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115-402: WWE Home Video was a video distribution and production company that distributed WWE programming. A division of WWE formed on April 16, 1997, as WWF Home Video , it replaced a similar independent company owned by Evart Enterprises, Coliseum Video which operated between 1985 and 1997. World Wrestling Federation initially began releasing home videos of its content through Coliseum Video under

230-891: A Flintstones crossover and a sequel to the Scooby-Doo crossover. Additionally, despite remaining top-sellers, WWE Home Video releases had been in a decline in recent years due to streaming media services such as WWE's own WWE Network . The WWF began releasing home video products in the United Kingdom in July 1990 through an exclusive partnership with Silver Vision , a division of home video distributor Clear Vision. Their releases were initially distributed by The Video Collection before Silver Vision began releasing products independently. Silver Vision began releasing WWE releases in other European territories such as Germany (previously released through PolyGram Video ). One popular line from Silver Vision

345-607: A frankensteiner on Ziggler. Dolph was very close to victory after raising his knees when Jericho tried for the Lionsault and then executed the Zig Zag for a near-fall. Jericho executed a Codebreaker , but the momentum from the move knocked him out of the ring. Jericho made Ziggler submit to the Walls of Jericho to win the match. The second match in the pay-per-view was between Daniel Bryan and Kane. Kane went crazy after Bryan slapped him in

460-578: A bottle of water at the Prime Time Players' manager Abraham Washington , starting a feud between the two teams. On the July 16 episode of Raw , Kingston and Truth successfully defended the WWE Tag Team Championship against the Prime Time Players. On the August 10 episode of SmackDown , The Prime Time Players defeated Primo & Epico by disqualification after Kingston and Truth, who were at

575-671: A brawl between Lesnar and Triple H resulting in the latter having his arm broken by Lesnar via the Kimura armbar . Triple H returned at No Way Out , not only addressing Lesnar and the lawsuits brought against WWE, but also challenging him to a match at SummerSlam, in exchange for his dropping the lawsuits that his legal representative, Paul Heyman , made against WWE and Triple H. On the June 18 episode of Raw , Heyman made an appearance, rejecting Triple H's challenge on behalf of Lesnar. After further goading from Heyman, Triple H attacked him. Meanwhile, it

690-551: A championship opportunity in the future. That opportunity was not granted until Over the Limit , where Sheamus retained against Del Rio, Chris Jericho and Randy Orton . During the following weeks, the two continued their feud, which directed to a match at No Way Out, in which Dolph Ziggler replaced Del Rio (due to Del Rio suffering an injury on the June 6 episode of SmackDown ), where Sheamus again retained. When Del Rio returned, they immediately resumed their feud, facing again at Money in

805-417: 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

920-582: 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

1035-480: A kimura lock to break his arm on the August 13 episode. In another match, CM Punk defended the WWE Championship against John Cena and Big Show in a triple threat match . In recent weeks, Punk claimed that even though he was WWE Champion, he often felt as if he was pushed to the background in favor of stars like Cena and The Rock. At Raw 1000 , The Rock declared he would be getting a WWE Championship shot at

1150-469: A match at WrestleMania 29 . Paul Heyman accepted the challenge and declare the match to be a No Holds Barred match, with the added stipulation that if Triple H lost, he would have to retire. On the April 1 episode of Raw , Shawn Michaels returned and announced that he would be in the corner of Triple H at WrestleMania. At WrestleMania, Triple H defeated Lesnar after hitting him with his signature Sledgehammer and

1265-683: A mental institution after they were legally married) and was attacked by Kane (who claimed he was Bryan's "anger management therapist"). On the August 6 episode of Raw , AJ booked Bryan to wrestle Kane at SummerSlam. Another match on the card was between Dolph Ziggler and Chris Jericho . At Money in the Bank Ziggler won the Money in the Bank ladder match for the World Heavyweight Championship contract, while Jericho failed to win his Money in

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1380-596: 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

1495-578: 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

1610-401: 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

1725-706: 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

1840-496: 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

1955-402: A shot at the WWE Championship at SummerSlam. After Punk's interference led to a no contest, new Raw General Manager AJ Lee announced that Punk would defend the title against both Cena and Big Show in a triple threat match at SummerSlam. Daniel Bryan had proposed marriage to AJ on July 16 episode of Raw , which she accepted and agreed to have the wedding as part of Raw 1000 . However, during

