Mid 20th Century
111-515: Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling event, produced annually since 1988 by WWE , the world's largest professional wrestling promotion . It is named after the Royal Rumble match , a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. After the inaugural 1988 event aired as a television special on the USA Network ,
222-485: A Playmaker , but Flair countered the attempt into the figure-four leglock, to which MVP eventually tapped out . Hence, Flair won and kept his career alive. The second match was between John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) and Chris Jericho . The match began with Jericho trapping Layfield in the Walls of Jericho . JBL got to the ropes, however, and slid out of the ring with Jericho quickly following him. JBL strangled Jericho with
333-486: A Twist of Fate to Orton. Later in the night, during Hardy's match with Santino Marella , Orton appeared on the Raw TitanTron and stated that he had kicked Jeff's brother Matt where his appendix used to be, proceeding further to punt him in the head. The following week on a special "Raw Roulette" edition of Raw , Hardy retained his Intercontinental Championship against Umaga in a Steel Cage match after performing
444-631: A Twist of Fate , Orton suddenly reversed it into an RKO and pinned Hardy to retain his WWE title. The main event was the annual Royal Rumble match for a world championship match at WrestleMania XXIV ; for the match, WWE was able to get Michael Buffer as a special guest ring announcer. The match began with The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels , who were the final two superstars in the previous year's Royal Rumble match. Undertaker and Michaels would both last over thirty minutes until Michaels eliminated Undertaker, only to be eliminated himself by Mr. Kennedy . Batista entered at number eight and would last
555-519: A Whisper in the Wind from the top of the cage. On the January 14, 2008 edition of Raw , Hardy agreed to face Orton that night with his Intercontinental Championship on the line. However, as soon as the bell rang for the match, Orton immediately low-blowed Hardy, getting himself disqualified . Orton tried to deliver an RKO to Hardy on the concrete floor outside, but Hardy retaliated and the two began to brawl up
666-435: 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
777-458: A handicap match against Snitsky and JBL, which ended with JBL hitting Jericho in the head with the ring bell, resulting in a disqualification. He then tied a cable wire around Jericho's neck and dragged Jericho, by the wire, from near the ring to the Raw set, where he assaulted him some more. Jericho suffered from a bruised larynx, burns around his neck, and had difficulty speaking for a week. Before
888-415: 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
999-415: 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
1110-413: 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
1221-520: 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
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#17328443927411332-513: 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
1443-574: 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
1554-426: A countout victory, Hardy brought the knocked-out Orton into the ring. Later, Orton took advantage in the match, as he applied a body scissors on Hardy, followed by a choke-hold. Some of the other main highlights of the match were Hardy performing a Whisper in the Wind on Orton; and, later executing a moonsault from the top-rope to Orton outside the ring. When Hardy brought Orton back in the ring and tried to deliver
1665-515: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Royal Rumble (2008) The 2008 Royal Rumble was the 21st annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It
1776-404: 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
1887-410: 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
1998-405: 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
2109-704: 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
2220-424: 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
2331-440: 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
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#17328443927412442-657: A partnership with the Indiana Sports Corp which would see the 2025 Royal Rumble , as well as a future WrestleMania and a future SummerSlam, held at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana . The date for the 2025 Royal Rumble was announced for February 1, thus marking the first Royal Rumble held outside of January. Due to the Rumble matches taking up a large amount of time (most Rumble matches last roughly one hour),
2553-520: A place in the Rumble. Snitsky also defeated Drew McIntyre at a house show in White Plains, New York to also qualify for the Royal Rumble. Triple H was disqualified against Ric Flair after interference from Raw general manager William Regal ; therefore he was no longer allowed to compete in the Royal Rumble match, per the orders of Regal. After Triple H destroyed part of the lower TitanTron on
2664-635: A torn pectoral muscle , won the match by last eliminating Raw's Triple H , the 29th entrant. The primary match on the Raw brand was Randy Orton versus Jeff Hardy for the WWE Championship, which Orton won to retain the title. The primary match on the SmackDown brand was Edge versus Rey Mysterio for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Edge won to retain the title. The featured matches on
