IYO SKY got the belt again with her Sky Smart movement. Twenty minutes full contact match between this three woman was litterally unforgetable. WWE’s most strongest woman Bianca Belair was looking same athletisizm againist Rhea Ripley. Keeping title was rough, even IYO SKY surprised with end.
”This was the best women’s match in wm history.” People said. I absuletely agree with that.
”Top 5 match all time” People said.
” Iyo Sky’s matches consistently being straight up really good to 5-star classics. She deserves her flowers and I am beyond excited how her feud with the Kabuki Warriors turn out!” People said. She deserved all that good though.
”Bianca hair whip is very real, for the loud hit, she does a technique with her braid.” People said. I also felt it on my upper back body.
”Iyo, my girl Bianca and Rhea was a 5 star classic.” People said.
Btw here some WWE history:
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling 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 fields outside of wrestling, including film, football, and other business ventures, such as licensing its intellectual property to other companies to produce video games and action figures.
As in other professional wrestling promotions, WWE does not promote a legitimate sporting contest but rather entertainment-based performance theater, featuring storyline-driven, scripted, and partially choreographed matches. However, matches often include moves that put performers at risk of serious injury or death if not performed correctly. The pre-determined aspect of professional wrestling (an industry open secret) was publicly acknowledged by WWE in 1989 to avoid regulation by athletic commissions. WWE markets its product as “sports entertainment”, acknowledging professional wrestling’s roots in competitive sport and dramatic theater.
The promotion was founded in 1953 as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), a Northeastern territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Due to booking disputes, 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 the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979, and left the NWA again in 1983. Following a trademark dispute with the World Wildlife Fund, the WWF was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002. In 2011, the promotion ceased branding itself as World Wrestling Entertainment and began solely using the initials WWE, although their legal name remained the same.
WWE is the largest wrestling promotion in the world. Its main roster is divided into two touring brands, Raw and SmackDown. Its developmental brands, NXT and Evolve, are based at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The promotion’s programming is available in more than one billion homes worldwide in 30 languages and its global headquarters is located in Stamford, Connecticut, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, and Munich.
WWE’s corporate entity, Titan Sports, Inc., was incorporated on February 21, 1980, by Vince McMahon: Titan acquired Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd., the holding company for the wrestling promotion, in 1982. Titan was renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. in 1999, and World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. in 2002. In January 2023, WWE began to explore a sale of the company, amidst an employee misconduct scandal involving McMahon that initially prompted him to step down as chairman and CEO. In September, WWE merged 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 Group Holdings, with McMahon as executive chairman: the promotion’s legal name was then changed to World Wrestling Entertainment, LLC. In 2024, McMahon departed TKO amid a sex trafficking scandal and was replaced as executive chairman by Ari Emanuel.
Before Titan Sports (1953–1980)
WWE’s origins can be traced back as far as the 1950s when on January 7, 1953, the first show under the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was produced. There is uncertainty as to who the founder of the CWC was. Some sources state that it was Vincent J. McMahon, while other sources cite McMahon’s father Jess McMahon as founder of CWC. The CWC later joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and famous New York promoter Toots Mondt soon joined the promotion.
Vincent J. McMahon and Toots Mondt were very successful and soon controlled approximately 70% of the NWA’s booking power, largely due to their dominance in the heavily populated Northeastern United States. In 1963, McMahon and Mondt had a dispute with the NWA over “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers being booked to hold the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Mondt and McMahon were not only promoters but also acted as his manager and were accused by other NWA promoters of withholding Rogers making defenses in their cities versus only defending in Mondt and McMahon’s own cities thus maintaining a monopoly on the world title. In a now infamous situation, the NWA sent former five-time world champion and legitimate wrestler Lou Thesz to Toronto to face Rogers on January 24, 1963. Thesz recalls this was not planned and prior to the match remembered telling Buddy “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Rogers agreed to lose the fall and title in a one fall match versus the traditional two out of three fall matchup that most world title matches were defended. Once word reached back to Mondt and McMahon, at first they simply ignored the title change. From January until April 1963, Rogers was promoted as the NWA World Champion, or simply the World Heavyweight Champion, in their area. The World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) was not an immediate creation after Rogers’ one fall loss to Thesz. Mondt and McMahon both eventually left the NWA in protest and formed the WWWF in the process. They brought along with them Willie Gilzenberg, long time boxing and wrestling promoter in New Jersey. In April 1963, the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship was created, with the promotion claiming that inaugural champion Rogers had won a tournament in Rio de Janeiro on April 25, 1963, defeating long time Capitol favorite Antonino Rocca in the finals. In reality, Rocca was no longer in the area, as he was working for Jim Crockett Sr. in the Carolinas. Rogers also had already suffered what would later be a career ending heart attack on April 18 in Akron, Ohio, and was in an Ohio hospital during the time the alleged tournament took place. Rogers lost the championship to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17, with the promotion beginning to be built around Sammartino shortly after.
