History FollowTheLeader / ProfessionalWrestling

* The Universal Wrestling Association and Lucha Libre Internacional in Mexico starting [[PowerTrio a trios division]] lead to Wrestling/{{CMLL}} starting one of its own, while [[Wrestling/VonErichFamily WCCW]] also followed suit in the USA with its "World Six Man Tag Team Championship"".

* Ring Warriors was the first promotion to stream shows online, and though it did not find success in its target market(USA) for about fifteen years, it beat the local national promotions in Africa and Europe. Ice Ribbon's 19'Oclock was perhaps the first internet streaming show to find success in its actual target market.

* TNA began creating PPV events centered around specific gimmick matches (eg. "Lockdown" a PPV that had all cage matches on the card) so WWE started releasing gimmick [=PPVs=] such as "Extreme Rules" (every match is a different gimmick match), "TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs" (featured a ladder match, table match, chair match and TLC match among others) and "Night of Champions" (every title is on the line). This arguably started years earlier with WCW and their annual Uncensored PPV. Like Extreme Rules, every match on the card had a gimmick. TNA cannot take credit for originality here, though it can still say WWE followed its lead for a change.

* Wrestling/LouThesz is credited with innovating several wrestling moves that would become common place, the power bomb perhaps being the most popular by the ''Thesz Press'' being the most obvious.

* The Universal Wrestling Federation in Mexico starting [[PowerTrio a trios division]] lead to Wrestling/{{CMLL}} starting one of its own, while [[Wrestling/VonErichFamily WCCW]] also followed suit in the USA with its "World Six Man Tag Team Championship"".

* The "anything goes" style of [[Wrestling/{{FMW}} Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling]], {{trope namer}} for GarbageWrestler, spawned many imitators. [[InvokedTrope Although this was the intention]], to the point W*ING and IWA Japan actually became acknowledged rivals. The latter was amusing because IWA was a breakaway from WWC, which was one of FMW's biggest influences, [[CyclicTrope proving this trope is very cyclic]].

* Since Wrestling/ShawnMichaels became the massive legend that he is after [[BreakupBreakout breaking off from his partner]] Marty Jannetty, it seems the main purpose of a tag team sometimes is to find out which member will become a mega star and which one, well…won't. WWE alone has tried this so many times to varying results in the years since the Rockers that two or three people would be necessary for enough hands and fingers to count them all.

* The Universal Wrestling Federation in Mexico starting [[PowerTrio a trios division]] lead to Wrestling/{{CMLL}} starting one of its own, while [[Wrestling/VonErichFamily WCCW]] also followed suit in the USA with its "World Six Man {{Tag Team}} Championship"".

* The horrifying [[Wrestling/{{FMW}} Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling]], {{trope namer}} for GarbageWrestler, spawned many imitators, W*ING and IWA Japan actually becoming acknowledged rivals. The latter was amusing because IWA was a breakaway from WWC, which was one of FMW's biggest influences, [[CyclicTrope proving this trope is very cyclic]].

