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Paul London

Paul London

Paul London is an American professional wrestler performing for World Wrestling Entertainment on the Smackdown! brand, in its cruiserweight division.

Career

London's main exposure came from his work in the Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion. During his time working for ROH, London's matches were often accompanied by chants of "please don't die" as a reference to his wild style. He had a short stint with Total Non-stop Action Wrestling in 2003. He only made two appearances for the promotion. London went on to sign a WWE Development deal in mid-2003, working a few dark matches before being sent to its farm federation Ohio Valley Wrestling on August 30, 2003. London made his official SmackDown! debut on October 9, 2003, losing to Brock Lesnar in a try-out match. He later began tag teaming with fellow cruiserweight Spanky. The team was a mainstay on SmackDown!'s sister show, WWE Velocity, until Spanky left the company. London was placed with a new tag team partner, Billy Kidman. This team had more success and went on to win the WWE Tag Team Titles from The Dudley Boyz on July 8, 2004. The championship run of this face team came to an abrupt end after Kidman turned his back on London, leaving him to wrestle a tag team title match on his own. The heel turn came off the back of a legitimate injury on an August 24, 2004 taping of SmackDown!, where Billy Kidman's Shooting Star Press caused Chavo Guerrero to suffer a concussion and be taken to the hospital. The London/Kidman feud lasted a few months before London was placed in the hunt for the cruiserweight gold. In 2005, he began a feud with Chavo Guerrero, which later saw London win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship from him in a Cruiserweight Battle Royal On March 31, 2005. The pair continued their feud and had a Cruiserweight title match on June 23, 2005, but this title match was quickly interrupted by The Mexicools, who also interrupted a rematch the following week. On July 14, 2005, Paul London teamed with Scotty 2 Hotty and Funaki to face The Mexicools. The ending of the match saw Juventud perform London's 450 Splash on London for the win, almost injuring him in the process. As a result of the number of injuries it was reported that WWE management told their cruiserweight stars to tone down their high flying nature, banning both the 450 splash and the shooting star press. Paul London, who used the shooting star on July 30th in a WWE Velocity match with Nunzio, was told afterwards not to use the move anymore, and to come up with a new finisher. He was said to be notably upset, and even went to Vince McMahon to air his views. London went on to lose the WWE Cruiserweight Title on August 6th, 2005 on the next edition of WWE Velocity to Nunzio, an apparent sign that his meeting with McMahon was not well received. London was then taken off TV and was said to be at home dealing with a family illness. London then had a short-lived heel turn where he complained about his treatment in WWE, he used many non-crowd pleasing tactics, such as complaining to the ref while wrestling and tried out new moves which he could use for a new finisher. During this time he would go on a long losing streak before returning as a face and re-teaming with the newly rehired Brian Kendrick.

Finishing and signature moves


- Calling London / Cosmic Cyclone (450 splash)
- London Calling (Shooting star press)
- Running enzuigiri
- Dragon suplex
- Dropsault
- Mushroom stomp
- Waffle Face (Sky lift double chickenwing into a sit-out faceplant)

with Brian "Spanky" Kendrick


- Get Well Soon (Reverse STO and Enzuigiri combo)

Championships and accomplishments


- 1-time WWE Cruiserweight Champion
- 1-Time WWE Tag-Team Champion With Billy Kidman
- 1-Time CTPW Crusierweight Champion
- 1-Time FC United States Champion
- 1-Time FC Television Champion
- 1-Time FC Hardcore Champion
- 1-Time ETW Television Champion
- ECWA Super 8 Tournament Winner (2003)

Championship succession


External links


- [http://www.Paul-London.com/ Official Paul London Website]
- [http://www.excellence-of-innovation.de/ The Excellence Of Innovation - A Paul London Fansite] London, Paul London, Paul ja:ポール・ロンドン

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded1 from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry. Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars. The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by China (12%), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). More than 50% of total trade is with these four countries. In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1950s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few strikes in recent years. The United States' imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to an annual trade deficit of $700,000,000,000, or 6% of gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign debt of over $13,000,000,000,000 (2005 estimate); and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, backing away from the more interventionist Keynsian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. As a result, the United States provides fewer government-delivered social welfare services than most industrialized nations, choosing instead to keep its tax burden lower and relying more heavily on the free market and private charities. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than the national level ($5.15 per-hour), including the highest, Washington State at $7.35. Twenty-six states are the same as the federal level; two--Ohio and Kansas--are below; and six do not have state laws. America's wealth is relatively highly concentrated. The average C.E.O. earns 500 times the typical amount a worker grosses, this is up from 25 times in the late 1970s. In terms of wealth the top 1% of Americans own 40% of all assets and 50.1% of the country's income goes to the top twenty percent of households. Average wages for the majority of employees have been largely stagnating since the 1970s. America's poverty line defined as a family of four earning less than $19,157 is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; African Americans have the lowest median income while Asians had the highest. Regionally, the southern states had the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England had the highest. The current Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan remarked that the U.S.’s growing income inequality since the 1970s is, "not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html?s=itm] However, Greenspan also noted, "...you can look at the system and say it's got a lot of problems to it, and sure it does. It always has. But you can't get around the fact that this is the most extraordinarily successful economy in history."