In June 1963, Gilzenberg was named the first president of the WWWF. Mondt left the promotion in the late 1960s and although the WWWF had previously withdrawn from the NWA, McMahon quietly re-joined in 1971. The WWWF was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979.
Titan Sports, Inc. (1980–1999)
Early years (1980–1982)
Vincent J. McMahon’s son, Vincent K. McMahon, and his wife Linda, established Titan Sports, Inc., in 1980 in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts and applied trademarks for the initials “WWF”. The company was incorporated on February 21, 1980, in the Cape Cod Coliseum offices, then moved to the building on Holly Hill Lane in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Boom period (1982–1992)
The younger McMahon bought Capitol from his father in 1982, effectively seizing control of the company. The actual date of sale is still unknown but the generally accepted date is June 6, 1982; however, this was likely only the date the deal was struck but not finalized. On WWF television, Capitol Wrestling Corporation maintained copyrights and ownership past the June 1982 date. The World Wrestling Federation was not solely owned by Vincent J. McMahon but also by Gorilla Monsoon, Arnold Skaaland and Phil Zacko. The deal between the two McMahons was a monthly payment basis, in which if a single payment was missed, ownership would revert to the elder McMahon and his business partners. Looking to seal the deal quickly, McMahon took several loans and deals with other promoters and the business partners (including the promise of a job for life) in order to take full ownership by May or June 1983 for an estimated total of roughly $1 million with the three business partners receiving roughly $815,000 among them and Vincent J. McMahon receiving roughly $185,000. Seeking to make the WWF the premier wrestling promotion in the country, and eventually, the world, he began an expansion process that fundamentally changed the wrestling business.
At the annual meeting of the NWA in 1983, the McMahons and former Capitol employee Jim Barnett all withdrew from the organization. McMahon also worked to get WWF programming on syndicated television all across the United States. This angered other promoters and disrupted the well-established boundaries of the different wrestling promotions, eventually ending the territory system, which was in use since the founding of the NWA in the 1940s. In addition, the company used income generated by advertising, television deals, and tape sales to secure talent from rival promoters. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, McMahon was quoted as saying: “In the old days, there were wrestling fiefdoms all over the country, each with its own little lord in charge. Each little lord respected the rights of his neighboring little lord. No takeovers or raids were allowed. There were maybe 30 of these tiny kingdoms in the U.S. and if I hadn’t bought out my dad, there would still be 30 of them, fragmented and struggling. I, of course, had no allegiance to those little lords.”
McMahon gained significant traction when he hired American Wrestling Association (AWA) talent Hulk Hogan, who had achieved popularity outside of wrestling, notably for his appearance in the film Rocky III. McMahon signed Roddy Piper as Hogan’s rival, and then shortly afterward Jesse Ventura as an announcer. Other wrestlers joined the roster, such as The Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, Junkyard Dog, Paul Orndorff, Greg Valentine, and Ricky Steamboat, joining existing stars such as Jimmy Snuka, Don Muraco, Sgt. Slaughter and André the Giant. Many of the wrestlers who would later join the WWF were former AWA or NWA talent.
The WWF would tour nationally in a venture that would require a huge capital investment, one that placed the WWF on the verge of financial collapse. The future of McMahon’s experiment came down to the success or failure of McMahon’s groundbreaking concept, WrestleMania. WrestleMania was a major success and was (and still is) marketed as the Super Bowl of professional wrestling. The concept of a wrestling supercard was nothing new in North America; the NWA had begun running Starrcade a few years prior. In McMahon’s eyes, however, what separated WrestleMania from other supercards was that it was intended to be accessible to those who did not watch wrestling. He invited celebrities such as Mr. T, Muhammad Ali, and Cyndi Lauper to participate in the event, as well as securing a deal with MTV to provide coverage. The event and hype surrounding it led to the term Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Connection, due to the cross-promotion of popular culture and professional wrestling. It has been acknowledged that Lauper and her then boyfriend and manager Dave Wolff, himself a wrestling fan, were among the most instrumental in helping the WWF connect with the MTV audience, with Wolff being considered as the person who engineered the rock ‘n’ wrestling connection.
