The history of professional wrestling in the United States spans well over 100 years and has had many significant moments during that period of time. From humble beginnings in the late 1880s, the sport boomed throughout the 1970s and peaked during the 1980s when the World Wrestling Federation became an international wrestling giant.
Throughout the 1990s, professional wrestling as a whole reached financial and popularity highs with the Monday Night Wars and the increased exposure of hardcore wrestling.
Throughout the 1990s, professional wrestling as a whole reached financial and popularity highs with the Monday Night Wars and the increased exposure of hardcore wrestling.
History
1900s-1910s
In 1901, San Francisco promoters introduced tag team wrestling to improve the sport's entertainment value. Another Californian innovation was an 18-foot padded mat laid atop risers, which is still being used today in North American professional wrestling, but didn't become popular until the 1930s.
On May 5, 1905, European Greco-Roman champion, Georg Hackenschmidt, defeated American Heavyweight Champion, Tom Jenkins, in two straight falls, in Madison Square Garden in New York in a match to crown the "World Catch-as-Catch Can Heavyweight Champion." This match saw the origin of the first "World Heavyweight Championship" in the United States.
On September 4, 1911, three years after their controversial first match, Frank Gotch defeated George Hackenschmidt in Chicago at Comiskey Park to retain the World title after Hackenschmidt injured his knee during the match. The live gate was $87,053, the biggest gate during that time.
In 1901, San Francisco promoters introduced tag team wrestling to improve the sport's entertainment value. Another Californian innovation was an 18-foot padded mat laid atop risers, which is still being used today in North American professional wrestling, but didn't become popular until the 1930s.
On May 5, 1905, European Greco-Roman champion, Georg Hackenschmidt, defeated American Heavyweight Champion, Tom Jenkins, in two straight falls, in Madison Square Garden in New York in a match to crown the "World Catch-as-Catch Can Heavyweight Champion." This match saw the origin of the first "World Heavyweight Championship" in the United States.
On September 4, 1911, three years after their controversial first match, Frank Gotch defeated George Hackenschmidt in Chicago at Comiskey Park to retain the World title after Hackenschmidt injured his knee during the match. The live gate was $87,053, the biggest gate during that time.
1930s-1940s
1935 became one of the more significant years in American professional wrestling history. Not only did Jim Crockett, Sr. form Jim Crockett Promotions but Vince McMahon, Sr. promoted his first wrestling card. Mud wrestling was invented in Seattle by mistake. Promoter Paul Boesch added too much water with dirt to have a "Hindu Match" between Prince Bhu Pinder and former World Champion Gus Sonneberg. Mud wrestling then moved to San Francisco. Women's mud-wrestling soon followed.
Don Owens began promoting wrestling cards that aired on television in Portland, the first televised professional wrestling in history. The National Wrestling Alliance was first formed in Waterloo, Iowa. The first NWA President was P.L. "Pinkie" George. Orville Brown was recognized as the first World Heavyweight Champion in 1948. The NWA worked under a revolutionary "territory" system, similar to a franchise of a business. The promotion owned a large sum of promotions in different areas of the world, with the World Championship recognized as the highest championship in the promotion. The champion was permitted to go on tours of member's promotions.
1950s-1970s
On November 26, 1956, Vince McMahon, Sr. promoted his first card. A poor crowd of 10,400 came to see the event. The American Wrestling Association formed in 1960 with Verne Gagne being the promoter and the promotion's biggest stars. Throughout the decade the AWA became one of the most respected and popular promotions in North America. In 1962, the first use of a ladder in the sport was used when Ray Stevens performed a "Bombs Away" drop from a ladder onto Pepper Gomez' throat, injuring him.
