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World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
Type	Public (NYSE: WWE)
Founded	1952
Headquarters	Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.
Key people	Vince McMahon, Chairman Linda McMahon, CEO Shane McMahon, Executive Vice President of Global Media Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, Executive Vice President of Creative Writing
Industry	Professional wrestling, sports entertainment
Revenue	$400.3 million USD (2006)
Operating income	$71.5 million USD (2006)
Net income	$47.0 million USD (2006)
Employees	460 (April 2006, excluding wrestlers)
Website	WWE.com Corporate WWE Web Site

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) is a publicly traded, privately controlled integrated media (focusing in television, Internet, and live events), and sports entertainment company dealing primarily in the professional wrestling industry, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales. Vince McMahon is the majority owner and Chairman of the company and his wife Linda McMahon holds the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Together with their children, Executive Vice President of Global Media 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 all voting power in the company.

The company's global headquarters are located at 1241 East Main Street in Stamford, Connecticut. It has offices in Los Angeles and in New York City; its international offices are located in both London and Toronto. The company was previously known as Titan Sports before changing to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc., and most recently becoming World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.

WWE's business focus is on professional wrestling, a simulated sport and performing art which combines wrestling with theater. It is currently the largest professional wrestling promotion in the world, and holds an extensive library of videos representing a significant portion of the visual history of professional wrestling. The promotion previously existed as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, which promoted under the banner of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), and later the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). WWE promotes under three brands; RAW, SmackDown! and ECW. WWE is also home to two of the three current world heavyweight championships recognized by Pro Wrestling Illustrated.

WWE's revenue in fiscal 2006 (from May 2005 to April 2006) was approximately US$400 million, with a net profit of approximately $47 million. As of August 2006, the company's market capitalization is over $1 billion. Its stock is traded on the NYSE as WWE.

Company history

Capitol Wrestling

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 Madison Square Garden between 1939 and 1948), he started promoting boxing in Madison Square Garden in New York. The first match during their partnership was a light-heavyweight championship match between Jack Delaney and Paul Berlenbach.

Around the same time, professional wrestler Joseph Raymond "Toots" Mondt created a new style of professional wrestling that he called Slam Bang Western Style Wrestling to make the sport more appealing to spectators. He then formed a promotion with wrestling champion 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 (CWC). The CWC joined the National Wrestling Alliance in 1953. Also in that year, Ray Fabiani, one of Mondt's associates, brought in Vincent J. McMahon to replace his 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 by the promotion, AWA legend & WWE Hall of Famer Nick Bockwinkel referred to the CWC as the "Northeast Triangle" in The Spectacular Legacy of the AWA DVD to signify a triangle-like shape covering the CWC's territory; Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., and Maine being the "points" of the triangle.

World Wide Wrestling Federation

The NWA recognized an undisputed NWA World Heavyweight Champion that went from wrestling company to wrestling company 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

In 1980, the son of Vincent J. McMahon, Vincent Kennedy McMahon, founded Titan Sports, Inc. and in 1982 purchased Capitol Wrestling Corporation 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 sport.

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). But in neither instance did the defecting member attempt 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 rounded out the roster. Hogan was clearly McMahon's biggest star, but there was debate as to whether the WWF could've achieved national success without him.

According to several reports, the elder McMahon warned his son: "Vinny, what are you doing? You'll wind up at the bottom of a river." In spite of such warnings, the younger McMahon had an even bolder ambition: the WWF would tour nationally. However, such a venture required huge capital investment; one 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 super card was nothing new in North America; the NWA had been running Starrcade a few years prior to WrestleMania, and even the elder McMahon had marketed large Shea Stadium cards viewable in closed-circuit locations. However, McMahon wanted to take the WWF to the mainstream, targeting the public who were not regular wrestling fans. He drew the interest of the mainstream media by inviting celebrities such as Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper to participate in the event. MTV, in particular, featured a great deal of WWF coverage and programming at this time, in what was termed the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection.

