10 incidents that redefined Professional Wrestling History

You know whats exciting about being a wrestling fan?We sometimes dont realize the fact that we are witnessing history being made until the moments are etched as a milestone in the timeline. And recently we lived a similar moment when the WWE decided to take over the internet with their Network Launch.In what proved to be a ground breaking decision, WWE has risked even their very existence by giving the fans access to all the pay-per-views and rich archives full of legacy.The Network is going to the latest addition to that long list of milestones however, there were many more important things in the past which literally changed the way that wrestling presented to us and the way we looked at it.And now, since we are in a transition phase in the business there wont be better time to take a look back and recall those moments that changed the face of professional wrestling forever, be it for the good or to the misery of the fans.

#1 Honorable mentions

Before we start our countdown, these four incidents will always remain an integral part of WWE fans all over the world:

Eddie Guerrero’s death

Undertaker’s WrestleMania debut

Start of Attitude Era

Vince McMahon takes over WWE

#2 Hulkamania Running wild- Vince McMahon signs Hulk Hogan

During the old days, wrestling in America used to run like mafias, the owner had their own territory from which other kept out. However, Vince McMahon broke all the boundaries and started rebuilding his company by handpicking names from around the states.

And one name stood out in particular: Hulk Hogan.

The guy who appeared in a Rocky movie was wrestling for AWA which didn’t give him a title run saying that he wasn’t a technical wrestler. However, McMahon understood that charisma and bankability was the traits needed for a wrestler than his in ring abilities.

McMahon soon snatched Hogan and pushed him so much that he ended up as the WWF champion within one month and Hulkamania was born.

Growing beyond wrestling Hogan proved to be a cult figure all across United States and ended up lifting the promotion to a national level. With Hogan, WWF was more of entertaining than wrestling which proved to be a turning point for everyone.

And still now, if someone asks a fan about the most influential wrestlers in the history of the business, Hogan’s name would pop up in the top three. That’s a proof that Hulkamania is still living on.

#3 It starts- WrestleMania 1

With the company reining supreme nationally thanks to the popularity of Hulk Hogan, McMahon was enjoying a wealthy time.

However, being the business man he is, McMahon wanted to take things further and get more out of the business. He planned an event showcasing wrestler and celebrities which would start the pay-per-view era in professional wrestling.

Mr.T was the main attraction of the first edition and despite the risk involved McMahon managed to make Mania the standard for every wrestling event. he saw a flow of money into his account and sat in the satisfaction that another one of his plans struck gold.

WrestleMania then went on to make a legacy unmatched by any other event and had big names like Muhammad Ali gaze the squared circle. One moment which stands apart from all these has to be at WrestleMania III where Hulk Hogan slammed Andre The Giant who was undefeated for 15 years.

#4 Bret screwed Bret- Montreal Screwjob

Shawn Michaels, Bret Hard, Earl Hebner, Vince McMahon and Survivor Series, these are names without which the list wouldn’t be complete by a mile.

The match was scheduled as a no disqualification for the WWF title which was held by Bret Hart at the time and After Survivor Series, Bret was supposed to leave for WCW by giving a farewell speech and surrendering his title at Raw.

But Vince McMahon had other plans as always.

After an epic show put together by the wrestlers, Shawn Michaels trapped Bret Hart in a sharpshooter which was supposed to be reversed by Bret. However, Hebner soon called for the ring according to the order of Vince McMahon and announced Michaels as the winner despite Bret not tapping.

Hart stood there in the realization that he was screwed professionally by McMahon and even spat in the face of McMahon before tearing apart the ring side.

It was the start of a decade long real life rivalries and debates all across the world as the fans hadn’t witnessed anything like that ever in their life.

#5 Battle for survival Monday Night Wars starts

Yup you read that right, the Monday night wars was more about survival than supremacy.

It all started with the promotion of Eric Bischoff in WCW, he made WCW a credible promotion overnight and decided to pit up against WWF at all cost.

Bischoff snatched the biggest star of WWF in the form of Hulk Hogan and started showing their WCW Nitro on the same slot as Raw. He wanted to knock WWF out and off business with his tactics and one has to admit that he went all the limits.

WCW bought talents like Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Lex Luger and added a big punch in the form of Bill Goldberg. All these coupled which cheap shots to WWE made WCW the leader in the race for almost two years on the running. The cheap shots included giving out Raw results and making wrestlers mock WWF on national TV which still remain as one of the most entertaining battles in WWE DVD vaults.

Showcasing various styles and openly admitting that they are here to kill, WCW almost put McMahon and his promotion out of business. but McMahon rose from the ashes and eventually reigned as the monopolistic power in the professional wrestling.

Well just imagine what would’ve happened if WWE died there.

