Everything about World Wrestling Entertainment totally explained
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (
WWE) is a publicly traded, privately controlled
integrated media (focusing in
television,
Internet, and live events) and
sports entertainment company dealing primarily in the
professional wrestling industry, with major revenue sources also coming from
film,
music, product licensing, and direct product sales.
Vince McMahon is the
majority owner and
Chairman of the company and his wife
Linda McMahon holds the position of
Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Together with their children, Executive Vice President of Global Media
Shane McMahon and Executive Vice President of Talent and Creative Writing
Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, the McMahons hold approximately 70% of WWE's economic interest and 96% of all voting power in the company.
The company's global headquarters are located at 1241 East Main Street in
Stamford, Connecticut. It has offices in
Los Angeles and in
New York City; its international offices are located in both
London and
Toronto. The company was previously known as Titan Sports before changing to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc., and most recently becoming World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
WWE's business focus is on professional wrestling, a simulated sport and performing art which combines wrestling with theater. It is currently the largest
professional wrestling promotion in the world and holds an
extensive library of videos representing a significant portion of the visual history of professional wrestling. The promotion previously existed as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, which promoted under the banner of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), and later the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). WWE promotes under three brands:
Raw,
SmackDown! and
ECW. WWE is also home to two of the three current
world heavyweight championships recognized by
Pro Wrestling Illustrated and ECW Championship, which isn't recognized by PWI.
WWE's revenue in 2007 was approximately
US$486 million, with a net profit of approximately $52 million. As of August 2006, the company's
market capitalization is over $1 billion. Its stock is traded on the
NYSE as WWE.
Company history
Capitol Wrestling
Roderick James "Jess" McMahon was a boxing promoter whose achievements included co-promoting a bout in 1915 between
Jess Willard and
Jack Johnson. In 1926, while working with
Tex Rickard (who actually despised wrestling to such a degree he prevented wrestling events from being held at Madison Square Garden between 1939 and 1948), he started promoting boxing in
Madison Square Garden in
New York. The first match during their partnership was a light-heavyweight championship match between
Jack Delaney and
Paul Berlenbach.
Around the same time, professional wrestler
Joseph Raymond "Toots" Mondt created a new style of professional wrestling that he called Slam Bang Western Style Wrestling to make the sport more appealing to spectators. He then formed a promotion with wrestling champion
Ed Lewis and his manager
Billy Sandow. They persuaded many wrestlers to sign contracts with their
Gold Dust Trio. After much success, a disagreement over power caused the trio to dissolve and, with it, their promotion. Mondt formed partnerships with several other promoters, including
Jack Curley in New York City. When Curley was dying, Mondt moved to take over New York wrestling with the aid of several bookers, one of whom was Jess McMahon.
Together, Roderick McMahon and Raymond Mondt created the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC). The CWC joined the
National Wrestling Alliance in 1953. Also in that year, Ray Fabiani, one of Mondt's associates, brought in
Vincent J. McMahon to replace his father Jess in the promotion. McMahon and Mondt were a successful combination, and within a short time, they controlled approximately 70% of the NWA's booking, largely due to their dominance in the heavily populated Northeast region. Mondt taught McMahon about booking and how to work in the wrestling business. Due to the dominance in the Northeast by the promotion,
American Wrestling Association legend &
WWE Hall of Famer
Nick Bockwinkel referred to the CWC as the "Northeast Triangle" to signify a
triangle-like shape covering the CWC's territory, with
Pittsburgh,
Washington, D.C., and
Maine being the "points" of the triangle.
World Wide Wrestling Federation
The NWA recognized an undisputed
NWA World Heavyweight Champion that went from wrestling company to wrestling company in the alliance and defended the belt around the world. In 1963, the champion was
"Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers. The rest of the NWA was unhappy with Mondt because he rarely allowed Rogers to wrestle outside of the Northeast. Mondt and McMahon wanted Rogers to keep the NWA World Championship, but Rogers was unwilling to sacrifice his $25,000 deposit on the belt (title holders at the time had to pay a deposit to insure they honored their commitments as champion). Rogers lost the NWA World Championship to
Lou Thesz in a one-fall match in Toronto, Ontario on
January 24 1963, which led to Mondt, McMahon and the CWC leaving the NWA in protest, creating the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in the process.
