Company name	World Wrestling Entertainment
Company logo
Company type	Public ()
Foundation	1952 (as CWC),incorporated in 1980 (as Titan Sports)
Founder	Roderick McMahonToots Mondt
Location city	Stamford, Connecticut
Location country	U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Vince McMahon(Chairman & CEO)George Barrios(CFO)Donna Goldsmith(COO)John Laurinaitis(Executive Vice President, Talent Relations)Stephanie McMahon-Levesque(Executive Vice President, Creative Development & Operations)
Industry	Professional wrestling, sports entertainment
Revenue	$109.6 million (Q3/2010)
Operating income	$20.3 million (Q3/2010)
Homepage	Official SiteCorporate WWE Web Site
Intl	yes

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) (previously known as Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd, Titan Sports Inc. and World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc.) is a publicly traded, privately controlled sports entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales. It is currently the largest professional wrestling company in the world, reaching 14.4 million viewers in the U.S. and broadcasting its shows in 30 languages to more than 145 countries. It promotes under two brands, known as Raw and SmackDown.

Vince McMahon is the majority owner, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the company. Together with his wife Linda McMahon, and their children, Shane McMahon and Executive Vice President of Talent and Creative Writing, Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, the McMahons hold approximately 70% of WWE's economic interest and 96% of the voting power in the company. The company's headquarters are located in Stamford, Connecticut with offices in Los Angeles, New York City, London, Tokyo, Toronto, and Sydney. WWE holds an extensive library of videos, representing a significant portion of the visual history of professional wrestling.

The company began as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd in 1952, which promoted under the banner of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) and later the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 1982 it was sold to the same family's Titan Sports Inc. company, which later changed its name to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc., before finally becoming World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. in 2002.

Company history

Capitol Wrestling Corporation

Roderick James "Jess" McMahon was a boxing promoter whose achievements included co-promoting a bout in 1915 between Jess Willard and Jack Johnson. In 1926, while working with Tex Rickard (who actually despised wrestling to such a degree he prevented wrestling events from being held at the third Madison Square Garden in New York City between 1939 and 1948), he started promoting boxing at the Garden. The first match during their partnership was a light-heavyweight championship match between Jack Delaney and Paul Berlenbach.

A few years earlier, around 1920, professional wrestler Joseph Raymond "Toots" Mondt had created a new challenge of professional wrestling that he called Slam Bang Western Style Wrestling to make the entertainment more appealing to spectators. At the time, pro wrestling consisted primarily of mat grappling; and while the sport had flourished a decade earlier under Frank Gotch, the fans had since grown tired of the painfully deliberate pace of the bouts. However, Mondt discovered a solution that would completely transform the industry, as he convinced Lewis and Sandow to implement a new form of wrestling that combined features of boxing, Greco-Roman, freestyle, lumber-camp fighting, and theater into what he deemed “Slam Bang Western-Style Wrestling.” He then formed a promotion with wrestler Ed Lewis and his manager Billy Sandow. They persuaded many wrestlers to sign contracts with their Gold Dust Trio. After much success, a disagreement over power caused the trio to dissolve and, with it, their promotion. Mondt formed partnerships with several other promoters, including Jack Curley in New York City. When Curley was dying, Mondt moved to take over New York wrestling with the aid of several bookers, one of whom was Jess McMahon.

Together, Roderick McMahon and Raymond Mondt created the Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd (CWC). The CWC joined the National Wrestling Alliance in 1953. In 1954, Ray Fabiani, one of Mondt's associates, brought in Vincent J. McMahon to replace his late father Jess in the promotion. McMahon and Mondt were a successful combination, and within a short time, they controlled approximately 70% of the NWA's booking, largely due to their dominance in the heavily populated Northeast region. Mondt taught McMahon about booking and how to work in the wrestling business. Due to the dominance in the northeast, the CWC was referred to by AWA legend Nick Bockwinkel as the "Northeast Triangle", with its territory being defined by Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., and Maine as points of the triangle.

World Wide Wrestling Federation

The NWA recognized an undisputed NWA World Heavyweight Champion that went to several different wrestling companies in the alliance and defended the belt around the world. In 1963, the champion was "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers. The rest of the NWA was unhappy with Mondt because he rarely allowed Rogers to wrestle outside of the Northeast. Mondt and McMahon wanted Rogers to keep the NWA World Championship, but Rogers was unwilling to sacrifice his $25,000 deposit on the belt (title holders at the time had to pay a deposit to insure they honored their commitments as champion). Rogers lost the NWA World Championship to Lou Thesz in a one-fall match in Toronto, Ontario on January 24, 1963, which led to Mondt, McMahon, and the CWC leaving the NWA in protest, creating the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in the process.

In April, Rogers was awarded the new WWWF World Championship following an apocryphal tournament in Rio de Janeiro. He lost the title to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17, 1963, after suffering a heart attack shortly before the match. To accommodate Rogers' condition, the match was booked to last under a minute.

Mondt left the company in the late sixties. Although the WWWF had withdrawn from the NWA, Vince McMahon Sr. still sat on the NWA Board of Directors, no other territory was recognized in the Northeast, and several "champion vs. champion" matches occurred (usually ending in a double disqualification or some other non-decisive ending).

In March 1979, the WWWF became the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The change was purely cosmetic, and the ownership and front office personnel remained unchanged during this period.

World Wrestling Federation

, founder of Titan Sports, Inc. and current majority owner of World Wrestling Entertainment.]] In 1980, the son of Vincent J. McMahon, Vincent K. McMahon, founded Titan Sports, Inc. and in 1982 purchased Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd from his father. The elder McMahon had long since established the northeastern territory as one of the most vibrant members of the NWA. He had long since recognized that professional wrestling was more about entertainment than actual sport. Against his father's wishes, McMahon began an expansion process that fundamentally changed the industry.

The WWF was not the only promotion to have broken ranks with the NWA; the American Wrestling Association (AWA) had long ago ceased being an official NWA member (although like the WWF, they seldom left their own territory). However, neither of the defecting members attempted to undermine the territory system that had been the foundation of the industry for more than half a century.

Other promoters were furious when McMahon began syndicating WWF television shows to television stations across the United States, in areas outside of the WWF's traditional northeastern stronghold. McMahon also began selling videotapes of WWF events outside the Northeast through his Coliseum Video distribution company. He effectively broke the unwritten law of regionalism around which the entire industry had been based. To make matters worse, McMahon used 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.

Hulk Hogan, due to his appearance in Rocky III, had a national recognition that few other wrestlers could offer, which is what led McMahon to sign him. Roddy Piper was brought in, as well as Jesse Ventura (although Ventura rarely wrestled in the WWF at that point due to the lung disorder that caused his retirement, moving to the commentator booth alongside Gorilla Monsoon). André the Giant, Jimmy Snuka, Don Muraco, Paul Orndorff, Greg Valentine, Ricky Steamboat, and the Iron Sheik (Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri) rounded out the roster. Hogan was clearly McMahon's biggest star, causing some people to debate whether the WWF could have achieved national success without him.

The WWF would tour nationally in a venture that required huge capital investment; one that 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 concept, WrestleMania. WrestleMania was a pay-per-view extravaganza (in some areas; most areas of the country saw WrestleMania available on closed-circuit television) 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's vision was to make the WWF and the industry itself mainstream, targeting more of the general television audience by exploiting the entertainment side of the industry. With the inaugural WrestleMania the WWF initiated a joint-promotional campaign with MTV, which featured a great deal of WWF coverage and programming, in what was termed the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection. The mainstream media attention brought on by celebrities including Muhammad Ali, Mr. T, and Cyndi Lauper at the event helped propel WrestleMania to become a staple in popular culture.

Golden Age

The original WrestleMania, held in 1985, was a resounding success. This event is sometimes credited as the debut of what McMahon called "sports entertainment", in contrast to his father's preference of pure wrestling. 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. The introduction of Saturday Night's Main Event on NBC in mid-1985 marked the first time that professional wrestling had been broadcast on network television since the 1950s. In 1987, the WWF produced what was considered to be the pinnacle of the 1980s wrestling boom altogether, WrestleMania III. A rematch of the Wrestlemania III feature bout, pitting Champion Hulk Hogan once again versus Andre the Giant on the Main Event, was seen by 33 million people, which still is the record for the most watched wrestling match ever in North America.

New Generation

The WWF hit a low point in the wake of allegations of steroid abuse and distribution made against it in 1994; there were also allegations of sexual harassment made by WWF employees. McMahon was eventually exonerated, but it was a public relations nightmare for the WWF. The steroid trial cost the WWF an estimated $5 million at a time when revenues were at an all-time low. To compensate, McMahon cut the pay of both wrestlers and front office personnel – close to 40% in the latter case (and about 50% for top level managers such as Bobby Heenan and Jimmy Hart, who both left). This helped drive many WWF wrestlers to its only major competition, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), between 1994 and 1997. During this period, the WWF promoted itself under the banner of "The New WWF Generation," featuring Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Razor Ramon, Bret Hart, and The Undertaker. In an effort to promote them and other young talent as the new superstars of the ring, the WWF began to play on the age restrictions which former WWF wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage (who by now were working for WCW) now faced. This is best seen in the "Billionaire Ted" parodies of early 1996 (a reference to WCW's owner and patron, media mogul Ted Turner) which culminated in a "rasslin'" match during the warm-up to WrestleMania XII.

Monday Night Wars

In 1993, the WWF broke new ground in televised professional wrestling with the debut of its cable program WWF Monday Night Raw. After becoming a runaway success, WCW in 1995 countered with its own Monday night cable program, WCW Monday Nitro, in the same time slot as Raw. The two programs would trade wins in the ensuing ratings competition until mid-1996, when WCW began a nearly 2-year domination that was largely fueled by the introduction of the New World Order, a stable led by former WWF superstars Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash.

The Attitude Era

The feuds and match types developed by the end of the mid 1990's began a new era in wrestling. The fans of the WWF seemed to favor what was posed to them as the bad guy instead of the good guy. The creative changes made by the WWF creative board saw wrestling take on a "street fighting," "bad attitude" approach, however despite the revolutionary changes in sports-entertainment that the WWF founded, 1997 remains the lowest of the WWF's financial income and a heavy loss in fandom to rival WCW. Through to present day many wrestlers acknowledge that at the time, they were not aware of how close the company came to liquidation. Throughout 1996 and 1997, the WWF lost much of its leading talent to WCW, including Razor Ramon (Scott Hall), Diesel (Kevin Nash), Psycho Sid (Sid Eudy), Alundra Blayze (Debra Miceli), and the late Rick Rude (Richard Rood). The WWF replaced them with former WCW talent such as Vader (Leon White), Stone Cold Steve Austin, Brian Pillman, Mankind (Mick Foley), and Farooq (Ron Simmons). Eric Bischoff's public humiliation of the WWF, criticising them for signing WCW's sacked wrestlers and bragging that WWF wrestlers were signing for WCW due to higher pay, intensified the Monday Night Wars only for Nitro as the WWF struggled to regain its popularity.

