Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: When did WWE wrestling start?
The history of WWE dates back to the early 1950s when it was founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt in 1952 as Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC). It underwent several name changes throughout the years, from World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) to World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002.
Rumors circulated that WWE was looking to relocate its developmental talent. The main reason given being location of OVW being a main factor with WWE's talent relations not wanting to have to travel to Kentucky with the preferred location being Florida where many of them lived. Deep South Wrestling was established in Georgia but did not last long as it was never able to reach the popularity in its market that OVW had in Louisville. In 2007 the rumors were proven true when WWE helped fund Florida Championship Wrestling in Tampa, Florida.
For years, WWE has engaged in a campaign of purchasing libraries of defunct wrestling promotions. The first significant purchases took place in 2001, when they bought the complete historical archives of their former competitor World Championship Wrestling. The purchase of the Extreme Championship Wrestling intellectual unit and library during its bankruptcy proceedings in 2003 gave the company the majority of all national professional wrestling content available at the time.Throughout its history, WWE has had a long relationship with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). For many decades, until the mid-1980s, the NWA acted as a governing body of the many various regional wrestling promotions, and membership allowed for decreased regional competition and the shared use of big-name stars for local events. WWE (as Capitol Wrestling) was a member of the NWA between 1952 and 1963, and again (as the WWWF) between 1971 and 1983. In 1998, WWE (as the WWF) hosted NWA matches on its programming.
Chaotic Wrestling has been described as a “feeder fed[eration]” for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Because of this relationship, WWE has been known to contact CW when they are in need of people to appear on WWE programming. Chaotic Wrestling was selected in 2006 to host a large WWE tryout session, and several Chaotic Wrestling competitors, including Kofi Kingston, were later employed by WWE. Former Chaotic Wrestling referee and booker Todd Sinclair has also worked for WWE and currently works for Ring of Honor.
Haddad started wrestling in 2001, and began appearing for WWE in 2002 as Aaron Stevens on "Heat". From 2003 to 2006, Haddad wrestled in WWE's developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). In 2006, Haddad reappeared on the WWE main roster as Idol Stevens, teaming with KC James and allying with Michelle McCool. In 2007, Haddad was released from WWE, first embarking on a return to OVW, no longer WWE's official developmental territory, in 2008 and then from 2009 to 2010, wrestling in Puerto Rico for World Wrestling Council (WWC).
WWE talent contracts range from developmental contracts to multi-year deals. They primarily appeared on WWE television programming, pay-per-views, and live events, and talent with developmental contracts appeared at NXT (formerly Florida Championship Wrestling), or they appeared at WWE's former training facilities: Deep South Wrestling, Heartland Wrestling Association, International Wrestling Association, Memphis Championship Wrestling, Ohio Valley Wrestling, or others. When talent is released of their contract, it could be for a budget cut, the individual asking for their release, for personal reasons, time off for an injury, or retirement. In some cases, talent has died while they were contracted, such as Brian Pillman, Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero, and Chris Benoit.
The "PMG Clash of Legends" had originally been scheduled to take place in the Mid-South Coliseum. However, the Mid-South Coliseum was closed in late 2005 due to failure to comply with disabled accessibility regulations. When the FedExForum was chosen as a replacement, the operators of the FedExForum contacted WWE, which had in the past held events in the FedExForum, to ensure that WWE did not object to an alternative professional wrestling promotion staging an event there. WWE did not object to the event taking place. Following the announcement that Lawler would not be allowed to wrestle at the event, WWE offered to refund Maclin's deposit on the rental of the FedExForum. He declined.
WWE talents' contracts range from developmental contracts to multi-year deals. They primarily appeared on WWE television programming, pay-per-views, and live events, and talent with developmental contracts appeared at NXT (formerly Florida Championship Wrestling), or they appeared at WWE's former training facilities: Deep South Wrestling, Heartland Wrestling Association, International Wrestling Association, Memphis Championship Wrestling, or Ohio Valley Wrestling. When talent is released of their contract, it could be for a budget cut, the individual asking for their release, for personal reasons, time off from an injury, or retirement. In some cases, talent has died while they were contracted, such as Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero, and Chris Benoit.