In April, Rogers was awarded the new WWWF World Championship following an
apocryphal 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. To accommodate Rogers' condition, the match was booked to last under a minute.
Mondt left the company in the late sixties. Although the WWWF had withdrawn from the NWA, Vince McMahon Sr. still sat on the NWA Board of Directors, no other territory was recognized in the Northeast, and several "champion vs. champion" matches occurred (usually ending in a double disqualification or some other non-decisive ending).
In March 1979, the WWWF became the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The change was purely cosmetic, and the ownership and front office personnel remained unchanged during this period.
World Wrestling Federation
In 1980, the son of Vincent J. McMahon,
Vincent Kennedy McMahon, founded Titan Sports, Inc. and in 1982 purchased Capitol Wrestling Corporation from his father. The elder McMahon had long since established the northeastern territory as one of the most vibrant members of the NWA. He had long since recognized that professional wrestling was more about
entertainment than actual sport. Against his father's wishes, McMahon began an expansion process that fundamentally changed the sport.
The WWF wasn't the only promotion to have broken ranks with the NWA; the
American Wrestling Association (AWA) had long ago ceased being an official NWA member (although like the WWF, they seldom left their own territory). But in neither instance did the defecting member attempt to undermine the
territory system that had been the foundation of the industry for more than half a century.
Other promoters were furious when McMahon began syndicating WWF television shows to
television stations across the
United States, in areas outside of the WWF's traditional northeastern stronghold. McMahon also began selling
videotapes of WWF events outside the Northeast through his
Coliseum Video distribution company. He effectively broke the unwritten law of regionalism around which the entire industry had been based. To make matters worse, McMahon used the income generated by advertising, television deals, and tape sales to poach talent from rival promoters. Wrestling promoters nationwide were now in direct competition with the WWF.
Hulk Hogan, due to his appearance in
Rocky III had a national recognition that few other wrestlers could offer, which is what led McMahon to sign him.
Roddy Piper was brought in, as well as
Jesse Ventura (although Ventura rarely wrestled in the WWF at that point due to the lung disorder that caused his retirement, moving to the commentator booth alongside
Gorilla Monsoon).
André the Giant,
Jimmy Snuka,
Don Muraco,
Paul Orndorff,
Greg Valentine,
Ricky Steamboat and the
Iron Sheik rounded out the roster. Hogan was clearly McMahon's biggest star, but there was debate as to whether the WWF could have achieved national success without him.
According to several reports, the elder McMahon warned his son: "Vinny, what are you doing? You'll wind up at the bottom of a river." In spite of such warnings, the younger McMahon had an even bolder ambition: the WWF would tour nationally. Such a venture, however, required huge capital investment; one that 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 McMahon's groundbreaking concept,
WrestleMania. WrestleMania was a
pay-per-view extravaganza (in some areas; most areas of the country saw WrestleMania available on
closed-circuit television) that McMahon marketed as being the
Super Bowl of professional wrestling. The concept of a wrestling
supercard was nothing new in North America; the NWA had been running
Starrcade a few years prior to WrestleMania, and even the elder McMahon had marketed large
Shea Stadium cards viewable in closed-circuit locations. However, McMahon wanted to take the WWF to the mainstream, targeting the public who were not regular wrestling fans. He drew the interest of the mainstream media by inviting celebrities such as
Mr. T and
Cyndi Lauper to participate in the event.
MTV, in particular, featured a great deal of WWF coverage and programming at this time, in what was termed the
Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection.