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. However, by the 1990s the WWF's fortunes steadily declined as fans were tired of Hulk Hogan's ability to beat anyone and everyone whenever he wanted.

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 1993 and 1996. 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.

Attitude Era

Steve Austin became the new face of the company, starting with his Austin 3:16 speech, shortly after defeating Jake Roberts in the tournament finals at the 1996 King of the Ring pay-per-view. The WWF began broadcasting more violence, swearing, and more edgy angles in its attempt to compete with World Championship Wrestling. After Bret Hart left for WCW following the Montreal Screwjob incident, 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 the formation of D-Generation X, laid the foundation for the Attitude Era. The Attitude Era 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.

Business advances

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.

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

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 surprisingly 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

WCW was in dire straits with the WWF consistently beating them in the ratings war. It only survived because Ted Turner retained control over it as a result of Turner Broadcasting System's merger with Time Warner. However, after Time Warner merged with AOL, Turner's power was considerably reduced, and the newly merged company decided to get rid of WCW entirely. In March 2001, WWF Entertainment, Inc. acquired World Championship Wrestling, Inc. from AOL Time Warner for a number reported to be around $7 million. With this purchase, WWF was now the largest wrestling promotion in the world, and the only one in North America with mainstream exposure. It remained so until the launch of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2002.

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

In 2000, the World Wildlife Fund (also WWF), an environmental organization now called the World Wide Fund for Nature, sued the World Wrestling Federation. A British court agreed that Titan Sports had violated a 1994 agreement which had limited the permissible use of the WWF initials overseas, particularly in merchandising. On Sunday May 5, 2002, the company quietly 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 emanated from the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut. For a short time, WWE used the slogan "Get The 'F' Out". The company had also been ordered by court to stop using the old WWF Attitude logo on any of its properties and to censor all past references to WWF, as they no longer owned the trademark to the initials WWF in 'specified circumstances'. However, despite litigation, WWE is still permitted use of the original WWF logo, which was used from 1984 through 1997, 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 April 2002, about a month before the name change, WWE decided to create two separate rosters, one on RAW, the other on SmackDown! due to the overabundance of talent left over from the Invasion storyline (which involved talent from the absorbed ECW and WCW rosters interacting in WWF storylines). This is known as the WWE Brand Extension. Following the Brand Extension, a yearly Draft Lottery was instituted to exchange members of each roster and generally refresh the lineups.

WWE superstars performing for the Coalition troops at Camp Victory

In late 2005 WWE RAW returned after a brief 5-year stint on TNN (now Spike TV) to its original home USA Network. In the TNN days, WWE got all advertising revenue during commercial breaks into their own pockets, now on USA Network, USA Network gets all advertising revenue. So, WWE had to invest into other lines of products introducing WWE 24/7, an on-demand subscription-only channel which shows classic wrestling matches from WWE's vast video library (more than 80,000 hours) and WWE produced content other than wrestling.

In 2006, due to contracts with NBC Universal, parent company of USA Network, WWE had the chance to revive its classic Saturday night show WWE Saturday Night's Main Event (SNME) on NBC after a 13-year hiatus. WWE had so the chance to promote the company on a national network and not only on cable channels like The CW and USA Network. SNME airs occasionally on NBC as a WWE special series.

On May 26, 2006, WWE revived Extreme Championship Wrestling as its third brand. The new ECW program airs Tuesday nights, on the Sci Fi Channel. 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.

Wellness Program

The WWE Talent Wellness Program is a comprehensive drug, alcohol, and cardiac screening program exclusive to World Wrestling Entertainment, initiated in February 2006, shortly after the sudden death of one of their highest profile talents, 38 year old Eddie Guerrero. The policy tests for recreational drug use and abuse of prescription medication, including anabolic steroids. Under the guidelines of the policy, talent is also tested annually for pre-existing or developing cardiac issues. The drug testing is handled by Aegis Sciences Corporation. The cardiac evaluations are handled by New York Cardiology Associates P.C.