2070-473: 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

2185-453: 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

2300-614: A tournament finals to crown a new WWE Champion. During a house show , Mysterio faced Miz again, but during the match, Mysterio was injured, forcing him to undergo surgery and remain inactive, which was blamed on storyline to an attack by Alberto Del Rio . Ten months later, on the July 16 episode of "Raw", Mysterio made his return attacking Del Rio with a 619 . Meanwhile, in Raw 1000 , The Miz defeated Christian to win his first Intercontinental Championship . After his return, Mysterio declared his intention to become Intercontinental Champion. During

2415-506: 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

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2530-532: 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

2645-622: Is additionally involved in licensing its intellectual property to other companies to produce video games and action figures . The promotion 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

2760-927: 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 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

2875-527: 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

2990-422: The 2013 Royal Rumble PPV . That same night, Cena cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to challenge Punk for the title. After Big Show's interference led to a disqualification, The Rock rushed the ring to help fend off Big Show. Punk would then attack Rock, hitting him with a GTS and turning heel for the first time since 2011. The following week, Cena and Big Show would fight in a number one contender's match for

3105-681: 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

3220-467: 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

3335-486: The "WWF Official Video" label. The company was initially founded in 1985 by Evart Enterprises and released VHS and Betamax cassettes that generally fell into several categories: Coliseum Video released videos of the two World Bodybuilding Federation events and two non-Titan videos: the music video for the New York Giants ' "We're The New York Giants" and a Wayne Gretzky instructional video , Hockey My Way . At

3450-521: The 2002 editions of Backlash and Insurrextion also featured the WWE digital on-screen graphics inserted on top on the old WWF one). Some of the videos/DVDs in question were just renamed with the WWE logo. In 2012, WWE and the World Wide Fund came to an agreement which allowed WWE to use the Scratch logo in past photos and videos, thus ending the blurring on 'Attitude Era' PPVs and shows; in return,

3565-423: The August 10 episode of SmackDown , Mysterio defeated The Miz in a non-title match. Therefore, Mysterio received a title match against Miz at SummerSlam. At Money in the Bank, after The Prime Time Players ( Darren Young and Titus O'Neil ) were defeated by Primo & Epico , The Prime Time Players confronted WWE Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston and R-Truth and tried to attack them, to which R-Truth threw

WWE Home Video - Misplaced Pages Continue

3680-498: The August 27 episode of Raw , AJ announced that Punk would defend the title against Cena at Night of Champions , continuing their feud. Punk lost the WWE Championship at the 2013 Royal Rumble against The Rock. Daniel Bryan and Kane continued their rivalry after the match, leading to the formation of Team Hell No . They would end up working together and getting along, including winning the WWE Tag Team Championship at Night of Champions . Lastly, Brock Lesnar announced on Tout during

3795-455: The August 6 episode of Raw , leading to Booker T , the newly appointed General Manager of SmackDown , to cancel the match between Del Rio and Sheamus for the title, angering Del Rio. However, the following week on SmackDown , after Del Rio defeated Chris Jericho, Sheamus asked for the match to be reinstated, which was accepted by Booker T. On the August 13 episode of Raw , it was announced that Jersey Shore personality Pauly D would be

3910-493: The Bank ladder match for the WWE Championship contract. The next night on Raw , Jericho interrupted Ziggler's victory speech. Ziggler then put Jericho's recent performances under question, claiming that Jericho "can't win the big ones anymore" and "lost his touch". Jericho responded by nailing Ziggler with a Codebreaker. On Raw 1000 during a six-man tag team match, Ziggler hit his tag-team partner Jericho, causing him to lose

4025-445: The Bank, where Sheamus again defeated Del Rio. However, Del Rio demanded one more match, which he got after defeating Kane, Rey Mysterio and Daniel Bryan on the July 27 episode of SmackDown , setting up a match between Del Rio and Sheamus at SummerSlam. On the August 10 episode of SmackDown , Del Rio attacked Sheamus with the help of fake policemen that Del Rio himself hired, in revenge for Sheamus stealing his car earlier that week on

4140-481: 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

4255-484: The Kimura lock again and the fallen Triple H could do nothing but submit. Following the match, Triple H seemed to be completely beat, and the announcers wondered whether he was going to retire. The following night on Raw , Dolph Ziggler challenged Chris Jericho to a rematch, to which the general manager AJ Lee made official, with the added stipulation that Ziggler's Money in the Bank contract and Jericho's WWE contract were on

