title: Stye

text: Upon awakening, application of a warm washcloth to the eyelids for one to two minutes may be beneficial in decreasing the occurrence of styes by liquefying the contents of the oil glands of the eyelid and thereby preventing blockage.


title: Stye

text: To prevent styes, cosmetics and cosmetic eye tools should not be shared among people. Like with all infections, regular hand washing is essential, and the eyes should not be rubbed or touched with unclean hands. Contaminated eye makeup should be discarded and sharing of washcloths or face towels should be curtailed, to avoid spreading the infection between individuals. Breaking the stye may spread bacteria contained in the pus and should be avoided.


title: Stye

text: Most cases of styes resolve on their own within one to two weeks, without professional care. The primary treatment is application of warm compresses. As a part of self-care at home, people may cleanse the affected eyelid with tap water or with a mild, nonirritating soap or shampoo (such as baby shampoo) to help clean crusted discharge. Cleansing must be done gently and while the eyes are closed to prevent eye injuries.


title: Stye

text: People with styes should avoid eye makeup (e.g., eyeliner), lotions, and wearing contact lenses, since these can aggravate and spread the infection (sometimes to the cornea). People are advised not to lance the stye themselves, as serious infection can occur. Pain relievers such as acetaminophen may be used.


title: Stye

text: Evidence to support the use of antibiotic eye ointment is poor. Occasionally erythromycin ophthalmic ointment is recommended. Other antibiotics, such as chloramphenicol or amoxicillin may also be used. Chloramphenicol is used successfully in many parts of the world, but contains a black box warning in the United States due to concerns about aplastic anemia, which on rare occasions can be fatal.


title: Stye

text: Antibiotics are normally given to people with multiple styes or with styes that do not seem to heal, and to people who have blepharitis or rosacea.


title: Stye

text: Incision and drainage is performed if resolution does not begin in the next 48 hours after warm compresses are started. Medical professionals will sometimes lance a particularly persistent or irritating stye with a needle to accelerate its draining.


title: Stye

text: Surgery is the last resort in stye treatment. Styes that do not respond to any type of therapies are usually surgically removed. Stye surgery is performed by an ophthalmologist, and generally under local anesthesia. The procedure consists of making a small incision on the inner or outer surface of the eyelid, depending if the stye is pointing externally or not. After the incision is made, the pus is drained out of the gland, and very small sutures are used to close the lesion. Sometimes the removed stye is sent for a histopathological examination to investigate possibility of skin cancer.


title: Stye

text: A 2017 Cochrane review found low-certainty evidence that acupuncture helps in hordeolum compared with antibiotics or warm compresses. There was also low-certainty evidence that acupuncture plus usual treatment may increase the chance of hordeolum getting better, though they could not rule out placebo or observer effect, since the studies reviewed either had no positive control, were not blinded, or both.


title: Stye

text: Although styes are harmless in most cases and complications are very rare, styes often recur. They do not cause intraocular damage, meaning they do not affect the eye. Styes normally heal on their own by rupturing within a few days to a week causing the relief of symptoms, but if it does not improve or it worsens within two weeks, a doctor's opinion should be sought. Few people require surgery as part of stye treatment. With adequate treatment, styes tend to heal quickly and without complications.


title: Stye

text: The prognosis is better if one does not attempt to squeeze or puncture the stye, as infection may spread to adjacent tissues. Also, patients are recommended to call a doctor if they encounter problems with vision, the eyelid bump becomes very painful, the stye bleeds or reoccurs, or the eyelid or eyes becomes red.


title: Stye

text: The word "stye" (first recorded in the 17th century) is probably a back-formation from "styany" (first recorded in the 15th century), which in turn comes from "styan" plus "eye", the former of which in turn comes from the old English "stīġend", meaning "riser", from the verb "stīgan", "to rise". The older form "styan" is still used in Ulster Scots today.


title: Stye

text: The homonym "sty" found in the combination "pigsty" has a slightly different origin, namely it comes from the Old English "stiġ-fearh"—"fearh" (farrow) is the Old English word for "piglet"—where "stiġ" meant "hall" (cf. "steward"), possibly an early Old Norse loanword, which could be cognate with the word "stīgan" above.


title: Stye

text: The synonymous late Latin expression is "hordeolum" a modulation of the word "hordeolus" simply related to "hordeum" ("barley"), after its resemblance to a barleycorn. In Czech, a sty is called "ječné zrno" (from "ječmen" "barley" and "zrno" "seed or grain"); in German, it is called "Gerstenkorn" (barleycorn). In Hebrew it is called "שעורה" Seh-oh-Ráh (Barley)


title: Lark Voorhies

text: Lark Voorhies (born Lark Holloway; March 25, 1974) is an American actress, singer, spokeswoman and model. Voorhies rose to fame playing Lisa Marie Turtle on the NBC sitcom "Saved by the Bell" (1989–1993). Voorhies was nominated for the Young Artist Award six times, winning in 1990 and 1993 for her work on the show.


title: Lark Voorhies

text: Born Lark Holloway to Wayne and Tricia Holloway in Nashville, Tennessee, she later adopted "Voorhies" as a stage name. Her mother named her "Lark" after the character in the 1972 film "Cool Breeze", played by Margaret Avery. By the time Voorhies was two years old, the family had moved to Pasadena, California. During this period, her mother took her to a talent agent, because of her belief that Voorhies was "a natural-born ham." However, her first audition ended poorly when she froze up. She appeared in a national television commercial for Universal Studios Tour at age 12, advertising its upcoming King Kong attraction. She said of the experience: "I was on this tram screaming with all these other people. I had such a great time doing that."


title: Lark Voorhies

text: Voorhies made her acting debut at the age of two. Though photogenic, she was shy, and her mother put Voorhies' acting career on hold until she was more comfortable in front of the cameras. Later, at the age of fourteen, Voorhies reappeared on an episode of "Small Wonder" in 1988. In June of that same year, she landed the role of Lisa Turtle in Disney Channel's television series "Good Morning, Miss Bliss" and appeared in thirteen episodes from 1988 to 1989. She remained as the same character, as did Zack, Screech, and Mr. Belding, after Disney dropped the series and it was picked up and retooled by NBC and renamed "Saved by the Bell".


title: Lark Voorhies

text: Voorhies has since appeared in several television sitcoms and soap operas. She played the role of single mom Wendy Reardon on "Days of Our Lives" in 1993. On "The Bold and the Beautiful" Voorhies played the role of amiable intern fashion-designer, Jasmine Malone beginning in September 1995. She was released from her contract in November 1996 when her role required her to act in sex scenes, which the actress refused to do citing her religious beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness.


title: Lark Voorhies

text: In 1995, Voorhies guest-starred in the "" episode "Life Support". During the same year, Voorhies guest-starred in the "Family Matters" season six episode "Home Sweet Home", as Eddie's upstairs dream girl. She has continued to act in various roles since then, such as "In the House", in which she played the girlfriend-turned-wife of Alfonso Ribeiro’s character, Dr. Max Stanton. Previously, she played Ribeiro's love interest twice on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". Besides sitcoms, Voorhies also appeared in movies and direct-to-video films. In 2001, Voorhies played a major role in the film "How High" as Lauren, a Harvard student. She was involved in a 1990 movie adaptation of the book "The Black Man's Guide to Understanding Black Women" and played Ana Smith in the 2008 movie "The Next Hit". Although she only has two acting credits since 2008, and none since 2012, Voorhies' representatives cited a busy work schedule when she did not appear in a SBTB-based mini-reunion sketch on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" alongside Gosselaar, Lopez, Thiessen, and Dennis Haskins in 2015. Voorhies publicly stated in 2020 that she was "hurt" that she was not invited to participate in the "Saved by the Bell" sequel series on Peacock. Later that year, however, NBC announced that Voorhies would in fact reprise her role as Lisa Turtle for the new show.


title: Lark Voorhies

text: Voorhies has appeared in several music videos. She plays Kenny Lattimore's love interest in his debut video "Never Too Busy", from his 1996 self-titled debut album. In Boyz II Men's music video "On Bended Knee", she plays Wanya's girlfriend. She is featured in Montell Jordan's "Somethin' for the Honeyz" and in Dru Hill's "These Are the Times". In 1994, Voorhies was in a group originally called the X-Girls (now known as Geneva) with Stacee and Yashi Brown (the daughters of singer and oldest Jackson family sibling, Rebbie Jackson). Voorhies founded and was the lead singer in Third Degree, an alternative band.


title: Lark Voorhies

text: Over 2010 and 2011, Voorhies self-published three books she authored: "Reciprocity", "Trek of the Cheshire", and "A True Light".


title: Lark Voorhies

text: Voorhies dated her "Saved by the Bell" co-star Mark-Paul Gosselaar for three years during the show's run. Voorhies was engaged to actor Martin Lawrence in 1993 but it was later called off in 1994. Voorhies married Miguel Coleman in 1996. They separated in 2001, and divorced in 2004. Voorhies met music engineer Jimmy Green at a networking event in 2014. After a year of dating, Voorhies and Green married on April 30, 2015, at a chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Voorhies filed for divorce in October 2015 after six months of marriage.


title: Lark Voorhies

text: On May 30, 2006, Voorhies filed a lawsuit against "The National Enquirer" for libel over an article that included claims published in June 2005 that she had a drug problem. The case was dropped in less than two months.


