Michael Shawn Hickenbottom, better known by his ring name Shawn Michaels, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he is the Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative and oversees the creative aspects of the NXT brand, the promotion's developmental territory. Regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is known by the nicknames "The Heartbreak Kid", "The Showstopper", and "Mr. WrestleMania".
WrestleMania is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event held annually between mid-March and mid-April by the American company WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Since premiering in 1985, 39 editions have been held, with its most recent 39th edition occurring at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on April 1 and 2, 2023. WrestleMania was WWE's first-ever PPV produced and is the most successful and longest-running professional wrestling event in history. The event has been shown through PPV since 1985, and has been available to livestream through the WWE Network since 2014 and Peacock since 2021. WrestleMania was conceptualized by WWE executive chairman Vince McMahon and named by ring announcer and WWE Hall of Famer Howard Finkel. It is the company's flagship event and along with Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Money in the Bank, it is referred to as one of the "Big Five", WWE's five biggest annual events of the year.
WWE Backlash is a professional wrestling event that is produced by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. It is broadcast live and available only through pay-per-view (PPV) and the online streaming services Peacock and the WWE Network. The event was established in 1999 and was the first monthly PPV held after the discontinuation of the original In Your House shows, which were monthly PPVs held between the promotion's "Big Five" PPVs at the time: Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series. The inaugural Backlash had been originally advertised as an In Your House show, but the branding was dropped before the event took place.
WWE No Mercy, also known as NXT No Mercy beginning in 2023, is a professional wrestling event produced by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. The first No Mercy was held on May 16, 1999, in Manchester, England, and was the only No Mercy event produced in the United Kingdom. A second No Mercy was then held in October that year in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Beginning with this second event, No Mercy became the annual October pay-per-view (PPV) until 2008. The event was then discontinued and replaced by Hell in a Cell in 2009. After eight years, No Mercy was reinstated in October 2016. However, No Mercy was again discontinued after the September 2017 event, as WWE reduced the amount of yearly PPVs held after they had ended the production of brand-exclusive PPVs following WrestleMania 34 in 2018. In 2023, WWE again revived the event, this time for its developmental brand, NXT, in September.
Shoichi "Sho" Funaki is a Japanese professional wrestling manager, color commentator and former professional wrestler signed to WWE, where he is a one-time Cruiserweight Champion and a one-time Hardcore Champion. He currently works for WWE as a Japanese-language play-by-play commentator.
WWE No Way Out was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. It was first held as the 20th In Your House PPV in February 1998 and was titled No Way Out of Texas. It returned as its own PPV in February 2000, with the event's title truncated to "No Way Out," and it continued as the annual February PPV until 2009. The events in 2008 and 2009 featured the Elimination Chamber match. In turn, No Way Out was replaced by a new annual PPV titled Elimination Chamber in 2010, but one further No Way Out PPV was held as a one-off event in June 2012 to replace Capitol Punishment. In 2013, No Way Out was again discontinued and it was replaced by Payback.
The Westheimer Street Festival was a community street fair held bi-annually in Houston, Texas, United States from approximately 1971 to 2004. The festival underwent name and management changes afterwards. By 2009 the street festival was absorbed into what is currently now known as the Free Press Summer Fest.
The Bayou City Art Festival is an arts festival held biannually by the Art Colony Association in Houston, Texas. The festival is held in Memorial Park in the spring and in Downtown Houston in the fall.
WWE Cyber Sunday was an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. Established in 2004, the event was originally called Taboo Tuesday as it was held on Tuesdays. In 2006, the event was moved to the more traditional Sunday night for PPVs and was renamed to Cyber Sunday. The theme of the event was the ability for fans to vote on certain aspects of every match, using their personal computers and text messaging via mobile phones. The voting typically began in the middle of an episode of Raw a few weeks beforehand and ended during the pay-per-view, often moments before the match was slated to begin. Because of this, the event was billed as an "interactive pay-per-view."
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.
WrestleMania 25 was the 25th 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 April 5, 2009, at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. It was the second WrestleMania held in Houston; the first was WrestleMania X-Seven at the Reliant Astrodome, which was held in April 2001. It was also the last WrestleMania to feature the ECW brand.
The Houston Gay Pride Parade is the major feature of a gay pride festival held annually since 1979. The festival takes place in June to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies. This event commemorates the 1969 police raid of the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood, which is generally considered to be the beginning of the modern gay rights movement.
Booker T. Huffman Jr., better known by his ring name Booker T, is an American commentator and semi-retired professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE where he serves as a commentator on the NXT brand, and is also the owner and founder of the independent promotion Reality of Wrestling (ROW) in Texas City, Texas. Booker has been frequently named by peers and industry commentators as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time; he was voted WWE's greatest World Heavyweight Champion in a 2013 viewer poll.
WrestleMania XXVI was the 26th 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 and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on March 28, 2010, at the University of Phoenix Stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona. It was the first WrestleMania since WrestleMania XI with a non-title match as a main event, the first WrestleMania held in Arizona, and the third held in an open-air venue, after WrestleMania IX and WrestleMania XXIV.
WrestleMania XXVII was the 27th 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 and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on April 3, 2011 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. The event was the first WrestleMania held in the state of Georgia and the second to be held in Southeastern United States, following WrestleMania XXIV. It was also the final WrestleMania held during the first brand extension, which ended in August, but was reinstated in July 2016. This was also the company's final event to be promoted under the full name of World Wrestling Entertainment, as immediately following this event, the company strictly began to refer to itself by the WWE abbreviation. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson served as the host of the event.
The 2010 Royal Rumble was the 23rd 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, SmackDown, and ECW brand divisions. The event took place on January 31, 2010, at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For the 2010 event, the winner received their choice to challenge for either Raw's WWE Championship, SmackDown's World Heavyweight Championship, or the ECW Championship at WrestleMania XXVI—this was the last Royal Rumble in which the ECW Championship was an option as the ECW brand was disbanded in February, also deactivating the title, thus also being WWE's last PPV to include the ECW brand.
WWE Money in the Bank is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event, produced annually since 2010 by the American company WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. The event is named after the Money in the Bank ladder match, a multi-person ladder match in which participants compete to obtain a briefcase that contains a contract for a championship match. The match originally only took place at WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania, from 2005 to 2010, after which, the match concept was spun off into its own PPV beginning in July that year, with the match no longer occurring at WrestleMania. In addition to PPV, the event has aired on the WWE Network since 2014 and Peacock since 2021. It has since become recognized as one of the company's five biggest annual events of the year, along with the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Five".
WrestleMania Axxess is a professional wrestling fan convention held by WWE during the week of WrestleMania. The event typically runs for four days—from Thursday to WrestleMania Sunday—and features WWE talent and alumni autograph signings, interviews, fan activities, memorabilia displays, meet-and-greets, and matches.
WWE Hall of Fame (2009) was the event which featured the introduction of the 10th class to the WWE Hall of Fame. The event was produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on April 4, 2009 from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The event took place the same weekend as WrestleMania 25. The event was hosted by Jerry Lawler and Todd Grisham. The ceremony aired later that evening on the USA Network. In March 2015 the ceremony was added to the WWE Network.
WrestleMania XL is the upcoming 40th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It will be held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event is scheduled to be held as a two-night event, taking place on April 6 and 7, 2024, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
