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Professional wrestling, or pro wrestling, is a non-competitive professional sport, which is also considered an athletic performing art, containing strong elements of catch wrestling, mock combat and theatre. It has origins in carnival sideshows in the late 19th century as part of displays of athletics and strength. Modern professional wrestling usually features striking and grappling techniques, which are modeled after diverse sets of wrestling and pugilistic styles from around the world.
Professional wrestling has become a pervasive form of entertainment especially in Japan and North American countries. High-profile figures in the sport often become cultural icons in their native or adopted home countries, such as Ric Flair, André the Giant, Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and The Rock in the United States; Rikidozan, Antonio Inoki, Giant Baba and The Crush Girls (Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka) in Japan; El Santo, Blue Demon and Mil Máscaras in Mexico; and Bret Hart in Canada. Leading universities have developed courses of study on the cultural significance of professional wrestling.
Professional wrestling is a billion-dollar industry, drawing revenue from ticket sales, television broadcasts, branded merchandise and home video. It was instrumental in making pay-per-view a viable method of content delivery. Annual shows such as WrestleMania are among the highest-selling pay-per-view programming. Currently, the dominant professional wrestling company worldwide is the United States-based WWE, which absorbed many smaller regional companies in the late twentieth century, as well as its primary competitor, World Championship Wrestling. Ring of Honor and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling are two other popular promotions in the United States. In Mexico, the top promotions are Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and Asistencia Asesoría y Administración; in Japan, it is New Japan Pro Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling Noah; and in South Africa, it is World Wrestling Professionals. (more...) Template:/box-footer
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No Way Out (2004) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which took place on February 15, 2004 at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California. It was the sixth event produced under the No Way Out name and starred wrestlers from the SmackDown! brand.
Seven matches were featured on the event's card. In the main event, Eddie Guerrero defeated WWE Champion Brock Lesnar to win the championship. Two bouts were featured on the undercard; the first was a triple threat number one contenders match, where the winner would earn the right to challenge for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XX. Kurt Angle won the match by defeating The Big Show and John Cena. The second bout was a singles match, in which Chavo Guerrero defeated Rey Mysterio to win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
No Way Out grossed over $450,000 ticket sales from an attendance of approximately 11,000 and received 350,000 pay-per-view buys, and was instrumental in helping WWE increase its pay-per-view revenue by $11.9 million compared to the previous year. When the DVD was released, however, it failed to rank on Billboard's Top DVD sales chart. (more...)
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