title: Attitude Era

text: The Attitude Era was a term used by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE) to describe the company's programming from November 9, 1997 to May 6, 2002. It started during the Monday Night Wars, a period in which WWF's "Monday Night Raw" (later "Raw Is War") went head-to-head with World Championship Wrestling's (WCW) "Monday Nitro" in a battle for Nielsen ratings each week from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001. The era was initiated on November 9, 1997 at Survivor Series 1997, when a video package aired ending with the first use of the "WWF ATTITUDE" scratch logo, immediately before the main event featuring Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels, which retrospectively would be known as the Montreal Screwjob due to the controversial finish of the match. WWF's programming in this era featured adult-oriented content, which included an increase in the level of depicted violence, profanity and sexual content. This era was part of a wider surge in the popularity of professional wrestling in the United States and Canada as television ratings and pay-per-view buy-rates for WWF and its rival promotions saw record highs.


title: Attitude Era

text: The Attitude Era marked the rise of many WWF male singles wrestlers, including "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, Kane, Mick Foley (in various personas), Kurt Angle, and The Undertaker (who was already a veteran but continued to gain popularity). The Steve Austin-Vince McMahon feud was one of the longest-running rivalries of the era. The WWF Women's Championship, which lay dormant since December 13, 1995, was reactivated on September 15, 1998. While most of the company's female talent such as Sable, Sunny and Stacy Keibler during this time period were marketed as sex symbols and often booked in sexually provocative gimmick matches (for example "bra and panty" matches, bikini matches, etc.) in an effort to draw more male viewership, prominent female stars such as Chyna, Lita, and Trish Stratus among others were presented as legitimate wrestlers in legitimate wrestling matches. WWF also signed a number of wrestlers who left WCW during this period, including Chris Jericho, Big Show and The Radicalz.


title: Attitude Era

text: The era also saw the resurgence of tag team wrestling, namely Hardy Boyz, Dudley Boyz, and Edge & Christian who were featured in several destructive, physical and stunt-filled Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches during this era. Distinguished stables established in this era, such as D-Generation X, Nation of Domination, The Corporation, Ministry of Darkness, Corporate Ministry and The Brood among others developed major rivalries among each other. The Hardcore Championship was established on November 2, 1998, and this chaotic division involved no-disqualification, falls count anywhere matches that would start and then would be taken outside the ring, with blunt weapons involved. The era drew to a close on May 6, 2002, as WWF changed its name to WWE and ceased using "WWF Attitude" branding.


title: Attitude Era

text: During the Monday Night Wars, a ratings battle between WWF's "Raw" and WCW's "Monday Nitro", the WWF began to transition in late 1997 from the "traditional way" wrestling was, into a product which "pushed the envelope" according to head writer Vince Russo. The creative side of the product during the early stages of the era in 1997 was spearheaded by Vince Russo, who drastically changed the way WWF television was written. Ed Ferrara would join Russo later in June 1998, when he was hired by the WWF. Russo's and Ferrara's booking style has been described as "Crash TV", where they contributed edgy, controversial storylines involving sexual content, and profanity, as well as swerves, unexpected heel turns, and worked shoots in the storylines. As well as short matches, backstage vignettes, shocking angles and levels of depicted violence.


title: Attitude Era

text: Several moments have been credited with helping WWF transition into the Attitude Era. In his book, Vince Russo mentions the debut of the character Goldust in 1995 as a turning point, while Brian Pillman's "Loose Cannon" persona and the infamous "Pillman's got a gun" segment from 1996 has also been viewed as a key moment of change within the company. In 1996 WWF had also begun playing up female sexuality, led by Sunny and Sable. On March 10, 1997, the WWF debuted its "Raw is War" moniker to signify it was waging "war" with WCW's "Monday Nitro". After losing a steel cage match against Sycho Sid in an attempt to win back the WWF World Heavyweight Championship a week later, Bret Hart angrily shoved McMahon to the mat and went into a profanity-laced tirade. The actual start of the Attitude Era itself is unclear, with moments from Steve Austin's "Austin 3:16" speech at the 1996 King of the Ring to Vince McMahon's speech on the December 15, 1997 episode of Raw often being referenced. Meanwhile, the WWE Network lists WrestleMania 13 as the earliest event under their Attitude Era section.


title: Attitude Era

text: The 1996 King of the Ring tournament saw Austin's first usage of "Austin 3:16", the major marketing tool for WWF during the era. After winning the tournament by defeating Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Austin mocked Roberts' recital of the biblical passage by saying, "You sit there and you thump your Bible, and you say your prayers, and it did not get you anywhere! Talk about your Psalms, talk about John 3:16... Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!"


title: Attitude Era

text: Austin's popularity gradually started to rise as an anti-hero despite being portrayed as a heel character, eventually leading to a long feud with Hart from late-1996 to mid-1997 climaxing in a Submission Match at WrestleMania 13. In 1997, a storyline involving Owen Hart and Austin (in which Owen botched a piledriver that caused neck injuries that ultimately ended Austin's career in 2003) culminated in Austin performing a Stone Cold Stunner on Vince McMahon to a positive crowd response and leading to Austin's arrest.


title: Attitude Era

text: Another storyline from 1996 to 1997 was the feud between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, who had legitimate issues with one another outside of wrestling. The conflict behind the scenes spilled out into their on-screen storyline, where both men made pointed personal remarks in interviews and promo segments that were often rooted in these issues.


title: Attitude Era

text: On November 1, 1997, then-WWF Champion Hart signed a contract to work for WCW beginning that December. McMahon sought to prevent Hart from leaving the WWF as its champion, and proposed having Hart lose to Michaels at their scheduled match at Survivor Series on November 9. Hart refused due to his personal issues with Michaels, and because the Survivor Series event was to take place in Montreal, in Hart's home country of Canada, where he enjoyed immense popularity. The sides came to an agreement where the match would have a disqualification finish – which would not result in a title change – and Hart would lose or forfeit the title at a later date. McMahon, Michaels, and other WWF employees covertly went on to change the outcome of the match without Hart's knowledge.


title: Attitude Era

text: Immediately before the Hart vs. Michaels match, a video package debuted the “Attitude” promo that included the first WWF "scratch" logo. During the match, after Michaels placed Hart in the Sharpshooter, Hart's signature finishing maneuver, McMahon – who was at ringside, a rarity at the time unless he was working as a commentator – quickly ordered referee Earl Hebner to call for the bell and award Michaels the WWF Championship by submission, despite Hart not submitting. Hart, realizing that he had been the victim of a so-called "screwjob", spit on McMahon, destroyed equipment, and traced the letters "WCW" in the air with his finger, while fans in the arena threw garbage into the ring area and expressed their support for Hart. The incident would go on to be dubbed the Montreal Screwjob. Both the promo and the screwjob are considered the official beginning of the Attitude Era.


title: Attitude Era

text: A week later on "Raw", McMahon gave an interview with Jim Ross in which McMahon explained his actions and famously claimed that "Bret Hart screwed Bret Hart." The WWF successfully went on to parlay fan resentment towards McMahon – whose position as owner of the WWF was rarely acknowledged onscreen prior to the Montreal Screwjob – into creating the "Mr. McMahon" character, a villainous, overbearing boss. McMahon's new heel character would become a major part of the WWF's transition to reality-based storylines, particularly his rivalry with Stone Cold Steve Austin.


title: Attitude Era

text: In October 1997, USA Network owners at Seagram agreed to sell the network to media mogul Barry Diller. Diller's purchase of the USA Network was finalized in February 1998, and longtime USA Network managing head Kay Koplovitz would be ousted from the network she founded two months later. Shaun Assael and Mike Mooneyham's book "Sex, Lies, and Headlocks: The Real Story of Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment" stated that "the terrain shifted completely under everyone's feet" following Diller's purchase of the USA Network, which began in October 1997, and that Koplovitz was in fact planning to remove WWF programming from the USA Network prior to the purchase. Following the purchase, the WWF began to dominate cable television ratings with "Raw" episodes which were not only breaking with traditional censorship, but that were also showing ringside fans screaming obscenities and wearing t-shirts with controversial phrases. The USA Network was even reported as showing less remorse than WWF owner Vince McMahon did over a controversial incident on the September 14, 1998 episode of "Raw" where the wrestler Jacqueline had one of her breasts exposed during an evening gown match, which network spokesman David Schwartz described as "not worse than anything you see on broadcast television at that time of night, such as "NYPD Blue"." USA Network executive Bonnie Hammer, a protege of Diller who was also one of the few USA Network executives to speak out against the plan to cancel Raw, worked extensively with Head Writer Vince Russo in reinventing the World Wrestling Federation.


title: Attitude Era

text: After Stone Cold Steve Austin won the 1998 Royal Rumble, former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson made a guest appearance on "Raw" the following night. Tyson, who at the time was still suspended from boxing, was to be introduced as the "Special Guest Enforcer" referee for the championship match at WrestleMania XIV, but McMahon's presentation of Tyson was interrupted by Austin, who flipped off Tyson, leading to a brief scuffle. In an interview with Austin, head writer Vince Russo described this moment as the start of the Attitude Era. Over the following weeks, Tyson aligned himself with Michaels, Austin's opponent at WrestleMania, and D-Generation X. In the closing moments of the match, Tyson counted Austin's pinfall on Michaels. Tyson was paid $4 million for his role.