The WWF business expanded significantly on the shoulders of McMahon and his babyface hero Hulk Hogan for the next several years after defeating The Iron Sheik at Madison Square Garden on January 23, 1984. The introduction of Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC in 1985 marked the first time that professional wrestling had been broadcast on network television since the 1950s when the now-defunct DuMont Television Network broadcast matches of Vincent J. McMahon’s Capitol Wrestling Corporation. The 1980s “Wrestling Boom” peaked with the WrestleMania III pay-per-view at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1987, which set an attendance record of 93,173 for the WWF for 29 years until 2016. A rematch of the WrestleMania III main event between WWF champion Hulk Hogan and André the Giant took place on The Main Event I in 1988 and was seen by 33 million people, the most-watched wrestling match in North American television history.
In 1983, Titan moved its offices to Stamford, Connecticut. Subsequently, a new Titan Sports, Inc. (originally WWF, Inc.) was established in Delaware in 1987 and was consolidated with the Massachusetts entity in February 1988.
New Generation (1992–1997)
The WWF was hit with allegations of steroid abuse and distribution in 1992. This was followed by allegations of sexual harassment by WWF employees the following year. McMahon was eventually exonerated, but the allegations brought bad public relations for the WWF, and an overall bad reputation. The steroid trial cost the company an estimated $5 million at a time of record low revenues. This helped drive many WWF wrestlers over to rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW), including 1980s babyface hero Hulk Hogan. During this period, the WWF promoted wrestlers of a younger age comprising “The New Generation”, featuring Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Razor Ramon and The Undertaker among others in an effort to promote new talent into the spotlight.
In January 1993, the WWF debuted its flagship cable program Monday Night Raw. WCW countered in September 1995 with its own Monday night program, Monday Nitro, which aired in the same time slot as Raw. The two programs would trade wins in the ensuing ratings competition (known as the “Monday Night War”) until mid-1996. At that point, Nitro began a nearly two-year ratings domination that was largely fueled by the introduction of the New World Order (nWo), a stable led by former WWF performers Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall (the former Razor Ramon), and Kevin Nash (the former Diesel).
Start of the Attitude Era (1997–1999)
As the Monday Night War continued between Raw Is War and WCW’s Nitro, the WWF would transform itself from a family-friendly product into a more adult-oriented product, known as the Attitude Era. The era was spearheaded by WWF VP Shane McMahon (son of owner Vince McMahon) and head writer Vince Russo.
1997 ended with McMahon facing real-life controversy following Bret Hart’s controversial departure from the company, dubbed as the Montreal Screwjob. This proved to be one of several founding factors in the launch of the Attitude Era as well as the creation of McMahon’s on-screen character, “Mr. McMahon”.
Before the Montreal Screwjob, which took place at the 1997 Survivor Series, former WCW talent were being hired by the WWF, including Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mankind, and Vader. Austin was slowly brought in as the new face of the company despite being promoted as an antihero, starting with his “Austin 3:16” speech shortly after defeating Jake Roberts in the tournament finals at the King of the Ring pay-per-view in 1996.
On April 29, 1999, the WWF made its return to terrestrial television, airing a special program known as SmackDown! on the fledgling UPN network. The Thursday night show became a weekly series on August 26, 1999 – competing directly with WCW’s Thursday night program titled Thunder on TBS.
World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. (1999–2002)
Initial public offering (1999)
In the summer of 1999, Titan Sports, Inc. was renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. On October 19, 1999, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. launched an initial public offering as a publicly traded company, trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with the issuance of stock then valued at $172.5 million. The company was traded on the NYSE under ticker symbol WWE.
End of the Attitude Era (1999–2002)
By the fall of 1999, the Attitude Era had turned the tide of the Monday Night War into WWF’s favor. After Time Warner merged with America Online (AOL), Ted Turner’s control over WCW was considerably reduced. The newly merged company lacked interest in professional wrestling as a whole and decided to sell WCW in its entirety. Although Eric Bischoff, whom Time Warner fired as WCW president in October 1999, was nearing a deal to purchase the company, in March 2001 McMahon acquired the rights to WCW’s trademarks, tape library, contracts, and other properties from AOL Time Warner for a number reported to be around $7 million. Shortly after WrestleMania X-Seven, the WWF launched the Invasion storyline, integrating the incoming talent roster from WCW and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). With this purchase, WWF now became by far the sole largest wrestling promotion in North America and in the world. The assets of ECW, which had folded after filing for bankruptcy protection in April 2001, were purchased by WWE in 2003.