2775-444: 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
2886-575: 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
2997-493: A wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's television shows, Raw , SmackDown , and ECW on Sci Fi . Prior to the annual Royal Rumble match, several qualifying matches for the match took place on Raw . The first qualifying match was on the December 31, 2007, episode as Umaga squashed Jim Duggan to earn
3108-436: 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 is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which
3219-410: 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
3330-406: Is generally held as the main event of the annual event. There are some exceptions, such as the 1988, 1996 , 1997 , 1998 , 2006 , 2013 , and 2023 events. In 1988, the main event was a tag team match , while for all the others, it was a men's world championship match. While originally only for men, a women's version of the Royal Rumble match was held as the main event at the 2018 event , which
3441-427: 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
Royal Rumble - Misplaced Pages Continue
3552-470: 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 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
3663-589: The 1993 event , the prize for winning is a world championship match at WrestleMania, with the exception of the 2016 event , where the prize was the WWE Championship (at the time known as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship) as reigning champion Roman Reigns defended the title in the match. According to Hornswoggle , who worked for WWE from 2006 until 2016 and participated in two Rumbles, participants may learn their eliminations by knowing
3774-422: The 2008 WWE Draft , the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship switched brands. ^ Hornswoggle spent most of the match under the ring before being forced into the ring by Mark Henry, who would then team up with Big Daddy V to assault him. Finlay, who was supposed to be the next scheduled entrant, came out early and attacked them both with his shillelagh and was immediately disqualified. He left
3885-609: 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
3996-401: The WWE Championship . In the match, Cena won after Orton intentionally got himself disqualified . As a result, Orton retained the title. At No Way Out, Triple H won Raw's Elimination Chamber match by last pinning Jeff Hardy after a Pedigree on a steel chair , earning the right to face Randy Orton for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XXIV. At WrestleMania XXIV, Randy Orton retained
4107-540: The Walls of Jericho , when JBL stormed into the ring and kicked Jericho in the head, thus giving the win to Jericho via disqualification, and hence, Jericho did not win the WWE Championship. This led to an argument the next night on Raw , where Jericho ended up stating to JBL, who appeared via satellite from the Raw TitanTron, that he was no longer a "wrestling god", but a "wrestling afterthought". Afterward, JBL gave his farewell address as SmackDown! color commentator on
4218-438: The figure-four leglock on MVP, but MVP turned it into a small package for a two count. MVP executed a running big boot on Flair in the corner and went for a pin, but Flair managed to get his foot on the rope when the referee Charles Robinson counted to three. After the three count, the referee did not call for the bell as he had noticed Flair's leg on the bottom-rope and restarted the match. The match ended when MVP attempted
4329-404: The first Royal Rumble event took place on January 24, 1988, and was broadcast live as a television special on the USA Network . The following year, the event started to be broadcast on pay-per-view (PPV), and thus became one of the "Big Four" annual PPVs, along with WrestleMania , Survivor Series , and SummerSlam , the promotion's then-four biggest shows of the year. From 1993 to 2002, it
4440-543: 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
4551-431: 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
Royal Rumble - Misplaced Pages Continue
4662-435: The undercard were Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) versus Ric Flair in a Career Threatening match and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) versus Chris Jericho . The Royal Rumble is an annual gimmick pay-per-view (PPV) produced every January by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania , SummerSlam , and Survivor Series , dubbed
4773-485: The "Big Four". It is named after the Royal Rumble match , a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. The 2008 event was the 21st event in the Royal Rumble chronology and was scheduled to be held on January 27, 2008, at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York . It featured wrestlers from the Raw , SmackDown , and ECW brands . It
4884-577: 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
4995-400: 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
5106-506: 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