McMahon managed to keep Bret Hart from reverting to WCW, and began a feud with Hart and Steve Austin. In Hart's absence after WrestleMania XII, Steve Austin became the new face of the company, starting with his speech, shortly after defeating Jake Roberts in the tournament finals at the 1996 King of the Ring pay-per-view. WrestleMania 13 saw Hart beat Austin in a critically acclaimed submission match, and shortly after saw Hart reform The Hart Foundation. McMahon revolved the company around Hart, Austin and Shawn Michaels, feuding with each other for the majority of the year, leaving many to admire their impact carrying the business through a difficult time. Despite his strong long running image as a face, the Canadian Hart was turned heel in an anti-USA gimmick, while Steve Austin became cheered by fans despite efforts to design him as the ultimate heel (see tweener). Rocky Maivia joined the Nation of Domination stable after fans rejected his good guy image, and Shawn Michaels formed the street gang faction D-Generation X with Triple H and Chyna; similar to the Stone Cold Steve Austin character, DX was designed not to care for what the fans or other wrestlers thought of them. Michaels later stated that the concept of DX was brought about after he persuaded McMahon to take a cruder approach to the companies marketing approach following him fining Michael's $10,000 for putting large ornaments in his shorts and exploiting his crotch around the ring during an on-air interview. The Hell in a Cell match between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker produced a fresh strong foundation for the WWF's creative board.

1997 ended with McMahon facing real life controversy resulting in major ratings and financial losses after becoming widely despised by his employees, wrestling critics, and wrestling fans following Bret Hart's controversial departure from the WWF, later known as the Montreal Screwjob. This proved to be a founding factor in what was to officially kick start The Attitude Era.

By January 1998, the WWF began broadcasting more violence, swearing, and more edgy angles in its attempt to compete with WCW. Following Bret Hart's departure, Vince McMahon used the resulting backlash in the creation of his "Mr. McMahon" character, a dictatorial and fierce ruler who favored heels who were "good for business" over "misfit" faces like Austin. This, in turn, led to the Austin vs. McMahon feud, which, along with D-Generation X who briefly hired Mike Tyson in the build up to WrestleMania XIV, officially began the Attitude Era. It also featured the established Monday Night Wars, where both WCW and the WWF had Monday night shows that competed against each other in the ratings, and saw the WWF finally beat WCW for the first time in 84 weeks when McMahon made his in-ring debut against Austin. The evolution of more brutal matches with different stipulations to increase viewership worked to a major extent, mainly through the furthering of Hell in a Cell (notably its second appearance featuring The Undertaker vs. Mankind) and the Inferno match (introduced by Kane against The Undertaker). Many wrestlers such as Chris Jericho and The Radicalz (Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko) were drafted from WCW, all publicly claiming on both companies' TV broadcasts that they were extremely unhappy at the storylines and backstage chaos, and were further intrigued and happier with the structural running of the WWF. The 1996 Olympic gold medalist, Kurt Angle, The Rock (renamed from Rocky Maivia), and Mick Foley (as Mankind, Cactus Jack and Dude Love) were successfully re-invented to compete at the main event level. Notably, Mick Foley's WWF Championship win over The Rock on Monday Night Raw saw WCW lose millions in viewers when Eric Bischoff instructed announcer Tony Schiavone to give away the result minutes before both main events started, which led to Raw drawing a sensational 11 million viewers.

Business Advances

On the back of the success of the Attitude Era, several new advances and products were launched. During this period, the WWF's parent company Titan Sports was renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment. Inc, and on October 19, 1999 became a publicly traded company, offering 10 million shares priced at $17 each. WWF Entertainment announced its desire to diversify, including creating a nightclub in Times Square, producing feature films, and book publishing.

SmackDown!

On April 29, 1999, the WWF made its return to terrestrial television by launching a special program known as SmackDown! on the fledgling UPN network. The Thursday-night show became a weekly series on August 26, 1999. The show led to further TV ratings competition with WCW, up against WCW Thunder.

The XFL

In 2000 the WWF, in collaboration with television network NBC, announced the creation of the XFL, a new professional football league that debuted in 2001. The league had high ratings for the first few weeks, but initial interest waned and its ratings plunged to dismally low levels (one of its games was the lowest-rated primetime show in the history of American television). NBC walked out on the venture after only one season, but McMahon intended to continue alone. However, after being unable to reach a deal with UPN, McMahon shut down the XFL.

Acquisition of WCW and ECW

By the fall of 1999, The Attitude Era had turned the tide of the Monday Night Wars into WWF's favor for good. After Time Warner merged with AOL, Ted Turner's power over WCW was considerably reduced, and the newly merged company announced a complete lack of interest in Wrestling as a whole, and decided to sell WCW in it's entirely. Although Eric Bischoff was nearing a deal to purchase the company complete, in March 2001, WWF Entertainment, Inc. acquired WCW from AOL Time Warner for a number reported to be around $7 million. Upon the conclusion of WrestleMania X-Seven, the WWF acknowledged the end of the Attitude Era, to launch the Invasion storyline integrating the incoming talent roster from WCW and ECW. With this purchase, WWF now became the largest wrestling promotion in the world, and the only one in North America with mainstream exposure. The assets of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), which had folded after filing for bankruptcy protection in April 2001, were purchased by WWE in mid-2003.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Name dispute

In 2000, the World Wide Fund for Nature (also trademarked WWF), an environmental organization, sued World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc. The Law Lords agreed that the promotion company had violated a 1994 agreement as Titan Sports which had limited the permissible use of the WWF trademark in Europe, particularly in merchandising. The World Wide Fund and World Wrestling Federation used the initials since March 1979. The last televised event to market the WWF logo was UK based pay-per-view Insurrextion 2002. On May 5, 2002, the company launched its "Get The F Out" marketing campaign and changed all references on its website from "WWF" to "WWE", while switching the URL from WWF.com to WWE.com. The next day, a press release announced the official name change from World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. to World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., or WWE, and the change was publicized later that day during a telecast of Monday Night Raw, which was broadcast from the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut.

Following the case, the use of the "Attitude" logo became prohibited on all World Wrestling Federation properties. Additionally, past references to the WWF trademark and initials in 'specified circumstances' became censored. Despite litigation, WWE is still permitted use of the original WWF logo, which was used from 1979 through 1994, as well as the "New WWF Generation" logo, which was used from 1994 through 1998. Furthermore, the company may still make use of the full "World Wrestling Federation" and "World Wrestling Federation Entertainment" names without consequence. In 2003, WWE won a limited decision to continue marketing the WWF Video Library censoring out all WWF references, other than the permitted logos.

Brand Extension

In March 2002, roughly two months before the name change, WWE decided to create two separate rosters, Raw and SmackDown! due to the overabundance of talent left over from the Invasion storyline. This is known as the WWE Brand Extension. Despite much of the originally drafted talent departing by 2004, WWE has continued to separate the shows, taking on more younger talent, and holds a Draft Lottery every year. On May 26, 2006, WWE announced the relaunch of Extreme Championship Wrestling as a WWE brand. The new ECW program aired internationally and on Tuesday nights on Syfy in the United States until February 16, 2010.

Network changes and high-definition

In late 2005, WWE Raw returned after a five-year stint on TNN (now Spike TV) to its original home USA Network. In 2006, due to contracts with NBC Universal, parent company of USA Network, WWE revived its classic Saturday night show Saturday Night's Main Event (SNME) on NBC after a thirteen-year hiatus. WWE had the chance to promote the company on a major national network rather than the lower profile CW or cable channels like USA Network. SNME airs occasionally on NBC as a WWE special series. On September 26, 2007, it was announced that WWE would be expanding its international operations. Alongside the current international offices in London and Toronto, a new international office would be established in Sydney.

WWE Universe and change in programming

On November 19, 2008, WWE launched their online social network, WWE Universe. It initially appeared in April as WWE Fan Nation. Similar to MySpace, it offers blogs, forums, and other features for WWE fans. The social network closed its doors on January 1, 2011, however some features of the website will continue.

It was announced on December 19, 2008 that WWE and WGN America had come to an agreement to create a new weekly, one-hour prime time series entitled WWE Superstars. On April 16, 2009 the show made its debut airing. The show features talent from all WWE brands. On February 2, 2010, it was announced that a new program called WWE NXT would premiere on Syfy on February 23, 2010, over the ECW timeslot. Later that year NXT was removed from the Syfy lineup and was replaced with WWE SmackDown which had been previously broadcasting on MyNetworkTV since October 2008. NXT continues to air on WWE.com.

In 2008, WWE initiated a change in its programming content. The United States parental guidelines rating system now rates all WWE television programs "PG" indicating family-friendly content in the programming. Vince McMahon noted that the change to more family-friendly content is due to the changing demographics in WWE viewership. As of 2010, women and young children make up 40% of the company's audience. The policy tests for recreational drug use and abuse of prescription medication, including anabolic steroids.

In August 2007, the program was defended by WWE and its employees in the wake of several illegal pharmacy busts that linked WWE performers to steroid purchases even after the policy was put into place. Ten professional wrestlers were suspended for violating the Wellness Policy after reports emerged they were all customers of Signature Pharmacy in Orlando, Florida. According to a statement attributed to WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt, an eleventh wrestler was later added to the suspension list.

On the other hand, because of the Wellness Policy, physicians were able to diagnose one of its performers with a heart ailment that otherwise would have likely gone unnoticed until it was too late. In August 2007, then-reigning United States Champion Alvin Burke, Jr. (better known under his ring name Montel Vontavious Porter) was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which if gone undiagnosed can be potentially fatal. The ailment was discovered while MVP was going through a routine Wellness Policy checkup.

On September 13, 2010, WWE updated their list of banned substances to include muscle relaxers.

Expansion beyond wrestling

In addition to licensing wrestling and performers' likenesses to companies such as Acclaim, THQ, and Mattel to produce video games and action figures, WWE has moved into other areas of interest in order to market their product.

WWE Studios: A subsidiary of WWE created in 2002 to create and develop feature film properties. Formerly known as WWE Films.

WWE Niagara Falls: A retail and entertainment establishment that is located in Niagara Falls, Ontario and owned by WWE.

The World, formerly known as WWF New York: A restaurant, night club, and memorabilia shop in New York City.

WWE Music Group: A subsidiary that specializes in compilation albums of WWE wrestlers' entrance themes. The group also releases titles that have been performed by WWE wrestlers.

WWE Home Video: A subsidiary that specializes in distributing compilation VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc copies of WWE pay-per-view events, compilations of WWE wrestlers' performances, and biographies of WWE performers.

WWE Books: A subsidiary of WWE that serves to publish autobiographies of and fiction based on WWE personalities, behind-the-scenes guides to WWE, illustrated books, calendars, young adult books, and other general nonfiction books.

WWE Kids: A website and comic set aimed at the children's end of the wrestling market, comics are produced bi-monthly launched on April 15, 2008.

Corporate governance

Executive officers

Vincent K. McMahon (Chairman and CEO) Kevin Dunn (Executive Vice President, Television Production) George Barrios (Chief Financial Officer) Donna Goldsmith (Chief Operating Officer) Stephanie McMahon-Levesque (Creative Development & Operations) John Laurinaitis (Executive Vice President, Talent Relations) Mike Pavone (Executive Vice President, WWE Studios) Michelle D. Wilson (Executive Vice President, Marketing) Brian Kalinowski (Executive Vice President, Digital Media) Andrew Whitaker (Executive Vice President, International) Jim Connelly (Executive Vice President, Consumer Products)

Board of directors

Vincent K. McMahon (Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer – WWE) Donna Goldsmith (Chief Operating Officer – WWE) Frank A. Riddick III (Consultant, TowerBrook Capital Partners) |align=center |January 4, 2011 |align=center |SmackDown |align=center |Dolph Ziggler |- ! colspan="6" style="background:#cfc;"|Dual-branded |- |align=center |WWE Tag Team Championship* |align=center |Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov |align=center |December 6, 2010 |align=center |Raw |align=center |Nexus |- |align=center |WWE Divas Championship* |align=center |Natalya |align=center |November 21, 2010 |align=center |Survivor Series |align=center |Michelle McCool |}

The WWE Tag Team Championship and WWE Divas Championship are accessible to both Raw and SmackDown.

