2. Toots Mondt
When you think of the company known today as WWE and all of its former "versions", the one name you immediately think of is McMahon. Jess McMahon co-founded what you all see today, and when he passed away, his son, Vincent James McMahon, was brought in, and Vincent J. McMahon was, of course, followed by
his son, Vincent Kennedy McMahon. However, the one name you don't hear about in the history of the company is Joseph "Toots" Mondt, who co-founded the company with Jess McMahon. Together, they formed the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, joining the NWA in 1953. A year later, Vincent J. McMahon was brought in after his father passed away, and after nearly a decade of successful promotion throughout the Northeastern United States, Mondt and McMahon formed the World Wide Wrestling Federation in 1963. Although Mondt would step down only a few short years later, his contributions to the company, and to wrestling, in general, cannot be denied. It was Mondt who teamed with Ed "Strangler" Lewis and Billy Sandow to change the way pro wrestling was presented. Before Mondt, wrestling matches had no time limits, and would often go on for hours on end. He created the combination of Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling in a boxing-style ring that we see today. He also took wrestling events out of burlesque halls and had them take place in larger, more important venues from city-to-city. With the financial backing of Bernarr McFadden, Mondt was able to start booking shows at New York's Madison Square Garden, which would go on to become the WWF's "home venue", of sorts, for decades to come. He also helped to create wrestling stars such as Bruno Sammartino, Antonio Rocca, "Cowboy" Bill Watts, Stu Hart, and many more. Unfortunately, the ahead-of-his-time nature that he showed in creating all of these things didn't evolve, and once the sport began implementing television more and more, he couldn't keep up with the times. A severe addiction to gambling ended up costing him his ownership, as Vince Sr. became increasingly frustrated with his business partner and ended up muscling him out of his spot, buying Mondt's share of the company from him. By the time Mondt passed away in 1976, he was completely broke, having blown all of his money at race tracks through the years. Perhaps it's the way his time in the business (and in life) ended that has caused his name to slip through the cracks, but without what Toots Mondt brought to the business, pro wrestling as we know it today might be a vastly different product, and he deserves to be remembered for that.