The History of WWE: Who Started It All?

The WWE is a multi-billion dollar company that has been entertaining fans for over 40 years. But who started it all? This blog will take a look at the history of WWE and how it all began.

WWE’s Beginnings

WWE (then known as the World Wrestling Federation, or WWF) was created by Vince McMahon Sr. in 1952. McMahon Sr. was a successful boxing and wrestling promoter, and he saw the potential in professional wrestling. He created the WWF as a way to bring wrestling to a wider audience, and it quickly became one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the world.

Vince McMahon Sr.’s creation

In 1952, Vincent J. McMahon Sr. created the Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. The CWC was a regional promotion that ran in the northeastern United States. In 1963, McMahon Sr. persuaded Gorilla Monsoon to become one of his referees, and shortly thereafter Monsoon became one of the top stars in the CWC.

In 1972, McMahon Sr.’s son, Vincent K. McMahon, founded Titan Sports, Inc., which would eventually become World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). McMahon Jr.’s goal was to promote wrestling as a legitimate sport, rather than the “circus sideshow” that it was often considered to be. To this end, he hired former bodybuilder and football player Bruno Sammartino as his company’s top star. Sammartino became one of the most popular wrestlers in history, holding the WWE Heavyweight Championship for 11 years (a record that still stands today).

In 1979, Vince McMahon Sr. retired and sold the CWC to his son. This effectively created a wrestling monopoly in the northeast; there was no longer any serious competition for WWE’s product. The company continued to grow throughout the 1980s and ’90s, acquiring many of its rival promoters along the way. Today, WWE is the largest professional wrestling company in the world, with a global reach and massive TV ratings.

The first WWE event

The first WWE event was held on January 7th, 1963 in Comisky Park, Chicago, Illinois. The event was promoted by Vince McMahon Sr. and featured a number of different wrestling styles, including Freestyle and Catch wrestling. The event was a huge success, drawing over 18,000 fans.

WWE quickly began to grow in popularity, holding events all over the United States. In 1964, WWE held its first ever world championship tournament, won by Bruno Sammartino. Sammartino would go on to become one of the most popular and longest reigning WWE champions of all time.

Over the next few decades, WWE continued to grow in popularity, becoming a global entertainment powerhouse. Today, WWE is one of the most popular sports entertainment brands in the world, with millions of fans around the globe.

The McMahon Family Business

It all started with Jess McMahon. In the early 1900s, he ran a successful boxing promotion company and eventually merged it with the struggling professional wrestling company, the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). His son, Vincent J. McMahon, took over the business in the 1960s and changed the name to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The McMahons have been running the company ever since.

Vince McMahon Jr. takes over

In 1982, Vince McMahon Sr. sold the family business to his son, Vince McMahon Jr. Vince Jr. took an aggressive approach to marketing WWE, and within a few years, the company had begun to expand rapidly. In 1985, WWE held its first WrestleMania event, which quickly became one of the company’s most popular annual events.

In 1985, Vince McMahon Jr. also launched the company’s first cable television program, Wrestling Challenge. The following year, he debuted another successful show, WWE Prime Time Wrestling. These programs helped WWE become one of the most popular professional wrestling companies in the world.

In 1988, Vince McMahon Jr. took WWE public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), making it the first professional wrestling company to be traded on a major stock exchange. That same year, he debuted a third successful television program, Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Under Vince McMahon Jr.’s leadership, WWE has continued to grow and expand its reach across the globe. Today, WWE is a publicly traded company with a global fan base of more than 800 million people in 180 countries.

The Attitude Era

In the late 1990s, WWE began to distance itself from the family-friendly image it had cultivated in the early 1990s. This new era in WWE history is often referred to as “The Attitude Era” due to the edgier, more adult-oriented product that WWE began to produce. The Attitude Era is often considered one of the most successful periods in WWE’s history, as it led to a sharp increase in WWE’s television ratings and live event attendance.

The Attitude Era began in 1997, when Mr. McMahon’s daughter Stephanie McMahon joined WWE as a full-time on-air personality. Stephanie quickly became involved in a controversial on-screen relationship with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, which helped increase WWE’s television ratings and live event attendance. The Austin-Stephanie storyline was just one of many adult-oriented storylines that were featured during the Attitude Era. Other notable storylines from this period include The Rock’s feud with Mankind, Triple H’s rivalry with DX, and the formation of The Ministry of Darkness.

In addition to featuring more adult-oriented content, the Attitude Era also saw a number of changes to WWE’s on-air product. Most notably, WWE began airing its flagship show Raw on Monday nights instead of Sunday nights, going head-to-head with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) for the first time. The ratings war between Raw and WCW’s Monday Night Nitro was one of the defining stories of the Attitude Era, as Raw eventually emerged victorious thanks in part to its edgier content and more youthful demographic.

The WWE Today

The WWE is a publicly traded company, WWE, Inc. (NYSE: WWE), and its Chairman & CEO is Vince McMahon. The company has two main television programs, Raw and SmackDown. WWE also promotes live events, such as pay-per-view wrestling events, and produces and distributes DVDs and video games.

WWE’s global reach

WWE has come a long way since its humble beginnings in the early 1970s. What started as a regional professional wrestling company has morphed into a global entertainment behemoth. Vince McMahon, Sr. might not have been able to envision what his company would one day become, but it’s safe to say that he would be proud of its massive reach.

WWE now produces over 500 live events each year, which are broadcast in over 150 countries and 30 different languages. That’s a lot of people watching a lot of wrestling! The company also has a successful line of consumer products, including DVDs, video games, books, and more. And let’s not forget about WWE’s flagship show, Monday Night Raw, which continues to be one of the most popular programs on cable television.

There’s no doubt about it: WWE is big business. And it all started with one man’s vision to bring professional wrestling to the masses.

WWE’s continued success

WWE’s popularity continued to grow throughout the 1990s. In 1993, WWE held its firstPay-Per-View event, WrestleMania X. That same year, WWE launched Monday Night Raw, a weekly television show that quickly became one of the most watched programs on cable TV. In 1999, WWE launched SmackDown!, another successful weekly TV show.

By the early 2000s, WWE had become a global brand. The company launched successful international tours and began holding Pay-Per-View events in countries around the world. In 2005, WWE launched its own 24/7 channel, WWE Network. Today, WWE is one of the most popular sports entertainment brands in the world.