Other accomplishments

Developmental territory champions

Other accomplishments

Defunct championships

In its 50 year history, WWE has operated over twenty different championships. The company's first title, the WWWF United States Tag Team Championship was created in 1958 and retired in 1967. Throughout its history, the WWE has formed partnerships with other international promotions which led to the creation of various titles, however, when those partnerships ended, these titles were either retired or began operation in the United States for WWE. Overall, the company has retired 19 championships with the most recent being the WWE Women's Championship. Created in 1956 and retired in September 2010, the consolidation of the WWE Unified Divas Championship into the WWE's 2008 WWE Divas Championship retired the older title and continued the lineage of the latter.

See also

List of World Wrestling Entertainment employees

List of World Wrestling Entertainment alumni

List of WWE pay-per-view events

References

External links

WWE.com

WWE Corporate website

WWE Global website

WWE Stock

WWE Affiliate website

WWE Euro Shop website

WWE Japanese website

WWE German website

WWE Kids website

WWE Shop website

WWE Hispano website

WWE Ukrainian fan portal

WWE on Facebook

Category:American professional wrestling promotions Category:Entertainment companies of the United States Category:Family businesses Category:Companies based in Fairfield County, Connecticut Category:Companies established in 1952

Name	John Cena
Names	John CenaMr. P
Weight
Billed	Classified (UPW) (; born April 23, 1977) is an American actor, rapper, and professional wrestler employed by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its Raw brand. He is currently inactive, due to injury.
- style	"text-align:center;"
Filename	John Cena and Tha Trademarc - The Time Is Now.ogg
Title	"The Time is Now" by John Cena & Tha Trademarc (2005)
Description	Sample from "The Time Is Now" by John Cena & Tha Trademarc.
Format	Ogg}}

In addition to his wrestling career, Cena is a hip hop musician. Cena performed his fifth WWE theme song, "Basic Thugonomics," himself, and it was featured on the WWE soundtrack album WWE Originals. He also recorded a song,"Untouchables", for the company's next soundtrack album . He collaborated on the song along with MURS, E-40, and Chingo Bling.

Cena's debut album, You Can't See Me, was recorded with his cousin Tha Trademarc. It features, amongst other songs, his entrance theme, "The Time is Now", and the single "Bad, Bad Man", for which a music video was made that parodied 1980s culture, including the television show The A-Team. A video was also made for the second single, "Right Now," and premiered on the August 8 Raw. Cena and Tha Trademarc were later featured on a track by The Perceptionists named "Champion Scratch." Promotion for the album lead to Cena being the only professional wrestler to ever perform on BBC Two's long running Top of the Pops.

;Albums

You Can't See Me

* Released: May 10, 2005

Chart positions: 15 U.S. Billboard 200, 10 U.S. Top R&B;/Hip-Hop Albums, 3 U.S. Rap, 103 UK Albums Chart

* Singles: "The Time Is Now", "Bad Bad Man" (featuring Bumpy Knuckles), "Right Now"

Personal life

Cena writes left-handed. He is a fan of Japanese animation and has mentioned that his favorite animated movie is Fist of the North Star. He has also said he is a fan of the video game series Command & Conquer and noted that it was his favorite game. Cena is also a fan of the Boston Red Sox, New England Patriots, and Boston Celtics.

While promoting his 2009 film, 12 Rounds, Cena announced his engagement to his girlfriend Elizabeth Huberdeau. They were married on July 11, 2009.

In wrestling

Finishing moves

Attitude Adjustment (AA) / F–U (Fireman's carry transitioned into either a standing takeover or a powerslam, sometimes from the second rope) – WWE

Killswitch (OVW) / Proto–Bomb (UPW) (Belly to back suplex lift twisted into a modified side slam) – OVW / UPW; used as a regular move in WWE

STF – 2000–2002, 2010

Fisherman suplex (Running delayed fist drop, with theatrics)

Running leaping shoulder block (Running neck snap to a bent–over opponent)

Twisting belly to belly suplex

Nicknames

"The Doctor of Thuganomics"

"The Champ" (as either the WWE Champion or the World Heavyweight Champion)

* "The Chain Gang Commander"

"The Chain Gang Soldier"

OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Rico Constantino

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

PWI Feud of the Year (2006)

PWI Match of the Year (2007)

PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (2003)

PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (2004, 2005, 2007)

PWI Wrestler of the Year (2006, 2007)

PWI ranked #1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2006 and 2007

Ultimate Pro Wrestling

UPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

World Wrestling Entertainment

World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Shawn Michaels (1) and Batista (1)

WWE Championship (7 times)

WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with David Otunga

* Royal Rumble (2008)

* Slammy Award winner - 2009 and 2010 Superstar of the Year

Slammy Award for Holy %&^*%&* Move of the Year (2010)

'''Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

* Wrestler of the Year (2007)

* Best Box Office Draw (2007)

* Best on Interviews (2007)

* Most Charismatic (2006–2009)

Most Charismatic of the Decade (2000–2009)

* Best Gimmick (2003)

References

Further reading

External links

John Cena at WWE.com

Professional wrestling record for John Cena from The Internet Wrestling Database

John Cena's Five Questions

John Cena at Online World of Wrestling

Category:1977 births Category:American film actors Category:American football offensive linemen Category:Springfield Pride football players Category:American professional wrestlers Category:American professional wrestlers of Italian descent Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Drifting drivers Category:Formula D drivers Category:Living people Category:People from Essex County, Massachusetts Category:People from Tampa, Florida Category:Rappers from Florida Category:Springfield College - Massachusetts alumni

Name	Tazz
Names	Kid KrushThe Tasmanian Devil is a retired American professional wrestler and current color commentator best known by his ring name Tazz, originally Tazmaniac and later shortened to simply Taz. He is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

Category:1967 births Category:American color commentators Category:C.W. Post College alumni Category:American sportspeople of Italian descent Category:American professional wrestlers of Italian descent Category:Living people Category:People from Brooklyn Category:Professional wrestling announcers Category:Professional wrestling trainers

Name	Shawn Michaels
Names	Sean Michaels
Weight
Billed	San Antonio, Texas
Trainer	Jose Lothario The last of four children – Randy, Scott, and Shari are his older siblings – he was raised in a military family and spent a brief part of his early years in Reading, Berkshire, England, Ever since, he has been referred to as Shawn. Additionally, Hickenbottom moved around frequently since his father was in the military. He was a stand-out linebacker at Randolph High School and eventually became captain of the football team. After graduating, Hickenbottom attended Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, but soon realized that college life was not for him. Then he began pursuing a career in professional wrestling, a type of sports entertainment in which theatrical events are combined with a competitive sport. During his training, Hickenbottom adopted the ring name, Shawn Michaels. During his time with TASW, Michaels replaced Nick Kiniski in the American Breed tag team, teaming with Paul Diamond. Michaels and Diamond were awarded the TASW Tag Team Championship by Chavo Guerrero, Sr. He also worked for Central States Wrestling. There, he and tag team partner Marty Jannetty defeated The Batten Twins for the Central States Tag Team Championship, later losing it back to the Battens.
Image1	Shawn Michaels Sweet Chin Music Chile 08.jpg
Image1 cap	Michaels performing Sweet Chin Music on Chris Jericho
Image2	Elbowdrop.jpg
Image2 cap	Michaels performing a diving elbow drop
Image3	Shawn Michaels Modified Four Lock.jpg
Image3 cap	Michaels applying a modified figure four leglock on Jeff Hardy
Image4	Shawn Michaels entrance pyro-08.jpg
Image4 cap	Michaels' pyrotechnics going off during his ring entrance

Finishing moves

Modified figure four leglock – early 2008

Sweet Chin Music (Leg hook Saito suplex) – 1992–1993

Signature moves

Arm trap crossface – 2007–2010

Backhand chop Michaels' entrance music was originally performed by Sherri Martel until she became a crowd favorite. vs. Razor Ramon in a Ladder match at WrestleMania X

PWI Match of the Year (1995) vs. Chris Benoit and Triple H at WrestleMania XX

PWI Match of the Year (2005) vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXV

PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (2010)

PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1995, 1996)

PWI ranked him #10 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003

PWI ranked him #33 of the Top 100 Tag Teams of the "PWI Years" with Marty Jannetty in 2003

WWF Intercontinental Championship (3 times) – with Diesel (2), Steve Austin (1), John Cena (1), and Triple H (1)

WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Triple H (1)

World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Feud of the Year (2004) vs. Triple H and Chris Benoit

See also

Texas Wrestling Academy

References

Notes

External links

Professional wrestling record for Shawn Michaels from The Internet Wrestling Database

WWE Hall of Fame Profile

Online World of Wrestling profile

Category:1965 births Category:American Christians Category:American football linebackers Category:American professional wrestlers Category:American television actors Category:Living people Category:Military brats Category:People from Chandler, Arizona Category:People from San Antonio, Texas Category:Professional wrestling trainers Category:Texas State University–San Marcos alumni Category:American people of English descent

Name	Randy Orton
Names	Randy Orton
Height
Billed	St. Louis, MissouriMid Missouri Wrestling AllianceOhio Valley Wrestling (born April 1, 1980)
Image1	RKO-2006-finsiher.jpg
Image1 cap	Orton performing the RKO on Kane
Image2	RandyOrton-chokehold.jpg
Image2 cap	Orton performing a chinlock on John Cena

Finishing moves

Diving crossbody

Randy Orton Stomp (Multiple stomps while circling a fallen opponent)

Rope hung DDT

Snap scoop powerslam

Wrenching chinlock

"The Viper"

"WWE's Apex Predator"

Entrance themes

* "" by Motörhead (Used while a member of Evolution)

"Burn in My Light" by Mercy Drive

"This Fire Burns" by Killswitch Engage (Used for one week, and eventually became the theme for CM Punk)

"" by Rev Theory

Championships and accomplishments

.]]

Ohio Valley Wrestling

OVW Hardcore Championship (2 times)

PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (2004)

PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (2010)

PWI Rookie of the Year (2001)

PWI ranked him #1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2008

PWI Wrestler of the Year (2009)

World Wrestling Entertainment

World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

*WWE Intercontinental Championship (1 time)

*Royal Rumble (2009)

*Seventeenth Triple Crown Champion

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

*Most Improved (2004)

Notes

References

External links

WWE profile

Online World of Wrestling profile

Slam! bio and story archive

Category:1980 births Category:American professional wrestlers Category:Living people Category:People from Knoxville, Tennessee Category:People from St. Louis, Missouri Category:People from Jefferson County, Missouri Category:United States Marines

Name	Mark Henry
Names	Mark Henry
Height	(born June 12, 1971) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) performing on its Raw brand. Aside from wrestling, he is a 1992 Olympian, and winner of the 2002 Arnold Strongman Classic. Since joining the WWF/E in 1996, he has become a one-time WWE European Champion and a one-time world champion, having held the ECW Championship in 2008.
Image1	Henry gets an early lead.jpg
Image1 cap	Henry prepares to perform a World's Strongest Slam on John Cena.
Image2	Two for One.jpg
Image2 cap	Henry performing a body avalanche on Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes.