In September 2011, WWE officially announced plans to launch the WWE Network in 2011 as a pay-TV channel.[8] WWE then conducted a survey asking people if they would pay for the WWE Network if it were a premium channel. In an email sent to WWE fans who might be interested in the WWE Network, WWE surveyed fans for their thoughts about the WWE Network airing WWE's pay-per-views to subscribers for no additional charge. The survey also noted that feature repeats of Raw and SmackDown, as well as footage from World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), XFL, Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), American Wrestling Association (AWA), and WWE movies would also make the lineup. Original programming was also noted in the survey.[9][10]
In May 2002, the World Wrestling Federation became known as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and therefore the magazine was changed accordingly to "WWE Magazine" starting with the June 2002 issue.
Marasciulo began his professional wrestling career at New York Wrestling Connection in 2004 before signing to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He worked in WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) in drag as The Girl from Mexico. Marasciulo debuted on WWE's main roster in 2009 as Trent Barreta and was one half of the Dude Busters with Caylen Croft. After teaming with Croft, he began wrestling as a lower-card singles competitor and was released from his WWE contract in 2013. After his release from WWE, Marasciulo started wrestling in wrestling promotions including Pro Wrestling Guerilla, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Ring of Honor.
WWE talents' contracts range from developmental contracts to multi-year deals. They primarily appeared on WWE television programming, pay-per-views, and live events, and talent with developmental contracts appeared at NXT (formerly Florida Championship Wrestling), or they appeared at WWE's former training facilities: Deep South Wrestling, Heartland Wrestling Association, International Wrestling Association, Memphis Championship Wrestling, or Ohio Valley Wrestling. When talent is released of their contract, it could be for a budget cut, the individual asking for their release, for personal reasons, time off from an injury, or retirement. In some cases, talent has died while they were contracted, such as Brian Pillman, Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero, and Chris Benoit.
WWE talents' contracts range from developmental contracts to multi-year deals. They primarily appeared on WWE television programming, pay-per-views, and live events, and talent with developmental contracts appeared at NXT (formerly Florida Championship Wrestling), or they appeared at WWE's former training facilities: Deep South Wrestling, Heartland Wrestling Association, International Wrestling Association, Memphis Championship Wrestling, or Ohio Valley Wrestling. When talent is released of their contract, it could be for a budget cut, the individual asking for their release, for personal reasons, time off from an injury, or retirement. In some cases, talent has died while they were contracted, such as Brian Pillman, Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero, and Chris Benoit.
The title was introduced on August 12, 1992 to Eastern Championship Wrestling, as the promotion was then known, as the Eastern Championship Wrestling Television Championship. ECW was a member of the NWA until seceding from that organisation, in September 1994 and becoming Extreme Championship Wrestling. The title then became known as the Extreme Championship Wrestling World Television Championship. The title continued to be defended until April 2001, when ECW closed down. ECW's assets were subsequently purchased by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In 2006, WWE relaunched the ECW franchise as a WWE brand that remained active until 2010, but did not bring back the title, choosing only to revive the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.
Arndt had no prior wrestling experience before WWE signed him. He had trained with Joe DeFranco at the DeFranco's Training Systems gym in Wyckoff, New Jersey since the age of 16. By chance, WWE executive Triple H also started training with DeFranco; Arndt, a lifelong fan of professional wrestling, made a compilation video of himself doing various exercises and cutting a promo. When DeFranco showed the video to Triple H, Arndt was given a tryout at WWE, ultimately resulting in his signing. In August 2012, WWE signed Arndt, who then started using the ring name Eric Anthony. In November 2012, he was given the ring name of Enzo Amore when he debuted in WWE's developmental system NXT as a wrestler.