1963 started to show some significant changes and moves in the sport. On January 24, Lou Thesz defeated NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Buddy Rogers, in one fall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the title. Shortly after, promoters from the Northeast broke away from the NWA to form the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). WWWF Promoters continued to recognize Rogers as World Champion. This became the forerunner for today's WWE. On May 19, The Destroyer defeated Rikidozan in Osaka, Japan in one of the most famous matches in Japanese wrestling history and became an instant legend in Japan. It's the last singles match Rikidozan would lose. On October 15, Bobo Brazil vs. Tino Tim Anderson marks the first professional wrestling match involving black wrestlers in Tampa.
Between 1963 and 1971, Bruno Sammartino set the record for the longest World Championship reign in professional wrestling history, holding the WWWF Heavyweight Championship for 2,803 days. This record has never been broken. Between 1968 and 1975, Verne Gagne held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship for 2,625 days but this was the closest anyone has ever got to breaking the record.
In 1967, Bearcat Wright eliminated Ray Stevens to win the first famous battle royal at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) were formed in 1972. The Destroyer became the first American wrestler to wrestle in Japan with a five year stint between 1972 and 1977.
On October 4, 1975, Ric Flair suffered a broken back when a Cesna 310 he was riding in crashes in Wilmington, North Carolina. Also on the plane were Johnny Valentine and Bob Bruggers. Doctors said Flair will never wrestle again. The next year Danny Hodge (a legend to the NWA junior heavyweight division) suffers a broken neck in a car accident near Monroe, Louisiana and never wrestled again.
On October 6, 1978, Harley Race manages to body slam André the Giant. André was presumed to weight somewhere between 450 and 600 pounds at the time of the slam. The next year, Bruiser Brody began to become one of the most popular wrestlers in the world after a successful tour of Japan with AJPW. The World Wide Wrestling Federation dropped a "W" and became the World Wrestling Federation. Four years after being told he would never wrestle again; Ric Flair uses the figure four leglock to defeat former World Champion Buddy Rogers to claim the title of being the "Nature Boy."
1935 became one of the more significant years in American professional wrestling history. Not only did Jim Crockett, Sr. form Jim Crockett Promotions but Vince McMahon, Sr. promoted his first wrestling card. Mud wrestling was invented in Seattle by mistake. Promoter Paul Boesch added too much water with dirt to have a "Hindu Match" between Prince Bhu Pinder and former World Champion Gus Sonneberg. Mud wrestling then moved to San Francisco. Women's mud-wrestling soon followed.
Don Owens began promoting wrestling cards that aired on television in Portland, the first televised professional wrestling in history. The National Wrestling Alliance was first formed in Waterloo, Iowa. The first NWA President was P.L. "Pinkie" George. Orville Brown was recognized as the first World Heavyweight Champion in 1948. The NWA worked under a revolutionary "territory" system, similar to a franchise of a business. The promotion owned a large sum of promotions in different areas of the world, with the World Championship recognized as the highest championship in the promotion. The champion was permitted to go on tours of member's promotions.
1950s-1970s
On November 26, 1956, Vince McMahon, Sr. promoted his first card. A poor crowd of 10,400 came to see the event. The American Wrestling Association formed in 1960 with Verne Gagne being the promoter and the promotion's biggest stars. Throughout the decade the AWA became one of the most respected and popular promotions in North America. In 1962, the first use of a ladder in the sport was used when Ray Stevens performed a "Bombs Away" drop from a ladder onto Pepper Gomez' throat, injuring him.
1963 started to show some significant changes and moves in the sport. On January 24, Lou Thesz defeated NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Buddy Rogers, in one fall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the title. Shortly after, promoters from the Northeast broke away from the NWA to form the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). WWWF Promoters continued to recognize Rogers as World Champion. This became the forerunner for today's WWE. On May 19, The Destroyer defeated Rikidozan in Osaka, Japan in one of the most famous matches in Japanese wrestling history and became an instant legend in Japan. It's the last singles match Rikidozan would lose. On October 15, Bobo Brazil vs. Tino Tim Anderson marks the first professional wrestling match involving black wrestlers in Tampa.
