WWE Backlash

Backlash was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced every April (with the exception of 2005) by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. The event was created in 1999, with its inaugural event produced as an In Your House event in April of that year. The event in 2000 was rebranded as an annual PPV event for WWE. To coincide with the brand extension, the event was made exclusive to the Raw brand in 2004. In 2007, to follow the format of WrestleMania, all PPV events became tri-branded. The final event was held in 2009, with Extreme Rules replacing Backlash in 2010.

Dates and venues

History

Backlash consists of a main event and undercard which feature championship matches and various other matches. The first Backlash was originally promoted as an In Your House event for World Wrestling Federation (WWF), the former name of WWE. The In Your House event was titled Backlash: In Your House. It took place on April 25, 1999 and aired live on PPV. In 1999, production of In Your House events were canceled, though many of the former In Your House events, such as Backlash, No Way Out, and Judgment Day among others, were rebranded as annual PPV events.

WWE

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (d/b/a WWE) is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company that deals primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing and direct product sales. WWE also refers to the professional wrestling promotion itself, founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt in 1952 as Capitol Wrestling Corporation. As of 2014, it is the largest wrestling promotion in the world, holding over 300 events a year, and broadcasting to about 36 million viewers in more than 150 countries. The company's headquarters are located in Stamford, Connecticut, with offices in major cities across the world.

As in other professional wrestling promotions, WWE shows are not legitimate contests, but purely entertainment-based, featuring storyline-driven, scripted, and choreographed matches, though they often include moves that can put performers at risk of injury if not performed correctly. This was first publicly acknowledged by WWE's owner Vince McMahon in 1989 to avoid taxes from athletic commissions. Since the 1980s, WWE publicly branded their product as sports entertainment, which is considered to acknowledge the product's roots in competitive sport and dramatic theater.

Jinder Mahal

Yuvraj "Raj" Singh Dhesi (born July 19, 1986) is an Indian-Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring names Tiger Raj Singh and Jinder Mahal. He worked for the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, where he was a member of the 3MB stable and manager of The Great Khali.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2003-2010)

Dhesi began his wrestling career at the Martial Arts Fitness Center in Calgary, Alberta training with former WWE superstar "Razor" Rick Titan and Premier Martial Arts Wrestling (PMW) working as Raj "The Future" Dhesi. He then went on to train with "Champagne" Jerry Morrow and Bad News Allen. In Canada's Stampede Wrestling, After working for a time with Hybrid Wrestling Coalition (HWC) Dhesi teamed with his cousin Gama Singh, Jr., as The Karachi Vice, and Sikh n' Destroy. In March 2005, the team won the Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship, holding it for eight months. They won the title for a second time in December of that year, holding it until November of the following year. He also worked for the Prairie Wrestling Alliance, where he was the PWA Champion from 2008 until January 2010, and also a three time tag team champion. Dhesi also competed for Great North Wrestling (GNW), where he feuded with such wrestlers as Samoa Joe and Hannibal. In December 2009, he traveled to Tampa, Florida, to try out for WWE's developmental promotion Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW).

Randy Orton

Randall Keith "Randy" Orton (born April 1, 1980) is an American professional wrestler and actor who has been employed by WWE since 2001, but is on hiatus due to injury as of February 2016. He is a 12-time world champion, having held the WWE World Heavyweight Championship eight times and the World Heavyweight Championship four times. He was the final holder of the World Heavyweight Championship.

Orton is a third-generation professional wrestler; his grandfather Bob Orton, Sr., his father "Cowboy" Bob Orton, and his uncle Barry Orton all competed in the professional wrestling business. Before being promoted to the main World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) roster, Orton trained in and wrestled for Mid-Missouri Wrestling Association-Southern Illinois Conference Wrestling for a month. He was then sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he held the OVW Hardcore Championship twice.

Orton became a member of the stable Evolution shortly after his WWE debut, which quickly led to a Intercontinental Championship reign, his first title with the company. He also acquired the moniker "The Legend Killer" during a storyline where he began disrespecting and then physically attacking WWE Hall of Famers and wrestling veterans. At age 24, he became the youngest person ever to hold the World Heavyweight Championship. With this win, he departed from Evolution and a feud with his former stablemates began. In 2006, Orton joined forces with Edge in a tag team known as Rated-RKO. Together, they held the World Tag Team Championship.

WWE Network

WWE Network is a subscription-based video streaming service owned by WWE, using the infrastructure of Major League Baseball Advanced Media. The concept was originally announced in 2011. On January 8, 2014, WWE announced the network would launch on February 24 in the United States. The company stated on July 31 that the service was expected to go live in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mexico, Middle East, Spain, Turkey, Nordics and the North Africa, among other countries starting on August 17. It was unexpectedly made available in the UK and Ireland a week earlier than planned, on January 13, 2015, after a delay from the previous November. The WWE Network consists of both a 24-hour linear streaming channel and on-demand programming from WWE's library.

History

Development and U.S. launch

In September 2011, WWE officially announced plans to launch the WWE Network in 2012 as a pay-TV channel. WWE then conducted a survey asking people if they would pay for the WWE Network if it were a premium channel. In an email sent to WWE fans who might be interested in the WWE Network, WWE surveyed fans for their thoughts about the WWE Network airing WWE's pay-per-views to subscribers for no additional charge. The survey also noted that feature repeats of Raw and SmackDown, as well as footage from World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), XFL, Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), American Wrestling Association (AWA) and WWE movies would also make the lineup. Original programming was also noted in the survey.