When WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) in 2001, Storm's contract was kept and he became a WWF employee.

Following the end of his legal troubles which kept him out of Survivor Series 1993, Lawler eventually returned to the WWF at WrestleMania X, which was also the first WWF pay-per-view he ever commentated at.

When WCW was bought by the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) ( now WWE ), Helms ' contract was kept by WWF.

However, this has been proved to be false, since the destroyed belt was kept by then WWF referee / booker Mel Phillips.

The feud with the Undertaker went on for the best part of three months and ended when Undertaker and Kane defeated Page and Kanyon at WWF Summerslam 2001 on August 19, 2001 in a Steel cage match for the WWF Tag Team Championship, where Page got injured which kept him out of action until late October 2001.

Haynes claims to have been considered for the larger than life babyface role given to Hulk Hogan by the WWF in the early 80s and that the first WrestleMania was going to be built around him, but his loyalty to Eddie Graham in the Florida territory kept him from accepting the offer.

After working exclusively in the U. S. since his debut, Spivey started to tour with All Japan Pro Wrestling in the summer of 1988 and kept touring with the company every year until 1995, when he signed with the WWF.

In 1988, Turner purchased Jim Crockett Promotions which he renamed World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) which became the main competitor to Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ).

This helped drive many WWF wrestlers to its only major competition, World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ), between 1994 and 1997.

In an effort to promote them and other young talent as the new superstars of the ring, the WWF began to play on the age restrictions which former WWF wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage ( who by now were working for WCW ) now faced.

The two programs would trade wins in the ensuing ratings competition until mid-1996, when WCW began a nearly two-year domination that was largely fueled by the introduction of the New World Order, a stable led by former WWF performers Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash.

The creative changes made by the WWF creative board saw wrestling take on a " street fighting ", " bad attitude " approach ; however, despite the revolutionary changes in sports-entertainment that the WWF founded, 1997 remains the lowest of the WWF's financial income and a heavy loss in fan interest to rival WCW.

Throughout 1996 and 1997, the WWF lost much of its leading talent to WCW, including Razor Ramon ( Scott Hall ), Diesel ( Kevin Nash ), Sycho Sid ( Sid Eudy ), Alundra Blayze ( Debrah Miceli ), and Rick Rude ( Richard Rood ).

The WWF replaced them with former WCW talent such as Vader ( Leon White ), Stone Cold Steve Austin, Brian Pillman, Mankind ( Mick Foley ), and Farooq ( Ron Simmons ).

Eric Bischoff's public humiliation of the WWF, criticizing them for signing WCW's sacked wrestlers and bragging that WWF wrestlers were signing for WCW due to higher pay, intensified the Monday Night Wars only for Nitro as the WWF struggled to regain its popularity.

By January 1998, the WWF began broadcasting more violence, swearing, and more edgy angles in its attempt to compete with WCW.

It also featured the established Monday Night Wars, where both WCW and the WWF had Monday night shows that competed against each other in the ratings, and saw the WWF finally beat WCW for the first time in 84 weeks when McMahon made his in-ring debut against Austin.

Many wrestlers such as Chris Jericho and The Radicalz ( Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko ) were drafted from WCW, all publicly claiming on both companies ' TV broadcasts that they were extremely unhappy at the storylines and backstage chaos at WCW, and were further intrigued and happier with the structural running of the WWF.

Notably, Mick Foley's WWF Championship win over The Rock on Monday Night Raw saw WCW lose millions of viewers when Eric Bischoff instructed announcer Tony Schiavone to give away the result minutes before both main events started, which led to Raw drawing eleven million viewers.

Although Eric Bischoff was nearing a deal to purchase the company complete, in March 2001, WWF Entertainment, Inc. acquired WCW from AOL Time Warner for a number reported to be around $ 7 million.

Shortly after WrestleMania X-Seven, the WWF launched the Invasion storyline integrating the incoming talent roster from WCW and ECW.

