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WWE: The History Of The Intercontinental Championship
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It's a WWE Championship with a rich and storied history and the biggest names in sports entertainment have worn its gold on the road to immortality. The Intercontinental Championship traced its history back to the 1970's, and has been held by current and future Hall of Fame superstars, including The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Ultimate Warrior, Bret "Hit Man" Hart, Mr. Perfect, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, and so many more. Throughout the summer, fans will vote for their favorite Intercontinental Championship matches from each decade, with the top vote-getters being collected in this 3-DVD set.
11-25-2008
9h 0m
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Main Cast
Movie Details
Production Info
Director:
Kevin Dunn
Production:
WWE Home Video
Key Crew
Producer:
Vince McMahon
Executive Producer:
Vince McMahon
Writers' Assistant:
Shelton Benjamin
Writers' Assistant:
Michael Hickenbottom
Writers' Assistant:
Scott Hall
Locations and Languages
Country:
US
Filming:
US
Languages:
en
Main Cast
Chris Irvine
Christopher Keith Irvine, better known by his ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler and singer. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of the stable known as Jericho Appreciation Society. Noted for his over-the-top rock star persona, he has been named by journalists and industry colleagues as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
During the 1990s, Jericho performed for American organizations Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), as well as for promotions in countries such as Canada, Japan, and Mexico. At the end of 1999, he made his debut in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 2001, he became the first Undisputed WWF Champion, and thus the final holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (then referred to as the World Championship), having won and unified the WWF and World titles by defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock on the same night. Jericho headlined multiple pay-per-view (PPV) events during his time with the WWF/WWE, including WrestleMania X8 and the inaugural TLC and the Elimination Chamber matches and the shows itself. He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2010.
Within the WWF/WWE, Jericho is a six-time world champion, having won the Undisputed WWF Championship once, the WCW/World Championship twice and the World Heavyweight Championship three times. He has also held the WWE Intercontinental Championship a record nine times and was the ninth Triple Crown Champion, as well as the fourth Grand Slam Champion in history. In addition, he was the 2008 Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner and (along with Big Show as Jeri-Show) won the 2009 Tag Team of the Year Slammy Award—making him the only winner of both Superstar and Tag Team of the Year.
After his departure from WWE in 2018, Jericho signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he became a one-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion, and becoming the first man to have held both the WWE and IWGP Intercontinental Championships. Jericho joined AEW in January 2019 and became the inaugural holder of the AEW World Championship in August of that year. All totalled, between ECW, WCW, WWE, NJPW and AEW, Jericho has held 36 championships (including seven World Championships, and 10 Intercontinental Championships).
In 1999, Jericho became lead vocalist of heavy metal band Fozzy, who released their eponymous debut album the following year. The group's early work is composed largely of cover versions, although they have focused primarily on original material from their third album, All That Remains (2005), onward. Jericho has also appeared on numerous television shows over the years, including the 2011 season of Dancing With the Stars. He hosted the ABC game show Downfall, the 2011 edition of the Revolver Golden Gods Awards, and the UK's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in 2012 and 2017.
Merced Solis, better known by the ring name Tito Santana, is an American professional wrestler and middle school teacher. Santana has stayed a babyface his entire career and he is best known for his appearances with WWE between 1979 and 1993 (missing part of 1980 and returning in 1983) where he was twice the WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion and twice held the WWE Tag Team Championship. He also won the 1989 King of the Ring tournament, and wrestled at all of the first nine WrestleMania events, as well as helping bridge the gap between the 1980s "Rock 'n Wrestling Connection" era to the 1990s "New Generation" era. Santana was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004. During his time in WWE, Santana, despite being born and raised in Texas, was billed from "Tocula, Mexico", which may be a misspelled reference to the city of Toluca. Santana still appears on the independent circuit.
Randy Mario Poffo (November 15, 1952 – May 20, 2011), better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, was an American professional wrestler best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
Savage was described by sportswriter Bill Simmons as "one of the greatest pro wrestlers who ever lived"—a statement echoed by multiple industry performers. He was recognizable by wrestling fans for his distinctively flamboyant ring attire and raspy voice, intensity exhibited in and out of the ring, use of the finale from "Pomp and Circumstance March no. 1" by Elgar as his entrance music, and signature catchphrase, "Oooh yeah!" For most of his tenures in the WWF and WCW, Savage was managed by his real-life wife, Miss Elizabeth Hulette.
Savage had six world championship reigns during his 32-year career, including two as WWF World Heavyweight Champion and four as WCW World Heavyweight Champion. As WWF Champion, he held similar drawing power as Hulk Hogan. A one-time WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion, he was named by WWE as the greatest titleholder of all time and credited for bringing "a higher level of credibility to the title through his amazing in-ring performances".
Savage was the 1987 WWF King of the Ring and the 1995 WCW World War 3 winner. He headlined many pay-per-view events throughout his career, including WrestleManias IV, V, and VIII (being part of a double main event at VIII), two of the first five SummerSlam shows, and 1995 Starrcade. He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame upon its inception in 1996, with a posthumous WWE Hall of Fame induction following in 2015.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Randy Savage, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Richard Erwin Rood, better known by his ring name "Ravishing" Rick Rude, was an American professional wrestler who performed for many promotions, including World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and WWE, in the 1980s and 1990s. Among other accolades, Rude was a five-time world champion (three-time WCW International World Heavyweight Champion, one-time WCWA World Heavyweight Champion, and one-time NWA American Heavyweight Championship), one-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, and one-time WCW United States Champion. The self-proclaimed "Sexiest Man Alive", Rude's physique has been named by WWE as the greatest in the history of professional wrestling. He is also recognized by the promotion as one of the greatest talkers of all time. Rude was one of the four original members of D-Generation X in 1997, alongside Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Chyna.
Theodore Marvin DiBiase Sr. is an American former professional wrestler, manager, ordained minister and color commentator. He is signed with WWE working in their Legends program. DiBiase achieved championship success in a number of wrestling promotions, holding thirty titles during his professional wrestling career. He is best recalled by mainstream audiences for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where he wrestled as "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. IGN called DiBiase "one of the most gifted technical wrestlers to ever grace the squared-circle"; he has been named as one of the greatest villains in pro wrestling history.