The program has recently been defended heavily by WWE and its employees in the wake of several illegal pharmacy busts that link WWE performers to steroid purchases even after the policy was put into place. WWE openly suspended/released 11 performers immediately following release of their names in conjunction with anabolic steroid purchases. The program has fallen under intense scrutiny from branches of the media and professionals in the field of doping, who claim that not only has WWE overlooked, if not, encouraged steroid use prior to these pharmacy busts, but that the steroid testing itself is blatantly misleading. Under WWE drug testing policy, positive test thresholds for anabolic steroids are more than twice that of all other major sporting outfits including the Olympic committee.

WWE is currently under investigation by the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform regarding their talent wellness policy, after the death of one of their performers, Chris Benoit, possibly being linked to steroid abuse.

In August 2007, WWE made the decision to suspend ten professional wrestlers for violating their Wellness Policy after it 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.

Expansion beyond wrestling

In addition to licensing wrestling and performers' likenesses to video game companies such as Electronic Arts and THQ to capitalize on the market for their entertainment dollar, WWE has moved into other areas of interest in order to market their product.

• WWE Films: A subsidiary of WWE created in 2002 to create and develop feature film properties for the professional wrestlers within the company.
• WWE Niagara Falls: A retail and entertainment establishment that is located in Niagara Falls, Ontario and owned by WWE.
• WWE Records: A subsidiary that specializes in compilation albums of WWE wrestlers' entrance themes. Also releases titles that have been actually performed by the wrestlers themselves.
• WWE Home Video: A subsidiary that specializes in distributing compilation VHS and DVD 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.

Key people

Executive officers

World Wrestling Entertainment headquarters, Stamford, Connecticut

• Vincent K. McMahon (Chairman)
• Linda E. McMahon (CEO)
• Michael Sileck (Chief Operating Officer)
• Shane B. McMahon (Executive Vice President, Global Media)
• Kevin Dunn (Executive Vice President, Television Production)
• Frank G. Serpe (Chief Financial Officer)
• Donna Goldsmith (Executive Vice President, Consumer Products)
• Geof Rochester (Executive Vice President, Marketing)
• Stephanie McMahon-Levesque (Executive Vice President, Talent and Creative Writing)
• Edward L. Kaufman (Executive Vice President and General Counsel)
• John Laurinaitis (Senior Vice President, Talent Relations)
• Michael Lake (President, WWE Films)

Board of directors

• Vincent K. McMahon (Chairman of the Board of Directors - WWE)
• Linda E. McMahon (Chief Executive Officer - WWE)
• Michael Sileck (Chief Operating Officer - WWE)
• Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. (Former Governor of the State of Connecticut and United States Senator)
• David Kenin (Executive Vice President of Programming - Hallmark Channel)
• Joseph Perkins (President - Communications Consultants, Inc.)
• Michael B. Solomon (Managing Principal - Gladwyne Partners, LLC)
• Robert A. Bowman (Chief Executive Officer - Major League Baseball Advanced Media)

Current title holders

Brand	Championship	Current Champion	Date won	Date aired
RAW	WWE Championship	Randy Orton	October 7, 2007	October 7, 2007
	WWE Intercontinental Championship	Jeff Hardy	September 2, 2007	September 3, 2007
	WWE Women's Championship	Beth Phoenix	October 7, 2007	October 7, 2007
	World Tag Team Championship	Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch	September 8, 2007	N/A (House show)
SmackDown!	World Heavyweight Championship	Batista	September 16, 2007	September 16, 2007
	WWE United States Championship	Montel Vontavious Porter	May 20, 2007	May 20, 2007
	WWE Cruiserweight Championship	Vacant	September 25, 2007	September 28, 2007
	WWE Tag Team Championship	John Morrison and The Miz	November 13, 2007	November 16, 2007
ECW	ECW Championship	CM Punk	September 1, 2007	September 4, 2007

Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wrestling_Entertainment

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.

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.

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."

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.

Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling_in_the_United_States