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The Genesis of Professional Wrestling

The WWE is the world's largest wrestling promotion with a storied evolution that encompasses many of the most significant milestones in professional wrestling history. During the 'Roaring Twenties'wrestler-turned promoter Toots Mondt revolutionised the face of professional wrestling. At the time, pro wrestling consisted primarily of mat grappling; and while the sport had flourished a decade earlier under Frank Gotch, the fans had since grown tired of the painfully deliberate pace of the marathon bouts. Mondt's inspired solution would completely transform the industry. Convincing Ed Lewis and Billy Sandow to implement a new form of wrestling that combined features of boxing, Greco-Roman, freestyle and lumber-camp fighting into what he deemed "Slam Bang Western-Style Wrestling", Mondt would unwittingly lay the seeds for future Sports Entertainment. Christened the 'Gold Dust Trio', the triumvirate of Mondt, Lewis and Sandow would translate their pioneering vision into a lucrative promotion attracting many of the era's key talent.

Eventually, the trio and their promotion dissolved amidst internal power-plays. Mondt formed partnerships with several promoters, notably the legendary Jack Curley. When Curley's health declined and the New York wrestling world began to splinter, Mondt sought consolidate a new alliance with a band of bookers, among whom was Jess McMahon, grandfather to future WWE Chairman Vincent K. McMahon.

Together, Jess and Mondt created the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) in 1952. The company had offices in both Washington, D.C. and New York. Whilst information relating the early days of CWC remains scarce, one detail prevails: in 1953 the young company joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).

In 1954, Ray Fabiani, one of Mondt's associates, brought in Vincent J. McMahon to replace his recently deceased father Jess. So began an alliance that would eventually control the north wrestling circuit. Vince McMahon Sr. and Toots Mondt proved a formidable combination: within a short time, they influenced 70% of the powerful NWA's booking. Mondt taught Vince Sr. about booking and the organisational nature of the wrestling industry. Due to the dominance in the Northeast, the CWC was referred to by AWA legend Nick Bockwinkel as the "Northeast Triangle", with its territory being defined by Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., and Maine as points of the triangle. In 1956, the CWC signed a deal with WTTG to air live professional wrestling shows. The seeds were planted for a second wrestling revolution.

World Wide Wrestling Federation

1963-1981 (The Old School era)

In the early 1960s, the CWC still was with the NWA, but a controversy emerged when Vincent J. McMahon and Toots Mondt endorsed Buddy Rogers for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Rogers was considered a showman rather than a pure wrestling technician. After the NWA orchestrated a Buddy Rogers' title loss to Lou Thesz, McMahon and Mondt left the NWA in protest, thereby creating the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), and proclaiming Rogers the new and inaugural WWWF World Champion.

One month later, Rogers lost the title to Bruno Sammartino, and the rest, as they say, is history. Sammartino would reign as WWWF Champion for seven years, eight months, and one day, making his the longest continuous world title reign in men's wrestling history. During this time, Bruno Sammartino was the face of the company, becoming the first ever 2-time WWWF Champion and reaffirming his place as the undisputed Icon of WWWF's 'Old School' era.

Throughout the 1970s, the WWWF gained notoriety by holding their biggest shows at Shea Stadium or Madison Square Garden and selling out almost every night. They leveraged former, but still popular, wrestlers such as Lou Albano, Ernie Roth and Fred Blassie to act as managers for Sammartino's heel opponents. At this time, only babyface wrestlers were allowed to have long title reigns, such as Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales and Bob Backlund, who all retained for more than one year each. The heel champions, such as Ivan Koloff and Stan Stasiak were used to transition the title from one wrestler to another, and they generally kept the title for no more than a few months before dropping it to the next babyface. Superstar Billy Graham was the only heel character to keep his title for more than nine months. In the aftermath of Sammartino's historic success, the WWWF underwent a curious transition highlighted by the touchstone reigns of Billy Graham and Bob Backlund, which coincided with the NWA Renaissance of the Harley Race era.

Toots Mondt left the WWWF in the late sixties, and Vince McMahon, Sr rejoined the NWA organization in 1971. Later that year, The Mongols created controversy after they left the WWWF with the WWWF International Tag Team Championship. The titles would be considered inactive as a result until Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler won a tournament to claim new Tag titles. They then defeated the Mongols in November 1971, voiding any claim the Mongols had to the titles. In March 1979, for marketing purposes, the World Wide Wrestling Federation was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).

World Wrestling Federation

1982-1992 (The Hulkamania era)

The Birth of Wrestlemania

In 1980 the son of Vincent J. McMahon, Vincent K. McMahon, founded Titan Sports, Inc. and applied for the initials WWF. In 1982, WWF purchased Capitol Sports from his father and associates Gorilla Monsoon and Arnold Skaaland. Capitol Sports already controlled most of the northeastern territory, but Vince McMahon Jr. wanted the WWF to be a national wrestling promotion; something the NWA did not approve of. He shortly defected his promotion from the NWA, much like the American Wrestling Association, which controlled the US Northern Midwest. To become a national promotion, the WWF would have to become bigger than any promotion under the AWA or the NWA.