#6 The New World Order- Heel Turn of Hulk Hogan

Hogan was the hero that everyone wanted to be, he was the face of professional wrestling that fought off all the kayfabe evils. And none would’ve seen it coming his heel turn unless you knew Eric Bischoff.

Being the wrestling genius he is, Bischoff had a brilliant idea of turning Hogan heel which proved to be the decision that kept WCW above WWE for a long time.

Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were projected as invader from the WWE by Bischoff and they claimed to have a third member which was a mystery.

It all unfolded at the Bash at the Beach of 1996 when Hogan came out of the curtain to align with Hall and Nash to form the New World Order. He gave historic promos in wrestling history and went on to rule the ranks.

The NWO angle turned out to be “the” most controversial angle in WCW history and is still believed to be one of the best booking decision that Eric Bischoff made in his tenures at various promotions.

#7 In the Bank- WWE buys WCW

At one point during the Monday Night Wars, WCW started to stagnate and were unable to match up to the product that Vince McMahon put forward .Eventually WCW went out of business after locking horns with Vince McMahon. However no one saw the after effects of that.

McMahon bought the bankrupt promotion and made it his own, leaving WWE as the only big wrestling promotion in the states.

What it meant was there were like more than hundred free wrestlers in the country with WWE being the only promotion. McMahon retained many of the wrestlers who had contracts with WCW while others fell short of the requirements.

And then there were Sting, who kept away from WWE though McMahon wanted him. Sting still remains as an unachieved dream for McMahon and the fans.

With so many wrestlers in their bank WWE decided to run the brand split which later gave us a lot of things to remember.

#8 The killer blow Benoit murders his family and suicides

Benoit was one of the wrestlers who could simply walk into the hall of fame one day because he was that good in the ring and dedicated off it.

However, it all fell apart when Benoit murdered his wife and child before suiciding.

It proved to be one of the darkest days in the business and WWE was soon put into the spotlight for pushing their employees to the limit. The media came to a conclusion that the brain damages that Benoit has was because of the company’s lack of concern for their wrestlers.

This forced him to make some alterations to his product which included health tests and ban on chair shots which was an integral part of the action.

McMahon even came out of Kayfabe the next Raw and rewrote the whole storylines and made his product a bit toned down.

Apart from the changes that this incident made to WWE, what was more saddening was that we lost a great wrestlers like Benoit in such a dark way.

#9 Paul Heymans brain child- The birth of ECW

A majority of the wrestling fans still believe that the reason why McMahon put WCW was because of the sheer brilliance of his booking.

But the real reason was ECW.

McMahon’s attitude Era was inspired from Paul Heyman’s small promotion in Philadelphia which had one the most vocal fans in the country. The blood, clad babes, controversial storylines all were trade mark of ECW all these later proved to be the basics of McMahon’s revolution as well.

ECW was also the breeding ground for wrestler like Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Rob Van Dam, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit and many more.

Many of these wrestlers were snatched by WCW and WWE which ignited the demise of ECW. Despite being dead for more than a decade now, the fans across the world are still in love with Heyman’s product which was the motive for WWE’s re-launch which was nowhere near the original one.

In terms of creativity and wrestling, there aren’t many promotions in the history which could match up with standards set by ECW.

#10 The birth of Internet

What made Wrestling so popular around the world was its ability to pull of some great storylines which kept the fans on the edge of their seats and most of that success was thanks to the unpredictability that was delivered along with the angles.

And then came the Internet.

A one stop place for everyone to know all the inside story and results of matches, the Internet is quite arguably one of the worst things that happened to professional Wrestling.

People who saw Mick Foley as a chaotic crazy man realized that he was just a regular family guy who loved his children and like this many other’s wrestlers saw their kayfabe blown off.

The secrecy of the business was no longer a weapon for the promoters as the business was transparent than ever.

All the fans out there who must be cursing the current product might have a better time watching wrestling if they turned off their internet first and tuned into the shows as they are.

#11 Linda McMahons love with Politics and Misery of WWE fans- WWE goes PG

Well, have you cursed the PG Era because it provides you with kayfabe storylines that even kindergarten students will be ashamed off?

Then welcome to the world of frustrated WWE fans.

The reason why all this happened was because of the love that Linda McMahon had for power. She decided to run for the Senate campaign in 2010 and had nothing to show off than steroid deaths, blood and violence as her legacy.

Thus the WWE was a roadblock in Linda’s rise to power which forced McMahon to rethink about his whole product. McMahon who was already searching for answers after the death of Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit got the ultimate push in the form of Linda McMahon and the rest was misery laid upon the fans.

Instead of an adult fan base, the WWE started to prey on children and family which attracted more sponsors and money to the business. It also allowed the McMahons to build a good public image and almost washed away all the blood and gore which made them grow.

The fans however, weren’t satisfied with the direction of the product and still clamps on to the past when the company fails to produce the good.

After all Wrestling wasn’t supposed to be family friendly was it ?