling Entertainment and henceforth referred to itself solely as WWE, making the latter an orphan initialism . This was said to reflect WWE's global entertainment expansion away from the ring with the ultimate goal of acquiring entertainment companies and putting a focus on television, live events, and film production. WWE noted that their new company model

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8060-492: The WWF were former AWA or NWA talent. The WWF would tour nationally in a venture that would require a huge capital investment, one that placed the WWF on the verge of financial collapse. The future of McMahon's experiment came down to the success or failure of McMahon's groundbreaking concept, WrestleMania . WrestleMania was a major success and was (and still is) marketed as the Super Bowl of professional wrestling. The concept of

8190-664: The WrestleMania III main event between WWF champion Hulk Hogan and André the Giant took place on The Main Event I in 1988 and was seen by 33 million people, the most-watched wrestling match in North American television history. In 1983, Titan moved its offices to Stamford, Connecticut . Subsequently, a new Titan Sports, Inc. (originally WWF, Inc.) was established in Delaware in 1987 and

8320-568: The aforementioned draft), and airs live instead of the previous pre-recorded format. Due to the return of the brand split, a new World Championship , called the WWE Universal Championship was introduced at the August 21, 2016 SummerSlam event with Finn Bálor defeating Seth Rollins to become the inaugural WWE Universal Champion. On November 29, 2016, WWE introduced a new program specifically for their cruiserweight division (wrestlers 205 lbs. and under) called WWE 205 Live . The program focuses exclusively on those wrestlers who qualify for

8450-493: The champions splitting their time between George's Iowa territory and Clayton's Nebraska territory. The promoters billed Joe Tangaroa and Guy Brunetti as the local champions, recognizing the championship of the Chicago version up until September 1955, then splitting off in to their own lineage. Also in 1955, the first of two Texas-based NWA World Tag Team Championships was created by the Amarillo, Texas-based Big Time Wrestling, owned by Doc Sarpolis and Dory Funk . They followed in

8580-446: The championship on May 26, 1950, as the Dusek Riot Squad (Emil and Joe ) won that championship. In 1953 the Chicago-based promoter Fred Kohler introduced the team of Lord James Blears and Lord Lathol Laytham as the local NWA World Tag Team champions , billing them as having won the championship in a different NWA territory before they began working for Kohler. Historic records do not indicate that Blears and Laytham had actually won

8710-494: The championship elsewhere. From mid-1953 the championship became the main tag team championship of the Illinois-Wisconsin territory. A few months later promoter Ed Don George brought in the Chicago champions to his Ohio-Upstate New York territory and used them to bring an air of legitimacy to his own version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship , allowing local wrestlers Bill Melby and Billy Darnell to defeat Blears and Martino Angelo (who substituted for an injured Athol). In 1954

8840-403: The championship in 1998 but by 1999 that collaboration ended. In 2002 the NWA gave control of the NWA World Tag Team Championship to the newly formed NWA Total Nonstop Action (NWA-TNA) promotion. TNA's control of the championship ended in 2007, with TNA creating the TNA World Tag Team Championship as a result. In subsequent years the championship has been defended on various continents including

8970-439: The championship shortly afterwards. The same year the Central States version was abandoned, in favor of the NWA Central States Tag Team Championship . The Detroit territory closed its doors in 1980, ending their version of the championship. In 1981 World Class Championship Wrestling briefly brought back the east Texas version of the championship, but later abandoned it in favor of the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship . In 1982

9100-450: The championship. A couple of weeks later the championship was vacated because Abyss did not defend them, nor did he chose a new partner. Over the following weeks NWA-TNA held an eight-team tournament to crown new champions. Triple X ( Christopher Daniels and Low-Ki ) earned their way to the finals by defeating The New Franchise ( Michael Shane and Shane Douglas ) in the first round and The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens ) in

9230-478: The combined WCW/NWA World Tag Team Championships happen between July 1992 and August 1993, after which the NWA broke off their relationship with WCW once more. Then-champions Arn Anderson and Paul Roma were stripped of the NWA championship, a fact that was not mentioned on TV as they kept defending the WCW championship. While the NWA initially recognized the five WCW booked championship reigns, they later removed them from their official history. The NWA did not hold

9360-504: The company began the removal of some of the contents that were considered iconic moments of the Attitude Era that were deemed inappropriate by Peacock, these archived contents would no longer be available under any of WWE's authorized platforms. Amdist the criticisms, in April 2021 WWE executive Triple H defended WWE's move to Peacock. Ed Don George Edward Nye "Ed Don" George Jr. (June 3, 1905 – September 18, 1985)

