Warning: Facts may not be accurate.
· The Rock has won the WWE title a total of 7 times!
· The oldest active wrestler is Abdullah the Butcher who is approaching 70 years old!
· The Torrie Wilson/Al Wilson/Sawn Marie storyline in 2002/3 had to be one of the worst ever.
· In the mid 1980’s, 75% of the then WWF roster took steroids!
· Wrestlers who have died recently: Miss Elizabeth, Mr. Perfect, Rick Rude, British Bulldog, Brian Pillman, Owen Hart, Gorilla Monsoon, Yokozuna, Andre The Giant, Texas Tornado Kerry Von Erich, Bobo Brazil, Stu Hart, Road Warrior Hawk and Crash Holly. R.I.P.
· The first Intercontinental Champion was corperate goon Pat Paterson.
· In 2002, the European title was unified with the Hardcore title before the Hardcore title was unified with the Intercontinental title before the Intercontinental title was unified with the World Heavyweight Title!
History: ’96-‘03
Javier’s Wrestling Memories…
Some of my earliest wrestling memories are from the WWF in the early 90’s. I remember seeing The Ultimate Warrior, my favourite at the time, against Papa Shango. I also recall Papa Shango being in the ring about to take on some guy with a cap. As the guy was coming down to the ring, Shango worked some of his magic and put a curse on the guy who suddenly got terrified and ran away. Great television. I remember seeing Hulk Hogan in the ring, being beaten up by Shango and Sid, I think. He was tied up on the ropes and could not escape but then The Ultimate Warrior came sprinting down to the ring to save Hogan. It was great. And I remember seeing The Undertaker. He was lying in the ring and The Beserker was standing over him with a sword. He brought the sword down towards Taker but he rolled out of the way and the sword went into the ring canvas. I remember thinking the ring had been burst.
Around WrestleMania XII is when I really started to get into wrestling and to know what was goin on. Some of the superstars I remember watching then were Shawn Michaels, who became champion at Mania, Bret Hart, the man he beat, Vader, Yokozuna, The Smoking Gunns, The Godwins, The Body Donas, Diesel, Razor Ramone, 1-2-3 Kid, Tatanka, Hakushi, Savio Vega, Justin Hawke Bradshaw, Tad DiBiase, Ringmaster Steve Austin, before he became Stone Cold, Techno Team 2000, British Bulldog, Owen Hart, Ahmad Johnson, Wild Man Marc Mero, Sable, Sunny, Goldust, Hunter Heasrt Helmsly, Ultimate Warrior, Jake The Snake Roberts, Jerry The King Lawler, Aldo Montoya, Fatu and Isaac Yankem DDS, the evil dentist. Phew, that’s a lot of guys.
Some memorable storylines from back then was when the British Bulldog’s wife Diane accusing Shan Michaels of sexually harassing her, Steve Austin becoming Stone Cold and winning the ’96 King of the Ring, and at Survivor Series in November, the debut of a young Rocky Miavia, who’d later become one of the most electrifying superstars in sports entertainment, The Rock. By the end of ’96, Psycho Sid had returned to the WWF and beat Michaels for the title at Survivor Series. This led to rematch at the Royal Rumble in January ’97 in Michaels’ hometown, San Antonio, Texas. Michaels won while there was a controversial finish to the Rumble itself with Stone Cold being eliminated but coming back unnoticed. After the Rumble, Michaels was forced to vacate his title due to a knee injury. This led to the In Your House Final Four in Febuary in which Bret Hart won a four-way match to become champion. However, he lost it a few days later to Sid on Raw.
At WrestleMania 13 Sid took on The Undertaker, who won the title back. Taker kept the title until SummerSlam when he lost it to Bret Hart, with Shawn Michaels as special ref. Along with the summer of ’97 came the foundation of my all-time favourite group: D-Generation X. The original members were Shawn Michaels, back from injury, Hunter Heasrt Healmsly, now known as Triple H, Chyna and Ravishing Rick Rude. Rude soon left the group and went to WCW but the other three remained strong. This led to Michaels winning the European title off the British Bulldog in London, England during a tour, The Bulldog being part of D-X’s rival group the Hart Foundation, led by Bret Hart. Other popular stars by this time were Stone Cold, Mankind and Vader.
