Terry Gene Bollea, better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide, the most popular wrestler of the 1980s, one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, and according to a 2022 survey, still the most often cited professional wrestler by the general public.
Eric Aaron Bischoff is an American television producer, professional wrestling booker, promoter, and performer. He is best known for serving as Executive Producer and later Senior Vice President of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and subsequently, the on-screen General Manager of WWE's Raw brand. Bischoff has also worked with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) where he served as Executive Producer of TNA iMPACT!. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021.
The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The promotion was born out of the Minneapolis Boxing & Wrestling Club, originally founded in 1933, which served as the Minnesota-based territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from 1948 onward, before breaking away from the NWA and becoming an independent territory in 1960.
James Ray Hart is an American professional wrestling manager, executive, composer, and musician. He is currently signed to WWE in a Legends deal. He is best known for his work in WWE when it was still known as the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and used the nickname "the Mouth of the South".
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.
Paul Parlette Orndorff Jr., nicknamed "Mr. Wonderful", was an American professional wrestler and football player, best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
Daniel DiLucchio is an American Midget professional wrestler best known by his ring name Short Sleeve Sampson. Sampson works on the independent circuit, mainly for Micro Championship Wrestling, TNT Pro Wrestling, and Midget Wrestling Warriors. He has also occasionally made appearances with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment.
The MCW Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling heavyweight championship owned by the MCW Pro Wrestling (MCW) promotion. The title was created and debuted on October 11, 1998, at a MCW live event. In 2003, MCW ceased operations; at its last show MCW Last Dance on July 16, the MCW Heavyweight Championship was unified with the FTW Heavyweight and the MEWF Heavyweight Championships, when then–MCW Heavyweight Champion Danny Doring defeated MEWF Heavyweight Champion Romeo Valentino and FTW Heavyweight Champion Chris Chetti. MCW reopened in 2005 and held its first show on October 1, 2005, titled Fort Meade Wrestling. The MCW Heavyweight Championship was reinstated on March 26, 2006, at MCW's The Phenomenal Final Four event, where Julio Dinero won a tournament to become the champion.
The 1980s professional wrestling boom, more commonly referred to as the Golden Era or the Rock 'n' Wrestling Era, was a surge in the popularity of professional wrestling in the United States and elsewhere throughout the 1980s. The expansion of cable television and pay-per-view, coupled with the efforts of promoters such as Vince McMahon, saw wrestling shift from a system controlled by numerous regional companies to one dominated by two nationwide companies: McMahon's World Wrestling Federation and Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The decade also saw a considerable decline in the power of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), a cartel which had until then dominated the wrestling landscape, and in the efforts to sustain belief in the kayfabe of wrestling.
Professional wrestling in the United States, through the advent of television in the 1950s, and cable in the 1980s, began appearing in powerful media outlets, reaching never before seen numbers of viewers. It became an international phenomenon with the expansion of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Throughout the 1990s, professional wrestling achieved highs in both viewers and financial success during a time of fierce competition among competing promotions, such as WWF, World Championship Wrestling, and Extreme Championship Wrestling.
Matthew Bowman is an American professional wrestler, best known by his ring name "Wiseguy" Jimmy Cicero, who has worked for the United States Wrestling Association, Extreme Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and various other promotions on the independent circuit. He also works at the Independent Pro Wrestling Association Wrestling School and has trained several wrestlers who later worked for major promotions.
MCW Pro Wrestling is a regional independent wrestling promotion based in Joppa, Maryland. It has regularly run events in the Mid-Atlantic region since the late 1990s.
Keith Walker is an American professional wrestler who competes in North American and international promotions including Ring of Honor, Harley Race's World League Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah.
Chris Jackson is an American professional wrestler, trainer and promoter, known by his ringname Cueball Carmichael, who competes in the Mid-Atlantic and East Coast independent circuit. He has wrestled and won titles in the Allied Powers Wrestling Federation, King Kong Bundy's Devastation Wrestling Federation, Maryland Championship Wrestling, Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation, the National Wrestling Alliance, Phoenix Championship Wrestling, Southern Championship Wrestling and Steel City Wrestling.
Scotty "Hot Body" Summers is a retired American professional wrestler who competed in regional and independent promotions throughout the United States and Canada during the 1990s and 2000s. One-half of Hot Paradise with Johnny Paradise, the two held the unified tag team titles of Border City Wrestling and Motor City Wrestling for almost two years. He also had brief stints in Eastern Championship Wrestling, Midwest Territorial Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation before ending his career, like many former MCW stars, in the old Central States territory.
Chad Slivenski is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, known by his ringname Chad Bowman, who competed in East Coast and Mid-Atlantic independent promotions during the 1990s and 2000s. Early in his career, Slivenski spent time in regional promotions such as the United States Wrestling Association and Smoky Mountain Wrestling before their close in the mid-1990s, and made occasional appearances as a preliminary wrestler in World Wrestling Entertainment.
Daniel McDevitt, best known by his ring name Corporal Punishment, is a semi-retired American professional wrestler, trainer and promoter. His career spans over a decade working in numerous independent promotions throughout the United States including the American Wrestling Federation, Extreme Championship Wrestling, Cueball Carmichael's Independent Professional Wrestling Alliance, Doug Flex's International Pro Wrestling, Independent Superstars of Professional Wrestling, House of Pain Wrestling Federation / National Wrestling League, and the National Wrestling Alliance.
Richard Ellinger, better known by his ring name Meatball, is an American professional wrestler who is signed to Micro Championship Wrestling.
Brendan Vink is an Australian professional wrestler currently signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Duke Hudson and is a member of the Chase University stable. He is a former one-time NXT Tag Team Champion. He is also known for his time in Melbourne City Wrestling where he was a part of The Mighty Don't Kneel.
Bischoff Hervey Entertainment Television LLC was a Los Angeles based production company, founded in 2003 by Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey. The company produces and broadcasts various formed of television entertainment, including reality and games shows. Their first show was I Want To Be a Hilton. In addition, the company was involved in producing mobile games.