9490-523: The company since having him win the 2015 Royal rumble match , amidst mixed reception . By 2017 Roman Reigns became their highest merchandise seller. On May 25, 2016, WWE relaunched the brand split, billed as the "New Era". Subsequently, Raw and SmackDown have each featured their unique rosters, announcers, championships and ring sets/ropes. A draft took place to determine which wrestlers would appear on what show. SmackDown also moved from Thursdays to Tuesday nights, which began on July 19 (the night of

9620-577: The company's outstanding stock and 81.1% of the voting power. The current entity, which was originally named Titan Sports, Inc. , was incorporated on February 21, 1980, in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts , but reincorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law in 1987. It acquired Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd., the holding company for the WWF, in 1982. Titan was renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. in 1999, and then World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. in 2002. In 2023, its legal name

9750-493: The company. The actual date of sale is still unknown but the generally accepted date is June 6, 1982; however, this was likely only the date the deal was struck but not finalized. On WWF television, Capitol Wrestling Corporation maintained copyrights and ownership past the June 1982 date. The World Wrestling Federation was not solely owned by Vincent J. McMahon but also by Gorilla Monsoon , Arnold Skaaland and Phil Zacko. The deal between

9880-627: The division. The cruiserweights – who first became a fixture in WWE with the Cruiserweight Classic tournament – were originally exclusive to the Raw brand before landing their own brand . On December 15, 2016, WWE established a new WWE United Kingdom Championship , with the inaugural champion being decided by a 16-man tournament to air on WWE Network featuring wrestlers from the UK and Ireland during January 2017. WWE executive Paul "Triple H" Levesque said

10010-561: The eventual plan with the new title and tournament was to establish a UK-based brand with its own weekly television show. WWE subsequently launched its UK-based brand as an offshoot of NXT, NXT UK , in June 2018, with Johnny Saint serving as inaugural general manager. Starting in September 2019, NXT had a weekly, live, two-hour show Wednesday nights on the USA Network and WWE began promoting NXT as their "third brand". However, in 2021 NXT

10140-428: The film Rocky III . McMahon signed Roddy Piper as Hogan's rival, and then shortly afterward Jesse Ventura as an announcer. Other wrestlers joined the roster, such as The Iron Sheik , Nikolai Volkoff , Junkyard Dog , Paul Orndorff , Greg Valentine , and Ricky Steamboat , joining existing stars such as Jimmy Snuka , Don Muraco , Sgt. Slaughter and André the Giant . Many of the wrestlers who would later join

10270-578: The finals of a tournament to win the championship. TNA controlled the championship from 2002 until May 2007, crowning a total of 32 champions in that period of time. At that point the NWA withdrew its recognition of NWA:TNA, which then rebranded itself "Total Nonstop Action Wrestling" and created the TNA World Tag Team Championship . With the championship vacant after the split from TNA, the National Wrestling Alliance arranged

10400-557: The first round all took place on June 16, 1992, at WCW's Clash of the Champions XIX . During the show WCW started a storyline feud between WCW's top tag team, the Steiner Brothers, and the favorite non-WCW team of Steve Williams and Terry Gordy, who had been one of the top teams in Japan for years prior to the tournament. During the show Gordy and Williams attacked the Steiners' opponents prior to

10530-544: The first time that professional wrestling had been broadcast on network television since the 1950s when the now-defunct DuMont Television Network broadcast matches of Vincent J. McMahon's Capitol Wrestling Corporation. The 1980s "Wrestling Boom" peaked with the WrestleMania III pay-per-view at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1987, which set an attendance record of 93,173 for the WWF for 29 years until 2016 . A rematch of

10660-403: The footsteps of other NWA territories by having the Chicago champions (Lisowski and Neilson) travel to their territory to lose a version of the championship to start the local version. In this case Neilson worked regularly in the territory, while Lisowski left after only a brief stay. The promoters chose to have Rip Rogers replace Lisowski for the Amarillo version of the champions. Another version

10790-497: The founder of the CWC was. Some sources state that it was Vincent J. McMahon , while other sources cite McMahon's father Jess McMahon as founder of CWC. The CWC later joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and famous New York promoter Toots Mondt soon joined the promotion. Vincent J. McMahon and Toots Mondt were very successful and soon controlled approximately 70% of the NWA's booking power, largely due to their dominance in

