98 Fun Facts About Pro Wrestling

What does the abbreviation WWE stand for?

WWE stands for World Wrestling Entertainment. The company was previously known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) before a legal dispute with the World Wildlife Fund forced the name change in 2002.

Under what ring name did Dwayne Johnson debut in the WWF in 1996?

Rocky Maivia blended his father Rocky Johnson's and grandfather Peter Maivia's names; he debuted at Survivor Series in November 1996 and became The Rock after turning heel in 1997.

What is John Cena's signature catchphrase?

You Can't See Me! is John Cena's taunt, delivered with a hand waved in front of his face; he even named his 2005 rap album after it, and the record reached No. 15 on the Billboard 200.

Which arena hosted the first WrestleMania in 1985?

Madison Square Garden hosted the first WrestleMania on March 31, 1985, with Muhammad Ali as a guest referee and Liberace as the guest timekeeper for the main event.

Which title, created in 1963, is the oldest still defended on Raw or SmackDown?

WWE Championship history began with a walkout: its promoters refused to accept Buddy Rogers losing the NWA world title to Lou Thesz in 1963, left the National Wrestling Alliance and named Rogers their own first champion.

What is the real name of the wrestler who joined the WWF in 1990 and became famous as The Undertaker?

Mark Calaway debuted in November 1990 as the mystery final member of Ted DiBiase's 'Million Dollar Team', and went on to play the Deadman character for three decades.

Which wrestler, 'The Immortal', helped bring wrestling into mainstream pop culture in the 1980s?

Hulk Hogan beat the Iron Sheik for the WWF title in 1984, setting off 'Hulkamania', and three years later body-slammed Andre the Giant in the main event of WrestleMania III.

Which wrestling event features 30 competitors eliminating each other over the top rope?

Royal Rumble entrants arrive at timed intervals, and since 1993 the winner has earned a world title match at WrestleMania; Pat Patterson devised the match, which had only 20 entrants when first televised in 1988.

How many consecutive WrestleMania wins did The Undertaker's 'Streak' reach before it ended in 2014?

21 straight wins made up The Streak, which began against Jimmy Snuka at WrestleMania VII in 1991; in 2010 it cost Shawn Michaels his career, as he had agreed to retire if he lost.

Ric Flair is associated with which signature exclamation?

'Wooooo!' is Ric Flair's trademark yell; he has credited Jerry Lee Lewis's 'Great Balls of Fire' as its inspiration, and crowds echo it whenever a chop lands.

Which wrestler's finishing move is called the "RKO"?

Randy Orton named the RKO after his own initials, Randal Keith Orton; it is a jumping version of the cutter, the move Diamond Dallas Page made famous as the Diamond Cutter.

Which company, run by Tony Khan, launched in 2019 as a major alternative to WWE?

All Elite Wrestling grew out of the 2018 independent show All In and launched in 2019 under owner Tony Khan, with Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks as executive vice presidents.

Which Philadelphia promotion, run by Paul Heyman, closed in 2001 after pioneering hardcore wrestling?

ECW began as Eastern Championship Wrestling; in 1994 its star Shane Douglas won the NWA world title, threw the belt down and declared the NWA dead, and the promotion renamed itself Extreme.

"Macho Man" Randy Savage was famous for which exclamation?

Oh Yeah! was Randy Savage's raspy sign-off, and it sold snacks too: as Slim Jim's spokesman in the 1990s he growled 'Snap into a Slim Jim, oooooh yeah!' in its commercials.

Stone Cold Steve Austin famously stunned which WWE owner on live television multiple times?

Vince McMahon took his first Stone Cold Stunner in late 1997 in front of a New York crowd, and the rebel-versus-boss feud that followed put the WWF back in the pop-culture spotlight.

Which WCW faction did Scott Hall and Kevin Nash launch, gaining a shock third member at Bash at the Beach 1996?

The New World Order (nWo) formed when Hulk Hogan turned heel to join Scott Hall and Kevin Nash at Bash at the Beach 1996; the takeover angle kept Nitro ahead of Raw in the ratings for well over a year.

