Wrestlepedia Wiki
Register
Advertisement
WWE Button

World Wrestling Entertainment, LLC (WWE) is an American based promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, football, and various other business ventures. The company is additionally involved in licensing its intellectual property to companies to produce video games and action figures.

The promotion was founded in 1953 as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), a Northeastern territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Following a dispute, CWC left the NWA and became the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in April 1963. After rejoining the NWA in 1971, the WWWF was renamed to World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979 before the promotion left the NWA for good in 1983. In 2002, following a legal dispute with the World Wildlife Fund, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment. In 2011, the promotion ceased branding itself as World Wrestling Entertainment and began solely branding itself with the initials WWE.

Prior to September 2023, the company's majority owner was its executive chairman, third-generation wrestling promoter Vince McMahon, who retained a 38.6% ownership of the company's outstanding stock and 81.1% of the voting power. The current entity, which was originally named Titan Sports, Inc., was incorporated on February 21, 1980, in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts, but reincorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law in 1987. It acquired Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd., the holding company for the WWF, in 1982. Titan was renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. in 1999, and then World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. in 2002. In 2023, its legal name was changed to World Wrestling Entertainment, LLC.

WWE is the largest wrestling promotion in the world. Its main roster is divided into two primary touring groups, Raw and SmackDown, along with a developmental roster, NXT, based in Orlando, Florida (referred to by WWE as "brands"). Overall, WWE is available in more than one billion homes worldwide in 30 languages. The company's global headquarters is located in Stamford, Connecticut, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, and Munich.

As in other professional wrestling promotions, WWE shows are not legitimate contests but entertainment-based performance theater, featuring story line-driven, scripted, and partially choreographed matches; however, matches often include moves that can put performers at risk of injury, even death, if not performed correctly. The pre-determined aspect of professional wrestling was publicly acknowledged by WWE's owner Vince McMahon in 1989 in order to avoid taxes from athletic commissions. WWE brands its product as sports entertainment, acknowledging wrestling's roots in competitive sport and dramatic theater.

In 2023, WWE began to explore a potential sale of the company, amidst an employee misconduct scandal involving McMahon that had prompted him to step down as chairman and CEO, although he returned as executive chairman. In April 2023, WWE made a deal with Endeavor Group Holdings, under which it would merge with Zuffa, the parent company of mixed martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to form TKO Group Holdings, a new public company majority-owned by Endeavor, with McMahon serving as executive chairman of the new entity, and Nick Khan becoming president. The merger was completed on September 12, 2023.

Main Roster Events[]

WWE Raw[]

Raw 2020

WWE Raw, also known as Monday Night Raw or simply Raw, is an American based professional wrestling television program that currently airs live on Monday evenings on the USA Network from 8:00–11:00 PM EST in the United States. The show's name is also used to refer to the Raw brand, to which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform. The show debuted on January 11, 1993 and is currently considered to be one of two flagship shows, along with Friday Night SmackDown. WWE Raw is the longest running weekly episodic television program.

In September 25, 2000, Raw moved from the USA Network to TNN, which rebranded to Spike TV in August 2003. On October 3, 2005, Raw returned to the USA Network, where it remains today. As of December 9, 2016, all episodes of Raw are available on demand on the WWE Network. Recent episodes are available for on-demand viewing 30 days after the original air date.

Since its first episode, Raw has been broadcast live from 208 different arenas, 171 cities and towns, and eleven different nations: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Afghanistan in 2005, Iraq in 2006 and 2007, South Africa, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Mexico.

See Also - WWE Raw

WWE SmackDown[]

Smackdown Logo 2019

WWE SmackDown, also known as SmackDown Live or simply SmackDown, is a WWE television program that debuted on August 26, 1999. 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 program and brand currently being Raw. It is currently the only television broadcast for the SmackDown brand, though at one point WWE Velocity also featured SmackDown branded wrestling.

SmackDown replaced WWE Sunday Night Heat as the secondary show complementing WWE Raw. Storylines and Pay Per View development continued from the previous Raw episode and continued in the next episode of Raw. SmackDown was the first weekly show by WWE to be broadcast on free to air network TV (not counting WWF Saturday Night's Main Event which were specials).