10920-405: The four major sports leagues closed locker rooms to the media as a precautionary measure. As other sports cancellations and postponements were being introduced, WWE began to film its weekly programs at the Performance Center without spectators and with only essential staff present, beginning with the March 13 episode of SmackDown  – the March 11 episode of NXT had been recorded at

11050-489: The heavily populated Northeastern United States . In 1963, McMahon and Mondt had a dispute with the NWA over "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers being booked to hold the NWA World Heavyweight Championship . Mondt and McMahon were not only promoters but also acted as his manager and were accused by other NWA promoters of withholding Rogers making defenses in their cities versus only defending in Mondt and McMahon's own cities thus maintaining

11180-668: The longest world title reign in the WWE since Hulk Hogan from 1984 to 1988. WWE remained at the Amway Center up through early December before relocating the ThunderDome to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida . The ThunderDome relocated to Yuengling Center , located on the campus of the University of South Florida in Tampa, beginning with the April 12, 2021, episode of Raw . In October 2020, NXT events were relocated from Full Sail University to

11310-464: The match, leading to the Steiners winning by forfeit. During the show the Steiners challenged Gordy and Williams to face them in the second round that night instead of waiting for the next round. In the main event of the Clash of Champions Gordy and Williams defeated the Steiner Brothers to advance to the semi-finals. In the month between the first round and the rest of the tournament Gordy and Williams defeated

11440-597: The mid 1950s he found himself promoting wrestling at the casinos in Havana, Cuba until Fidel Castro came to power. In 1949, George bought a 375-acre (1.52 km ) parcel just east of North Java, New York where Camp O'Ryan was situated. He then very soon afterwards leased this land for 25 years to the federal government, which built, in conjunction with New York State, a New York National Guard training site. George died in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida , on September 18, 1985, and his body

11570-609: The name of its wrestling promotion to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) after the company lost a lawsuit initiated by the World Wildlife Fund over the WWF trademark. Although mainly caused by an unfavorable ruling in its dispute with the World Wildlife Fund regarding the "WWF" initialism, the company noted it provided an opportunity to emphasize its focus on entertainment. In March 2002, WWE decided to create two separate rosters, with each group of wrestlers appearing on one of their main programs, Raw and SmackDown! , due to

11700-579: The newly formed NWA-Total Non-Stop Action (NWA-TNA) to use the championship on their weekly pay-per-view (PPV) shows. NWA-TNA held a four-team tournament, which included the former champions the Shane Twins, albeit working as the masked tag team "The Johnsons". The tournament was the focal point of NWA-TNA's third weekly PPV and saw America's Most Wanted (AMW) defeat the Johnsons in the first match, followed by The Rainbow Express ( Bruce and Lenny ) defeated

11830-519: The organization. McMahon also worked to get WWF programming on syndicated television all across the United States. This angered other promoters and disrupted the well-established boundaries of the different wrestling promotions, eventually ending the territory system, which was in use since the founding of the NWA in the 1940s. In addition, the company used income generated by advertising, television deals, and tape sales to secure talent from rival promoters. In an interview with Sports Illustrated , McMahon

11960-441: The other were available for wrestlers from any show to compete for; the "Supershow" format would mark the end of the brand split, as all programming and live events (until July 2016) featured the full WWE roster. In 2013, the company built the sports medicine and training facility WWE Performance Center in the east Orange County, Florida in partnership with Full Sail University from Winter Park, Florida . The training facility

12090-482: The overabundance of talent left over from the Invasion storyline and the ensuing absorption of WCW and ECW contracts. This was dubbed as the " brand extension ". Beginning in 2002 a draft lottery was held nearly every year to set the rosters, with the first draft to determine the inaugural split rosters, and subsequent drafts designed to refresh the rosters of each show. WWE expanded the brand split by relaunching ECW as

12220-563: The pandemic to have ticketed fans in attendance with a maximum of 25,000 spectators for each night with COVID-19 protocols in place. Also around this time, the WWE Network in the United States became exclusively distributed by Peacock on March 18, 2021 (ahead of Fastlane and WrestleMania 37). The merger of the WWE Network and Peacock did not affect the service outside of the United States. The move to Peacock received some criticisms from fans particularly due to Peacock's heavy censorship policy,