Kenneth Wayne Patera is an American retired professional wrestler, Olympic weightlifter, and strongman competitor from the United States. Ken Patera, from a Czech-American family, was strong and extraordinarily athletic, with many people in his family also successful in athletics. His brother, Jack Patera, played football for the Baltimore Colts and was the head coach for the Seattle Seahawks from 1976 until 1982. His brother, Dennis Patera, played for the San Francisco 49ers. Ken played football at Cleveland High School in Portland, Oregon, and wrestled at 193 pounds. Track and field was his first love, however, and he competed in the high hurdles and high jump, but a serious ankle injury forced him to switch to the shot put and discus in high school. Ken grew to become one of the nation's premier track and field weight throwers, competing at Brigham Young University. After his disappointing 6th-place finish in the shot-put at the 1968 Olympic trials, he turned his full and complete attention towards Olympic weightlifting. Before becoming a professional wrestler, Patera was a highly decorated Olympic weightlifter. He won several medals at the 1971 Pan-American Games (including gold in the weightlifting total), and finished second in the 1971 World Weightlifting Championships just behind Vasily Alekseyev. On his native soil, Patera won four consecutive U.S. Weightlifting Championships in the super heavyweight class from 1969 to 1972. He was the first American to clean and jerk over 500 lbs (227 kg), which he accomplished at the 1972 Senior Nationals in Detroit. He is also the only American to clean and press 500 lbs (227 kg), and was the last American super heavyweight for years to excel at weightlifting at an international level.[6] At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, Patera was expected to be a serious competitor to Vasily Alekseyev, but he failed to total and was not among the medal recipients. Vasily Alekseyev even stated to the media that Patera was even stronger than him, illustrated by a 550-pound overhead push press (off the racks) that Patera had allegedly done in practice. Nevertheless, when it came to competing, Alekseyev was always the winner. After the clean and press (a lift in which Patera was disproportionately talented) was eliminated from competition, Patera retired from weightlifting.
Pedro Antonio Morales was a Puerto Rican professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the United States with Worldwide Wrestling Associates (WWA) and the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF).
Debuting in 1959, Morales originally came to prominence with WWA in the 1960s, where he held the World Heavyweight Championship and World Tag Team Championship. In 1970, he joined the WWWF, winning its World Heavyweight Championship and United States Championship. In a second run with the by-then World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the 1980s, he won the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship and Tag Team Championship, establishing himself as the promotion's first Triple Crown Champion. He retired from professional wrestling in 1987.
A popular champion, Morales had particular appeal to his native Puerto Ricans and the wider Latino audience. The first Latino to hold a world heavyweight championship, his combined reign as WWWF Heavyweight Champion remains among the longest in history. He also holds the record for most days as Intercontinental Champion. He was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1995, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in 2015 and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2017.
Don Muraco is an American retired professional wrestler and podcaster. He is best known for his appearances with WWE from 1981 to 1988, where he held the WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship on two occasions and was crowned the inaugural winner of the King of the Ring tournament in 1985. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004 and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2014.
James Reiher was a Fijian American professional wrestler. He is better known by the ring name Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. Snuka wrestled for several promotions from the 1970s to 2010s. He was best known for his time in WWE in the 1980s and was credited with introducing the high-flying style of wrestling to the WWE. He was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1996, but was quietly removed from the Hall of Fame section of WWE's website, in 2015, after he was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend in 1983. Snuka was the inaugural ECW World Heavyweight Champion (a title he held twice) in Eastern Championship Wrestling (later Extreme Championship Wrestling). His children, Sim Snuka and Tamina Snuka are both professional wrestlers. Snuka was indicted and arrested in September 2015 on third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter charges, in relation to the May 1983 death of his girlfriend, Nancy Argentino, in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Snuka pleaded not guilty, but was ultimately found unfit to stand trial in June 2016 due to being diagnosed with dementia. As his health declined, the charges were dismissed on January 3, 2017. Snuka died twelve days later at the age of 73.
John Wisniski, Jr. is an American professional wrestler, better known as Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. He is the son of wrestler Johnny Valentine. In the course of his career, which has spanned over four decades, Valentine has held more than 40 championships, including the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship and the WWE Intercontinental Championship. An alumnus of WWE and World Championship Wrestling, he was inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004.
Richard Henry Blood better known by his ring name Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, is a retired American professional wrestler. He is best known for his work with the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and WWE. In the NWA and WCW, he was a one-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, a four-time United States Heavyweight Champion, a four-time World Television Champion, a twelve-time World Tag Team Champion (eight-time under the WCW banner, one-time (though unofficial) under the NWA banner, and three-time under the Mid-Atlantic banner), and a two-time Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion. In WWE, Steamboat was a one-time WWE Intercontinental Champion and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.
Roy Wayne Farris, better known by his ring name The Honky Tonk Man, is an American professional wrestler. A 1975 graduate from University of Memphis with a B.S. degree in Education, Farris coached high school football for two seasons at Munford High School in Munford, Tennessee. Currently working on the independent circuit, he previously worked for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling Federation (WWF)--now WWE. He is best known for his first run with WWF, where he held the WWF Intercontinental Championship for a record 64 weeks, and lost it to Ultimate Warrior in the very first pay-per-view of SummerSlam. He is the cousin of professional wrestler and color commentator Jerry "The King" Lawler.
Warrior (born James Brian Hellwig) is a retired American professional wrestler, who has wrestled under the ring names The Ultimate Warrior, Warrior and Dingo Warrior. He is best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1987 to 1991 and again in 1992 and 1996, and in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1998. He won the WWF Championship when he pinned Hulk Hogan in the main event of WrestleMania VI. Hellwig legally changed his name to Warrior in 1993. Warrior retired from professional wrestling in 1999 and embarked on a public speaking career. On June 25, 2008, he returned to wrestle Orlando Jordan in Barcelona, Spain defeating him in a match booked by the Italian Nu-Wrestling Evolution promotion. Warrior was described by World Wrestling Entertainment as having been "the ultimate archetype of strength and intensity", and "one of the most intense and physically impressive competitors to ever appear in the WWE".