Between 1963 and 1971, Bruno Sammartino set the record for the longest World Championship reign in professional wrestling history, holding the WWWF Heavyweight Championship for 2,803 days. This record has never been broken. Between 1968 and 1975, Verne Gagne held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship for 2,625 days but this was the closest anyone has ever got to breaking the record.
In 1967, Bearcat Wright eliminated Ray Stevens to win the first famous battle royal at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) were formed in 1972. The Destroyer became the first American wrestler to wrestle in Japan with a five year stint between 1972 and 1977.
On October 4, 1975, Ric Flair suffered a broken back when a Cesna 310 he was riding in crashes in Wilmington, North Carolina. Also on the plane were Johnny Valentine and Bob Bruggers. Doctors said Flair will never wrestle again. The next year Danny Hodge (a legend to the NWA junior heavyweight division) suffers a broken neck in a car accident near Monroe, Louisiana and never wrestled again.
On October 6, 1978, Harley Race manages to body slam André the Giant. André was presumed to weight somewhere between 450 and 600 pounds at the time of the slam. The next year, Bruiser Brody began to become one of the most popular wrestlers in the world after a successful tour of Japan with AJPW. The World Wide Wrestling Federation dropped a "W" and became the World Wrestling Federation. Four years after being told he would never wrestle again; Ric Flair uses the figure four leglock to defeat former World Champion Buddy Rogers to claim the title of being the "Nature Boy."
1980s
In 1981, AWA legend and promoter Verne Gagne successfully retired from wrestling by defending his World Championship against Nick Bockwinkel. He forfeited the title shortly thereafter and focused on the office duties of the promotion full-time.
In 1982, TBS changed their wrestling TV show from Georgia Championship Wrestling to World Championship Wrestling, a name synonymous with 1990s professional wrestling. In June of the same year Vince McMahon, Jr. and Titan Sports purchased Capitol Wrestling Corporation (WWF) from his father and its shareholders. In one of the most memorable and dramatic moments in Madison Square Garden, Jimmy Snuka performed his "Superfly" leap from the top of the steel cage onto Bob Backlund in a WWF World Title match. Snuka missed and Backlund left the cage and retained the title.
On November 24, 1983 the first ever StarrCade event was held in Greensboro, North Carolina and shown on closed-circuit television throughout the Mid-Atlantic. The event would become the most significant event in the National Wrestling Alliance and the first annual professional wrestling extravaganza.
By the end of January 1984, "Hulkamania" was created as a term to describe Hulk Hogan's legions of fans and was dominating professional wrestling. Vince McMahon's idea of an all-American babyface had worked a treat. Hogan's run as World Champion lasted four years (the longest in more than twenty years) and sold out arenas all across the United States, making the WWF millions of dollars and making the number one entity in all of professional wrestling.
It was around this time that McMahon began to reveal the unspoken secrets of professional wrestling; the sport was scripted. McMahon also dubbed his product "sports entertainment" so that the uses of extravagant characters such as Hogan were acceptable.
Meanwhile, the National Wrestling Alliance's renowned and successful territory system was slowly dying. While the WWF had their major stars at almost all of the shows they performed the NWA could only manage to have one or two of its stars at one show at a time as to promote the product in every territory. Stampede Wrestling, who had a success story for five decades, was bought out by Vince McMahon and took all the talent from the promotion (including talents like Bret Hart, The British Bulldogs and Junkyard Dog) and continued to make the WWF the only viewing choice in professional wrestling.
1990s-2000s
At this point many of the of the renowned American promotions faded into the background with three promotions taking center stage for well over a decade.
WWE, WCW and ECW
After WCW and ECW both financially and storyline-wise became inactive, the WWF became the sole dominant figure in the global professional wrestling market. However, the lack of rivals forced the popularity in general for American professional wrestling to take a decline because the product became stale and repetitive to casual fans who lost interest. The change in attitude caused the WWF to reshape the face of American wrestling, splitting itself into brands; based on its major shows, and renaming themselves "World Wrestling Entertainment" following a lawsuit with the World Wildlife Fund over the Acronym WWF.