12350-482: The pandemic, including releasing a number of performers ( Karl Anderson , Kurt Angle , Aiden English , EC3 , Epico , Luke Gallows , Curt Hawkins , No Way Jose , Sarah Logan , Mike Kanellis , Maria Kanellis , Primo , Erick Rowan , Rusev , Lio Rush , Zack Ryder , Heath Slater , and Eric Young ), three producers ( Dave Finlay , Shane Helms and Lance Storm ), referee Mike Chioda , and multiple NXT/Performance Center trainees and staff. WWE executives also took

12480-516: The record for most cumulative days as champions, 35 days longer than the two reigns of the Dark City Fight Club which totaled 742 days. America's Most Wanted ( James Storm and Chris Harris ) are the record holders for most reigns as a team with six. Storm himself also holds the individual record for most reigns as champion with eight, having also won the titles while teaming with Christopher Daniels and Eli Drake ; his win with Drake broke

12610-587: The road, taking place at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. In January 2021, WWE moved WrestleMania 37 , which was originally to be held in Inglewood, California on March 28, to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida – WrestleMania 36's original location – as a two-night event on April 10 and 11, with fans in attendance, though to a limited capacity. This marked WWE's first event during

12740-462: The same day a pro- Donald Trump political action committee led by Linda McMahon , who was previously a part of Trump's cabinet, pledged to spend $ 18.5 million in advertising in Florida, and that, also on the same day, Vince McMahon was named part of an advisory group created by Trump to devise a strategy in re-launching the US economy. On April 15, WWE started a series of cuts and layoffs in response to

12870-540: The second round, and Lifeblood (Juice Robinson and David Finlay) in the finals to earn a spot in the Crockett Cup as well as a match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship.[11] On February 8, 2019, it was announced that ROH partner promotions Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) out of Mexico, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) from Japan would also be sending teams for the 2019 Crockett Cup.[12][10] WWE World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE )

13000-678: The semi-final. In the other semi-final match Gordy and Williams defeated the team of Nikita Koloff and Ricky Steamboat , followed by Gordy and Williams defeating Rhodes and Windham in the finals to become dual champions. While the NWA withdrew their recognition of the WCW controlled championship in August 1993 they did not establish new champions until almost two years later, holding a one-night, eight-team tournament on April 11, 1995, in Dallas, Texas. The tournament saw tag team veterans, and former four-time holders of

13130-458: The semi-finals. The team of Dallas and Kid Kash qualified for the finals with victories over the team of Simon Diamond and Sonny Siaki and then defeated The Disciples of the New Church ( Sinn and Slash). In the finals Dallas and Kash defeated Triple X to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship for the first time. In October 2018, during the NWA 70th Anniversary Show, it was announced that

13260-422: The spotlight. In January 1993, the WWF debuted its flagship cable program Monday Night Raw . WCW countered in September 1995 with its own Monday night program, Monday Nitro , which aired in the same time slot as Raw . The two programs would trade wins in the ensuing ratings competition (known as the " Monday Night War ") until mid-1996. At that point, Nitro began a nearly two-year ratings domination that

13390-434: The start of a 777 day long reign, the longest in the championships history, lasting until November 20, 2010, where The Skullcrushers were defeated by The Dark City Fight Club ( Jon Davis and Kory Chavis . In 2013 the NWA began working closely together with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), co-promoting shows and NJPW hosting several championship matches for both the heavyweight and tag team championships. On April 20, 2013,

13520-452: The team of Buff Bagwell and Gran Apolo . Between the first round and the finals it was announced that both Harris and Storm of America's Most Wanted were injured and unable to compete in the final match. NWA-TNA management then announced that A.J. Styles and Jerry Lynn would replace AMW in the last match of the tournament. Styles and Lynn went on to defeat The Rainbow Express to become the first NWA-TNA era NWA World Tag Team Champions During

13650-407: The term Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection , due to the cross-promotion of popular culture and professional wrestling. The WWF business expanded significantly on the shoulders of McMahon and his babyface hero Hulk Hogan for the next several years after defeating The Iron Sheik at Madison Square Garden on January 23, 1984. The introduction of Saturday Night's Main Event on NBC in 1985 marked

13780-748: The territory era when the Dusek Riot Squad ( Emil and Ernie ) were billed as the champions on a July 14, 1949, show in Long Beach. The following year the San Francisco territory followed suit and created their local version of the championship when Ray Eckert and Hard Boiled Haggerty defeated the team of Ron Etchison and Larry Moquin on April 4, 1950. A month later the Midwest Wrestling Association territory, covering Kansas , Missouri , Nebraska and Iowa , created their own version of