* Similar to the case of Billy Graham, the Wrestling/AttitudeEra of the late 90s the likes of [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] and [[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin Stone Cold]] popularised the anti-hero in wrestling so that for a good while it wasn't just faces vs heels, it was more like heels that got booed vs heels that got cheered.
* It may be hard - even all but impossible - to believe now, but as recently as the 1980s the women of WWE were a ''lot'' more prim and proper than their male counterparts, especially when it came to the costumes they wore; when Wrestling/MissElizabeth, [[Wrestling/RandySavage Randy "Macho Man" Savage]]'s manager, whipped off her skirt at the inaugural [=SummerSlam=] in 1988, resulting in a (modest by current standards) PantyShot, it was huge news. The attempt to revive their women's division started with putting the belt on respected wrestler Wrestling/{{Jacqueline}} but with the success of Sunny and Wrestling/{{Sable}}, two hot blonde bombshells that were pure T&A, WWE began bringing in more women to feature in spreads in their magazines such as Debra, Wrestling/{{Ivory}}, Tori and Wrestling/TrishStratus-simply lucking out that some of them were or would become respected wrestlers. Thus the Characters/WWEDivas were born.
** Wrestling/{{Chyna}} was presented as an anti-diva who competed with the men and won the Intercontinental title three times. Over the next few years there was a lot more emphasis on talent over looks in women's wrestling in wrestlers such as Wrestling/{{Lita}}, Wrestling/MollyHolly and [[Wrestling/CarleneMoore Jazz]] being pushed to the top of the division. Wrestling/TrishStratus as well who started out as eye candy but worked to improve her wrestling and did so to the point Vince was able to make her the face of the division for several years.
** The whole Diva Search/making models into wrestlers initiative from WWE that followed said golden era for the Divas was actually a result of Trish's success at [[TookALevelInBadass taking levels in badass]].
* TNA began creating PPV events centered around specific gimmick matches (eg. "Lockdown" a PPV that had all cage matches on the card) so WWE started releasing gimmick [=PPVs=] such as "Extreme Rules" (every match is a different gimmick match), "TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs" (featured a ladder match, table match, chair match and TLC match among others) and "Night of Champions" (every title is on the line).
** This arguably started years earlier with WCW and their annual Uncensored PPV. Like Extreme Rules, every match on the card had a gimmick. TNA cannot take credit for originality here.
* In 2008, Wrestling/JohnMorrison and Wrestling/TheMiz debuted an online talk show on WWE.com known as ''The Dirt Sheet''. This program was instrumental in getting the tag team over and showcasing their personalities, and also generated quite a few hits on the site. Within weeks, other online shows started appearing from the likes of Cryme Tyme, Matt Striker, and [[strike: Colt Cabana]] Scotty Goldman. The only one that lasted longer than a couple weeks was Cryme Tyme's ''Word Up'', which resulted in a feud between the two tag teams.
** And in 2011, lightning struck again, as the success of Wrestling/ZackRyder's Youtube series, ''WebVideo/ZTrueLongIslandStory'', led to a number of other underutilized wrestlers starting their own Youtube accounts, including Ryder's former tag-team partner, Curt Hawkins.
* Since Wrestling/ShawnMichaels became the massive legend that he is after [[BreakupBreakout breaking off from his partner]] Marty Jannetty, it seems the main purpose of a tag team sometimes is to find out which member will become a mega star and which one, well…won't. WWE alone has tried this so many times to varying results in the years since the Rockers that two or three people would be necessary for enough hands and fingers to count them all.
* EricBischoff noted that during the MondayNightWars, when WCW started upping the numbers of Pay-Per-View events, the WWF would follow suit.

* While the term was already in use, [[Wrestling/GeorgeWagner Gorgeous George]] pretty much became the progenitor of TheGimmick in professional wrestling as we know it in 1950. Although, many of his more successful imitators, such as Wrestling/BuddyRogers, weren't actually examples [[GorgeousGeorge of the trope he named.]]

* While the term was already in use, [[/GeorgeWagner Gorgeous George]] pretty much became the progenitor of TheGimmick in professional wrestling as we know it in 1950. Although, many of his more successful imitators, such as Wrestling/BuddyRogers, weren't actually examples [[GorgeousGeorge of the trope he named.]]

* The success of Wrestling/{{ECW}} led to the founding of a number of other "hardcore" and "deathmatch" [[ProfessionalWrestling wrestling federations]], and no less an organization than the [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF]] followed their lead. Wrestling/{{WCW}} tried to foster a backlash to this, painting themselves as a "family-friendly" wrestling show, but they soon jumped on the bandwagon after that posture failed. After all, how "family-friendly" can a show about people beating the snot out of each other be? Looking beyond the US, ECW itself was preceded by big Japan, which can be traced back to Wrestling/{{FMW}}.
** Before that, after the arrival of Wrestling/HulkHogan, from 1994-1996, Wrestling/{{WCW}} revamped themselves into "WWF Lite", until the arrival of Wrestling/KevinNash and Wrestling/ScottHall. [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder And the rest is history...]] Before that, WCW head booker Jim Herd decided to try and mimic the WWF's success with the "Rock 'n Wrestling Connection" by tying WCW to another aspect of pop culture -- namely, movies. Fortunately, he dropped that idea after the first shots, a wrestler based on ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' and a Pay-Per-View appearance by ''[[Franchise/{{Robocop}} RoboCop]]'', failed miserably, but it wasn't Herd's first bad idea, and definitely not his last.
** When it started in 2002, Wrestling/{{TNA}} was an alternative to WWE, until over the years, they became "WWE Lite".
* Naturally with the success of the Wrestling/NewWorldOrder every fed in the universe even your local mom and pop indy needed to have a stable trying to take over the company. One of the nWo's first imitations, Wrestling/DGenerationX, was also one that was the ''least'' like it. Let that sink in.
** Every fed including the mom and pop indy also needs to do an evil scheming authority figure whose sole reason for existing seems to be making life miserable for the babyface du jour. Naturally said babyface is almost always a badass nineties anti hero.
* In the Wrestling/AttitudeEra of the late 90s the likes of [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] and [[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin Stone Cold]] popularised the anti-hero in wrestling storylines so that for a good while it wasn't just faces vs heels, it was more like heels that got booed vs heels that got cheered.
** This trend actually has its roots in the late 1970s, when [[Wrestling/SuperstarBillyGraham "Superstar" Billy Graham]] defeated the then-perennially popular Bruno Sammartino for the WWE Championship and held onto the title for the better part of a year. While Graham remained a heel during his first title run and wasn't necessarily cheered by the audience, he was a ''lot'' more charismatic and amusing than most of WWE's faces at the time, proving that wrestling heels could do a lot more than just anger the crowd and [[StrawLoser make the faces look good]]. Not only did Graham eventually turn face, but his costume and gimmick were more or less copied by HulkHogan and other famous wrestlers, and his LovableRogue persona was a profound influence on EddieGuerrero - whom Graham personally admired - and others.