In 2000, the WWF, in collaboration with television network NBC, launched the XFL, a new professional football league that debuted in 2001. The league had high ratings for the first few weeks, but initial interest waned and its ratings plunged to dismally low levels (one of its games was the lowest-rated prime-time show in the history of American television). NBC walked out on the venture after only one season, but McMahon intended to continue alone. However, after being unable to reach a deal with UPN, McMahon shut down the XFL. WWE maintained control of the XFL trademark before McMahon reclaimed the XFL brand, this time under a separate shell company from WWE, in 2017 with intent to relaunch the XFL in 2020.
On June 24, 2002, episode of Raw, Vince McMahon officially referred to the start of the next era, called the “Ruthless Aggression” era.
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (2002–2023)
Lawsuit and renaming (2002)
On May 6, 2002, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) changed both its company name and the name of its wrestling promotion to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) after the company lost a lawsuit initiated by the World Wildlife Fund over the WWF trademark. Although mainly caused by an unfavorable ruling in its dispute with the World Wildlife Fund regarding the “WWF” initialism, the company noted it provided an opportunity to emphasize its focus on entertainment.
First brand split (2002–2011)
In March 2002, WWE decided to create two separate rosters, with each group of wrestlers appearing on one of their main programs, Raw and SmackDown!, due to the overabundance of talent left over from the Invasion storyline and the ensuing absorption of WCW and ECW contracts. This was dubbed as the “brand extension”.
Beginning in 2002 a draft lottery was held nearly every year to set the rosters, with the first draft to determine the inaugural split rosters, and subsequent drafts designed to refresh the rosters of each show. WWE expanded the brand split by relaunching ECW as a third brand on May 26, 2006. Two years later, WWE adapted a more family-friendly format and their programming received a TV-PG rating.The final ECW program aired on February 16, 2010, after which it was replaced with NXT. During this time many new and young wrestlers would join the company, many which would become household names for the next years to come such as John Cena, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, and Batista.
On April 7, 2011, WWE, via the WWE Corporate website, the company ceased using the full name World Wrestling Entertainment and henceforth referred to itself solely as WWE, making the latter an orphan initialism. This was said to reflect WWE’s global entertainment expansion away from the ring with the ultimate goal of acquiring entertainment companies and putting a focus on television, live events, and film production. WWE noted that their new company model was put into effect with the relaunch of Tough Enough, being a non-scripted program (contrary to the scripted nature of professional wrestling) and with the launch of the WWE Network (at the time scheduled to launch in 2012; later pushed back to 2014). However, the legal name of the company remained as World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
Brand reunification (2011–2016)
Beginning with the August 29, 2011, episode, Raw – referred to as Raw Supershow – featured talent from both Raw and SmackDown (the “Supershow” epithet would be dropped on July 23, 2012). Championships previously exclusive to one show or the other were available for wrestlers from any show to compete for; the “Supershow” format would mark the end of the brand split, as all programming and live events (until July 2016) featured the full WWE roster.
In 2013, the company built the sports medicine and training facility WWE Performance Center in the east Orange County, Florida in partnership with Full Sail University from Winter Park, Florida. The training facility is targeted at career and athletic development for the company’s wrestlers. Full Sail is also home base to WWE’s NXT brand, which served as a developmental territory for WWE.
On February 24, 2014, WWE launched WWE Network, an over-the-top streaming service that would feature archive content from WWE and its predecessors, all pay-per-views, (which would continue to be sold through television providers as well), and original programming.
Beginning in 2015 WWE started to push Roman Reigns as their face of the company since having him win the 2015 Royal rumble match, amidst mixed reception. By 2017 Roman Reigns became their highest merchandise seller.
Launch of second brand split (2016–2020)
On May 25, 2016, WWE relaunched the brand split, billed as the “New Era”. Subsequently, Raw and SmackDown have each featured their unique rosters, announcers, championships and ring sets/ropes. A draft took place to determine which wrestlers would appear on what show. SmackDown also moved from Thursdays to Tuesday nights, which began on July 19 (the night of the aforementioned draft), and airs live instead of the previous pre-recorded format.
Due to the return of the brand split, a new World Championship, called the WWE Universal Championship was introduced at the August 21, 2016 SummerSlam event with Finn Bálor defeating Seth Rollins to become the inaugural WWE Universal Champion.
On November 29, 2016, WWE introduced a new program specifically for their cruiserweight division (wrestlers 205 lbs. and under) called WWE 205 Live. The program focuses exclusively on those wrestlers who qualify for the division. The cruiserweights – who first became a fixture in WWE with the Cruiserweight Classic tournament – were originally exclusive to the Raw brand before landing their own brand.
On December 15, 2016, WWE established a new WWE United Kingdom Championship, with the inaugural champion being decided by a 16-man tournament to air on WWE Network featuring wrestlers from the UK and Ireland during January 2017. WWE executive Paul “Triple H” Levesque said the eventual plan with the new title and tournament was to establish a UK-based brand with its own weekly television show. WWE subsequently launched its UK-based brand as an offshoot of NXT, NXT UK, in June 2018, with Johnny Saint serving as inaugural general manager.
