NO MERCY
nemanja6807 | 20 Novembar, 2008 01:56
NO MERCY

No Mercy (2008) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which took place on October 5, 2008 at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. It was the 11th event under the No Mercy name and featured talent from the Raw, ECW, and SmackDown brands.
Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's card, which featured a supercard, a scheduling of numerous main events. The first was a Ladder match, in which World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho defeated Shawn Michaels to retain his title. The other was a singles match for the WWE Championship, where Triple H defeated Jeff Hardy to retain his title. Three featured matches were scheduled on the undercard. In respective singles matches, ECW Champion Matt Hardy defeated Mark Henry to retain his title, BatistaJohn "Bradshaw" Layfield, and Big Show defeated The Undertaker.Seven professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's card. Matches were planned with predetermined outcomes by WWE's creative staff and featured wrestlers playing charactersRaw, SmackDown, or ECW - the three brand divisions to which WWE assigned its employees.The leading staged rivalry scripted into the pay-per-view on the SmackDown brand was between Triple H (Paul Levesque) and Jeff Hardy over the WWE Championship. It was announced on the September 12, 2008 episode of SmackDown that there would be a Fatal-Four Way match, a standard wrestling match involving four competitors. The winner of the match would challenge Triple H for the WWE Championship at No Mercy. The Brian Kendrick, Shelton Benjamin, Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) (Alvin Burke, Jr.), and Jeff Hardy were the four participants in the match, which Hardy won.
The primary match from the Raw brand was a ladder match, where the objective was to retrieve the championship hanging above the ring using a ladder. World Heavyweight ChampionChris Irvine) would defend the title against Shawn Michaels (Michael Hickenbottom) in this match. It was also announced that Batista (David Bautista) would face John "Bradshaw" Layfield in a standard wrestling match, dubbed in professional wrestling as a singles match, to determine the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship.
During the September 17, 2008 episode of ECW, it was announced that Matt Hardy would defend the ECW Championship against Mark Henry.
It was announced on the September 22, 2008 edition of Raw that Kane (Glen Jacobs) would receive a singles match against Rey Mysterio (Oscar Gutiérrez). On the following week on an episode of Raw, an extra stipulation was added, in which if Kane won at No Mercy, Mysterio would be forced to unmask after the match.
It was also announced that Big Show (Paul Wight) and The Undertaker (Mark Calaway) would have a match, following the events that occurred at Unforgiven.The first match was a dark match, The Colóns (Carlito and Primo) vs. John Morrison and The Miz which The ColónsMark Henry vs. Matt Hardy. Matt Hardy was the coming ECW Champion to this match. Mark Henry came out accompanied by Tony Atlas. During the start of the match Henry overpowered Matt Hardy with attacks. One point of the match involved Hardy taking down Henry with a running chop block. Hardy then focused on attacking Henry's knee. Another point was Hardy trying to lock in a Figure Four Leglock only to be pushed face first onto the second turnbuckle. Since then Henry gained control over Hardy again. During the match Henry was able to lock in the Bearhug but Hardy countered into a sunset flip only for Henry to attempt a Banzai Drop but Hardy moving out of the way. Hardy was able to hit the Side Effect and went for the Twist of Fate only to be dropped chest first onto the mat. The end of the match involved Henry going for the World's Strongest Slam only to have Hardy counter it with a Twist of Fate. Eve Torres then interviewed Triple H and Jeff Hardy on their thoughts on their upcoming WWE Championship match.The next match was Beth Phoenix vs. Candice Michelle for the Women's ChampionshipGlamarella. However that distraction allowed Phoenix to take Candice. The end of the match involved Candice go for the Candywrapper only to have Phoenix counter it into a Glam Slam and pin Candice Michelle for the win.Kane then cuts a promo on how he's going to destroy Rey Mysterio's pride and courage.The next match of the night was Rey Mysterio vs. Kane with the stipulation that if Mysterio loses he will have to unmask. The start of the match had Mysterio springboard dropkick Kane out of the ring. Also during the start of the match Mysterio went for a running attack only to be big booted by Kane. Kane tried to rip Mysterio's mask off only for Mysterio to roll out of the ring. During the match Kane kneed Mysterio in the gut and attempted to throw him out of the ring but having Rey shoulder thrust him and hit a springboard dropkick to the spine of Kane. Kane landed on the second rope and Mysterio went for his signature 619 but Kane countered with a clothesline. A spot in the match was Mysterio going for a diving hurracanrana only to be caught by Kane who went for a powerbomb only to be headscissored over the top rope. Also Mysterio locking in a sleeper on Kane on the outside only to be thrown over a barricade. Another spot was Mysterio roundhouse kicking a kneeling Kane and following up with a Droppin' Da Dime. The end of the match was Mysterio looking to dive to the outside onto Kane but Kane hitting him with a chair shot in mid-air causing the disqualification. defeated for the entertainment of the audience. All wrestlers were from either Chris Jericho ( won.The first televised match was for the ECW Championship, which Phoenix came with to the match. The match started out with Candice taking Phoenix down with various type of kicks. Phoenix then gained control of the match by slamming Candice back first onto the corner. Phoenix then focused on Candice's shoulder with a running kick and slamming it onto the turnbuckle. Phoenix continued to focus on Candice's shoulder by locking in an armbar on her. After being in the armbar for a long time Candice was able to counter into a pin only to have Phoenix kick out. Candice then again got the upper hand on The Glamazon, Beth Phoenix with a jawbreaker. Candice was able to hit a high impact spinning wheel kick and again go for the pin but Phoenix kicked out again. Phoenix was able to gain advantage by dropping Candice face first onto the mat only to quickly have Candice knock her down from the top rope. A spot in the match was Santino Marella pulling Phoenix out of the ring while Candice went for the pin only to have Candice baseball slide.
BACKLASH
nemanja6807 | 20 Novembar, 2008 01:51
BACKLASH

Backlash (2008) was the tenth annual Backlash professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It took place on April 27, 2008 at the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, Maryland and featured talent from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands. The event had 200,000 buys, up on the Backlash (2007) figure of 194,000 buys.
The main match on the Raw brand was a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match for the WWE Championship between champion Randy Orton, Triple H, John Cena, and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). Triple H won the match after last eliminating Orton. The predominant match on the SmackDown brand was The Undertaker versus Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Undertaker won after forcing Edge to submit with the Gogoplata. The primary match on the ECW brand was Kane versus Chavo Guerrero for the ECW Championship, which Kane won by pinfall after a chokeslam. The featured matches on the undercard were Batista versus Shawn Michaels and Big Show versus The Great Khali.
The main feud heading into Backlash on the SmackDown brand was between The Undertaker and Edge, over the World Heavyweight Championship. In February, at No Way Out, Undertaker won an Elimination Chamber match to become the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXIV. At WrestleMania, Undertaker defeated Edge to win the World Heavyweight Championship and extend his WrestleMania undefeated streak to 16-0. On the April 4, 2008 edition of SmackDown!, SmackDown! General Manager Vickie Guerrero booked a WrestleMania rematch between Undertaker and Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship at Backlash.
The predominant feud on the Raw brand was between Randy Orton, Triple H, John Cena, and John "Bradshaw" Layfield, over the WWE Championship. On the April 7, 2008 edition of Raw, after General Manager William Regal announced that Randy Orton would be defending the WWE Championship against John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) at Backlash, Triple H said that he deserved another title match. Regal then booked a Handicap match between Triple H and Orton & JBL later that night. The stipulation of the match being if Triple H won, he would become a part of the WWE Championship at Backlash. Triple H won, and made the one-on-one title match between Orton and JBL, a Triple Threat match.
After the match, however, John Cena stated that he also deserved another title match, which led to Regal booking Cena in a Handicap match against Triple H and Layfield. Cena won the match, and the match became a Fatal Four-Way match. On the April 21, 2008 edition of Raw, Raw commentator Jim Ross announced that the match was going to be an elimination match, instead of a standard one-fall match.
Edge, who faced The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship.
The primary feud on the ECW brand was between Chavo Guerrero and Kane, with the two battling over the ECW Championship. Before WrestleMania XXIV aired live on pay-per-view, Kane won a 24-Man Battle Royal to earn an ECW Championship match against Chavo Guerrero later that night. Kane would go on to defeat Guerrero and become the new ECW Champion. On the April 4, 2008 edition of SmackDown!, SmackDown! General Manager Vickie Guerrero booked Kane to defend the ECW Championship against Chavo Guerrero at Backlash. The feud intensified on the April 8, 2008 edition of ECW, where during a contract signing for Backlash, Guerrero, with assistance from Bam Neeley, Curt Hawkins, and Zack Ryder, delivered a Frog splash on Kane through a table. Two weeks later on April 22, 2008, the feud again intensified during an edition of the Cutting Edge, in which Edge, Hawkins, Ryder, and Neeley ganged up against Kane. The gang-up allowed Guerrero to attack Kane with a steel chair.
Another feud leading up to Backlash was between Shawn Michaels and Batista. Upset over the retirement of Ric Flair at the hands of Michaels at WrestleMania XXIV, Batista interrupted Michaels' address on the April 4, 2008 edition of SmackDown! and called him a "selfish" person for what he did at WrestleMania. Batista blamed Michaels for not laying down for Flair and thus protecting his career instead of retiring him. Michaels defended his actions by saying Flair had called upon him to bring his best to WrestleMania, which he did. The conflict continued on an edition of Chris Jericho's "Highlight Reel" interview segment that featured both men on the April 7, 2008 edition of Raw. Following another tense verbal standoff, Batista left the ring saying he had something in store for Michaels. Moments later, Raw General Manager William Regal said he had confirmed a match with SmackDown! General Manager Vickie Guerrero between Michaels and Batista at Backlash. In addition, the following week Jericho had a confrontation with Shawn Michaels who ended up kicking Jericho in the face. Frustrated, Jericho went to Regal in an effort to possibly add himself to the match. Regal did indeed add Jericho to the match, but not as a competitor. Instead he announced Jericho as a Special Guest Referee for the match.