13910-466: The three business partners receiving roughly $ 815,000 among them and Vincent J. McMahon receiving roughly $ 185,000. Seeking to make the WWF the premier wrestling promotion in the country, and eventually, the world, he began an expansion process that fundamentally changed the wrestling business. At the annual meeting of the NWA in 1983, the McMahons and former Capitol employee Jim Barnett all withdrew from

14040-708: The title change. From January until April 1963, Rogers was promoted as the NWA World Champion, or simply the World Heavyweight Champion, in their area. The World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) was not an immediate creation after Rogers's one fall loss to Thesz. Mondt and McMahon both eventually left the NWA in protest and formed the WWWF in the process. They brought along with them Willie Gilzenberg , long time boxing and wrestling promoter in New Jersey. In April 1963,

14170-560: The top box office draws of the 1930s, and on April 5, 1937, defeated Al Perreira in Paris to capture the European version of the world title. In March 1942 he joined the US Navy . There he taught hand-to-hand combat to naval air cadets. In December 1945 he left the navy with the rank of Commander . During the late 1940s through the 1950s he promoted numerous wrestling matches in the United States. In

14300-592: The tournament took place on June 22, 1992, at WCW's Clash of the Champions XIX show, while the remaining tournament took place at the 1992 Great American Bash . In the period of time between the Clash and the Great American Bash the team of Terry Gordy and Steve Williams had won the WCW World Tag Team Championship from The Steiner Brothers , and when they won the tournament at the Great American Bash they became double champions, carrying two belts each for their matches. WCW had five championship changes happen for

14430-419: The two McMahons was a monthly payment basis, in which if a single payment was missed, ownership would revert to the elder McMahon and his business partners. Looking to seal the deal quickly, McMahon took several loans and deals with other promoters and the business partners (including the promise of a job for life) in order to take full ownership by May or June 1983 for an estimated total of roughly $ 1 million with

14560-460: The world tag team championship. The W(W)WF was a member of the NWA between 1972 and 1983, thus the WWF World Tag Team championship , although never referred to as such, was effectively another version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship during this period. In 1979 the San Francisco version of the championship was abandoned, while Hollywood Wrestling reintroduced the Los Angeles version of

14690-529: The wrestlers' entrances on a level similar to that of pay-per-view productions pre-pandemic. Nearly 1,000 LED boards were installed to allow for rows and rows of virtual fans. It was free of charge for fans to virtually attend the events, though they had to reserve their virtual seat ahead of time. During this time, Roman Reigns began his historic world title reign with the WWE Universal Championship , which would eventually surpass 1,000 days; being

14820-420: Was "essential", which meant that the company's revenues loss would be limited. In August 2020, WWE relocated from the Performance Center to Orlando's Amway Center for a long-term residency, broadcasting episodes of Raw , SmackDown , and pay-per-views through a virtual fan viewing experience called WWE ThunderDome . Inside the ThunderDome, drones, lasers, pyro, smoke, and projections were utilized to enhance

14950-457: Was an American amateur and professional wrestler , and wrestling promoter . A former Olympic freestyle wrestler , George competed in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics and turned pro shortly after. He was two-time AWA World Heavyweight Champion . George was born in North Java, New York . He wrestled for both St. Bonaventure University and for the University of Michigan . He also represented

15080-405: Was by now no longer the majority WWE stockholder, ended his ties with the company amid a sex trafficking scandal . Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s WWE's origins can be traced back as far as the 1950s when on January 7, 1953, the first show under the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was produced. There is uncertainty as to whom

15210-527: Was changed to World Wrestling Entertainment, LLC . WWE is the largest wrestling promotion in the world. Its main roster is divided into two touring brands , Raw and SmackDown . Its developmental brand , NXT , is based at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida . Overall, WWE programming is available in more than one billion homes worldwide in 30 languages. The company's global headquarters

15340-539: Was consolidated with the Massachusetts entity in February 1988. The WWF was hit with allegations of steroid abuse and distribution in 1992. This was followed by allegations of sexual harassment by WWF employees the following year. McMahon was eventually exonerated, but the allegations brought bad public relations for the WWF, and an overall bad reputation. The steroid trial cost the company an estimated $ 5 million at

15470-559: Was founded in 1953 as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), a Northeastern territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Following a dispute, CWC left the NWA and became the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in April 1963. After rejoining the NWA in 1971, the WWWF was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979 before the promotion left the NWA for good in 1983. In 2002, following