Finishing moves

World's Strongest Slam

Military press slam

Powerslam

Running splash

Nicknames

"The World's Strongest Man"

"Sexual Chocolate"

"The Silverback"

Entrance themes

"" by Jim Johnston (WWF; 1998–1999)

"" performed by Stevan Swann and composed by Jim Johnston (WWF/WWE; 1999–2000; 2010)

"Some Bodies Gonna Get It" by Three 6 Mafia (WWE; 2006–present)

Championships and accomplishments

Powerlifting

All–time world raw (unequipped) squat world record holder (430 Kilograms)

Professional wrestling

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

PWI ranked him #41 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2006

World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment

*ECW Championship (1 time)

*WWF European Championship (1 time)

Strongman athletics

Arnold Classic

*Arnold Classic Strongest Man (2002)

Weightlifting

Olympic Games

*Olympic Games team member (1992, 1996)

Pan American Games

*Pan American Games Silver Medalist (1995)

Senior American record holder in Snatch, Clean and jerk, and Total (1993–1997)

Senior National Championship (1993, 1994, 1996)

References

External links

WWE profile

Official website

Category:1971 births Category:African American professional wrestlers Category:American strength athletes Category:American weightlifters

Category:Living people Category:Olympic athletes who wrestled professionally Category:Olympic weightlifters of the United States Category:People from the Beaumont – Port Arthur metropolitan area Category:Powerlifters Category:Weightlifters at the 1992 Summer Olympics Category:Weightlifters at the 1996 Summer Olympics Category:Weightlifters at the 1995 Pan American Games

Name	Kurt Angle
Names	Kurt Angle
Height
Weight	He attended Mt. Lebanon High School, He went undefeated on the freshman wrestling team at Mt. Lebanon High and qualified for the state wrestling tournament his sophomore year. He was a two-time National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I champion, national runner-up in 1991, and a three-time NCAA Division I All-American. In addition, Angle was the 1987 USA Junior Freestyle champion, a two-time USA Senior Freestyle champion, and the 1988 USA International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles Junior World Freestyle champion. training between eight and ten hours a day. In January 1996, not long after Angle began training at the club, Schultz was murdered by John Eleuthère du Pont, the sponsor of Schultz's team of Olympic prospectives. As a result, Angle quit Eleuthère du Pont's team, searched for new sponsors, and joined the Dave Schultz Wrestling Club in Schultz's memory.

"The Wrestling Machine", and departure (2005–2006)

at SummerSlam (2005).]]

In January 2005, Angle took part in the Royal Rumble, but was eliminated by Shawn Michaels, who had returned to the ring to eliminate in retaliation. After mocking Michaels by defeating his former tag team partner, Marty Jannetty, and attacking former manager, Sherri Martel, Angle defeated Michaels in an interpromotional match at WrestleMania 21, which won Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Match of the Year Award. losing to Michaels at Vengeance. Angle later challenged John Cena for the WWE Championship at Unforgiven, where Angle won the match by disqualification, thus not winning the title. Angle also challenged Cena again in a Triple Threat match along with Michaels at Taboo Tuesday, in a losing effort.

Angle returned to the SmackDown! brand in January 2006, where he was pushed to gain the vacant World Heavyweight Championship in a twenty man battle royal, turning face in the process for the first time in 2004. He retained the title against Mark Henry at the Royal Rumble. Shortly after the match, The Undertaker made his return and challenged Angle for the title. Angle retained the title in a match with Undertaker at No Way Out before dropping it to Rey Mysterio in a Triple Threat match, which also included Randy Orton, at WrestleMania 22.

At Judgment Day, Angle was defeated by Mark Henry. On May 29, 2006, Angle was drafted to the newly created ECW brand. It was during this time that he acquired the nickname "The Wrestling Machine". Upon coming to ECW, he issued an open challenge for One Night Stand, which was accepted by Orton. Angle defeated Orton at One Night Stand, later losing to him in a rematch at Vengeance. Angle appeared sporadically on WWE television throughout mid 2006. On August 25, 2006, Angle was granted an early release from his WWE contract because of health reasons. Kurt Angle stated in the Kurt Angle: Champion documentary DVD that he asked for his release from WWE because Angle couldn't take time off and he was working beat up, severely on some occasions. He also states that when he quit, WWE lost their very top talent, as he was at the very top of the payroll.

Japan (2007–2009)

On February 18, 2007, Angle made his debut in New Japan Pro Wrestling, teaming with former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata to defeat fellow TNA wrestler Travis Tomko and fellow WWE alumnus Giant Bernard.

Angle was booked to face Brock Lesnar in a champion versus champion match for the Inoki Genome Federation on June 29, 2007, and defeated him by submission for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, and he challenged him to an MMA fight. On December 19, 2007, Angle defended the IWGP World Title successfully against Kendo Kashin.

On January 4, 2008, Angle made his third successful IWGP World Championship defense when he defeated Yuji Nagata at the New Japan Pro Wrestling supershow Wrestle Kingdom II in Tokyo Dome by forcing Nagata to tap out to the ankle lock. On February 17, 2008, Angle lost the IWGP title to Shinsuke Nakamura in a unification match, thus ending the IWGP championship controversy. Kurt Angle is not recognized as an IWGP Heavyweight Champion by New Japan. He returned in August during the G1 Climax in two special tag matches A.J. Styles as his opponent with Shinsuke Nakamura and Masahiro Chono as Angle's partners and Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinjiro Otani as Styles' partners. Angle's team won both matches.

He returned on January 4, 2009, at Wrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome in a special eight man tag match, where he, Kevin Nash, Chono, and Riki Chōshū faced G.B.H. (Giant Bernard, Karl Anderson, Takashi Iizuka and Tomohiro Ishii), with Angle getting the win for his team. Angle then went on to defeat Bernard in a singles match at New Japan's ISM tour on February 15. Tanahashi defeated Angle on April 5 at New Japan's Resolution '09 to retain the title.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2006–present)

Debut and World Championships (2006–2007)

A few weeks after his WWE contract expired, Angle signed a contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). The new signing was viewed by some as a promotion not having concern for the health of a wrestler. On September 24, 2006, during the closing segment of No Surrender, TNA President Dixie Carter announced that TNA Wrestling had signed Angle to a contract, with Jim Cornette introducing video footage of Angle training in a six-sided TNA ring. On the December 28, 2006 episode of TNA Impact!, this was announced as the "Moment of the Year" for TNA.

Angle made his TNA debut on October 19 as a face, confronting Samoa Joe after Joe refused to relinquish the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt that, according to the storyline, he had stolen from Jeff Jarrett. The two men ended up fighting while Jarrett took the title back. Angle's first match in TNA took place on the November 16 airing of Impact!, where he was booked to defeat Abyss with the ankle lock and be attacked after the match by Samoa Joe. At Genesis, Angle defeated Samoa Joe, ending Joe's undefeated push. which he lost to Christian Cage after interference from Tomko and Scott Steiner. This led to a feud between Angle and Steiner, with Angle pinning Steiner at Destination X. After Angle defeated Steiner, he was picked to lead a team of four other wrestlers against a team of Christian Cage's choice in a Lethal Lockdown match at April's Lockdown. Angle chose Samoa Joe, Rhino, Sting, and Jeff Jarrett for Team Angle, while Cage chose A.J. Styles, Scott Steiner, Tomko, and Abyss. The man who gained the winning pinfall would become the number one contender to Christian Cage's NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Team Angle was victorious after Jeff Jarrett hit Abyss with a gimmicked guitar full of thumbtacks and allowed Sting to score the pin. The following episode of iMPACT!, Angle interrupted Jeff Jarrett's face promo, stating he was upset at Jeff for not handing him the title shot and replied, "Looks like you're in the wrong place at the WRONG time!", which showed signs that an Angle heel turn could be near. Cage was set to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Sting and Angle in a triple threat match at Sacrifice. The day of the PPV, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the owners of the NWA World Heavyweight and the NWA World Tag Team Championships, stripped Cage of the title and Team 3D of the tag team title. NWA Executive Director Robert K. Trobich stated the reason was that Cage refused to defend the NWA Title at NWA live events. The Impact! following the event, Angle came to the ring with a new championship belt, and announced he was the new "TNA World Heavyweight Champion". Afterward, Cage and Sting came to the ring and the three began to argue over who was the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Due to the controversial finish to their match at Sacrifice, the title was declared vacant by Cornette. A tournament was held for the title which culminated in a King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary on June 17, 2007. He then attacked Joe after denying a request for a handshake, reigniting their feud. This would also cause Angle to fully turn heel in the process.

At Victory Road, newly-crowned X Division Champion Samoa Joe teamed with Kurt Angle to face TNA Tag Team Champions Team 3D, with the stipulation that if a wrestler pinned the other opponent, he won his championship. As part of the planned outcome of the match, Joe pinned Brother Ray of Team 3D to win both tag team belts, which he held by himself. While illustrating how he would take away everything important in Angle's life, Joe brought Angle's wife Karen into the fray, as she demanded a divorce. During the match, however, Karen turned on Joe and aided her husband. As part of his next push, Angle won, gaining all the championships and becoming the second Triple Crown champion in TNA and the first to hold all three titles at the same time. Including the IWGP Title, this made Angle a quadruple champion.

Face turn and various feuds (2009–2010)

After defeating Morgan at Bound for Glory, Angle came out on the following edition of Impact! and put over the younger talent of the company, turning face in the process. Afterward, he was assaulted by the debuting Desmond Wolfe, who defeated him via knockout in a street fight the following week. At Turning Point Angle defeated Wolfe in a rematch. The following month at Final Resolution Angle faced Wolfe in a "Three Degrees of Pain" two out of three falls match. Wolfe managed to gain the first fall by pinning Angle following the Tower of London, but Angle forced him to tap out with the ankle lock to win the second fall. In the final fall, which could only be won by escaping the Six Sides of Steel, Angle managed to escape first and won the match. On the January 4, 2010, live, three hour, Monday night edition of Impact! Angle received a shot at A.J. Styles' World Heavyweight Championship, but was defeated in the main event of the show. Two weeks later at Genesis Angle received one last shot at the World Heavyweight Title, but was once again defeated by Styles, who turned heel with the help of Ric Flair and nailed him with the title belt. As a result, Angle was barred from challenging for the belt as long as Styles is the title holder. Due to the circumstances surrounding the loss, Hulk Hogan gave Angle another shot at Styles and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on the January 21 edition of Impact!, but this time he lost the match after referee Earl Hebner, who was later revealed to have been paid off by Flair, called for the bell in an incident similar to the Montreal Screwjob. Angle responded to the incident by spitting in Hogan's face, threatening to quit TNA and go back to WWE. Angle apologized to Hogan, after being saved by him from Scott Hall and Syxx-Pac. At Against All Odds Angle took part in the 8 Card Stud Tournament to crown a new number one contender, but was defeated in the first round by Mr. Anderson, after Anderson used Angle's dog tags to bust him open. At Destination X Angle defeated Anderson in a rematch. Angle and Anderson were booked in a rubber match inside a steel cage at Lockdown. On the April 5 edition of Impact! Anderson defeated Angle in a ladder match to win possession of the key to the cage door. At Lockdown, Angle defeated Anderson in a steel cage match and afterwards announced that he would now be taking some time off from wrestling.