* The success of Wrestling/{{ECW}} led to the founding of a number of other "hardcore" and "deathmatch" [[ProfessionalWrestling wrestling federations]], and no less an organization than the [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF]] followed their lead. Wrestling/{{WCW}} tried to foster a backlash to this, painting themselves as a "family-friendly" wrestling show, but they soon jumped on the bandwagon after that posture failed. After all, how "family-friendly" can a show about people beating the snot out of each other be?

* It may be hard - even all but impossible - to believe now, but as recently as the 1980s the women of WWE were a ''lot'' more prim and proper than their male counterparts, especially when it came to the costumes they wore; when Wrestling/MissElizabeth, [[Wrestling/RandySavage Randy "Macho Man" Savage]]'s manager, whipped off her skirt at the inaugural [=SummerSlam=] in 1988, resulting in a (modest by current standards) PantyShot, it was huge news. But with the success of Sunny and Wrestling/{{Sable}}, two hot blonde bombshells that were pure T&A, WWE began bringing in more women to feature in spreads in their magazines such as Debra, Wrestling/{{Ivory}}, Tori and Wrestling/TrishStratus. Thus the Characters/WWEDivas were born.

* Naturally with the success of the Wrestling/NewWorldOrder every fed in the universe even your local mom and pop indy needed to have a stable trying to take over the company.

* Since Wrestling/ShawnMichaels became the massive legend that he is after [[BreakupBreakout breaking off from his partner]] Marty Jannetty, it seems the main purpose of a tag team sometimes is to find out which member will become a mega star and which one, well…won't. WWE alone has tried this so many times to varying results in the years since the Rockers that two or three people would be necessary for enough hands and fingers to count them all.

** This trend actually has its roots in the late 1970s, when "Superstar" Billy Graham defeated the then-perennially popular Bruno Sammartino for the WWE Championship and held onto the title for the better part of a year. While Graham remained a heel during his first title run and wasn't necessarily cheered by the audience, he was a ''lot'' more charismatic and amusing than most of WWE's faces at the time, proving that wrestling heels could do a lot more than just anger the crowd and [[StrawLoser make the faces look good]]. Not only did Graham eventually turn face, but his costume and gimmick were more or less copied by HulkHogan and other famous wrestlers, and his LovableRogue persona was a profound influence on EddieGuerrero - whom Graham personally admired - and others.

* It may be hard - even all but impossible - to believe now, but as recently as the 1980s the women of WWE were a ''lot'' more prim and proper than their male counterparts, especially when it came to the costumes they wore; when Miss Elizabeth, "Macho Man" [[RandySavage Randy Savage]]'s manager, whipped off her skirt at the inaugural [=SummerSlam=] in 1988, resulting in a (modest by current standards) PantyShot, it was huge news. But with the success of Sunny and Wrestling/{{Sable}}, two hot blonde bombshells that were pure T&A, WWE began bringing in more women to feature in spreads in their magazines such as Debra, Ivory, Tori and Wrestling/TrishStratus. Thus the Characters/WWEDivas were born.
** Wrestling/{{Chyna}} was presented as an anti-diva who competed with the men and won the Intercontinental title three times. Over the next few years there was a lot more emphasis on talent over looks in women's wrestling in wrestlers such as Wrestling/{{Lita}}, Molly Holly and Jazz being pushed to the top of the division. Wrestling/TrishStratus as well who started out as eye candy but worked to improve her wrestling and did so to the point Vince was able to make her the face of the division for several years.