title: Attitude Era

text: Following his crowning as champion, a long-term storyline pitting Austin and McMahon as rivals began, and it proved pivotal in increasing the WWF's revenues from merchandise sales, arena events and PPV sales, as well as television ratings. Austin, would regularly have to overcome the odds stacked against him by Mr. McMahon. Austin and McMahon were featured in numerous segments leading to a match between the duo on April 13, 1998, episode of Raw, Austin and McMahon were going to battle out their differences in an actual match, but the match was declared a no contest when Mick Foley (as Dude Love) interrupted the entire contest. On that night Raw defeated Nitro in the ratings for the first time since June 10, 1996. Austin again wrestled McMahon in 1999 at in a steel cage, which he won when the debuting Big Show accidentally threw him through the cage wall, thus earning a world title shot at WrestleMania XV where Austin defeated The Rock, where he also defeated him in rematch at Backlash.


title: Attitude Era

text: Throughout the McMahon rivalry, McMahon founded two heel factions: The Corporation and The Corporate Ministry. The feud between the two also involved some of the most iconic moments of the Era, including Austin driving a Zamboni to the ring to attack McMahon, Austin visiting McMahon in a hospital, Austin filling McMahon's Chevrolet Corvette with cement, and driving to the ring in a beer truck and spraying McMahon with beer.


title: Attitude Era

text: At Fully Loaded in 1999 Vince McMahon added a stipulation in a first blood match between Undertaker and Austin for the WWF Championship, that if Austin won McMahon would kayfabe step away from the WWF, while if Austin lost he would never receive a title shot for the WWF Championship again. Austin won the match, thus leading to Vince temporarily being banned from the WWF. At Survivor Series, Austin was run down by a car in the parking lot. Austin then underwent neck surgery by Dr. Lloyd Youngblood, due to Austin's injury from a piledriver at SummerSlam two years prior. He was away for a nine-month rehabilitation, with the car angle being used to write him off television.


title: Attitude Era

text: Upon Austin's return in mid-2000 he confronted Rikishi who claimed responsibility for the attack on Austin as per the request of Austin's rival The Rock. Austin faced off against Rikishi at No Mercy, the match ending in no contest. Austin would win the 2001 Royal Rumble match and face The Rock for the WWF Championship at the main event of WrestleMania X-Seven. At WrestleMania Austin turned heel after allying with his former rival Vince McMahon and defeated The Rock to regain the WWF Championship. Following the Invasion storyline, Austin entered a rivalry with Kurt Angle, losing the WWF Championship to him at Unforgiven.


title: Attitude Era

text: Dwayne Johnson, a third-generation wrestler, made his debut at the 1996 Survivor Series as "Rocky Maivia", naming himself after his grandfather Peter Maivia and his father Rocky Johnson. Despite being a babyface with an impressive winning streak and an Intercontinental Championship reign, he was frequently met with negative reception from live audiences: loud boos, "Rocky sucks!" chants, and even crowd signs that read "Die Rocky Die". Maivia turned heel when he joined the Nation of Domination in 1997 and renamed himself "The Rock". As a member of the Nation of Domination, The Rock won the Intercontinental title for a second time. The Rock eventually overthrew Faarooq to become the leader of the Nation. After the Nation disbanded, The Rock referred to himself as the "People's Champion" and began to receive the support of the audience, which led Vince McMahon and the Corporation to target him. Survivor Series 1998 marked the first PPV headlined by The Rock. During the final match of a tournament against Mankind to crown a new WWF Champion, a double turn occurred with the help of McMahon, similar to the previous year's Survivor Series, revealing that Rock was working with The Corporation all along, leading to The Rock's victory. The Rock officially joined McMahon as the crown jewel of The Corporation, abandoning his previous moniker as "The People's Champion" and declaring himself "The Corporate Champion".


title: Attitude Era

text: The Rock had a lengthy feud with Mankind, who won the title on an episode of "Raw" in January 1999. The reign was short lived, as the Rock got his rematch at the 1999 Royal Rumble, in an I Quit Match. The Rock won the I Quit Match and became the WWF Champion yet again. A rematch, known as "Half-Time Heat", took place during halftime of the Super Bowl, and Mankind won the match and the title. The Rock got a rematch at St. Valentine's Day Massacre, in a last man standing match for the chance to headline WrestleMania XV as the WWF Champion. The bout ended in a draw after both men were unable to stand at the ten count. Despite Mankind being the WWF Champion, he gave the Rock one more shot at the title in a ladder match on "Raw". This was their final match, as the Big Show interfered in the match and chokeslammed Mankind off the ladder, leaving the Rock all by himself to win the match and headline WrestleMania XV as WWF Champion. At WrestleMania XV The Rock, the WWF Champion faced off against the challenger, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Vince McMahon interfered in the match attacking Stone Cold to try and stop him but was unsuccessful.


title: Attitude Era

text: After being fired from the Corporation, The Rock once again declared himself the People's Champion and went on a number of small feuds during the latter part of 1999. It was during this time The Rock's popularity began to flourish once again, and he joined his former rival Mankind to create the tag team, The Rock 'n' Sock Connection. In 1999, The Rock surpassed Stone Cold Steve Austin as the WWF's top babyface star. The team won the WWF Tag Team titles. After the Rock 'n' Sock connection broke up, The Rock went back into the main event picture of the WWF, battling the likes of Triple H and his stable, the McMahon-Helmsley Faction. Late in the Attitude Era, The Rock faced Stone Cold Steve Austin again at WrestleMania X-Seven in the main event match for the WWF Championship. Austin once again defeated The Rock to regain the title and also joined forces with his nemesis Mr. McMahon. Later in 2001 The Rock would bounce back defeating Booker T at SummerSlam to win the WCW Championship, which was now part of the WWF following WWF's purchase of WCW earlier in the year. Later that year at Survivor Series, The Rock led Team WWF to victory over Team Alliance as art of the Invasion storyline, by being the sole survivor after last eliminating his rival Austin and celebrated the win with Vince McMahon.


title: Attitude Era

text: Mick Foley played three different personas during this era: Mankind, Dude Love and Cactus Jack. While Mankind was his main persona, and Cactus Jack was previously used in his days in WCW, Japan and independent circuits, Dude Love was inspired by a character Foley created when he and his high school friends did backyard wrestling in his home area of Long Island, New York. Foley debuted both Dude Love and Cactus Jack in the WWF in mid-1997, while Mankind was debuted at Foley's first-ever WWF event on April 1, 1996, during the "Raw" after WrestleMania XII. Foley's creative versatility allowed him to create distinct characteristics for each character. The 1998 Hell in a Cell match between Mankind and The Undertaker remains one of the most iconic and memorable Hell in a Cell matches to ever take place, with its level of extreme violence and dangerous spots, which led to Mankind getting legitimately knocked unconscious and suffering multiple injuries.


title: Attitude Era

text: On January 4, 1999, on "Raw", Foley won his first WWF Championship, defeating The Rock with the help of Austin. This match is regarded as a major turning point in ratings of the Monday Night Wars, shifting it in WWF's favor. In 2000, Foley as Cactus Jack was involved in a major rivalry with Triple H, at No Way Out, Foley lost to Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match, as per stipulation Foley was forced to temporarily retire from active competition. Foley would then serve as storyline WWF Commissioner under his real name. He lost the position in December 2000 after being "fired" onscreen by McMahon during which he received a brutal beat down.


title: Attitude Era

text: At the start of the Attitude Era, following Shawn Michaels' injury and subsequent retirement in 1998, Triple H assumed leadership of D-Generation X. At SummerSlam, Triple H defeated The Rock in a ladder match with the help of fellow team member Chyna to win the Intercontinental Championship. At WrestleMania XV, Triple H lost to Kane after Chyna interfered on his behalf and she was thought to have rejoined D-X. Later on in the night, he betrayed his long-time friend and fellow D-X member X-Pac by helping Shane McMahon retain the European Championship and joined The Corporation, turning heel in the process. In April, he started to move away from his D-X look, taping his fists for matches, sporting new and shorter wrestling trunks and adopting a shorter hairstyle. His gimmick changed as he fought to earn a WWF Championship opportunity. After failed attempts at winning the championship, Triple H and Mankind challenged then WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin to a triple threat match at SummerSlam, which featured Jesse "The Body" Ventura as the special guest referee. Mankind won the match by pinning Austin. The following night on "Raw Is War", Triple H defeated Mankind to win his first WWF Championship. He dropped the WWF Championship to Mr. McMahon on the September 16, 1999 episode of "SmackDown!" before regaining it at Unforgiven in a Six-Pack Challenge that included Davey Boy Smith, Big Show, Kane, The Rock and Mankind. He defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin at No Mercy before dropping the title to Big Show at Survivor Series. Triple H then continued his feud with Mr. McMahon by marrying his daughter Stephanie McMahon and defeating McMahon at Armageddon. As a result of the feud, an angle with Triple H and Stephanie began which carried the WWF throughout the next seventeen months; together they were known as The McMahon-Helmsley Faction.


title: Attitude Era

text: Triple H participated in the Fatal Four-Way Elimination match main event of WrestleMania 2000 with Stephanie at his corner for the WWF Championship, becoming the first villainous character to win the main event of WWF's main show. He would continue to feud with The Rock in the coming months, which included a 60-minute Iron Man match between the duo at Judgment Day, a match Triple H won. Triple H would then be involved in a love triangle with Kurt Angle and Stephanie. At the 2001 Royal Rumble event, Triple H lost to Angle in a WWF Championship match.