Vince's vision for his promotion was starting to become possible when he hired AWA talent Hulk Hogan, who had achieved popularity outside of wrestling, notably for his appearance in Rocky III as Thunderlips, which he did against McMahon's wishes. Vince signed Roddy Piper as Hogan's rival, and shortly afterward signed Jesse Ventura. Alongside André the Giantother legendary additions to McMahon's roster included Jimmy Snuka, Don Muraco, Paul Orndorff, Greg Valentine, Ricky Steamboat and the Iron Sheik.

In 1984, Hulk Hogan was pushed to main-event status when he was announced as the number-one-contender for the Iron Sheik's WWF Championship. Hogan defeated Iron Sheik and thus evolved into one of the most recognizable and popular faces in sports-entertainment history.

With newfound revenue, McMahon was able to secure television deals, and WWF was now being shown across the United States. This national success angered many territorial promoters and disrupted the well-established NWA 'boundaries' of the numerous wrestling promotions. The syndication of WWF programming forced promotions to come into direct competition with the WWF. Empowered by the audacious and pioneering vision of Vince McMahon in tandem with Hogan's unbridled popularity, WWF's increased revenue allowed Vince to further expand his roster with such future legends as Randy Savage, the Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart and the British Bulldog.

For McMahon to truly transform the WWF into a national promotion, he would need the WWF to successfully tour the United States. Such a venture was still beyond the scope of revenue, until Vince envisioned a risky all-or-nothing gamble which would forever change the course of wrestling history and procure the necessary capital to elevate WWF onto a national stage. In 1985 Vincent K. McMahon created WrestleMania. WrestleMania would be a pay-per-view extravaganza, viewable on closed-circuit television and marketed as the Super Bowl of professional wrestling. WrestleMania was not the first 'supercard' seen in professional wrestling, as the NWA had previously run Starrcadein 1983. However, in McMahon's eyes, what separated WrestleMania from other supercards was that he wanted it to transcend the wrestling landscape and lure bonafide mainstream interest. He invited celebrities such as Mr. T, Muhammad Ali, and Cyndi Lauper to participate in the event, and secured a deal with MTV to provide select coverage of the event. WrestleMania proved an unprecedented success, the cross-promotion of pop-culture with wrestling inspiring the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connectionand providing an ideal platform for the 'Hulkamania era'.

McMahon's focus on entertainment rather than sports, a policy that became the concept of sports entertainment, led to great financial success for the WWF. During the 1980s, Hulk Hogan would cross into mainstream pop culture epitomising the All-American hero. Despite a brief attempt to promote The Ultimate Warrior as a successor, Hogan would effectively remain the face of the WWF until his departure in 1993. During this 'Golden Age', a plethora of stars would also find memorable success including Paul Orndorff,"Macho Man" Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat, Nikolai Volkoff, and the Iron Sheik and the Ultimate Warrior, all contributing to the WWF's financial success during the Hulkamania era. Beyond the solo superstars, this era also proved a Golden Age for Tag Teams with the teamwork of The Rockers, Demolition, The Hart Foundation, the British Bulldogs, and The Fabulous Rougeaus helping to create a strong tag-team division for the WWF. No less, the 1980s 'Wrestling Boom' truly peaked with WrestleMania III. The epic rivalry between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant would apex the 'Hulkamania era'.

The phenomenal success of the WWF during the 1980's boom in popularity and revenue would overwhelm many of the territorial promotions from the 'Old School era'. Rival promotions fighting to keep the regional territory system alive were forced to merge under Jim Crockett Promotions. Starrcade and The Great American Bash were JCP versions of WrestleMania, but even when operating outside of its territory, JCP had trouble matching the success of WWF. The promotion would eventually become WCW, providing WWF with a competitor until 2001, when WCW and its trademarks were legitimately purchased by the WWF. WrestleMania would become a WWF annual pay-per-view phenomenon, being broadcast in nearly 150 countries and in almost 20 different languages.

McMahon would use the success of WrestleMania to create new pay-per-views, and traditions, such as Survivor Series, SummerSlam and the Royal Rumble. The Royal Rumble PPV was characterised by the eponymous 30-man over-the-top-rope elimination match which endures as an audience favourite to this day. The 1980's Wrestling Boom encompassed many great matches and critically acclaimed PPVs, but the 1990's would gradually give way to a steroid scandal that would nearly cripple the WWF, paving the way for a 'New Generation' of talent characterised by Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. Hogan's definitive loss to the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania VI is the event that many fans consider the end of the Golden Age while some point to Hogan's final (pre-2002) title win at Wrestlemania IX as the curtain call of the monumental 'Hulkamania era'.

1993-1997 (The New Generation era)

The Birth of Monday Night RAW

The WWF was suspected of steroid abuse and distribution in 1991 and there were also allegations of sexual harassment made by WWF employees in 1992. The company had some financial loss and McMahon decided to cut the pay of his wrestlers and his managers. This was added with the loss of Hulk Hogan and other big stars from the past to rival World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Therefore, they decided to push younger stars into the spotlight. Stars like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall (aka Razor Ramon), Lex Luger, Yokozuna and The Undertaker all became the stars of what WWE branded the "New Generation".