Waltman returned to WWF programming on March 30, 1998, the night after WrestleMania XIV and days after being released from WCW.

During this time, he won the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, held by Billy Kidman, and became the first and only person to hold both belts simultaneously.

* Robert Fuller-professional wrestler ; better known as a manager in WCW and WWF.

Other promoters were furious when McMahon began syndicating WWF television shows to television stations across the United States, in areas outside of the WWF's traditional northeastern stronghold.

In 2000, the World Wide Fund for Nature ( also trademarked WWF ), an environmental organization, sued World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc. in the United Kingdom .< ref >

Among other accolades in professional wrestling, Luger is a three-time world champion, having held the WCW World Heavyweight Championship twice and the WWA World Heavyweight Championship once ; a record-tying five-time NWA / WCW United States Heavyweight Champion who owns the records for consecutive days and total days as champion ; and the 1994 WWF Royal Rumble winner ( with Bret Hart ).

He is also a three-time WWF Hardcore Champion, a two-time ( and final ) ECW World Television Champion and a one-time United States Champion, which he won in the WWF during the Invasion storyline.

* List of ecoregions in the United States ( WWF )

WCCW merged with Jarrett's CWA, eventually to form the United States Wrestling Association ( USWA ), again an attempt to create a third national promotion behind Jim Crockett Promotions / WCW and the WWF.

Despite being the last full-time wrestling territory in the United States after the national expansion of the WWF, the USWA was able to reinvent itself as a territory for young, up and coming wrestlers to make their names in professional wrestling, to one day perhaps work for either the WWF or World Championship Wrestling ( although their working relationship with the WWF is better known, the USWA also had a brief working relationship with WCW in 1995 ).

By mid-1997, the WWF was facing financial difficulties due to stiff competition from WCW, which had become the largest professional wrestling promotion in the United States.

In addition to these championships, he has also won the WWE United States Championship once, the World Tag Team Championship five times ( twice with The Undertaker, and once each with Kane, Chris Jericho, and The Miz ), the WWE Tag Team Championship three times ( once each with Chris Jericho, The Miz, and Kane ), the WWF Hardcore Championship three times, and the WWE Intercontinental Championship once.

The WWF carried over the title, along with the United States Heavyweight Championship, Cruiserweight Championship, and the WCW Tag Team Championship due to the company only being able to sign those belts ' holders to contract.

After SMW closed, Buchanan signed a WWF developmental contract and was assigned to the United States Wrestling Association ( USWA ), where he was known as Recon of the Truth Commission.

After leaving the WWF in 1993, Traylor had a brief stint in All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he was paired up with Stan Hansen and " Dr. Death " Steve Williams, before returning to the United States to work for World Championship Wrestling.

* List of ecoregions in the United States ( WWF )

He is a six-time world champion: a two-time WWF Champion, two-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, a two-time USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion and a one-time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion.

Martin then feuded with Edge, losing to him at Survivor Series in 2001 in a match in which the WCW United States Championship and the WWF Intercontinental Championship ( which he had taken from Edge two weeks prior on Raw ) were unified.

He was a fairly popular wrestler in the United States, but was a huge attraction to fans in the United Kingdom, due in part to the WWF becoming a ratings hit on Sky Sports, as well as the promotion touring the country holding supercards such as UK Rampage which saw Smith defeat The Warlord at the London Arena in March 1991 and the Battle Royal at Royal Albert Hall in which Smith won a 20-man battle royal by eliminating Typhoon on October 13, 1991.

This marks the only time Smith lost on a WWF card in the United Kingdom, and the third championship Smith has lost to Shawn Michaels.

Originally produced under the World Wrestling Federation banner ( WWF ), it aired on USA Network, MTV and Spike TV in the United States, Channel 4, Sky1 & Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and CTV Sportsnet in Canada.

* List of ecoregions in the United States ( WWF )