History of WWE

WWE

The history of the WWE dates back to the early 1950s, and today, as the world's largest professional wrestling promotion, it is one that contains the most significant parts of professional wrestling history itself.

World Wide Wrestling Federation

The official WWWF logo from 1963 to 1979

The NWA recognized an undisputed NWA World Heavyweight Champion that went to several different wrestling companies in the alliance and defended the belt around the world. The NWA generally promoted strong shooters as champions, to give their worked sport credibility and guard against double-crosses. While doing strong business in the Midwest (the Alliance's core region), these wrestlers attracted little interest in the Capitol territory. In 1961, the NWA board decided instead to put the belt on bleach blonde showman "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, a much more effective drawing card in the region. 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 of that year, 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.

Bruno Sammartino, signing papers from Kathy Segal, was the all-time longest-reigning WWE Champion and one of the most prolific wrestlers in the sport.

André the Giant (middle right), King Kong Bundy (center), Hillbilly Jim (right turnbuckle), and Big John Studd (middle corner).

A month after Rogers lost the title to Bruno Sammartino in a New York City match that lasted 48 seconds, Sammartino would retain the title for seven years, eight months, and one day, making his the longest continuous world title reign in men's wrestling history. At this time, and for most of this era, Sammartino was the face of the company, but some of fellow wrestlers such as Superstar Billy Graham and Bob Backlund were also popular. The WWWF gained notoriety in the 1970s by holding their biggest shows at Shea Stadium or Madison Square Garden and doing strong business across the entire Northeast megalopolis. They leveraged former, but still popular, wrestlers such as Captain Lou Albano, Ernie Roth and "Classy" Freddie 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 a single month-long program before dropping it to the next babyface. Graham was the only heel character to keep his title for longer than one month, as the company felt it needed time to build Backlund up as championship material.

The WWWF was relatively conservative for territories of its day; running its major arenas monthly rather than weekly or bi-weekly. Programs generally involved a babyface champion facing a heel challenger for one to three meetings in each programmed town; for longer programs the heel would often win the first match in a non-decisive manner such as a count-out or via blood loss, and the champion would then retain in a brawling-type blow-off match such as a steel cage match or Texas Death Match. Unlike most territories, the main event would occur in the middle of the arena show cards, allowing the company to build upon the match's finish in order to sell tickets to the next event; reliable, popular workers such as Chief Jay Strongbow would then wrestle at the end of the show to send the crowd home happy. The company also featured popular wrestlers based out of non-WWWF territories such as Dusty Rhodes, and retained the services of (at the time) the most popular and highly paid wrestler in the world, André the Giant, in between his territorial and international obligations.

Toots Mondt left the WWWF in the late sixties, and Vincent J. McMahon rejoined the 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 the 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

1984–1992: The Golden Era & Rise of Hulkamania

Main article: 1980s professional wrestling boom

Vince McMahon

In 1980, Vincent K. McMahon, the son of Vincent J. 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 the younger McMahon wanted 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 U.S. Northern Midwest. To become a national promotion, WWF would have to become bigger than any promotion under the AWA or the NWA.

McMahon'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 his father's wishes. McMahon signed Rowdy Roddy Piper as Hogan's rival, and shortly afterward signed Jesse "The Body" Ventura. Other wrestlers took part of the roster, such as André the Giant, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, The Magnificent Muraco, Junkyard Dog, "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik.

Hulk Hogan (left) and Brutus Beefcake (right) were one of the mainstays of 1980's WWF wrestling.

In 1984, Hogan was pushed to main-event status when he was announced as the number one contender for the Iron Sheik's WWF Championship. He defeated the Iron Sheik at Madison Square Garden on January 23, 1984 and thus evolved into one of the most recognizable and popular faces in sports-entertainment.

With reasonable revenue being made, McMahon was able to secure television deals, and WWF was being shown across the United States. McMahon also began selling videotapes of WWF events outside the Northeast through his Coliseum Video distribution company. This angered other promoters and disrupted the well-established 'boundaries' of the different wrestling promotions. The syndication of WWF programming forced promotions to come into direct competition with WWF. The increased revenue allowed McMahon to sign more talent, such as Randy "Macho Man" Savage, Brutus Beefcake, Tito Santana, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, The Honky Tonk Man, the British Bulldogs and The Hart Foundation.