Rankings climb, feud with Immortal (2010–present)

Angle returned on the May 20 edition of Impact! and was ranked number two by the Championship Committee in the inaugural top 10 rankings for a World Heavyweight title shot. Angle, however, decided to take his name out of the running for a title shot and vowed to fight his way through the top 10 and earn his spot at the top of the company. At Slammiversary VIII Angle started his climb back to the top by defeating Kazarian, who was ranked number ten. Angle continued his climb, defeating Desmond Wolfe, who was ranked number nine prior to the match, on the June 24 edition of Impact!, and D'Angelo Dinero, ranked number eight, at Victory Road. Prior to his match with Dinero, Angle announced that should he lose on his way to the top of the rankings, he would retire from professional wrestling On the July 22 edition of Impact! Angle defeated number seven ranked Hernandez and followed that up three weeks later by defeating number six ranked A.J. Styles. On the August 19 edition of Impact! the TNA World Heavyweight Championship was vacated and instead of continuing his climb, Angle was entered into an eight man tournament for the title, defeating X Division Champion Douglas Williams in his first round match. At No Surrender Angle first wrestled Jeff Hardy to a twenty minute time limit draw, after which Eric Bischoff ordered a five minute extra time. After that and a second five minute extra time also ended in draws, it was ruled that, due to a cut, Angle wouldn't be allowed to continue the match, ending the match in a no contest. After wrestling a draw on the September 16 edition of Impact!, it was announced that both Angle and Hardy would advance to the finals at Bound for Glory, where they would compete with Mr. Anderson in a three–way match. At the pay-per-view Angle was defeated by Hardy, when he turned heel and pinned Anderson, after an interference from Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff, who then went on to form an alliance named Immortal, with Hardy, Abyss and Jeff Jarrett.

On the following edition of Impact! Angle came out to make his retirement speech, after his failed attempt to win the World Heavyweight Champion, but was interrupted by Jarrett, who announced that he had made a deal with Hogan and Bischoff in order to end Angle's career at Bound for Glory, before attacking him, when he was restrained by TNA's security officers Gunner and Murphy. The following week Angle returned, trying to get his hands on Bischoff and Ric Flair, before being stopped by TNA's security officers. Angle returned three weeks later on the November 11 edition of Impact!, saving Samoa Joe from Jeff Jarrett, Gunner and Murphy. After not appearing again for two weeks, Angle made another return on the December 2 edition of Impact!, saving Samoa Joe from Jeff Jarrett and Abyss. On the January 6, 2011, edition of Impact! Angle interrupted Jarrett's $100,000 Mixed Martial Arts Challenge and signed a contract to face him at Genesis in an MMA exhibition match, since he had promised not to wrestle again. The match was thrown out in the third round after Jarrett blinded Angle. After the match Jarrett bloodied Angle, before announcing that he was ending his mixed martial arts career and promised that his wife, Karen Jarrett (formerly Karen Angle), would be joining the retirement party. On the January 13 edition of Impact! Karen made her return and stopped Angle just as he was about to attack Jeff, telling him that she would not allow him to ruin their personal lives and promised to speak more the following week.

Personal life

Angle attended Clarion University of Pennsylvania, graduating with a degree in education in 1993. In his later life, Angle got a Clarion University Golden Eagle, wearing a singlet, tattooed on his upper back.

Kurt Angle is a Republican who supported George Bush in both 2000 and 2004, along with John McCain in 2008.

Angle has four older brothers (one of whom, Eric, is also a wrestler) and a sister, Le'Anne, who died of a drug overdose. His father was killed in a construction accident when Angle was sixteen, and Angle dedicated both his career and his autobiography It's True, It's True to him as a result. Angle claimed in an interview that, following the death of his father, he regarded his wrestling coach, David Schultz, as a paternal figure. While training Angle, Schultz was murdered in January 1996 by John Eleuthère du Pont, the sponsor of Schultz's team of Olympic prospectives. on December 19, 1998, and the couple have a daughter, Kyra, who was born on December 2, 2002. They also have a son, Kody, who was born on October 26, 2006. In August 2007, Karen debuted in TNA as Angle's regular valet. In September 2008, it was reported that Karen had filed for divorce from Kurt. He is now engaged to actress Giovanna Yannotti. On September 30, 2010, Yannotti announced that the couple was expecting their first child.

In 2009, It was reported that TNA Co-founder Jeff Jarrett was romantically linked to Karen Angle, beginning while Karen and Angle were separated. This resulted in TNA president Dixie Carter, placing Jeff Jarret on leave of absence. The situation was revealed in July 2009 when a caller claiming to be a former TNA employee called in on The Bubba the Love Sponge Show. Dixie Carter commented on the situation on Impact, stating "a personal situation that affected the company and it put all of us in a very difficult position." She said Jeff was placed "on leave as both a talent and in his capacity with the company and I'd like to leave it at that." In December 2009, Jarrett returned to TNA. He would marry Karen on August 21, 2010. Angle is also featured on the cover artwork and TV ad footage of Emmure's The Respect Issue, a Deathcore album released May 13, 2008 by Victory Records.

Substance abuse allegations

Wellness Policy violation

On March 6, 2007, Sports Illustrated reported that Angle's name was found in the client database of a Florida wellness center suspected of being a front for distributing performance-enhancing drugs. The magazine alleged Angle had received prescriptions for trenbolone (which is not approved for human use by the FDA) and nandrolone, both anabolic steroids. Angle responded on his official website: "I did not improperly receive prescriptions. It is well documented that in my career I have broken vertebrae in my neck on five occasions and each time the course of treatment was under the care and supervision of my doctors. Any attempt to link me to the athletes in the current news accounts who may have improperly sought performance-enhancing drugs is without foundation."

Approximately two weeks later on March 19, 2007, Sports Illustrated posted on its website another article in its continuing series investigating a steroid and HGH ring used by a number of professional athletes in several sports. That article mentioned that 10 other professional wrestlers were implicated to have received performance-enhancing drugs from the same drug ring including four WWE wrestlers and Eddie Guerrero. Kurt never failed a drug test for pain pills. He did, however, fail a steroid test under WWE's Wellness Policy because his prescription for Deca-Durabolin had expired.

Driving under the influence charges

Angle was arrested at his home by Moon Township, Pennsylvania police on September 28, 2007 on a charge of driving under the influence after being reported by a woman who claimed that he almost hit her while leaving a local restaurant. Officials said Angle failed a field sobriety test but refused a blood test. Angle was charged with driving under the influence and careless driving, but he denies the charges. On September 9, 2008, Angle was cleared of all charges pertaining to his DUI arrest.

2009 arrest

On August 15, 2009, Pittsburgh-based NBC affiliate WPXI reported that Angle had been arrested. His girlfriend stated that she had filed a protection from abuse (PFA) order and that he was stalking her in the Robinson Township area. Angle was charged with "driving while operating privilege is suspended, prohibited acts-possession, harassment and prohibited acts". Hygetropin, a human growth hormone, was found in his car; Angle maintained that he had a prescription for the drug. On September 15 a District Court Judge dropped the harassment, suspended license, and drug charges against Angle. On November 9, 2009 the PFA charges were dropped after he and former girlfriend Trenesha Biggers reached an agreement to avoid contact with each other.

Acting career

In regards to his future, Angle has expressed interest on several occasions in pursuing an acting career after retirement from professional wrestling.

In the fall of 2008, Angle played the role of maniacal serial killer Brad Mayfield in the movie End Game. In addition, on an episode of Pros vs. Joes season three, he was teamed up with Jimmy Smith and Kendall Gill against the Joes.

Angle also made an appearance on Criss Angel Mindfreak, during the segment "Car Wreck Vanish." He will also make an appearance in the upcoming 2010 film Warrior as the Russian mixed-martial arts champion, Koba. Kurt stars alongside Kevin Nash, Sam Nicotero, Bill Laing, Mary Rutledge, and Bill Hinzman in the movie River of Darkness, directed by Bruce Koehler. In the movie, he portrayed the town sheriff, Will Logan. On the Right After Wrestling program on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 98, Angle told hosts Arda Ocal and Jimmy Korderas that he would become a part time wrestler after his contract expires in 2011 to focus on Angle Foods and his acting career.

Filmography

2009: End Game – as Brad Mayfield

2009: Chain's – as The Deputy (Short Film)

2010: Death From Above (filming)

2010: Devil Dogs – as Steve Stagger (pre-Production)

2010: – as Wolfgang (2010)

2010: River of Darkness – as Sheriff Will Logan (post-Production)

2010: Beyond the Mat – as Coach Kamen

2011: Warrior – as Koba (2011)

Television

2011:Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - Himself (1 episode)

2009:Howard Stern On Demand – Himself (2 episodes, Eric the Midget Visits the Studio, Kurt Angle Wants Robin)

2009:Criss Angel Mindfreak – Himself (1 Episode, Car Wreck Vanish)

2007:Inside MMA – Himself (2 episodes)

2006:Scream Awards 2006 – Himself

2002:Late Night With Conan O'Brian – Himself (1 episode)

2001:Weakest Link – Himself (1 episode)

2001:The Tonight Show With Jay Leno – Himself (1 episode)

2000:The Big Breakfast – Himself (1 episode)

In wrestling

on Jeff Jarrett at Bound for Glory IV]]

;Finishing moves

Angle Slam / Olympic Slam, sometimes from the top rope or an elevated position – 2000; adopted from Bob Backlund

;Signature moves

Bodyscissors

Double leg takedown, often transitioned into a pin or a suplex

European uppercut

Moonsault

Triangle choke (TNA) 2008–2009 - Used while a member of The Main Event Mafia

Championships and accomplishments

Amateur wrestling

Canadian Cup Championship

*Winner (1990)

Collegiate / High School

*Pennsylvania State Wrestling Champion (1987)

*Clarion University Freshman of the Year (1988)

Espoir World Cup

*Runner-up (1989)

International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles

*FILA Junior World Freestyle Champion (1988)

*FILA World Freestyle Champion (1995)

National Amateur Wrestling

*National Amateur Wrestling Hall of Fame (Class of 2001)

National Collegiate Athletic Association

*NCAA Division I All-American (1990–1992)

*NCAA Division I Champion (1990, 1992)

*NCAA Division I runner-up (1991)

Olympic Games

*Summer Olympics gold medal in freestyle wrestling (heavyweight) (1996)

USA Wrestling

*USA Junior Freestyle Champion (1987)

*USA Senior Freestyle Champion (1995, 1996)

*USA Wrestling Hall of Fame (Class of 2001)

World Championships

*Gold medal in freestyle wrestling (heavyweight) (1995)

Yasar Dogu Tournament

*Runner-up (1989)

Professional wrestling

'''Cauliflower Alley Club

*Future Legend Award (2000)

Inoki Genome Federation

IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

PWI Comeback of the Year (2003)

PWI Feud of the Year (2000)vs. Triple H

PWI Feud of the Year (2003) vs. Brock Lesnar

*PWI Feud of the Year (2007) vs. Samoa Joe

PWI Match of the Year (2003) vs. Brock Lesnar in a 60-minute Iron Man match on SmackDown!, September 16

PWI Match of the Year (2005) vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 21

PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2000)

PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (2001)

PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (2003)

PWI Rookie of the Year (2000)

PWI Wrestler of the Year (2003)

PWI ranked him #1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2001

SoCal Uncensored

Match of the Year (2000) vs. Christopher Daniels, September 13, 2000, Ultimate Pro Wrestling

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)¹

TNA World Heavyweight Championship (4 times)²

TNA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Sting

TNA X Division Championship (1 time)

WCW Championship (1 time)³

World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

WWF/E Championship (4 times)

WWF European Championship (1 time)

WWF Hardcore Championship (1 time)

WWF Intercontinental Championship (1 time)

WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Chris Benoit

King of the Ring (2000)

*Wrestler of the Year (2002)

*Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2004)

1 Kurt Angle's NWA Championship reign is acknowledged by TNA Wrestling only. 2 Angle's first reign is unofficial after being stripped of the title due to a controversial finish. 3 Won during the Invasion storyline.