This new era began in 1993 with the departure of Hulk Hogan and the rise of stars such as Yokozuna, Bret Hart and Lex Luger taking centerstage. The 1993 formation and debut of Monday Night Raw would be a key milestone in the genesis of the New Generation era, just as the 1997 rebranding to Raw is War would represent a pivotal shift from the New Generation era to the consequent Attitude era.

At WrestleMania IX, Yokozuna defeated Bret Hart to become the new WWF Champion, though only for less than 30 minutes, as Hulk Hogan accepted Yokozuna's manager, Mr. Fuji's challenge for the title and was victorious in the bout. Hogan held the title for nearly 3 months before being bested by Yokozuna at that year's King of the Ring. The next year would see some early controversy when both Hart and Lex Luger were declared co-winners of the 1994 Royal Rumble match after eliminating each other simultaineously. Then-WWF President Jack Tunney then set up a match between Luger and Yokozuna at WrestleMania X to determine the WWF Champion facing Hart for the title later in the night (who won a coin toss to receive the privilege.) Though Hart lost to his brother Owen Hart (who was involved in a storyline of his own with Bret) earlier in the pay-per-view, He managed to score the victory over Yokozuna, the winner over Luger by disqualification, to claim the WWF Championship.

Shawn Michaels made history at the 1995 Royal Rumble by becoming the first Royal Rumble match participant to win as the very first entrant after nearly being eliminated by The British Bulldog. Only one of his feet touched the floor at once (thus commonly known as the 'Shawn Michaels Rule') after being knocked over the top rope and this allowed Michaels to re-enter the ring and blindside Bulldog over the top turnbuckle. He would go on to WrestleMania XI and lose a WWF Championship match to real-life friend Diesel, the champion.

New WWF Champion Bret Hart became the face of this era until early 1996 when he lost an Iron Man match to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XII for his title. Hart would take some time off and later return to WWE in late '96, he later became a heel at WrestleMania 13 during his feud with Steve Austin. Austin would begin his rise to popularity with the fans beginning with his King of the Ring win and famous 'Austin 3:16' speech, in reference to John 3:16 of the Holy Bible. Despite having high quality talent and in-ring performances not seen since 1980, the WWE continued to lose money as a result of the WCW. This period of financial difficulties was made worse when the famous Montreal screwjob resulted in Bret Hart leaving the WWE for the WCW in 1997. This event was believed by many fans to be the end of the New Generation Era, the launch of the "Attitude Era" in 1998 is widely viewed as the end of this period in WWE History.

Another event that occurred during this era was the famous Monday Night Wars. In 1993, the WWF create their weekly TV program called WWF Monday Night RAW. Two years after, in 1995, now under the control of Eric Bischoff but purchased by Ted Turner, dedicated large amounts of financial resources to secure WWF talent. With the WWF having its promotion syndicated on TV, WCW needed similar exposure. Bischoff created WCW Monday Nitro a cable show on Turner's TNT network. It was in a timeslot to directly compete with McMahon's flagship WWF program. In mid-1996, WCW began its two years of ratings domination, principally caused with the introduction of the New World Order, a stable led by former WWF performers Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall (aka Razor Ramon), and Kevin Nash (aka Diesel). WCW overtook the WWF in television ratings and popularity.

1997-2001 (The Attitude Era)

The Monday Night War

The WWF continued to lose much of its leading talent to WCW, including Mr. Perfect (Curt Hennig), Alundra Blayze (Debra Miceli), and Rick Rude (Richard Rood). In 1997 a real life controversy had occurred when Vince McMahon forced the referee Earl Hebner to call for the bell to ring and end the match as Shawn Michaels held Bret Hart in the Sharpshooter submission hold (which was Hart's signature finishing move), even though Hart had not submitted. Michaels was declared the winner of the match and the new WWF Champion. This said, Hunter Hearst Helmsley encouraged Michaels to hurry out of the building on-camera, fearing a potential riot. This event was later known as the Montreal Screwjob. After that event, Vince McMahon created the "Mr. McMahon" character, a dictatorial and fierce ruler who favored heels who were "good for business" used to improvise on the heat McMahon received from costing Hart the match, although some exceptions were made in the case of the deaths of superstars such as Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero, and Chris Benoit. This proved to be a founding factor in what was to officially kick start The Attitude Era.

WWF continued to lose other talent and continued to experience financial burdens. Therefore, to regain popularity, they replaced former WWF talent with former WCW talent such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, Vader (Leon White), Brian Pillman, Mankind (Mick Foley), and Farooq (Ron Simmons).