Curtis Michael "Curt" Hennig was an American professional wrestler, manager and color commentator who performed under his real name for the American Wrestling Association (AWA), WWE, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). In WWE, he found his greatest success as Mr. Perfect, a nickname introduced in his second run with the company which gradually became his official ring name. Hennig used the same ring name in his third and final run, however, his real name was widely acknowledged. He was the son of wrestler Larry "The Axe" Hennig, and father to current WWE superstar Joe "Curtis Axel" Hennig. Hennig is recognized by WWE as a one-time world champion, having held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship for 373 days (the seventh-longest reign in history). He won three additional world championships: the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship once, and the i-Generation World Heavyweight Championship twice. A two-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, Hennig has been named by WWE as one of the greatest Intercontinental Champions of all time, and was the longest-reigning champion of the 1990s. In addition to winning multiple championships in WCW during the late 1990s, he served as the enforcer of the Four Horsemen, a member of the New World Order, and leader of stable and country music group, West Texas Rednecks, who recorded the tongue-in-cheek song, "Rap is Crap", later described by WWE as a "stunningly popular and infectious earworm." Hennig returned to WWE for a brief period in 2002, being one of the last three men remaining at the Royal Rumble. He later challenged for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in TNA, prior to his death on February 10, 2003. WCW described Hennig as "one of the best all-round competitors this business has ever produced"; WWE, in a posthumous publication, hailed him as a "flawless technician" who "brought the Intercontinental Title a new level of credibility during his two reigns and set a higher standard for technical wrestling in WWE." He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007 by former Major League Baseball third baseman, and longtime friend, Wade Boggs. A number of Hennig's peers consider him to be one of the greatest in-ring performers of all time; former on-screen rival Hulk Hogan remarked: "Everybody would check their egos at the door when they came to a building that Curt Hennig was in, because you couldn't out-work him, you couldn't outshine him and you couldn't out-perform him. He was the best of the best." On February 10, 2003, Hennig was found dead in a Florida hotel room. The Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office declared acute cocaine intoxication to be the cause of his death. His father said that steroids and painkillers also contributed to his death.
WWE aired a video tribute as well as words from friends and former co-workers Jerry "The King" Lawler and Jim Ross on Raw following the news of Hennig's death. TNA paid tribute to Hennig by displaying his wrestling singlet and a framed photo as he was employed by TNA at the time of his death. A tribute song about Hennig, "My Perfect Friend", was featured on the 2003 "Macho Man" Randy Savage album Be a Man. Other peers including Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels have also commended Hennig's in-ring talents.
Bret Sergeant Hart is a Canadian on-screen personality, writer, actor and retired professional and amateur wrestler. Like others in the Hart wrestling family, Hart has an amateur wrestling background, including wrestling at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal College. Along with his famed "Hit Man" nickname, Hart's agile, technical style earned him the moniker, "The Excellence of Execution". He was also known as "The Pink and Black Attack", in reference to his ring attire, as well as his signature mirrored sunglasses, which he would routinely give away to a young audience member before matches.
Hart debuted in professional wrestling in 1978 with his father, Stu Hart's promotion, Stampede Wrestling, and enjoyed mainstream popularity and championship success throughout the 1980s and 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF—later WWE), where he helmed the Hart Foundation, a faction of Hart family members and allies. He defected to World Championship Wrestling (WCW) following the controversial "Montreal Screwjob" in 1997, where he enjoyed continued championship success until his departure from that promotion in 2000, due to a concussion that would force his retirement that same year. Hart became the on-screen commissioner of World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) in 2001, but this role came to a premature conclusion when he suffered a 2002 stroke, which temporarily rendered him a wheelchair user. Upon recovering, he continued to make non-wrestling appearances with independent promotions throughout the remainder of the decade, and, in 2005, returned to WWE programming. Hart was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by former on-screen rival, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the following year. He returned to sporadic in-ring competition with WWE in 2010, where he won his final championship and also briefly served as the General Manager of Raw. Hart continues to make appearances on WWE programming.
Hart has held championships in every decade from the 1970s onward, with a total of thirty-two held throughout his career, and seventeen held between the WWF/WWE and WCW. Among other accolades, he is a seven-time world champion, having held the WWF Championship five times (with the highest number of combined days as champion in the 1990s) and the WCW World Heavyweight Championship twice (being the first non-American born United States champion); a record-tying five-time WCW/WWE United States Champion, with his four WCW reigns being the most in the history of the organization; and the second WWF Triple Crown Champion. In addition to championships, he is the 1994 Royal Rumble winner (with Lex Luger), and the only two-time King of the Ring in WWE history, having won the 1991 tournament and the first King of the Ring pay-per-view in 1993. Hart has been described by WWE and WCW publications, fellow wrestlers, prominent industry figures and fans as one of the greatest, and most popular, professional wrestlers of all time.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Bret Hart, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
David "Davey Boy" Smith was a British professional wrestler, also known as The British Bulldog.
He found success as both a singles and tag competitor, holding every major title in the WWF except the WWF Championship. Although never a world champion, he headlined multiple pay-per-view events in the WWF and WCW.
Scott Oliver Hall was an American professional wrestler. He was known for his work within the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) as Razor Ramon and with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under his real name.
Hall began his career in 1984, before rising to prominence after signing with the WWF in May 1992, assuming the name Razor Ramon. While within the company, he won the WWF Intercontinental Championship four times. He departed the company in May 1996, and subsequently defected to WCW, where he became a founding member of the New World Order (nWo) faction, along with Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash. In the company, he became a two-time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion, a one-time WCW World Television Champion, and a nine-time WCW World Tag Team Champion. He left WCW in February 2000, and returned to the WWF (later renamed WWE) for a short stint in 2002. He spent the rest of his career wrestling for various promotions, such as Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he held the TNA World Tag Team Championship once, with Kevin Nash and Eric Young.
Although he never won a world championship in a major promotion, Hall was nonetheless a two-time world champion, as he held the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship and the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a singles competitor in 2014, and again as a member of the nWo in 2020.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Scott Hall, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Michael Shawn Hickenbottom, better known by his ring name, Shawn Michaels, is an American professional wrestling personality, television presenter and retired professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he has served as an ambassador for the company since December 2010. Michaels wrestled for WWE, from 1988 until his first retirement in 1998, owing to a severe back injury. He appeared in non-wrestling roles from 1998 to 2000 and resumed his wrestling career in 2002 until retiring ceremoniously in 2010. In the WWE, Michaels headlined major pay per view events in four decades from the 1980s to the 2010s, closing the company's premier annual event WrestleMania on five occasions
Michaels was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2011. Following Michaels' induction, WWE said of Michaels, "Ask any Superstar on the WWE roster who the most gifted sports-entertainer of all time is and nearly everyone will have the same answer Shawn Michaels." Michaels is a four time world champion: a three-time WWF Champion and a former World Heavyweight Champion. He was also the winner of the 1995 and 1996 Royal Rumbles and was the company's first Grand Slam Champion. He has also won the PWI Match of the Year Award a record eleven times. Michaels currently resides in San Antonio, Texas with his wife, Rebecca, and their two children.
Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett is an American professional wrestler and wrestling promoter signed with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, which he co-founded along with his father, Jerry. He is well-known from his multiple runs in World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Federation during the 1990s. A third-generation wrestler, Jarrett has held seventy championships in various promotions throughout his career. Within TNA, he is a former six-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion and is also a former four-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and one-time AAA World Heavyweight Champion. He has also accumulated five additional world title reigns, being a three-time USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion and two-time WWA World Heavyweight Champion. He achieved notable championship success in the World Wrestling Federation, becoming a six-time Intercontinental Champion, and one of four men to hold both the Intercontinental and European Championshipssimultaneously. He is the first wrestler to be a two-time King of the Mountain, and also won Mexican promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración's (AAA) Rey de Reyes tournament in 2004. Between the WWF, WCW, and TNA, Jarrett has held twenty-two total championships as well as other numerous regional titles.
An American and Canadian actor, producer and semi-retired professional wrestler, signed with WWE. Johnson is half-Black and half-Samoan. His father, Rocky Johnson, is a Black Canadian, from Nova Scotia, and part of the first Black tag team champions in WWE history back when it was known as the WWF along with Tony Atlas. His mother is Samoan and the daughter of Peter Maivia, who was also a pro wrestler. Maivia's wife, Lia Maivia, was one of wrestling's few female promoters, taking over Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling after her husband's death in 1982, until 1988. Through his mother, he is considered a non-blood relative of the Anoa'i wrestling family. On March 29, 2008, The Rock inducted his father and his grandfather into the WWE Hall of Fame.
As of 2014, Johnson has a home in Southwest Ranches, Florida as well as Los Angeles, California. He also owns a farm in Virginia. In 2009, Johnson gained citizenship in Canada in honor of his father's background. Though Johnson was previously registered as a Republican, he voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 and 2012 United States presidential elections and is now an independent voter. He stated he did not vote in the 2016 U.S. election.
In recognition of his service to the Samoan people, and because he is a descendant of Samoan chiefs, Johnson had the noble title of Seiuli bestowed upon him by Malietoa Tanumafili II during his visit there in July 2004. He received a partial Samoan pe'a tattoo on his left side in 2003,and, in 2017, had the small "Brahma bull" tattoo on his right arm covered with a larger half-sleeve tattoo of a bull's skull.
Johnson married Dany Garcia on May 3, 1997. Their only child together, a daughter named Simone, was born in August 2001. On June 1, 2007, they announced they were splitting up amicably. Johnson then began dating Lauren Hashian, daughter of Boston drummer Sib Hashian. They first met in 2006 while Johnson was filming The Game Plan. Their first child together, a daughter, was born in December 2015. Their second child, another daughter, was born in April 2018.
Johnson attended the 2000 Democratic National Convention as part of WWE's non-partisan "Smackdown Your Vote" campaign, which aimed to influence young people to vote. He also had a speaking role at the 2000 Republican National Convention that same year.
In 2006, Johnson founded the Dwayne Johnson Rock Foundation, a charity working with at-risk and terminally ill children. On October 2, 2007, he and his ex-wife donated $1 million to the University of Miami to support the renovation of its football facilities; it was noted as the largest donation ever given to the university's athletics department by former students. The University of Miami renamed the Hurricanes' locker room in Johnson's honor. In 2015, Johnson donated $1,500 to a GoFundMe to pay for an abandoned dog's surgery. In 2017, he donated $25,000 to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. In 2018, Johnson donated a gym to a military base in Oahu, Hawaii. After the 2018 Hawaii floods, he worked with Malama Kauai, a nonprofit organization, to help repair damages caused by the floods.
Steven James Anderson, formerly Steven James Williams, better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American film and television actor and retired professional wrestler currently signed to WWE. Austin wrestled for several well-known wrestling promotions such as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and most famously, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which later became World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002. Billed as "The Most Popular Superstar in WWE History", he gained significant mainstream popularity in the WWF during the mid-to-late 1990s as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, a disrespectful, beer-drinking antihero who routinely defied his boss, Vince McMahon. This defiance was often shown by Austin flipping off McMahon and incapacitating him with the Stone Cold Stunner, his finishing move. McMahon inducted Austin into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009. Austin held nineteen championships throughout his professional wrestling career, and is recognized by WWE as a six-time world champion, having held the WWF Championship on six occasions, and the fifth Triple Crown Champion. He was also the winner of the 1996 King of the Ring tournament, as well as the 1997, 1998 and 2001 Royal Rumbles. He was forced to retire from in ring competition in early 2003 due to a series of knee and neck injuries sustained throughout his career. Throughout the rest of 2003 and 2004, he was featured as the Co-General Manager and "Sheriff" of Raw. Since 2005, he has continued to make occasional appearances. In 2011, Steve Austin returned to WWE to host the reality series Tough Enough. On August 14, 2002, Austin was arrested and charged with domestic abuse. He pleaded no contest on November 25, 2002, and was given a year's probation, a $1,000 fine, and ordered to carry out 80 hours of community service.] Marshall told Fox News that Austin beat her three times and that the 2002 incident was the result of roid rage. She also stated that WWE knew of the abuse, working to conceal the bruises on her face, and kept her from revealing that Austin hit her, as it would cost the company millions of dollars.
During his early years as a wrestler, Austin was a technical wrestler. However, after his neck injury against Owen Hart in 1997, he changed his style from technical to brawler. His most famous finishing move is the Stone Cold Stunner, or simply Stunner. During his time as The Ringmaster he used the Million Dollar Dream as finisher, since it was Ted DiBiase's finisher. During his time in WCW, Austin used the Stun Gun as finisher
One of Austin's taunts during the Attitude Era was to show the middle finger. In August 2001, Austin cut a promo, debuting his catchphrase "What?", which is used today by fans when they want to mock wrestlers during promos
Paul Michael Lévesque is an American professional wrestler, actor and WWE executive, better known by his ring name Triple H, an abbreviation of his former ring name, Hunter Hearst Helmsley. As well as wrestling on the Raw brand, Levesque is a Senior Advisor to WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, and Head of WWE's talent development department.