On April 4 2002, SmackDown became its own entity under the Brand Extension. This allowed SmackDown to have its own talent, events and championships separate from Raw. From 2002 to 2004 SmackDown nearly beat Raw in the Ratings. The First Brand Extension continued till 2013 when SmackDown was reintegrated into a single continuity with Raw. However in 2016 SmackDown again was Split from Raw.

SmackDown started as a one off special on UPN to test the viewership of a wrestling show on the network. Designed to compete with WCW Thunder. Prior to September 1, 2005, SmackDown! was broadcast on Thursday nights; from September 9, 2005 to January 9, 2015, it was broadcast on Friday nights. The show then returned to Thursday nights on January 15, 2015, before moving to a live Tuesday night broadcast in July 2016. SmackDown! originally debuted in the United States on the UPN television network on April 29, 1999, but after the merger of UPN and the WB, SmackDown! began airing on The CW in September 2006. The show remained on the CW network for two years until it was moved to MyNetworkTV in October 2008. SmackDown moved to Syfy on October 1, 2010 and remained there until December 31, 2015. A week later, on January 7, 2016, SmackDown moved to its sister channel, USA Network. It complements Raw as the second of WWE's two main weekly programs.

In its history, SmackDown has been broadcast from 162 different arenas, in 147 cities and towns, in seven different nations (the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Iraq in 2006 and 2007 for specials Tribute to the Troops, Japan in 2005, Italy in 2007 and Mexico in 2011). Due to time differences, SmackDown premieres a few hours earlier in Ireland and the United Kingdom and a day earlier in Australia, Canada, Singapore and Philippines than the United States, except for live episodes. For international broadcast listings, see below. The show celebrated its 15th anniversary on October 10, 2014

See Also - WWE SmackDown

WWE Main Event[]

01 Main Event

WWE Main Event is a television program produced by WWE. The hour-long program features low card performers from WWE's Raw roster, and it is primarily carried in international markets. In the United States, after initially airing on Ion Television, new episodes later became exclusive to the streaming service Hulu.

The show is userally taped on Monday evenings as an undercard to the live WWE Raw broadcast. Prior to November 28, 2016, the show was filmed prior to SmackDown, but was moved to Raw tapings to accommodate WWE Network's weekly cruiserweight show 205 Live, which is broadcast live following SmackDown.

NXT Events[]

WWE NXT[]

WWE NXT Button

WWE NXT, also simply called NXT, is a television program and brand that is produced by WWE and is broadcast on the USA Network in the United States.

NXT initially debuted in 2010 as a seasonal show which was presented as a hybrid between WWE's scripted live event shows and reality television, in which talent from WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) participated in a competition to become WWE's next "breakout star", with the help of mentors from Raw and SmackDown. Five seasons of this iteration were broadcast, with Wade Barrett, Kaval, Kaitlyn, and Johnny Curtis being announced as winners.

In June 2012, WWE ended the seasonal competition format and opted to revamp the show. WWE NXT became the flagship television show of the NXT brand, and has since received a positive reception and high viewership, with praise for its high quality of wrestling and captivating storylines. Many consider NXT to be superior to WWE's flagship shows.

The initial version of the show made its debut on Syfy on February 23, 2010, replacing ECW, but was replaced by SmackDown in October. It then aired as an hourly webcast on WWE.com on the United States until June 13, 2012, before it was expanded to international markets on the WWE Network in 2014. In 2019, NXT expanded into a live two-hour program on the USA Network.

See Also WWE NXT -- NXT TakeOver -- Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic

NXT Level Up Logo

NXT Level Up[]

NXT Level Up is a taped WWE Network series produced by for NXT that replaced WWE 205 Live on Peacock and the WWE Network.

See Also - NXT Level Up

Current Main WWE Roster[]

Raw SmackDown

Other Talent

Other Talent

Free Agents

Other WWE Links[]

Other Current WWE Programming[]

Other WWE Accomplishments[]

Former WWF / WWE Programming[]

Former WWF / WWE Championships[]

Former WWF / WWE Accomplishments[]

Special WWE Pages[]

Special Images[]

New Generation Era

Ruthless Agression Era

Then Now Forever Together

Advertisement