The WWF would tour nationally in a venture that 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’s vision was to make the 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 the 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. Continue reading WWE – Monday Night Raw – 17th Oct 2011 (Part-5.5)
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 (Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri) rounded out the roster. Hogan was clearly McMahon’s biggest star, causing some people to debate whether the WWF could have achieved national success without him. Continue reading WWE – Monday Night Raw – 17th Oct 2011 (Part-4.5)
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. Continue reading WWE – Monday Night Raw – 17th Oct 2011 (Part-3.5)
The WWF was not the only promotion have broken ranks with the NWA, the American Wrestling Association (AWA) long ago ceased to be an official member of the NWA (although like the WWF, who rarely left their own territory). However, none of the members of dropping attempt to undermine the territory system that had been the foundation of the industry for over half a century. Continue reading WWE – Monday Night Raw – 17th Oct 2011 (Part-2.5)
On February 21, 1980, the son of Vincent J. McMahon, Vincent K. McMahon, founded Titan Sports, Inc. and June 6, 1982, purchased Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. from his father and other holders of securities (Arnold Skaaland, Gorilla Monsoon, and Zack Phil). 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 entertainment than actual sport. Against his father’s wishes, McMahon began an expansion process that fundamentally changed the industry. Continue reading WWE – Monday Night Raw – 17th Oct 2011 (Part-1.5)
That summer, August 30, 2010, Raw episode delivered its 900th, the SmackDown superstars and rookies NXT also appeared in this episode milestone. It featured the Undertaker and Bret Hart was scheduled to fight for the first time in almost 14 years, but before he could take place, the Undertaker was carried out by Nexus and Kane. In November, Raw was “Old School” for one night with the ring of old titantron designs. This episode appears WWE Legends “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Mae Young, The Million Dollar Man, Ron Simmons, The Iron Sheik and many more. Mark Henry returned briefly to his “Sexual Chocolate” gimmick in honor of crude goes “Old School”.Continue reading WWE – Raw 08.22.11(Part-5.5)
In 2010, TNA Impact!, Which normally airs on Thursday, went head to head with Raw on a live broadcast of three hours. This was the first time since March 2001 that two major wrestling promotions that go head to head in a Monday night ratings competition. TNA promoted the premiere of Hulk Hogan that leads to the issue. WWE responded by announcing the return of Bret Hart, who had not appeared in the company since the Betrayal of Montreal in 1997. The scores show that, like the War of Monday night, Raw came out on top, averaging 5.6 million viewers, while iMPACT! Was seen by 3,000,000 viewers for the segment of Hulk Hogan, though towards the end of the show the audience fell to 2.2 million viewers.
On June 15, 2009, McMahon announced a special three hour edition of Raw that he had “sold” WWE Raw franchise Donald Trump, who appeared on the screen to confirm and said he would be in the next episode without commercials of the person. WWE issued a press release about the sale, while the screenplay for the USA Network later issued a statement confirming the “sale” as part of a story. The statement was issued in response to multiple information sources mistakenly reported the event as legitimate. Because of the error, the day after the announcement, shares of WWE in the New York Stock Exchange fell sharply. Despite the recognition USA Network that the sale was fictional, Randy Katz, a securities lawyer at Baker & Hostetler, commented on the Fox Business Network that an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against the WWE and USA Network Own General Electric “is certainly a possibility.” Next week, Vince McMahon Donald Trump bought back premiums, and announced that a “guest star”, an initiative originally presented by Trump in response to the General Manager position is vacant would go force on 29 June. Each week guest host is usually a WWE Hall of Fame, a top talent or back, or another celebrity. The guest host or hostess takes the role of a brand manager for General, which serves as an authority figure on Raw for the day. The following year, it was announced that Vickie Guerrero (and, later, Bret Hart) becoming the new GM full-time guest stars (still forthcoming) no longer have reserves of energy.Continue reading WWE – Raw 08.22.11(Part-3.5)
In 2009, the No Way Out February 15 Edge won the World Heavyweight Championship on Raw Elimination Chamber match, so it is a title exclusive to SmackDown and SmackDown two major championships level. As a result of the WWE Draft in April 2009, WWE Champion Triple H’s drafted to the Raw brand, while the World Heavyweight Championship was moved to the Raw brand after Edge lost the title to John Cena at WrestleMania XXV. SmackDown will regain the World Heavyweight Championship at Backlash (2009) when Edge defeated John Cena to win the championship. Also, SmackDown and Raw change both women exclusively raw championships winning the SmackDown Divas WWE Championship and winning the WWE Women’s Championship. Also, SmackDown and Raw exchanged the WWE Intercontinental Championship is now exclusive to SmackDown and WWE United States Championship, which is exclusive to the Raw brand for the first time.Continue reading WWE – Raw 08.22.11(Part-2.5)
On September 8, 2008, Raw announced that a “talent exchange” was initiated between ECW and Raw, which allows its respective talent to come and compete in any brand. This is similar to a “talent exchange” between Smackdown and ECW before. On November 3, 2008, celebrated its 800th episode Raw a three hour episode. The 800th episode aired real September 22, 2008.Continue reading WWE – Raw 08.22.11(Part-1.5)
