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T beating Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper, overseen by a guest referee - none other than Muhammad Ali. Then, McMahon invented a little event called WrestleMania, whose first occurrence was in 1985 and featured André the Giant, King Kong Bundy, Ricky Steamboat, The Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, and more. This was largely due to the massive strides McMahon made in turning it into a global phenomenon.įirst, he signed little-known prospects like Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, and Jesse Ventura, all of whom went on to become superstars. But it wasn't until Vince McMahon bought Capitol Wrestling from his father and became CEO in 1980 that the WWE gained footing as a legitimate wrestling dynasty. Founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt in 1952 as Capitol Wrestling Corporation, the organization eventually became the largest wrestling corporation in the world, hosting more than 500 events per year. There's no two ways about it - the WWE is the world's premier and most explosive wrestling organization.
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