McMahon knew that in order to be a truly national promotion the WWF would have to actually tour the nation. Such a venture was impossible with the revenue WWF currently had, and McMahon envisioned a way to obtain the necessary capital through a risky all-or-nothing gamble on a 'sports entertainment' concept, WrestleMania, in 1985. 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 Starrcade. However, McMahon's vision was to make WWF and the industry itself mainstream, targeting more of the general television audience by exploiting the entertainment side of the industry. With the inaugural WrestleMania, WWF initiated a joint-promotional campaign with MTV, which featured a great deal of WWF coverage and programming, in what was termed the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection. The mainstream media attention brought on by celebrities including Muhammad Ali, Mr. T, and Cyndi Lauper at the event helped propel WrestleMania to become a staple in popular culture, and the use of celebrities has been a staple of the company to the present day.

With the success of WrestleMania, other promotions which tried hard to keep the regional territory system alive started to merge under Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). Starrcade and The Great American Bash were the JCP versions of WrestleMania, but even when operating outside of its territory, JCP had trouble matching the success of WWF. After Ted Turner purchased majority of JCP's assets, the promotion would eventually become World Championship Wrestling (WCW), providing WWF with a competitor until 2001, when WCW and its trademarks were legitimately purchased by WWF. WrestleMania would become an annual pay-per-view phenomenon, being broadcast in nearly 150 countries and in almost 20 different languages.

McMahon's focus on entertainment rather than sports, a policy that became the concept of sports entertainment, led to great financial success for WWF. During the 1980s, Hogan would cross into mainstream as an all-American hero. Hogan and McMahon carried professional wrestling into success that was truly considered a sport. Hogan's time as face of WWF would last until he left in 1993. Hogan was not the sole reason for success of WWF, but rather the company's biggest draw. Other stars such as Piper, Savage, the Ultimate Warrior, Steamboat, Roberts, Orndorff, Volkoff and the Iron Sheik all helped make WWF a financial success. While these talents where recognisable as individuals, some talent became known for their teamwork as tag teams. Stables or groups such as Demolition, Strike Force, The Hart Foundation, the British Bulldogs, The Rockers and The Fabulous Rougeaus helped create a strong tag-team division for WWF over its competitors; which by now where few.

The 1980s 'Wrestling Boom' peaked with WrestleMania III at the Pontiac Silverdome, which set an attendance record of 93,173. McMahon used the success of WrestleMania to create more pay-per-views, and traditions such as SummerSlam, Survivor Series and Royal Rumble were created, each with its unique stipulation match.

1993–1997: The New Generation

Main article: Monday Night Wars

Sycho Sid was a top prospect in WWF, managing to earn the WWF Championship by defeating the champion at the time, Shawn Michaels.

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 reported financial losses 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 WCW. Therefore, WWF decided to push younger stars into the spotlight. Stars like Bret "Hitman" Hart, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Diesel, Lex Luger, Yokozuna and The Undertaker all became the stars of what WWF branded the "New Generation".

New WWF Champion Bret Hart became one of the popular stars of this period until early 1996 when he lost a 60-minute Iron Man match to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XII for the WWF Championship. Hart would take some time off and return to action later that year. Meanwhile, WWF saw an unlikely draw in the form of Stone Cold Steve Austin, who previously wrestled in WCW and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). 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 wrestling as a heel, Austin's popularity exceeded those of the top faces in the promotion. His face turn went full circle at WrestleMania 13, when he lost to Bret Hart in a submission match via knockout, having vowed never to tap out to Hart's Sharpshooter. However, Austin's career push was marred by a neck injury sustained at SummerSlam 1997 when Owen Hart botched a piledriver during their match for the Intercontinental title.

Another event that occurred during this era was the famous Monday Night Wars. In 1993, WWF created their prime time cable TV program WWF Monday Night Raw on USA Network. Two years later, WCW countered with WCW Monday Nitro on TNT. In mid-1996, WCW began its two years of ratings domination, principally caused by the introduction of the New World Order (nWo), a stable led by former WWF performers Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall (a.k.a. Razor Ramon), and Kevin Nash (a.k.a. Diesel).