Starting in September 2019, NXT had a weekly, live, two-hour show Wednesday nights on the USA Network and WWE began promoting NXT as their “third brand”. However, in 2021 NXT was moved to Tuesday nights, having conceded the Wednesday Night Wars to rival promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and in September of that year was reinstated to its original function as the developmental brand for the main roster (Raw and SmackDown), under the name “NXT 2.0”.
COVID-19 pandemic and return to touring (2020–2022)
In March 2020, WWE began to be impacted by the American onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In mid-March, three of the four major sports leagues closed locker rooms to the media as a precautionary measure. As other sports cancellations and postponements were being introduced, WWE began to film its weekly programs at the Performance Center without spectators and with only essential staff present, beginning with the March 13 episode of SmackDown – the March 11 episode of NXT had been recorded at the Performance Center with paying fans, thus being WWE’s last event to have ticketed fans in attendance before the pandemic took full effect. WrestleMania 36 was scheduled to take place on April 5 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa but on March 16, was moved to Orlando to be held behind closed doors. WrestleMania, as well as Raw and SmackDown for a period before and after WrestleMania, shifted from live broadcasts to a pre-recorded format. NXT continued to air from Full Sail University, but under similar restrictions.
Live broadcasts returned on April 13, with the existing arrangements continuing; WWE stated to ESPN.com that “we believe it is now more important than ever to provide people with a diversion from these hard times”, and that the company’s programming “bring[s] families together and deliver a sense of hope, determination and perseverance”. It was subsequently reported that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had deemed WWE a business critical to the state’s economy, and had added an exception under the state’s stay-at-home order for employees of a “professional sports and media production” that is closed to the public and has a national audience. The decision was met with criticism from media outlets, with several media outlets pointing out that DeSantis’ actions happened on the same day a pro-Donald Trump political action committee led by Linda McMahon, who was previously a part of Trump’s cabinet, pledged to spend $18.5 million in advertising in Florida, and that, also on the same day, Vince McMahon was named part of an advisory group created by Trump to devise a strategy in re-launching the US economy.
n April 15, WWE started a series of cuts and layoffs in response to the pandemic, including releasing a number of performers (Karl Anderson, Kurt Angle, Aiden English, EC3, Epico, Luke Gallows, Curt Hawkins, No Way Jose, Sarah Logan, Mike Kanellis, Maria Kanellis, Primo, Erick Rowan, Rusev, Lio Rush, Zack Ryder, Heath Slater, and Eric Young), three producers (Dave Finlay, Shane Helms and Lance Storm), referee Mike Chioda, and multiple NXT/Performance Center trainees and staff. WWE executives also took a pay cut, and the company has also suspended construction on its new headquarters for at least six months. The firings caused significant backlash by fans; with Business Insider calling them “livid”. Both fans and several media outlets pointed out that while WWE claimed that these actions were “necessary due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic”, the WWE also claimed to have “substantial financial resources. Available cash and debt capacity currently total approximately $0.5 billion”. DeSantis’ claimed WWE was “essential”, which meant that the company’s revenues loss would be limited.
In August 2020, WWE relocated from the Performance Center to Orlando’s Amway Center for a long-term residency, broadcasting episodes of Raw, SmackDown, and pay-per-views through a virtual fan viewing experience called WWE ThunderDome. Inside the ThunderDome, drones, lasers, pyro, smoke, and projections were utilized to enhance the wrestlers’ entrances on a level similar to that of pay-per-view productions pre-pandemic. Nearly 1,000 LED boards were installed to allow for rows and rows of virtual fans. It was free of charge for fans to virtually attend the events, though they had to reserve their virtual seat ahead of time. During this time, Roman Reigns began his historic world title reign with the WWE Universal Championship, which would eventually surpass 1,000 days; being the longest world title reign in the WWE since Hulk Hogan from 1984 to 1988. WWE remained at the Amway Center up through early December before relocating the ThunderDome to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The ThunderDome relocated to Yuengling Center, located on the campus of the University of South Florida in Tampa, beginning with the April 12, 2021, episode of Raw. In October 2020, NXT events were relocated from Full Sail University to the Performance Center in a similar setup dubbed the Capitol Wrestling Center. It had many of the same features as the ThunderDome, but with a small crowd of select live fans included, in addition to the virtual fans. The name is also an homage to WWE’s predecessor, the Capitol Wrestling Corporation. On May 21 WWE brought back fans full time, beginning with a 25-city tour, thus ending the ThunderDome residency. The July 16 episode of SmackDown started WWE’s return to the road, taking place at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
In January 2021, WWE moved WrestleMania 37, which was originally to be held in Inglewood, California on March 28, to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida – WrestleMania 36’s original location – as a two-night event on April 10 and 11, with fans in attendance, though to a limited capacity. This marked WWE’s first event during the pandemic to have ticketed fans in attendance with a maximum of 25,000 spectators for each night with COVID-19 protocols in place. Also around this time, the WWE Network in the United States became exclusively distributed by Peacock on March 18, 2021 (ahead of Fastlane and WrestleMania 37). The merger of the WWE Network and Peacock did not affect the service outside of the United States. The move to Peacock received some criticisms from fans particularly due to Peacock’s heavy censorship policy, the company began the removal of some of the contents that were considered iconic moments of the Attitude Era that were deemed inappropriate by Peacock, these archived contents would no longer be available under any of WWE’s authorized platforms. Amdist the criticisms, in April 2021 WWE executive Triple H defended WWE’s move to Peacock.