Transportation

Alan Greenspan ]] Because the United States is a relatively young nation, most of the development of U.S. cities has taken place since the invention of the automobile. To link its vast territory, the United States built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important element is the Interstate Highway system, commissioned in the 1950s by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and modeled after the German Autobahn. The United States also has a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight across the lower forty-eight states. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which serves forty-six of the lower forty-eight states. Many cities in the United States have extensive mass-transit systems. New York City operates one of the world's largest and most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend into Long Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Connecticut are among the most heavily used in the world. Air travel is often preferred for destinations over 300 miles (500 kilometers) away. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; in terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. There are several major seaports in the United States; the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles, California; the Port of Long Beach, California; and the Port of New York and New Jersey. Others include Houston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington; plus, outside the contiguous forty-eight states, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Society

Demographics

Hawaii The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the western United States followed by the southern portion. According to Census 2000, the states that saw the greatest increases from 1990 were: Nevada (66.3%), Arizona (40%), Colorado (30.6%), Utah (29.6%), Idaho (28.5%), Georgia (26.4%), Florida (23.5%), Texas (22.8%), North Carolina (21.4%), and Washington (21.1%). [http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t2/tab03.pdf]

Ethnicity and race

:Main article: Racial demographics of the United States The United States is a very racially diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. The majority of Americans descend from white European immigrants who arrived at the establishment of the first colonies (most after Reconstruction). This majority--69.1% in 2000--decreases each year, and is expected to become a plurality within a few decades. The most frequently stated European ancestries are German (15.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from Slavic countries such as Poland and Russia. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada. Russia Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are the largest minority group in the country, comprising 12.5% of the population (2000 census). People of Mexican descent made up 7.3% of the population in the 2000 census, and this proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. About 12.3% (2000 census) of the American people are African Americans (Blacks). African Americans are spread throughout the country, but their presence is largest in the South. Asian Americans--including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders--are a third significant minority (3.7% of the population in 2000). Most Asian Americans are concentrated on the West Coast and Hawaii. The largest groups are immigrants or descendants of emigrants from the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan. Indigenous peoples in the United States, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up 0.9% of the population (2000 census). About 35% live on Indian reservations.

Religion

Polls estimate that just under 80 percent of Americans are Christians of various denominations. The other 20 percent comprises other religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, other various faiths, and those without a specific religion. The United States is noteworthy among developed nations for its relatively high level of religiosity. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, about 44% of Americans attend a religious service at least once a week. However, this rate is not uniform across the country; attendance is more common in the Bible Belt—composed largely of Southern and Midwestern states—than in the Northeast and West Coast. In the Southern states, Baptists are the largest group, followed by Methodists; Roman Catholics are dominant in the Northeast and in large parts of the Midwest due to their being settled by descendants of Catholic immigrants from Europe (such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland) or other parts of North America (mainly Quebec and Puerto Rico). The rest of the country for the most part has a complex mixture of various Christian groups.

Education

West Coast's home at Monticello and the University of Virginia (library building shown above, and designed by Jefferson), the only collegiate campus on the list. Both sites are located in Charlottesville, Virginia.]] In the United States, education is a state, not federal, responsibility, and the laws and standards vary considerably. However, the federal government, through the Department of Education, is involved with funding of some programs and exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. In most states, all students must attend mandatory schooling starting with kindergarten, which children normally enter at age 5, and following through 12th grade, which is normally completed at age 18

World Wrestling Entertainment

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., or WWE, is a professional wrestling promotion, currently the largest in North America. The company was previously known as TitanSports, Inc. and has previously done business as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). World Wrestling Entertainment is a publicly-traded company, but 70% of voting shares are owned by Chairman Vince McMahon, his wife, CEO Linda McMahon, his son, Executive Vice President of Global Media Shane McMahon, and his daughter, Vice President of Creative Writing Stephanie McMahon-Levesque. As of 2005, the headquarters of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. are located in Stamford, Connecticut at 1241 East Main Street.