* It may be hard - even all but impossible - to believe now, but as recently as the 1980s the women of WWE were a ''lot'' more prim and proper than their male counterparts, especially when it came to the costumes they wore; when Miss Elizabeth whipped off her skirt at the inaugural [=SummerSlam=] in 1988, resulting in a (modest by current standards) PantyShot, it was huge news. But with the success of Sunny and Wrestling/{{Sable}}, two hot blonde bombshells that were pure T&A, WWE began bringing in more women to feature in spreads in their magazines such as Debra, Ivory, Tori and Wrestling/TrishStratus. Thus the Characters/WWEDivas were born.

* With the success of Sunny and Wrestling/{{Sable}}, two hot blonde bombshells that were pure T&A, WWE began bringing in more women to feature in spreads in their magazines such as Debra, Ivory, Tori and Wrestling/TrishStratus. Thus the Characters/WWEDivas were born.

* The success of {{ECW}} led to the founding of a number of other "hardcore" and "deathmatch" [[ProfessionalWrestling wrestling federations]], and no less an organization than the [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF]] followed their lead. {{WCW}} tried to foster a backlash to this, painting themselves as a "family-friendly" wrestling show, but they soon jumped on the bandwagon after that posture failed. After all, how "family-friendly" can a show about people beating the snot out of each other be?
** Before that, after the arrival of HulkHogan, from 1994-1996, {{WCW}} revamped themselves into "WWF Lite", until the arrival of KevinNash and ScottHall. [[NewWorldOrder And the rest is history...]] Before that, WCW head booker Jim Herd decided to try and mimic the WWF's success with the "Rock 'n Wrestling Connection" by tying WCW to another aspect of pop culture -- namely, movies. Fortunately, he dropped that idea after the first shots, a wrestler based on ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' and a Pay-Per-View appearance by {{Robocop}}, failed miserably, but it wasn't Herd's first bad idea, and definitely not his last.
** When it started in 2002, {{TNA}} was an alternative to the WWE, until over the years, they became "WWE Lite".

* In the AttitudeEra of the late 90s the likes of [[DwayneJohnson The Rock]] and [[StoneColdSteveAustin Stone Cold]] popularised the anti-hero in wrestling storylines so that for a good while it wasn't just faces vs heels, it was more like heels that got booed vs heels that got cheered.
* With the success of Sunny and {{Sable}}, two hot blonde bombshells that were pure T&A, WWE began bringing in more women to feature in spreads in their magazines such as Debra, Ivory, Tori and TrishStratus. Thus the Characters/WWEDivas were born.
** {{Chyna}} was presented as an anti-diva who competed with the men and won the Intercontinental title three times. Over the next few years there was a lot more emphasis on talent over looks in women's wrestling in wrestlers such as {{Lita}}, Molly Holly and Jazz being pushed to the top of the division. Wrestling/TrishStratus as well who started out as eye candy but worked to improve her wrestling and did so to the point Vince was able to make her the face of the division for several years.

* In 2008, JohnMorrison and TheMiz debuted an online talk show on WWE.com known as ''The Dirt Sheet''. This program was instrumental in getting the tag team over and showcasing their personalities, and also generated quite a few hits on the site. Within weeks, other online shows started appearing from the likes of Cryme Tyme, Matt Striker, and [[strike: Colt Cabana]] Scotty Goldman. The only one that lasted longer than a couple weeks was Cryme Tyme's ''Word Up'', which resulted in a feud between the two tag teams.
** And in 2011, lightning struck again, as the success of ZackRyder's Youtube series, ZTrueLongIslandStory, led to a number of other underutilized wrestlers starting their own Youtube accounts, including Ryder's former tag-team partner, Curt Hawkins.

* Since Wrestling/ShawnMichaels became the massive legend that he is after [[BreakupBreakout breaking off from his partner]] Marty Jannetty, it seems the main purpose of a tag team sometimes is to find out which member will become a mega star and which one, well…won't. WWE alone has tried this so many times to varying results in the years since the Rockers that two or three people would be needed for enough hands and fingers to count them all.

* Since Wrestling/ShawnMichaels became the massive legend that he is after [[BreakupBreakout breaking off from his partner]] Marty Jannetty, it seems the main purpose of a tag team sometimes is to find out which member will become a mega star and which one, well…won't. WWE alone has tried this so many times to varying results in the years since the Rockers that to have enough hands and fingers to count them all you'd need two or three people.

* Since Wrestling/ShawnMichaels became the massive legend that he is after [[BreakupBreakout breaking off from his partner]] Marty Jannetty, it seems the main purpose of a tag team sometimes is to find out which member will become a mega star and which one, well…won't. WWE alone has tried this so many times to varying success in the years since the Rockers that to have enough hands and fingers to count them all you'd need two or three people.