NXT was moved to a Tuesday night timeslot in 2021 and was rebooted as NXT 2.0 later that year, reinstituting its original function as a developmental brand. The Performance Center became NXT’s permanent home base, replacing Full Sail. Maximum capacity crowds resumed and the Capitol Wrestling Center name was phased out. In February 2022, the 205 Live brand was dissolved and the 205 Live show was replaced by a new NXT show called Level Up.
On February 24, 2022, WWE launched a partnership with On Location, a company known for providing premium hospitality experiences for marquee events. Through the partnership, spectators will have access to hospitality packages for WWE’s five biggest events, including WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, Survivor Series, and Money in the Bank. The 2022 Money in the Bank was WWE’s first event to offer the premium hospitality packages. These ticket and travel packages include premier seating, premium hospitality offerings, and meet-and-greets with current WWE wrestlers and legends.
Changes in leadership (2022–2023)
On June 17, 2022, amidst an investigation by WWE’s Board of Directors into reported “hush money” paid to a former employee by Vince McMahon following an affair, Mr. McMahon stepped down as chairman and CEO of WWE and was replaced by his daughter, Stephanie McMahon, as the interim chairwoman of WWE. Despite the change Vince McMahon came out on WWE SmackDown, that night opening the show with a brief speech, the highlights of which “then, now, forever and most importantly together” was quoted by various news media as Vince letting people know that he was still in creative control from behind the scenes. On July 22, 2022, Vince McMahon officially retired, stating on Twitter, “At 77, time for me to retire. Thank you, WWE Universe. Then. Now. Forever. Together.” Following Vince’s retirement, Stephanie McMahon was officially named chairwoman while she and Nick Khan were named co-CEOs of WWE. Triple H would take over as head of creative, while resuming his position as Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and later being promoted to Chief Content Officer. Commentators have highlighted the significance of McMahon’s retirement, saying that it marked the historic start of a new period in WWE’s history. The 2022 SummerSlam event held on July 30, 2022, was the first WWE pay-per-view event to be held under the leadership of Stephanie McMahon and Triple H.
On August 18, 2022; WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels was promoted to WWE Vice President of Talent Development Creative. On September 6, 2022, WWE announced Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque’s promotion to Chief Content Officer. On January 6, 2023, Vince McMahon announced intentions to return to the company ahead of media rights negotiations. WWE’s media rights with Fox and USA Network are set to expire in 2024. That same month, JP Morgan were hired to handle a possible sale of the company, with companies such as Comcast (owners of NBCUniversal and long-time partners of WWE), Fox Corp (broadcaster of SmackDown), Disney (owners of ESPN), Warner Bros. Discovery (broadcasters of rival promotion AEW), Netflix, Amazon, Endeavor Group Holdings (owners of UFC), and Liberty Media being in the speculation for buying the company with CAA and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund also on the list.On January 10, 2023, Stephanie McMahon resigned as chairwoman and co-CEO. On the same day Vince McMahon assumed the role of executive Chairman of the WWE while Nick Khan became the sole CEO of the WWE.
