WWE SmackDown's 20th Anniversary
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WWE SmackDown's 20th Anniversary
SmackDown's 20th Anniversary, or the 20th Anniversary of SmackDown, was a special episode of WWE's weekly television program ''SmackDown'' that took place on October 4, 2019, and commemorated the program's 20th anniversary. It was broadcast live on Fox, and marked the SmackDown's return to Friday nights (thus it was renamed to ''Friday Night SmackDown''). The broadcast featured current WWE wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands as well as Hall of Famers and Legends from the past. The main event saw Brock Lesnar defeat Kofi Kingston in eight seconds to win the WWE Championship for a fifth time in what was Lesnar's first match on the brand in 15 years. On the undercard, Kevin Owens defeated Shane McMahon in a ladder match resulting in Shane being (kayfabe) fired, Roman Reigns defeated Erick Rowan in a lumberjack match, and Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch defeated Bayley and Sasha Banks in the opening bout. The event also saw Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's first appearance on ...
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Sting (wrestler)
Steve Borden (born March 20, 1959), better known by the ring name Sting, is an American professional wrestler and former bodybuilder, currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as the mentor of Darby Allin. He is regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, having cultivated a legacy over a career spanning five decades. Throughout his career, he won a total of fourteen world championships. Sting is widely known for his time spent as the public face of two major American professional wrestling promotions: the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling (WCW), which was bought by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 2001, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA, now Impact Wrestling). Although the WWF had purchased WCW, Sting did not sign with them at that time. Prior to WCW, he also wrestled for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), and Mid South. Sting's 14-year association with WCW and its predecess ...
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Kofi Kingston
Kofi Nahaje Sarkodie-Mensah (born August 14, 1981) is a Ghanaian-born American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Kofi Kingston. He appeared on WWE's NXT brand as one-half of the current NXT Tag Team Champions with Xavier Woods in their first reign. After graduating from Boston College, he decided to pursue a professional wrestling career, and began performing on the New England independent circuit as a Jamaican wrestler by the name of Kofi Nahaje Kingston. After signing a developmental deal with WWE in 2006, he shortened his ring name to Kofi Kingston. He debuted in WWE in 2008 using the same Jamaican character as he did on the independent circuit. In late 2009, he stopped being billed from Jamaica and dropped the accent, although he kept his ring name. He then started being billed from his home country of Ghana. From 2008 to 2013, Kingston became a four-time Intercontinental Champion, a three-time U ...
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Mixed Martial Arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. The first documented use of the term ''mixed martial arts'' was in a review of UFC 1 by television critic Howard Rosenberg in 1993. The question of who actually coined the term is subject to debate. During the early 20th century, various interstylistic contests took place throughout Japan and in the countries of the Four Asian Tigers. In Brazil, there was the sport of Vale Tudo, in which The Gracie family was known to promote Vale Tudo matches as a way to promote their own Brazilian jiu-jitsu style. A precursor to modern MMA was the 1976 Ali vs. Inoki exhibition bout (which ended in a draw after 15 rounds), fought between boxer Muhammad Ali and wrestler Antonio ...
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Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and former professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he was integral to the development and success of the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) during the Attitude Era, an industry boom period in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Johnson wrestled for the WWF for eight years prior to pursuing an acting career. Dwayne Johnson filmography, His films have grossed over in North America and over worldwide, making him one of the world's List of highest grossing actors, highest-grossing and highest-paid actors. Prior to his emergence as a top-grossing actor beginning in the 2010s, Johnson was an athlete. At Freedom High School (Pennsylvania), Freedom High School in Bethlehem Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Bethlehem Township, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley, he ultimately emerged as a standout on the schoo ...
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Sasha Banks
Mercedes Justine Kaestner-Varnado (born January 26, 1992) is an American professional wrestler and actress. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Sasha Banks. Banks previously wrestled on the independent circuit, most notably for Chaotic Wrestling, where she won the Chaotic Wrestling Women's Championship. She signed with WWE in 2012 and was assigned to the NXT brand. She was promoted to WWE's main roster in 2015. Her match against Bayley at NXT TakeOver: Respect in October 2015 was the first women's match to ever headline a NXT TakeOver, the first iron woman match in WWE history, and the longest women's match in WWE history at the time with a length of 30 minutes. Their match was voted by ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') as Match of the Year, with Banks also being voted as Woman of the Year. Banks went on to hold the Raw Women's Championship five times. In 2016, she and Charlotte Flair became the first women to ...
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Bayley (wrestler)
Pamela Rose Martinez (born June 15, 1989) is an American professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Bayley, and the leader of the faction Damage CTRL. From 2008 to 2012, she wrestled on the independent circuit under the ring name Davina Rose. Martinez signed with WWE in 2012 and was assigned to the NXT brand, where she adopted the ring name Bayley (as opposed to Bailey, Martinez chose "Bayley" as she represents the Bay Area). In 2015, she won the NXT Women's Championship, and subsequently won the 2015 NXT Year-End Awards for Female Competitor of the Year and Match of the Year for her confrontation with Sasha Banks at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn. Bayley held the WWE Raw Women's Championship, the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship and the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship, making her the first women's Triple Crown Champion and Grand Slam winner in WWE history. Bayley holds the record for the longest singular Smack ...
