"The Alliance (professional wrestling) The Alliance, also known as Team WCW/ECW and The Coalition, was a professional wrestling stable in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) that lasted from July to November 2001. The stable came about as a result of the WWF's purchase of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in March 2001. The Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) name was brought in later to help boost the presence of WCW after the original promotion closed in April 2001. The original plan was for the WWF-owned WCW to be a babyface group, led by Shane McMahon (who was the owner of"
"and ""World"" was dropped from the championship's name. In 1979, the WWWF was renamed World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and then after conclusively ending its affiliation with the NWA in 1983, the championship became known as the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Although the full name appeared on the championship belts until 1998, the name was often abbreviated to WWF Championship, which became its official name in 1998. In 1991, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), a member of the NWA, established the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to replace the NWA's world title. In 1993, WCW seceded from the NWA and grew to become"
"May 5, 2002, the World Wrestling Federation announced it was changing both its company name and the name of its wrestling promotion to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Although mainly caused by an unfavorable ruling in its dispute with the World Wildlife Fund regarding the ""WWF"" initialism, the company noted it provided an opportunity to emphasize its focus on entertainment. On April 7, 2011, WWE, via the WWE Corporate website, announced that the company was ceasing use of the full name World Wrestling Entertainment and would henceforth refer to itself solely as WWE, making the latter an orphan initialism. This was"
"promotion company had violated the 1994 agreement, particularly in regards to merchandising. The last televised event to market the WWF logo was the UK-based pay-per-view Insurrextion 2002. On May 5, 2002, the company launched its ""Get The F Out"" marketing campaign and 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 ""Raw"", which was broadcast"
"Federation was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 1980, Vincent K. McMahon, the son of Vincent J. McMahon, founded Titan Sports, Inc. and applied trademarks for the initials ""WWF"". In 1983, McMahon purchased Capitol Sports, the parent company of WWF, from his father and associates Gorilla Monsoon and Arnold Skaaland. Seeking to make WWF the premier wrestling promotion in the world, he began an expansion process that fundamentally changed the industry. In an interview with ""Sports Illustrated"", McMahon noted: Upon taking over the company, McMahon immediately worked to get WWF programming on syndicated television all across the United States."
"""brands"" act as complementing promotions under the parent company. The institution of concepts like separate rosters, ""General Managers"" and talent drafts was intended to emulate the rivalry that had ended with WCW. In May 2002, WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) after a lawsuit with the World Wide Fund for Nature, which operates in the U.S. and Canada under its former international name of ""World Wildlife Fund"", and also used the WWF initials. Ric Flair, Kevin Nash, and Goldberg eventually signed contracts with WWE only after the conclusion of the Invasion, though it is generally thought that their"
"in accordance with the company's name change in May 2002, and it would be defended until September 2007. WWF Light Heavyweight Championship The WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) promotion. The title was challenged by light heavyweights at a maximum weight of 215 lbs (before deactivation, the weight limit was changed to 220Ibs). It was created on March 26, 1981 for the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) in a partnership between the WWF and UWA. On 16 June, 1995, the title moved to Michinoku Pro Wrestling, but due to WWF's"
"of WWE. The inaugural event took place on December 9, 2001 under the name Vengeance at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, California and aired live on PPV. In 2002, WWF was court ordered to change their name, which resulted in the promotion changing its name to WWE. Earlier in the year, WWF held a draft that split its roster into two distinctive brands of wrestling, Raw and SmackDown, and the ECW brand was added in 2006. Before the draft, matches featured wrestlers from the roster without any limitations; after the draft, matches only consisted of wrestlers from"
"(formerly the WCW World Heavyweight Championship) and WWF Championship at Vengeance in 2001, with Chris Jericho becoming the first Undisputed WWF Champion (and the first undisputed champion in over 50 years in professional wrestling in general). The championship was then represented by the belts of its two predecessors until a singular belt design was commissioned. By May 2002, the WWF had been renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment and the Undisputed WWE Championship, as it was now called, became the top championship of the promotion. With the purchase of WCW during the previous year, WWE's roster had doubled in size and"