4370-506: 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

4485-603: 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 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,

4600-731: 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

4715-481: 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

WWE Home Video - Misplaced Pages Continue

4830-611: 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

4945-505: The Summer", it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania , SummerSlam , and Survivor Series , referred to as the "Big Four". It has since become considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania. The 2012 event was the 25th SummerSlam and was scheduled to be held on August 19, 2012, at Staples Center in Los Angeles , California for

5060-595: The UK became WWE fans through video and DVD. The history of home video has been intrinsic to the WWE UK fanbase. Hang onto those tapes and discs. They represent true passion and loyalty — not to mention WWE history. Happy New Year to you" all. With the expansion of the WWE Video Library , content has also been released from the vast library archives, including classic WWF, AWA , WCW , ECW , WCCW , and NWA content. Content

5175-491: 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

5290-452: The WWE is not permitted to use any WWF logos in new, original footage. On November 19, 2014, WWE entered into a distribution partnership with Warner Home Video for North America. The deal also saw DVD releases coming from the defunct World Championship Wrestling (WCW), which was previously owned by Time Warner and sold to WWE in 2001. The deal came as a result of the success the two had with Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery , as well as

5405-492: 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

5520-435: The World Wrestling Federation's "Attitude Era" (1998–2002), however, had to be edited due to the lawsuit that caused the WWF to become WWE . All WWF "scratch" logos and references to the initials WWF had to be blurred or edited out. However, the words "World Wrestling Federation" were not edited, and the old WWF logo was not blurred. Some of the early WWE home video releases were also not edited (such as The Rock Just Bring It ;

5635-664: 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

5750-636: 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

5865-579: The back. Following the match, Kane was shown tearing apart the backstage area while searching for Bryan. Next was the Intercontinental Championship match between the champion The Miz and challenger Rey Mysterio. During the match, Mysterio was able to execute the 619 but missed when he tried Droppin' Da Dime on The Miz. A few moments later, Miz executed the Skull Crushing Finale to get the win. The World Heavyweight Championship

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5980-461: The beginning of 1997, the WWF decided to part ways with Coliseum and release content in-house. Following the contract expiration, Coliseum ceased operations. On February 5, 2018, WWE released over 38 Coliseum Video releases on the WWE Network , branded as "WWE Home Video Classics". After ending the deal with Coliseum, the WWF began releasing home video releases in-house through WWF Home Video, which

6095-414: The card saw Triple H facing off against Brock Lesnar . On the April 30 episode of Raw , Lesnar attempted to renegotiate his contract with General Manager John Laurinaitis . Triple H (in his corporate role as Chief Operations Officer ) intervened, and declared that the contract Lesnar had agreed to upon re-signing with WWE was still valid and thus Lesnar could not add any other clauses to it. This led to

6210-495: The ceremony, AJ rejected Bryan, and it was announced that she was named as the new GM of Raw by Vince McMahon , which led Bryan to get angry and destroy the wedding decorations in the ring. He was later confronted and insulted by CM Punk, The Rock, and even guest star Charlie Sheen . After a loss to Sheamus in a street fight on July 30 episode of Raw , Bryan underwent a psychological exam (under orders from AJ as retaliation for finding out that Bryan planned on having her committed to

6325-416: The commentators table, attacked Washington, earning a WWE Tag Team Championship match against reigning champions Kingston and Truth at the pay-per-view. Since April, World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus entered a feud with Alberto Del Rio around the championship after Del Rio defeated Sheamus by disqualification on the April 6 episode of SmackDown , after Del Rio faked being hit with a steel chair, winning

6440-460: 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. SummerSlam (2012) Eight matches were contested at

6555-523: 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

6670-523: The company's majority owner was its executive chairman, third-generation wrestling promoter Vince McMahon , who retained a 38.6% ownership of 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.,

6785-446: 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

6900-582: 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

7015-574: The event, including one on the pre-show. In the main event,  Brock Lesnar defeated  Triple H  by submission. In other marquee matches,  The Miz  retained the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Rey Mysterio , Daniel Bryan defeated Kane , and CM Punk  retained the  WWE Championship  against Big Show and John Cena . SummerSlam is an annual pay-per-view (PPV) produced every August by WWE since 1988. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of