Before joining WWE, Levesque began his wrestling career with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1994, wrestling under the ring name Terra Ryzing and later as Jean-Paul Lévesque. Levesque joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1995 with the on-screen persona of wealthy sophisticate Hunter Hearst Helmsley. He later abbreviated his name to Triple H and adopted an alternative image in the stable D-Generation X (DX). After the dissolution of DX, Triple H was pushed as a main event wrestler, winning several singles championships. As part of a storyline, Triple H married Stephanie McMahon, who later became his real-life spouse. In 2003, Triple H formed another stable known as Evolution, and in 2006 and 2009, reformed DX with Shawn Michaels. Overall, Levesque has won 23 championships in WWF/E, including thirteen World Championships, having won the WWF/E Championship a record eight times (tied with John Cena), and the World Heavyweight Championship five times (Triple H is also recognized as the first World Heavyweight Champion under WWE's lineage). He has the highest number of world title reigns of all active WWE wrestlers. In addition, Levesque won the 1997 King of the Ring, the 2002 Royal Rumble, and was the second Grand Slam Championship winner. Outside wrestling, Levesque has made numerous guest appearances in film and on television
Kurt Steven Angle is an American retired professional wrestler, Olympic gold medalist in American freestyle wrestling, and former collegiate wrestler. He is best known for his tenures in WWE and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
While at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Angle won numerous accolades, including being a two-time NCAA Division I Wrestling Champion in the heavyweight division. After graduating from college, Angle won the gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 1995 World Wrestling Championships. He then won the freestyle wrestling gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics with a broken neck. He is one of four people to complete an amateur wrestling Grand Slam (Junior Nationals, NCAA, World Championships, and Olympics). In 2006, he was named by USA Wrestling as the greatest shoot wrestler ever and one of the top 15 college wrestlers of all time. He was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2016 for his amateur accomplishments.
Angle made his first appearance at a pro-wrestling event in 1996, and signed with WWE in 1999. Noted for his rapid comprehension of the business, he had his debut match that August within the company's developmental system after mere days of training, and participated in his first televised WWE storyline in March 1999. After months of dark matches, Angle made his televised in-ring debut in November and received his first major push in the company in February 2000, when he held the European and Intercontinental Championships simultaneously. Four months later, he won the 2000 King of the Ring tournament and soon thereafter began pursuing the WWE Championship, which he won in October. This capped off a WWE rookie year which is considered by many to be the greatest in history. Among other accomplishments in the WWE, Angle has held the WWE Championship four times, the WCW Championship once, and the World Heavyweight Championship once. He is the tenth Triple Crown Champion and the fifth Grand Slam Champion in WWE history. On March 31, 2017, Angle was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
After leaving WWE in 2006, Angle joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) where he became the inaugural and record six-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion, and the second Triple Crown winner in TNA history. Angle is also a two-time King of the Mountain. As part of TNA, he made appearances for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), holding the IWGP Heavyweight Championship once. In 2013, Angle was inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame: he is the second wrestler, after Sting, to be inducted into both the WWE and TNA Halls of Fame.
Eduardo Gory "Eddy" Guerrero Llanes was an American professional wrestler born into the Guerrero wrestling family. He wrestled in Mexico and Japan for several major professional wrestling promotions. In the United States, Guerrero wrestled in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and in WWE. Guerrero's gimmick was that of "Latino Heat", a crafty, resourceful wrestler who would do anything to win a match. His catchphrase became "I Lie! I Cheat! I Steal!," which was used in one of his entrance themes. Guerrero partly used this phrase in his autobiography Cheating Death, Stealing Life. Despite being a villain for most of his career, he got over in and outside the ring being the youngest, yet most popular and successful of the Guerrero brothers. Guerrero was widely regarded as one of the most respected and gifted technical wrestlers in history. Throughout his career, Guerrero encountered various substance abuse problems outside of wrestling, including alcoholism and an addiction to painkillers. His real-life problems were sometimes integrated into his storylineswhich he agreed to. Guerrero won 23 titles during his career, including the WWE Championship.
Sean Michael Waltman is an American professional wrestler currently signed with WWE under their WWE Legends program. He wrestled there under the ring names 1–2–3 Kid and X-Pac off and on from 1993 to 2002,World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under the ring name Syxx, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) under the ring name Syxx-Pac and also under his real name. Waltman has won a dozen total championships between WWE, WCW, and TNA, with the majority of them being cruiserweight and tag team titles. He is the only wrestler in history to have held the TNA X Division Championship, the WCW Cruiserweight Championship and the WWE Light Heavyweight Championship; he also held the WWF/WCW Cruiserweight and Light Heavyweight titles simultaneously at one point. Waltman is a member of the group known in wrestling as The Kliq; which consists of Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. On April 2, 2011, Waltman returned to WWE television to celebrate, with Kevin Nash and Triple H, their longtime friend Shawn Michaels' induction into the 2011 WWE Hall of Fame.
Waltman attended the Hall of Fame again, with The Kliq. On July 23, he, Billy Gunn and Road Dogg returned to join Shawn Michaels and Triple H for a D-Generation X reunion on the 1000th episode of Raw. In early 2013, The Kliq/DX reunited for an episode of NXT.
In early March 2013, Waltman signed a WWE Legends contract (a long-term contract which gives WWE merchandising rights to a wrestler's name and likeness, requires occasional appearances and prevents them from working for competing major promotions, but allows for independent appearances).
On April 5, 2014 the night before WrestleMania XXX, Waltman joined Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Kevin Nash at Scott Hall's WWE Hall of Fame induction, reuniting The Kliq.
On the January 19, 2015 episode of Raw, labelled Raw Reunion, Damien Mizdow appeared with Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall and Triple H dressed as X-Pac, only for X-Pac to confront him (finding the impersonation funny), until The Miz interrupted them to tell them that Mizdow was only his stunt double, and that the party was over. He appeared again with Hall and Nash, being interrupted by The Ascension, who were attempting to attack them, only to be joined by The APA and The New Age Outlaws in fending off The Ascension. At WrestleMania 31, X-Pac along with the New Age Outlaws and Shawn Michaels helped Triple H win his match against Sting. They were backstage at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn in August 2015. Waltman returned at Raw 25 and reunited with DX and Scott Hall. He also appeared at NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2018) in the crowd with his dog.