Early history

In 1915, Roderick James "Jess" McMahon, grandfather of current WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, co-promoted a boxing match between Jess Willard and Jack Johnson. In the fight, on April 5, 1915, Johnson lost his title to Willard in Havana. A decade later, in 1925, McMahon joined Tex Rickard in promoting boxing events from the old Madison Square Garden, in New York, starting with the December 11, 1925, light-heavyweight championship match between Jack Delaney and Paul Berlenbach. Jess McMahon's enterprise focused on boxing and live concert/music promotion. It was not until 1935, coincidentally the same year Jim Crockett Promotions was formed, that the McMahon family moved into the wrestling business. His son, Vincent Jess McMahon, began to take an increasing role in the running of the business, especially on the wrestling side. However, the McMahon family was not able to promote wrestling matches at Madison Square Garden due to Rickard's dislike of the sport. This "no wrestling at the Garden" policy ended in 1948, when Joseph Raymond "Toots" Mondt, backed by millionaire Bernarr McFadden, managed to promote a wrestling show at the famous arena. Mondt's doing so was facilitated, in part, by the elder McMahon. Ray Fabiani, who helped Mondt take control of the New York territory after the death of Jack Curley, was influential in drawing the younger McMahon into an alliance with Mondt.

World Wide Wrestling Federation

In 1963, "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers was the NWA World Heavyweight Champion and his bookings were controlled by Mondt. The rest of the NWA was unhappy with Mondt because he rarely allowed Rogers to wrestle outside of the Northeast, which led to Mondt and the CWC leaving the NWA, creating the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in the process. Mondt and the WWWF wanted Rogers to keep the NWA Championship, but Rogers was unwilling to sacrifice his $25,000 deposit on the belt (titleholders at the time had to pay a deposit to ensure they would honor their commitments as champion). Rogers lost the NWA Championship to Lou Thesz in Toronto, Ontario on January 24, 1963. In mid-April, Rogers was awarded the new WWWF Championship following an apocryphal tournament in Rio de Janeiro. He lost the title to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17, 1963 after supposedly suffering a heart attack shortly before the match. After Mondt (born in 1886) died in 1976, the WWWF became the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in mid-1979. The name change was purely cosmetic; the ownership and front office personnel remained unchanged during this period.

World Wrestling Federation

1979 In 1980, Vincent K. McMahon founded Titan Sports, Inc., and in 1982 purchased the WWF from his father, Vincent J. McMahon. After discovering at age 12 that the wrestling promoter was his father, Vince became steadily involved in his father's wrestling business until the latter was ready to retire. The elder McMahon had already established the northeastern territory as one of the most vibrant members of the NWA by recognizing that pro wrestling was more about entertainment than sport. Against his father's wishes, McMahon began an expansion process that would fundamentally change the sport, and place both the WWF--and his own life--in jeopardy. Leaving the NWA for a second time in itself was not that big of a step; the AWA had long ago ceased being an official NWA member, and just over a decade earlier the WWWF itself had rejoined the NWA. But in neither instance did the defecting member attempt to undermine, and destroy, the Territory system that had been the foundation of the industry. Other promoters were furious when McMahon began syndicating WWF shows to stations across America. McMahon also began selling videotapes of WWF events outside the Northeast. He effectively broke the unwritten law of regionalism around which the entire industry had been based. To make matters worse, McMahon would use the income generated by advertising, television deals, and tape sales to poach talent from rival promoters. Wrestling promoters nationwide were now in direct competition with the WWF. According to several reports, Vincent Sr. warned his son: "Vinny, what are you doing?! You'll wind up at the bottom of a river!" In spite of such warnings, the younger McMahon had an even bolder ambition: the WWF would tour nationally. However, such a venture required huge capital investment; one which placed the WWF on the verge of financial collapse. The future of not just McMahon's experiment, but also the WWF, the NWA, and the whole industry came down to the success or failure of McMahon's groundbreaking sports entertainment concept, WrestleMania. WrestleMania was a pay-per-view extravaganza (in some areas; most areas of the country saw WrestleMania available on Closed Circuit TV) that McMahon marketed as being the Super Bowl of professional wrestling. The concept of a wrestling supercard was nothing new in North America; the NWA had been running StarrCade a few years prior to Wrestlemania, and even the elder McMahon had marketed large Shea Stadium cards viewable in closed circuit locations. However, McMahon wanted to take the WWF to the mainstream, targeting the general public who were not regular wrestling fans. He drew the interest of the mainstream media by inviting celebrities such as Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper to participate in the event. MTV, in particular, featured a great deal of WWF coverage and programming at this time, in what was termed the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection.

The Golden Age

Vince's marketing strategies became an almost immediate success. Touring nationally was seen as a much better idea to see a star-studded line-up rather than go to a local event and see one main attraction as NWA's territory system worked. Vince thought big, and it certainly paid off. During this era, everyone on the roster was well known. Anybody who wasn't was a jobber. Just about everyone on the roster could be in line for a shot at the world or intercontinental title. Success was driven by home-grown characters like Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase, Roddy Piper, Andre the Giant, King Kong Bundy, among plenty of others. But the real story of the Golden Age was Hulkamania.