The event unofficially began with WWE Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz defeating Jimmy Wang Yang and Shannon Moore in a dark match. The first match to air live on pay-per-view was a contest between reigning champion, Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) and Matt Hardy for the WWE United States Championship. MVP took control towards to beginning of the match, focusing on Hardy's left leg. MVP controlled most of the match until Hardy delivered a Side Effect to MVP. More back and forth action took placed until MVP attempted a Playmaker onto Hardy, however Hardy escaped the move and hit MVP with a Twist of Fate. Hardy then pinned MVP to win the match, and the United States Championship.
Big Show and The Great Khali starring at one another before their match
The next match was for the ECW Championship, with reigning champion Kane, competing against Chavo Guerrero (with Bam Neely). Throughout the match, Guerrero would target Kane's leg. Neely got involved midway through the match by throwing Kane's leg into the ring post. Kane attempted a Chokeslam, which Chavo escaped from. Chavo attempted a Spike DDT, and successfully delivered it. Chavo later attempted a Frog Splash but Kane caught him by the throat as Chavo jumped from the top turnbuckle. Kane then hit a chokeslam onto Chavo to win the match and retain the ECW Championship. The third match of the event was The Big Show versus The Great Khali. The match held back and forth action until Khali attempted a Khali Bomb onto Big Show. Big Show countered and body slammed Khali. The Big Show delivered a chokeslam to Khali and pinned Khali to win the match.
The next match was between Batista and Shawn Michaels with Chris Jericho as the special guest referee. Jericho would only become involved in the match during a few spots to break up Batista and Michaels. During the match, Michaels performed a Crossface onto Batista. The match left the ring for a little while as Michaels maintained control over Batista. When the match re-entered the ring, Michaels attempted a Sweet Chin Music, however, Batista countered and delivered a spinebuster to Michaels. Michaels recovered and delivered Sweet Chin Music to Batista, to get the pinfall and win the match.
Shawn Michaels with a Crossface applied to Batista
The fifth match of the event was a 12-Diva Tag-team match featuring the team of Beth Phoenix, Melina, Natalya, Victoria, Layla, and Jillian facing off against the team of Mickie James, Ashley, Maria, Michelle McCool, Kelly Kelly, and Cherry. A back and forth match was held, which led to a spot in the match where every diva entered the match and delivered their signature moves to a Diva from the opposite team. After the situation, Ashley delivered a spear to Layla, only to receive a Fisherman suplex from Phoenix, who then pinned Ashley, earning the victory for her team.
The following match was for the World Heavyweight Championship featuring reigning champion The Undertaker facing Edge. This match featured back and forth action including various strikes, and different parts of the match taken to outside of the ring. The beginning of the match was controlled by the Undertaker until Edge exposed the steel turnbuckle, and allowed Undertaker to run into it head first. As Undertaker lie in the ring, Edge escaped and grabbed the title. He placed it down at ringside as Curt Hawkins would come down to the ring, grab the title, and hit Undertaker with it while the referee was distracted. Hawkins immediately fled the ring. The Undertaker then recovered and delivered a chokeslam to Edge. Zack Ryder ran down to the ring, but fell from the apron after being accidentally knocked down by Edge. The Undertaker then applied the Gogoplata onto Edge for the tap-out victory. After the match, Vickie Guerrero would come to the ring being wheeled by Teddy Long followed by the medics to put Edge onto a stretcher and take him backstage.
Randy Orton who lost the WWE Championship to Triple H
The final match of the event was a fatal-four way elimination match for the WWE Championship between reigning champion Randy Orton defending the title against Triple H, John Cena, and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). Towards the beginning of the match, Cena was thrown into the Raw announce table from the ring apron, while in the ring, JBL and Orton teamed up against Triple H, but Triple H countered and delivered a clothesline to both men. Cena recovered and got back into the ring, and applied the STFU onto Orton. As the hold was being applied, Triple H placed JBL into a crossface. Triple H and Cena released the hold and continued on to fight one-another. Back and forth action took place until Cena forced JBL to submit to the STFU, eliminating JBL. Orton immediately ran in and delivered a punt to Cena's head. With Cena down, Orton pinned and eliminated Cena from the match. With Triple H and Orton remaining, more back and forth action took place. Orton went to execute the RKO, but Triple H was able to reverse the move and execute the Pedigree on Orton and pinned him to win the match, becoming the new WWE Champion.
JUDGEMENT DAY
nemanja6807 | 20 Novembar, 2008 01:37
JUDGEMENT DAY

Judgment Day (2008) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which took place on May 18, 2008 at the Qwest Center Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska. It was the tenth annual Judgment Day event and starred wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands. Seven professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's card.
The main event was a Steel cage match, a match fought within a cage formed by placing four sheets of mesh metal around, in, or against the edges of the wrestling ring. WWE Champion Triple H defeated Randy Orton to retain his championship. The predominant match on the SmackDown brand was Edge versus The Undertaker for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. The Undertaker won the match by countout, but did not win the title since championships cannot be decided by countout or disqualification. The primary match on the ECW brand was a tag team match for the WWE Tag Team Championships between champions The Miz and John Morrison versus Kane and CM Punk. Miz and Morrison won the match and retained the titles. Featured matches on the undercard included Shawn Michaels versus Chris Jericho, and John Cena versus John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL).
Judgment Day received 252,000 pay-per-view buys, up on the Judgment Day 2007 event figure of 242,000 buys. This event helped WWE increase its pay-per-view revenue by $21.9 compared to the previous year. When the event was released on DVD, it reached the third peak position on Billboard's DVD Sales Chart.
The event featured seven professional wrestling matches, performances with pre-determined outcomes between wrestlers with fictional personalities that are portrayed as real, were featured on the event's card. The buildup to the matches and the scenarios that took place before, during, and after the event were planned by WWE's creative staff. The event starred wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown and ECW brands – storyline expansions of the promotion where employees are assigned to wrestling brands under the WWE banner. Wrestlers portrayed either a villainous or fan favorite gimmick, as they followed a series of events which generally built tension, leading to a wrestling match.
Triple H as WWE Champion
The main event scripted into Judgment Day on the Raw brand featured WWE Champion Triple H (Paul Levesque) defending the title against Randy Orton in a match where the ring is surrounded by walls of steel, dubbed as a Steel cage match. The buildup to the match began after Backlash, WWE's previous pay-per-view event, where Triple H last eliminated Orton in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match, also involving John Cena and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), to win the WWE Championship. The following night on an episode of Raw, one of WWE's primary television programs, authority figure William Regal (Darren Matthews), a portrayed match maker and rules enforcer, stopped a title match between Orton and Triple H, and booked the two in a Steel cage match at Judgment Day for the WWE Championship.
One of the featured preliminary matches on the SmackDown brand was between The Undertaker (Mark Calaway) versus Edge (Adam Copeland), for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. At Backlash, the Undertaker defeated Edge to retain the World title by forcing him to submit to the gogoplata, a chokehold move that causes opponents to spit blood (kayfabe) from their mouths.On the May 2 edition of SmackDown, authority figure Vickie Guerrero stripped the World title from the Undertaker, after claiming the gogoplata was an illegal submission hold and she did it to protect the other wrestlers. The following week, Guerrero booked Undertaker in a match for the vacant title at Judgment Day against Edge, who last eliminated Batista (David Bautista, Jr.) in a battle royal, an elimination style match where the last person in the ring is the winner, to become the number one contender.
Another featured preliminary match was between Shawn Michaels (Michael Hickenbottom) versus Chris Jericho (Christopher Irvine) in a singles match. At Backlash, Michaels defeated Batista (with Jericho as the special guest referee) in an Interpromotional match. During the match, Michaels countered a Batista Bomb attempt, a powerbomb move in which the wrestler drops into a sitting position as they slam their opponent down to the mat, and appeared to have legitimately injured his left knee. On the April 28 edition of Raw, Jericho claimed that Michaels faked his knee injury to allow him to defeat Batista at Backlash, a claim that Michaels denied. The following week, it was announced that Jericho would face Michaels in a singles match at Judgment Day. On the May 12 edition of Raw, Jericho offered his apologies to Michaels for accusing him of feigning an injury, as well as giving Michaels the opportunity to back out of their match. Michaels revealed that he did indeed fake his knee injury. Four days later, on the May 16 edition of SmackDown, Batista commented that he would hurt Michaels, scripted into the storyline, for faking his injury.
One more rivalry from the Raw brand was between John Cena and JBL. In the Fatal Four-Way Elimination match at Backlash, Cena eliminated JBL by making him submit to the STFU, a move in which the wrestler wraps his arm around the neck of the opponent in a sleeper hold instead of pulling back on the head of the opponent. On the April 28 edition of Raw, JBL challenged Cena to a singles match at Judgment Day, which was made official on WWE's website.
The first televised match was between John Cena and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). JBL dominated most of the match and worked on Cena's surgically-repaired right pectoral muscle. A spot in the match saw Cena try to lift JBL from the mat into the air for a powerbomb, a move in which an opponent is lifted up and then slammed back-first down to the mat, but Cena collapsed and couldn't execute the move. JBL controlled most of the match, as Cena tried to avoid JBL's assaults. JBL also applied numerous submission maneuvers on Cena. JBL swung his arm forward while running towards Cena, a move JBL calls Clothesline from Hell. Though, he went for another Clothesline from Hell, Cena ducked and lifted JBL onto his shoulders and slamming him down to the mat, a finishing move Cena calls the F-U, to get the pinfall victory over JBL.
Shawn Michaels, who faced off against Chris Jericho
The next match was for the WWE Tag Team Championship, in which the champions, John Morrison (John Hennigan) and The Miz (Mike Mizanin) defended the titles against ECW Champion Kane (Glen Jacobs) and CM Punk (Phil Brooks). The match began with Kane and Punk in control for the majority of the match. Morrison, however, attacked Kane's injured left knee. Back and fourth action took place between both teams. Punk was tagged in the match, which led to him to perform a high knee on Morrison, as well as grabbing Morrison's head and driving his face into the mat. Outside the ring, Kane chokeslammed the Miz, causing Punk to get distracted. Morrison took the advantage as he was able to perform the Moonlight Drive and pin Punk to retain the tag titles.