* Since Shawn Michaels' massive success after [[BreakupBreakout breaking off from his partner]] Marty Jannetty, it seems the main purpose of a tag team sometimes is to find out which member will become a mega star and which one, well…won't. WWE alone has tried this so many times to varying success in the years since the Rockers that to have enough hands and fingers to count them all you'd need two or three people.

* Naturally with the success of the NewWorldOrder every fed in the universe even your local mom and pop indy needed to have a stable trying to take over the company.

** {{Chyna}} was presented as an anti-diva who competed with the men and won the Intercontinental title three times. Over the next few years there was a lot more emphasis on talent over looks in women's wrestling in wrestlers such as {{Lita}}, Molly Holly and Jazz being pushed to the top of the division. TrishStratus as well who started out as eye candy but worked to improve her wrestling.

** And in 2011, lightning struck again, as the success of ZackRyder's Youtube series, ZTrueLongIslandStory, led to a number of other underutilized wrestlers starting their own Youtube accounts, including Ryder's former tag-team partner, Curt Hawkins.

** And in 2011, lightning struck again, as the success of ZackRyder's Youtube series, ZTrueLongIslandStory, led to a number of other underutilized wrestlers starting their own Youtube accounts, including Ryder's former tag-team partner, Curt Hawkins.
** Actually, indy wrestler Claudio Castagnoli started a Website/YouTube series with goofy, tongue-in-cheek humor and random segments/skits a year before Ryder did. It caught a lot more wind and notice once Ryder's series started, though.

* The success of {{ECW}} led to the founding of a number of other "hardcore" and "deathmatch" [[ProfessionalWrestling wrestling federations]], and no less an organization than the [[{{WWE}} WWF]] followed their lead. {{WCW}} tried to foster a backlash to this, painting themselves as a "family-friendly" wrestling show, but they soon jumped on the bandwagon after that posture failed. After all, how "family-friendly" can a show about people beating the snot out of each other be?

** Every fed including the mom and pop indy also needs to do an evil scheming authority figure whose sole reason for existing seems to be making life miserable for the babyface du jour. Naturally said babyface is almost always a badass nineties anti hero.

** Actually, indy wrestler Claudio Castagnoli started a YouTube series with goofy, tongue-in-cheek humor and random segments/skits a year before Ryder did. It caught a lot more wind and notice once Ryder's series started, though.

** Before that, after the arrival of HulkHogan, from 1994-1996, {{WCW}} revamped themselves into "WWF Lite", until the arrival of KevinNash and ScottHall. [[NewWorldOrder And the rest is history...]]
*** And even before that, WCW head booker Jim Herd decided to try and mimic the WWF's success with the "Rock 'n Wrestling Connection" by tying WCW to another aspect of pop culture -- namely, movies. Fortunately, he dropped that idea after the first shots, a wrestler based on ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' and a Pay-Per-View appearance by {{Robocop}}, failed miserably, but it wasn't Herd's first bad idea, and definitely not his last.

** And of course every fed including the mom and pop indy also needs to do an evil scheming authority figure whose sole reason for existing seems to be making life miserable for the babyface du jour. Naturally said babyface is almost always a badass nineties anti hero.

** {{Chyna}} was presented as an anti-diva who competed with the men and even won the Intercontinental title three times. Over the next few years there was a lot more emphasis on talent over looks in women's wrestling in wrestlers such as {{Lita}}, Molly Holly and Jazz being pushed to the top of the division. TrishStratus as well who started out as eye candy but worked to improve her wrestling.

* In 2008, JohnMorrison and TheMiz debuted an online talk show on WWE.com known as ''The Dirt Sheet''. This program was instrumental in getting the tag team over and showcasing their personalities, and also generated quite a few hits on the site. Within weeks, other online shows started appearing from the likes of Cryme Tyme, Matt Striker, and even [[strike: Colt Cabana]] Scotty Goldman. The only one that lasted longer than a couple weeks was Cryme Tyme's ''Word Up'', which resulted in a feud between the two tag teams.

* With the success of Sunny and Sable, two hot blonde bombshells that were pure T&A, WWE began bringing in more women to feature in spreads in their magazines such as Debra, Ivory, Tori and TrishStratus. Thus the Characters/WWEDivas were born.
** {{Chyna}} was presented as an anti-diva who competed with the men and even won the Intercontinental title three times. Over the next few years there was a lot more emphasis on talent over looks in women's wrestling in wrestlers such as Lita, Molly Holly and Jazz being pushed to the top of the division. Trish Stratus as well who started out as eye candy but worked to improve her wrestling.