"Inc. officially became World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) and replaced its ""Attitude"" promotion with a ""Get the F out"" marketing campaign. The company's ""WWF Attitude"" branding proved to be a huge marketing success, drawing in a previously unaccounted for young adult demographic that allowed them to successfully defeat their competition, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the ratings war. By 2001, WCW had become so unsuccessful that it lost its primetime television deal. During this same period, the WWF had become so financially powerful, that McMahon was able to buy WCW's trademarks, logos, copyrights, video archived library, and several wrestler contracts"
"New World Order (professional wrestling) The New World Order (commonly abbreviated NWO, in logo stylized as nWo) is a professional wrestling stable that originally consisted of ""Hollywood"" Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. The stable originated in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) with the gimmick of a group of unsanctioned wrestlers aiming to ""take over"" and control WCW in the manner of a street gang. The group later appeared in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) after the purchase of WCW by the WWF. The nWo angle became one of the most influential forces in the mid-to-late 1990s success of WCW"
"old regional territory system it was born from). Even though WCW folded in 2001, its legacy lived on in the WWF. The WWF initially kept the WCW United States Championship, the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, the WCW World Tag Team Championship, and even the WCW World Heavyweight Championship active. Eventually, the titles were unified into their respective WWF counterparts. In 2003, by which time the World Wrestling Federation was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the company resurrected the U.S. title. When Hulk Hogan returned to WWE, it billed him as ""Hollywood Hulk Hogan"" – his WCW nickname. In 2004, WWE brought"
"World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling Inc., d/b/a World Championship Wrestling (WCW), is a defunct American professional wrestling promotion, historically based in Atlanta, Georgia. It began as a regional (mid-Atlantic U.S.), National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)-affiliated ""territory"" promotion, Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), until November 1988, when Ted Turner (through his Turner Broadcasting System business) bought the promotion, whose struggle to compete with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) had left it near bankruptcy. Immediately after the buyout, the business was renamed the Universal Wrestling Corporation, and soon after as World Championship Wrestling, which had been the name of JCP's"
"the ratings. WCW continued its decline as their main eventers were in their 40s or pushing 40 and younger talent were never given the chance to be elevated to main event status. Their attempts at improving failed to turn the ratings tide, with ""Raw"" getting double the amount by 2000. In 2001, the WWF (renamed ""World Wrestling Entertainment"" to avoid a trademark dispute with the World Wildlife Fund in 2002 and becoming simply ""WWE"" in 2011) became the dominant company in the global professional wrestling industry with the end of its two leading competitors, WCW and ECW. ECW was in"
"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"
"consisted of one to three matches. After gaining a television program deal and turning preliminary wrestler Lou Albano into a manager for Sammartino's heel opponents, the WWWF was doing sell out business by 1970. Mondt left the company in the late 1960s and although the WWWF had withdrawn from the NWA, Vince McMahon, Sr. quietly rejoined in 1971. At the annual meeting of the NWA in 1983, the McMahons and WWF employee Jim Barnett all withdrew from the organization. By March 1979, for marketing purposes, the World Wide Wrestling Federation was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). That same year,"
"as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), as this was the name of the company when Jericho made his début. The World Wrestling Federation changed its name to World Wrestling Entertainment in 2002. The book begins with a quick account of Jericho's thoughts whilst making his now-trademark countdown entrance during his WWF début. The book then flashes back to his early years, as a seven-year-old growing up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Jericho discusses his first exposure to professional wrestling, watching it on a TV in his grandmother's basement. He would later attend American Wrestling Association (AWA) live events at the Winnipeg"
"and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley who attempted to take over the WWF (Spike, along with other ECW alumni, did not join The Alliance). The ECW-WCW invasion ended at the Survivor Series, when five WWF wrestlers defeated five Alliance wrestlers in a match to determine the ownership of the WWF. The Alliance disbanded and its members left the WWF, but the Dudley Boyz retained their jobs due to their possession of the WWF Tag Team Championship, which they had unified with the WCW Tag Team Championship that night. Following WrestleMania X8, in May 2002 the WWF was renamed ""World Wrestling Entertainment"" (WWE) and"
"on WWF Jakked and was released from the WWF later that year. Thrasher and Mosh made an unannounced return to the WWF (since renamed WWE) on the 30 August 2016 episode of ""WWE SmackDown"", losing to Heath Slater and Rhyno in the first round of a tournament for the newly-created WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship. They made two further appearances on ""SmackDown"" in November 2016. After his release from the WWF, Ruth continued to wrestle until 2002 in independent promotions before retiring from professional wrestling. In 2011, The Headbangers reformed and have been wrestling on the independent circuit once again."
