When the WWE purchased both WCW and ECW in 2001, they also obtained the entire past video libraries of both productions and have released many past matches online and on home video.

In 2004, the WWE brought back the Great American Bash pay-per-view and also in 2009, released Starrcade: The Essential Collection as a three-disc DVD set.

In August 2009, WWE released a DVD set chronicling the history of WCW called The Rise and Fall of WCW.

On May 23, 2006, the song " This Fire Burns " was released on the WWE Wreckless Intent album.

In the UK, Silver Vision released a Rey Mysterio DVD as part of their Best of WWE collection.

On July 12, 2011, WWE released Rey Mysterio: Life of a Masked Man.

Slaughter, who had been working as a producer for WWE for the past several years, was released from his backstage producer duties with the company on January 13, 2009.

Gowen did not return to WWE television due to suffering an injury, and was later released from his WWE contract on February 4, 2004.

After that she was released from her WWE contract.

She was released from her WWE contract in 2005 after revealing that she was pregnant, which resulted in her filing a lawsuit against her former employers.

WWE released The Spectacular Legacy of the AWA on November 21, 2006.

Shortly after the incident became public knowledge, WWE released Hardy resulting in even more backlash towards Copeland and Dumas.

On August 8, 2008, Nunzio was released from his WWE contract.

Although Raven did win his way back onto the Raw roster, he only had one match ( losing to Jeff Hardy in a Royal Rumble qualifier ) before being released from WWE the following week on January 20, 2003.

Rhyno was released from his WWE contract on April 9, 2005 along with his friend Matt Hardy due to a public argument with his wife that took place at the WrestleMania 21 afterparty.

Eventually, Coachman was released by WWE later in the year.

On September 15, 2009, WWE Home Video released a DVD set entitled The Best of SmackDown 10th Anniversary.

On October 26, 2006, Ted DiBiase was released from his WWE contract.

Along with his friend Rhyno, Hardy was released by WWE on April 11, 2005.

Hardy released two character promotional vignettes, that he was planning to use before he was offered a new contract by WWE.

In June 2003, he was released from WWE and joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as " Mad Mikey ", but died in November 2003, just four months later.

") but failed to recreate his earlier success and was released by WWE on June 30, 2003.

Sakoda was eventually released from WWE and Tajiri was traded to Raw.

When speaking of his title reigns on The Rise and Fall of ECW documentary produced by WWE Home Video, Dreamer is quoted as saying:

On September 27, 2005, WWE released a DVD documentary focusing on Warrior's retrospective wrestling career, titled The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior.

On April 6, 2010, the WWE released Hart & Soul: The Hart Family Anthology, which is a 3 DVD set featuring a documentary on the Hart wrestling family ( including Davey Boy Smith ) as well as 12 matches.

In January 2003 vignettes started to appear on WWE programming showing O ' Haire in his new gimmick — a Devil's advocate character.

WWE management was not happy with Rotten no showing at Raw.

In February 2008, Miz and Morrison were given a streaming segment on the WWE website named The Dirt Sheet in which they mocked other wrestlers and facets of pop culture, showing off their promo skills.

During the rivalry with MVP, Miz began showing signs of an allegiance with The Big Show and on the February 8 episode of Raw, the two defeated champions D-Generation X ( Triple H and Shawn Michaels ) and The Straight Edge Society ( CM Punk and Luke Gallows ) to become the Unified WWE Tag Team Champions, making Miz a triple champion ( U. S., World Tag Team, and WWE Tag Team Champion ).

In May, Ziggler and Swagger unsuccessfully challenged Kofi Kingston and R-Truth for WWE Tag Team Championship, first at Over the Limit and second on the May 28 episode of Raw, resulting in Ziggler showing signs of wanting to break away from Guerrero and Swagger.

In 2008, WWE superstar John Cena and anchor Jay Harris have a conversation on why SportsCenter never airs pro wrestling highlights.

This version also featured highlights from that week's Raw, and the name change was introduced to the show in May 2002, when it became known as WWE Sunday Night Heat.

In 2005 Coleman appeared in WWE Superstar John Cena's music video for his single Bad, Bad Man ( from the album You Can't See Me ), Coleman played the part of himself as a bad guy taking the 1980s pop stars Madonna and Michael Jackson hostage.

* 1985 – The first WrestleMania, the biggest wrestling event from the WWE ( then the WWF ), takes place in Madison Square Garden in New York.

* March 29 – The World Wrestling Federation ( then WWF, now WWE ) produced Wrestlemania III from the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan.

* In 2007, after it was found that professional wrestler Chris Benoit had murdered both his son and his wife before taking his own life, the WWE removed all mention of Benoit from its TV broadcasts, website and subsequent DVD releases.

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. ( doing business as WWE, Inc .; ) is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales.

In 2005, WWE severed business ties with the Garden because WWE felt that increased rental costs would prevent them from making a profit in the building.

* Debra Marshall, known from her days with the WCW and WWE, was raised in West Blocton.

After departure from WWE, Waltman joined TNA Wrestling on September 18, 2002, wrestling under the ring name Syxx-Pac.

* Mike Bucci ( born 1972 ), former ECW and WWE professional wrestler, is originally from Brick Township.

CM Punk used other licensed music while working with WWE, but, after feigning a departure from the company in July 2011, he returned with " Cult of Personality " as his entrance theme.

Paez also appeared in Mysterio's music video for his song from the WWE Originals album, " Crossing Borders.

In Spring 2008, the band was in talks with Sony about releasing " Leave The Memories Alone " as the third single from the album, due to notable rise in sales after its appearance in " The Nature Boy " Ric Flair's farewell video tribute in the March 31, 2008 episode of " Raw " in WWE programming, but that never came about.

The Duva's used to resemble tactics used by the World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) when promoting a card, once even going as far as selling a truck driver from New Jersey as a Prince from Zaire just to hype the show and sell tickets.

They have aired WWE RAW from Afghanistan and Iraq every Christmas in the United States in a pre-taped show from the combat zone.

In January 2008, WWE broadcast its first television show taped in high definition from Hampton, VA.

After his falling out with K-1, Sapp began to get offers from WWE as well as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ( TNA ) to work with them, but his K-1 contract prohibited him from going through with any return to the ring.

" This Fire Burns " is formerly used as the entrance theme for WWE wrestler CM Punk ( along with his stables the Straight Edge Society and The New Nexus ) from 2006 until 2011 and was later re-released as " This Fire " on the As Daylight Dies Special Edition.

" Time to Shine " from said album was used as the official theme song for the " WWE Extreme Rules " Pay-Per-View in 2010.

Amy Christine Dumas ( born April 14, 1975 ), best known by her stage name Lita, is the lead singer for the band The Luchagors as well as a retired professional wrestler and WWE Diva active from 1999 to 2006.

He wrestled in Extreme Championship Wrestling ( ECW ) from 1995 to 1996 and World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) from 1996 to 2001, as Rey Misterio, Jr ./ Rey Mysterio, Jr. but dropped the " Junior " from his name when he began working for WWE in 2002.