Lucha de Apuesta record

{|class="wikitable sortable" width=100% |- !style="background: #e3e3e3;" width=5%|Wager !style="background: #e3e3e3;" width=20%|Winner !style="background: #e3e3e3;" width=20%|Loser !style="background: #e3e3e3;" width=20%|Location !style="background: #e3e3e3;" width=15%|Date !style="background: #e3e3e3;" width=20%|Notes |----- align="center" |Hair || Edge || Kurt Angle || Nashville, Tennessee || || Hair vs. hair match at Judgment Day |}

Notes

References

External links

Official website

Professional wrestling record for Kurt Angle from The Internet Wrestling Database

TNA Profile

Kurt Angle at The National Wrestling Hall of Fame website

Category:1968 births Category:American professional wrestlers Category:American sport wrestlers Category:Living people Category:Olympic athletes who wrestled professionally Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States Category:Olympic wrestlers of the United States Category:People from Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania Category:Professional wrestling executives Category:Sportspeople from Pennsylvania Category:Wrestlers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Category:Clarion University of Pennsylvania alumni Category:Pennsylvania Republicans Category:Fictional kings

Name	Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
Realname	Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
Nickname	Pretty BoyMoney
Weight	Super FeatherweightLightweightLight WelterweightWelterweightSuper Welterweight
Height
Nationality	American
Birth date	February 24, 1977
Birth place	Grand Rapids, Michigan
Home
Style	Orthodox
Total	41
Wins	41
Ko	25
Losses	0
Draws	0}}

}} Floyd Joy Mayweather, Jr. (born Floyd Sinclair on February 24, 1977), is an American professional boxer. He is a five-division world champion, where he won nine world titles in five different boxing weight classes. He is undefeated as a professional boxer, with 41 wins including 25 by way of knockout.

Mayweather is currently rated by The Ring as the number two pound-for-pound boxer in the world, but he is still widely recognized as the number one pound for pound boxer in the world by a majority of press sources including BoxRec, Fox Sports and BBC Sports.

Aside from Mayweather's achievements in boxing he is the co-founder of HBO 24/7. HBO alongside Mayweather produced a series of countdowns previewing their big pay-per-view fights. These shows are 30 minute specials designed to get undecided and casual fans excited enough to purchase and watch the fights live.

Background

Mayweather was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with his mother's last name. His last name would change to Mayweather shortly thereafter. His father, Floyd Mayweather, Sr., is a former welterweight contender, while two of his uncles, Jeff Mayweather and Roger Mayweather, won championship titles.

Amateur career

Mayweather had an amateur record of 84-6 and won national Golden Gloves championships in 1993 (at 106 lb), 1994 (at 114 lb), and 1996 (at 125 lb). He was given the nickname "Pretty Boy" by his amateur teammates because he had relatively few scars, a result of the defensive techniques that his father (Floyd Mayweather, Sr.) and uncle (Roger Mayweather) had taught him. In his orthodox defensive stance, Mayweather—much like James Toney—often utilizes the 'shoulder roll'. The shoulder roll is an old-school boxing technique in which the right hand is held normally or slightly higher than normal, the left hand is down around the midsection, and the lead shoulder is raised high on the cheek in order to cover the chin and block punches. The right hand (from orthodox stance) is used as it normally would be to block punches coming from the other side, such as left hooks. From this stance, Mayweather blocks, slips, and deflects most of his opponents' punches, even when cornered, by twisting left and right to the rhythm of their punches.

At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Mayweather won a bronze medal by reaching the semi-finals of the featherweight (57 kg) division's 31-boxer tournament. In the opening round, Mayweather led 10-1 on points over Bakhtiyar Tileganov of Kazakhstan before he won by round 2 referee stoppage. In the second round, Mayweather outpointed Artur Gevorgyan of Armenia 16-3. In the quarterfinals, Mayweather survived a late rally by Lorenzo Aragon of Cuba to win 12-11. In his semifinal bout against the eventual silver medalist, Serafim Todorov of Bulgaria, Mayweather lost by a controversial decision that the U.S. team officially protested. Many who saw the bout, including the referee (who mistakenly raised Mayweather's hand when the decision was read), believed that Mayweather had won.

Professional career

Super Featherweight division

Mayweather fought his first professional bout on October 11, 1996 against fellow newcomer Roberto Apodaca who was knocked out in round 2. Mayweather's trainer at the time was his uncle, Roger Mayweather, because Floyd Mayweather, Sr. was still imprisoned after having been convicted of illegal drug trafficking in 1993. Mayweather, Sr. took over as Mayweather, Jr.'s trainer when he was released from prison (after Mayweather, Jr.'s fourteenth fight—a second-round knockout of Sam Girard). From 1996 to early 1998, Mayweather won most of his fights by knockout or TKO.

In 1999, Mayweather won his first world title, the WBC junior lightweight (130 lb) championship, when the corner of Genaro Hernandez stopped the fight after round 8. Hernandez had never been defeated at the weight class. From there, Mayweather defended his title with performances against contenders such as Angel Manfredy and Carlos Gerena.

Before he fought against former WBC featherweight champion Gregorio Vargas in early 2000, Mayweather fired his father as his manager and replaced him with James Prince. A few months after the fight, the rift between the father and son became wide enough that Mayweather, Jr. fired Mayweather, Sr. as his trainer as well. Roger Mayweather returned to his role as Mayweather, Jr.'s trainer in his next bout—a non-title fight against Emanuel Burton. In an interview in 2004, Mayweather, Jr. said that he loves Mayweather, Sr. as his father but feels that he has better chemistry with Roger, and his father had put too much pressure on him to be perfect.

Mayweather's biggest fight as a junior lightweight was on January 20, 2001, against Diego Corrales. At the time, neither fighter had been defeated or knocked down. In the bout, Mayweather won every round and knocked down Corrales five times (three times in round 7 and twice in round 10). After the fifth knockdown, Corrales' cornermen climbed onto the apron and stopped the fight, thereby establishing Mayweather as one of the claimants to boxing's mythical pound-for-pound title. At the time of the stoppage, Mayweather was way ahead on the scorecards, leading by the official tallies of 89-79, 90-79, and 90-78.

In Mayweather's next bout, on May 26, 2001, future IBF champion Carlos "Famoso" Hernández knocked down Mayweather for the first time. Mayweather entered the bout with injured hands. When Mayweather hit Hernández with a left hook in round 6, the pain caused Mayweather to drop his left hand to the canvas, and the referee called it a knockdown. Nonetheless, Mayweather won the fight by unanimous decision. In the award-winning documentary film More Than Famous, Hernández's bout against Mayweather was prominently featured.

Mayweather's last fight in the junior lightweight division was against future junior lightweight and lightweight champion Jesús Chávez. It was Mayweather's eighth defense of the WBC junior lightweight title, which he had held for more than three years. He won when Chávez's corner stopped the fight after round 9. Mayweather had such difficulty making weight for this fight that he did not eat for four days before the weigh-in.

Lightweight division

In 2002, Mayweather moved up to the lightweight (135 lb) division. Mayweather fought only four bouts at this weight, but they were all world championship fights. Mayweather won two bouts for the WBC and The Ring lightweight belts against José Luis Castillo. In their first bout, Castillo had success when he cut off the ring and used his strength to wear down Mayweather. But it was not enough to make up for his slow start in the fight. Still, many analysts and fans feel that Mayweather should have lost the fight, but he won by unanimous decision. In the rematch, Mayweather used his quick footwork, combinations and his jab specialty to coast to another unanimous decision victory, this time with no controversy. The smaller Mayweather was outweighed by Castillo on the night of the fight, as Castillo weighed 147 and Mayweather weighed 138.

On April 19, 2003, Mayweather dominated the Dominican Victoriano Sosa and won by unanimous decision. Mayweather's next fight (on November 1, 2003) was in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. He fought against the promising South African knockout specialist Phillip Ndou, whose record was 31-1 with 30 KOs. Uncharacteristically, Mayweather was offensively oriented from the beginning of the fight. Round 5 was one of 2003's most action-packed. In the middle of the round, Mayweather landed a barrage of powerful punches. Ndou endured and threw wild punches that forced Mayweather into the ropes, but Mayweather demonstrated his rhythmic defensive technique and let Ndou wear himself out further. In round 6, Ndou wobbled and was pushed down. In round 7, a combination of three straight right hands knocked down Ndou and caused a TKO, when N'Dou's trainers - Nick Durandt and Tommy Brooks - contemplated throwing in the towel. However, the ref stopped the fight as Ndou did not move forward (as part of a test to ensure he was okay from the knockdown).

Light Welterweight division

Mayweather then moved up to the junior welterweight (140 lb) division. His first fight in this division was against southpaw DeMarcus Corley. Mayweather used his speed and jabs to win the early rounds. In the first minute of round 4, Corley landed a solid left hand and drove Mayweather into the ropes, but Mayweather recovered and fought back ferociously. After that round, Mayweather mostly controlled Corley. Mayweather knocked down Corley in rounds 8 and 10, but Corley was able to continue until the end. Mayweather won by unanimous decision. The fight was Mayweather's only one in 2004.

On January 22, 2005, Mayweather fought against Henry Bruseles of Puerto Rico in a WBC junior welterweight title eliminator bout. Mayweather easily outclassed Bruseles throughout the first seven rounds. In round 8, Mayweather knocked down Bruseles twice, and the fight was stopped.

The win over Bruseles made Mayweather the mandatory challenger for Arturo Gatti's WBC Super Lightweight Championship. Before the fight, Mayweather was supremely confident. He described Gatti with terms such as "a C+ fighter", "a fake", and "a blown-up club fighter." The pay-per-view fight occurred on June 25, 2005 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where the fans heavily supported Gatti. Near the end of round 1, Mayweather pushed Gatti's head down in close and the referee instructed the fighters to "Stop punching." Gatti broke and left himself vulnerable while Mayweather either deliberately or indeliberately disobeyed the referee's command and continued to land punches. Gatti turned to the referee to complain and Mayweather capitalised, sending Gatti to the canvas with more shots for what was scored a knockdown, despite Gatti's complaints. Throughout the next five rounds, the much faster Mayweather landed with nearly every big shot against Gatti, who had no offense with which he could return fire. Gatti's corner stopped the fight after round 6—giving Mayweather his third world title. It was one of the most one-sided and most impressive contests in boxing history. In the post-fight interview, Mayweather praised Gatti and claimed that his pre-fight comments "were just to sell tickets." Among many boxing experts, Mayweather's one-sided dominance over Gatti solidified his position as one of the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Compubox had Mayweather outlanding Gatti by a total of 168 to 41.