Which annual WWE event, first held in 1987, was built around elimination matches between teams of four or five?

Survivor Series debuted on Thanksgiving night 1987, head-to-head with a rival pay-per-view; the WWF warned cable providers that carried the rival they would lose WrestleMania IV, and few did.

What was the name of the WWE stable featuring Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose?

The Shield arrived in November 2012 in black protective vests, entering through the crowd; the trio broke up in June 2014 when Seth Rollins attacked his two partners with a steel chair.

What was the 1995–2001 weekly ratings battle between WWF's Raw and WCW's Nitro called?

Raw was even renamed Raw Is War during the Monday Night Wars, which ran from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001, with the two shows broadcast opposite each other.

Edge & Christian beat the Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz at SummerSlam 2000 in the first-ever match of which type?

TLC stands for tables, ladders and chairs; that SummerSlam 2000 bout was the first, and the stipulation later got its own annual pay-per-view.

Who broke The Undertaker's WrestleMania undefeated streak at WrestleMania XXX?

Brock Lesnar pinned The Undertaker after a third F-5; The Undertaker had suffered a concussion early in the match and was taken to hospital that night.

Which double underhook facebuster became the signature finisher of the wrestler first billed in the WWF as Hunter Hearst Helmsley?

The Pedigree is older than the name Triple H: he first used it in WCW in the mid-1990s as the French-accented Jean-Paul Levesque, and his ally Chyna later adopted it as her own finisher.

Which WWE commentator was famous for crying 'Good God almighty!'?

Jim Ross, Raw's Oklahoma-raised play-by-play voice, shouted it when Mankind was thrown off the top of the Hell in a Cell in 1998, adding that 'he is broken in half!'

Which wrestler "finished the story" by winning the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 40?

Cody Rhodes's 'story' was to win WWE's top prize, the world title his father Dusty Rhodes never held; he lost his first attempt at WrestleMania 39 before winning the rematch a year later.

What was the name of the tag team formed by The Undertaker and Kane?

The Brothers of Destruction were enemies first: Kane debuted in 1997 as the masked half-brother The Undertaker believed had died in a fire, and the two feuded before joining forces.

Which tag team, known for their high-flying style, performed the "Swanton Bomb" and "Twist of Fate"?

The Hardy Boyz, brothers Matt and Jeff from North Carolina, began in their own Trampoline Wrestling Federation, copying moves they saw on television; Jeff's Swanton Bomb and Matt's Twist of Fate became their finishers.

Which faction, formed in 1997 with Chyna and Rick Rude, began as a foil to the Hart Foundation?

D-Generation X once took its feud to a rival's door: in April 1998 the group drove a military vehicle to a WCW Nitro taping in Norfolk, Virginia, and shouted insults through a bullhorn.

Who won WrestleMania's first women's main event in 2019, taking both the Raw and SmackDown Women's titles?

Becky Lynch pinned Ronda Rousey to win the three-way match with Charlotte Flair that closed WrestleMania 35, handing the former UFC star her first pinfall loss in WWE.

Which 'Tribal Chief' held WWE's Universal Championship for 1,316 days, from 2020 to 2024?

Roman Reigns returned at SummerSlam 2020 as a villain, took Paul Heyman as his adviser and won the title a week later at Payback; no WWE world title run had lasted as long since 1988.

Which WWE match uses a steel structure with pods that release wrestlers at timed intervals?

The Elimination Chamber debuted in 2002 with four wrestlers sealed in pods and two starting in the ring; since 2010 the match has headlined an annual WWE event named after it.

Which of Mick Foley's three WWF personas was a tie-dyed, jive-talking hippie?

Dude Love began as a character in The Loved One, a short film Mick Foley made in 1985, years before he reached the WWF; the hippie joined Mankind and Cactus Jack as the 'Three Faces of Foley'.

WWE composer Jim Johnston opened which wrestler's entrance theme with the sound of shattering glass?

