The Ultimate Guide to Pro Wrestling

WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT (WWE)

Vince McMahon has had WWE on top of the wrestling world since the mid-80s, when he expanded his father's business from a regional to a national entity. He drove the other territorial promotions out of business by signing away their top stars. In 2001, WWE swallowed up the other two national groups, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling.

McMahon decided to create his own competition by splitting his group into three brands.

Raw airs on Monday nights from 9-11 Eastern on the USA Network. The biggest stars are on Raw, since it's the longest-airing WWE program and it's live. Anything involving McMahon as an in-ring character or legends like Hulk Hogan or Steve Austin will usually take place on Raw. The top regular wrestlers on Raw are John Cena, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Edge and Randy Orton.

Smackdown airs on The CW on Friday nights from 8-10 p.m. The star quality is down a bit from Raw, but the quality of wrestling is way up. Smackdown is starting to build some solid TV ratings. The top stars on Smackdown are Batista, King Booker, Chris Benoit, Undertaker, Kane and Mr. Kennedy.

ECW airs on the Sci-Fi Channel on Tuesday nights from 10-11 p.m. Several stars from the independent ECW promotion are here (like Sandman, Sabu, Tommy Dreamer and Rob Van Dam). New talent here includes Bobby Lashley, CM Punk and Kelly Kelly. Test and Hardcore Holly from the WWE's "Attitude Era" of the late 90s are here too.

RAW CHAMPIONS

WWE champ John Cena, Intercontinental champ Jeff Hardy, World tag team champions Randy Orton & Edge (Rated-RKO) and WWE women's champ Mickie James.

SMACKDOWN CHAMPIONS

World champion Batista, U.S. champ Chris Benoit, WWE tag team champions Paul London & Brian Kendrick and cruiserweight champion Gregory Helms

ECW CHAMPION

Bobby Lashley

WWE PAY-PER-VIEWS

Royal Rumble on Jan. 28 (all three brands), No Way Out on Feb. 21 (Smackdown only), Wrestlemania 23 on April 1 (all three brands).

TOTAL NON-STOP ACTION (TNA)

After WCW and ECW went out of business, Jerry Jarrett started TNA. The group ran cheap, weekly pay-per-views in Nashville before grabbing a national TV time slot (Thursdays from 9-10 p.m. on Spike TV) and moving to Orlando, Fla.

While many casual fans are barely aware that TNA exists, it has stayed in business and now runs regular monthly pay-per-views. TNA also features a six-sided ring. TNA wrestlers include a mix of WWE alumni (Kurt Angle, Christian Cage, Rhino, The Dudley Boyz) and rising stars (AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Senshi, The Latin American Exchange).

TNA CHAMPIONS

World champion Christian Cage, X Division champion Chris Sabin and World tag team Champions Latin American Exchange (LAX).

TNA PAY-PER-VIEWS

Against All Odds on Feb. 14, Destination X on March 11, Lockdown (all cage matches) on April 15.

WRESTLING SOCIETY X

I just wrote a preview of this new group, which will air on Tuesday nights from 10:30-11 Eastern on MTV. This won't be for the purists, since there is just so much wrestling, music and explosions that can fit into a 30-minute time slot. I am really happy that a lot of fresh new talent will get national TV exposure, such as Jack Evans, Colt Cabana, Teddy Hart and "M-Dogg" Matt Cross. The show is set to debut on Jan. 30.

RING of HONOR

ROH also started in 2002, and it has since established a reputation for pure wrestling goodness. Without the constraints of TV time, the ROH wrestlers can put together some good, dramatic matches. ROH is available on DVD at rohwrestling.com. I announced for this group from 2002-04, as detailed in my book This Side of the Mic. Top ROH wrestlers include Homicide (champion), Samoa Joe, The Briscoe Brothers and Nigel McGuiness.

OTHER TOP REGIONAL GROUPS

IWC in Pittsburgh, Chikara in Eastern PA, Jersey All-Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla in California, Full Impact Pro in Florida, IWA Mid-South in Indiana and Combat Zone Wrestling in Philadelphia.

TOP WRESTLING WEBSITES

Death Valley Driver, Wrestling Observer, Figure 4 Online, Kayfabe Memories (old-school stuff).

WATCH WRESTLING on the WEB

WWE Heat is available on the WWE website. It features the wrestlers who don't make it onto Raw that week (like Val Venis or Charlie Haas). TNA has a partnership with YouTube to show some of its video highlights. ROH has an entire site filled with videos. Chikara does a weekly podcast called Chikara Podcast-a-Go-Go.