WWE

WWE is a publicly-traded company controlled by Vince McMahon and his family.

= History =

Early History

In fact, it would not be until 1935, the same year Jim Crockett Promotions was formed, that the McMahon family would move into the wrestling business. His son, Vincent Jess McMahon, would begin to take an increasing roll in the running of the business - especially on the wrestling side. However, the McMahon family were not able to promote wrestling matches at Madison Square Garden due to Rickard's dislike of the sport.

This no wrestling at Madison Square Garden policy ended in 1948, when Joseph Raymond Mondt (known to many as Toots Mondt), backed by millionaire Bernarr McFadden, managed to promote a wrestling show at the famous arena. Mondt doing so was facilitated, in part, by the elder McMahon. Ray Fabiani, who helped Mondt take control of the New York territory after the death of Jack Curley, influential in drawing the younger McMahon into an alliance with Mondt.

CWC

McMahon's company was called Capitol Wrestling Corporation - or CWC. While originally running shows from the 2,000 seat Turner's Arena, the CWC would eventually control the territories of New England, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It was able to do this after signing an agreement with WTTG Channel 5, in 1956, to air live CWC wrestling shows. These shows were then syndicated throughout the north-eastern United States.

WWWF

In mid-April, Rogers was then awarded the new WWWF title after the WWWF claimed he won a (fictitious) tournament in Rio de Janeiro. He lost the title to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17, 1963 after suffering a heart attack shortly before the match.

The WWWF rejoined the NWA in 1971 and their world title was dropped to the status of a regional title.

Mondt (born in 1886) died in 1976.

WWF

WWF Goes National

By having the WWF leave the NWA for a second time, he set the groundwork for his bold experiment. Leaving the NWA in itself wasn't that big a step; the AWA had long ago ceased being an official NWA member, and just over a decade earlier the WWWF itself had rejoined the NWA. But in neither instance did the defecting member attempt to undermine, and destroy, the Territory system that had been the foundation of the wrestling industry.

Other wrestling promoters were furious when McMahon began syndicating WWF shows to TV stations across America. McMahon also began selling video tapes of WWF events outside the northeast. He effectively broke the unwritten law the entire American wrestling industry was based around. To make matters worse, McMahon would use the income generated by advertising, TV deals, and tape sales to poach talent from rival promoters. Wrestling promoters nation-wide were now in direct competition to McMahon, and the WWF.

According to several reports, the more senior McMahon warned his son "Vinny, what are you doing?! You'll wind up at the bottom of a river!" In spite of such warnings, McMahon had an even bolder ambition in mind: the WWF would tour nationally. However, touring a wrestling federation nationally takes a huge capital investment; one which placed the WWF on the verge of financial collapse.

The future of not just McMahon's experiment, but also the WWF, the NWA, and the whole industry came down to the success or failure of WrestleMania 1. WrestleMania was a pay per view extravaganza that McMahon marketed as being the Super Bowl of pro wrestling. If it was a financial success, many NWA member territories would go out of business, and most of America's wrestling fans would be united in watching the WWF. A failure would have seen McMahon go bankrupt, and the second golden age of wrestling may never have happend.

Rock and Wrestling

For WrestleMania 1, McMahon began cross promoting with MTV, with several hot music stars like Alice Cooper and Cyndi Lauper appearing at the pay-per-view. The rock and wrestling era was characterized by bright, colourful, and sometimes terrible circus-like gimmicks. McMahon once stated that he was more interested in competing with Disney on Ice than other wrestling federations. Both WrestleMania and Hogan were a smash success. WrestleMania became an annual event, while Hogan would lead the WWF's golden age on camera.

McMahon's big gamble had paid off. The NWA's member promoters couldn't compete with McMahon's scale or budget, and would they would eventually either be forced out of business, or forced to sell out to Jim Crockett Promotions, the fore-runner to WCW. WrestleMania 3 would set an indoor attendance world record that would last until a Papal visit over a decade later, and NBC began airing WWF shows nationally. It saw the WWF become the dominant wrestling federation in North America through until mid '90s, when McMahon would begin facing a new competitor in Ted Turner's WCW under Eric Bischoff.

WWF: The Next Generation

While McMahon tightened contracts to make it harder for WCW to raid WWF talent, the WWF was losing money at a rapid rate. The WWF's flagship Raw Is War show was forced into a head-to-head ratings war with WCW Monday Nitro. The WCW vs. nWo feud drew attention away from the WWF's outdated (and childish) rock and wrestling era gimmicks.