Despite having high quality talent and in-ring performances not seen since 1980, WWF continued to lose profits as a result of the WCW's aggressive marketing tactics. This period of financial difficulties was made worse when the infamous "Montreal Screwjob" resulted in Bret Hart leaving WWF for the WCW in 1997.

1997–2001: The Attitude Era

Main article: The Attitude Era

See also: Montreal Screwjob

In the mid-1990s, WWF continued to lose much of its leading talent to WCW, including Ted DiBiase, Curt Hennig, Rick Rude and reigning WWF Women's Champion Alundra Blayza. Bret Hart, having just signed a long-term contract with WWF, began to doubt his future with the promotion when WCW offered him a more lucrative deal. At the 1997 Survivor Series, a real-life controversy occurred when McMahon forced referee Earl Hebner to call for the bell to ring and end the match as Shawn Michaels held Hart in the Sharpshooter submission hold (which was Hart's signature finishing move), even though Hart was close to reversing the hold. Michaels was declared the winner of the match and the new WWF Champion. Hart left WWF and joined rivals WCW. This incident was later known as the Montreal Screwjob. After that incident, McMahon created the "Mr. McMahon" character; a villainous dictatorial persona used to improvise on the heat McMahon received from costing Hart the match.

WWF continued to lose other talent and experience financial burdens. On December 15th 1997, Vince Mcmahon aired a promo on RAW addressing the audience on a new direction the company was taking. He stated the WWF had embarked on a 'far more innovative and contemporary campaign', which would advise parent discretion for a younger audience. A month before, WWF debuted the 'scratch' logo which would be the company's signature all throughout the Attitude Era. Soon after, to regain popularity, they replaced former WWF talent with former WCW talent such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, Vader, Mankind and Triple H. In January 1998, WWF had invited boxer Mike Tyson to their shows and even placed him 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 WWF: The Rock, Triple H, and Kane strengthened WWF's singles division while stables such as D-Generation X and Nation of Domination helped fortify its tag team division. WWF was able to target a more adult-aged audience and featured heavy violence, sexual themes, strong language, blood, and adult-oriented entertainment that helped it compete with WCW's reality-based storylines. During this time, Austin became the face of WWF and his character began to represent the Attitude Era, most principally from his infamous rivalry with Mr. McMahon. This feud helped WWF rebound in its ratings and popularity, with Raw finally beating Nitro for the first time in 84 weeks. The creation of several types of matches, such as the Hell in a Cell, also helped WWF draw more fans. On September 27, 1999, Raw achieved its highest viewership rating of 8.4 with a "This Is Your Life" segment featuring The Rock and Mankind.

The Rock was one of the most popular wrestlers of the Attitude Era, as well as having seen a successful movie acting career.

The Attitude Era saw WWF expand its television coverage and its business structure. During this period, WWF's parent company Titan Sports was renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. (WWFE Inc. or WWFE) and on October 19, 1999 became a publicly traded company, offering 10 million shares priced at US$17 each. On April 29, 1999, WWF launched a secondary program known as WWF SmackDown! on the UPN network to compete with WCW Thunder. In 2000, WWF, in collaboration with television network NBC, created XFL, a new professional football league. XFL, however, was a failure, having only lasted a single year before closing its doors.

Head writer Chris Kreski replaced Vince Russo, who defected to WCW in 1999. Kreski's 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/Angle/Stephanie McMahon love triangle, and a TLC feud between the Hardy Boyz, Edge & 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.

Prior to WrestleMania 2000, the McMahon family had gone into an on-screen rivalry with each other, setting up the "McMahon in Every Corner" Fatal 4 Way elimination main event between The Big Show (managed by McMahon's son Shane McMahon), The Rock (managed by Mr. McMahon), Triple H (managed by his wife and McMahon's daughter Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley), and future WWF Commissioner Mick Foley (managed by McMahon's wife Linda McMahon). Triple H won after Mr. 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. Austin would go on to win the next year's Royal Rumble match and come out victorious against The Rock for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania X-Seven with help from his former rival, Mr. McMahon.