Acquisition of WWE by Endeavor (2023)
On April 3, 2023; WWE and Endeavor reached a deal under which WWE would merge with UFC’s parent company Endeavor to form a new company, which would go public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol “TKO”. Endeavor would hold a 51% stake in “TKO”, with WWE’s shareholders having a 49% stake, valuing WWE at $9.1 billion. This marked the first time that WWE has not been majority-controlled by the McMahon family. Vince McMahon was appointed to serve as executive chairman of the new entity, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel would become CEO, with Mark Shapiro becoming president and chief operating officer. Emanuel would not take on any creative roles with WWE’s head of creative Paul Levesque appointed to remain in his role, and with Nick Khan becoming president of WWE post-merger (not unlike Dana White’s role as president of UFC). The deal additionally granted McMahon life tenure as executive chairman, the right to nominate five WWE representatives on the 11 member board, as well as veto rights over certain actions by the new company. In addition, McMahon would own 34% of the new company, with a 16% voting interest.
Emanuel stated that this merger would “bring together two leading pureplay sports and entertainment companies” and provide “significant operating synergies”. Vince McMahon stated that “family businesses have to evolve for all the right reasons”, and that “given the incredible work that Ari and Endeavor have done to grow the UFC brand — nearly doubling its revenue over the past seven years — and the immense success we’ve already had in partnering with their team on a number of ventures, I believe that this is without a doubt the best outcome for our shareholders and other stakeholders.”
World Wrestling Entertainment, LLC (2023–present)
Merger with UFC and the formation of TKO Group Holdings (2023–present)
The merger between WWE and UFC into TKO Group Holdings (TKO) was completed on September 12, 2023. Although the company’s legal name remained World Wrestling Entertainment, LLC, it remained united with UFC as part of the new entity “TKO”. As part of the deal WWE and UFC remained separate divisions of the new entity featuring Professional Wrestling and Mixed martial arts respectively. The first WWE show under the Endeavor regime was the September 12, 2023, episode of NXT which opened with Ilja Dragunov defeating Wes Lee in a singles match, and in the main event Becky Lynch defeated Tiffany Stratton to win the NXT Women’s Championship. The first WWE pay per view under TKO was NXT No Mercy on September 30, 2023. Popular wrestler CM Punk returned to WWE in late 2023 and in his first match upon return he defeated Dominik Mysterio at WWE MSG Show on December 26, 2023.
On January 23, 2024 Dwayne Johnson, also known as “The Rock” joined the TKO Group Holdings board of directors. Three days later on January 26 Vince McMahon once again resigned due to further sexual misconduct allegations, with Ari Emanuel obtaining greater control as the new Chairman of TKO.
On April 1, 2024, Triple H stated that WWE had entered “another era”. The next day, before WrestleMania XL, TKO’s parent company, Endeavor was taken private by its largest investor, Silver Lake, a year after Endeavor’s three-year run as a public company where Endeavor purchased WWE a year prior. On April 3, WWE wrestler Cody Rhodes coined the term “Renaissance Era” for the period. At WrestleMania XL, the WWE would officially debut a new signature intro ahead of the event’s first match. Paul “Triple H” Levesque would introduce the fans in attendance, “Welcome to a new time, welcome to a new era,” and at the WrestleMania’s second night Stephanie McMahon would reiterate this, referring to it as the “Paul Levesque era”. On April 7, in the main event of the second and final night of the event, Cody Rhodes defeated Roman Reigns to win the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
On January 23, 2024, WWE announced an agreement with Netflix, which would include Raw moving from USA Network to the platform worldwide, and Netflix acquire the rights to all of WWE’s weekly programs, live events, and library content outside of the United States. On May 4, 2024, WWE held Backlash France, their first ever pay-per-view event in France. On October 29, WWE announced WWE ID, a new talent development system incorporating partnerships with independent promotions and wrestling schools.
In 2024, WWE began a wider talent exchange between Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and its NXT brand. A multi-year partnership was officially announced on January 16, 2025. WWE also formed partnerships with Pro Wrestling Noah and Dream Star Fighting Marigold. On April 19, 2025, during the WrestleMania 41 pre-show, WWE announced its intent to acquire the Mexican promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide in conjunction with Fillip, a Mexican sports and entertainment company. The sale is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025.
Here today champion’s history
Masami Odate (大館昌美, Ōdate Masami; born May 8, 1990) is a Japanese professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Iyo Sky (イヨ・スカイ, Iyo Sukai) (stylized in all caps). She is also a former two-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion with Dakota Kai, as well as a former Women’s Money in the Bank contract holder, former WWE Women’s Champion, and former Women’s World Champion. Known for her athleticism and in-ring ability, she is regarded as one of the best women’s wrestlers in the world.