Williams was working for promotions in the United States when World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) scouted her, and invited her to a tryout in June 2004. In November, she trained at WWE's then-developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), and WWE signed her to a contract in late 2004. She was assigned to wrestle and train in another WWE developmental territory, Deep South Wrestling (DSW). Williams began managing Johnny Parisi in the summer of 2005. On the September 8, 2005 episode of "DSW TV", Williams made her in-ring debut by defeating Michelle McCool. On September 22, Williams was scheduled to wrestle against McCool, but MCcool never showed up. Instead Daisy Mae came out, challenged Williams and Williams defeated Mae in a singles match. At the February 9, 2006 episode of "DSW TV", Williams participated in the first ever Bikini Contest in DSW. She did not reveal her bikini because Palmer Cannon interrupted, which led to a match, where Love managed Cannon against Tommy Dreamer. On February 28, she underwent knee surgery in Birmingham, Alabama to repair a torn ACL. After almost seven months of rehab, she stepped back into the ring at a DSW TV taping. At the beginning of November 2006, Williams started managing The Gymini, but The Gymini were released from their contracts in January 2007.
The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the original world title of the Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion, later used in WWE as the world title of the ECW brand and one of three in WWE, complementing the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship. It was introduced as the ECW Heavyweight Championship on April 25, 1992. Originally a part of the Eastern Championship Wrestling promotion, which joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) on September 18, 1993. It was established as a world heavyweight championship in August 1994 following the promotion's secession from the NWA. The promotion became Extreme Championship Wrestling and the title became the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. It remained active until April 11, 2001 when ECW was closed and WWE subsequently purchased its assets. WWE relaunched ECW as a WWE brand in June 2006 with the title being recommissioned and designated as the ECW brand's world title. The brand dissolved February 16, 2010, rendering the title inactive.
In late 2004, Cvjetkovich wrestled a number of dark matches for World Wrestling Entertainment. Debuting for WWE's developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling in December 2006, Cvjetkovich wrestled a number of matches which continued into the summer of 2007, at the suggestion of Al Snow, in hopes of earning a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment. Cvjetkovich was signed to a WWE developmental contract on July 12, 2007. With WWE starting to shift its developmental territory to the newly formed Florida Championship Wrestling, Cvjetkovich reported there instead of OVW. On October 13, 2007, Cvjetkovich made his Florida Championship Wrestling debut under the name Sinn Bowdee, losing to Mariousz Jablonski. While in FCW, Cvjetkovich wrestled and feuded with several wrestlers that later achieved success in WWE such as Evan Bourne, Jack Swagger, Justin Gabriel, Kofi Kingston and Sheamus to name only a few. Bodhi continued to wrestle in FCW even after his debut on the main roster. Bodhi was known as a creative wrestler and helped Windham Rotunda create the Bray Wyatt mythos.
The WWE Women's Championship was a women's professional wrestling championship in the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWF/E) promotion. The lineage of the Women's Championship dates back to September 18, 1956, when The Fabulous Moolah became the NWA World Women's Champion. The WWE did not exist at that time, and although they did not create their own women's championship until 1984 with The Fabulous Moolah as the first WWF Women's Champion, they claim 1956 for the championship's establishment and do not recognize any title changes from when Moolah became champion in 1956 until she lost it in 1984. This made the Women's Championship the oldest active professional wrestling championship in World Wrestling Entertainment history until its retirement in 2010 after unification with the WWE Divas Championship. The final champion was Layla.
The Road Warriors made appearances in the video games "WCW Wrestling", "WWF WrestleFest", the SNES version of "WWF Super WrestleMania", "Legends of Wrestling", "Legends of Wrestling II", and "" as well as in the THQ wrestling games "WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain", "WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw", "WWE Legends of WrestleMania", "WWE '12" , "WWE '13" and "WWE All Stars".
Many of these title changes were not aired for up to several weeks after they took place. As these shows were aired in an era before the Internet, the previous title holder sometimes defended his title at house shows as though he were still the champion until the title change was aired on television.The commentary team on "Superstars" underwent many changes as the years passed. The hosts of "Superstars" are listed below in chronological order along with their debut episode.