Hulkamania

On January 23, 1984, Hulk Hogan pinned The Iron Sheik to win his first WWE Championship. Vince McMahon's "Hulkamania" marketing strategy had been launched and gained almost immediate success. Hulk Hogan played the role of an honest and courageous hero, encouraging children to "train, say their prayers and take their vitamins". Hogan would remain WWF Champion for four years and 13 days, overcoming such challengers as André the Giant, "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff, Rowdy Roddy Piper and King Kong Bundy, drawing record houses, PPV buyrates and TV ratings in the process. He co-hosted Saturday Night Live on March 30, 1985 and even had his own CBS Saturday morning cartoon during this lucrative run, titled Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wrestling, in which he was voiced by Brad Garrett. On March 31, 1985, the inaugural WrestleMania took place at Madison Square Garden, featuring Hogan in a tag team main event, with Mr. T his partner. Hogan would go on to headline the first nine WrestleManias, from 1985 to 1993.

A decline in success

The new formula of what McMahon deemed Sports Entertainment was a resounding financial success at the original WrestleMania. The WWF did incredible business on the shoulders of McMahon and his All-American babyface hero, Hulk Hogan, for the next several years, creating what some observers dubbed a second golden age for professional wrestling. However, by the 1990s the WWF's fortunes steadily declined as Hulk Hogan's act grew stale, hitting a low point in the wake of allegations of steroid abuse and distribution against McMahon and the WWF in 1994; there were also allegations of sexual harassment by WWF employees. McMahon was eventually exonerated, but it was a public-relations debacle for the WWF.

Monday Night Wars

Under Eric Bischoff, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the new name for NWA superterritory Jim Crockett Promotions after its purchase by Ted Turner, began using its tremendous financial resources to lure established talent away from the WWF. Beginning in 1994, these acquisitions included Hulk Hogan, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Lex Luger, Scott Hall, "Big Sexy" Kevin Nash, and many others. In 1995, Bischoff upped the ante, creating WCW Monday Nitro, a cable show on Turner's TNT network, to directly compete with the WWF's flagship show, WWF Monday Night RAW. Eventually, on the strength of its newly-acquired WWF talent and the groundbreaking nWo storyline, WCW overtook the WWF in television ratings and popularity. McMahon responded by stating that he could create new superstars to regain the upper hand in the ratings war, and at the same time tightening contracts to make it harder for WCW to raid WWF talent. Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart were elevated to the top of the card, gaining popularity based mostly on the excellence of their in-ring abilities, a far departure from the Hogan era. Despite this, the WWF was losing money at a rapid rate. WCW's reality-based storylines drew attention away from the WWF's outdated (and childish) rock and wrestling-era gimmicks. In 2004, WWE published a DVD entitled The Monday Night War, which chronicles the monumental battle between the two organizations for ratings supremacy.

The Montreal Screwjob

The WWF/WCW feud reached a new heights in 1997, when WCW offered a contract to Bret "The Hitman" Hart worth up to a reported nine million dollars over the course of three years. The WWF and Vince McMahon countered with an offer worth much less, but for a much longer period of time, with greater creative control. Bret Hart took the offer, but after several months of financial hardship and sharply falling profits, McMahon alerted Hart of the situation, and allowed him to re-open negotiations with WCW. Despite a great sense of loyalty to the WWF, Hart took WCW's offer and was set to appear on their programming by the end of the year. While Hart's departure was not a surprise, the WWF was concerned about the fact that the man about to leave was the WWF Champion. Earlier in the WWF/WCW feud, the WWF Women's Champion, Alundra Blayze, signed with WCW while in possession of the belt and threw it in a trash can on WCW Nitro (imitating a heavily-publicized act by heavyweight boxing champion Riddick Bowe). The WWF's worst nightmare was for Hart to appear on WCW Nitro while wearing the WWF belt. Bret promised that no such thing would ever happen and put an agreement in place that the announcement of his departure would be delayed until the belt could be transitioned to a new champion. However, McMahon was concerned that the word would get out and he sought a way to get the belt off of Hart before the deal could be announced on WCW Monday Nitro. Hart used his contractual control over his booking in the last 30 days of his deal, which would end with that year's Survivor Series PPV in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He let it be known to WWF management that he would willingly drop the title, but not to rival "HBK" Shawn Michaels in Montreal. McMahon would deviate from the agreed finish of their match at Survivor Series to allow Shawn Michaels to win the title from Hart. During the match Shawn Michaels put Bret Hart in a Sharpshooter, which Hart was in the process of countering when the referee Earl Hebner, under instruction from Vince McMahon, told the timekeepers to ring the bell to end the match and announced Michaels the winner. Bret Hart was so infuriated at the fake victory he literally spat in McMahon's eye before leaving the ring. This event set the stage for the turning point in the WWF/WCW feud. McMahon used the backlash from the event to cast himself as the evil company owner "Mr. McMahon" in WWF programming, a dictatorial ruler who favored heel wrestlers who were "good for business" over "misfits" like Stone Cold Steve Austin. This led to the Austin vs. McMahon feud, which was the cornerstone of the new WWF Attitude concept.