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7130-561: 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

7245-546: The face. Kane's anger opened things up for Bryan, but he was unable to apply the No Lock . Bryan attempted a diving headbutt , but Kane grabbed him by the throat when he landed and then performed the chokeslam . Kane was still angry about the slap and decided to give him the Tombstone Piledriver instead of going for the win. Bryan was able to reverse the move into a small package on Kane to win before immediately fleeing to

7360-428: 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

7475-544: 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

7590-497: 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

7705-405: 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

7820-477: The fourth consecutive year. It was the first SummerSlam held since the end of the first brand split in August 2011, right after the previous year's event . The event comprised eight matches, including one on the pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Raw and SmackDown . The most highly promoted match, billed as "The Perfect Storm", on

7935-463: The gut, Triple H performed a Pedigree for a near-fall. Lesnar got back into the bout with a blatant low blow . He then connected with the F-5 , but Triple H was able to kick out. Lesnar then put Triple H in the Kimura lock and refused to break it when Triple H reached the ropes. Triple H got out with a few shots to the body and then performed another Pedigree. When he went for the pin, Lesnar put Triple H in

8050-565: 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

8165-417: 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 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 ,

8280-450: The line. Ziggler would go on to win the bout, resulting in Jericho being terminated from the company; this was done so Jericho could join his band Fozzy on their European tour. Jericho was eventually rehired and would later return at the 2013 Royal Rumble. Later on during the same show, CM Punk announced his intentions of defending his WWE Championship against John Cena in the near future. On

8395-668: 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

8510-530: The match, but Cena and Punk were able to eventually wear him down. Punk trapped Big Show's head in a Koji clutch while Cena put Big Show in the STF , which caused Big Show to submit. Because of the confusion over who won the match, AJ Lee came to the ring and restarted the match. Cena was able to execute the Attitude Adjustment on Big Show. Punk however, then tossed Cena out of the ring and pinned Big Show to get

8625-432: The match. On the July 27 episode of SmackDown , Jericho (wearing Ziggler's gear) threw Ziggler in the ring to be Brogue Kicked by Sheamus. On the August 6 episode of Raw Ziggler faced Alex Riley , but lost due to being distracted by Jericho. It was announced on the August 10 episode of SmackDown that Ziggler would face Jericho at SummerSlam. In 2011, The Miz and Rey Mysterio feuded after Mysterio defeated Miz in

8740-609: 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

8855-604: The new WWE Home Video distributor for the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe , releasing all future WWE DVD, Blu-ray, and digital-file-based releases in Europe, replacing Silver Vision . Their official UK website launched in January 2013 along with their initial releases - Night Of Champions 2012 , Hell In A Cell 2012 , Top 100 RAW Moments and The Attitude Era , all of which were issued on DVD and Blu-ray. On December 3, 2021, it

8970-584: The only pay-per-view released on UMD. Some content (primarily pay-per-views) were also available on Video CD format through certain licensors in some developing markets. WWE World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) 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

9085-575: 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

9200-441: 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

9315-482: 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

9430-563: 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,

9545-482: 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

9660-587: 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

9775-512: 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

9890-476: The show that he had quit the WWE since there was no more competition. In reality, Lesnar was taken off television as he had limited appearances on his contract. He would return on the January 28 episode of Raw . Triple H seemingly announced his retirement on the August 27 episode of Raw , but returned on the February 25, 2013, episode. The following week, which celebrated "Old School Raw", Triple H challenged Lesnar to

10005-433: The social media ambassador for the event. WWE legend Mick Foley was scheduled to face the debuting Dean Ambrose at the event. Ambrose had accused Foley for being the cause of a lost generation at WrestleMania Axxess and would to continue to insult him on Twitter . However, Foley was not cleared to compete by his doctors, he announced his final retirement, and the match was scrapped. Ambrose would make his debut later in

10120-422: 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

10235-411: The story of WWE Home Video comes to an end. It would not have been possible — or as much fun — without your support, participation, and love for collecting physical WWE releases. WWE will no longer licence DVD or Blu-ray releases globally. So sadly, our story must end at this point. We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all our fans, followers, and collectors. We know that many of you in

