The Big Ten Conference is the oldest NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1896, it predates the founding of its regulating organization, the NCAA. It is based in the Chicago area in Rosemont, Illinois. For many decades the conference consisted of ten prominent universities, which accounts for its name. On August 2, 2024, the conference expanded to 18 member institutions and 2 affiliate institutions. The conference competes in the NCAA Division I and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, the highest level of NCAA competition in that sport.
The Wisconsin Badgers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level, primarily competing in the Big Ten Conference for all sports since the 1896–97 season. The women's ice hockey team competes in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA), while the men's crew team compete in the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC).
Paul Donald Wight II is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), as a wrestler and was a commentator for its web television show, AEW Dark: Elevation, under his real name of Paul Wight. He is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1995 to 1999 as The Giant and his tenure with the World Wrestling Federation from 1999 to 2021 under the ring name (The) Big Show.
WrestleMania was the inaugural WrestleMania and inaugural professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on March 31, 1985, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The attendance for the event was 19,121. The event was seen by over one million viewers through closed-circuit television, making it the largest pay-per-view showing of a wrestling event on closed-circuit television in the United States at the time.
Christopher Alan Pallies was an American professional wrestler, stand-up comedian and actor better known by his wrestling gimmick and ring name, King Kong Bundy. Under this gimmick, he portrayed a pugnacious, trash-talking villain character.
The 2005 Royal Rumble was the 18th annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions. The event took place on January 30, 2005, at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For the 2005 event, the winner received their choice to challenge for either Raw's World Heavyweight Championship or SmackDown!'s WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21.
Kenneth Anderson is an American professional wrestler. He is known for his tenure in WWE from 2005 to 2009 under the ring name Mr. Kennedy, and his tenure in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as Mr. Anderson from 2010 to 2016. He is currently signed to Top Rank Boxing as their announcer.
Bradley Thomas Jay is an American professional wrestler, best known for his time in Impact Wrestling under the ring names of Jay Bradley and Aiden O'Shea, and WWE as Ryan Braddock.
WrestleMania XXIV was the 24th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brand divisions. The event took place on March 30, 2008, at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida and was the first WrestleMania to be held in the state of Florida. It was also the second WrestleMania to be held outdoors. American socialite Kim Kardashian served as the hostess of the event.
Dylan Mark Postl is an American professional wrestler best known under the ring name Hornswoggle. He is currently signed to WWE under a Legends contract and performs on the independent circuit, sometimes under the tweaked name Swoggle. He is also known for his tenure in Impact Wrestling.
Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established in 1995. It is most famous for its deathmatch style contests.
Tetsuo Sekigawa was a Japanese professional wrestler best known for his work under the ring name Mr. Pogo. He helped popularize hardcore wrestling in the 1990s with "death matches" in promotions such as Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, W*ING and Big Japan Pro Wrestling.
Cole Konrad is an American retired mixed martial arts fighter. Konrad won a gold medal at the 2005 Pan-American Championships. He won the NCAA wrestling championships in 2006 and 2007 at 285 pounds and finished third at the 2006 World University Championships at 120 kilograms. He was the first Bellator Heavyweight World Champion.
The 2010 Extreme Rules was the second annual Extreme Rules professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on April 25, 2010, at the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. It replaced Backlash as the post-WrestleMania pay-per-view. It was the first Extreme Rules event to feature the titular Extreme Rules match and the last WWE PPV to feature a Saliva song which was "Time to Shine".
William Morrissey is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name "The Redwood" Big Bill and is a member of The Learning Tree. He is also a former one-time AEW World Tag Team Champion. He is previously known for his tenures with WWE, and Impact Wrestling.
Live from Madison Square Garden, also called Live from MSG: Lesnar vs. Big Show, was a professional wrestling live event produced by WWE. It was livestreamed exclusively on the WWE Network. The event took place on October 3, 2015, and was broadcast from Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. It was hailed as part of Brock Lesnar's "Go To Hell Tour" as well as his return to Madison Square Garden in his first match in the arena since his original departure from the company in 2004. The event also marked the 25th anniversary of Chris Jericho's debut in professional wrestling.
Walter Hahn is an Austrian professional wrestler. Hahn has been signed to WWE since January 2019. He performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Gunther, and is the reigning World Heavyweight Champion in his first reign. He is one-half of Imperium, the incumbent King of the Ring, and a former one-time and longest-reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion. Best known by his "Ring General" gimmick, he is characterized by his stiff wrestling style, and his wrestling philosophies which are signified by the "Die Matte ist Heilig" motto. As a wrestler, Hahn has been consistently praised and regarded as one of the best wrestlers in the world and of all time by industry journalists and fellow wrestlers alike.
Mike Moran is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under the ring name Mean Mike, teaming with "Tough Tom" as "Disorderly Conduct". He is also known for his appearances as Killer, one-half of the Texas Hangmen alongside Psycho.
Takumi Tsukamoto is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for Japanese professional wrestling promotion Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW).
Eric Bugenhagen is an American fitness personality, YouTuber, retired professional wrestler and graduated collegiate wrestler. He is best known for his tenure with WWE from 2017 to 2023, where he performed under the ring name Rick Boogs.