Attitude 3:16

In January 1998, WWF had invited boxer Mike Tyson to their shows and even placed Tyson in a storyline feud involving him and D-Generation X (at that time consisting of Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Chyna) against Austin, though Tyson would eventually turn on DX at WrestleMania XIV and help begin Austin's very first reign as WWF Champion. Later in the year, new talent began to emerge for the WWF: The Rock, Triple H, and Kane strengthened the WWF's singles division while stables such as D-Generation X and Nation of Domination helped strengthen its tag team division. WWF was able to target a more adult-aged audience and featured heavy violence, sexual themes, strong language, blood, gore, and adult-oriented entertainment that helped it get the edge on the more mild and discrete WCW content. During this time, Stone Cold Steve Austin became the face of the WWF and his character began to represent the Attitude Era, most principly from his infamous rivalry with Mr. McMahon, highlighted by Austin engulfing McMahon's newly owned Chevrolet Corvette with cement and pulling a toy gun on McMahon and pressing the trigger, but instead of firing actual bullets at McMahon, it revealed a flag reading 'BANG 3:16', the namesake of the segment. Austin and his success within wrestling and his storyline with McMahon was comparable to that of Hogan in the 80's. This helped the WWF regain high ratings and popularity, as of the in-ring debut of McMahon against Austin caused the WWF to finally beat the WCW's ratings for the first time in 84 weeks. The creation of several types of matches, such as the Hell in a Cell Match and the Inferno Match, also helped the WWF to have better ratings. Eventually, the WWF broadcasted their highest-ever rated segment, named 'Rock: This Is Your Life', which involved the teaming of Mankind and The Rock and The Rock verbally berating people such as his 6th-grade economics teacher and his high-school girlfriend.

The Attitude Era product, with its heavy violence and more storyline oriented entertainment, started to see a decline in ratings for the WCW in the opening year of the new millennium. While new talent such as Edge, Matt and Jeff Hardy, and Kurt Angle, but also former WCW wrestlers such as Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Big Show (which some of them were unhappy with the storylines and backstage chaos at WCW) helped an already strong singles roster, while tag teams The Dudley Boyz, the Hardy Boyz, and Edge and Christian helped prop up the tag team division. Wrestlers that were already present in the WWF, like The Rock (renamed from Rocky Maivia) and Mick Foley (as Mankind, Cactus Jack and Dude Love), were promoted to the main-event level and won the WWF Championship. These new talents where able to see great pushes from WWF as it was missing bigger stars such as The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin to injuries. Moreover, when Eric Bischoff told the WCW announcer Tony Schiavone to give away the result of Monday Night Raw minutes before both main events started, millions of viewers changed their program from Monday Nitro to Monday Night Raw to see Mick Foley winning his first WWF Championship Title. After that, the WCW was once again unable to beat the WWF's plentiful ratings.

On April 29, 1999, the WWF launched a special program known as SmackDown! on the UPN network. This show was the beginning of a ratings battle against WCW Thunder. In 2000, the WWF, in collaboration with television network NBC, created the XFL, a new professional football league, but it was a failure, having only lasted a single year before becoming defunct.

A new head writer, Chris Kreski, replaced WCW defect Vince Russo. Kreskis work was admired for well planned and detailed storylines, and the transitional period saw feuds and storylines such as the Triple H/Cactus Jack feud, the Triple H/Kurt Angle/Stephanie McMahon love triangle, and a TLC feud between the Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian and the Dudley Boyz. The remainder of the year saw matches and angles such as The Hardy Boyz defeating Edge & Christian in a ladder match at No Mercy 1999 to earn $15,000 and Terri Runnels' managing services and Stone Cold Steve Austin being run over by Rikishi with a limousine at Survivor Series 1999. Stone Cold's consequent kayfabe injury would render him absent from television, giving rise to a new phase of the Attitude era. The unexpected romance and rise to power of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, together with a wave of WCW & ECW defections including The Radicalz and Dudleyz, would pave the way for McMahon-Helmsley Attitude.

McMahon-Helmsley Attitude

Prior to WrestleMania 2000, the McMahon family had gone into an on-screen rivalry with each other and this rivalry set up the 'McMahon In Every Corner' Fatal 4 Way elimination main event between The Big Show (managed by Shane McMahon), The Rock (managed by Vince McMahon), Triple H (managed by his wife Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley), and future WWF Commissioner Mick Foley (managed by Linda McMahon). Triple H won after Vince McMahon turned on The Rock and thus retained his WWF Championship. In the weeks leading up to No Mercy 2000, Stone Cold Steve Austin made his return to WWF to gain revenge on Rikishi. At No Mercy, the no holds barred match between Austin and Rikishi ended in a no contest when Austin attempted to run Rikishi over with his Chevrolet Silverado, but was denied by a police car and was (kayfabe) arrested. Austin would go on to win the next year's Royal Rumble match and come out victorious against The Rock at WrestleMania X-Seven with help from his former rival, Vince McMahon, who had been involved in an angle with his son, Shane over who actually owned WCW, and won the WWF Title. Shane McMahon (in storyline) revealed he was the owner of WCW. This is widely considered by many to be the end of the Attitude Era.

World Wrestling Entertainment

2002 "Get the F out!"

In 2002, A lawsuit initiated by the World Wildlife Fund over the trademark of WWF was settled in favor of the Wildlife Fund over the misuse of a previously agreed upon usage for the trademark. World Wrestling Federation was forced to rename/rebrand itself, and in May 2002 the company changed its business name to World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., shortened to WWE. Shortly thereafter they eliminated all elements that used the term Federation, and this affected licensed merchandise such as action figures, video games, and home videos with the WWF logo. The company adopted a new 'scratch' logo and to facilitate public awareness of the change, the WWE adopted the slogan "Get the 'F' Out". The last-ever WWF-branded pay-per-view event was the U.K.-exclusive Insurrextion 2002.