title: Attitude Era

text: Chyna made her WWF debut on February 16, 1997 at ; her character emerged as a plant from a ringside seat, choking Marlena while Goldust was in the ring with Triple H. Her original role in the promotion was as the laconic enforcer/bodyguard for D-Generation X which was founded by Shawn Michaels and Triple H. She often helped them (then, a rising villain) cheat to win by physically interfering in matches by executing her trademark low blow to the groin. She was given the ring name "Chyna", an intentionally ironic moniker; fine china is delicate and fragile, a sharp contrast to her character. Offstage, however, the male wrestlers were hesitant at first to let a woman be seen overpowering them. She would become a prominent member of D-Generation X, and besides competing in the women's division she would regularly compete against male wrestlers in intergender matches.


title: Attitude Era

text: Chyna would be featured in a more prominent role; in addition to regularly wrestling against male wrestlers and becoming a two-time Intercontinental champion, she would also be featured twice on the cover of Playboy, and her autobiography reached number one on The New York Times Best Seller list, the fourth by a wrestler to achieve the feat.


title: Attitude Era

text: Not long after losing the Intercontinental title, Chyna became the onscreen girlfriend of Eddie Guerrero. Originally villains, they became fan favorites during the summer of 2000, with Guerrero dubbing her his "Mamacita". They faced Val Venis and then-rookie Trish Stratus in an intergender tag team match at SummerSlam with the Intercontinental Championship on the line. Chyna won the match, but lost the belt two weeks later to Guerrero in a Triple Threat match with Kurt Angle. They officially split in November 2000 after Chyna, in storyline, found Eddie cavorting in the shower with two other women. She left the WWF on November 30, 2001, several months after she had been taken off of television.


title: Attitude Era

text: At SummerSlam in 1996, The Undertaker became embroiled in a feud with his former manager Paul Bearer. During the course of their conflict, Bearer threatened The Undertaker with the threat of revealing his 'secret', calling him a "murderer" and accusing him of killing his parents and brother. In the following weeks on "Raw", Bearer revealed that Kane was actually still alive, and that Bearer had an affair with The Undertaker's mother, which produced Kane. Kane debuted at , wearing a mask and interfering in the first Hell in a Cell match between Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. Following a series of taunts from Bearer and Kane, who cost him the WWF Championship at the Royal Rumble, he agreed to face Kane at WrestleMania XIV. The Undertaker won the match at WrestleMania and the first ever Inferno Match at Unforgiven.


title: Attitude Era

text: Kane then teamed with The Undertaker's rival Mankind, and they won the Tag Team Championship twice. Kane then won the WWF Championship from Stone Cold Steve Austin after winning a First Blood main event match at King of the Ring 1998, which was the match that came after a Hell in a Cell match between Mankind and The Undertaker, but Kane lost the title to Austin the following night on "Raw". A few weeks later, thanks to the machinations of The Undertaker, Kane turned on Mankind. Following the conclusion of this storyline, The Undertaker and Kane united to form a tag team that became known as The Brothers of Destruction.


title: Attitude Era

text: In late 1998, The Undertaker turned on Kane and realigned himself with Paul Bearer. Now proclaiming himself as the "Ministry of Darkness", he turned heel and began taking a more macabre and darker persona, claiming that a "plague of evil" would hit WWF. During the weeks that followed, he reignited his feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin, whom he blamed for costing him the WWF title. At , Austin defeated the Undertaker in a Buried Alive match with the help of Kane, writing him off of WWF television for a month. As a result, The Corporation had Kane committed to an insane asylum. In December, Kane joined The Corporation to stay out of the insane asylum. He was later betrayed by The Corporation and thrown out of the alliance.


title: Attitude Era

text: The Undertaker and Kane reformed The Brothers of Destruction in the summer of 2000; at this time, Undertaker had taken on the "American Badass" biker persona instead of the satanic character he had portrayed previously. They challenged Tag Team Champions Edge and Christian for the tag titles on an episode of Raw is War, but they were disqualified, so they didn't win the titles. On the August 14 episode of Raw is War, Undertaker faced Chris Benoit in a match, where Kane turned on Undertaker by chokeslamming him through the ring, and the two feuded with each other again. This culminated in a match at SummerSlam, which resulted in a no contest when Undertaker unmasked Kane, causing him to flee the ring.


title: Attitude Era

text: Kurt Angle, the 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist debuted at the 1999 Survivor Series as a heel who opposed the society and culture of the Attitude Era. Citing his 3 I's; Intelligence, Integrity and Intensity, Angle would hypocritically chastise crowds each week to the crowd's disapproval. Angle would carry an undefeated streak until losing in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to The Rock on January 31, 2000 edition episode of Raw is War. Angle would go on to win the European and Intercontinental championships, holding both simultaneously and dubbing himself the "Eurocontinental" champion. Angle lost both the Intercontinental and European championships in a two fall triple threat match to Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho respectively. Angle would go on to win the 2000 King of the Ring tournament to be crowned the 2000 King of the Ring.


title: Attitude Era

text: Kurt Angle would be involved in a love triangle with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon during the summer of 2000, stemming from interactions between Angle and McMahon beginning in December 1999. this would lead to Angle's first PPV main event against The Rock and Triple H for the WWF Championship at SummerSlam. Following the love triangle, Kurt Angle defeated The Rock to win his first WWF Championship at No Mercy. Kurt Angle successfully defended the WWF Championship in the first and only 6-man Hell in a Cell match at Armagedddon that included The Rock, Stone Cold, Triple H, The Undertaker and Rikishi. Angle would subsequently lose the WWF Championship back to The Rock at No Way Out.


title: Attitude Era

text: Kurt Angle is cited as having the greatest rookie year of not only the Attitude Era, but in WWE history, quickly becoming a main star. At Unforgiven in 2001 Kurt Angle defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin to win the WWF Championship.


title: Attitude Era

text: D-Generation X formed on August 11, 1997 edition of Raw after Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Triple H), Chyna and Rick Rude helped Shawn Michaels win his main event match against Mankind. The night after WrestleMania XIV, Shawn Michaels began a four-year hiatus from in-ring wrestling to recuperate from a back injury. On-screen, Triple H claimed that he was taking over D-Generation X (DX) and had ejected the absent Michaels for "dropping the ball" over the Tyson incident and had recruited the New Age Outlaws ("Road Dogg" Jesse James and "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn) and X-Pac. On April 28, 1998, WCW's "Nitro" event was held at the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia, while "Raw" was held nearby at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. With the ongoing war between WWF and WCW, DX were sent to initiate an immediate "invasion" of "Nitro", driving in an army Jeep and challenging WCW head Eric Bischoff. Soon after, DX appeared at CNN Center (as well as WCW's stand-alone Atlanta offices) to call out WCW owner Ted Turner. The stable's popularity continued to grow, and they were eventually pushed as antihero fan favorites, much like Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock.


title: Attitude Era

text: On the November 6, 2000 episode of "Raw Is War", Chyna, Dogg, Gunn, and Triple H as part of D-Generation X took on The Radicalz (Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn) in an eight-person tag team match, which D-X won. This was one of their final matches while united, after which Triple H and Chyna begun receiving their own singles push while the other fell into the mid and lower cards.


title: Attitude Era

text: In 1998, storylines involving McMahon struggling to maintain order within the WWF led to the creation of a new faction, the Corporation. The Corporation was officially formed on November 16, 1998 when Shane and Vince McMahon along with Big Boss Man, Slaughter, and Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco reconciled, joining forces with The Rock. The faction would feud heavily with Stone Cold, D-Generation X, and later the Ministry of Darkness, with whom they would eventually merge. The merger would lead to the creation of the Corporate Ministry, a mega-faction led by Shane McMahon and the Undertaker, as well as suffering defections with the creation of the short-lived Union.


title: Attitude Era

text: Upon his return, The Undertaker introduced his Ministry of Darkness, a satanic-themed stable which eventually consisted of The Acolytes (Faarooq and Bradshaw), Mideon, Viscera and The Brood (Edge, Christian, and Gangrel). The storyline continued over the weeks that followed, as the Undertaker announced his intentions of taking over WWF and claimed he was working for a "higher power". He began a feud with Vince McMahon and his daughter Stephanie, with the Ministry burning Undertaker's symbol in the McMahon family yard. At , The Undertaker kidnapped Vince's daughter Stephanie, and attempted to marry her the next night on "Raw" by holding a "Black Wedding". The ceremony was successfully ruined by Steve Austin, after two attempts by former Corporation members Big Show and Ken Shamrock failed. The Ministry would later merge with the Corporation, forming the Corporate Ministry, who would be involved with most major storylines until July, when they would disband.


title: Attitude Era

text: In August 1995, WWF debuted Tammy Lynn Sytch as "Sunny". According to the Toronto Sun, she was able to use "sex appeal, looks and serious wrestling moves" to become famous beyond wrestling, and was named by AOL as the "most downloaded woman of the year". Rena Mero made her WWF debut at WrestleMania XII in March 1996; using the name "Sable", she escorted Hunter Hearst Helmsley to the ring when he faced The Ultimate Warrior, and her first major angle involved her then real-life husband "Wildman" Marc Mero. Sable quickly eclipsed both her husband and real-life rival Sunny in popularity, first leading to her becoming an in-ring performer, and later to the reinstatement of the WWF Women's Championship. Sable became the first WWF female to refer to herself as a "Diva"; the term would be coined and shortly thereafter became the official title for WWF's female performers. The use of Sable as an on-screen character was increasingly sexual, including competing in the first "bikini contest" against Jacqueline. Her on-screen popularity resulted in her breaking through into mainstream pop culture, becoming the first wrestler to appear on the cover of Playboy. Sable was considered the "blonde bombshell", the usage of Sable's appealing appearance to draw more male viewers reignited the interest in the women's division and wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer has described her as a "huge ratings draw". Sable later said that it was written in her contract that she was not allowed to take bumps.