Golden Age
The original
WrestleMania, held in 1985, was a resounding success. This event is sometimes credited as the debut of what McMahon called "sports entertainment", in contrast to his father's preference of pure wrestling. The WWF did incredible business on the shoulders of McMahon and his all-American
babyface hero,
Hulk Hogan, for the next several years, creating what some observers dubbed a second golden age for professional wrestling. The introduction of
Saturday Night's Main Event on
NBC in mid-1985 marked the first time that professional wrestling had been broadcast on network television since the 1950s. In 1987, the WWF produced what was considered to be the pinnacle of the 1980's wrestling boom altogether,
WrestleMania III.
New Generation
The WWF hit a low point in the wake of allegations of steroid abuse and distribution made against it in 1994; there were also allegations of
sexual harassment made by WWF employees. McMahon was eventually exonerated, but it was a
public relations nightmare for the WWF. The
steroid trial cost the WWF an estimated $5 million at a time when revenues were at an all-time low. To compensate, McMahon cut the pay of both wrestlers and front office personnel – close to 40% in the latter case (and about 50% for top level managers such as
Bobby Heenan and
Jimmy Hart, who both left). This helped drive many WWF wrestlers to its only major competition,
World Championship Wrestling (WCW), between 1993 and 1996. During this period, the WWF promoted itself under the banner of "The New WWF Generation," featuring
Shawn Michaels,
Diesel,
Razor Ramon,
Bret Hart, and
The Undertaker. In an effort to promote them and other young talent as the new superstars of the ring, the WWF began to play on the age restrictions which former WWF wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage (who by now were working for WCW) now faced. This is best seen in the "Billionaire Ted" parodies of early 1996 (a reference to WCW's owner and patron, media mogul
Ted Turner) which culminated in a "
rasslin'" match during the warm-up to
WrestleMania XII.
Attitude Era
Steve Austin became the new face of the company, starting with his
Austin 3:16 speech, shortly after defeating
Jake Roberts in the tournament finals at the
1996 King of the Ring pay-per-view. The WWF began broadcasting more violence,
swearing, and more edgy angles in its attempt to compete with
World Championship Wrestling. After
Bret Hart left for WCW following the
Montreal Screwjob incident, Vince McMahon used the resulting backlash in the creation of his "Mr. McMahon" character, a dictatorial and fierce ruler who favored
heels who were "good for business" over "misfit" faces like Austin. This, in turn, led to the Austin vs. McMahon feud, which, along with the formation of
D-Generation X, laid the foundation for the Attitude Era. The Attitude Era also featured the established
Monday Night Wars, where both WCW and the WWF had Monday night shows that competed against each other in the ratings. Many new faces came into the WWF such as
Mankind (known then as Cactus Jack from
Extreme Championship Wrestling),
Chris Jericho,
The Rock (then known as Rocky Maivia),
Kane, and the 1996 Olympic gold medalist,
Kurt Angle.
Business advances
On
April 29 1999, the WWF made its return to
terrestrial television by launching a special program known as
SmackDown! on the fledgling
UPN network. The Thursday-night show became a weekly series on
August 26 1999.
On the back of the success of the Attitude Era, on
October 19 1999 the WWF's parent company, Titan Sports (by this time renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc.) became a publicly traded company, offering 10 million shares priced at $17 each. WWF announced its desire to diversify, including creating
a nightclub in Times Square,
producing feature films, and book publishing.
In 2000 the WWF, in collaboration with television network
NBC, announced the creation of the
XFL, a new professional
football league that debuted in 2001. The league had surprisingly 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 primetime 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 a deal with UPN, McMahon shut down the XFL.
Acquisition of WCW and ECW
WCW was in dire straits with the WWF consistently beating them in the ratings war. It only survived because
Ted Turner retained control over it as a result of
Turner Broadcasting System's merger with
Time Warner. After Time Warner merged with
AOL, Turner's power was considerably reduced, and the newly merged company decided to get rid of WCW entirely. In March 2001, WWF Entertainment, Inc. acquired World Championship Wrestling, Inc. from AOL Time Warner for a number reported to be around $7 million. With this purchase, WWF was now the largest wrestling promotion in the world, and the only one in North America with mainstream exposure. It remained so until the launch of
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2002.