5217-492: The 2008 event, the winner received their choice to challenge for either Raw's WWE Championship , SmackDown's World Heavyweight Championship , or the ECW Championship at WrestleMania XXIV . Five professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's supercard . The main event was the 2008 Royal Rumble match, which featured wrestlers from all three brands. Raw's John Cena , the surprise 30th entrant returning from
5328-641: 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
5439-405: The December 21, 2007 airing of SmackDown! and announced his return as an active wrestler on Raw . JBL made his return to Raw on December 31, entering in his personal limousine with balloons and confetti shooting from the ceiling, and proceeded to address the crowd, Jericho quickly interrupted his promo and the two brawled until officials separated them. The following week, Jericho was put into
5550-484: The January 14 episode, however, Vince McMahon announced he would allow Triple H a second chance at the Royal Rumble if he could defeat his opponent on the January 21 episode. Triple H defeated Snitsky , Mark Henry , and Regal in a gauntlet match to gain entry. The main feud on the Raw brand was between the Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton , with the two feuding over
5661-408: 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
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#17328443927415772-477: 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
5883-711: The Royal Rumble began to air on WWE's online streaming service, the WWE Network , which launched in February 2014, and in 2022, the event became available on Peacock as the American version of the WWE Network merged under Peacock in March 2021. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that began affecting the industry in March 2020, WWE had to hold its events behind closed doors . The 2021 event
5994-456: The Royal Rumble has been broadcast via pay-per-view since the 1989 event and livestreaming since the 2015 event . From 1988 until 2024, it was held in late January, but will be held in early February in 2025. It is one of WWE's five biggest events of the year, along with WrestleMania , SummerSlam , Survivor Series , and Money in the Bank , referred to as the "Big Five". The Royal Rumble match
6105-420: The Rumble event tends to have a smaller card than most other pay-per-view events, which routinely have six to eight matches per card though with the Royal Rumble expanding to a five-hour show as well as a two-hour kickoff pre-show starting in 2018, the card then mainly featured anywhere from nine to twelve matches with two or three of those matches taking place on the kickoff show. In 2022, however, WWE phased out
6216-528: The WWE Championship against Triple H and John Cena in a triple threat match. Rey Mysterio received a rematch against Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship at No Way Out. Edge defeated Mysterio, who had suffered a biceps injury prior to the match. The Undertaker also won SmackDown 's Elimination Chamber by pinning Batista last after a Tombstone Piledriver and earned the right to face Edge at WrestleMania XXIV. The Undertaker won
6327-440: The WWE Championship, which was held by Orton. Orton retained the title at Armageddon against the returning Chris Jericho after being disqualified , when the then- SmackDown! broadcaster John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) interfered and kicked Jericho in the head. Orton retained the championship, as a result, due to titles not changing hands on disqualifications. On the same night earlier, Jeff Hardy had defeated Triple H to earn
6438-523: The World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble. The rivalry between Chris Jericho and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) started in Jericho's WWE Championship match against Randy Orton at Armageddon. During the match, Orton whipped Jericho over the SmackDown! announce table straight into JBL and when Jericho tried to get up, he "nudged" JBL out of his way. Later in the match, Jericho had Orton trapped in
6549-570: The World Heavyweight title from Edge at WrestleMania XXIV via Submission using the Hell's Gate. The Ric Flair retirement storyline continued as Flair defeated Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) that same week on SmackDown in a rematch, which he won by disqualification. He then faced Mr. Kennedy at No Way Out, defeating Kennedy to further extend his wrestling career. At WrestleMania XXIV, Flair lost to Shawn Michaels , ending Flair's career. During
6660-401: 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
6771-418: 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
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#17328443927416882-550: 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
6993-424: 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
7104-418: 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
7215-423: 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
7326-508: 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
7437-602: The crowd before re-entering the ring to confront Orton. A frustrated Orton ordered Hardy to shake hands with him, but Hardy performed a Twist of Fate on the WWE Champion instead. The main feud on the SmackDown brand was between Rey Mysterio and Edge with the two feuding over the latter's World Heavyweight Championship . Mysterio won a Beat the Clock Challenge on the January 4, 2008 edition of SmackDown! defeating Edge with 90 seconds to go, and securing an opportunity for