TNA, ROH and the independent circuit
After the closure of World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling in March and April 2001 respectively, there was still a demand for Southern-style and cruiserweight wrestling that Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment was not fulfilling.
New found promotions known as Total Nonstop Action (TNA) and Ring of Honor (ROH) attempted to cater to this niche market by offering an alternative to the (then) WWF and by recruiting many former WCW and ECW performers who had not signed with WWE while also attempting to create new stars of the future. ROH held their first show on February 23, 2002 while TNA held their first show, a pay-per-view, on June 19. Other promotions such as World Wrestling All-Stars had attempted to fill this void but TNA and ROH have been by far the most successful and longest running.
While ROH created their own titles, TNA was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance, giving them access to the titles owned by the NWA. TNA signed a deal to exclusively defend the World Heavyweight and Tag Team Championships, bringing the NWA back into mainstream wrestling after a decade of absence. The NWA stripped Dan Severn of the heavyweight championship in order for it to be defended on TNA's first show, which was won by Ken Shamrock in a battle royal.
TNA ran weekly pay-per-views at a cheaper price to WWE. ROH on the other hand ran non-televised shows monthly. TNA moved away from the weekly pay-per-views in October 2004, presenting their first ever monthly pay-per-view, Victory Road, while ROH began to run more shows per month, establishing themselves in northeastern USA and became the most popular independent promotion in North America.
This also caused more independent promotions to gain more exposure such as Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Border City Wrestling and Jersey All Pro Wrestling. Some believe that the independent circuit has replaced the old NWA territory system where more established names travel between different promotions while the smaller names establish themselves in one territory at a time.
After WCW and ECW both financially and storyline-wise became inactive, the WWF became the sole dominant figure in the global professional wrestling market. However, the lack of rivals forced the popularity in general for American professional wrestling to take a decline because the product became stale and repetitive to casual fans who lost interest. The change in attitude caused the WWF to reshape the face of American wrestling, splitting itself into brands; based on its major shows, and renaming themselves "World Wrestling Entertainment" following a lawsuit with the World Wildlife Fund over the Acronym WWF.
TNA, ROH and the independent circuit
After the closure of World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling in March and April 2001 respectively, there was still a demand for Southern-style and cruiserweight wrestling that Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment was not fulfilling.
New found promotions known as Total Nonstop Action (TNA) and Ring of Honor (ROH) attempted to cater to this niche market by offering an alternative to the (then) WWF and by recruiting many former WCW and ECW performers who had not signed with WWE while also attempting to create new stars of the future. ROH held their first show on February 23, 2002 while TNA held their first show, a pay-per-view, on June 19. Other promotions such as World Wrestling All-Stars had attempted to fill this void but TNA and ROH have been by far the most successful and longest running.
While ROH created their own titles, TNA was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance, giving them access to the titles owned by the NWA. TNA signed a deal to exclusively defend the World Heavyweight and Tag Team Championships, bringing the NWA back into mainstream wrestling after a decade of absence. The NWA stripped Dan Severn of the heavyweight championship in order for it to be defended on TNA's first show, which was won by Ken Shamrock in a battle royal.
TNA ran weekly pay-per-views at a cheaper price to WWE. ROH on the other hand ran non-televised shows monthly. TNA moved away from the weekly pay-per-views in October 2004, presenting their first ever monthly pay-per-view, Victory Road, while ROH began to run more shows per month, establishing themselves in northeastern USA and became the most popular independent promotion in North America.
This also caused more independent promotions to gain more exposure such as Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Border City Wrestling and Jersey All Pro Wrestling. Some believe that the independent circuit has replaced the old NWA territory system where more established names travel between different promotions while the smaller names establish themselves in one territory at a time.
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