The match that followed was between Shawn Michaels and WWE Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho. The start of the match saw Michaels and Jericho exchange several near-falls attempts before Michaels applied the modified figure four leglock, which Jericho broke free. Jericho failed on a top rope superplex attempt, then Michaels tried to follow with an elbow drop, but Jericho managed to block it as he got his knees up. Jericho applied the Walls of Jericho, a submission hold that typically starts with the opponent laying supine on the mat, with the wrestler standing and facing them, though Michaels grabbed the bottom rope, causing Jericho to break the hold. Jericho attempted to perform the submission move once more, but Michaels caught Jericho and countered it into a straddle pin to take the win. After the match, both men shook hands.
The fourth match was a standard match involving three wrestlers for the WWE Women's Championship, in which Mickie James defended the title against Beth Phoenix (Elizabeth Carolan) and Melina (Melina Perez). The match began with James attempting a roll-up on Melina for a near fall, though Phoenix performed a clothesline on James. Melina and Phoenix tried taking the advantage over one another. Mid-way in the match, James performed a splash, from the top rope, on Phoenix for a nearfall, followed by a dropkick by James. A spot in the match saw Phoenix try to perform a backbreaker, in which she placed both James and Melina on top of her shoulders, though Phoenix did not execute the move, as Melina managed to break free from the hold and throw Phoenix out of the ring. The match concluded when James performed the Mickie DT, thus winning the match and retaining her title.
The next match was for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship between The Undertaker and Edge. The match went in and out of the ring early on, with both competitors throwing each other out of the ring. The Undertaker instinctively tried to apply the triangle choke hold on Edge, but the referee made him break the hold. Edge then tried to do one of the Undertaker's move, Old school, but the Undertaker counter the move. Mid-way in the match, Edge's associates, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, distracted the Undertaker after performing an Old school on Edge. This distraction led Edge to remove the top turnbuckle padding. Back and fourth action was seen between the two individuals. As the top turnbuckle was exposed, the Undertaker threw Edge face first onto the top turnbuckle. As the Undertaker ran off the ropes, Edge caught him with a shoulder block takedown for a close two count. Afterwards, the Undertaker clotheslined Edge to the outside of the ring, then he rolled to the floor to follow. Undertaker took Edge over the guardrail to the front row with a clothesline while the referee began the 10 count. Both men struggled back to the floor before the Undertaker grabbed Edge into the guardrail at the eight count. He then rolled into the ring and beat the 10 count to win the match by countout and the belt. Though, authority figure Vickie Guerrero said that a title could not change hands via countout, therefore the title was still vacant. The Undertaker responded by lifting Edge upside down and dropping his head down to the mat, a move called the Tombstone piledriver.
Randy Orton, who faced Triple H in a Steel cage match for the WWE Championship
The sixth match was between Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) (Alvin Burke, Jr.) and Jeff Hardy. MVP quickly beat down Hardy and dominated early in the match. Hardy tried to come back with a mule kick from the corner, but MVP moved out of the way, leading Hardy to crash the mat face first. MVP controlled most of the match, until Hardy finally had some offense with a double foot kick in the corner. With the upper hand, Hardy performed a Swanton bomb on MVP, but MVP moved out of the way. MVP tried to perform a running big boot, but Hardy countered into a drop toe hold. The match ended with Hardy winning the match, after performing the Whisper in the Wind, a move performed by executing a backflip from the top turnbuckle, then spinning 180°, landing on a fallen opponent back-first.
The main event was the Steel cage match for the WWE Championship, in which Triple H defended the title against Randy Orton. During the beginning of the match, Triple H gained the advantage over Orton, as he lifted his knee and hit Orton in the mouth, thus Orton coming up bleeding from the mouth. Orton came back with a kick to the gut before starting his prolonged attack and bolting for the cage door to be open, but Triple H prevented him from escaping. Triple H took control as he took out Orton's knee with a chop block, a shoulder block that targets the back of an opponent's knee, and applied on a figure four leglock. After Orton broke the hold, he crawled across to the cage door to escape, but Triple H grabbed him back inside. But, on the way back in, Orton managed to grab a steel chair that was on the ring floor. Orton tried to hit Triple H with the chair, but Triple H managed to avoid being hit. Triple H grabbed the chair to hit Orton with it, but Orton hit a low blow on Triple H. Orton followed this with a chair shot to Triple H's back and performed a DDT, a move in which the wrestler falls down or backwards to drive a held opponent's head into the mat. Throughout the match, Orton tried escaping from the cage, but was not in successful in doing so, as Triple H dragged him back in each time. The match came to an end when Orton tried to hit a running punt on Triple H's head, however, Triple H grabbed the chair and hit Orton face first. Triple H followed up by tucking Orton's head between his knees and jumping up to slam his head to the mat, a move that Triple H calls the Pedigree. Triple H covered Orton for the pinfall victory, and thus retaining his title.
ONE NIGHT STAND
nemanja6807 | 20 Novembar, 2008 01:28
ONE NIGHT STAND
One Night Stand (2008) was the fourth annual One Night Stand professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It took place on June 1, 2008 at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, California and featured talent from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands.The main match on the SmackDown! brand was a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship between Edge and The Undertaker, which Edge won after retrieving the belt suspended above the ring. Per the pre-match stipulation, Undertaker was forced to leave the WWE. The predominant match on the Raw brand was a Last Man Standing match for the WWE Championship between Triple H and Randy Orton, which Triple H won after Orton failed to answer the ten-count.The primary match on the ECW brand was a Singapore Cane match involving The Big Show, CM Punk, John Morrison, Chavo Guerrero, and Tommy Dreamer. Big Show won the match after pinning Dreamer to become the number-one contender to the ECW Championship at Night of Champions.Featured matches on the undercard included Shawn Michaels versus Batista in a Stretcher match, and John Cena versus John "Bradshaw" Layfield in a First Blood match.The main feud heading into One Night Stand on the Raw brand was between Triple H and Randy Orton over the WWE Championship. At Backlash, a Fatal-Four Way Elimination match took place for the WWE Championship. The contestants were Orton, Triple H, John Cena and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). Triple H won the match after last eliminating Orton to win the WWE title. At Judgment Day, Triple H defended the WWE Championship against Orton in a Steel cage match. Triple H won the match after a Pedigree to retain the title. On the May 19 episode of Raw, General Manager William Regal booked a tag team match between Orton and JBL against Cena and Triple H. If Orton and JBL won, they would have received re-matches against Triple H and Cena, respectively, at One Night Stand in an extreme match of their choosing. However, if Cena and Triple H had won, then the pair would have faced each other for the WWE Championship, with Regal choosing the match type. After Orton and JBL won the tag team match, Orton announced that he and Triple H would compete in a Last Man Standing match for the WWE Championship at One Night Stand. JBL announced that he and Cena would compete in a First Blood match at One Night Stand.Another feud heading into One Night Stand, was between Shawn Michaels and Batista. The feud began after Batista expressed his remorse over the retirement of Ric Flair at WrestleMania, which was caused by Michaels getting the pinfall over Flair in Flair's career threatening match. During the rivalry, a match between Batista and Michaels took place at Backlash, with Chris Jericho as the special guest referee. At the end of the match, Michaels appeared to suffer a knee injury, lowering Batista's guard until Michaels sprang up to perform Sweet Chin Music on him and defeated him by pinfall. In following weeks, Batista and Jericho remained skeptical about Michaels' injury, then Michaels admitted to Jericho that he'd staged the injury on the May 12 edition of Raw. Batista defeated Jericho on the May 19, 2008 episode of Raw to earn the right to face Michaels at One Night Stand in a Stretcher match.The main feud on the SmackDown brand was between Edge and The Undertaker, over the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. At Backlash, Undertaker defeated Edge to retain the World Heavyweight Championship, by making Edge submit to his submission chokehold, the Gogoplata. On the May 2 edition of SmackDown, General Manager Vickie Guerrero stripped Undertaker of the title and banned his chokehold to "protect the SmackDown superstars". At Judgment Day, Undertaker and Edge faced off against each other in a match again for the vacant World Heavyweight title. Undertaker won the match by countout, however, Guerrero announced that as per WWE rules, championships cannot change hands, or be captured by disqualification or countout. On the May 23 episode of SmackDown, Vickie announced a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match between Edge and Undertaker at One Night Stand for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship, with the stipulation that if Undertaker should lose the match, he would have to leave the WWE.The main feud heading into One Night Stand on the ECW brand was between CM Punk, Chavo Guerrero, Tommy Dreamer, John Morrison and Big Show. On the May 20 edition of ECW, General Manager Armando Estrada announced a Fatal Four-Way, Singapore Cane on a pole match, for One Night Stand featuring Punk, Guerrero, Dreamer, and Morrison, where the winner would receive an ECW Championship match against the ECW Champion at Night of Champions. Later that night, the team of Guerrero and Morrison defeated the team of Dreamer and Punk in a tag team match. However, after the match, Big Show attacked all four superstars. Big Show then announced that he would also compete in the match One Night Stand, making it a five-man Singapore Cane match.
SURVIVOR SERIES
nemanja6807 | 20 Novembar, 2008 01:09
SURVIVOR SERIES

(2008) will be a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which will take place on November 23, 2008 at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The event will be the 22nd under the Survivor Series name and will feature talent from the Raw, ECW, and SmackDown brands. Five professional wrestling matches are currently scheduled on the event's card.
The event will feature professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers will portray a villain or a fan favorite as they follow a series of events that build tension, and culminate into a wrestling match or series of matches. All wrestlers will be from the Raw, ECW, and SmackDown brands –a storyline division in which WWE assigns its employees to different programs.
John Cena, who had been sidelined with a herniated disk injury, had been advertised to return at the event on WWE programming and as seen on the Survivor Series promotional poster. On the November 3, 2008 episode of Raw, Shane McMahon announced that John Cena would challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series. Cena would face the champion resulting from a Steel cage match between Batista and Chris Jericho, which Jericho won.
The main feud on the SmackDown brand is between Triple H (Paul Levesque) and Vladimir Kozlov (Oleg Prudius) over the WWE Championship. Kozlov was one of the choices for Triple H's challengers at Cyber Sunday for the fans to vote, but Jeff Hardy won the poll and faced Triple H for the title, a match in which Hardy lost. Then, after Kozlov demanded a WWE title match against Triple H on SmackDown, General Manager Vickie Guerrero put Kozlov in a match against The Undertaker (Mark Calaway) on the November 7 edition of SmackDown, adding that if Kozlov won, he would challenge Triple H at Survivor Series for the WWE Championship. Kozlov won the match, albeit via disqualification after Hardy interfered and hit Kozlov with a steel chair.