The assets of
Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), which had folded after filing for
bankruptcy protection in April 2001, were purchased by WWE in mid-2003.
World Wrestling Entertainment
In 2000, the
World Wildlife Fund (also WWF), an environmental organization now called the World Wide Fund for Nature, sued the World Wrestling Federation. A British court agreed that Titan Sports had violated a 1994 agreement which had limited the permissible use of the WWF initials overseas, particularly in merchandising. On
May 5 2002, the company quietly changed all references on its website from "WWF" to "WWE", while switching the
URL from
WWF.com to
WWE.com. The next day, a press release announced the official name change from
World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. to
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., or WWE, and the change was publicized later that day during a telecast of
Monday Night Raw, which emanated from the
Hartford Civic Center in
Hartford, Connecticut. For a short time, WWE used the slogan "Get The 'F' Out." The company had also been ordered by court to stop using the old WWF Attitude logo on any of its properties and to censor all past references to
WWF, as they no longer owned the trademark to the initials
WWF in 'specified circumstances'. Despite litigation, WWE is still permitted use of the original WWF logo, which was used from 1984 through 1997, as well as the "New WWF Generation" logo, which was used from 1994 through 1998. Furthermore, the company may still make use of the full "World Wrestling Federation" and "World Wrestling Federation Entertainment" names without consequence.
In April 2002, about a month before the name change, WWE decided to create two separate rosters, one on
Raw, the other on
SmackDown! due to the overabundance of talent left over from the
Invasion storyline (which involved talent from the absorbed ECW and WCW rosters interacting in WWF storylines). This is known as the
WWE Brand Extension. Following the Brand Extension, a yearly
Draft Lottery was instituted to exchange members of each roster and generally refresh the lineups.
In late 2005
WWE Raw returned after a brief five-year stint on TNN (now
Spike TV) to its original home
USA Network. In the TNN days, WWE got all advertising revenue during commercial breaks into their own pockets, now on USA Network, USA Network gets all advertising revenue. So, WWE had to invest into other lines of products introducing WWE 24/7, an on-demand subscription-only channel which shows classic wrestling matches from
WWE's vast video library (more than 80,000 hours) and WWE produced content other than wrestling. In 2006, due to contracts with NBC Universal, parent company of USA Network, WWE had the chance to revive its classic Saturday night show
WWE Saturday Night's Main Event (SNME) on
NBC after a thirteen-year hiatus. WWE had the chance to promote the company on a national network and not only on cable channels like
The CW and USA Network. SNME airs occasionally on NBC as a WWE special series.
On
May 26 2006, WWE revived Extreme Championship Wrestling as its third brand. The
new ECW program airs Tuesday nights, on the
Sci Fi Channel. On
September 26 2007, it was announced that WWE would be expanding its international operations. Alongside the current international offices in London and Toronto, a new international office would be established in
Sydney. On
January 21 2008, WWE made the transition to
high-definition (HD). All TV shows and pay-per-views after this were broadcast in HD. In addition, WWE also introduced a new
state of the art set that was used for all three brands.
Wellness Program
The Talent Wellness Program is a comprehensive drug, alcohol, and cardiac screening program exclusive to World Wrestling Entertainment, initiated in February 2006, shortly after the sudden death of one of their highest profile talents, thirty-eight year old
Eddie Guerrero. The policy tests for
recreational drug use and abuse of prescription medication, including
anabolic steroids. The program has fallen under intense scrutiny from branches of the media and professionals in the field of doping, who claim that not only has WWE overlooked, if not, encouraged steroid use prior to these pharmacy busts, but that the steroid testing itself is blatantly misleading. Under WWE drug testing policy, positive test thresholds for anabolic steroids are more than twice that of all other major sporting outfits including the Olympic committee.
WWE is currently under investigation by the
United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform regarding their talent wellness policy, after the
death of one of their performers, Chris Benoit, possibly being linked to steroid abuse.