The WCW/ECW "Alliance" Invasion and the nWo

Main article: The Invasion (professional wrestling)

Main article: New World Order (professional wrestling)

In the InVasion storyline, Shane McMahon (kayfabe) acquired World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and WCW personnel invaded WWF. For the first time since the Monday Night Wars, 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 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 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 Kurt Angle defeated Austin in Angle's Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania hometown to win the WWF Championship, celebrating in the ring with his legitimate family members after the match. At Survivor Series 2001, WWF finally defeated WCW and ECW in a "Winner Takes All Match" and this concluded the angle. In the aftermath of the Invasion angle, 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 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 WWF with Ric Flair, and wanting to 'inject' 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 WWF fans refused to recognize Hogan as a heel and right after his match with The Rock at WrestleMania 18 Hulkamania was reborn.

World Wrestling Entertainment

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 "scratch" logo. The company adopted a new "scratch" logo and to facilitate public awareness of the change, WWE adopted the slogan "Get the 'F' Out". The last-ever WWF-branded pay-per-view event was the UK-exclusive Insurrextion 2002.

2002–2007: Brand Extension & Ruthless Aggression Era

The Undertaker was another popular figure in WWE. He currently holds the WrestleMania streak of 21–0 and has two personas throughout his career.

Main article: WWE Brand Extension

In 2002, with an excess of talent exmployed as a result of having purchased WCW and ECW, WWE needed a way to provide exposure for all of its talent. This problem was solved by introducing a 'Brand Extension', with the roster split in half and the talent assigned to either Raw or SmackDown in a mock draft lottery. Wrestlers, commentators and referees became show-exclusive, the shows were given separate on-screen General Managers and eventually, following the creation of the World Heavyweight Championship, the titles became show-exclusive too. Additionally, both Raw and SmackDown began to stage individual pay-per-view events featuring only performers from that brand – only the major four pay-per-views Royal Rumble, (WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series) remained dual-branded. The practice of single-brand pay-per-view events was abandoned following WrestleMania 23. In effect, Raw and SmackDown were operated as two distinct promotions, with a 'draft lottery' taking place each year to determine which talent was assigned to each brand. This lasted until 2011, when the rosters were merged and the Brand Extension was quietly phased out.

Two of the top stars of the Attitude Era, Steve Austin and The Rock, left the company and were eventually replaced by newcomers such as Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton, who became the youngest WWE Champion and the youngest World Heavyweight Champion respectively, John Cena, Rey Mysterio, and Batista, while the likes of Edge, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, JBL were also given main event opportunities.

Goldberg made his WWE wrestling debut at Backlash 2003, defeating The Rock in the main event. The match would be The Rock's last in-ring appearance until WrestleMania XX.

In 2002 and 2003, WWE attempted to bring to prominence several WCW stars, such as the nWo, Eric Bischoff, Booker T, Scott Steiner, Goldberg and Ric Flair. The Great American Bash, originally a WCW pay-per-view event, made a return in WWE.

The biggest breakout star of the Brand Extension was John Cena. Using a gimmick of a wigger, Cena quickly proved popular, receiving a WWE Championship match against Brock Lesnar at Backlash in 2003, having a major feud with The Undertaker during the summer, and featuring on the poster of the 2004 Royal Rumble. At WrestleMania 21, Cena won the first of his 14 world championships when he defeated JBL for the WWE Championship. Cena's popularity soared when he was drafted to Raw, where he quickly became the face of WWE, A rise not seen since Rock, Austin and Hogan. Cena's popularity has led to him becoming the all-time record 'wish maker' for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, with 300 wishes as of June 2012.

John Cena was one of the major stars to emerge following the Attitude Era.

Following the short-term return of Hulk Hogan in 2005, the popular 90's group D-Generation X reunited with founding members Triple H and Shawn Michaels in 2006 and had major feuds with The Spirit Squad, The McMahon Family, and the newly established Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton), which ended prematurely when Triple H suffered a torn quadriceps muscle.

Money in the Bank

Main article: Money in the Bank ladder match

The concept for the Money in the Bank match was introduced in March 2005 by Chris Jericho. He pitched the idea on an episode of Raw to general manager Eric Bischoff, who liked it and promptly signed it for WrestleMania 21 naming Jericho, Christian, Chris Benoit, Edge, Shelton Benjamin, and Kane to participate in the match. Edge won the inaugural match, and since, the match has been seen as a way to help elevate new stars to the main event, with winners such as Edge, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and Alberto Del Rio helping to fill the void left by the departures of former stars. The match format was original exclusive to the annual WrestleMania until 2010, when the Money in the Bank PPV was débuted. To date, only two superstars have failed to cash-in successfully - John Cena and Damien Sandow.