Steve Austin's 'Stone Cold' theme opens with breaking glass because Jim Johnston, WWE's composer for three decades, wanted the crash of a car wreck to match the character's unpredictability.

Who did Mankind defeat to win his first WWF Championship on the January 4, 1999 episode of Raw?

Mankind pinned The Rock after Stone Cold Steve Austin ran in; the taped January 4, 1999 Raw won the night after WCW spoiled the result live on Nitro.

Which wrestler was known as "The Cerebral Assassin" and married into the McMahon family?

Triple H's marriage began as a plot twist: a storyline drive-through wedding to Stephanie McMahon in Las Vegas, years before the two married for real in October 2003.

Which pay-per-view featured the infamous Hell in a Cell match where Mankind was thrown off the cage?

At King of the Ring on June 28, 1998, The Undertaker threw Mankind off the 16-foot cell through the Spanish announce table, then chokeslammed him through the roof.

Which cult-like stable from the bayous of the Deep South debuted on WWE's main roster in July 2013?

The Wyatt Family, Bray Wyatt's swamp cult with Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, even recruited its target Daniel Bryan at the end of 2013, only for him to turn on the group two weeks later.

Which legendary manager was known as "The Brain" and managed wrestlers like Andre the Giant?

Bobby Heenan had long been an enemy of Andre the Giant before becoming his manager in 1987 and leading him into the WrestleMania III main event; he later sparred on commentary with Gorilla Monsoon.

In the infamous 1997 Montreal Screwjob, which wrestler was the victim of the controversial finish?

Bret Hart never submitted: the referee was ordered to ring the bell while Shawn Michaels held him in Hart's own Sharpshooter hold, and Hart left for WCW the following month.

Who won the inaugural women's edition of WWE's 30-entrant January over-the-top-rope match in 2018?

Asuka last eliminated Nikki Bella in the main event and earned her choice of title match at WrestleMania 34.

Which WCW announcer infamously revealed Mick Foley's WWF title win on Nitro, driving viewers to Raw?

Tony Schiavone, ordered to spoil the taped result, sneered 'That's gonna put some butts in the seats'; hundreds of thousands of viewers promptly switched from Nitro to watch Foley win.

Which WCW executive devised the 1996 'hostile takeover' storyline in which outsiders invaded Nitro?

Eric Bischoff wanted WCW to look sabotaged by an outside group, hinted at first to be the WWF, since the invaders had just arrived from there.

What is the name of Kenny Omega's finishing move, an electric chair driver?

Kenny Omega's One-Winged Angel, a one-armed electric chair driver, takes its name from Sephiroth's theme in Final Fantasy VII; he used it as his finisher in DDT, NJPW and AEW.

Which wrestler's 2,803-day WWF Championship reign is the title's longest ever?

Bruno Sammartino won the title by beating Buddy Rogers in just 48 seconds, and nobody took it from him for more than seven and a half years, until Ivan Koloff finally pinned him.

At which 1997 WCW pay-per-view did Sting finally face Hollywood Hogan for the World Championship?

Starrcade 1997 became WCW's highest-grossing pay-per-view, but its ending misfired: the referee was meant to cheat Sting with a fast count, counted normally, and the match was restarted anyway.

What was the name of the finishing move used by Kazuchika Okada in NJPW, a short-arm lariat?

The Rainmaker is also Okada's persona: he returned to NJPW in January 2012 restyled as the villainous 'Rainmaker' and, a month later, beat Hiroshi Tanahashi for the company's top title.

Which wrestler alone has won the WCW World Heavyweight, WWF/WWE, World Heavyweight and WWE-era ECW titles?

Big Show won the WCW title in his first WCW match in 1995, as The Giant; his 2011 World Heavyweight Championship reign was over within two minutes, when Daniel Bryan cashed in Money in the Bank.

Who beat Hangman Adam Page at All Out to become the first AEW World Champion?

Chris Jericho held the new belt only briefly: within days it was stolen from his limousine while he ate at a steakhouse in Tallahassee, and police recovered it later that week.

Which joshi promotion, founded in 1968, trained Aja Kong and made her a star?