In August 2007, WWE made the decision to suspend ten professional wrestlers for violating their Wellness Policy after it emerged they were all customers of Signature Pharmacy in
Orlando, Florida. According to a statement attributed to WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt, an eleventh wrestler was later added to the suspension list.
On the other hand, it has been failed to be mentioned in public outside WWE.com that because of the Wellness Policy, physicians were able to diagnose one of their performers with a heart ailment that otherwise would have likely gone unnoticed until it was too late. In August 2007, then-reigning
U.S. Champion MVP was diagnosed with
Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which if gone undiagnosed can be potentially fatal. The ailment was discovered while MVP was going through a routine Wellness Policy checkup.
Expansion beyond wrestling
In addition to licensing wrestling and performers' likenesses to companies such as
Electronic Arts,
THQ and
Jakks Pacific to produce video games and action figures, WWE has moved into other areas of interest in order to market their product.
- WWE Films: A subsidiary of WWE created in 2002 to create and develop feature film properties for the professional wrestlers within the company.
- WWE Niagara Falls: A retail and entertainment establishment that's located in Niagara Falls, Ontario and owned by WWE.
- WWE Records: A subsidiary that specializes in compilation albums of WWE wrestlers' entrance themes. Also releases titles that have been actually performed by the wrestlers themselves.
- WWE Home Video: A subsidiary that specializes in distributing compilation VHS and DVD copies of WWE pay-per-view events, compilations of WWE wrestlers' performances, and biographies of WWE performers.
- WWE Books: A subsidiary of WWE that serves to publish autobiographies of and fiction based on WWE personalities, behind-the-scenes guides to WWE, illustrated books, calendars, young adult books, and other general nonfiction books.
Key people
Executive officers
Vincent K. McMahon (Chairman)
Linda E. McMahon (CEO)
Michael Sileck (Chief Operating Officer)
Shane B. McMahon (Executive Vice President, Global Media)
Kevin Dunn (Executive Vice President, Television Production)
Frank G. Serpe (Chief Financial Officer)
Donna Goldsmith (Executive Vice President, Consumer Products)
Geof Rochester (Executive Vice President, Marketing)
Stephanie McMahon-Levesque (Executive Vice President, Talent and Creative Writing)
Edward L. Kaufman (Executive Vice President and General Counsel)
John Laurinaitis (Senior Vice President, Talent Relations)
Michael Lake (President, WWE Films)
Board of directors
Vincent K. McMahon (Chairman of the Board of Directors - WWE)
Linda E. McMahon (Chief Executive Officer - WWE)[
Michael Sileck (Chief Operating Officer - WWE)][
Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. (Former Governor of the State of Connecticut and United States Senator)][
David Kenin (Executive Vice President of Programming - Hallmark Channel)][
Joseph Perkins (President - Communications Consultants, Inc.)][
Michael B. Solomon (Managing Principal - Gladwyne Partners, LLC)][
Robert A. Bowman (Chief Executive Officer - Major League Baseball Advanced Media)][
]Current title holders
Current champions
Current accomplishments
Current developmental territory champions
Defunct championships
WWE Cruiserweight Championship (1991-2007)1
WWE Hardcore Championship (1998-2002)
WWE European Championship (1997-2002)
WCW World Heavyweight Championship (2001)2
WCW World Tag Team Championship (2001)2
WWF Light Heavyweight Championship (1981-2001) (recognized officially 1997-2001)
WWF Million Dollar Championship (1989-1992, 1995-1996)
WWF Intercontinental Tag Team Championship (1991)
WWF Women's Tag Team Championship (1983-1989)
WWF Canadian Championship (1985-1986)
WWF International Heavyweight Championship (1959-1963, 1982-1985)
WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship (1967-1985)
WWF International Tag Team Championship (1969-1985)
WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship (1978-1985)
WWF North American Heavyweight Championship (1979-1981)
WWWF United States Championship (1970-1975)
WWWF United States Tag Team Championship (1963-1967)
1WCW Cruiserweight title from 1991 to 2002
2Acquisition of WCW and ECW.
Further Information
Get more info on 'World Wrestling Entertainment'.
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