The Big Show, who challenged the Undertaker to a casket match.
Another feud from SmackDown heading into Survivor Series is between The Undertaker and The Big Show (Paul Wight). At Unforgiven, Big Show turned on Undertaker and attacked him. At No Mercy, in a match between the two, Big Show knocked Undertaker out with a punch to the face and won the match. However, at Cyber Sunday, in a fans' voted Last Man Standing match, Undertaker defeated Big Show by choking him out with the gogoplata. On the November 7 edition of SmackDown, Big Show challenged Undertaker in a casket match at Survivor Series.
NO WAY OUT
nemanja6807 | 17 Novembar, 2008 02:06
NO WAY OUT

No Way Out is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, produced every February by the American professional wrestling promotion, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The event was created in 1998, with its inaugural event produced as an In Your House event in February 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 SmackDown brand in 2004. In 2007, to follow the format of WrestleMania, all PPV events became tri-branded.
Since its inception in 1998, the event has been held in two countries: the United States and Canada. It has been held in eight U.S. states and one Canadian municipality, where every event has been held in an indoor arena. Each event features talent from WWE competing in various professional wrestling match types. Since the inaugural event, seven championship matches have taken place in the main event.
No Way Out is a pay-per-view (PPV) event consisting of a main event and undercard that feature championship matches and other various matches. The first No Way Out was originally produced as an In Your House event for World Wrestling Federation (WWF), the former name of WWE. The In Your House event was titled No Way Out of Texas: In Your House, named after the location of the venue, Houston, Texas. It took place on February 15, 1998 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 No Way Out, Backlash, and Judgment Day among others, were rebranded as annual PPV events.
In 2002, WWF was court ordered to change their name, which resulted in the promotion changing its name to WWE.Later that year, WWE held a draft that split its roster into two distinctive brands of wrestling, Raw and SmackDown and ECW in 2006. Before the draft, matches featured wrestlers from the roster without any limitations; after the draft, matches only consisted of wrestlers from their distinctive brands. The first No Way Out event to be produced under the WWE banner and with roster limitations was No Way Out (2003), which took place on February 23, 2003. The following year, WWE announced that PPV events, excluding WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and the Royal Rumble, would be made exclusive to each brand; No Way Out was made exclusive to the SmackDown brand. After three years of being produced as a brand exclusive event, No Way Out (2007) was the final No Way Out event (and the final PPV overall) that was brand exclusive, as WWE announced that PPV events from then on would feature all three brands of WWE.
In 2008, WWE held the ninth annual No Way Out event, which featured two Elimination Chamber matches, a specialty professional wrestling match type promoted on rare occasions in WWE. Each No Way Out event has been held in an indoor arena, with nine events taking place in the United States and one event taking place in Canada. Four events took place in the United States west coast, three events took place in the east coast, two events took place in the midwest, and one took place in Southern Canada.
CYBER SUNDEY
nemanja6807 | 17 Novembar, 2008 01:43
CYBER SUNDAY

Cyber Sunday (2008) was the fifth Cyber Sunday (the third under this name) professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It took place on October 26, 2008 at the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona. It featured wrestlers from the Raw, ECW, and SmackDown brands. Eight professional wrestling matches and one miscellaneous segment were featured on the event's card.
Unlike other WWE events where the stipulations were determined by WWE's creative staff, stipulations for matches were determined by votes from WWE fans conducted on WWE.com and by texting. The event was scheduled to feature eight professional wrestling matches and one miscellaneous segment. Although the stipulations resulted from votes by WWE fans, different wrestlers were involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines, which led to scheduled matches in which WWE fans could vote upon stipulations. Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or fan favorites as they followed a series of tension-building events. All wrestlers were from either the ECW, Raw, or SmackDown brands – a storyline division in which WWE assigned its employees to a different television program.
The main feud from the Raw brand was over the World Heavyweight Championship. On the October 6, 2008 episode of Raw, General Manager Mike Adamle announced that World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho would defend his title against Batista in a standard wrestling match (singles match), in which a guest referee would be voted for by WWE fans; the candidates for the position were Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels, and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Earlier that night, it was also announced that Santino Marella would defend his WWE Intercontinental Championship against a former Intercontinental Champion voted for by the WWE fans; the candidates were "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Goldust, or The Honky Tonk Man.The main rivalry from the SmackDown brand was over the WWE Championship. It was announced on the October 10, 2008 episode of Friday Night SmackDown that WWE Champion Triple H (Paul Levesque) would defend his title against either Jeff Hardy or Vladimir Kozlov in a singles match, or in a triple-threat match, a standard match involving both Hardy and Kozlov. Later that night it was also announced that The Big Show would face The Undertaker in a the fans choice of match, which included a Knockout match, "I Quit" match, or a Last Man Standing match.The only rivalry from the ECW brand was over the ECW Championship. It was announced on the October 14, 2008 episode of ECW that ECW Champion Matt Hardy would defend the title against the fans choice of an opponent, which were Mark Henry, Evan Bourne (Matthew Korklan), or Finlay.Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, Shelton Benjamin defended the WWE United States Championship against a superstar of the fans' choice in a match that was streamed exclusively on WWE.com. The candidates to be voted in were R-Truth (Ron Killings), Montel Vontavious Porter (Alvin Burke, Jr.) and Festus (Drew Hankinson). R-Truth won the poll by 59% over MVP and Festus, and hence faced Benjamin for the title. The match went back and forth, but ultimately Benjamin delivered the Paydirt to R-Truth and pinned him to retain his title.
The first match to be aired live was a No Holds Barred match between Kane (Glen Jacobs) and Rey Mysterio (Oscar Gutierrez). The No Holds Barred match stipulation was voted by the fans over a Falls Count Anywhere match and a Two out of three falls match. Early on in the match, Mysterio used his quickness and agility against Kane, along with some weapons like a kendo stick and a STOP sign. Soon, Kane overpowered Mysterio and dominated the later part of the match. Near the end, Mysterio drop-toe held Kane and drove him face-first into the steel ring-steps kept in the corner of the ring. Then he hit Kane with a steel chair multiple times, before delivering a 619 and springboard splash and pinning him to win the match.
The next match featured Matt Hardy defending the ECW Championship against Evan Bourne (Matthew Korklan), who was voted as the challenger by the fans over Mark Henry and Finlay (Dave Finlay). Early in the match, Bourne surprised Hardy with his agility, but Hardy eventually got control of the match. Nevertheless, Bourne hit several high-flying moves on Hardy, like a standing moonsault, a hurricanrana countering Hardy's Splash Mountain Bomb, and a diving knee drop from the top rope. In the end, Bourne missed the Air Bourne, and hence capitalizing, Hardy delivered a Twist of Fate to Bourne and pinned him to retain his title.
The third match aired was a tag team match with the team of John Morrison (John Hennigan) and The Miz (Mike Mizanin) taking on Cryme Tyme (JTG (Jayson Paul) and Shad). This tag team match was chosen over an intergender tag team match having William Regal (Darren Matthews) and Layla (Layla El) taking on Jamie Noble (James Gibson) and Mickie James, and a World Tag Team Championship match between the champions Ted DiBiase (Ted DiBiase, Jr.) and Cody Rhodes and the team of CM Punk (Phil Brooks) and Kofi Kingston (Kofi Sarkodie-Mensah). The match featured numerous tag team moves from both the teams. At one point, Shad threw JTG over the ropes onto Morrison and Miz outside the ring. Back in the ring, Morrison and Miz controlled the latter part of the match. In the end, Miz, who was not the legal man in the ring, kicked Shad's knee behind the referee's back and Morrison delivered the Moonlight Drive to Shad for the pinfall.
The fourth match was between Santino Marella (Anthony Carelli) and The Honky Tonk Man (Roy Farris) for the former's Intercontinental Championship. Honky Tonk Man was voted as Marella's challenger by the fans over "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (Roderick Toombs) and Goldust (Dustin Rhodes). Before the match started, Honky Tonk Man danced to his theme music and asked Marella to do the same, but he delivered a cheap shot to Honky Tonk Man to officially start the match. However, the match ended soon when Beth Phoenix (Elizabeth Carolan), who was by Marella's side, tripped Honky Tonk Man as he preparing to hit Marella with his fist, and hence, the match ended in Honky Tonk Man's favour as he won via disqualification. Nevertheless, as per WWE rules, Marella retained the Intercontinental title as titles don't change via disqualification. After the match, Roddy Piper and Goldust made their way down to the ring to confront Marella. In the ring, Goldust hit the Final Cut on Marella, Piper hit him with a punch combination followed by an eye poke, and Honky Tonk Man delivered the Shake, Rattle and Roll to Marella.
The fifth match of the evening was a Last Man Standing match between The Undertaker (Mark Calaway) and The Big Show (Paul Wight). The Last Man Standing match stipulation was voted by the fans over a Knockout match and an "I Quit" match. In the beginning, Big Show threw Undertaker out of the ring, and after some time, Undertaker hit Big Show with a steel chair. The match continued with Big Show dominating Undertaker and striking him with punches. The match featured many other spots, like Undertaker thrusting Big Show's throat against a ringpost with a steel chair; Undertaker delivering a leg drop to Big Show on the ring apron, and then later countering Big Show's chokeslam into a DDT; and, then Big Show hitting Undertaker with a TV monitor and even chokeslamming him from the barricade through an announcer's table. In the end, Big Show hit Undertaker first with a chokeslam, followed by a knockout punch to the face and then with a steel chair, but Undertaker got to his feet each time before the ten count. Finally, Undertaker locked Big Show in the gogoplata and choked him out to unconsciousness, due to which Big Show could not get up before the referee's ten count and allowed Undertaker to win the match.
WWE WRESLEMANIA 25
nemanja6807 | 16 Novembar, 2008 02:25
WRESLEMANIA 25
WrestleMania is a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced annually in late March or early April by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) (formerly known as the World Wrestling Federation). It is considered the flagship pay-per-view event of WWE, as it is the most successful and longest-running professional wrestling event in the world. WrestleMania is nicknamed "The Grandaddy of Them All", "The Grandest Stage of Them All" and "The Showcase of the Immortals."The event was first produced in 1985, and 24 editions have been produced as of 2008, with WrestleMania XXV to be held in 2009.
