11 Misconceptions About WWE You Probably Believe
1. Vince McMahon Made Professional Wrestling Huge
He didn't.
He made WWE huge. He then made WWE the shorthand for professional wrestling, and the two became understandably intertwined in the minds of the vast majority right as a digital revolution beckoned, but gatekeepers and record-keepers alike have the facts on the relatively healthy state of wrestling before Vince Jr was even born.
The name Jim Londos invites scorn amongst those that only choose to subscribe to WWE/McMahon's version of events, not least because other respected journalists and historians in the field go to him first as the easiest example of wrestling being anything but the preserve of the "smoky bingo halls" before the recognised symbol of excellence in Sports Entertainment came along. Londos passed away at 81, shortly before McMahon's 30th birthday, having spent decades in the early 1900s as a worldwide wrestling draw beyond anything seen until Hulk Hogan's 1980s domination.
In the 1930s, he became Madison Square Garden's first ever major drawing card, routinely pulling 20,000 to the 'World's Most Famous Arena' for his headline matches, following a relatively barren time for the business in the building. In 1933, Londos visited his home nation of Greece to see his Father, and drew 70,000 to the Panathenaic Stadium for a match against Kola Kwariani. Approximately 20,000 more were on hand outside the venue just to be part of the magic. A year later, he broke the US attendance and box office records in one show when he defeated longstanding rival Ed 'Strangler' Lewis in front of 35,625 fans for a gate of $96,000, both North American records at the time. Adjusted for inflation, that'd comfortably clear $2million today.
WWE was "what the world [was] watching" when the brand exploded - but, much to the egotistical McMahon's chagrin, wrestling had always been a global game.