title: Attitude Era

text: The Sable character would eventually be changed into a heel, and soon after the relationship between the WWF and Mero would break down, with Mero filing a $110 million lawsuit, saying that the WWF had become increasingly "obscene, titillating, vulgar and unsafe", and alleged that she was asked to perform in lesbian storylines, as well as being requested to strip on live television. Sable's rise in popularity was repeated by Chyna, who would be featured in a more prominent role; in addition to regularly wrestling against male wrestlers and becoming a two-time Intercontinental Champion, she would also be featured twice on the cover of Playboy, and her autobiography reached number one on The New York Times Best Seller list, the fourth by a wrestler to achieve the feat.


title: Attitude Era

text: Lita made her WWF debut as a valet for Essa Rios on the February 13, 2000, episode of "Sunday Night Heat", where Rios was booked to win the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship from Gillberg. During the match, Lita captured the attention of viewers by mimicking Rios' moves, notably the moonsault and hurricanrana. Lita eventually left Rios' side and allied with the Matt and Jeff Hardy, and the trio formed a stable known as Team Xtreme. As a member of Team Xtreme, Lita developed a more "alternative" image, and her popularity greatly increased.


title: Attitude Era

text: In June 2000, the trio began a storyline with "T & A" (Test and Albert), with Lita engaging in a rivalry with their manager, Trish Stratus. Lita also began a concurrent feud with WWF Women's Champion Stephanie McMahon, who was promoted at the time as being one of the biggest stars in the company. On an episode of "Raw" on the August 21, 2000, Lita defeated McMahon in the main event for the Women's Championship, the first time two females had featured in the main event of WWF's flagship show. McMahon would later describe it was an "incredible privilege". In 2001, Stratus and McMahon took part in their own storyline also involving Stephanie's father Vince; Stratus later noted that the female performers had moved from being on the side of storylines to being a "viable part of the program".


title: Attitude Era

text: Frustrated over WCW's refusal to give him a chance to wrestle Goldberg, Chris Jericho signed with the WWF on June 30, 1999. On the August 9 episode of "Raw", he made his debut, referring to himself as "Y2J" (a play on the Y2K bug) and began feuds with The Rock, Chyna, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit while capturing the Intercontinental and European championships on several occasions in the era. On the April 17, 2000, episode of "Raw", Jericho defeated Triple H for the WWF Championship, but the decision was reversed by referee Earl Hebner under pressure from Triple H. Jericho continued to feud with Triple H throughout 2000 leading to a Last Man Standing match at Fully Loaded which Triple H won. Jericho later defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock on the same night at Vengeance 2001, becoming the Undisputed WWF Champion in the process. In the main event of WrestleMania X8, Jericho lost the Undisputed WWF Championship to long term rival Triple H.


title: Attitude Era

text: Many other WCW wrestlers, who were unhappy with the disorganization, backstage environment and workplace politics of the promotion, jumped ship to the WWF. The first high-profile acquisition was that of Paul Wight, who wrestled as "The Giant" starting in 1995. Wight allowed his WCW contract to expire on February 8, 1999, when Eric Bischoff denied his request for a pay increase. He signed with WWF a day later and debuted at as "The Big Show" Paul Wight, Mr. McMahon's enforcer in The Corporation. At Survivor Series in November 1999 The Big Show defeated The Rock and Triple H in a triple threat match to win the WWF Championship.


title: Attitude Era

text: In January 2000, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn left WCW for the WWF. Benoit had just defeated Sid Vicious for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Souled Out 2000 on January 17, but the decision was reversed after disputes with WCW management. The quartet made their television debut on the January 31 episode of "Raw" as audience members and backstage guests of Mick Foley before attacking the New Age Outlaws. They were offered a chance to "win" contracts by defeating members of D-Generation X in a series of three matches. Despite losing all three matches, they were "given" WWF contracts by Triple H in exchange for betraying Foley. The quartet became known as The Radicalz.


title: Attitude Era

text: Brawling in places outside the ring was a feature of the Attitude Era, and on November 2, 1998, the Hardcore Championship was introduced when Mr. McMahon gifted Mankind the championship belt. Hardcore matches were no-disqualification, no-countout, falls count anywhere matches, involving a variety of weapons. Wrestlers would often take their matches outside the ring into other parts of the arena, and occasionally outside the arena. Frequent participants in the Hardcore division included Al Snow, Crash Holly, Steve Blackman, and Raven. Raven was the most successful wrestler in this division, winning the championship 27 different times. Another stipulation was introduced when Crash won the belt, known as the "24/7 rule", meaning the belt was to be defended at any time of the day, as long as a referee was present. This rule has allowed the shortest title reigns and quickest title changes in WWE history, and four women held the Hardcore Championship: Molly Holly (as Mighty Molly), Trish Stratus, Terri Runnels, and one of The Godfather's hos. For the first time the Hardcore Championship was contested in a ladder match in 2001 at SummerSlam where Rob Van Dam defeated Jeff Hardy. When the Attitude Era ended, the championship was retired and unified with the Intercontinental Championship on August 26, 2002, after Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam beat Hardcore Champion Tommy Dreamer unifying the titles.


title: Attitude Era

text: While members of "The New Brood", The Hardy Boyz faced off against Edge and Christian (the original Brood) in the first-ever tag team ladder match, the final match of the "Terri Invitational Tournament" at No Mercy in October 1999. The Hardys won the match and the services of Terri Runnels as their manager. The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) debuted in the summer of 1999 following their departure from ECW. They were initially villains and were responsible for popularising the use of wooden tables as weapons in professional wrestling. Bubba Ray in particular became notorious for putting women through tables, including the 77-year old Mae Young. In January 2000, the Dudleys faced off against The Hardy Boyz in the first-ever tag team Table match at the Royal Rumble, which the Hardys won.


title: Attitude Era

text: Eventually, the three teams were brought together in a physically demanding and chaotic triangle ladder match at WrestleMania 2000 for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Edge and Christian won the match and the titles, and this would be the first of several matches involving the three tag teams. Edge and Christian soon developed the "con-chair-to" (a play on the word "concerto") finishing move, which involved the two hitting an opponent's head simultaneously, on opposite sides, with chairs (which simulated the clashing of cymbals). This led to then-WWF Commissioner Mick Foley to make the first-ever Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match (TLC) at SummerSlam in August 2000, also won by Edge and Christian. The following year, a second TLC match, dubbed "TLC II", occurred at WrestleMania X-Seven, and is regarded as one of the greatest wrestling matches of all time. This match, which Edge and Christian again won, also featured interference from Rhyno, the lackey of Edge and Christian, Spike Dudley, half-brother of Bubba Ray and D-Von, and Lita (working with Matt and Jeff Hardy).


title: Attitude Era

text: In late 1999, Parents Television Council (PTC) founder L. Brent Bozell III began a campaign to pressure companies to pull advertising from WWF programming, due to the content becoming characterized by "cheap sex, vulgarity and violence of the most sadistic sort". Many Fortune 500 companies had been keen to associate themselves with WWF due to the transformation into "theater-in-the-round redone as 'roid rage, jam-packed with charismatic, monumental players, prime-time-worthy production values, and labyrinthine plot machinations". Having lost several advertisers, the campaign forced the WWF to change the content portrayed on their programming, in particular SmackDown, with McMahon saying that there would be "less aggression, less-colorful language, less sexuality", and controversial characters would be appearing less frequently.


title: Attitude Era

text: The following year, WWF filed a lawsuit against the PTC, claiming they had used threats and lies to drive advertisers away. The PTC accused the WWF of being responsible for several young children's deaths, including that of six year old Tiffany Eunick by Lionel Tate, for which Dwayne Johnson received a subpoena to testify in 1998. Shortly before filing the lawsuit, WWF and McMahon had begun a storyline where wrestler Stevie Richards (portrayed by Michael Manna), changed his name to Steven Richards and began attempting to "clean up" the company, forming the "Right to Censor" stable, eventually adding characters previously portraying a pimp (The Godfather) and a porn actor (Val Venis).


title: Attitude Era

text: In 2001, federal judge Denny Chin threw out a motion put forth by the PTC in an attempt to have the charges dismissed, and the following year the WWF were awarded damages of $3.5 million, and Bozell apologized for the accusations made. In 2001, international broadcaster Channel 4, who aired WWF programming in the United Kingdom, declined to renew their contract, citing concern of the "increasingly extreme nature" of the programmes. This followed Channel 4 being told by the Independent Television Commission earlier in the year that they were wrong to air a violent scene involving a sledgehammer. In Ireland, the Irish Film Classification Office banned 13 home video releases from a possible 70 over a three-year period, with age restrictions on 55 of the 70.