Jeffrey Nero Hardy is an American professional wrestler and musician. He is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he is a former three-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion and a former two-time TNA World Tag Team Champion. He is known for his tenures in WWE and All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time as well as one of the most daring high flyers and risktakers throughout his career. Together with his brother Matt Hardy, the tag team The Hardy Boyz are widely regarded as one of the major teams that revived tag team wrestling during the Attitude Era and one of the greatest tag teams in professional wrestling history.
Robert Alexander Szatkowski, better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam (RVD), is an American professional wrestler and actor. Szatkowski has held 20 championships between ECW, WWE, and TNA, as well as several regional titles in various promotions during his career. He is officially recognized by TNA as a three-time world champion having held the WWE Championship, ECW World Heavyweight Championship, TNA World Heavyweight Championship once each. On the independent scene, he has held the AWR World Heavyweight Championship twice, and he is currently the WSW World Heavyweight Championship. He the only man to hold the ECW and WWE Championships simultaneously, the only man to have won the ECW, WWE, and TNA World Heavyweight titles in his career, and the only man to win both WWE and ECW's version of the Triple Crown. He was also the winner of WWE's Money in the Bank ladder match in 2006 as part of WrestleMania 22.
Adam Joseph Copeland, is a Canadian professional wrestler and actor. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Edge. After making his professional wrestling debut in 1992, Copeland wrestled in various independent promotions, competing in singles and tag team competition, the latter with long-time friend Christian Cage. In 1997, Copeland signed a developmental deal with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) and made his televised debut in 1998 as Edge. After winning his first WWF championship, the WWF Intercontinental Championship, in July 1999, Edge would form a tag team with Christian, and the two went on to win the World Tag Team Championship on seven occasions. During this time, they gained notoriety in the tag team division, partly due to their participation in Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches. Edge split up with Christian in August 2001 and embarked on a successful solo career. Edge has won the second most championships in WWE history (after R-Truth), with a total of 31, as he has held the World Heavyweight Championship a record seven times, the WWE Championship four times, the Intercontinental Championship five times, the United States Championship once, the World Tag Team Championship a record twelve times, and the WWE Tag Team Championship twice. He is WWE's 14th Triple Crown Champion and 7th Grand Slam Champion. Edge won the King of the Ring tournament in 2001, was the first Money in the Bank ladder match winner in 2005, and won the 2010 Royal Rumble match, making him the first wrestler in history to achieve all three. Edge retired in 2011 due to several neck injuries, and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the following year. However, he returned to competition in the 2020 Royal Rumble match, and subsequently won the 2021 Royal Rumble the following year, becoming the eighth man in history to win the Royal Rumble match twice, the third to win it as the first entrant, as well as the first to win it after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Considered to be one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he has headlined multiple pay-per-view events for WWE, including WrestleMania XXIV and WrestleMania 37, and is one of the company's most prolific pay-per-view performers. Aside from professional wrestling, Copeland appeared in the fantasy film Highlander: Endgame and WWE Studios' Bending the Rules. He has made guest appearances on television shows such as Weakest Link, Mind of Mencia, Deal or No Deal, MADtv and The Flash. He appeared on the Syfy series Haven in 2015 as recurring character Dwight Hendrickson, and as recurring character Ketill Flatnose in the fifth and sixth seasons of Vikings (2017–2020).
Randal Keith Orton is an American professional wrestler and actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time he is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand and is one half of the current Raw Tag Team Champions with Riddle in their second reign. Orton is a third generation professional wrestler; his grandfather Bob Orton, father Bob Orton Jr., and uncle Barry Orton were all wrestlers. Before being signed by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), he trained in and wrestled for the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Association and Southern Illinois Conference Wrestling. He was then signed by the WWF and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he held the OVW Hardcore Championship twice. He became a member of the stable Evolution shortly after his WWE debut, which quickly led to an Intercontinental Championship reign, his first championship with the company. He also acquired the moniker "The Legend Killer" during a storyline where he began disrespecting and then physically attacking WWE Hall of Famers and wrestling veterans. At the age of 24, Orton became the youngest world champion in WWE history after he won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. With this win, he departed from Evolution and a feud with his former stablemates began. In 2006, Orton joined forces with Edge in a tag team known as Rated-RKO. Together, they held the World Tag Team Championship. After Rated-RKO disbanded in mid-2007, Orton gained two WWE Championship reigns in one night, becoming the second youngest two-time WWE Champion at the age of 27. He formed the group The Legacy with Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. in 2008. They disbanded in 2010, and Orton returned to singles competition. From 2013 to 2015, he was aligned with The Authority, who named him the "face of the WWE". In 2016, he joined The Wyatt Family, winning the SmackDown Tag Team Championship with Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper before turning on them in 2017. He won his first United States Championship in 2018, becoming the 18th overall Grand Slam Champion after already having been the 17th Triple Crown Champion. Orton has held the WWE Championship 10 times and WWE's World Heavyweight Championship four times. He was the final holder of the World Heavyweight Championship, which he unified with the WWE Championship to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in 2013. Orton is recognized by WWE as having the third-most world championship victories in history at 14, behind John Cena and Ric Flair (both 16) and tied with Triple H (also at 14). All totaled, Orton has won 20 championships in WWE. He is also the winner of the 2013 Money in the Bank ladder match, as well as a two time Royal Rumble match winner (2009 and 2017) and has headlined multiple WWE pay-per-view events, including WrestleMania 25 and WrestleMania XXX. Following his match at the 2021 Survivor Series, he broke Kane's record for wrestling the most PPV matches in WWE history.
Richard Morgan Fliehr, known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestler. Regarded by multiple peers and journalists as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair has had a career that has spanned almost 50 years. He is noted for his tenures with Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), WWE and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Much of his career was spent in JCP and WCW, where he won numerous titles. Since the mid-1970s, he has used the monikers "The Nature Boy" and "Slick Ric". Flair is also a founding member of the original Four Horsemen stable alongside Tully Blanchard and The Andersons, managed by JJ Dillon. A major pay-per-view attraction throughout his career, Flair headlined the premier annual NWA/WCW event, Starrcade, on ten occasions, while also co-headlining its WWE counterpart, WrestleMania VIII (8), in 1992, after winning that year's Royal Rumble. PWI awarded him their Wrestler of the Year award a record six times, while Wrestling Observer Newsletter named him the Wrestler of the Year (an award named after him and Lou Thesz) a record eight times. The first 2-time WWE Hall of Fame inductee, first inducted with the class of 2008 for his individual career and again with the class of 2012 as a member of The Four Horsemen, he is also a member of the NWA Hall of Fame, and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. Flair is officially recognized by WWE as a 16-time world champion (8-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, 6-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and 2-time WWE Champion), although the number of his world championship reigns varies by source, ranging from 16 to 25. He has claimed to be a 21-time champion. He was the first holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship (which he also held last). As the inaugural WCW World Heavyweight Champion, he became the first person to complete WCW's Triple Crown, having already held the NWA\WCW United States Heavyweight and NWA\WCW World Tag Team Championships. He then completed WWE's version of the Triple Crown when he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship, after already holding the WWE Championship and the WWE World Tag Team Championship on previous occasions.