Summer ’97 was an amazing time for storylines and ’97 was one of the companies best of all-time. Rivalries between D-X, The Hart Foundation, The Nation of Domination, Ken Shamrock, The Patriot, Mankind, his alter ego Dude Love, The Undertaker and Stone Cold all intertwined. After Shawn Michaels had hit The Undertaker with a chair accidentally which gave Bret Hart the title at SummerSlam, a vicious rivalry arose between HBK and Taker, resulting in the first ever Hell In A Cell match. The match was a brutal one, the likes of which were never seen before. It also marked the debut of Kane, The Undertaker’s brother who he thought was dead. Thanks to Kane, a bloddy Michaels was just about able to get a victory.
At Survivor Series ’97, the long awaited rematch of WrestleMania between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart finnaly happened. The match is famously known as the Montreal Screw Job as Vince McMahon, the WWF president, called for the bell to be rang after Shawn had Bret in Bret’s own Sharpshooter submission move, without Bret ever giving up. After the match Bret rightly spat in Vince’s face and later punched him in the jaw. That was sadly Bret’s last match in WWF as he headed for WCW.
By 1998, the popularity of Stone Cold Steve Austin was soaring and the Texas Rattlesnake won the Royal Rumble, granting him a shot at Shawn Michaels’ World Title at WrestlMania XIV. Boxer Iron Mike Tyson also made a guest appearance at the Rumble and later joined Michaels in D-Generation X. However, at Mania Tyson made a u-turn and counted the 1-2-3 in the main event to give Austin his first title, making him one of the most poplar champions of all time. Michaels disappeared from the ring after Mania and didn’t return to in ring action for four years although he did return as the commissioner of the WWF later in ’98.
With Michaels gone, D-X needed a make over. Triple H, now the leader, brought in his old friend the 1-2-3 Kid, now known as X-Pac, and the New Age Outlaws, the Bad Ass Billy Gunn and the Road Dogg Jesse James. In June ’98 came one of the greatest matches of all-time. The Undertaker took on Mankind during the King of the Ring in a Hell In A Cell match. Mankind was thrown off the cell and thrown through it, both incidents knocking him unconscious. And yet he finished the match, establishing Mick Foley as one of the greatest of all time, a hardcore ledged.
Towards the end of ’98, one of my favourite periods in wrestling began. Vince McMahon had been battling with Stone Cold for some time and had made an incredible transition from fan friendly commentator to supreme evil boss. Towards the Survivor Series, the World title had become vacant and a tournament was set up. It seemed as though Vince was behind Mankind who had battled along side him against Austin in the previous months. In the final, it was Mankind vs. The Rock, with Vince’s son Shane as special guest referee. In the end, The Rock got the victory to become the new champion after a fast count from Shane. Vince got in the ring and celebrated with his son and The Rock as they joined forces to create the Corporation, along with Big Bossman, Ken Shamrock, Pat Paterson, Jerald Briscoe and later, Shawn Michaels as commissioner.
Before ’98 had ended, Mankind had won the title on Raw and then had many more battles with the corporate champion before The Rock finnaly won his title at the St. Valentines Day Massacre Pay-per-view in Febuary ’99. Another strong group around this time was the Ministry of Darkness, led by an evil Undertaker. In the main event of WrestleMania XV, The Rock took on Stone Cold Steve Austin in one of the most anticipated matches of all time. Stone Cold once again won the title. Towards the end of ’99, Stone Cold was supposedly knocked down which left him unable to compete for months. The man who replaced him in the title match the night he was knocked down was the Big Show, known as The Giant in his WCW days. Big Show unexpectedly won the title in a triple threat match with The Rock and Stone Cold. However, Show did not keep the title for long and he lost it to Triple H on Raw.
