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World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion, can be traced back to the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, a Northeastern member of the National Wrestling Alliance run by Raymond "Toots" Mondt and Roderick "Jess" McMahon (and later Vincent J McMahon, replacing his father in 1953). When the CWC withdrew its membership of the NWA in 1963 in protest of a World Championship decision, it created the World Wide Wrestling Federation, continuing to promote in the same region. In 1979, the brand name was shortened to World Wrestling Federation. The following year Vincent K McMahon founded Titan Sports, and in 1982 purchased the CWC (and thus the WWF) from his father and began a national expansion.
By syndicating television shows and distributing videos in several markets around the United States, the WWF began competing with other promotions, flouting the traditional territory system that had long been respected by Vince McMahon Sr. And by successfully gambling the company's financial wellbeing on the concept of WrestleMania - a pay-per-view and closed-circuit supercard headlined by nationally recognized stars such as Hulk Hogan (who had gained exposure in the movie Rocky III) - McMahon Jr was able to invest in touring nationally. The WWF's association with celebrities such as Mr T and Cindi Lauper also assisted the aim of making the promotion a mainstream attraction.
The Federation's coverage steadily became not only national but global, with international tours and television exposure, though its popularity was not constant. By the mid-1990s, a decline in demand for the company's top stars in the ring and legal battles in the courtroom spawned a lull, allowing World Championship Wrestling - owned by media tycoon and personal rival of McMahon Jr, Ted Turner - to overtake the WWF as the most-watched wrestling product in America. As WCW lured away the WWF's biggest names, the Federation pushed new stars such as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock, eventually reclaiming its throne before purchasing its rival in 2001.
With no remaining strong competition, the WWF - renamed World Wrestling Entertainment in 2002 - began promoting two separate brands on its existing primary television shows, Raw and SmackDown, with stars at all levels unique to each brand, although trades soon became common. In 2006, a third brand, ECW - intended as a resurgeance of Extreme Championship Wrestling, a Northeastern promotion with a cult following until purchased by the WWF in 2001 - was added to the schedule, featuring new and existing WWE talent.
Despite the steady growth nationally and abroad of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, WWE remains the largest promotion domestically and worldwide, having accomplished Vincent K McMahon's goal of becoming a household name in the entertainment business.
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