The return of ECW

Main article: ECW (WWE)

By 2005, WWE began reintroducing Extreme Championship Wrestling (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 were classified as being contested under "Extreme Rules" and were only fought when specified otherwise. The brand would continue to operate until February 16, 2010, when the brand was rendered defunct.

2008-Present: Universe Era & End of the Brand Extension

In 2008, WWE acknowledged that 60% of its audience was now made up of women and children. This was made possible due to WWE's gradual shift in programming content during the later part of 2006 and 2007 towards family-friendly programming. This shift in programming content included doing away with most of the "vulgar" language, heavy violence and adult themes that gave it a TV-14 rating. During this period, WWE attempted to gain popularity with a mainstream audience by inviting celebrities to be the guest host of Raw. In 2009 WWE began referring to its live audience and viewers at home as the WWE Universe.

In 2010, Bret Hart returned to WWE after a 13 year absence, where he reconciled with Shawn Michaels on screen. At WrestleMania XXVI, Michaels retired following a loss to The Undertaker. Fellow top performer, Edge retired a year later. In early 2011, The Rock returned to WWE when he was announced as the host for WrestleMania XXVII. He started a cross-generational feud with John Cena, defeating him in a match one year later at WrestleMania XXVIII. In 2011, CM Punk, who had become a top star during the summer, defeated Alberto Del Rio at Survivor Series, and would hold the title for 434 days before losing to The Rock at Royal Rumble (2013), a reign recognised by WWE as the sixth-longest reigning champion of all time.

In August 2011, WWE effectively ended the Brand Extension when they gave Raw the tagline "SuperShow", meaning wrestlers could appear on any show. WWE held 9 draft lotteries.

As of Raw's 1,000th episode, airing on July 23, 2012, WWE Raw removed the "SuperShow" tagline as well as becoming a three-hour broadcast, extended from two-hours, a format that had previously been reserved for special episodes.

The launch of NXT

Wade Barrett as the leader of the Nexus, was the first winner of NXT.

Main articles: WWE NXT (TV series) and WWE NXT

On February 23, 2010 launched a new programme on SyFy, called NXT. The premise of the show was a reality-like show which saw 8 new stars (Rookies) being mentored by Superstars from the main roster (Pros), and ran for just over three months, with the last episode of the first season being on June 1, 2010. The winner of the season was Wade Barrett, mentored by Chris Jericho. 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, Daniel Bryan strangled ring announcer Justin Roberts with the announcer's own tie, which WWE reportedly felt was too violent for their family-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.

NXT lasted for a further 3 complete seasons, which were won resepectively by Kaval, Kaitlyn, and Johnny Curtis. A fifth season, dubbed NXT Redemption and featuring former NXT participants, never announced a winner and quietly ended with Derrick Bateman being the sole remaining participant. Eventually, the show morphed into both a television show and WWE's new official development territory, replacing Florida Championship Wrestling, and is permanently located at Full Sail University.

Other

Legends program and WWE Hall of Fame

Main article: 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 death of Eddie Guerrero

Main article: Eddie Guerrero

Eddie Guerrero as one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions.

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.

Chris Benoit's double-murder and suicide

Main article: Chris Benoit double murder and suicide

Chris Benoit, who was often considered one of the greatest technical wrestlers in professional wrestling, as the WWE United States Champion.

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 committed by Chris Benoit the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform began investigating WWE regarding their 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 US$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.

Smackdown

The WWE Smackdown stage, an example of the universal WWE High Definition stage set.

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. Since closing down their social media website, WWE has created accounts on popular social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tout, and Instagram.

WWE Network

Main article: 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 would come out sometime in Fall 2012, but as of Autumn 2013 no news on the network has been announced.

Charity Work

Starting in 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. The widespread pinkwashing continued into 2013, this time with a wider variety of superstar merchandising.

See also

• WWE

External links

• Official WWE website
• Official RAW website
• Official SmackDown website
• Official NXT website
• Official WWE Corporate website
• Official Japanese WWE website
• WWE Stock
• Official WWE Merchandise Shop