7548-540: 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
7659-405: 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
7770-539: The event went live on pay-per-view, Shannon Moore and Jimmy Wang Yang defeated Deuce 'n Domino in a dark match . The first match that aired was a non-title "Career Threatening" match between the WWE United States Champion Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) and Ric Flair , in which had Flair lost, he would have had to retire from wrestling. At the start of the match, Flair started out working on MVP's left arm. Flair attempted to get
7881-597: 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
7992-409: The fact that he had lost the match and started to strangle JBL with some wires by the ring, in the same process JBL did to Jericho on Raw . The third match was for the World Heavyweight Championship with champion, Edge taking on Rey Mysterio . During the match, Vickie Guerrero stood up from her wheelchair, attempting to comfort Edge. Mysterio had Edge set up for the 619 , and Vickie jumped in
8103-466: The final three came down to Batista, Triple H and Cena. The three would go back and forth trying to eliminate each other until Cena reversed a Batista Bomb attempt which allowed Triple H to eliminate Batista. Triple H and Cena were left as the final two and they traded moves for almost five minutes. The end came when Triple H attempted a Pedigree on Cena, but Cena reversed it and lifted Triple H up for an Attitude Adjustment, which he used to send Triple H over
8214-470: 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
8325-610: 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
8436-455: 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
8547-513: 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
8658-471: 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
8769-487: 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
8880-449: The longest in the match at almost forty minutes. Hall of Famers Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper were both surprise entrants during the match, but both were eliminated by Kane . Hornswoggle , the ninth entrant, stayed hidden under the ring throughout most of the match (emerging once to help eliminate The Miz , the sixteenth entrant), however he was soon grabbed by Mark Henry and Big Daddy V , prompting Finlay to come out early and attack
8991-498: 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
9102-402: The opportunity to face Orton at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Championship. The following night, on the December 17, 2007, episode of Raw , Hardy teamed up with Shawn Michaels to defeat Orton and Mr. Kennedy after Hardy pinned Orton. Two weeks later on the last Raw of 2007, Hardy and Orton had a face-to-face confrontation. Orton looked set to RKO Hardy, but Hardy countered and delivered
9213-437: 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
9324-460: The pre-shows with the Rumble returning to around six matches on the card and a runtime of around three to four hours. The men's Royal Rumble match is usually located at the top of the card, though there have been exceptions, such as the 1988, 1996 , 1997 , 1998 , 2006 , 2013 , 2018 , and 2023 events. In these cases, 1988's main event was a tag team match, while the others were men's world championship matches, except in 2018. The 2018 Royal Rumble
9435-403: The promotion ceased using its full name with the "WWE" abbreviation becoming an orphaned initialism . Also in March 2002, the promotion introduced the brand extension , in which the roster was divided between the Raw and SmackDown brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform on their respective weekly television shows— ECW became a third brand in 2006. The first brand extension
9546-714: 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
9657-559: The ramp. When Orton looked set to kick Hardy in the head, the Intercontinental Champion countered and back-dropped Orton onto the arena floor below. Hardy then climbed 30-feet above on the Raw set, and then Swanton Bombed off the side of the set onto Orton below. The following week on Raw , Hardy and Orton were scheduled to "shake hands", but Hardy instead shook the hands of "people he respected more than Orton", like Lilian Garcia , Jerry Lawler , Jim Ross , and several fans in
9768-538: The ring ropes and later, plunged him onto the ropes. Jericho recovered and clotheslined JBL out of the ring. When they got in again, JBL threw Jericho into the ring post, as a result of which, Jericho was busted open. JBL tried to take advantage of this situation, but Jericho still fought back. The fight went outside the ring, where JBL began clearing the ECW announce table. Jericho grabbed a steel chair and hit JBL with it. The referee immediately disqualified Jericho, who ignored
9879-440: 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
9990-426: 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,
10101-488: The top rope to eliminate him and win the match, earning the WrestleMania title shot. With this victory, Cena broke the record for spending the least amount of time in the rumble match before winning it, beating Brock Lesnar 's 8:59 time by 31 seconds. The next night on Raw , John Cena said that he did not want to wait until WrestleMania XXIV to face Randy Orton . The two agreed to face each other at No Way Out for