WWF Attitude

Stone Cold Steve AustinRunning with the momentum from the Montreal Screwjob, McMahon, along with head writer Vince Russo, took the WWF in an edgier, reality-based direction he called WWF Attitude, and in the process created a new corporate logo. Borrowing many of the exciting wrestling and storyline styles from then-insurgent wrestling promotion ECW, the WWF Attitude Era was based largely on the growing popularity of the wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin. Popular with the fans ever since winning the King of the Ring tournament as a heel in 1996, Austin's rough-and-redneck style won over enough fans that the WWF was forced to turn him into a fan favorite at WrestleMania 13 in spring 1997 (in a rare double-switch in which Bret Hart turned heel after a legendary match between the two wrestlers). During the summer and fall of 1997, Austin enhanced his status as a rebel willing to challenge any authority by giving his Stone Cold Stunner finishing move to WWF announcer Jim Ross, then-Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter, and eventually WWF owner Vince McMahon himself. Hints of the Austin-McMahon feud in WWF storylines began after Stone Cold won the 1998 Royal Rumble to become #1 Contender for the WWF Title at Wrestlemania. McMahon said in a pre-WrestleMania press conference that it was not in the WWF's best interest to have Austin as champion. The relationship would deteriorate over the next few years of WWF programming. The Attitude era kicked off in earnest at WrestleMania XIV, when the controversial professional boxer Mike Tyson appeared as a special guest referee for the WWF Championship match between Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin. The highlight was the verbal confrontation between Austin and Tyson from the months leading up to WrestleMania which ended with Austin flipping off Tyson come to nothing as Tyson (who was supposed to be in Michaels' corner) counted the 1, 2, 3 for Austin to win his very first WWF championship. Michaels and Tyson then had an argument which ended with Tyson punching Michaels' lights out. Fans who purchased the pay-per-view were amazed by what they saw; this certainly was not the childish Rock and Wrestling era they still expected from the WWF. Despite putting on a great show at WrestleMania XIV, Vince's company was still behind in the ratings, but one month later, RAW finally overcame its rival in the ratings war. Over the coming year, the WWF would see new fan favorites. The Rock would become one of the most popular professional wrestlers in history. Mick Foley, as Mankind, became one of the most beloved figures in wrestling after the memorable Hell in a Cell match at 1998 King of the Ring, where Foley was thrown off the cage by The Undertaker, who remained one of the WWF's most enduring characters. D-Generation X, led by Triple H, had now taken the place of the nWo as the most interesting stable on television. Where earlier WCW's edgy WCW vs. nWo angle managed to almost lead the WWF to financial ruin, it was now becoming stale, and fans turned back to the WWF, drawn in by the popularity of Austin and the edgy nature of the television programming. This change was not without critics. Many family groups were outraged at the graphic violence employed by the WWF. They, along with feminist groups, found the regular use of scantily-clad women to attract viewers as offensive. One group, the Parents Television Council, waged a sustained boycott campaign against the WWF. However, the controversial new presentation made the WWF more appealing than ever to its core audience.

The death of Owen Hart

Tragedy struck on May 23, 1999, in Kansas City. Owen Hart, as his "Blue Blazer" superhero character, was scheduled to make a dramatic appearance on that night's Over the Edge pay-per-view telecast, "flying" into the ring by being lowered from a harness attached to the roof of the arena. As Hart was being lowered into position in preparation for this entrance, his harness suddenly disengaged, sending him plummeting 78 feet to the ring below. Those watching the pay-per-view telecast at the time were spared the sight because the director cut away to a pretaped interview just before the accident occurred. Hart was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. A stunned Jim Ross made the solemn announcement to the pay-per-view audience once word had reached the arena. The fans in attendance at the Kemper Arena were not informed of Owen's death. The decision to continue the event was (and still is) a controversial one. The following night, the WWF dedicated its entire two-hour RAW telecast to Owen's memory, as various WWF performers and employees broke character and shared memories of their fallen friend. Over the Edge 1999 was never issued as a video or DVD as a result of the death of Hart. In addition, many "Blue Blazer" action figures were removed from circulation. His brother, Bret, already having a bad relationship with Vince McMahon over the Montreal Screwjob, further attacked and blamed McMahon for Owen's death. Bret and Vince's relationship has warmed somewhat over the years, and in August 2005, Bret signed a contract with WWE to produce DVDs and other merchandise based on the Hitman's career. In an interview on his 2005 DVD, Owen's brother, Bret says that he wishes he had been with the company when Owen's accident happened.