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Charlotte Flair
Ashley Elizabeth Fliehr (born April 5, 1986) is an American professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Charlotte Flair. She is currently inactive. She is a second-generation professional wrestler, being the daughter of Ric Flair. Flair made her first appearance in professional wrestling alongside her father in World Championship Wrestling in 1993. In 2012, she began training with WWE, and debuted in NXT the following year. In 2014, she was named Rookie of the Year by ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI''), and was promoted to WWE's main roster in 2015. In 2016, ''PWI'' readers voted Flair Woman of the Year and Top Female Professional Wrestler. Flair has held the WWE Divas Championship once, the NXT Women's Championship twice, the Raw Women's Championship a record six times, the SmackDown Women's Championship a record six times, and the Women's Tag Team Championship once, making her a Triple Crown Champi ...
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Lumberjack Match
Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. Throughout professional wrestling's decades long history, some gimmick matches have spawned many variations of the core concept. Singles match The singles match is the most common of all professional wrestling matches, which involves only two competitors competing for one fall. A victory is obtained by pinfall, submission, knockout, countout, or disqualification. Some of the most common variations on the singles match is to restrict the possible means for victory. Duchess of Queensbury Rules match A Duchess of Queensbury Rules match is a singles match contested under specific, often disclosed rules is replaced by a title usually meant to sound traditional for one combatant. A wrestler challenging another wrestler to a mat ...
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Erick Rowan
Joseph Ruud (born November 28, 1981) is an American professional wrestler performing as Erick Redbeard. Having previously wrestled in Japan, where he trained and performed for Pro Wrestling Noah, Ruud signed a contract with WWE in 2011. He was sent to its developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), before debuting on the NXT brand in 2012 under the ring name Erick Rowan, a member of the Wyatt Family. He went on to become a one-time NXT Tag Team Champion (with Harper) and a two-time SmackDown Tag Team Champion (once with Luke Harper and once with Daniel Bryan). Ruud was released from WWE in April 2020, returning to the independent circuit. Early life Joseph Ruud was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 28, 1981. He grew up in Montrose, Minnesota. He is of Norwegian descent, with his ancestors having emigrated to the U.S. from Nannestad. He attended the University of Minnesota Morris, where he played football. Professional wrestling career Ear ...
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Roman Reigns
Leati Joseph "Joe" Anoa'i (born May 25, 1985) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and former American football, football player. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Roman Reigns. He is the leader of The Bloodline (professional wrestling), The Bloodline and is the current and longest-reigning WWE Universal Champion in his List of WWE Universal Champions, second reign, as well as the current WWE Champion in his List of WWE Champions, fourth reign, making him WWE's Undisputed championship (professional wrestling), undisputed world champion. He is a member of wrestling's Anoa'i family, which also includes his father Sika Anoa'i; brother Rosey (wrestler), Rosey; and cousins The Usos, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Rikishi (wrestler), Rikishi, Solo Sikoa, Sam Fatu, The Tonga Kid, Yokozuna (wrestler), Yokozuna, and Umaga (wrestler), Umaga. After playing college football for ...
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Kayfabe
In professional wrestling, kayfabe, as a noun, is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as "real" or "true", specifically the portrayal of competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants as being genuine and not staged. The term ''kayfabe'' has evolved to also become a code word of sorts for maintaining this "reality" within the direct or indirect presence of the general public. Kayfabe, in the United States, is often seen as the suspension of disbelief that is used to create the non-wrestling aspects of promotions, such as feuds, angles, and gimmicks in a manner similar to other forms of fictional entertainment. In relative terms, a wrestler breaking kayfabe during a show would be likened to an actor breaking character on-camera. Also, since wrestling is performed in front of a live audience, whose interaction with the show is crucial to its success, kayfabe can be compared to the fourth wall in acting, since hardly any conventional fourth wall exists ...
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Ladder Match
A ladder match is a type of match in professional wrestling, most commonly one in which an item (usually a title belt) is hung above the ring, and the winner is the contestant who climbs a ladder and retrieves the item. The ladder itself becomes a key feature of the match, as wrestlers will use the ladder as a weapon to strike the opponent(s), as a launching pad for acrobatic attacks, and frequently these matches include impressive falls from the top of the ladder. However, there were very few matches in which the hung item must be used in a special manner in order to win the match, such as striking the opponent with the item (see Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Scott Hall taser match, where one must strike the opponent with the taser, regardless of who retrieved the taser first). Ladder matches are often used as a finale to storylines and it is more common to have symbolic briefcases (usually "containing" a contract for a future championship match) or championship belts hung above the r ...
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