10212-411: The top rope, with both feet touching the floor. The difference between a Royal Rumble and a standard battle royal is that in a standard battle royal, all participants start the match in the ring at the same time, where in a Royal Rumble match, two participants start and then the rest enter at timed intervals. The winner of the match is the last wrestler remaining after all others have been eliminated. Since
10323-505: 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
10434-471: 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
10545-421: The two with his shillelagh. Finlay was disqualified for failing to wait for his entry number to be called and he left with Hornswoggle, who never returned. Triple H came out at number twenty-nine and scored the most eliminations with six. Afterwards, John Cena entered as the surprise thirtieth entrant, returning from a torn pectoral muscle injury months before his scheduled return. The ring soon cleared out and
10656-520: The two wrestlers who are eliminated before them and which wrestlers are entering the Royal Rumble before and after their elimination. In March 2007, WWE released a complete DVD box set titled Royal Rumble: The Complete Anthology , which showcases every Royal Rumble event in its entirety, up to the 2007 Royal Rumble. Professional wrestling 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling )
10767-535: 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
10878-402: The way, risking herself. Edge then recovered, and speared Mysterio in mid-air for the pinfall. The fourth match was between the Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton for Orton's WWE Championship . Early in the match, Hardy performed a baseball slide on Orton who hit head-first into the barricade outside due to the impact. Knowing he couldn't win the WWE Championship via
10989-420: 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
11100-425: 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
11211-657: Was also the first WWE pay-per-view broadcast in high definition . The Royal Rumble match generally features 30 wrestlers. Traditionally, the winner of the match earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For 2008, the winner could choose to challenge for either Raw's WWE Championship , SmackDown's World Heavyweight Championship , or the ECW Championship at WrestleMania XXIV . The event comprised six matches, including one dark match , that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes , villains , or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in
11322-528: Was also the first event to have two Rumble matches on one card. It subsequently became standard to have both a men's and women's Royal Rumble match at the annual event. The Royal Rumble match was created by wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson and the event was established by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). After the match was first tested at a house show in October 1987,
11433-488: 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
11544-513: Was considered one of the "Big Five", including King of the Ring , but that PPV event was discontinued after 2002 (although it to returned to PPV in 2024 ). In August 2021, Money in the Bank became recognized as one of the "Big Five". In May 2002, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) following a lawsuit with the World Wildlife Fund over the "WWF" initialism. In April 2011,
11655-540: Was dissolved in August 2011, but it was reintroduced in July 2016 (other brands, including NXT , NXT UK , and 205 Live , would also be active during this second brand split). The Royal Rumble, along with the other original "Big Four" events, were the only PPVs to never be held exclusively for one brand during either brand split periods. The 2008 Royal Rumble was the first WWE pay-per-view to be available in high-definition . In 2015,
11766-401: Was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw , SmackDown , and ECW brand divisions . The event took place on January 27, 2008, at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York . The event was also the first WWE pay-per-view broadcast in high definition . As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania . For
11877-574: Was in turn held in WWE's bio-secure bubble called the WWE ThunderDome , which at the time was hosted at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida . WWE resumed live touring in July 2021 and the 2022 event was held at The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis , Missouri . From its inception in 1988 up through the 2024 event , the Royal Rumble was held annually in late January. On June 24, 2024, WWE announced
11988-568: 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
12099-415: 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
12210-417: 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
12321-439: Was the first to include a women's Royal Rumble match, which was the main event for that year. It was subsequently the first in which two Rumble matches were contested on one card and it is now standard for the event to include both a men's and women's Rumble match. The Royal Rumble match is based on the classic battle royal , in which a number of wrestlers (traditionally 30) aim at eliminating their competitors by tossing them over
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