Shelton James Benjamin is an American professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler best known for his tenure in World Wrestling Entertainment. He wrestled for Ring of Honor (ROH) for two years, and currently works for New Japan Pro Wrestling. Benjamin has an amateur wrestling background, including wrestling in high school and at the University of Minnesota. In addition, Benjamin has acted as an assistant coach in amateur wrestling. He first spent time in Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he held the Southern Tag Team Championship four times. WWE then moved him to the main roster and put him into an alliance with Kurt Angle and Charlie Haas, known as Team Angle (and later the World's Greatest Tag Team). During his tenure with the company, he won the Intercontinental Championship three times, the United States Championship once, and the WWE Tag Team Championship twice with Haas.
Johnathan Randall Hennigan is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring names John Morrison and Johnny Nitro. Hennigan entered Tough Enough III, a televised competition that would award the winner a WWE contract. He was one of the winners in the competition and assigned to their developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), to continue his wrestling training. While situated at OVW, he was placed in a tag team with Joey Mercury, and the duo won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship on one occasion. Alongside their manager Melina, the stable was called MNM. After signing with WWE, MNM was called up to the SmackDown! roster and on their debut in April 2005, Hennigan and Mercury went on to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. When their third and final reign ended in May 2006, Hennigan and Melina turned on Mercury. Hennigan and Melina were let go from the SmackDown! roster and debuted on the Raw brand. During his time with the brand, Hennigan competed in singles competition and won the WWE Intercontinental Championshiptwice. In June 2007, Hennigan was drafted from Raw to the ECW brand. During that time, he won the vacant ECW World Championship once, which was his first world championship; Hennigan went on to headline multiple pay-per-views for WWE, occasionally in world championship contention. He formed a partnership with The Miz in late 2007, with the two capturing the WWE Tag Team Championship and the World Tag Team Championship on separate occasions. They split in April 2009, and Morrison returned to SmackDown, where he won the Intercontinental Championship for the third time in September 2009. In November 2011, Hennigan left WWE, and began wrestling overseas and on the United States independent circuit.
Carlos Edwin "Carly" Colón, Jr. is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler better known internationally by his ring name Carlito. He belongs to a wrestling family, being the son of Carlos Colón, Sr., who introduced him to wrestling. His mother was born in Canada, which grants him the Canadian citizenship. Colón debuted in his father's promotion, the World Wrestling Council (WWC), becoming a 13-time WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion. During the early years of his career, he made appearances for the X Wrestling Federation and Funking Conservatory, winning his first international championship for the second. In his native Puerto Rico, he is known as both Carly Colón and Carlito. In 2003, Colón signed a developmental contract with WWE, working for the promotion until 2010. He worked in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) for sixteen months, mostly wrestling in tag team matches while making appearances in WWC. On October 7, 2004, Colón made his debut performing on the main event of SmackDown! as Carlito Caribbean Cool. Colón is a former United States Champion and Intercontinental Champion and has been part of both the Raw and SmackDown brands. He is the only wrestler to win a championship on two separate debuts in WWE and the second Puerto Rican to become Intercontinental Champion after Pedro Morales. At WrestleMania XXV, Colón and his brother, Eddie Colón, became the only tag team to unify the WWE Tag Team Championship and World Tag Team Championship.
Edward Fatu was a Samoan-American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Umaga. He was best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment. He was a member of the Anoa'i wrestling family and frequently worked as a part of a tag team – variously named The Island Boyz, the Samoan Gangstas, and 3-Minute Warning – with his cousin Matt Anoa'i. During Fatu's first stint with WWE, he was known as Jamal and Matt was billed as Rosey. In late 2005, Fatu returned to WWE. Repackaged under the ring name Umaga, Fatu went undefeated for many months on WWE's Raw brand throughout much of 2006, before suffering his first defeat under the Umaga name in January 2007. The following month, he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship for the first time, and won it for the second time in July 2007.
Christopher Michael Benoit was a Canadian-American professional wrestler. During his professional wrestling career, Benoit worked for such major promotions as Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/WWE).
Among other accolades, Benoit is a two-time world champion: a one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and a one-time World Heavyweight Champion in WWE. Benoit is the second of four men in history to achieve both the WWE and WCW Triple Crown Championships.
Chris Benoit murdered his wife and son on June 22, 2007 and was subsequently hanged on June 24, 2007. Since Chris Benoit's suicide, numerous explanations for his actions have been proposed, including brain damage, foul play, steroid abuse, carbon monoxide, burglary and even a possible failing marriage. Benoit last performed for WWE on their ECW brand. In 1995, while Benoit was contracted to the original ECW, he was intended to be booked to win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship but this was thwarted by work visa problems; twelve years later, Benoit was booked by WWE to win the title at the pay-per-view event WWE Vengeance: Night of Champions, which again did not happen due to the family's death that night.
Richard Morgan Fliehr, known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestler. Regarded by multiple peers and journalists as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair has had a career that has spanned almost 50 years. He is noted for his tenures with Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), WWE and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Much of his career was spent in JCP and WCW, where he won numerous titles. Since the mid-1970s, he has used the monikers "The Nature Boy" and "Slick Ric". Flair is also a founding member of the original Four Horsemen stable alongside Tully Blanchard and The Andersons, managed by JJ Dillon. A major pay-per-view attraction throughout his career, Flair headlined the premier annual NWA/WCW event, Starrcade, on ten occasions, while also co-headlining its WWE counterpart, WrestleMania VIII (8), in 1992, after winning that year's Royal Rumble. PWI awarded him their Wrestler of the Year award a record six times, while Wrestling Observer Newsletter named him the Wrestler of the Year (an award named after him and Lou Thesz) a record eight times. The first 2-time WWE Hall of Fame inductee, first inducted with the class of 2008 for his individual career and again with the class of 2012 as a member of The Four Horsemen, he is also a member of the NWA Hall of Fame, and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. Flair is officially recognized by WWE as a 16-time world champion (8-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, 6-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and 2-time WWE Champion), although the number of his world championship reigns varies by source, ranging from 16 to 25. He has claimed to be a 21-time champion. He was the first holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship (which he also held last). As the inaugural WCW World Heavyweight Champion, he became the first person to complete WCW's Triple Crown, having already held the NWA\WCW United States Heavyweight and NWA\WCW World Tag Team Championships. He then completed WWE's version of the Triple Crown when he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship, after already holding the WWE Championship and the WWE World Tag Team Championship on previous occasions.
