The Ryukyu Islands are a chain of islands that extends between Kyushu, the southernmost of the four main islands of Japan, and Taiwan, marking the border between the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea. They are part of Japan and they are formed by a series of small archipelagos, from north to south: the…
The ancient civilizations of Greece and China at one point dominated the Western and Eastern world, respectively. Their history was almost completely separate, and they only interacted thanks to merchants along the Silk Road. The story of how this route was initiated is linked with the expansion of the Greeks towards the east, and the…
Deep among the hills of Southern Africa, in the modern country of Zimbabwe, lie the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, the capital of what was once the richest kingdom of this part of the world. This is known as the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, and from the 13th to the 15th century it ruled over a large…
In the mid 2010s, WWE started moving to a more reality-oriented product, effectively acknowledging that “kayfabe is dead” in wrestling, and fans are well aware of what happens behind the scenes. During this time, WWE kept relying on established wrestlers and returning legends, but also created new stars. Among these were Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns…
With the end of both WCW and ECW, WWF was standing on top of the wrestling business, with no competition. After WrestleMania X-Seven, several WCW and ECW wrestlers began appearing on WWF programming, and were depicted as invaders that tried to take over the promotion. They were called The Alliance and were led by Vince…
After the boom of the 1980s, both WWF and WCW started to decline. WWF was hit with a steroid scandal that saw many of the major stars of the promotion involved. WWF physician Dr. George T. Zahorian was accused of distributing the drugs, and McMahon was also indicted due to his connection with him. The…
While various wrestling promotions were enjoying a moderate degree of success in the early 1980s, the territory system of the NWA would soon be disrupted by the national expansion of WWF. Vincent K. McMahon (better known as Vince McMahon), son of Vincent J. McMahon, bought WWF from his father in 1982. He immediately withdrew the…
Centuries before ruling over the entire Mediterranean region, Rome was just a small village located on a group of hills along the Tiber river in Lazio, Central Italy. The Romans had a series of myths surrounding the founding of the city, and traditionally dated the event on April 21, 753 BCE, although different dates were…
In the 1930s and 1940s, there were several small wrestling (henceforth “wrestling” will always refer to professional wrestling) promotions all over the United States, competing with each other to get the best talent and win over the fans in different cities. Several promoters came together in 1948 to form a loose confederation called National Wrestling…
Wrestling as a competitive sport has ancient origins, with evidence of mock combat between men dating back to prehistory. The modern sport of wrestling developed during the 19th century in two forms, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, now collectively known as amateur wrestling. Meanwhile, during the 1830s, showmen in France started to present wrestlers as superhuman…