15600-466: Was in Minneapolis, where the Kalmikoffs (Ivan and Karol) won a tournament to become champions. The second new championship was also the second Texas-based championship as the eastern Texas-based Houston-Dallas territory introduced Verne Gagne and Wilbur Snyder as their local champions . The third championship introduced in 1957 was used by Nick Gulas ' NWA Mid-America promotion when Gulas introduced

15730-445: Was in an Ohio hospital during the time the alleged tournament took place. Rogers lost the championship to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17, with the promotion beginning to be built around Sammartino shortly after. In June 1963, Gilzenberg was named the first president of the WWWF. Mondt left the promotion in the late 1960s and although the WWWF had previously withdrawn from the NWA, McMahon quietly re-joined in 1971. The WWWF

15860-459: Was introduced around 1955–1956 in the Idaho-Utah territory based out of Salt Lake City. The Indianapolis territory soon introduced another local version by recognizing the lineage of the Chicago version, before splitting it off into a separate entity in 1957 when Nicoli and Boris Volkoff won the championship. Three additional versions of the championship were introduced in 1957, the first of which

15990-568: Was largely fueled by the introduction of the New World Order (nWo), a stable led by former WWF performers Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall (the former Razor Ramon), and Kevin Nash (the former Diesel). As the Monday Night War continued between Raw Is War and WCW's Nitro , the WWF would transform itself from a family-friendly product into a more adult-oriented product, known as the Attitude Era . The era

16120-562: Was moved to Tuesday nights, having conceded the Wednesday Night Wars to rival promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and in September of that year was reinstated to its original function as the developmental brand for the main roster (Raw and SmackDown), under the name "NXT 2.0". In March 2020, WWE began to be impacted by the American onset of the COVID-19 pandemic . In mid-March, three of

16250-503: Was publicly acknowledged by WWE's then-owner Vince McMahon in 1989 in order to avoid taxes from athletic commissions. WWE markets its product as sports entertainment , acknowledging professional wrestling's roots in competitive sport and dramatic theater. In 2023, WWE began to explore a potential sale of the company, amidst an employee misconduct scandal involving McMahon that had prompted him to step down as chairman and CEO, although he returned as executive chairman. In April 2023, WWE made

16380-652: Was put into effect with the relaunch of Tough Enough , being a non-scripted program (contrary to the scripted nature of professional wrestling) and with the launch of the WWE Network (at the time scheduled to launch in 2012; later pushed back to 2014). However, the legal name of the company still remains as World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Beginning with the August 29, 2011, episode, Raw - referred to as Raw Supershow - featured talent from both Raw and SmackDown (the "Supershow" epithet would be dropped on July 23, 2012). Championships previously exclusive to one show or

16510-637: Was quoted as saying: "In the old days, there were wrestling fiefdoms all over the country, each with its own little lord in charge. Each little lord respected the rights of his neighboring little lord. No takeovers or raids were allowed. There were maybe 30 of these tiny kingdoms in the U.S. and if I hadn't bought out my dad, there would still be 30 of them, fragmented and struggling. I, of course, had no allegiance to those little lords." McMahon gained significant traction when he hired American Wrestling Association (AWA) talent Hulk Hogan , who had achieved popularity outside of wrestling, notably for his appearance in

16640-618: Was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979. Vincent J. McMahon's son, Vincent K. McMahon , and his wife Linda , established Titan Sports, Inc., in 1980 in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts and applied trademarks for the initials "WWF". The company was incorporated on February 21, 1980, in the Cape Cod Coliseum offices, then moved to the building on Holly Hill Lane in Greenwich, Connecticut . The younger McMahon bought Capitol from his father in 1982, effectively seizing control of

16770-463: Was scheduled to team with Abyss to wrestle then-champions The Red-Shirt Security ( Kevin Northcutt and Joe Legend ) for the belts. The two were storyline rivals that were forced to team up. On the night the storyline was that Abyss did not show up for the match, but Styels managed to defeat Northcutt and Legend to win the championship. Three weeks later Abyss defeated A.J. Styles to gain full control of

16900-485: Was spearheaded by WWF VP Shane McMahon (son of owner Vince McMahon) and head writer Vince Russo . 1997 ended with McMahon facing real-life controversy following Bret Hart 's controversial departure from the company, dubbed as the Montreal Screwjob . This proved to be one of several founding factors in the launch of the Attitude Era as well as the creation of McMahon's on-screen character, " Mr. McMahon ". Before

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