2002-2004 (The Ruthless Aggression era)

Brand Extension

In 2002, with an excess of talent on the WWE roster as a result of having purchased WCW and ECW the WWE needed a way to provide decent exposure to all of its talent. This problem was solved by having a 'Brand Extension'. In the storyline, Ric Flair had come to own 50% of the WWE as a result of being sold Shane McMahon and Stephanie McMahon's stocks so they could purchase WCW and ECW. Vince McMahon, the original owner, detested having to share his creation with Flair. As a result, the WWE board of directors came up with the decision to split the rosters into two 'brands': Raw and SmackDown!, named for the television programming of the WWE. Flair controlled the 'Raw' brand, and McMahon controlled the 'SmackDown' brand. The talent were assigned brands in a mock draft lottery, with the first being hand picked by either McMahon or Flair dependant on a coin toss. Wrestlers became show-exclusive, and eventually the championships: WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship, became show-exclusive too.

The Ruthless Aggression Era is a distinct era because it saw a less violent and less adult-oriented product as was seen in the Attitude Era. Because of this, some would also call it a toned down version of the Attitude Era. Stone Cold was replaced as the face of the company by The Rock, He would eventually leave the WWE for his career as an actor and was replaced by Triple H and young hopeful Brock Lesnar as the faces of Raw and Smackdown for a short time, mainly when HHH was named the first World Heavyweight Champion and when Lesnar won the WWE Championship against The Rock.

In this era, the WWE introduced a new stable named Evolution, which consisted of Triple H, Ric Flair, Randy Orton and Batista. This stable was reportedly a recreation of the 'Four Horsemen' of both the NWA and the WCW and remained dominant in the WWE for mainly 2 years before jealousy within the group caused the faction to slowly dissolve. In parallel, WWE wanted to make an evolution with their program as they tried to recreate the WCW in a WWE program, but mainly failed the attempt. After the Invasion storyline, they tried to reform the nWo, but the group has been disbanded one and a half year later on July 15, 2002, and Eric Bischoff (a former WCW vice president) was declared the new General Manager of Raw by his former rival competitor McMahon. The year 2003 saw moments such as Brock Lesnar defeating Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XIX, the WWE wrestling debut of Goldberg at Backlash 2003, and the unmasking and subsequent attacks of Kane. During the winter of 2004, Chris Benoit was pushed to main-event status when he matched Shawn Michaels' achievement of winning the Royal Rumble as the first entrant. He would go on to defeat Triple H and Shawn Michaels to become the new World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania XX. The WWE brought back Scott Steiner (but was poorly used before his release in 2004), Kevin Nash (but quit the WWE in 2003) and Goldberg (but quit the WWE in 2004 after his one-year contract expired). The WWE also brought back The Great American Bash which was not really a commercial success.

For most of the 2000s, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) was WWE's development territory where they developed young wrestlers with hopes that they would become stars. Some of the newer talents, such as John Cena, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Batista, Bobby Lashley, Rob Van Dam, Eddie Guerrero and Edge were put on the spotlight when they became main-eventers and won world championships. With a reduction in adult-oriented storylines, the in-ring product realigned upon the traditional,technical art of professional wrestling with numerous mat technicians finding elevation during the 'Aggression' era inclucing Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero. The product storylines also became heavily 'championship' driven, with more emphasis placed on the championships of the company. Storylines such conflict with on-air authority figures, sexual harassment, supernatural, and championship bouting defined the Ruthless Aggression era. By the mid-2000s, many of the on-air talent that had drawn crowds in the 1980s and 1990s had departed: they had either retired or left for other promotions. Viewership also changed as fans of the 80s and 90s product grew older and with the rise in popularity of the UFC, which offered real violence and had less of a stigma on it than the WWE, attracted growing numbers of WWE viewership. This essentially left the WWE audience as Children, and adults who knew wrestling were staged but enjoyed the entertainment it offered.

2005-2007 (The Entertainment era)

Sports Entertainment and beyond

In 2005, young hopefuls Batista and John Cena won the World Heavyweight Championship and the WWE Championship, respectively, at WrestleMania 21, thus resulting in both wrestlers being almost routinely booked in main-event matches. Just as Wrestlemania 14 can be seen as the official starting point of the Attitude/Austin era, so too can Wrestlemania 21 be regarded as the official starting point of the Entertainment/Cena era, with the Wrestlemania 21 'Wrestlemania goes Hollywood' theme extending beyond sports entertainment to foreshadow the cross-over success in film, music and mainstream pop culture that both the era and the era's icon John Cena would come to symbolise. WWE then reinserted Saturday Night's Main Event on their schedule in 2006, albeit for only 2 inadjacent days. In 2007, Cena took the role as the face of the company and achieved considerable mainstream success. WWE also ventured outside of its wrestling product, expanding to movies and music, with its most successful film being The Marine, an action film starring Cena. During that same year, Jeff Hardy was beginning to be pushed to main-event quality matches after defeating Triple H at Armageddon to become WWE Champion Randy Orton's opponent for the title at the Royal Rumble. Though he failed to snatch the title away from Orton on that night, he would receive yet another push after earning the WWE Championship at the next Armageddon, defeating Edge and Triple H in a triple threat match. McMahon unveiled a new global strategy, with plans to open offices around the world such as in Sydney, Australia.