Business advances

On April 29, 1999, the WWF made its terrestrial television debut by launching a special program known as SmackDown! on the fledgling UPN network. The show became a weekly series on August 26, 1999. It has remained UPN's most successful program overall ever since. SmackDown! was moved to Friday nights with a one-hour special September 8, 2005, ending its Thursday night broadcasts since the first one in 1999. Off the back of the success of the Attitude era, on October 19, 1999 the WWF's parent company, Titan Sports (which is renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. at this point) became a publicly traded company, offering 10 million shares priced at $17 each. WWF announced its desire to diversify into other businesses, including a nightclub in Times Square, film production and book publishing. Despite losing Steve Austin to injury, the WWF continued to dominate the ratings and become a pop culture sensation due to The Rock emerging as a pop culture icon and movie actor, and Triple H becoming a certifiable main eventer. The defection of WCW talent such as The Big Show, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero bolstered the talent roster, effectively killing off any chance WCW had of becoming a serious threat ever again. Head writer Vince Russo and his assistant Ed Ferrera were among the last WWF employees to "jump ship" to WCW, leaving the WWF in late 1999. They were replaced by the late Chris Kreski, known for his extensive use of storyboards to attain continuity. In 2000 the WWF, in collaboration with television network NBC, announced the creation of the XFL, a new professional football league, but the league had dismal television ratings and NBC pulled the plug after a year.

Introduction of ECW

On February 5, 2001 Jim Ross confirmed in his "WWF Ross Report" that Extreme Championship Wrestling stars Justin Credible, Jerry Lynn, and World Champion Rhino has signed with the WWF. Lynn and Rhino had verbal agreements while Credible signed a three year deal on January 26th. Bobby Eaton signed with the WWF on January 26th and will be used as an instructor in Memphis, Tennessee with Memphis Championship Wrestling to help develop talent for the WWF. Paul Heyman debuted as the new colour commentator on Monday Night RAW and Tazz on SmackDown! following the shocking departure of Jerry Lawler and wife The Kat. ECW went bankrupt in April that year.

Acquisition of WCW

With the massive success of Attitude, WCW's financial situation deteriorated significantly, and its newly-merged parent company AOL Time Warner looked to cut the division loose. In March 2001, WWF Entertainment, Inc. acquired WCW from AOL Time Warner for $2 million. During the final WCW Monday Nitro, Vince McMahon (as the character Mr. McMahon) took over the broadcast during the last half hour and Monday Night RAW was seen on TNT. Months later, McMahon and Bischoff reconciled their personal differences, and Bischoff signed with WWE to perform as the storyline General Manager of RAW, in a surreal moment that wrestling fans will remember for all time.

The end of the Attitude Era

The attitude era was believed to start declining at WrestleMania X-Seven. The writing team (led by Stephanie McMahon at this point) began to lose their creative originality, changing characters like Steve Austin from an anti-hero to a paranoid champion and Gregory Helms (though in need of a new character) to a superhero. In the meantime, Triple H and Chris Benoit, two of WWE's largest drawcards, were injured in May with a quadricep tear and in June with a nagging neck injury, respectively. In addition, The Rock left for a few months to film the movie The Mummy Returns. Some people think the Attitude era ended at the end of WrestleMania X-Seven and others say November 2001 once the Invasion was finished or even the brand extension in April 2002. It is still a debate amongst wrestling fans.

The Invasion

Main Article: The Invasion Since WCW's peak in the late 1990s, wrestling fans had dreamed about a feud between the two promotions. The original plan was to have WCW "take over" RAW, turning it back into WCW Monday Nitro. However, many big-name WCW stars such as Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Kevin Nash, Goldberg, and Sting were still contracted to WCW's former parent company (McMahon decided not to buy them out), and all chose to sit out the duration of their contracts rather than work for McMahon for less money. The lack of major WCW star power, combined with McMahon deciding that WWF wrestlers generally should not lose to WCW wrestlers, ended the "InVasion" storyline quickly. Even the inclusion of ECW wrestlers and trademarks did not save it. Many people believe that the story would have gone much better if WWE and McMahon waited a couple of years, as many WCW and ECW superstars joined after the end of the era. It is believed that he would have waited, however long term booking was based largely around two men: Triple H and Chris Benoit. On May 21, 2001, during a Monday Night RAW tag team match with Benoit and Jericho battling the tag team champions Triple H and Steve Austin, Helmsley planted his foot wrong and tore his left quadricep muscle. Remarkably, he finished the match. Unfortunately, this injury would put Triple H out of action until January 2002. Chris Benoit, on the other hand, had been wrestling for some time with an injured neck which finally required surgery after King of the Ring 2001. Benoit would be on the shelf for the better part of a year. With two of the key characters in their long-term booking on the shelf, McMahon went ahead with the Invasion storyline prematurely. Ironically, Ric Flair, one of the major WCW names that would have helped the Invasion feud, debuted on RAW the night after the WWF defeated WCW at the Survivor Series 2001. The Invasion feud was a contributor to the company's decline in the ratings as well as in attendance and financially, although the company to this day still has a profitable quarter.