Joan Marie Laurer was a former American professional wrestler, actress, bodybuilder and pornographic film actress who was under contract to Vivid Entertainment. Chyna first rose to prominence upon debuting in the professional wrestling promotion WWE in 1997, where she performed under the ring name Chyna and was billed as the "Ninth Wonder of the World" (André the Giant was already billed as the eighth). A member of the stable D-Generation X, she held the WWE Intercontinental Championship (the first female wrestler to do so) and WWE Women's Championship, and was the first female wrestler to participate in the Royal Rumble and King of the Ring events. Since leaving the WWE in 2001, Chyna had wrestled sporadically, most notably with New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2002 and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2011. Laurer had a strained relationship with her family. She last saw her mother at the age of sixteen, and she claimed that her father never got over her decision not to join the FBI. She also alleged that her father took out several student loans in her name and without her knowledge, leaving her with $40,000 in debt. On an episode of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew in 2008, Laurer claimed to have a bad relationship with all of her family members, including her siblings. In September 2010, Laurer was hospitalized after overdosing on sleeping medication. As of February 2015, Laurer had reestablished a good relationship with her mother; her father died in May 2014.
Laurer taught English in Japan.
On February 9, 2015, during a WWE Network podcast with Steve Austin, Triple H mentioned that Chyna deserved to be in the WWE Hall of Fame but that problems with children Googling her prohibited it. After being in contact with Vince Russo she claimed in an interview that Triple H had hit her, which he later called a false statement.
Death
On April 20, 2016, Laurer was found dead at her home in Redondo Beach, California. She had been taking medication for anxiety and sleep deprivation. An official statement was posted to her Twitter account, saying "It is with deep sadness to inform you today that we lost a true icon, a real life superhero ... She will live forever in the memories of her millions of fans and all of us that loved her."
Dean Simon is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Dean Malenko. He is currently signed to WWE working as a road agent. He is best known for his time with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Malenko was known by the nicknames "The Man of 1,000 Holds" and "The Iceman", the former in recognition of his technical wrestling ability, and the latter for his cold and calculating demeanor. Although never a world champion, Malenko achieved significant championship success in ECW, WCW and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), holding multiple titles in each organization. Pro Wrestling Illustrated named Malenko the #1 wrestler in the world in 1997.
Perry Arthur Satullo is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Perry Saturn or simply Saturn. Since debuting in 1990, Saturn has wrestled for promotions including Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW),World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Championships won by Saturn include the ECW World Tag Team Championship (with John Kronus as The Eliminators) and WCW World Tag Team Championship (with Raven as The Flock and with Chris Benoit as The Revolution).
Terri Runnels, an American retired professional wrestler, manager, and television host, made her mark in the wrestling world under various personas. She started her career in WCW as Miss Alexandra York before transitioning to WWF/WWE where she was known as Marlena and later used her real name.
During her time in WWE, Runnels became well-known for managing several high-profile wrestlers, including her then-husband Dustin Runnels (Goldust), the Hardy Boyz, and Edge & Christian. She also had memorable on-screen feuds, including a rivalry with The Kat. Beyond managing, she served as a host and interviewer, and even briefly held the Hardcore Championship.
After retiring from professional wrestling, Runnels has dedicated her time to philanthropic endeavors.
Amy Christine Dumas is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, and singer most recently signed with WWE as an analyst. She performed as a wrestler with WWE from 2000 to 2006, and has since made part-time appearances with the company. She was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 5, 2014.
Matt Hardy is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand, and he is one half of the SmackDown Tag Team Champions with his brother Jeff Hardy
Along with his real-life brother Jeff, Matt gained notoriety in WWF's tag team division due to the Hardys' participation in tables, ladders, and chairs matches. As a tag team wrestler, he is a 14-time world tag team champion, having held six WWF/World Tag Team Championships, three WWE/Raw Tag Team Championships, one SmackDown Tag Team Championship, one ROH World Tag Team Championship, one WCW Tag Team Championship and two TNA World Tag Team Championships.
Wrestling in three separate decades, Hardy has managed to keep himself relevant through a variety of different gimmicks, character changes as well as his use of social media. In 2002, Hardy began a solo career in WWE and his subsequent "Version 1" persona was named Best Gimmick by Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Hardy's eccentric "Broken" gimmick, which he debuted in 2016, earned him multiple awards and praise from wrestling critics, including a second Best Gimmick award (in 2017, the character was renamed "Woken" within WWE). As a singles wrestler, Hardy is a three-time world champion, winning two TNA World Heavyweight Championships and one ECW Championship. In 1999, Matt, along with his brother Jeff, appeared as an uncredited wrestler on That '70s Show episode "That Wrestling Show". Matt and Jeff also appeared on Tough Enough in early 2001, talking to and wrestling the contestants. He appeared in the February 25, 2002 episode of Fear Factor competing against five other World Wrestling Federation wrestlers, including his brother. He won $50,000 for the American Cancer Society. Hardy also appeared on the October 13, 2009 episode of Scare Tactics, as a mental patient who threatens to attack the prank's victim.
Hardy's first WWE video game was WWF Wrestlemania 2000 in 1999 on the Nintendo 64 shortly followed by WWF SmackDown! in early 2000 on the PlayStation. He made several appearances later in WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role, WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain, and WWE SmackDown vs. Raw. He later returned to the series in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010, and WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, which was his last WWE video game before his departure to TNA. Following his return to WWE in 2017, he was revealed as a DLC character in WWE 2K18 on September 25 that year alongside tag team partner and brother, Jeff Hardy. Hardy was revealed as a playable character in WWE 2K19 on August 30, 2018.