"WWF (now WWE) in 2004 and is currently a Las Vegas police officer, which was also his job during his American Gladiators stint. Tony Halme, known in the then WWF as Ludvig Borga, was a Gladiator on the Finnish version. Matt Morgan, who wrestled for a time in the WWF (now WWE) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (wrestling in both under his given name), debuted during season 2 of the 2008 revival as a Gladiator under the name ""Beast"". In 2008, longtime American Gladiators co-host Mike Adamle himself joined WWE as a backstage interviewer for the Raw brand before changing"
"and most DVD menu screens of the ""Tagged Classics"" displaying the initials ""WWE"". In July 2012 WWE came to a new agreement with the World Wildlife Fund which permitted the WWE to no longer censor the WWF scratch logo or WWF initials when spoken. The WWE however cannot use any old World Wrestling Federation logos in the present day on retro programming for example, only in archival footage. It was announced on 19 September 2012, after a 22-year partnership with World Wrestling Entertainment that the two companies would part ways as of 31 December 2012. All sales will be as"
"WCW World Heavyweight Championship The WCW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship originally used in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and later, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the original world title of the World Championship Wrestling promotion, spun off from the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. It existed in WCW from 1991 to 2001. Following the acquisition of WCW by the WWF in March 2001, it became one of two world titles in the WWF, with its name being immediately abbreviated to the WCW Championship and finally, the World Championship in November. It continued"
"on Raw, thus leading to a brand new era, and ending the Attitude Era. In 2002, the World Wrestling Federation lost a lawsuit initiated by the World Wildlife Fund over the WWF trademark. World Wrestling Federation was forced to rebrand itself, and in May 6, 2002 the company changed its business name to World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE). Shortly thereafter, they eliminated all elements that used the term Federation; this affected licensed merchandise such as action figures, video games, and home video releases with its previous logo, which was replaced by a new ""scratch"" logo. The last-ever WWF-branded pay-per-view event"
"WWWF, taking the titles with them, the promotion established their own original world tag team championship, the WWWF World Tag Team Championship. In 1979, the promotion became the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and the tag titles were shortened to WWF Tag Team Championship until 1983 when they were renamed WWF World Tag Team Championship. By 1988, wrestling magazine ""Pro Wrestling Illustrated"" was calling for the establishment of a secondary WWF Intercontinental Tag Team Championship (modelled on the WCW United States Tag Team Championship) due to the glut of tag team competition in the promotion. This never took place, but in"
"WWF Forceable Entry WWF Forceable Entry is a soundtrack album by WWE (then known as the World Wrestling Federation, or WWF). Released on March 26, 2002 by Columbia Records, it features entrance music of WWE wrestlers re-recorded by various hard rock and heavy metal artists and bands. It is also the last album released under the ""WWF"" name, as the company changed its name to ""WWE"" in May 2002 (after a British court ruled in favor of the World Wide Fund for Nature for ownership of the ""WWF"" name and branding (the World Wrestling Federation and the World Wide Fund"
"Jeff Jarrett Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett (born July 14, 1967) is an American professional wrestler, professional wrestling promoter and businessman. Beginning his career in his father's Continental Wrestling Association (CWA), in 1986, Jarrett first came to prominence upon debuting in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1992. Over the next nine years, he alternated between the WWF and its main competitor, World Championship Wrestling (WCW). After WCW was purchased by the WWF in 2001, Jarrett joined the upstart World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) promotion. In 2002, Jarrett and his father together founded NWA:TNA (now known as Impact Wrestling). After departing"