The WWF/WCW feud reached a new level in 1997, when the current WWF champion Bret Hart signed a lucrative deal to jump to WCW. The WWF was extremely concerned about this development, and not just because of Hart's popularity. Earlier in the WWF/WCW feud, the WWF women's champion jumped to WCW while wearing the belt and threw it in a trash can on Monday Nitro (imitating a heavily publicized act by heavyweight boxing champion Riddick Bowe). The WWF's worst nightmare would be for Hart to appear on Monday Nitro while wearing the WWF belt. Therefore, a way had to be found to get the belt off Hart.

Hart had a clause in his WWF contract which gave him a substantial measure of control over his booking in the last 30 days of his deal, which would end with that year's Survivor Series pay-per-view in Montreal. He let it be known to WWF management that he would willingly drop the title—but not to Shawn Michaels, with whom he had a somewhat strained relationship; and not in his home country of Canada. However, by that time, WWF had largely abandoned the concept of switching titles at any events other than pay-per-views. This would set the stage for the turning point in the WWF/WCW feud...

The Montreal Screwjob

Michaels was handed a different script, where Bret would tap out to the Sharpshooter. The WWF followed the version of the script they gave Michaels, without telling Hart. Hart never actually tapped out; immediately after Michaels placed Hart in the Sharpshooter, McMahon came down to ringside and yelled at the timekeeper to "ring the f***ing bell!" Michaels left the ring with the belt immediately after the bell was rung, without the traditional post-match celebration. Hart walked out on the federation in disgust, and went so far as to punch McMahon out backstage after the event.

The event was known to wrestling fans as the Montreal Screwjob.

Losing a main event star like Bret Hart to WCW was a risky move.

McMahon and Russo would set about making new characters again, but this time, they would be edgier, Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) inspired wrestlers like The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mick Foley, and the D-Generation X stable. They gambled that these edgier stars would be enough to win ratings supremacy from WCW. They were right.

It also set up Vince McMahon, on television, as the evil wrestling promoter. This was key to the feud between Austin and McMahon.

WWF Attitude

Fans who purchased the Pay Per View were amazed by what they saw; this certainly wasn't the childish Rock and Wrestling or Next Generation era they were witnessing. Many of those who didn't buy WrestleMania, including fans of competitor WCW, tuned in to watch Raw Is War the following week.

The episode saw the tag-team The New Age Outlaws, join D-Generation X, and wrestler Syxx / X-Pac defect from WCW. It was also the start of the epic feud between "evil promoter" Vince McMahon and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. For the first time in 18 months, the edgier WWF would beat the weekly WCW Monday Nitro in the ratings.

Over the coming year, the WWF would see new fan favourite The Rock become one of the most popular pro wrestlers in history. Where earlier WCW's edgy WCW vs. nWo angle had managed to almost lead the WWF to financial ruin, it was now WCW that found it increasingly difficult to compete against the one-ime northeastern regional territory.

This change was not without critics. Many family groups were outraged at the graphic violence employed by the WWF. They, along with feminist groups, found the regular use of scantily-clad women to attract viewers as offensive. One group, the Parents Television Council, waged a sustained boycott campaign against the WWF. However, the controversial new presentation made the WWF more appealing than ever to its core audience.

The WWF also launched a second weekly show on UPN known as Smackdown!.

Off the back of the success of the Attitude era, on October 19, 1999 the WWF's parent company - Titan Sports, Inc., became a publicly traded company. To boost recognition, the company changed its name to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment (though its wrestling company continued to trade as the WWF). While the WWF's success was great, professional wrestling is a cyclical business; and to make up for this, WWF.E (the original stock-ticker name for WWF Enterainment) would diversify into other businesses, including a nightclub in Times Square and a book publishing business.

In 2000 the WWF announced the creation of the XFL, a new professional football league, but the league only lasted a year.

Invasion

Since WCW's peak in 1997 / 1998, pro wrestling fans had dreamed about a feud between the two federations. The original plan was to have WCW "take over" RAW, turning it back into WCW Monday Nitro. However, many big name WCW stars, like Hulk Hogan, Lex Luger, Kevin Nash, Goldberg, and Sting were contracted to WCW's former parent company Time Warner rather than to WCW itself, and Vince McMahon (at the time) decided not to buy out their contracts. This, combined with McMahon deciding that WWE wrestlers generally shouldn't lose to WCW wrestlers, ended such plans.

The storyline was re-tuned after McMahon bought out rival ECW, forming a faction known as the "Alliance".

WWE

The Brand Extension

=See also=

• WWE Wrestlers
  
• WWE Pay Per View Events
  
• WCW

External Links

• Official WWE site

Referenced By