2008-Present (PG Era)

A Family-friendly Universe

In 2008, WWE acknowledged that 60% of its audience was now made up of women and children. As a result, WWE programming shifted towards family friendly content doing away with most of the 'vulgar' language, heavy violence and adult themes that gave it a TV-14 rating.

Moreover, during that era, in late 2009, Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff signed with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). A short time after, Hogan announced that TNA Impact! (TNA's weekly program) will go head to head on the same timeslot that WWE Raw on Monday, January 4, 2010.

The so-called Monday Night Impact! featured the debuts and the returns of numerous wrestling personality, such as Sting, Jeff Jarrett, Rob Van Dam, Jeff Hardy and Ric Flair, as well as Hogan and Bischoff. On the same day, WWE Raw featured the return of Bret Hart, who wasn't seen on WWE television since the Montreal Screwjob. On March 2010, TNA Impact moved to Monday nights to compete head to head against WWE Raw. But two months later, TNA Impact moved back to Thursday nights, thus putting an immediate end to the 'Monday Night Wars' between the two companies.

===2011-Present (The Reality era)===

In February 2011, The Rock, who was a prominent figure during the company's edgier "Attitude Era", returned to WWE, he then proceeded to insult John Cena, who was a prominent figure during the company's more calm family friendly "PG Era", using vulgar language that was prohibited during the "PG Era" such as "bitch" and "ass", in the following weeks, the content began becoming edgier, with swearing and violence that was prohibited during the "PG Era" with use of weapons such as the announce table and the steel steps during normal matches. Also the feud between an icon of the "Attitude Era" The Rock and the icon of the "PG Era" increased, as they announced an official match between each other at Wrestlemania XXVIII, this increase of edginess and announcement of a longtime dream match from older wrestling fans, began showing signs of the end of the PG Era.

{{|image = TLC2011Poster.png |caption = Promotional poster featuring CM Punk}}

In June 2011, CM Punk cut a Worked Shoot, he proceeded to criticize John Cena and the then current product, he spoke about demanding a change in the company's product, and he then broke kayfabe. This is considered as the official beginning of a new era, following the promo, the product remained edgy, storylines began breaking kayfabe and took a more mature turn, and the company began involving social media into their shows, feuds, and storylines, such as Twitter and Tout, thus fans began using the name "Reality Era", (although CM Punk used the term in a radio interview and could take credit for the name as well).

In May 2012, TNA filed a lawsuit against WWE and former TNA employee Brian Wittenstein, claiming that he took "confidential trade secrets" to WWE and helped WWE gain an "unfair" competitive advantage in negotiating contracts with TNA talent. According to the suit, TNA was informed of Wittenstein's breach three weeks later by a WWE official, after which the promotion fired Wittenstein. According to TNA, Ric Flair attempted to terminate his TNA contract two days after Wittenstein's firing. The exact allegations filed by TNA in the suit include "interference with existing contracts", breach of duty of loyalty, conversion, breach of contract, civil conspiracy, unfair competition, and violation of the Tennessee Uniform Trade Secrets Act.

In September 2012, WWE announced that it was removing "dated and edgier" footage from its official website and media platforms after co-founder Linda McMahon's political opponent used clips in an attack ad. "To better reflect our current family-friendly brand of entertainment, WWE is removing some dated and edgier footage from digital platforms," said Brian Flinn, WWE's Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications, in a statement. "Some of this footage has been misused in political environments without any context or explanation as to when it was produced. This damages the corporate reputation of our company. WWE is well within its rights to protect its intellectual property for fair use." Flinn said the footage removal is not related to an ad released Wednesday by Rep. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat running for Senate against McMahon, which featured WWE footage while slamming her for allegedly off-shoring profits to avoid taxes and failing to provide health coverage for their performers. Rather, it was part of a re-branding effort.

On October 2012, WWE formed a partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure to promote breast cancer awareness. As part of the campaign, WWE adorned their sets with pink ribbons, put a pink middle rope on the ring, filmed numerous PSAs, and sold special John Cena "Rise Above Cancer" merchandise. All of these efforts culminated in a donation from WWE of $1 Million, which was presented to Susan G. Komen representatives in an in-ring ceremony during the October 29, 2012 episode of Raw.

Other

Legends program and WWE Hall of Fame

The Legends program began informally with the return of the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony in 2004, held annually during WrestleMania weekends. The introduction of WWE 24/7, WWE's on-demand television service, and the success of career retrospective DVDs such as The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection, Roddy Piper: Born to Controversy, and Brian Pillman: Loose Cannon has invested WWE's present product with a sense of heritage, and allows a new generation of wrestling fans to witness matches and events they may only previously have heard of.