Undisputed Champion

Main Article: WWE Undisputed Championship Following Survivor Series, WWE now had the WWE and WCW world titles available, but all other titles had been unified at Survivor Series. Mr. McMahon announced that at WWE Vengeance the two titles would be unified to form an undisputed champion. Co-owner Ric Flair later suggested that The Rock faced Chris Jericho for the World Championship (i.e the WCW Championship) and Austin defend his WWE Championship against Kurt Angle and the winners face for the undisputed title. Steve Austin defeated Kurt Angle to retain his title and Jericho defeated Rock in a big upset to win the World title, but the biggest upset was yet to come. Jericho managed to beat Austin to become the first ever undisputed champion in professional wrestling with some help from Booker T.

New World Order

Main Article: nWo After the WWF bought WCW in 2001 Vince McMahon brought back Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall as the nWo, at the No Way Out PPV on February 17, 2002. In this storyline, the nWo was brought in as McMahon's allies in an attempt to "kill" the WWF so that McMahon would not have to share power with new WWF co-owner "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. However, Hogan left the group after he lost his WrestleMania X8 match with The Rock and was assaulted after that match by Hall & Nash. Hall & Nash brought back two nWo members afterwards, X-Pac (formerly known as Syxx), on March 21, 2002, at SmackDown! in Ottawa and The Big Show (formerly known as The Giant), on April 22, 2002. The nWo reunion in the WWF would not last long. Hall was released in May due to drinking problems during a UK tour. Flair later became a semi-member of the nWo after turning on Stone Cold Steve Austin. As owner of RAW, Flair set up a lumberjack match with Austin against the newest member of the nWo. It turned out to be none other than Booker T. Nash introduced Shawn Michaels into the nWo on June 3, 2002. Michaels proceeded to literally kick Booker out of the nWo one week later. Abruptly, the nWo was disbanded by McMahon on July 15, 2002, after he regained full control of WWE from Ric Flair. The final nail in the nWo coffin was X-Pac fainting on July 15 before the show and Nash tearing a quadricep muscle during a match one week prior to the disbandaning, taking him out of action for several months.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Following a 2000 lawsuit from the World Wildlife Fund (also WWF), the Federation changed its name to World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE. Its parent company, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, also chose to adopt this name. The lawsuit dealt with the wrestling company's breaching of an agreement with the Fund over use of the initials "WWF" in the United Kingdom. Rather than attempt a financial settlement with the Fund, McMahon changed the name of the company. The logo was altered, and a promotional campaign called "Get The F Out" was used to publicize this change. Also, all verbal and visual references to "WWF" and the World Wrestling Federation logo from the "Attitude" era were edited out from old broadcasts. Some observers saw the new name as further acknowledgement by the company on its emphasis towards the entertainment rather than athletic aspects of professional wrestling. Shortly after the WWF vs. WWFE lawsuit, controversy arose once again due to the "Kane killed Katie Vick" storyline, in which Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Triple H) dressed up as Kane and acted out (on a maniquin) an act of violation upon the 'corpse' of Katie Vick. The storyline came to an abrupt end after Kane and Hunter's PPV match.

The Brand Extension

Main Article: WWE Draft Without WCW as competition, in 2002 WWE decided to split the promotion into two distinct brands based on its two largest television shows, RAW and SmackDown! Under this "split brands" arrangement, each brand maintains a separate and non-overlapping roster of wrestlers, has championships exclusive to that brand (example: the WWE Championship on RAW and the World Heavyweight Championship on SmackDown!), and is run by a different onscreen General Manager. In June of 2003, WWE began the practice of alternating PPV. RAW one month, then SmackDown! the next, and so forth. The two brands join together as co-sponsors of each of the four original WWE pay-per-view cards: Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series. A yearly draft is scheduled sometime after WrestleMania, where 5 RAW and 5 SmackDown! superstars switch shows in order to "shake things up". In late 2005, WWE began featuring a variation of the "Invasion" angle, where RAW superstars would invade Smackdown! shows and vice versa. This has led to some cross-promotional matches at pay-per-views and on regular television events.

Legends Program

In 2005, WWE has started a Brothas program, continuing the tradition of inducting new members into the WWE Hall of Fame at WrestleMania weekend, and working with former legends such as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Superstar Billy Graham to issue new licensed merchandise such as apparel, action figures, video games, and DVDs. The Legends program began informally with the introduction of WWE 24/7, WWE's on-demand service and the success of career retrospective DVDs such as The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection. Recently added legends include Dusty Rhodes, Kamala, Goldust, Hulk Hogan, Jerry "The King" Lawler, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka, Paul Bearer, Big Van Vader and Jake "The Snake" Roberts.