All Japan Women's (AJW) trained Aja Kong in its class of 1986; she won titles there as a villain, then left in 1997 to found her own promotion, Arsion.

Which 1987 fantasy film cast the wrestler André the Giant as Fezzik, a gentle strongman?

The Princess Bride gave him the part he called his own favorite. Outside the ring it is the role he is best known for.

Which animal is on the logo of the charity whose trademark dispute forced the WWF to become WWE?

Giant panda Chi Chi, a star of London Zoo, inspired the World Wildlife Fund's logo. The wrestling company lost the right to the shared initials and renamed itself in 2002.

Which WWF wrestler turned color commentator won the Minnesota governor's race as a Reform Party candidate?

Jesse Ventura served a single term from 1999 to 2003, after four years as mayor of Brooklyn Park. He is the Reform Party's only winner of a major government office.

Which comedian crowned himself Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion and feuded with Memphis star Jerry Lawler?

Andy Kaufman took the feud to David Letterman's talk show, where Lawler slapped him out of his chair. The furious tirade that followed was Kaufman's own idea.

Which future WWE champion won freestyle wrestling gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics despite a broken neck?

Kurt Angle had never been a fan of pro wrestling and disliked its scripted nature. He took to it so quickly that he had a debut match after only a few days of training.

Which pop star managed Wendi Richter to the WWF Women's title at a 1984 show aired live on MTV?

Cyndi Lauper had cast wrestling manager Lou Albano as her father in a music video, then feuded with him on WWF television. The MTV special was called The Brawl to End It All.

Which six-time WWE world champion plays Drax the Destroyer in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy films?

Batista, who acts under his real surname, Bautista, was told by a WCW trainer that he would never make it in the wrestling business. He played the Marvel role from 2014 to 2023.

Which platinum-blond star of early TV wrestling did Muhammad Ali and James Brown credit as an influence?

Gorgeous George, the 'Human Orchid', held his dyed hair with gold-plated 'Georgie Pins' and handed them out to the crowd. Both men said their flamboyant self-promotion came from him.

Which insider term, once a code word among wrestlers, means presenting staged rivalries as real?

Kayfabe let people in the business talk in public without giving the game away. A wrestler who breaks it is like an actor breaking character.

Which Mexican wrestling folk hero starred in at least 53 films and was buried in his silver mask?

El Santo wrestled for nearly five decades and became a symbol of justice in comic books as well as on screen. His funeral was one of the biggest Mexico had seen.

Which founder of New Japan Pro-Wrestling fought boxer Muhammad Ali in 1976, a bout seen as a forerunner of MMA?

Antonio Inoki later won a seat in Japan's upper house as an active wrestler. In his first term he negotiated with Saddam Hussein for the release of Japanese hostages in Iraq.

Which former Atlanta Falcons player did WCW bill with a 173–0 undefeated streak in the late 1990s?

Goldberg actually won far fewer matches than the 173 that WCW advertised. The run made him the company's highest-paid wrestler and its public face.

Which wrestler nicknamed the Heartbreak Kid took part in WWE's first ladder match and first Hell in a Cell?

Shawn Michaels grew up in Texas and first made his name in a tag team, The Midnight Rockers, which he formed with Marty Jannetty in the mid-1980s.

Which wrestler, famed for his DDT finisher, draped a python named Damien over beaten opponents?

Jake Roberts was already nicknamed 'The Snake' before he reached the WWF, contrary to popular belief. WWE later named his finisher the coolest maneuver of all time.

Which kilt-wearing WWF villain played the lead, John Nada, in the 1988 cult film They Live?

Roddy Piper was billed from Glasgow, Scotland, and entered to bagpipe music, though he was born in Saskatoon, Canada. He also hosted the interview segment Piper's Pit.

Which cable television mogul bought Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988 and rebranded it as WCW?

Ted Turner had aired wrestling on his Atlanta station, later TBS, since the early 1970s. He credited it with helping the channel win a national audience when cable arrived.