Conceptualized by WWE owner Vince McMahon, WrestleMania has become one of the most prominent events in sports entertainment. Its widespread success helped transform the professional wrestling industry and make the WWE the most successful promotion in North America. WrestleMania has facilitated the rise to stardom of wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Steve Austin, The Rock, and Triple H, amongst others. Numerous celebrities such as Muhammad Ali, Mr. T, Alice Cooper, Lawrence Taylor, Pamela Anderson, Mike Tyson, Donald Trump, Floyd "Money" Mayweather, Snoop Dogg, Raven-Symone, Kim Kardashian and others have participated or made special appearances in the events. The WWE's television shows are tailored to reach their climax at WrestleMania, which features matches for the company's championship titles, as well as specialty and gimmick matches. Participation in a WrestleMania match, and especially the main event, is considered by many wrestlers and fans alike as one of the greatest achievements and symbols of success in professional wrestling.
WrestleMania propels the worldwide commercial success of the WWE through merchandise, media and shows. All of the events produced have been sold out within a short period of time, with recent editions being sold out within minutes of tickets going on sale. The first WrestleMania was held in Madison Square Garden in New York City; the 10th and 20th editions were also held there. WrestleMania III in Detroit was the highest-attended indoor sports event in the world, with more than 93,000 fans in attendance. All but two editions have been hosted in U.S. cities - two having been held in Toronto, Canada - but the show is televised across the world via pay-per-view.
While most WrestleManias have been held in sports arenas in major cities, a number of them have been held in large stadiums; the most attended events include - WrestleMania III in Pontiac (93,173 people), WrestleMania VI in Toronto (67,678 people), WrestleMania VIII in Indianapolis (62,167 people), WrestleMania X-Seven in Houston (67,925 people), WrestleMania X8 in Toronto (68,237 people), WrestleMania XIX in Seattle (54,097 people), WrestleMania 23 in Detroit (80,103 people) and WrestleMania XXIV in Orlando (74,635 people.)
The format of WrestleMania is built upon the main event matches for the WWE Championship and more recently also for the World Heavyweight Championship. Since 2007, the ECW Franchise has participated at WrestleMania. A select number of other championship titles are also contested, while there are several gimmick matches and personal feud matches on the card.
Since 1993, the winner of the annual Royal Rumble match has received a guaranteed WWE Championship match at that year's WrestleMania. With the creation of the World Heavyweight Championship in 2002, the winner has since been able to choose to receive a World Heavyweight Championship match instead. With the introduction of the ECW brand the possibility for the winner to choose to receive an ECW World Championship match at WrestleMania 23 was also added in 2007.
The first WrestleMania was held by the World Wrestling Federation on March 31, 1985 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The main event was a tag-team match between the WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and Mr. T, accompanied by Jimmy Snuka against the team of Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff, who were accompanied by Cowboy Bob Orton. The financial and critical success of the event secured the company's status as the most successful promotion in the United States, rising above competitors such as the National Wrestling Alliance and American Wrestling Association. WrestleMania II was held the following year and took place in three venues across the country. The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois, and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California each featured multiple matches that led up to the lead main event which saw the WWF Champion Hulk Hogan defeat the challenger King Kong Bundy in a steel cage match.
A world indoor attendance record set of 93,173 fans was set at WrestleMania III, which was also the largest paying attendance in the history of professional wrestling at the time. The event is widely considered to be the pinnacle of the 1980s wrestling boom. To make certain that every seat in the Silverdome would be filled, the World Wrestling Federation decided to exclude the entire state of Michigan from pay-per-view access to the event, which made attending the event the only way for fans in Michigan to see it.[3] The main event featured Hogan defend the WWE Championship against André the Giant. The moment when Hogan body slammed André the Giant remains one of the most famous moments in professional wrestling history. The match between the WWF Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat also gained much acclaim and popularity.
WrestleMania VI marked the first time the event was held outside of the United States. It was held at the SkyDome, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In the main event match, The Ultimate Warrior won the WWF Championship from Hulk Hogan. WrestleMania VII was originally scheduled to be held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, however, the event was moved to the adjacent Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena for security reasons due to the Gulf War. The event saw Hulk Hogan face Sgt. Slaughter for the WWF Championship, while The Undertaker made his WrestleMania debut defeating Jimmy Snuka. Since then, The Undertaker has been undefeated in all of his WrestleMania matches.
[WrestleMania IX] was the first WrestleMania held at an outdoor venue. The 10th edition of the event, WrestleMania X saw its return to Madison Square Garden. The event featured Owen Hart defeating his elder brother Bret, and the event was also headlined by a ladder match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship, in which Razor Ramon defeated Shawn Michaels. Michaels defeated Bret Hart to win the WWF Championship in a 60-minute Iron Man match at WrestleMania XII. The match is considered to be one of the best matches in the history of the event.
At WrestleMania XIV Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Shawn Michaels to become the new WWF Champion in a match that featured Mike Tyson serve as the special enforcer. Although Tyson had been aligned with Michaels and his stable, D-Generation X, Tyson revealed to have been aligned with Austin all along as he personally counted the pinfall and declared Austin the winner. The event marked the start of "The Attitude Era".
WrestleMania 2000 featured the first ever Triangle Ladder match for the WWF Tag Team Championship, involving the Hardy Boyz, the Dudley Boyz and Edge and Christian. The main event featured the WWF Champion Triple H (with Stephanie McMahon) successfully defending his title against three challengers: The Rock (with Vince McMahon), The Big Show (with Shane McMahon), and Mick Foley (with Linda McMahon).
An attendance record setting 74,635 fans at the Citrus Bowl for WrestleMania XXIV
At WrestleMania X-Seven, Austin aligned himself with his long-time nemesis Mr. McMahon to defeat The Rock and regain the WWF Championship. The event also featured Mr. McMahon and his son Shane McMahon in a Street Fight, while Edge and Christian won the WWF Tag Team Championship against the Hardy Boyz and Dudley Boyz in the second Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. The event was the pinnacle of the 1990s wrestling boom, concluding "The Attitude Era". It was also the first WrestleMania held after the dissolution of the company's rival, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and the Monday Night Wars. WrestleMania X8 was the last WrestleMania to be produced under the WWF name and featured Triple H defeating Chris Jericho to win the Undisputed Championship. In a memorable match billed as "Icon vs. Icon", The Rock defeated Hulk Hogan who had rejoined the company after his 6-year stint with WCW.
World Wrestling Entertainment celebrated the 20th edition of WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden with WrestleMania XX. The event bore the slogan "Where It All Begins...Again", celebrating the legacy of WrestleMania. The WWE Hall of Fame was reintroduced with an annual induction show held the night before WrestleMania.
At WrestleMania 21 the concept of the Money in the Bank ladder match was introduced as a six-man ladder match that featured a briefcase suspended above the ring containing a contract that guaranteed the winning Raw brand superstar a world title match at any time and place of their choosing within one year of winning the Ladder match. The Money in the Bank ladder match was also held at WrestleMania 22 as a six-man interpromotional match where the winner would get a world title match of their choosing, regardless of their brand. The Money in the Bank ladder match was held yet again at WrestleMania 23 as an interpromotional eight-man match where superstars from Raw, ECW, and SmackDown all competed for a shot at any world title they wanted.
At WrestleMania XXIV the professional wrestling career of Ric Flair came to an end as he faced Shawn Michaels. The Money in the Bank ladder match was featured as an interpromotional match with seven participants from Raw, ECW, and SmackDown. The ECW Championship was defended for the first time at a WrestleMania event. The event was the second WrestleMania to be held at an outdoor venue.
WWE HALL OF FAME
nemanja6807 | 16 Novembar, 2008 02:14
WWE HALL OF FAME

WWE Hall of Fame logo, 2004-present.
In professional wrestling, the WWE Hall of Fame (formerly WWF Hall of Fame) is an institution that honors selected former and current employees of World Wrestling Entertainment (formerly the World Wrestling Federation) and other figures who have contributed to wrestling and sports entertainment in general.
The Hall of Fame was created in 1993 with the induction of WWF alumnus André the Giant, who had died earlier that year. The Hall inducted additional members annually thereafter until 1996 with the 1994 and 1995 ceremonies held as part of the King of the Ring weekend, then went dormant until it was revived in 2004 to commemorate the company's twentieth WrestleMania event. The ceremony now takes place on the night before WrestleMania, in the same city as that event.
Since living inductees appear at a Hall of Fame acceptance event, induction is contingent upon the candidate being on good terms with WWE. As a result several notable alumni have not been inducted. The process by which inductees are selected is not transparent; the criteria for induction have never been disclosed. Although the Hall in theory honors those with important WWE careers, since the revival in 2004, some inductees such as Harley Race, Verne Gagne, Eddie Graham and Nick Bockwinkel, achieved much or all of their success outside of WWE, though the companies where they did achieve their success have been assimilated by WWE.[citation needed] Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backlund have each declined the WWE's Hall of Fame invitations; Bret Hart initially refused induction before changing his mind several years later.
Sammartino is an outspoken critic of the Hall of Fame, saying, "what's the point to a Hall of Fame? Is it a building I can actually go to? No." He added "look at a guy like Pete Rose. Why is he in the Hall of Fame? It's a sham."World Wrestling Entertainment has been looking into constructing or creating a facility for the Hall of Fame. WWE's Executive Vice President of Global Media Shane McMahon, has said that the WWE has been storing wrestling memorabilia in a warehouse for years, and all items are categorized and dated in case a facility is created. McMahon has stated, "I think it's probably still a couple of years away, but we're really anxious to do it."