One month after the Gatti fight, Mayweather went to trial for a domestic violence charge. He faced a minimum of one year in prison if he was convicted. Mayweather had been accused of violence against his former girlfriend, Josie Harris. Harris had claimed that Mayweather had punched and kicked her during an argument in Mayweather's Bentley, outside a Las Vegas nightclub in 2003. During the trial, however, Harris admitted that she had lied on the initial police report and testified that Mayweather never hit her. The jury acquitted Mayweather.

Welterweight division

On November 19, 2005, Mayweather fought a non-title bout at against welterweight Sharmba Mitchell. In round 3, Mayweather knocked down Mitchell with a straight right hand to the head. In round 6, another straight right hand—this one to Mitchell's body—dropped Mitchell again and ended the fight. On April 8, 2006, Mayweather defeated Zab Judah for the IBF and vacant IBO world welterweight titles by unanimous decision. Beforehand, the fight had been jeopardized after Judah lost the WBA, WBC and Ring Magazine welterweight titles to Carlos Manuel Baldomir on January 7, 2006, but Mayweather's and Judah's camps reworked the contract and decided that the fight would go on. In the fight, Mayweather stayed calm during Judah's aggressive early rounds. Mayweather began to dominate Judah in round 5, and Judah eventually bled. Near the conclusion of the tenth round, Judah hit Mayweather with a left hand that was clearly below the belt and followed up with a right-handed rabbit punch. After referee Richard Steele called time with five seconds remaining in the round, Roger Mayweather entered the ring and approached Judah, but Steele restrained him. Judah's father and trainer, Yoel Judah, entered the ring as well. Floyd remained in the neutral corner while both Yoel and Zab scuffled with Roger (and others who had entered the ring) until police and security managed to restore order. Roger was thrown out, but the fight continued and went the scheduled 12 rounds. Mayweather won by the official scores of 116-112, 117-111, and 119-109. Compubox statistics showed Mayweather as landing 188 punches to 82 for Judah.

Five days after the fight, the Nevada State Athletic Commission decided not to overturn the result of the bout, but Roger Mayweather was fined US$200,000 and suspended for one year. The suspension entails that Roger can train Mayweather, Jr. in the gym but cannot work the corner during fights. On April 17, 2006, the IBF ordered a rematch between Mayweather and Judah, but the NSAC suspended Judah for one year on May 8, 2006. Mayweather vacated the IBF title on June 20, 2006.

Mayweather rejected an offer of US$8 million to fight Antonio Margarito and split with promoter Bob Arum. Oscar De la Hoya, however, postponed his decision until 2007, leaving Mayweather to choose his next opponent. Mayweather considered moving up in weight again to fight junior middleweight champion Cory Spinks, but because of negative publicity and Spinks' impending mandatory defense of his title, he finally decided to face WBC and The Ring welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir on November 4, 2006 in Las Vegas.

Mayweather would ultimately defeat Baldomir by unanimous decision for both titles. Ringside punch statistics showed Mayweather landing 199 of 458 punches, while Baldomir landed just 79 of 670. Mayweather earned $8 million for the fight, while Baldomir was paid $1.6 million. Both were career highs in earnings for each fighter at the time.

During the fight, Baldomir chased Mayweather, unable to land any meaningful shots but trying to remain the busier fighter, while Mayweather picked away with sharp jabs and hooks, even managing to cut Baldomir over his left eye in the first round. This pattern continued throughout the fight. The defensive-minded Mayweather put on what many witnesses and Mayweather himself called a "boxing clinic" to take Baldomir's WBC and Ring welterweight titles in a lopsided 12 round decision. Two judges had Mayweather winning all 12 rounds, with the other giving all but two rounds to Mayweather. After the fight Mayweather called out for a fight with Oscar De la Hoya.

Super Welterweight division

Mayweather's next match was the long-anticipated superfight against six-division champion and current WBC Super Welterweight titleholder Oscar De La Hoya on May 5, 2007. De La Hoya's belt was on the line, which required Mayweather to move up in weight from 147 pounds to 154.

Despite De La Hoya's insistence that money was not a factor, the Mayweather-De La Hoya bout set the record for most PPV buys for a boxing match with 2.7 million households, shattering the record of 1.95 million for Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson II. Around $120 million in revenue was generated by the PPV, which set another record. With the percentages factored in, Oscar De La Hoya ended up earning $58 million for the bout, the highest purse ever for a fighter. The previous record was $35 million, held by Tyson and Holyfield. Floyd Mayweather earned about $25 million for the fight.

At one time, Floyd Mayweather, Sr., Mayweather, Jr.'s father, was in talks to train Oscar De La Hoya and be in his corner during the fight but he decided to train with Freddie Roach. Mayweather won by split decision in 12 rounds, capturing the World Boxing Council (WBC) title though most saw the fight as being fairly one-sided on his behalf.

Return to Welterweight division

Mayweather decided to relinquish his WBC junior middleweight championship and kept his WBC welterweight championship. On July 28, 2007, it was announced that Mayweather would come out of his short retirement to fight light welterweight champion Ricky Hatton which was promoted by Oscar De La Hoya's promotion company Golden Boy Promotions and Floyd Mayweather's "Mayweather Promotions." The bout was labelled "Undefeated" and took place on December 8, 2007, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, in a fight which was the biggest welterweight showdown of two undefeated fighters since Oscar De La Hoya and Félix Trinidad met in their 1999 superfight. In the build up to their fight, Mayweather claimed that he was the greatest boxer ever, saying: "I respect what Robinson and Ali did for the sport. But I am the greatest, and this is my time."

Mayweather controlled the fight from the start and knocked Hatton out in the 10th round to retain the welterweight championship. Hatton suffered a cut over his right eye in round three from the punches of Mayweather, and it seemed that it was at this point that his pace and movement began to slow. In round six Hatton lost a point for punching the back of Floyd's head as he was caught draped on the ropes. Mayweather had a huge eighth round, landing a number of clean, effective power shots.

In the 10th round Hatton was caught with a check left hook thrown from Mayweather's hip, and as a result he fell forward head first into the turnbuckle and hit the deck. Hatton managed to make it to his feet, but was clearly dazed. Two more big lefts in a flurry put Ricky down again and Cortez stopped it at 1:35 of round 10.

After the fight, Mayweather said that Hatton was one of the toughest fighters he had ever fought, that he just kept coming and coming, and that he wants to promote fights, with Hatton being his first client. Mayweather announced his retirement from boxing to concentrate on his promotional company.

Comeback from retirement

On March 18, 2009, it was reported that Mayweather was "ready to dance again" according to a source from within the Mayweather camp. Announcing his return to the ring seemed to be somewhat of a formality at this point, as even his estranged father, current trainer of Ricky Hatton, Floyd Mayweather Sr. stated, "He's gonna fight again."

On May 2, 2009, it was confirmed that Mayweather was coming out of a 21-month retirement to fight lightweight champion Juan Manuel Márquez at a catchweight of 144 lb on July 18 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on HBO PPV. The fight was postponed due to a rib injury Mayweather received during training. HBO's reality series 24/7 was also postponed to start on August 29. The fight took place on September 19, 2009 in conjunction with Mexican Independence Day, traditionally a big boxing weekend. During the official weigh in for their 144 lb bout, Mayweather failed to meet the required limit by weighing in at 146 lb, two pounds heavier than Marquez. He was subsequently fined as a result. However it was later revealed that the contract was changed so that Mayweather could make weight within the welterweight limit of 140-147 lb as long as Marquez received a large guaranteed sum of money. Mayweather won a unanimous decision after 12 rounds in one of the most statistically lop sided fights between 2 world class opponents. Marquez only managed to land 12% of his total 583 punches while Mayweather landed 59% of 490 total punches. This fight marks only the fifth time in boxing history that a non-heavyweight fight sold more than 1 million pay-per-views, with the official HBO numbers coming in at over 1 million buys equalling a total of approximately $52 million. Four of those fights all featured Oscar De La Hoya as the main event, making this fight the one of two events where a non-heavyweight fight sold over 1 million PPVs without Oscar De La Hoya. The other fight was Manny Pacquiao versus Miguel Cotto which sold 1.25 million PPVs.

Seven-division world champion Manny Pacquiao had reportedly agreed to fight Mayweather on March 13, 2010 for a split of $50 million which the promoters of both camp already agreed. However, the fight has been called off due to disagreements about Olympic style drug tests. Floyd Mayweather's camp wanted blood tests by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which will conducts the tests anytime from training up to the fight date. However the Pacquiao camp refused to provide these samples, only willing to allow blood to be taken from Pacquiao if the test were scheduled. On the other hand, Pacquiao's coach, Freddie Roach, has commented that he would allow a blood sample to be taken from Pacquiao if there was a cut-off date for the blood testing or at least one week before the fight. In an attempt to resolve their differences, the two camps went through a process of mediation before a retired judge. After the mediation process Mayweather agreed to a 14-day no blood testing window. However, Pacquiao refused and instead only agreed to a 24-day no blood testing window. Consequently, on January 7, 2010, Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum declared that the fight was officially off and he has offered the chance to fight Pacquiao instead to Joshua Clottey.

Negotiations for a proposed matchup between Mayweather and Shane Mosley immediately began after Andre Berto pulled out of his scheduled January 30 unification bout with the latter, due to the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Both sides eventually agreed to fight on May 1, 2010 for Mosley's WBA World Welterweight title. It was later revealed that Floyd Mayweather refused to pay sanctioning fees required by WBA, Mayweather said "all belts do is collect dust". However, the belt was only on the line for Mosley to defend against Mayweather. Both Mayweather and Mosley agreed to Olympic-style testing for this bout. Mosley started the fight well, landing two solid right hands in Round 2 which caused Mayweather's knees to buckle. Mayweather recovered well, and went on to dominate the remainder of the fight, soundly outboxing Mosley and showing more aggression than in his recent fights. Mayweather eventually won a unanimous decision, with the judges scoring the fight 119-109, 119-109, and 118-110. In round 4, Compubox picked up Mosley throwing seven power punches without landing any, making Mayweather the second boxer after Roy Jones, Jr to go an entire round without being hit by a power punch. After the fight, the president of Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar De La Hoya, stated that he believes Mayweather is the best in the game right now.

The fight was the second highest selling non heavyweight pay-per-view bout in the history of boxing, with 1.4 million buys. HBO officially released that the fight generated $78.3 million in revenue. After the fight Mayweather expressed interest in moving up in weight to capture a world title in six different weight classes and to challenge newly crowned middleweight champion Sergio Martinez.