Which WWE ladder match, first held at WrestleMania 21, has a briefcase holding a title-shot contract as its prize?

Money in the Bank winners may cash in the contract at any point in the following year. Edge won the first match in 2005, and women got a match of their own in 2017.

Which mixed martial arts promotion merged with WWE in 2023 to form TKO Group Holdings?

The UFC and its parent Zuffa joined the wrestling company in a new public business, set up on September 12, 2023. Ari Emanuel, head of UFC owner Endeavor, became its chief executive.

Which streaming platform became the home of WWE Raw in January 2025 after decades on cable television?

Netflix took over from the USA Network, where the show had first aired in January 1993. The platform was scheduled to carry it for at least 10 years.

What name is given to the WWF's adult-oriented boom period that officially ran from 1997 to 2002?

The Attitude Era dropped the old good-guys-versus-bad-guys formula for unpredictable, shocking storylines. Television ratings and pay-per-view sales reached record highs.

In pro wrestling slang, what is a villain booked to draw boos as a foil for the crowd's favorite called?

A heel is there to stir up the crowd's loud hatred, often by cheating or using foreign objects. If fans start cheering him anyway, a promoter may flip the role.

Which style of pro wrestling is known for colorful masks and bouts where the loser must unmask for good?

Lucha libre performers also rely on rapid, high-flying attacks launched off the ropes. Wrestlers in the United States and Japan have since adopted some of those techniques.

Which former sumo wrestler, born in Korea, became a 1950s television hero as the father of Japanese pro wrestling?

Rikidōzan made his signature 'karate chop' out of a sumo slap, not karate. His 1954 tag matches against a Canadian duo came just as television viewership in Japan was growing.

Which stadium has hosted New Japan Pro-Wrestling's premier January 4 show, Wrestle Kingdom, since 2007?

Tokyo Dome shows on that date are to Japanese wrestling what WrestleMania is to WWE. The event grew to two nights in 2020.

Which WWE belt was launched in 1979 with an entirely fictional tournament in Rio de Janeiro?

Intercontinental title holder number one was Pat Patterson, said to have unified North and South American crowns in Brazil. The South American one never existed.

Which body, founded in 1948, governed wrestling's regional territories and recognized one touring world champion?

The NWA, or National Wrestling Alliance, let its members swap talent and protect each other's turf. Before the 1960s it was the only governing body for pro wrestling in the United States.

Which 1985 stable united Ric Flair with Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson and Tully Blanchard under manager J.J. Dillon?

The Four Horsemen got their name when Arn Anderson compared the group's havoc to the riders of the Apocalypse. He and Flair belonged to every version of it.

Which Texas wrestling dynasty is portrayed in the 2023 film The Iron Claw, starring Zac Efron?

The Von Erichs were really the Adkissons. Patriarch Fritz built the ring name from his mother's maiden name, Erich, and added the 'von' himself.

Which face-painted tag team in spiked armor borrowed its look from a Mad Max film?

The Road Warriors were among the first wrestlers to bring a movie theme into the ring. In the WWF the same pair worked under another name, the Legion of Doom.

Which kneeling finisher of The Undertaker is a piledriver that WWE otherwise bans its wrestlers from using?

The Tombstone stayed his finishing move until he retired in 2020. WWE made exceptions to the ban for him and Kane because both had long experience with it.

Which high-flyer, trained by an uncle who shared his ring name, lost his mask in WCW and regained it in WWE?

Rey Mysterio began wrestling at the age of 14. He worked bare-faced from his WCW unmasking until he joined WWE in 2002, where he covered up again.

Which Chicago-born wrestler based his outspoken straight edge persona on real life and held the WWE title for 434 days?

CM Punk learned the trade at the Steel Dominion wrestling school in his home city, under Ace Steel and two other trainers.

Which Toronto fitness model, who first studied to become a doctor, retired after a record seventh WWE Women's title?

Trish Stratus bowed out at Unforgiven in September 2006 on the night of that last title win, after nearly seven years with the company.

Which wrestler did the WWF promote as its women's champion of 28 years before her 1984 defeat?