"passing out in their locker room prior to his match. Jarrett went on to wrestle the first of his two scheduled matches, but boarded a plane home before the second event. Jeff Jarrett Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett (born July 14, 1967) is an American professional wrestler, professional wrestling promoter and businessman. Beginning his career in his father's Continental Wrestling Association (CWA), in 1986, Jarrett first came to prominence upon debuting in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1992. Over the next nine years, he alternated between the WWF and its main competitor, World Championship Wrestling (WCW). After WCW was"
"particular year. On May 5, 2002, the WWF officially changed its name to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Over the next few years, WWE hired more female wrestlers than ever before, including female winners of the reality television show ""Tough Enough"", which featured contestants aspiring to be professional wrestlers (Nidia in 2001, Linda Miles and Jackie Gayda in 2002). Debra departed the company in the month of June along with her husband Stone Cold Steve Austin. The WWE women's division would see itself competing in more match-ups previously contested only by men (including for the Women's Championship), such as street fights,"
"the first brand split, it became exclusive to Raw and the WWF was renamed WWE. Later that year, the European and Hardcore championships were unified into the Intercontinental Championship, which itself was unified into the World Heavyweight Championship. The next year, it was reactivated for Raw, followed by the United States Championship's reactivation as a counterpart on SmackDown. The championship has switched between brands over the years as a result of the WWE draft; the 2017 Superstar Shake-up moved it back to Raw. The term ""intercontinental"" in the title originally referred to North and South America. In 1985, the championship"
"the name of a heel jobber professional wrestling tag team in the WWF in 1987. The team consisted of two masked wrestlers known as Light and Dark or simply ""Shadow #1"" and ""Shadow #2"". Randy Colley was ""Shadow #1"", and Jose Luis Rivera who was ""Shadow #2"". Colley was previously part of the tag team Demolition as the original Smash, and before that a tag team called The Moondogs as Moondog Rex and was a one time WWF Tag Team Champion with Moondog King and then later Moondog Spot. The Moondogs were very successful since the Moondogs held the WWF"
"rings, and belts) for what was considered to be a lower bargain price from AOL Time Warner on March 23, 2001 following Jamie Kellner's cancellation of all WCW programming and the W. Acquisition Company entity became WCW, Inc. shortly afterwards. The previous WCW promotion, which consisted of older contracts and liabilities not acquired in the purchase, was reverted to its original name Universal Wrestling Corporation as a shell company. The final night of the Monday Night Wars occurred on March 26, 2001 when TNT did allow a final ""Nitro"" show to air from Panama City Beach, Florida. WWF owner and"
"History of WWE 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. WWE is the largest professional wrestling company in the world. It has promoted some of the most successful wrestlers and storylines, and featured some of the most iconic and significant matches and moments in the history of the sport. WWE currently airs several high-profile"
"DVDs without consent or payment. It also asserted violation of the rights to original music used by ECW that WWE had been using during the Invasion storyline of 2001. The case was resolved on both sides with a settlement that saw WWE purchase the catalogue outright in January 2005. In 1993, Jim Hellwig, known in the WWF as ""The Ultimate Warrior"", legally changed his name to the mononym Warrior. This one-word name appears on all legal documents pertaining to Warrior, and his children carry the Warrior name as their legal surname. Warrior and the WWF engaged in a series of"