WWE abandoned the "Superstars of Wrestling" trademark when they changed the show's name to "WWF Superstars" in the early 1990s. Albert Patterson, a Wisconsin independent wrestling promoter, successfully trademarked the phrase in 1993. Although there has been litigation between the WWE and Patterson, WWE has not been able to settle with Patterson for the usage of ""Superstars of Wrestling"". Due to this issue, WWE blurs the "Superstars of Wrestling" banners when archival content is shown on the WWE Network.
On September 18, 1956, The Fabulous Moolah became the third NWA World Women's Champion. At that time, the WWE did not exist and did not become a company until 1963 when it was established as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). Moolah, who bought the rights to the championship in the 1970s, defended the championship as the NWA World Women's Champion up until May 19, 1984; by this time, the WWWF had been renamed to World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 1983, the WWF disaffiliated with the NWA and Moolah sold the championship's rights to the WWF in 1984, and she was recognized as the WWF Women's Champion. Instead of beginning her reign in 1984, the WWF claimed the lineage of her reign from when she first became champion in 1956. The preceding champions and the title changes between 1956 and when Moolah lost it in 1984 are not recognized by WWE (although they are recognized by the NWA). As a result, The Fabulous Moolah's first reign is considered to have lasted 28 years by the promotion.
WWE Libraries Inc. (branded as WWE Legacy Department) is a WWE-owned subsidiary that consists of the largest collection of professional wrestling videos and copyrights in the world. It is comprised not only of past and current works by WWE (formerly the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, World Wide Wrestling Federation, World Wrestling Federation, and World Wrestling Entertainment) but the works of now defunct professional wrestling promotions dating back to the 1940s. As of 2014, the library stands at 150,000 hours of content including weekly television shows, pay-per-views, and recorded house shows. The collection represents a very significant portion of the visual history of modern professional wrestling in the United States and Canada. WWE has made their classic holdings available through numerous home-video releases, the "WWE Vintage" television program, and the WWE Network.
Yamamoto started his professional wrestling career under his real name in October 2002 with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he remained until 2007, when he signed with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In 2009, Yamamoto left WWE's developmental territory to join the promotion's main roster under the ring name Yoshi Tatsu. After his June 2014 release from WWE, Yamamoto returned to NJPW the following October, performing under the tweaked ring name . Following his departure from NJPW in late 2017, he became a freelancer and started working most notably for All Japan Pro Wrestling.
Punk did not appear on the January 27 episode of "Raw", nor did he appear at the "SmackDown" taping on Tuesday despite being advertised for the event. By Wednesday, WWE.com stopped advertising Punk for future events. "The Wrestling Observer" reported that on Monday and prior to "Raw" he had legitimately walked out after telling Vince McMahon and Triple H that he was "going home". On February 20 during a conference call to investors, McMahon said Punk was "taking a sabbatical". On the March 3 episode of "Raw", WWE acknowledged Punk's absence on television when the show started with Punk's entrance music playing, only for former manager Paul Heyman to walk out. WWE proceeded to remove Punk from footage of their promotional videos. This lasted until the first half of July, where WWE used footage of Punk to promote the WWE Network. In an interview published in late May, Punk was asked how it felt "to be retired at 35" and replied that "it feels good". On July 15, WWE.com moved Punk from the active roster to the alumni page without releasing a statement. On the same day, Punk thanked his fans without mentioning WWE. In late July, Punk said that he was "never ever" going to return to wrestling.
On an episode of Colt Cabana's "Art of Wrestling" podcast released in November 2014, Punk broke his silence regarding his exit from WWE. In a detailed interview, Punk said that he was suspended for two months after walking out on the company in January and that after the suspension ended, nobody from WWE contacted him. Punk also told that when he reached out to them for unpaid royalties, he was given a run-around by company executives until he was handed his termination papers and was fired by WWE on his wedding day in June 2014. The manner of firing was the last straw for Punk, stating that he would never return to WWE and that following a legal settlement with WWE there would be no further working relationship between them. The settlement included Punk giving WWE permission to sell his remaining merchandise.