It has been reported that Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer and Top Rank Chief Bob Arum are trying to work out again the failed negotiation for a fight between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather has asked Pacquiao to undergo random blood and urine testing up until the fight day. Pacquiao said he will undergo blood and urine testing up until 14 days before the fight, which is closer to the fight day than the 18-day cut-off in Mayweather's previous bout against Mosley. Pacquiao said that giving blood too close to the fight day will weaken him. On June 12, 2010, the President of Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar De La Hoya, stated during an interview with a Spanish network that the deal for the fight was very close and the negotiation process has been very difficult. On June 30, 2010, Arum announced that the management of both sides had agreed to terms, that all points had been settled (including Pacquiao agreeing to submit to both blood and urine testing) and only the signature of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. was needed to seal the deal that could have earned both fighters at least $40 million each. Arum also announced that Pacquiao accepted the terms of the random drug testing, blood and urine, leading up to the fight. Mayweather was then given a two-week deadline for the fight contract to be signed.

On July 15, 2010, Mayweather was given until Friday midnight to sign the fight. The next day the Top Rank website embedded a countdown clock on their website with the heading "Money" Time: Mayweather's Decision. On July 17, 2010, Arum announced that there was no word from Mayweather's camp and the deal for a November 13, 2010 fight with Mayweather was not reached.

On July 19, 2010, after waiting for Mayweather's response, Leonard Ellerbe, one of Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s closest advisers, denied that negotiations for a super fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao had ever taken place. Ellerbe stated that Bob Arum was not telling the truth. Bob Arum later criticized Oscar De La Hoya and his Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer for denying that negotiations took place, when De La Hoya himself had previously stated that they were "very, very close in finalizing the contracts". Arum revealed that HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg acted as the mediator between Mayweather’s handlers and those of Pacquiao’s from Top Rank Promotions. On July 26, 2010, Ross Greenburg said in a statement that he has been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2, 2010, carefully trying to put the fight together and he did in fact act as a go-between in negotiations with the two sides, but they were unable to come to an agreement. Floyd Mayweather Jr., after the second negotiation had been officially declared off, told the Associated Press that he had fought sixty days ago, and that he was in no rush to fight Pacquiao and was not really thinking about boxing at the moment.

Professional boxing record

| style="text-align:center;" colspan="8"|41 Wins (25 knockouts, 16 decisions), 0 Losses, 0 Draws |- |align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Res. |align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Record |align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Opponnent |align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Type |align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Rd., Time |align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Date |align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Location |align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Notes |-align=center |Win |align=center|41-0||align=left| Shane Mosley | | | |align=left| MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|40-0||align=left| Juan Manuel Márquez | | | |align=left| MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|39-0||align=left| Ricky Hatton | | | |align=left| MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|38-0||align=left| Oscar De La Hoya | | | |align=left| MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|37-0||align=left| Carlos Baldomir | | | |align=left| Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|36-0||align=left| Zab Judah | | | |align=left| Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|35-0||align=left| Sharmba Mitchell | | | |align=left| Rose Garden, Portland, Oregon}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|34-0||align=left| Arturo Gatti | | | |align=left| Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|33-0||align=left| Henry Bruseles | | | |align=left| American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|32-0||align=left| DeMarcus Corley | | | |align=left| Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|31-0||align=left| Phillip N'dou | | | |align=left| Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|30-0||align=left| Victoriano Sosa | | | |align=left| Selland Arena, Fresno, California}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|29-0||align=left| José Luis Castillo | | | |align=left| Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|28-0||align=left| José Luis Castillo | | | |align=left| MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|27-0||align=left| Jesús Chávez | | | |align=left| Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, California}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|26-0||align=left| Carlos Hernández | | | |align=left| Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|25-0||align=left| Diego Corrales | | | |align=left| MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|24-0||align=left| Emanuel Augustus | | | |align=left| Cobo Center, Detroit, Michigan}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|23-0||align=left| Gregorio Vargas | | | |align=left| MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|22-0||align=left| Carlos Gerena | | | |align=left| Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|21-0||align=left| Justin Juuko | | | |align=left| Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|20-0||align=left| Carlos Rios | | | |align=left| Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|19-0||align=left| Angel Manfredy | | | |align=left| Miccosukee Indian Reservation, Miami, Florida}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|18-0||align=left| Genaro Hernandez | | | |align=left| Las Vegas Hilton, Las Vegas, Nevada}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|17-0||align=left| Tony Pep | | | |align=left| Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City, New Jersey}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|16-0||align=left| Gustavo Cuello | | | |align=left| Grand Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|15-0||align=left| Miguel Melo | | | |align=left| Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, Connecticut}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|14-0||align=left| Sam Girard | | | |align=left| Bally's Atlantic City, Atlantic City, New Jersey}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|13-0||align=left| Hector Arroyo | | | |align=left| Grand Casino Biloxi, Biloxi, Mississippi}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|12-0||align=left| Angelo Nuñez | | | |align=left| Grand Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|11-0||align=left| Felipe Garcia | | | |align=left| Qwest Arena, Boise, Idaho}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|10-0||align=left| Louie Leija | | | |align=left| El Paso County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|9-0||align=left| Jesús Chávez | | | |align=left| Grand Casino Biloxi, Biloxi, Mississippi}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|8-0||align=left| Larry O'Shields | | | |align=left| Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|7-0||align=left| Tony Duran | | | |align=left| Orleans Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|6-0||align=left| Bobby Giepert | | | |align=left| Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|5-0||align=left| Kino Rodriguez | | | |align=left| DeltaPlex Arena, Walker, Michigan}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|4-0||align=left| Edgar Ayala | | | |align=left| Swiss Park Hall, Chula Vista, California}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|3-0||align=left| Jerry Cooper | | | |align=left| Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|2-0||align=left| Reggie Sanders | | | |align=left| Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|1-0|| align=left| Roberto Apodaca | ||| |align=left| Texas Station Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada}} |align=left|

Titles in boxing

Major Sanctioning Bodies:

WBC World Super Featherweight Champion (130 lbs)

WBC World Lightweight Champion (135 lbs)

The Ring World Lightweight Champion (135 lbs)

WBC World Light Welterweight Champion (140 lbs)

IBF World Welterwight Champion (147 lbs)

The Ring World Welterweight Champion (147 lbs)

WBC World Welterweight Champion (147 lbs)

WBC World Super Welterweight Champion (154 lbs)

Minor Sanctioning Bodies:

IBO World Welterweight Champion (147 lbs)

IBA World Welterweight Champion (147 lbs)

Lineal Championship titles:

World Lightweight Champion (130 lbs)

World Welterweight Champion (147 lbs)

World Wrestling Entertainment

Mayweather appeared at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s No Way Out pay-per-view on February 17, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was involved in a storyline physical altercation with The Big Show, after Mayweather jumped a security barricade and attacked him with a punching combination, in an attempt to help Rey Mysterio, whom Show threatened to chokeslam. Originally, Mayweather took on a babyface role in the storylines, though met with some reluctance from the fans. The attack resulted in Big Show receiving an actual broken nose, reportedly not part of the storyline. The following night on Raw, Big Show challenged Mayweather to a one on one No Disqualification match at WrestleMania XXIV, which Mayweather accepted. At WrestleMania, Mayweather turned heel by using various underhanded tactics and defeated Big Show by knockout using brass knuckles to maintain his unbeaten record. Mayweather claimed that he was paid $20,000,000 USD for the fight, but WWE's financial statements do not show the number.

Mayweather was the guest host for WWE Raw in Las Vegas on August 24, 2009. He interfered with a tag team match that resulted in a loss for the Big Show (now heel again) and his partner Chris Jericho as Mayweather gave Montel Vontavious Porter brass knuckles to use to knock Jericho out, giving Porter and his new tag team partner Mark Henry the win and a shot at the Unified WWE Tag Team Titles at WWE Breaking Point against Big Show and Jericho. He then celebrated with Henry and Porter, thus turning face. Later on in the night he was involved in a backstage segment with Mr. McMahon, D-Generation X, and Carlito where he helped Mr. McMahon get ready for his 6 Man Tag Team Match against Legacy along with DX. During the segment, McMahon knocked out Carlito.

Dancing with the Stars

Mayweather appeared on the fifth season of Dancing with the Stars. His partner was the famous Ukrainian American born professional ballroom dancer Karina Smirnoff. On October 16, 2007, Karina and Floyd were the fourth couple to be eliminated from the competition and came in 9th place.

Domestic violence cases

On September 9, 2010, it was reported that Mayweather was being sought by police for questioning after his former girlfriend, Josie Harris, filed a domestic battery report against him. Harris has accused Mayweather of battery in the past, but those charges were later dropped in July 2005 after Harris testified that she had lied and that Mayweather had not, in fact, assaulted her. Mayweather was taken into custody on September 10, 2010, but was released after posting $3000 bail. Initially, Mayweather was charged with felony theft stemming from the disappearance of Harris's iPhone, but on September 16, 2010, two felony coercion charges and one felony robbery charge were added to the case, along with one misdemeanor domestic battery charge and three misdemeanor harassment charges. If convicted of all charges, Mayweather could face up to 34 years in prison.

Honours, awards and recognitions

1996 Atlanta Olympics Bronze medalist

1998 and 2007 International Boxing Award (Muhammed Ali Boxing Award) Fighter of the Year

1998 and 2007 The Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year

2010 Forbes Magazine, Ranked "Number 2" Richest and Powerful athlete in the world 2000-09 Yahoo Sports, Best of the Decade, ranked "Number 1"

2007 Boxing Writers Association of America Fighter of the year

2007 ESPN Fighter of the Year 2007 Forbes Magazine, Ranked "Number 14" Richest Celebrity paydays

2007 The Ring Magazine event of the year (The World Awaits)

2007, 2008 and 2010 Best Fighter ESPY Award

2008 The Ring Magazine event of the year (Retirement of Mayweather)

2008 Yahoo Sports, Ranked "Number 6" Most Powerful People in Boxing

2009 The Ring Magazine comeback of the year

See also

List of current world boxing champions

List of The Ring world champions

List of WBC world champions

List of IBF world champions

List of IBO world champions

List of Super Featherweight boxing champions

List of lightweight boxing champions

list of light welterweight boxing champions

List of welterweight boxing champions

List of super welterweight boxing champions

List of boxing triple champions

List of boxing quadruple champions

List of boxing quintuple champions

Notes

External links

Floyd Mayweather Jr. victorious over Shane Mosley in welterweight bout (post fight interview) by Alex Alonso, May 1, 2010, Streetgangs.com.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Video Interview @ FightFan.com

bio * file interview with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Estrangement of Mayweather, Jr. and Sr. by Jon Saraceno, June 26, 2005, USA Today.

Olympic article on Mayweather, Jr. by Andy Johnston, July 6, 1996, Augusta Chronicle.

A new chapter begins for Floyd Mayweather by Jeff Mayweather, November 1, 2005, BraggingRightsCorner.com.

Can Mayweather become the new De La Hoya? by Brent Matteo Alderson, May 1, 2006, BoxingScene.com.

Floyd Mayweather, Sr. Speaks Out, by David A. Avila, www.thesweetscience.com

Philthy Rich Records Home page of Floyd Mayweather, Jr.'s record label

Mayweather Returns In September by Brian O. Blake

|- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |-

Category:Boxers from Michigan Category:African American boxers Category:People from Grand Rapids, Michigan Category:Junior-welterweights Category:Welterweights Category:Junior-lightweights Category:Lightweights Category:WBC Champions Category:IBF Champions Category:Boxers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic bronze medalists for the United States Category:Olympic boxers of the United States Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:Dancing with the Stars (US TV series) participants Category:American boxers Category:1977 births Category:Living people