title: Attitude Era

text: On October 3, 1999, Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara signed with WCW; Russo contends that his reason for leaving the WWF was the result of a dispute with Vince McMahon over the increased workload caused by the introduction of the new "SmackDown!" broadcast and McMahon's disregard of Russo's family. Vince Russo is credited with inventing the "Crash TV" format of shorter story based TV matches with no matches going into commercial, no matches going over 8 minutes except a main event, skit-heavy, personal reality-based television that took stories and rivalries beyond the scope of an arena which led to peak cable ratings and profitability for the WWF. However, the WCW fanbase, which consisted mainly of rural, older traditional wrestling fans from the Southern States, did not welcome Russo's "Crash TV" formula in their programming and stopped watching it altogether.


title: Attitude Era

text: Following the departures of Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara, Chris Kreski became the head writer of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Kreski was replaced as head writer by Stephanie McMahon following October's No Mercy PPV 2000 event, but remained on the creative team until 2002, when he left to pursue other opportunities.


title: Attitude Era

text: In January 2001, AOL Time Warner announced they were to sell WCW to a group of investors called "Fusient Media Ventures", with the provision that they would continue television broadcasts on TNT. In March, AOL Time Warner announced that they would be stopping the broadcasting of professional wrestling on their Turner networks, causing the end of the sale. Later that week it was announced that the WWF had purchased the selected assets and contracts of WCW from AOL Time Warner for a number reported to be around $7 million, putting an end to the Monday Night Wars. Linda McMahon stated that the purchase had great cross-brand potential, and described it as the "perfect creative and business catalyst for our company". Paul Levesque attributed WCW's downfall to a lack of respect, and that WWF would continue to be successful despite the end of the rivalry. The end of WCW was followed in April by ECW filing for bankruptcy; ushering in the invasion storyline. Two years later in 2003, ECW was purchased by the WWE.


title: Attitude Era

text: On April 1, 2001, WrestleMania X-Seven took place and is generally considered as the other main catalyst to the eventual decline of the Attitude Era, the final contest of the night was the WWF Championship match between The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, which had a surprise no disqualification stipulation added just before the superstars were introduced. During the match, the two brawled inside and outside of the ring, with both men bleeding after hitting each other with the ring bell. The Rock attempted to place Austin in a Sharpshooter hold, but Austin reversed it into a Sharpshooter of his own. After Rock reached the ropes to force a break, Austin applied the Million Dollar Dream, a submission hold best known from his former gimmick, The Ringmaster. Shortly after, Rock used Austin's own finishing maneuver on Austin by executing a Stunner. Vince McMahon then came to ringside to observe the match. When Rock tried to pin Austin after the People's Elbow, McMahon seized Rock's leg and pulled him off Austin, breaking the pin attempt. After chasing McMahon around the ring, Austin responded by using Rock's signature move, the Rock Bottom. Later, Rock executed a Rock Bottom for a near fall. After Rock attacked McMahon, he was given a Stunner by Austin for a near fall. After Rock kicked out of the Stunner, McMahon handed Austin a steel chair to hit Rock with at Austin's request, revealing that Austin had sided with McMahon, a man he once considered his nemesis. With this, Austin turned heel. Austin attacked him with the steel chair, hitting him sixteen times, before pinning him and becoming the new WWF Champion. The show ended with Austin and McMahon shaking hands and sharing beers.


title: Attitude Era

text: Following the April 2, 2001 edition of "Raw is War", The Rock departed on hiatus from the WWF due to the filming of "The Mummy Returns" as The Scorpion King. The combination of Austin's heel turn, which had a very mixed reception with fans, along with the departure of The Rock and the closing of WCW, ended the boom period.


title: Attitude Era

text: In the Invasion storyline, Shane McMahon (kayfabe) acquired World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in April 2001 and WCW personnel invaded WWF. For the first time since the Monday Night Wars, WWF's purchase of WCW had made a major American inter-promotional feud possible, but the Invasion turned out to be a disappointment to many fans. One main reason would be that many of WCW's big-name stars were still under contract to WCW's old parent company, AOL Time Warner, rather than WCW itself, and their contracts were not included in the purchase of the company. These wrestlers chose to sit out the duration of their contracts and be financially supported by AOL Time Warner rather than work for WWF for a cheaper salary.


title: Attitude Era

text: On July 9, 2001, the stars of WCW and Extreme Championship Wrestling (acquired by Stephanie McMahon in a related storyline) joined forces, forming "The Alliance" with WCW owner Shane McMahon and the new owner of ECW Stephanie McMahon leading the charge, with the support and influence of original ECW owner Paul Heyman. At Invasion, Stone Cold Steve Austin turned on WWF and helped the Alliance win the Inaugural Brawl. At Survivor Series, WWF finally defeated WCW and ECW in a "Winner Takes All Match" and the angle was concluded. In the aftermath of the Invasion angle, WWF made several major changes to their product. Ric Flair returned to the WWF as "co-owner" of the company, feuding with Vince McMahon. Jerry Lawler returned to the company after a nine-month hiatus, after his replacement on commentary, Paul Heyman, was fired on-screen by Vince McMahon. Several former Alliance stars were absorbed into the regular WWF roster, such as Booker T, The Hurricane, Lance Storm, and Rob Van Dam. At Vengeance 2001, Chris Jericho went on to unify the WCW Championship and WWF Championship, beating both The Rock and Steve Austin on the same night.


title: Attitude Era

text: Eventually, Vince McMahon brought back Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall to reunite the nWo at the No Way Out pay-per-view in February 2002. However, Hogan proved to be too popular with nostalgic fans of the Golden Era's "Hulkamania" and soon turned face at WrestleMania X8 after his classic match with The Rock, which The Rock won.


title: Attitude Era

text: In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and the upcoming United States invasion of Afghanistan in response weeks later, the WWF changed "Raw is War" back to simply "Raw" on October 1, 2001 to remove the reference to war and to signify that the Monday Night Wars were "over", after WWF's purchase of WCW back in March. As a result, the second hour of "War Zone" was renamed "Raw Zone" to coincide with the dropping of the "War" line.


title: Attitude Era

text: With an excess of talent employed as a result of having purchased WCW (and later ECW), WWF needed a way to provide exposure for all of its talent. This problem was solved by introducing a "brand extension", with the roster split in half and the talent assigned to either "Raw" or "SmackDown!" in a mock draft lottery held on the March 25, 2002 edition of "Raw". Wrestlers, commentators, and referees became show-exclusive, and the shows were given separate on-screen General Managers. The brand extension came into effect on April 1, 2002. Later in 2002, after WWE Champion Brock Lesnar announced himself exclusive property of the "SmackDown!" brand and with the creation of the World Heavyweight Championship, all the championships became show-exclusive too. Additionally, both "Raw" and "SmackDown!" began to stage individual pay-per-view events featuring only performers from that brand – only the major four pay-per-views Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series remained dual-branded. The practice of single-brand pay-per-view events was abandoned following WrestleMania 23. In effect, "Raw" and "SmackDown!" were operated as two distinct promotions, with a draft lottery taking place each year to determine which talent was assigned to each brand. The first draft was held to determine the inaugural split rosters, while subsequent drafts were designed to refresh the rosters of each show. This lasted until August 2011, when the rosters were merged and the Brand Extension was quietly phased out.


title: Attitude Era

text: The company ceased its "Attitude" promotion on May 6, 2002, when the usage of the initials "WWF" became prohibited as the result of a legal battle between the company and the World Wildlife Fund. World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. officially became World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) and replaced its old logo with a new "scratch" logo with only the double "W" and a red scar underneath.


title: Attitude Era

text: A little over a month later on June 10, 2002, Stone Cold Steve Austin failed to appear on that night's episode of "Raw" and was effectively dropped from the company; similar events had allegedly taken place in the prior weeks stemming from Austin's frustration with his character's direction.


title: Attitude Era

text: Because of the trademark ruling, the company transitioned into its Ruthless Aggression Era on May 6, 2002, and on the June 24 showing of "Raw", Vince McMahon officially named the new era as such to motivate the younger roster. The Ruthless Aggression Era featured many elements of the Attitude Era, including similar levels of violence, sexual content, and profanity. However, a greater emphasis on wrestling was showcased.


title: Attitude Era

text: On November 20, 2012, a three-disc documentary set simply entitled "The Attitude Era" was released on DVD and Blu-ray. The video cover is a collage of WWF Superstars and celebrities of that era, designed as a parody of The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album cover. Volume 2 was released in November 2014. Volume 3 was released on August 9, 2016. Volume 4, 1997: Dawn of the Attitude, was released on October 3, 2017. Volume 5, Best of 1996: Prelude to Attitude was released on November 29, 2021.


title: Attitude Era

text: Many video games were released by WWF based on the Attitude Era, with some of the most notable titles being "WWF War Zone", "WWF Attitude", "WWF WrestleMania 2000", "WWF No Mercy", "WWF Royal Rumble", "WWF SmackDown!", "", "WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It", "WWF Raw" and "WWE WrestleMania X8".


title: Attitude Era

text: A video game entitled "WWE '13", which was released in October 2012, paid tribute to the era with its "Attitude Era" mode, which allows the player to re-enact WWF matches and storytelling from SummerSlam in August 1997 to WrestleMania XV in March 1999. Also in WWE '13, there is a "Off Script" including the debut of Smackdown! in April 1999 to the match between Trish Stratus and Lita on Monday Night Raw in November 2001. The video game first entitled "WWE 2K14" featured some of the four WrestleMania matches based on the Attitude Era as well, with WrestleMania XIV and XV having previously appeared in "WWE Legends of WrestleMania" prior to their appearances in "WWE '13" and "WWE 2K14". The video game entitled "WWE 2K16" featured some events of the Attitude Era specifically related to Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was also on the game's cover.