She competed as Io Shirai (紫雷 イオ, Shirai Io) (/ˈiːoʊ/) in WWE’s developmental brand NXT, where she was a former NXT Women’s Champion and NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion with Zoey Stark, and previously in World Wonder Ring Stardom (Stardom), where she was a two-time World of Stardom Champion. In Stardom, she is also a former two-time Wonder of Stardom Champion, six-time Artist of Stardom Champion, the inaugural SWA World Champion, one-time Goddesses of Stardom Champion, and one-time High Speed Champion, making her the company’s first Grand Slam Champion. She was recognized as the “ace” of Stardom, and was the recipient of the 2015, 2016 and 2017 Tokyo Sports Joshi Puroresu Grand Prizes. Her run in Stardom coincided with the rise of her own stable, Queen’s Quest, which carried on after Shirai’s departure in 2018 until 2024.
Making her debut in March 2007, she spent several years working as a tag team wrestler, teaming with her older sister Mio, with whom she wrestled for various promotions across Japan and Mexico. In June 2010, she and her sister came together with Kana to form the Triple Tails stable, which lasted for 15 months, before Io broke out of the group and embarked on her singles career in Stardom. In April 2013, she won the promotion’s top title, the World of Stardom Championship, later holding it twice, with each reign lasting for over a year. She worked for Stardom from 2011 until 2018, when she signed with WWE.
Shirai made her WWE debut at the 2018 Mae Young Classic tournament, where she lost in the finals to Toni Storm. She was later assigned to the NXT brand, where she officially turned heel in 2019, and won her first championship in WWE, the NXT Women’s Championship, in June the following year. She made her debut on the main roster at SummerSlam in July 2022 under the new name Iyo Sky, and subsequently became a member of Bayley’s stable, Damage CTRL. After winning the Money in the Bank contract, she won the WWE Women’s Championship at SummerSlam in August 2023, before losing it to Bayley at WrestleMania XL in April 2024. In March 2025, Sky won the Women’s World Championship, making her the tenth WWE Women’s Triple Crown Champion and the seventh WWE Women’s Grand Slam Champion. She also became the first Japanese wrestler, male or female, to ever become Grand Slam Champion in both Japan and the United States.
Bianca Nicole Crawford (née Blair; born April 9, 1989) is an American professional wrestler and fitness and figure competitor. As of April 2016, she is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Bianca Belair. Belair is one of two women to win at a WrestleMania main event and her 420-day reign as Raw Women’s Champion[a] stands as the longest in the championship’s history.
Crawford made her professional wrestling debut in 2016 for WWE’s developmental brand NXT, competing for the NXT Women’s Championship on multiple occasions. After being drafted to SmackDown, she won the 2021 Women’s Royal Rumble match, becoming the second African American after The Rock to win a Royal Rumble match. She successfully challenged for the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Sasha Banks in the main event of WrestleMania 37 – Night 1, which marked the second time women main-evented WrestleMania, as well as the first time two African-Americans main-evented WWE’s flagship event. In 2021, she was ranked No. 1 of the top 150 female wrestlers by Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI).
In 2023, she became the longest-reigning Raw Women’s Champion with her reign of 420 days. This would also be the longest reign of any WWE women’s championship since 2006, with WWE promoting her as the longest-reigning women’s champion of the modern era. This reign also broke a couple of other records within WWE, including the longest-reigning African-American world champion (male or female) and the longest-reigning African-American for any singles championship. After winning the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship with Jade Cargill in May 2024, she became the ninth WWE Women’s Triple Crown Champion.
Demi Bennett (born 11 October 1996) is an Australian professional wrestler. As of July 2017, she is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Rhea Ripley. She is a two-time Women’s World Champion and a one-time WWE Raw Women’s Champion. Her first reign as Women’s World Champion is tied with Bayley as the longest in the title’s history at 380 days.
After competing on the independent circuit under her real name since 2013, Ripley joined WWE and participated in the inaugural Mae Young Classic in 2017. After reaching the semi-finals of the 2018 edition of the tournament, she was part of the original roster of NXT UK, becoming the inaugural NXT UK Women’s Champion in August 2018. After a run on the NXT brand from 2019 to 2021, which saw her win the NXT Women’s Championship and become the brand’s first member to defend an NXT title at WrestleMania, WWE’s flagship event, she was promoted to the main roster on Raw where she joined The Judgment Day in 2022.
In addition to the NXT UK Women’s Championship and NXT Women’s Championship, she is a former one-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion (with Nikki A.S.H.). After winning the SmackDown Women’s Championship in April 2023—which was renamed as Women’s World Championship that June—she became the seventh WWE Women’s Triple Crown Champion and fifth WWE Women’s Grand Slam Champion, as well as the only wrestler to have held all five of these titles. She is also the first female Australian champion in WWE history. Ripley was the 2023 Women’s Royal Rumble winner, becoming the fourth wrestler and the first woman to win a Royal Rumble match as the number one entrant.