Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around mock combat performed in a squared ring, with the premise being that the performers are competitive wrestlers. The storylines are typically based around interpersonal conflicts between good-natured "faces" and villainous "heels". The ring is the main stage; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of the venue, in a format similar to reality television.
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into fields outside of wrestling, including film, football, and various other business ventures. The company is additionally involved in licensing its intellectual property to companies to produce video games and action figures.
The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Over the years, they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 countries and territories, mostly against deliberately ineffective opponents, such as the Washington Generals and the New York Nationals (1995–2015). The team's signature song is Brother Bones' whistled version of "Sweet Georgia Brown", and their mascot is an anthropomorphized globe named "Globie". The team is owned by Herschend Family Entertainment.
WWE Backlash is a professional wrestling event that is produced by the American company WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. It is broadcast live and has been available through pay-per-view (PPV) since 1999 and the livestreaming services WWE Network since 2016 and Peacock since 2021. Since premiering in 1999, 18 editions have been held, with its most recent 18th edition occurring at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico on May 6, 2023. With the exception of the events held from 2016 to 2020, the concept of the show is based around the backlash of WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania.
Vincent James McMahon, sometimes referred to as Vince McMahon Sr., was an American professional wrestling promoter. He is best known for running the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, which was later renamed WWWF and WWF during his tenure from 1953 to 1982, and is currently called WWE, as well as for being the father of his successor, Vincent K. McMahon.
Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was an American sports promotion company. Run by Vincent J. McMahon from the 1950s until the 1980s, the company was originally a professional wrestling and boxing promotion and later became the holding company for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), later the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 1982, the CWC was acquired by Titan Sports, Inc., owned by Vincent J.'s son Vincent K. McMahon. The CWC was the precursor to today's WWE, currently run by Nick Khan as president and owned by TKO Group Holdings, of which Vincent K. McMahon is executive chairman.
Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played on an oval track by two teams of five skaters. It is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States.
The Liacouras Center is a 10,206-seat multi-purpose venue which opened in 1997 and was originally named "The Apollo of Temple". The arena was renamed in 2000 for Temple University President, Peter J. Liacouras. It is part of a $107 million, four-building complex along North Broad Street on the Temple University campus in North Philadelphia. The Liacouras Center is the largest indoor, public assembly venue in Philadelphia north of City Hall.
The World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF) was a bodybuilding organization founded in 1991 by Vince McMahon. It operated as a subsidiary of his company Titan Sports, the owners of the World Wrestling Federation. Tom Platz announced the WBF during the closing ceremonies of the International Federation of BodyBuilding (IFBB) Mr. Olympia competition in September 1990, which he and McMahon had attended as representatives of an accompanying magazine.
A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports.
The history of American professional wrestling promotion WWE dates back to the early 1950s when it was founded in 1953 as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC). The public branding of the company has undergone several name changes throughout the years, from the CWC to the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in 1963, then the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979, and to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002. Since 2011, it has branded itself solely as WWE.
Professional wrestling in the United States, until the 1920s, was viewed as a legitimate sport. This view did not endure into the 1930s, as professional wrestling became identified with modern theatrics. The scripted nature of the art has made some critics view it as an illegitimate sport, particularly in comparison to boxing, mixed martial arts, and amateur wrestling. No major promoter or wrestler denies that modern professional wrestling has predetermined match outcomes. Despite this, promoters and fans continued to play along with the tradition of viewing the matches as legitimate competition; this has become a tradition known as "kayfabe".
RollerJam is an American television series featuring roller derby that aired on The Nashville Network from 1999 to 2001. It was the first attempt to bring roller derby to TV since RollerGames.
In professional wrestling, kayfabe is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as "real" or "true", specifically the portrayal of competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants as being genuine and not staged. The term kayfabe has evolved to also become a code word of sorts for maintaining this "reality" within the direct or indirect presence of the general public.
A promoter works with event production and entertainment industries to promote their productions, including in music and sports. Promoters are individuals or organizations engaged in the business of marketing and promoting live, or pay-per-view and similar, events, such as music concerts, gigs, nightclub performances and raves; sports events; and festivals.
The history of professional wrestling, as a performing art, started in the early 20th century, with predecessors in funfair and variety strongman and wrestling performances in the 19th century.
Sport pertains to any form of physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, through casual or organized participation, improve participants' physical health. Hundreds of sports exist, from those between single contestants, through to those with hundreds of simultaneous participants, either in teams or competing as individuals. In certain sports such as racing, many contestants may compete, simultaneously or consecutively, with one winner; in others, the contest is between two sides, each attempting to exceed the other. Some sports allow a "tie" or "draw", in which there is no single winner; others provide tie-breaking methods to ensure one winner. A number of contests may be arranged in a tournament producing a champion. Many sports leagues make an annual champion by arranging games in a regular sports season, followed in some cases by playoffs.
The Monday Night Wars or Monday Night War was an era of mainstream televised American professional wrestling, from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001, in which the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw and World Championship Wrestling's (WCW) Monday Nitro were broadcast opposite each other in a battle for Nielsen ratings each week. It largely overlapped with the Attitude Era, a period in which the WWF used the term "WWF Attitude" to describe its programming from November 9, 1997 to May 6, 2002.
The different styles of wrestling may be classified in various ways, such as:
An exhibition fight is a sports match which is not part of a competition but instead serves the function of demonstrating the skills of the participants. In boxing, an exhibition fight normally consists of three to eight rounds. The participants generally wear larger gloves to minimize punch harm or impact on the combatants, headgear, and non-boxing related clothing. Exhibition fights involve opponents exhibiting their skills while usually being friendly and respectful.