title: Attitude Era

text: In 1998, the WWF released "WWF The Music, Volume 3", which achieved platinum status in the United States, signifying one million sales, while "WWF The Music, Volume 4" reached number five in the Canadian Albums Chart in 1999. Following this, WWF and their composer Jim Johnston would collaborate with mainstream hip hop and rock musicians for albums, and Johnston would often hand-pick artists to work with on new theme songs with WWF Aggression album in 2000. In 2001, "WWF The Music, Vol. 5" reached number two on the Billboard 200 and number five in the Canadian and UK Albums Chart.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: The Stanley Hotel is a 140-room Colonial Revival hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, United States, about five miles from the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was built by Freelan Oscar Stanley, Co-founder of the Stanley Motor Carriage Company, and opened on July 4, 1909, as a resort for upper-class Easterners and a health retreat for sufferers of pulmonary tuberculosis. The hotel and its surrounding structures are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the hotel includes a restaurant, spa, and bed-and-breakfast; with panoramic views of Lake Estes, the Rockies, and Longs Peak.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: The Stanley Hotel inspired the Overlook Hotel in Stephen King's 1977 bestselling novel "The Shining" and its 1980 film adaptation, and was a filming location for the related 1997 TV miniseries.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: In 1903, the steam-powered car inventor Freelan Oscar Stanley (1849–1940) was stricken with a life-threatening resurgence of tuberculosis. The most highly recommended treatment of the day was fresh, dry air with much sunlight and a hearty diet. Therefore, like many "lungers" of his day, Stanley resolved to take the curative air of the Rocky Mountains. He and his wife Flora arrived in Denver, Colorado, in March and, in June, on the recommendation of Dr. Sherman Grant Bonney, moved to Estes Park, Colorado, for the rest of the summer. Over the season, Stanley's health improved dramatically. Impressed by the beauty of the valley and grateful for his recovery, he decided to return every year. He lived to 91, dying of a heart attack in Newton, Massachusetts, one year after his wife, in 1940.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: By 1907, Stanley had recovered completely. However, not content with the rustic accommodations, lazy pastimes and relaxed social scene of their new summer home, Stanley resolved to turn Estes Park into a resort town. In 1907, construction began on the Hotel Stanley, a 48-room grand hotel that catered to the class of moderately wealthy urbanites who composed the Stanleys' social circle back east as well as to consumptives seeking the healthful climate.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: The land was purchased in 1908 through the representatives of The 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, the Anglo-Irish peer who had originally acquired it by stretching the provisions of the Homestead Act of 1862 and pre-emption rights. Between 1872 and 1884, Lord Dunraven claimed of the Estes Valley in an unsuccessful attempt to create a private hunting preserve, making him one of the largest foreign holders of American lands. Unpopular with the local ranchers and farmers, Dunraven left the area in 1884, relegating the ranch to the management of an overseer. Dunraven's presence in Colorado was parodied in Charles King's novel "Dunraven Ranch" (1892) and James A. Michener's "Centennial" (1974). His reputation was such that, when Stanley suggested "The Dunraven" as a name for his new hotel, 180 people signed a buckskin petition requesting that he name it for himself instead.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: The main hotel and concert hall were completed in 1909 and the Manor in 1910. To bring guests from the nearest train depot in the foothills town of Lyons, Colorado, Stanley's car company produced a fleet of specially-designed steam-powered vehicles called Mountain Wagons that seated multiple passengers. Stanley operated the hotel almost as a pastime, remarking once that he spent more money than he made each summer.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: In 1926, Stanley sold his hotel to a private company incorporated for the sole purpose of running it. The venture failed and, in 1929, Stanley purchased his property out of foreclosure selling it again, in 1930, to fellow automobile and hotel magnate, Roe Emery of Denver. Until 1983, the resort was only open during the summer, shutting down for the winter every year. The presence of the hotel and Stanley's own involvement greatly contributed to the growth of Estes Park (incorporated in 1917) and the creation of the Rocky Mountain National Park (established in 1915).


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: Upon opening, the hotel was alleged to be one of the few in the world powered entirely by electricity. However, lack of available power induced the installation of an auxiliary gas lighting system in June 1911. On June 25 – the day after the pipes had been filled – an explosion occurred that injured a maid and damaged the structure, though contemporary newspaper articles differ on certain details.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: A brief article telegraphed to the "York Dispatch" (of York, Pennsylvania) and circulated by the Associated Press the following day said:


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: When the Lancaster paper reprinted the story, the editor noted that Elizabeth Wilson's name did not appear in local directories and she could not be identified as a Lancastrian. Similar accounts in local Colorado papers give the maid's name as Elizabeth Lambert and convey various dramatic details that are not confirmed by other articles. The most comprehensive and detailed article on the incident appeared on June 29 in the Fort Collins Express and seems to be the most accurate – positively refuting that the maid had been "hurled from the second to the first floor"


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: The Stanley Hotel National Register Historic District contains 11 contributing structures including the main hotel, the concert hall, a carriage house, manager's cottage, gate house and The Lodgea smaller bed-and-breakfast originally called Stanley Manor. The buildings were designed by F.O. Stanley with the professional assistance of Denver architect T. Robert Wieger, Henry "Lord Cornwallis" Rogers, and contractor Frank Kirchoff. The site was chosen for its vantage overlooking the Estes valley and Long's Peak within the National Park. The main building, concert hall and Manor House are steel-frame structures on foundations of random rubble granite with clapboard siding and asphalt shingle roof. Originally, Stanley chose a yellow ocher color for the buildings' exteriors with white accents and trim. Lumber used in the structures was harvested from the areas of Bierstadt Lake and Hidden Valley in the future national park, and purchased from Kirchoff's Lumberyard in Denver and Bluff City Lumber Company of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The granite was quarried from the Baldwin property near the confluence of Beaver Brook and the Big Thompson River. Non-local materials were brought to Lyons, Colorado by rail and thence to Estes Park by mule-drawn wagon.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: Upon opening in 1909, the hotel was alleged to be one of first in the country to be fully electrified from the lighting to the kitchens (although some fixtures could be operated with either electricity or gas). To supply his hotel with power, Stanley led the construction of the Fall River Hydroplant which also brought electricity to the town of Estes Park for the first time. Every guest room had a telephone and each pair of rooms shared an "en suite" bathroom with running water supplied by Black Canyon Creek, which had been dammed in 1906. Circa 1935, during Roe Emery's tenure as owner the ochre-colored siding was painted white and most of the original electro-gas fixtures were replaced.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: Although the style of the hotel evokes the historical architecture of New England, the general form and layout are designed to accommodate contemporary notions of hygiene and comfort. Given Stanley's interest in architectural design and healthful living, he may have been inspired by the Carolina Hotel (built 1899–1900) in Pinehurst, North Carolina, designed by Bertrand E. Taylor (1856–1909)a national leader in hospital design and, like Stanley, a resident of Newton, Massachusetts. The parallels between the Carolina and the Stanley extend beyond style; the builder of the Carolina, James Walker Tufts, was a Boston soda magnate who initially developed Pinehurst as a health resort for people with pulmonary diseases. Whether or not Stanley had exposure to Taylor's work and ideas, it is certain that he was influenced by Dr. Sherman Grant Bonney of the University of Denver, a contemporary expert in the treatment of tuberculosis; Stanley's Estes Park summer house is illustrated in Bonney's book, "Pulmonary Tuberculosis" (published while the hotel was under construction), and Stanley himself is acknowledged in the preface for his "interest and efficiency in connection with the photographic illustrations." Although the hotel never operated as a sanitarium "per se", it was designed to be an optimal environment for pulmonary health. When the construction plans were announced, the "Fort Collins Weekly Courier" reported, "[Estes Park] has been a favorite place for doctors to send the more robust of their patients, who were in shape to be braced up by the keen air and the considerable altitude, but it has not always been possible to get suitable accommodations and surroundings for them. With the park turned into a vast pleasure ground, and ample provisions for the best food products, all precious objections will be dissipated." Accordingly, the facilities were sited and designed to meet the requirements expounded in Bonney's book. For instance, according to Bonney,