The WCW/ECW "Alliance" Invasion and the nWo

In the InVasion storyline, Shane McMahon (kayfabe) acquired World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and WCW personnel invaded the WWF. For the first time since the Monday Night Wars, the WWF's purchase of WCW had made a major American interpromotional feud possible, but the InVasion (as it was called) turned out to be a disappointment. One reason was that many of WCW's big name stars were under contract to WCW's old parent company, AOL Time Warner, rather than WCW itself, and their contracts were not included in the purchase of the company. These wrestlers chose to sit out the duration of their contracts and be financially supported by AOL Time Warner rather than work for the WWF for a cheaper salary.

On July 9, 2001, the stars of WCW and Extreme Championship Wrestling (acquired by Stephanie McMahon in a related storyline) joined forces, forming "The Alliance" with WCW owner Shane McMahon and the new owner of ECW Stephanie McMahon, and supported and influenced by original ECW owner Paul Heyman. At WWF InVasion, Stone Cold Steve Austin turned on the WWF and helped the Alliance win the 'Inaugural Brawl'. This act caused Austin to turn heel. A memorable moment took place at Unforgiven 2001 when Austin defeated Kurt Angle in his Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania hometown to win the WWF Championship, celebrating in the ring with his legitimate family members after the match. At Survivor Series 2001, the WWF finally defeated WCW and ECW in a "Winner Takes All Match" and this concluded the angle. In the aftermath of the Invasion angle, the WWF made several major changes to their product. Ric Flair returned to the company as a "co-owner" in storylines, feuding with Vince McMahon. Jerry "The King" Lawler returned to the RAW broadcast booth, after quitting earlier in the year, and immediately after his temporary replacement, Paul Heyman, was fired on-screen by Vince McMahon. Several former Alliance stars were absorbed into the regular WWF roster, such as Booker T, The Hurricane, Lance Storm, and Rob Van Dam.

After the WWF bought WCW in 2001, Vince McMahon brought back Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall as the nWo, at the No Way Out pay-per-view on February 17, 2002 in response to having to (kayfabe) co-own the WWF with Ric Flair, and wanting to 'inject' the WWF with 'a lethal dose of poison'. Over time, more members joined the nWo such as X-Pac (formerly known as Syxx in WCW), Big Show (formerly known as The Giant in WCW), Booker T, Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair and Goldust as semi-members. The storyline failed when the WWF fans refused to recognize Hogan as a heel and right after his match with The Rock at Wrestlemania 18 Hulkamania was reborn.

The death of Eddie Guerrero

On the morning of November 13, 2005, Chavo Guerrero checked into a hotel with his uncle, Eddie Guerrero, in Minneapolis, Minnesota where they were both scheduled be a part of a planned Raw and SmackDown! "Supershow" (a show where both Raw and SmackDown! would take place the same night in the same arena). After Eddie missed a wake-up call, security opened his hotel room and Chavo found his uncle unconscious. Chavo attempted CPR, but 38-year-old Eddie was declared dead at the scene. Vickie Guerrero, Eddie's wife, later announced that an autopsy ruled the cause of death to be massive heart failure.

Guerrero's death fell on the day that he had been scheduled to compete in a match for the World Heavyweight Championship versus Batista and Randy Orton. The company held tributes to Guerrero on both Raw and SmackDown during the week following his death. On April 1, 2006 at the WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremonies during WrestleMania 22 weekend, Guerrero's wife Vickie accepted his posthumous induction into WWE Hall of Fame by Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit and Chavo Guerrero.

Following Guerrero's death, Vince McMahon announced a new drug policy under which performers would be subject to random drug tests by an independent company and would receive regular medical physicals with an emphasis on cardiovascular health.

The return and cancellation of Extreme Championship Wrestling

By 2005, WWE began reintroducing ECW through content from the ECW video library and a series of books, which included the release of The Rise and Fall of ECW documentary. With heightened and rejuvenated interest in the ECW franchise, WWE organized ECW One Night Stand on June 12, a reunion event that featured ECW alumni. Due to the financial and critical success of the production, WWE produced the second ECW One Night Stand on June 11, 2006, which served as the premiere event in the relaunch of the ECW franchise as a third WWE brand, complementary to Raw and SmackDown.

On May 26, 2006, WWE officially announced the relaunch of the franchise with its own show on NBC Universal's Sci Fi Channel, later to be known as Syfy, starting June 13, 2006. Despite initial concerns that professional wrestling would not be accepted by Sci Fi's demographic, network President Bonnie Hammer stated that she believed ECW would fit the channel's theme of "stretching the imagination". Syfy is owned by NBC Universal, parent company of USA Network and exclusive cable broadcaster of WWE programming.

On June 13, Paul Heyman, former ECW owner and newly appointed figurehead for the ECW brand, recommissioned the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to be the brand's world title and awarded it to Rob Van Dam as a result of winning the WWE Championship at One Night Stand 2006. Under the WWE banner, ECW was presented in a modernized style to that when it was an independent promotion and was produced following the same format of the other brands, with match rules, such as count outs and disqualifications, being standard. Matches featuring the rule set of the ECW promotion are now classified as being contested under "Extreme Rules" and are only fought when specified otherwise. The brand would continue to operate until February 16, 2010, when the brand was rendered defunct and the talent of ECW became free agents.