Fabulous Moolah first won a women's world title back in 1956. She is counted as an eight-time women's world champion.

Which New Japan stable of foreign villains did Prince Devitt form in 2013 with Karl Anderson and two Tongan wrestlers?

Bullet Club began when Devitt, an Irish fan favorite, betrayed his Japanese tag partner. Within a year he had left the company and AJ Styles took his place in the group.

Which leg submission hold is the signature finisher of 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair?

The figure-four has been turned on its master too. Eddie Guerrero once interrupted one of his speeches and trapped him in his own signature hold.

Which two-time WWE Champion first gained fame on the reality show The Real World: Back to New York?

The Miz finished runner-up on the wrestling contest Tough Enough in 2004 but was offered a WWE developmental contract anyway. He later hosted spin-off seasons of The Challenge.

Which villain, who idolized Olympic champion Gholamreza Takhti as a boy in Iran, won the WWF title in 1983?

The Iron Sheik had made a name for himself as an amateur wrestler before he turned professional. He was the first Iranian to hold a WWE world title.

Which journalist founded the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in the early 1980s and popularized star ratings for matches?

Dave Meltzer did not invent the star scale: Jim Cornette and a childhood friend devised it. The newsletter grew out of a yearly poll he began running among fellow fans in 1980.

Which promotion, founded in 2002 by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett, drew attention for its six-sided ring?

Total Nonstop Action launched its weekly show Impact! in 2004, stressing fast, acrobatic wrestling and a sports-like presentation. For years it was America's second-largest promotion, behind WWE.

Which six-time world champion is credited with inventing the powerbomb, the STF and a press that bears his name?

Lou Thesz first became a world heavyweight champion at 21, after a grueling three-hour match. He came out of semi-retirement to win his sixth world title at the age of 46.

Which Estonian-born strongman, nicknamed the Russian Lion, is believed to have created wrestling's bear hug?

George Hackenschmidt is also credited with creating the bench press and popularising the hack squat. He earned the nickname in the press after an 1899 tournament in Paris.

Which Belgian competitor at the 1948 Olympics became revered in Japan as a 'God of Wrestling'?

Karl Gotch is the reason the belly-to-back waistlock suplex is known as the German suplex. He wrestled both freestyle and Greco-Roman at those London Games.

Which two-time NCAA champion owned and promoted the Minneapolis-based American Wrestling Association?

Verne Gagne narrowly missed a US Olympic freestyle place in 1948, losing a close wrestle-off to the eventual gold medalist. He turned professional the next year.

Which second man to wrestle as Tiger Mask led a mass walkout of talent in 2000 to found Pro Wrestling Noah?

Mitsuharu Misawa was the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Wrestler of the Year three times in the 1990s. He had kept the masked character going until May 1990, when he had his partner unmask him mid-match.

Which Memphis headliner refused to wrestle until Black fans could sit in any seat at Ellis Auditorium?

Sputnik Monroe was the territory's biggest draw, so the promoter was obliged to desegregate his shows. They then sold out, filled by his Black fans.

Which Canadian promotion, founded in 1948, trained future WWF stars at its school known as The Dungeon?

Stampede Wrestling also produced one of the earliest televised wrestling programs, a Calgary favorite that went on to air in over 50 countries.

Which Michigan venue hosted WrestleMania III in 1987, where the WWF claimed a paid crowd of 93,173?

Pontiac Silverdome's real crowd that day has since been put at around 78,000. The claimed number stayed the company's official record until WrestleMania 32 in 2016.

Which hold did Sgt. Slaughter clamp on seated wrestlers, offering $5,000 to anyone who could break it?

The cobra clutch challenges lifted him to number one contender. He had come up with his drill sergeant character himself, during time off from the ring.

Which wrestler nicknamed 'the Dragon' got his ring name from his resemblance to a Hawaiian wrestler?

Ricky Steamboat first wrestled under his real surname as Rick Blood. A promoter renamed him because he looked like Sammy Steamboat, a star from Hawaii.