THE WWE DRAFT
nemanja6807 | 16 Novembar, 2008 00:57
THE WWE DRAFT

The 2008 WWE Draft logo
The 2008 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Draft was the sixth draft produced by the American professional wrestling promotion, WWE. It was held on June 23, 2008 in San Antonio, Texas at the AT&T Center. The Draft took place live and aired for three hours on the USA Network on WWE's flagship program, Raw.For the second consecutive year, the Draft took place among WWE's three brands: Raw, SmackDown, and ECW. Every WWE employee, Diva, announcer, commentator, and General manager were eligible to be drafted. Similar to the 2007 WWE Draft, superstars from each brand competed in matches to win a random draft pick for their brand. Draft picks were kayfabe selected at random via a computer that was shown on the Raw TitanTron. Like the previous year, a supplemental draft took place on June 25, where draft selections were randomly conducted. The Draft featured the Raw brand randomly drafting ECW Champion, Kane, from the ECW brand. It also featured the ECW brand drafting WWE United States Champion, Matt Hardy, from the SmackDown brand. The final selection in the draft was conducted by the SmackDown brand, and they drafted WWE Champion, Triple H, from the Raw brand. As per pre-Draft stipulations, all the three champions brought their respective titles to the brand to which they were drafted.
The Draft was announced by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon on the May 26, 2008 episode of Raw.During the announcement, he stated that every WWE Superstar, Diva, and commentator from all three brands, Raw, ECW, and SmackDown, were eligible to be drafted. On the June 16 episode of Raw, McMahon announced that his McMahon's Million Dollar Mania contest would take place on the same night as the WWE Draft. During the contest, McMahon gave away one million dollars to WWE fans. McMahon telephoned fans, who had registered for the contest, at their homes and asked them for a password, which was revealed at the opening of the Raw broadcast. If their answer was correct, he awarded the fan a portion of one million dollars.
On June 24, WWE announced on its website, that a supplemental draft would take place on June 25 at noon ET. The supplemental draft, like the previous year, was conducted randomly, with each brand receiving random draft selections.Superstars affected by the televised draft were exempt from the supplemental draft. Because professional wrestling is scripted, outcomes are usually predetermined. Unlike years past, during this draft, many employees in WWE were not told whether they were scripted to change brands.
Aside from the Million Dollar Mania contest, the Draft was announced to help increase the television ratings of Raw, which had been declining since WrestleMania XXIV.Though the Draft helps increase ratings, it is also used as a way to refreshen the rosters and create new storylines.
There were 28 selections conducted in the draft overall. 11 selections were conducted on television, while 17 selections occurred during the supplemental draft. The Raw brand earned five televised selections through their representatives winning five different matches, while they received six supplemental selections. In total, the Raw brand drafted 11 employees: five on television and six through the supplemental draft. The SmackDown brand earned five television selections through their representatives winning five different matches, while they received seven supplemental selections. In total, the SmackDown brand drafted 12 employees: five on television and seven through the supplemental draft. The ECW brand earned one televised selection through their representative winning one match, while they received four supplemental selections. In total, the ECW brand drafted five employees: one on television and four through the supplemental draft. The 28 included two commentators, two Divas, and 24 male wrestlers (two inactive wrestlers and 22 active wrestlers).
ECW
nemanja6807 | 16 Novembar, 2008 00:42
ECW
Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) is a professional wrestling brand of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), based on the independent Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion that lasted from 1992 to 2001. It debuted on June 13, 2006 with a weekly television series. The ECW brand is one of WWE's three brands, the other two being Raw and SmackDown.
ECW can be seen on SCI FI in the United States, X-Treme Sports and Global in Canada, Sky Sports 3 in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland,Sky Italia in Italy, Premiere in Germany, in Finland on MTV3 MAX, FX Latin America in Latin America, Ten Sports in India, Astro in Malaysia, Solar Sports in the Philippines,FOX8 in Australia, The BOX in New Zealand, tvN in South Korea, e.tv in South Africa, SIC Radical in Portugal. Sportmanía in Spain and AFN Xtra and in Saudi Arabia and Middle East on Showtime Arabia ShowSports 4.
WWE acquired Extreme Championship Wrestling and its video library in 2003 and later began reintroducing ECW through a series of DVDs and books. The enormous popularity of ECW merchandise prompted WWE to organize ECW One Night Stand, an ECW reunion pay-per-view in 2005. The financial and critical success of the event motivated WWE to organize a second One Night Stand the following year. With rejuvenated interest in the ECW product, WWE began exploring the possibility of reviving the promotion full time. On May 26, 2006, WWE announced the launch of ECW as a stand-alone brand, congruous to Raw and SmackDown!, with its own show on SCI FI. Despite initial concerns that professional wrestling would not be accepted by SCI FI's demographic, network President Bonnie Hammer stated that she believed ECW would fit the channel's theme of "stretching the imagination". SCI FI is owned by NBC Universal, parent company of USA Network and exclusive cable broadcaster of WWE programming.
The ECW brand initially attempted to differentiate itself from WWE's other brands. The hard cameras were placed in a different location. The ring mat featured an ECW logo, and the WWE logo turnbuckle covers were replaced with blanks. The male performers were also referred to as "Wrestlers" as opposed to "Superstars" (later "Extremists" was used as the official label), and female performers were called "Vixens" instead of Divas. It also featured original ECW talent. Later however, changes were made to differentiate it from the original ECW promotion, including changing the original promotion's rules where weapons were legal in all matches and there were rarely any count outs or disqualifications. WWE now classifies such matches as having "Extreme Rules", and are only fought when specified. The only pay-per-view event hosted exclusively by the ECW brand since its launch was December to Dismember in December 2006. On March 14, 2007, before another one could be scheduled, WWE announced that all future pay-per-views would feature all three brands.
ECW logo (2006–2008)
Former ECW owner Paul Heyman served as the on air "ECW Representative" (a reference to how Heyman had been identified on Monday Night RAW back in 1997). According to an interview in the UK newspaper The Sun, Heyman wrote the brand's weekly scripts and submitted them to writers for possible changes, and then Vince McMahon for final approval. Following the December to Dismember 2006 Heyman was relieved from both his on and off air duties with World Wrestling Entertainment. After Heyman left, there was no ECW authority figure until August 14, 2007, when Armando Estrada was announced as the General Manager. On June 3, 2008 Estrada was replaced by Theodore Long as General Manager of ECW.
ECW on SCI FI
ECW's weekly series was originally given a thirteen episode run as a "summer series" on SCI FI. The premiere received a 2.79 rating, making it the highest rated show on cable in its time slot. Because of its good ratings it was granted an extended run through the end of 2007. On October 23, 2007, the network renewed the series through 2008.
The ECW set used from October 31, 2006 - January 15, 2008.
While the show started out a ratings success, it began drawing criticism from fans of the original ECW early on. This was most evident by the negative crowd reaction "old school" fans gave the main event of Batista vs. the Big Show at the August 1, 2006 show from Hammerstein Ballroom. During the match, fans chanted "Boring", "You both suck", "same old shit" and "change the channel".
On October 16, 2007 a "talent exchange" was started between the SmackDown! and ECW brands, allowing their respective talent to appear on either brand. On May 6, 2008, ECW celebrated its 100th episode on SCI FI.
ECW moved to 9:00PM Eastern/8:00PM Central beginning Tuesday, September 30, 2008.
On September 8, 2008 edition of Raw it was announced a "talent exchange" was started between the Raw and ECW brands, allowing their respective talent to appear on either brand.
Online presence
At ECW's launch, WWE.com introduced Hardcore Hangover, a video feature which allowed fans only in the United States to stream or download video footage from the weekly show. On October 16, 2007 it was replaced by a new feature which made full episodes of the show available for streaming on WWE.com the day after they aired. After gathering a list of names from fans and conducting an online poll, the feature was named ECW X-Stream on October 31, 2007.
Production
ECW's version of the universal WWE HD set has been used since January 21, 2008.
ECW brand shows are held in large arenas as a part of the SmackDown! brand's Tuesday taping schedule. This is in sharp contrast to the original Extreme Championship Wrestling which ran most of its events in smaller venues. The show generally airs live on Tuesdays directly before — when touring the west coast — or after SmackDown! has taped, though it has been recorded and placed on a broadcast delay until later in the night depending on what circumstances dictate.
ECW's initial theme song was "Bodies" by Drowning Pool, which had been used by WWE for Extreme Championship Wrestling since before the brand was established. Since then the theme song has changed between a number of different songs before settling on "Don't Question My Heart", sung by Kyle Morrison of the band Shattersphere. It has also used "This Is the New Shit" by Marilyn Manson. A remix of "Don't Question My Heart" by Saliva featuring Brent Smith is now used.
SMACK DOWN
nemanja6807 | 15 Novembar, 2008 17:00
SMACK DOWN

WWE Friday Night SmackDown is a professional wrestling television program for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) that is currently airing on MyNetworkTV in the United States. The show's name is also used to refer to the SmackDown brand, in which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform on that program; the other programs and brands are Raw and ECW. It is the only television broadcast for the SmackDown brand. From its launch in 1999, SmackDown was shown on Thursday nights, but as of September 9, 2005, the show moved to Friday nights. The show originally debuted in the United States on the UPN television network on August 26, 1999, but after the closure of that network, Friday Night SmackDown was moved to The CW in 2006. The showed remained on the CW network for two years until it was announced that it would move to MyNetworkTV in October 2008. The show is shown in Mexico on TV Azteca and in the United Kingdom on Friday nights on Sky Sports 3 and Sky Sports HD3; due to the time difference, Friday Night SmackDown premieres a few hours earlier in the United Kingdom than the United States. For other broadcast listings, see below.
SmackDown! as it was originally titled first appeared on April 29, 1999 as a single television special on UPN. On August 26, 1999, SmackDown! officially debuted on UPN, in Kansas City, Missouri. Like WCW Thunder, SmackDown! was recorded on Tuesdays and then broadcast on Thursdays. The new WWF show was so popular that WCW moved Thunder to Wednesdays in the hope of holding on to fans rather than losing them to WWF. SmackDown!, like Thunder, made heavy use of the color blue.
WWF SmackDown! logo (1999-2001)
The first SmackDown! set was unique as it featured an oval-shaped TitanTron (which was dubbed the "OvalTron"), entrance and stage which made it stand out from the Raw set and its rectangular TitanTrons. An added feature to the original set was the ability for the OvalTron to be moved to either the left or right of the stage. Throughout the show's early existence, top WWF superstar The Rock routinely called SmackDown! "his" show, in reference to the fact that the name was derived from one of his catchphrases, "Laying the smackdown." In August 2001, as part of celebrating SmackDown!'s second anniversary, the show received a new logo and set. The last SmackDown! to use the previous television set saw Alliance member Rhyno Gore WWF member Chris Jericho through the center screen, destroying part of the set. Brand Extension
In early to mid-2002, WWE underwent a process they called the "Brand Extension". WWE divided itself into two "de facto" wrestling promotions with separate rosters, storylines and authority figures. Raw and SmackDown! would host each division, give its name to the division and essentially compete against each other. The split was a result of WWF purchasing their two biggest competitors, WCW and ECW. The brand extension was publicly announced during a telecast of WWF Raw on March 25, 2002, and became official the next day.