A confusing end to the 2000 Royal Rumble led to a four way elimination match at WrestleMania 2000 between The Rock, now a fan faveorite, The Big Show, Cactus Jack, one of Mick Foleys alter egos and his last match, and Triple H. There were several title changes in a lack lustre 2000, the last being Stone Cold, who had returned, losing the title to Kurt Angle, an Olympic Gold Medallist who had made his debut less then a year before. Also in 2000, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn and Eddie Guerrero made their WWF debuts and the McMahon-Healmsly era was in full swing with Triple H and his in-screen wife, Vince’s daughter Stephanie, calling the shots. D-X also finally broke up.
In 2001, Stone Cold once again won the Royal Rumble and beat The Rock at WrestMania who had beaten Angle in Febuary. Austin joined forces with his long time nemesis Vince McMahon to win the title, much to the fans surprise. As commentator Jim Ross put it “Stone Cold just sold his soul to the devil!”. This biggest occurrence of 2001 was the WWF purchase of their long time rivals, Ted Turners World Championship Wrestling, WCW. Vince proclaimed that he was going to sign the contract to buy WCW at WrestlMania. However, as he said this, his son Shane appeared and proclaimed that it was too late; he had already bought it!
In the summer, what could have been one of the most incredible storylines ever, but due to bad writing wasn’t, happened as the WCW, led by Shane and WCW World champion Booker T invaded the WWF. Soon after, the ECW also invaded and joined forces with WCW to form the Alliance. At the July 2001 pay-per-view, the aptly named InVasion, Stone Cold turned his back on the WWF and joined the Alliance. The Invasion storyline brought such new stars as Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, Rob Van Dam, Lance Storm, Billy Kidman, Chris Kanyon and Sean ‘O Haire to the WWF. However, the major WCW stars such as Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan, Scott Steiner and Goldber, the ones who could have made the invasion incredible, were nowhere to be seen. By the winter, the Invasion had become stale and the WWF finally beat the Alliance in an elimination match. In December the WWF and WCW titles were unified to form the Undisputed title, won by Chris Jericho after a short tournament.
Y2J held the title for a few months but lost it to Triple H in 2002. At No Way Out in Febuary came anther chance for a great storyline when the nWo, WCW’s version of D-X invaded. Led by Hollywood Hulk Hogan, with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall behind him, the nWo reeked havoc in the WWF until WrestleMania when Hogan took on The Rock in an Icon vs. Icon match. The reception for Hogan, even as a “bad guy”, was incredible and by the end of the match he was “good” again. The nWo got nowhere after that, even with the addition of a returning Shawn Michaels.
The big development of 2002 was the roster split of the WWF, which also changed it’s name to WWE after the World Wildlife Fund had won a lawfirm. Half of the roster was exclusive to Raw, led by Ric Flair, with the other half on Smackdown!, led by Vince. By now, the WWE was in a clear decline and the roster split along with the disintegration of some WWE belts didn’t seem to help the cause. In the summer, Vince defeated Flair in a match to take control of both shows. This defeated the purpose of having two rival brands and Vince assigned two new General Managers. On Raw it was Eric Bischoff, who was Vince’s bitter rival while in control of WCW when it was still around. On Smackdown! It was Vince’s daughter Stephanie. A new star had been born and had beat The Rock for the Undisputed Championship at SummerSlam. His name was Brock Lesnar. The next night on Raw, Stephanie revealed that Brock would be on Smackdown! Only, even though the Undisputed Champion was supposed to be on both shows. This led to a new champion for Raw. Eric Bischoff brought back the old World heavyweight Title, which had been used in WCW, and farcically gave it to Triple H.
Since then not much has happened. Brock is still the champion on Smackdown! although The Big Show and Kurt Angle have also held the title in the last year, and Goldberg is now the Raw Champion. The Intercontinental title has just been brought back after being unified with the World Heavyweight Title on the Raw side, and is held by RVD. And the WWE seems to have a policy of brining back old “Legends” such as Hogan and Rowdy Piper to headline their shows instead of letting more new talent shine. There have been good times over the last few years, the main question now is, when will these good times return?