The Death of Eddie Guerrero

See Also: Eddie Guerrero, Tributes to Eddie Guerrero Six years after the death of Owen Hart, tragedy struck WWE once again. On the morning of November 13, 2005, Chavo Guerrero checked into the same hotel with his uncle, Eddie Guerrero, in Minneapolis where they were both scheduled to be a part of a planned WWE "Supershow" in which both RAW and SmackDown! would be filmed from. Chavo was alerted by hotel security that Eddie did not respond to a wake-up call, and after security opened the locked door to the room, Chavo found his uncle unconscious. Chavo attempted CPR, but Eddie was declared dead on the scene, sending shockwaves throughout the entire wrestling community. Later that afternoon, Chavo appeared in a press conference with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to address Eddie's sudden passing. They announced that both RAW and SmackDown! shows that week would be tributes to Guerrero, where WWE wrestlers and employees broke character and shared memories of their late friend. On November 15, 2005, an autospy announced on WWE.com by Vickie Guerrero (Eddie's wife), that he had died from massive heart failure. Although he had been sober for four years, his drug and alcohol problems took their toll on Guerrero, as well as his time spent in the ring. Since then, WWE has recently issued a new drug policy. Guerrero was the first active WWE superstar to pass on since Owen Hart in 1999, and the fifth former WWE Champion who has passed away (the others being Buddy Rogers, Stan Stasiak, André the Giant, and Yokozuna). Perhaps as a response to questions about the death of Guerrero, Vincent McMahon announced on November 21, 2005 a new drug policy where performers would be subject to random drug tests by an independent testing company[http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/1613464].

Saturday Night's Main Event

As of December 1, 2005, WWE announced that Saturday Night's Main Event would be returning back to NBC starting in March.

Return to World Wrestling Federation?

WWE trademarked the term "WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION" on November 2nd, 2005. The trademark filed states: :"Entertainment services, namely, the production and exhibition of professional wrestling events rendered live and through the media of television; providing wrestling news and information via a global computer network." WWE is currently prohibited from using the term "WWF" due to the lawsuit they lost with the World Wildlife Fund a few years back. It is not known if they plan to offer the World Wildlife Fund an offer to allow them to use their old name again. The rumour at hand is believed only to be for trademark purposes, to prevent other federations from promoting under the name "World Wrestling Federation".

Championships

Current champions

Defunct Championships and accomplishments


- WWE Undisputed Championship (2001-2002)
- King of the Ring (1993-2002)
- WWE European Championship (1997-2002)
- WWE Hardcore Championship (1998-2002)
- OVW Hardcore Championship (2000 - 2001)
- OVW Light Heavyweight Championship (1999-2001)
- WWE Light Heavyweight Championship (1981-2001)
- WWF Intercontinental Tag Team Championship (1991)
- WWF Women's Tag Team Championship (1983-1989)
- WWF New Japan Martial Arts Championship (1978-1989)
- WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship (1966-1986)
- WWF International Tag Team Championship (1965-1985)
- WWF International Heavyweight Championship (1958-1983)
- WWF North American Championship (1979-1981)
- WWWF United States Championship (1970-1976)
- WWWF United States Tag Team Championship (1958-1967)

See also


- Current World Wrestling Entertainment roster
- Deep South Wrestling, LLC
- List of WWE pay-per-view events
- List of video games based on licensed properties
- Ohio Valley Wrestling
- Previous World Wrestling Entertainment roster
- The Alliance
- WWE Draft
- WWE Hall of Fame
- WWE Programs

References


- [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec99/wwf.html An IPO for the WWF]
- [http://www.obsessedwithwrestling.com/profiles/wwe-alumni.html Administrative Alumni]

External links


- [http://www.wwe.com/ Official WWE site]
- [http://corporate.wwe.com/ Official WWE Corporate website]
- [http://www.wwe.com/superstars/divas Official WWE Divas Page]
- [http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw Official WWE RAW Page]
- [http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown Official WWE SmackDown! Page]
- [http://finance.yahoo.com/q?d=t&s=WWE WWE Stock] ja:WWE
-

Smackdown

Friday Night SmackDown! is a professional wrestling show that airs in the United States on UPN, in Canada on The Score Network and in the United Kingdom on Sky Sports. It is produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The show is generally seen by wrestling fans as WWE's "B show" to its older counterpart, the live Monday night show RAW. The SmackDown! stars typically perform four shows in a week. WWE usually tapes its Tuesday evening show for UPN to air on Friday evening of the same week. However, the show is occasionally broadcast live. From its launch in 1999 SmackDown! was shown on Thursday nights, but as of September 9, 2005, the show moved to Friday nights [http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271|95394|1|,00.html]. To reflect this change, the show is now referred to as Friday Night SmackDown! SmackDown! is the parent show to WWE Velocity. The current theme song of SmackDown! is "Rise Up" by Drowning Pool.

Show history

Pre-brand extension

Drowning Pool WWF SmackDown! (as it was originally known) was set up to compete against WCW's Thursday night show, Thunder. In the spirit of the WWF's Attitude Era, the show was originally planned to be two hours of WWF Divas in primetime TV. However, this did not work out, and instead SmackDown! became a complementary show to RAW. SmackDown! first appeared in April 1999 using the RAW is WAR set as a single television special. However as the year continued, the WWF found itself experiencing a meteoric r