Five days that changed WWE forever
What's the story
WWE has a long history- it was started by Vince McMahon's grandfather and later run by his father as the WWWF (World Wide Wrestling Federation).
In 1979, McMahon formed Titan Sports and eventually acquired the company from his father.
He has taken WWE to unimaginable heights and turned himself into a billionaire.
Here are five days that changed WWE forever.
Name change
May 6, 2002: Get the 'F' out
World Wrestling Federation were sued by the World Wildlife Fund in 2000 as both organizations had the same initials.
As the World Wildlife Fund was formed in 1961, the court ordered McMahon, who had earlier changed his company's name in 1979, to re-brand it.
WWE changed the name with an ad campaign saying "Get the 'F' out".
WCW
March 23, 2001: Vince McMahon buys WCW
In the 90s, WWE and World Championship Wrestling were the two biggest competitors in the business and their two flagship shows, Monday Night Raw and Monday Nitro (notice the pun) would battle it out for TV ratings.
When WCW's business began shrinking around the year 2000, McMahon decided to buy off his competition, thus making WWE the biggest wrestling promotion ever.
Austin 3:16
June 25 1995: Austin 3:16 speech sparks off Attitude Era
After defeating Jake Roberts, at the King of the Ring 1995, Stone Cold was asked to share a few words as he commented, "You talk about your psalms, you talk about John 3:16, well Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your a**."
This statement, the most iconic in WWE history, is what sparked off the Attitude Era, the most popular period in WWE's history.
SmackDown
April 29, 1999- Brand split and SmackDown's debut
After buying World Championship Wrestling, McMahon realized with so many stars in his roster and just one weekly show is not fruitful.
This is why McMahon decided to launch another show, SmackDown, to split his stars equally and have two weekly runs.
The first episode of SmackDown aired on April 29, 1999 and the name was taken from a catchphrase by The Rock.
Raw debut
January 11, 1993- WWE changes wrestling business forever
Raw is the longest running weekly show in the history of television and its first episode debuted on January 11, 1993.
Before this, wrestling promotions used television only to advertise or show pay-per-views, but by making wrestling a weekly affair on television, Vince McMahon started oiling an untapped market and changed the business of professional wrestling.