10350-407: 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

10465-466: 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

10580-661: 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,

10695-419: 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

10810-551: The win and keep the title. In the final match, Brock Lesnar (accompanied by Paul Heyman) faced Triple H. Lesnar was focused on the arm of Triple H which he broke a few months ago. He slammed Triple H on his arm on top of the announcers table. The referee refused to start the count when Triple H was outside of the ring. Lesnar controlled the match until Triple H tossed him stomach-first into the announcers table. Lesnar had some major problems with his stomach that led to him retiring from Ultimate Fighting Championship . After many knees to

10925-461: 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

11040-475: The year as part of the stable The Shield . Prior to the pay-per-view, Antonio Cesaro , who had been accompanied by Aksana , defeated Santino Marella to win the United States Championship after a Neutralizer . The first match that aired from the show pitted Chris Jericho against Dolph Ziggler. Jericho's rib injury came into play when it cost him too much time to cover Dolph after performing

11155-420: 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

11270-642: Was announced that Lesnar would respond to Triple H's challenge on the July 2 episode of Raw ; however, at the event it was announced that he would instead return at Raw 1000 on July 23. On that night, Heyman again declined the challenge, but after Triple H's wife Stephanie McMahon slapped him (due to making remarks about their children), Heyman accepted on behalf of Lesnar. Then, on the August 6 episode of Raw , Shawn Michaels made an appearance to announce that he would be in Triple H's corner at SummerSlam. However, Michaels would not make it to SummerSlam after Lesnar used

11385-405: 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

11500-488: 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

11615-502: Was for the WWE Tag Team Championship between R-Truth and Kofi Kingston and the number one contenders The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil). Kofi got rid of O'Neil with a flying body press outside of the ring. Inside of the ring, R-Truth performed the Lie Detector on Young to get the win. A triple threat match was up next, which saw CM Punk defending his WWE Championship against John Cena and Big Show. Big Show dominated

11730-543: Was founded in April 1997. Videos that were being or had been released by Coliseum Video were re-released with new packaging and the WWF Home Video name and logo. When the WWF became WWE in 2002, the name of the home video subsidiary changed as well. Content released by WWE Home Video continued to release the same content as Coliseum did, and also releases content produced exclusively for home entertainment such as swimsuit videos and retrospective documentaries . Content from

11845-445: 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

11960-568: 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

12075-562: 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

12190-445: Was on the line next with Sheamus defending his title against Alberto Del Rio. Rodriguez threw a shoe to Del Rio, but Sheamus caught it instead and hit Del Rio with it. He then executed an Irish Curse on Del Rio and pinned him to retain the championship, but Del Rio had his foot on the ropes, which should have resulted in a rope break, but referee Mike Chioda didn't see that and thus allowed Sheamus to retain his title. The next match

12305-490: Was originally announced that WWE Home Video releases would be discontinued in the United States and Canada in early 2022, although releases in the United Kingdom and Germany by distributor Fremantle would be continuing. Despite this, WWE Home Video releases continued to be released throughout 2022 and 2023. On December 5, 2023, Fremantle announced that they would not renew their British and German contract with WWE to continue releasing physical content. As such, Crown Jewel 2023

12420-503: 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

12535-599: 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

12650-637: 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

12765-449: Was released exclusively in the DVD and UMD format (for selected documentaries only, until the format was discontinued) from mid-2005 ( SummerSlam 2005 was the last VHS release) until their closure in 2023. WrestleMania XXIV was the company's first show, and the first sports related event, to be released on Blu-ray Disc , being released in stores on May 20, 2008, as a 2-disc set; it was also

12880-618: 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

12995-485: 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

13110-525: Was the UK-exclusive WWE Tagged Classics DVD series, which did not have any edits or censoring of the WWF initials. On 19 September 2012, Silver Vision announced on their website that the partnership between their parent Clear Vision Ltd. and WWE would end on 31 December 2012, with SummerSlam 2012 and nWo: The Revolution being their final WWE release. On 19 November 2012, it was announced that FremantleMedia (now Fremantle) would be

13225-515: Was the last WWE Home Video release in those regions. On the same day, it was revealed that WWE Home Video releases would be discontinued in North America as well, as no announcements were made by the company that they would release physical products in 2024 and beyond. Survivor Series: WarGames 2023 was the last WWE Home Video release in North America as well as their last release altogether. On December 31, 2023, they posted an announcement to their X (formerly known as Twitter) account that reads: Today

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