WWF SmackDown! logo (2001-2005)
Wrestlers now would become show-exclusive, wrestling for their specific show only. At the time this excluded the WWE Undisputed Championship and WWE Women's Championship, as those WWE titles would be defended on both shows. In August 2002, WWE Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar refused to defend the title on Raw, in effect causing his title to become exclusive to SmackDown! The following week on Raw, General Manager Eric Bischoff awarded a newly instated World Heavyweight Championship to Raw's designated #1 contender, Triple H. Due to the fact that since the WWE Undisputed Championship was now SmackDown! exclusive it was no longer seen as "Undisputed". Following this, the WWE Women's Championship soon became Raw-exclusive as well. As a result of the Brand Extension, an annual "draft lottery" was instituted to exchange members of each roster and generally refresh the lineups.
On June 6, 2005, WWE Champion John Cena switched brands from SmackDown! to Raw as part of the month-long Draft Lottery. This effectively left SmackDown! without a World Title. During this time, United States Champion Orlando Jordan was billed as the top champion on the show. On June 23, 2005, in Tucson, SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long announced a six-man elimination match between John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Booker T, Chris Benoit, The Undertaker, Christian (replacing The Big Show, who was picked by Raw in the lottery), and Muhammad Hassan to crown the first SmackDown! Champion. On the June 30 episode of SmackDown!, JBL won the match. Long appeared afterward and stated that even though JBL had won the match, SmackDown! did not need a Championship anymore. Batista, the World Heavyweight Champion, entered the ring as SmackDown!'s final draft lottery pick. Long also revealed that JBL was the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Friday Night SmackDown!
The Friday Night SmackDown! logo used from September 9, 2005-January 18, 2008
It was possible that WWE's "lame duck" status with Viacom on Spike TV is what prompted its moving SmackDown! to the Friday night death slot for the Fall 2005 season. However, it worked out for both parties involved, as the show did better in the ratings than it had on Thursdays, while UPN received much better ratings on Fridays than it did before, with its movie night. In addition, UPN had been able to hold on to the ratings from Thursday nights, most notably with comedian Chris Rock's Wonder Years-like sitcom Everybody Hates Chris. In January 2006, prior to the announcement of the CW Network, it was announced that UPN had renewed SmackDown! for two more years.Following the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise, SmackDown! was renamed Friday Night SmackDown! and moved into Enterprise's former timeslot in the United States. WWE promoted this move with the tagline "TV that's changing Friday nights." Friday Night SmackDown! made its season premiere on September 9, 2005. The program still aired on Thursdays in Canada on the Score. In the United Kingdom and Australia, their stations Sky Sports and FOX8 air SmackDown! on Fridays before the United States due to the time difference. This is the first time a major weekly WWE show airs internationally before it hits screens in the U.S.
The events of Hurricane Katrina affected the first edition of Friday Night SmackDown! in the U.S. due to a special fundraising concert (see Shelter From the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast) that aired on UPN at the same time that the first edition would have been broadcast, resulting in only the second hour of the show being shown on UPN. The first hour was instead streamed from WWE's website. Other countries, including Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and the Philippines received the full two-hour show. WWOR-TV (My 9, New York, New York) also aired both hours of the show on tape delay on Saturday, due to a previous commitment to broadcast the New York Yankees on Friday nights.
At the SmackDown! taping on January 10, 2006, Batista had to forfeit the World Heavyweight Championship because of a triceps injury. SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long made a Battle Royal for the vacant title. The winner was at the time Raw superstar Kurt Angle, who later switched to the SmackDown brand. In a break from their traditional role of acting as if SmackDown! is not pre-recorded, WWE.com had a photograph of Angle holding his new title on the main page. WWE also did this when Edge cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to win the World Heavyweight Championship from The Undertaker and when The Great Khali won a battle royal after Edge's injury.
On the April 7, 2006 edition of SmackDown!, SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long announced that the King of the Ring tournament would return after a four year hiatus as a SmackDown!-exclusive tournament. The tournament ended at Judgment Day 2006 with Booker T as the winner, defeating Bobby Lashley in the final.
On June 9, 2006, Tazz left the SmackDown! brand to join the new ECW brand, leaving the color commentator position on SmackDown! vacant. However, on June 11 at One Night Stand 2006, JBL revealed that he would be the new color commentator for SmackDown! He stayed in that position until December 2007 when he left SmackDown! to become an in-ring competitor on Raw. Jonathan Coachman replaced him afterwards.
The CW Network
2006
Variations of the SmackDown! fist and mirrors set were used from August 16, 2001 - January 18, 2008.
On September 22, 2006, Friday Night SmackDown! debuted on the The CW Television Network, a joint venture between CBS Corporation, owner of UPN, and Warner Bros. Entertainment, a subsidiary of Time Warner, majority owner of The WB.
For four weeks before the official premiere (and in preparation for the impending removal of UPN in several markets by the debut of MyNetworkTV on September 5, 2006) of Friday Night SmackDown! on the CW on September 22, 2006, Tribune Broadcasting television stations in six major markets (including WPIX in New York City and KTLA in Los Angeles) aired WWE's Friday Night SmackDown! early in September 2006.Two other future affiliates of The CW, WCWJ in Jacksonville, Florida and WIWB in Green Bay, Wisconsin, also aired SmackDown! in early September as well.
The transition to the CW caused an interruption in the broadcast of SmackDown! in the state of Utah beginning in June when KPNZ in Salt Lake City stopped airing all UPN programs early. The show is now seen on KUCW. In Hawaii, SmackDown! returned in late 2006, airing on a CW digital subchannel of Honolulu's FOX affiliate KHON (Channel 2), which has received statewide carriage over Oceanic Time Warner Cable. Since the move to the CW Network, Friday Night SmackDown! has shown a major increase in ratings now averaging a 3.0 national rating. In addition, SmackDown! has become the second highest watched program on The CW.
2007
On April 20, 2007, SmackDown! celebrated its 400th episode. Ratings success soon followed. On June 8, 2007, Friday Night SmackDown! made CW history by making a three-way tie with CBS and ABC in the key ad demographic, adults 18-49 by drawing a 1.5 rating each. On June 22, 2007, Friday Night SmackDown! again made CW history by tying the network for first place in the key ad demographic, adults 18-49, and being the second most watched network program at 9 p.m. for the night. The CW had not performed as well at any time slot since America's Next Top Model in March 2007. The next week on June 29, 2007, Friday Night SmackDown! helped The CW claim the top spot in the key demographic, Adults 18-49 for Friday. CBS got the overall lead but The CW got top spot for the Adults 18-49 by registering a 1.4 rating followed by CBS and NBC at 1.3, ABC at 1.2, and FOX at 0.9.Then on Friday, July 13, 2007, Friday Night SmackDown! made network history by placing first in the 18-49 demographic and becoming the most watched show at the 9 p.m. hour on network television. This is the first time anything has placed this well on The CW. SmackDown! became a hit show on Friday nights winning the demographics for young males, and ranking second on the demographics (18-49) for Friday nights.
On October 16, 2007 it was announced that the SmackDown! and ECW brands would begin a "talent exchange", allowing their respective talent to appear and compete on either brand, due to the fact that ECW is broadcast live on the same night and from the same arena where Smackdown is taped.2008
In January 2008, SmackDown! debuted in HD with Raw and ECW and dropped the exclamation point from the end of its name. The "SmackDown fist" was removed as well as all WWE shows started using the same, standard set. On February 8, 2008 it was reported that World Wrestling Entertainment and The CW had ended negotiations to keep Friday Night SmackDown on the network. WWE stated that negotiations with other networks has begun and that Friday Night SmackDown would continue to air on The CW through the end of the 2007-2008 broadcast season. On February 26 WWE issued a press release announcing Friday Night SmackDown's move to MyNetworkTV. On May 19, 2008, MyNetworkTV president, Greg Meidel, announced that WWE television would premiere on the network in October 2008, with a recap of WrestleMania XXIV being shown on October 2, 2008, and SmackDown premiering on October 3, 2008.In April 2008, Mick Foley replaced Jonathan Coachman as Color commentator. Following the 2008 WWE Draft, Jim Ross became the new play-by-play announcer for SmackDown, while Michael Cole moved to Raw. The WWE Champion Triple H was also drafted to SmackDown, which gave SmackDown two world championships to be featured on the brand. On June 30, 2008 on Monday Night Raw, CM Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and defeated the World Heavyweight Champion Edge, bringing the World Heavyweight Championship back to Raw. In August 2008, Tazz replaced Foley as the color commentator.
RAW
nemanja6807 | 15 Novembar, 2008 15:22
RAW

WWE Raw is a professional wrestling television program for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States. The show's name, which is trademarked by WWE as RAW,[citation needed] is also used to refer to the Raw brand, in which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform on that program; the other programs and brands are Friday Night SmackDown and ECW. It is the only television broadcast for the Raw brand. The show originally debuted in the United States on the USA Network television network on January 11, 1993. It remained there until 2000, when Raw was moved to TNN, later known as Spike TV. In 2005, the show was moved back to the USA Network. Since it's launch in 1993, Raw continues to air on Monday nights.
