Professional wrestling has been around for many decades, and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is the world’s best-known and most popular pro wrestling promoter. That wasn’t always the case.
The WWE got its start in 1953 when Vincent J. McMahon founded the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) in Stamford, Ct. Stamford’s proximity to New York City made it an ideal location to establish the pro-wrestling promotion with lots of potential event attendees and a relatively large regional audience. Vincent J. McMahon is the father of Vince McMahon, who would take the wrestling promotion to new heights several decades later.
From 1953 until the onset of cable television, virtually all pro-wrestling promotions in the United States were regional. A professional wrestling promotion mostly focused on a particular region, such as the northeastern United States or the greater New York City area. The regional nature of professional wrestling promotions was necessary due to limited access to local television and relatively limited methods of travel.
A regional promotion generally controlled pro wrestling in its market area and could bus wrestlers from one venue to another as needed. Fans could get to know their favorite regional pro wrestlers, watch them on local television, and buy tickets when the wrestling promotion came to town.
That’s how professional wrestling worked for many years, but improvements in the nation’s interstate system, airline services, and railroads made it possible to expand and enable some promotions to merge with others. The CWC had a firm hold on the northeastern region, and rival promotion the National Wrestling Alliance in 1961 made “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers its undisputed world heavyweight champion, but Rogers wrestled in the CWC.
The CWC became part of the NWA in 1961 and remained until 1963. Some of the promoters outside the northeastern United States were unhappy that the CWC rarely allowed Rogers to wrestle outside the CWC’s home turf, and Rogers lost the world title in early 1963.
The loss caused the CWC to form its own world championship and changed the promotion’s name to the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). The WWWF would operate under that name until 1980 and named Rogers its first world heavyweight champion in April 1965. A month later, Bruno Sammartino defeated Rogers and held the WWWF title for the next seven years. That title stretch is the longest any pro wrestler ever held a world title.
The NWA and WWWF generally competed as the nation’s and world’s top pro wrestling promotions until Vince McMahon, son of founder Vincent McMahon, recognized the marketing opportunity provided by cable television. Cable TV made it possible for pro wrestling to be seen on televisions in every home that had a cable box.
Vince McMahon founded the World Wrestling Federation and bought the WWWF in 1982. He brought in the biggest names in the business, including Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan. The WWF remade professional wrestling history under McMahon’s leadership as it became today’s World Wrestling Entertainment.