Chris Benoit's double-murder and suicide

In June 25, 2007, the Fayette County Police notified WWE around 4:15 p.m., informing them that they had discovered three bodies of Chris, Nancy, and their seven-year-old son Daniel Benoit at their home in Fayette County, Georgia, and the house was now ruled as a "major crime scene". WWE canceled the scheduled three-hour-long live Raw show on June 25 (which, coincidentally, was supposed to be a scripted memorial for the Mr. McMahon character), and replaced the broadcast version with a tribute to his life and career, featuring past matches, segments from the Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story DVD, and comments from wrestlers and announcers from the RAW, Smackdown! and the now-defunct ECW brands. Shortly after the program aired, many of the aired comments were posted on WWE.com. It was not until the program was nearly over that reports surfaced that police were working under the belief that Benoit murdered his wife and son before killing himself over a three-day period.

The next night, after some of the details of the deaths became available, the company aired a recorded statement by its Chairman Vince McMahon before their ECW broadcast.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Last night on Monday Night Raw, the WWE presented a special tribute show, recognizing the career of Chris Benoit. However, now some 26 hours later, the facts of this horrific tragedy are now apparent. Therefore, other than my comments, there will be no mention of Mr. Benoit's name tonight. On the contrary, tonight's show will be dedicated to everyone who has been affected by this terrible incident. This evening marks the first step of the healing process. Tonight, WWE performers will do what they do better than anyone else in the world: entertain you.

Following the double-murder suicide allegedly committed by Chris Benoit and possible link to steroid abuse, the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform began investigating the WWE regarding their talent Wellness policy.

WWE Online

In 1998, Shane McMahon helped form WWE's digital media department and launched WWF.com on May 21, 1998 (now known as WWE.com), a site that receives more than seven million visitors a month.

On September 25, 2006 WWE announced the creation of the official Japanese WWE website, and has stated that they may start a number of other official WWE websites in foreign languages in the future .

On November 17, 2006, WWE.com reported that WWE officials and officials of DSE, the parent company of Pride Fighting Championships, had a meeting at WWE global headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. The meeting focused on the possibility of the two groups doing some form of business together in the future . But on March 27, 2007, Nobuyuki Sakakibara, president of DSE, announced that Station Casinos Inc. magnate Lorenzo Fertitta, also one of the co-owners of Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, had made a deal to acquire all the assets of PRIDE FC from DSE after Pride 34: Kamikaze in a deal worth about USD$70 million, and therefore the deal between DSE and WWE has reportedly been called off.

On November 19, 2008, WWE.com announced the launch of its next generation video player. Since its launch, video viewing has increased 77% on the site and video ad impressions are up 95%.

Social Media and WWE HD

World Wrestling Entertainment began broadcasting in high-definition video (trademarked WWE-HD) in 2008, starting with its Raw show on January 21, followed by ECW on Syfy the day after, then Friday Night SmackDown on January 25, with the 2008 Royal Rumble being the first wrestling pay-per-view event to be presented in HD.

On November 19, 2008, WWE.com officially launched their online social network, WWE Universe. It silently appeared in April as WWE Fan Nation, and adopted its current name a few months later. WWE Universe was similar to MySpace, with blogs, forums, photos, videos, and other features. Despite a heightened popularity the site was shut down on January 1, 2011 and has since replaced with WWE InterAction. However, they've subsequently since launched a Facebook page with 39 million likes as of October 2011.

Since then, WWE has gone beyond to social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tout, and Instagram. Their YouTube channel has since launched in February 2012.

The launch of NXT and the NXT Invasion

In February 2010, following the cancellation of ECW, WWE launched a new Program on SyFy, called NXT. This reality-like show was based on new stars being mentored by their Pros. The very last episode of the NXT Season 1 was on June 1, 2010. The winner of the season was Wade Barrett. Six days after the end of the first season, the Rookies interfered in the Raw main event match between John Cena and CM Punk, attacking both competitors as well as the announcing team before dismantling the ring area and surrounding equipment. During the segment, Bryan strangled ring announcer Justin Roberts with the announcer's own tie, which WWE reportedly felt was too violent for their kid-friendly TV-PG programming. As a consequence, WWE announced via their official website four days later that Bryan had been (legitimately) released from his contract. The following episode of Raw, the storyline continued with general manager Bret Hart (kayfabe) firing Barrett, revoking his contract and guaranteed title match, as a consequence to the previous week's incident. A week later, WWE chairman Vince McMahon fired Hart and announced the hiring of a new general manager, who changed the decision, hiring all seven rookies and reinstating Barrett's title shot. During an in-ring promo later that night, the rookies announced that they had formed an alliance called the Nexus, a stable that was originally created to destroy the WWE, but after CM Punk took over the leadership responsibilities of the group, he changed the motto to 'Faith'. Shortly afterward, the Nexus disbanded, leaving Punk alone as a singles wrestler again.

WWE Network

In 2011, WWE announced they are planning to establish a network of their own some time in 2012. It was announced that WWE Network will come out sometime in Fall 2012.

See also

• WWE

References

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External links

• Official WWE website
• Official SmackDown! website
• Official RAW website
• Official NXT website
• Official WWE Corporate website
• Official Japanese WWE website
• Official WWE Universe website
• WWE Stock

• Company histories
• History of professional wrestling
• History of television
• Sports history of the United States
• WWE