The show currently airs live on the USA Network (and on tape delay Wednesdays on mun2, and Sundays on Telemundo [in Spanish]) in the United States. In the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Raw airs on Sky Sports 3. It also currently broadcasts on tape delay in Canada on The Score and Global Quebec, in Australia on FOX8,in Portugal on SIC Radical, in Germany on Premiere (pay television network), in Italy on Sky Italia, in Belgium on AB3, in Finland on MTV3 MAX, in Malaysia on Astro Super Sport, in New Zealand on The Box, in Greece on Supersport 3, in India and Pakistan on Ten Sports, in the Philippines on Jack TV and RPN (through its alliance with C/S), in Chile on Chilevisión, in Mexico on Galavisión and TVC Deportes, in Bulgaria on GTV, in Panama on RPC Canal 4, in Peru on ATV, in Saudi Arabia and Middle east on ART SPORT, in Poland on Extreme Sports Channel, in Romania on TV Sport, in Serbia on FOX Televizija, in South Korea on XTM, in Spain on Cuatro, in France on NT1 and RTL9, in Argentina on Canal 9 (Argentina) and on AFN Xtra. Raw is also currently being aired on Etv in South Africa. It airs in Suriname on Rasonic telivision and on Canal VTV in El Salvador and in Honduras on Canal 5. Occasionally, Raw is aired on same-day tape delay when WWE is on an overseas tour.
Beginning as WWF Monday Night Raw, the program first aired on January 11, 1993 on the USA Network for one hour. The original Raw broke new ground in televised professional wrestling. Traditionally, wrestling shows were taped on sound stages with small audiences or at large arena shows. The Raw formula was very different than that of its predecessor, Prime Time Wrestling. Instead of taped matches, with studio voice overs and taped chat, Raw was a show shot to a live audience, with angles as they happened. The first episode featured Yokozuna defeating Koko B. Ware, The Steiner Brothers defeating The Executioners, WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels defeating Max Moon and The Undertaker defeating Damien Demento. The show also featured an interview with Razor Ramon.
Raw originated from the Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center Studios, a small New York City theater and aired live each week. The combination of an intimate venue and live action proved highly successful. However, the weekly live schedule proved to be a financial drain on the WWF, and taped shows began airing every other week. From early 1994 to September 1999, Raw was shown live on one Monday and then the next day (Tuesday) next Monday's Raw was taped. This meant that Raw was live one week and taped the next.[citation needed]
The storylines and characters during the early years of Raw still had a healthy dose of the old Federation "gimmick-heavy" style. For instance, there were moments such as Irwin R. Schyster tearing up Tatanka's headdress, the various "Undertaker sightings" (during the Undertaker vs. Undertaker storyline, leading up to SummerSlam 1994); and characters like Duke "The Dumpster" Droese, Doink the Clown, or Thurman "Sparky" Plugg.
WWF Monday Night Raw logo (January 1993-March 1997)
Raw was also one of a kind, in which they covered the unexpected, exciting moments, a prelude to the "Attitude Era", in which it coined Raw as "Uncut, Uncensored, Uncooked." Some of those moments include Razor Ramon losing a match unexpectedly to Sean "The 1-2-3 Kid" Waltman, who was later known as X-Pac; Marty Jannetty beating Shawn Michaels to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship; and Raw was the first WWF television program of any kind to show footage of Lex Luger bodyslamming Yokozuna at the USS Intrepid.
The original hosts of Raw were Vince McMahon, Rob Bartlett and "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Sean Mooney conducted the interviews and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan also helped contribute. In March 1993, Rob Bartlett was dropped from the broadcasting team and was replaced by Bobby Heenan. Then on December 6, 1993, Gorilla Monsoon kicked Bobby Heenan out of the WWF forever. In reality, this was a storyline between Monsoon and his close friend Heenan, who decided to leave the World Wrestling Federation in order to lighten his travel schedule and because he didn't want to take a 50% paycut. After about a year, Raw moved out of the Manhattan Center and traveled to various regular Federation venues in the United States.
The Monday Night Wars
In 1995, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) began airing its new wrestling show, Monday Nitro, live each week on TNT. Raw and Nitro went head-to-head for the first time on September 11, 1995. Due to Raw's taping schedule on several occasions, WCW Vice President Eric Bischoff, who was also an on-air personality, would frequently give away the results of WWF's taped Raw shows on the live WCW show. Some fans also looked at Raw taping results on the steadily growing Internet; as a result, this caused the ratings of the taped Raw episodes to be lower.
WWF Raw had a live broadcast every other week to save costs, until September 1999, when ratings and pay-per-view buy rate increased, allowing them to justify doing a weekly live show.
At the start of the ratings war in 1995 through to mid-1996, Raw and Nitro exchanged victories over each other in a closely contested rivalry. Beginning in mid-1996, however, thanks primarily to the nWo angle, Monday Nitro started a ratings win-streak that lasted for eighty-four continuous weeks, ending on April 13,1998.
Raw is War
WWF Raw is War logo (March 1997-September 2001)
On February 3, 1997, Monday Night Raw went to a two hour format, as the Attitude Era was starting to come in full stream in the WWF. In an attempt to break the momentum of what had turned into ratings domination by WCW's competing Monday Nitro, Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) was brought in as Jerry Lawler "challenged" ECW on February 17, 1997.
In an episode where Raw returned to the Manhattan Center, the "challenge" answered on the following week's show with Taz, Mikey Whipwreck, Sabu, Tommy Dreamer, D-Von Dudley, and the Sandman. ECW owner Paul Heyman did a call-in interview on Raw the week after that.
Throughout 1997, there were more and more controversial elements in Raw and WWF programming. Memorable moments included Bret Hart swearing at the crowd after losing a steel cage match, with commentators apologizing for his behavaior, and then entering a major brawl with Sid, The Undertaker, Steve Austin, and briefly Shawn Michaels. Some of the most notable moments included the profusely intense feud with The Hart Foundation versus Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin, which saw Raw develop a memorable episode in which Michaels and Austin beat The British Bulldog and Owen Hart for the Tag Team Championship, and whilst they post match attacked Michaels, Austin attacked a disabled Bret Hart to lure them away from Michaels. Other events saw the new black street gang Nation of Domination formed, and Shawn Michaels D-Generation X "racial graffiti" storyline designed to "implicate Bret Hart's 'the Hart Foundation'", and the "XXX Files" series.
On March 10, 1997, Monday Night Raw officially became Raw is War. The March 17, 1997 episode featured a heated Bret Hart/Vince McMahon ringside altercation (that unknowingly foreshadowed events in November) with profanity normally unheard on TV. Brian Pillman did a series of "XXX Files" segments with Terri Runnels, which further "pushed the envelope". These segments ended prematurely with the September 29, 1997 episode of Raw, after the death of Pillman on October 5, 1997 due to hereditary heart problems.
After WrestleMania XIV in March 1998, which featured Mike Tyson as a ring enforcer, and Shawn Michaels final match up until 2001, the WWF regained the lead in the Monday Night Wars with its new "WWF Attitude" brand, led in particular by rising stars Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H and Mankind. The classic feud between the villainous WWF Chairman Vince McMahon (who was re-imagined and re-branded from the color commentator into the evil company chairman character Mr. McMahon after the real-life Montreal Screwjob incident) and fan favorite Steve Austin (who had been released by Bischoff in the summer of 1995 for not being marketable) caught the imaginations of fans. The April 13, 1998 episode of Raw, headlined by a match between Austin and McMahon, marked the first time that WCW had lost the head-to-head Monday night ratings battle in the 84 weeks since 1996.
While Raw was taking a new approach to programming, Nitro would start producing lackluster shows with the same storylines. Older stars such as Hogan and Nash frequented the main events, while younger talent such as Rey Mysterio Jr., Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero were not given opportunities to advance, and the only newcomers elevated to main-event status at this time were Bill Goldberg and Diamond Dallas Page.
Meanwhile, on Raw, fans were immersed in the feud between WWF owner Vince McMahon and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. New talent such as Triple H being the new leader D-Generation X (DX) faction, Mankind and The Rock were elevated to main event status on the WWF's program. Superstars such as Kane, Val Venis, Goldust, etc. were coming through the ranks and exposing the WWF as the place where new talent comes through unlike the WCW counterpart. Things were so heated between the two programs that, when both shows were in the same area on the same night (Raw in Hampton, Virginia, Nitro in Norfolk), DX was sent to film a "war" segment at the Norfolk Scope where they berated WCW and interviewed fans on camera who stated that they received their Nitro tickets for free (presumably in an attempt by WCW to pack the arena as full as possible due to low ticket sales).
On January 4, 1999. Mick Foley, who had wrestled for WCW during the early 1990s as Cactus Jack, won the WWF Title as Mankind on Raw. On orders from Bischoff, Nitro announcer Tony Schiavone gave away this previously taped result on the live Nitro, and then sarcastically added "that'll sure put some butts in the seats"; over 600,000 viewers changed channels to watch Raw. This was also the night that Nitro aired a WCW World Championship match in which Kevin Nash blatantly laid down for Hulk Hogan after Hogan poked him in the chest. The next week, and for months after, many fans in the Raw audience brought signs which read, "Mick Foley put my ass in this seat!"
The end of the Wars
PRELAZAK WWF U WWE
nemanja6807 | 15 Novembar, 2008 15:02
WORLD WRESTELING FEDERATION

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 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 the 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'. 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.
WWE superstars performing for the Coalition troops at Camp Victory
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 in 2004 to exchange members of each roster and generally refresh the lineups.
In late 2005, WWE Raw returned after a five-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 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 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. On January 21, 2008, WWE made the transition to high-definition (HD). All TV shows and pay-per-views after this were broadcast in HD. In addition, WWE also introduced a new state of the art set that was used for all three brands.
Wellness Program
The 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, thirty-eight 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.
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.
On the other hand, it has not been mentioned in public outside WWE.com that because of the Wellness Policy, physicians were able to diagnose one of their performers with a heart ailment that otherwise would have likely gone unnoticed until it was too late. In August 2007, then-reigning U.S. Champion MVP 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.
Expansion beyond wrestling
In addition to licensing wrestling and performers' likenesses to companies such as Acclaim, THQ, and Jakks Pacific 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.
* 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, 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.
AMERICKO RVANJE(WWE)
nemanja6807 | 15 Novembar, 2008 14:48
WWE-WORLD WRESTWLING ENTERTAINMENT

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 the voting power in the company.
The company's global headquarters are located in Stamford, Connecticut with offices in Los Angeles, New York City, 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 which combines wrestling with acting and theatre. 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 and the ECW Championship, which is not recognized by PWI.
WWE's revenue in 2007 was approximately $486 million, with a net profit of approximately $52 million. As of August 2006,the company's market capitalization is over $1 billion.Its.stock is traded on the NYSE as WWE.