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: This text is accompanied by a photograph of "the delightful view afforded from the porches of cottages for consumptives in Estes Park, Colorado." The hotel also provided the ample porches, ventilation, southern exposure, and appetizing food recommended in Bonney's book.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: The style of the Stanley Hotel campus is colonial revival. The strong symmetrical arrangement of the primary facade, and the classically derived ornamental articulations such as the two-stage octagonal cupola, Palladian window, fanlights, dormers, swan's neck pediments, scroll brackets, paired Tuscan columns, oval ox-eye windows, and elaborately turned balusters are all stylistic hallmarks of the so-called American Georgian and Federal Styles. The clapboard siding and carved wood elements are characteristic of New England's regional building practices. And yet, these features are modified and arranged to accommodate the tastes and lifestyles of the early twentieth century.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: The style of the hotel contrasts sharply with the rustic style used for the other hotels in Estes Park, before and after the Stanley's construction. However, it was not an uncommon choice for a hotel of the Stanley's size and quality in the time period (e.g. Royal Poinciana Hotel, Lake Yellowstone Hotel, Mount Washington Hotel). In general, the colonial revival symbolized the historical roots of modern American cultural values and the positive progress of American civilization. By this token, the Stanley Hotel was an expression of the modest gentility of the builder and his clientele, an advertisement for the modern comforts contained within it, and a beacon for the future of Estes Park as a respectable resort town. All of these connotations were heightened in contrast with the ruggedness of the Rocky Mountains and the rusticity of the other hotels in the area.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: The floor plan of the main hotel (completed 1909) was laid out to accommodate the various activities popular with the American upper class at the turn of the twentieth century and the spaces are decorated accordingly. The music room, for instance, with its cream-colored walls (originally green and white), picture windows and fine, classical plaster-work was designed for letter-writing during the day and chamber music at night – cultured pursuits perceived as feminine. On the other hand, the smoking lounge (today the Piñon Room) and adjoining billiard room, with their dark stained-wood elements and granite arch fireplace were designated for enjoyment by male guests. Stanley himself, having been raised in a conservative household and having recovered from a serious lung disease, did not smoke cigars or drink alcohol, but these were essential after-dinner activities for most men at the time. Billiards, however, was among Stanley's most cherished pastimes.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: With no central heating or ventilation system, the structure was designed to facilitate natural airflow; the Palladian window at the top of the grand stair could be opened to induce a cross-breeze through the lobby, French doors in all the public spaces open onto verandas, and two curving staircases connecting the guest corridors prevent stagnant air in the upper floors. Although the main hotel is now heated in the winter, guests still depend on natural ventilation for cooling in the summer. Within a few years of opening, a hydraulic elevator was put in operation. In 1916, the east wing of the main building was extended in the rear adding several guest rooms. Around this time, the alcove of the music room was added. In 1921, a rear veranda was enclosed forming a room that currently serves as a gift shop. Around 1935, the hydraulic elevator system was replaced with a cable-operated system and extended to the fourth floor necessitating the addition of a secondary cupola to house the mechanical apparatus. Originally, a porte-cochère extended from the central bay of the front porch, but this was removed when the south terrace was converted into a parking lot. In 1983, a service tunnel was excavated, connecting the basement-level corridor to the staff entrance. It is cut directly through the living granite on which the hotel rests.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: The concert hall, east of the hotel, was built by Stanley in 1909 with the assistance of Henry "Lord Cornwallis" Rogers, the same architect who designed his summer cottage. According to popular legend, it was built by F.O. Stanley as a gift for his wife, Flora. The interior is decorated in the same manner as the music room in the main hotel and vaguely resembles that of the Boston Symphony Hall (McKim, Mead & White, 1900) with which the Stanleys would have been familiar. The stage features a trap door, used for theatrical entrances and exits. The lower level once housed a two-lane bowling alley which was removed during the ownership of Maxwell Abbell. It possibly resembled the bowling alley at the Stanley's Hunnewell Club in Newton, pictures of which are archived in the Newton Free Library. The hall underwent extensive repair and renovation in the 2000s.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: Once called Stanley Manor, this smaller hotel between the main structure and the concert hall is a 2:3 scaled-down version of the main hotel. Unlike its model, the manor was fully heated from completion in 1910 which may indicate that Stanley planned to use it as a winter resort when the main building was closed for the season. However, unlike many other Colorado mountain towns now famous for their winter sports, Estes Park never attracted off-season visitors in Stanley's day and the manor remained empty for much of the year. Today it is called The Lodge and it features a brunch restaurant and is open to guests as another location to stay on the property.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: In 1974, during their brief residency in Boulder, Colorado, horror writer Stephen King and his wife Tabitha spent one night at the Stanley Hotel. The visit is known entirely through interviews given by King in which he presents differing narratives of the experience. At the time of his visit, King was writing a book with the working title "Darkshine" set in an amusement park, but was not satisfied with the setting. According to George Beahm's "Stephen King Companion", "on the advisement of locals who suggested a resort hotel located in Estes Park, an hour's drive away to the north, Stephen and Tabitha King found themselves checking in at the Stanley Hotel just as its other guests were checking out, because the hotel was shutting down for the winter season. After checking in and after Tabitha went to bed, King roamed the halls and went down to the hotel bar, where drinks were served by a bartender named Grady. As he returned to his room, numbered 217, his imagination was fired up by the hotel's remote location, its grand size, and its eerie desolation. Later, when King went into the bathroom and pulled back the pink curtain for the tub, which had claw feet, he thought, 'What if somebody died here? At that moment, I knew I had a book.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: In a 1977 interview by the Literary Guild, King recounted "While we were living [in Boulder] we heard about this terrific old mountain resort hotel and decided to give it a try. But when we arrived, they were just getting ready to close for the season, and we found ourselves the only guests in the placewith all those long, empty corridors." King and his wife were served dinner in an empty dining room accompanied by canned orchestral music: "Except for our table all the chairs were up on the tables. So the music is echoing down the hall, and, I mean, it was like God had put me there to hear that and see those things. And by the time I went to bed that night, I had the whole book ["The Shining"] in my mind." In another retelling, King said "I dreamed of my three-year-old son running through the corridors, looking back over his shoulder, eyes wide, screaming. He was being chased by a fire-hose. I woke up with a tremendous jerk, sweating all over, within an inch of falling out of bed. I got up, lit a cigarette, sat in a chair looking out the window at the Rockies, and by the time the cigarette was done, I had the bones of "The Shining" firmly set in my mind."


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: "The Shining" was published in 1977 and became the third great success of King's career after "Carrie" and "'Salem's Lot". The primary setting is an isolated Colorado resort named the Overlook Hotel which closes for the winter. In the front matter of the book, King tactfully states "Some of the most beautiful resort hotels in the world are located in Colorado, but the hotel in these pages is based on none of them. The Overlook and the people associated with it exist wholly in the author's imagination."


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: The Stanley Hotel served as the fictional hotel and filming location for Danbury of Aspen, Colorado, in the 1994 film "Dumb and Dumber".


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: "The Shining", a three-part episode, miniseries and horror tv-adaptation, was written and produced based directly on Stephen King’s 1977 novel of the same name, the main product of inspiration from the Stanley Hotel. The miniseries was produced as King was not satisfied with Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film. The miniseries, directed by Mick Garris, was filmed in various locations within the featured and important set piece, The Stanley Hotel, to achieve King’s vision of the fictional "Overlook Hotel", located in the Colorado Rockies, and the hotel’s, during the time of the shooting, infamous, snowy exterior. Film production started in March 1996, with the first episode being released in March 1997. The miniseries ultimately received mixed but mostly negative reviews from the public and critics, with it currently averaging 36% on Rotten Tomatoes.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: From 2013 to 2015, the hotel hosted the Stanley Film Festival, an independent horror film festival operated by the Denver Film Society, held in early May. The festival featured screenings, panels, student competitions, audience awards and receptions. The Stanley Film Festival was put on hiatus in 2016 and canceled for 2017.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: Bravo's cooking competition "Top Chef" also used the Stanley as a venue for Episode 10 of Season 15, which took place in various locations around Colorado.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: Indie rock band Murder by Death have performed an annual series of winter concerts at the Stanley Hotel since 2014, with the 2020 edition being their seventh such event.


title: The Stanley Hotel

text: Despite a peaceful early history, in the years following the publication of "The Shining", the Stanley Hotel gained a reputation as a setting for paranormal activity. It has hosted numerous paranormal investigators and appeared in shows such as "Ghost Hunters" and "Ghost Adventures". The hotel also offers guided tours which feature spaces reputed to be exceptionally active.


title: Republic of Rose Island

text: The Republic of Rose Island (; ) was a short-lived micronation on a man-made platform in the Adriatic Sea, off the coast of the province of Rimini, Italy.


title: Republic of Rose Island

text: It was built by the Italian engineer Giorgio Rosa, who made himself its president and declared it an independent state on 1 May 1968. Rose Island had its own government, currency, post office, and commercial establishments, and the official language was Esperanto. However, it was never formally recognized as a sovereign state by any country of the world. Viewed by the Italian government as a ploy by Rosa to raise money from tourists while avoiding national taxation, Rose Island was occupied by the Italian police forces on 26 June 1968, subject to naval blockade, and eventually demolished in February 1969.


title: Republic of Rose Island

text: Since the first decade of the 2000s, Rose Island's history has been the subject of documentary research and rediscoveries based on the utopian aspect of its genesis.


title: Republic of Rose Island

text: The entity that was to be established on the artificial platform took the name, in the Esperanto language, of (in ), which later became (Esperanto Republic of the Isle of Roses). Its official periodical was entitled , published in collaboration with the Dominican fathers of Bologna, to whom Rosa was closely linked.


title: Republic of Rose Island

text: It is believed that the Esperanto term (in ) was borrowed from the surname of Giorgio Rosa, the designer and builder of the artificial platform, as well as the creator and inspirer of the state entity, as well as from his desire to "see roses bloom on the sea".


title: Republic of Rose Island

text: In 1967, the Italian engineer Giorgio Rosa funded the construction of a platform supported by nine pylons, and furnished it with a number of commercial establishments, including a restaurant, bar, nightclub, souvenir shop, and post office.


title: Republic of Rose Island

text: The platform declared independence on 1 May 1968, under the Esperanto name "Insulo de la Rozoj", with Rosa as self-declared president. Both Esperanto "rozo" (plural "rozoj") and Italian "rosa" (plural "rose") mean "rose".


title: Republic of Rose Island

text: Soon afterwards, Rose Island issued a number of stamps, including one showing the approximate location of Rose Island in the Adriatic Sea. The purported currency of the republic was the mill, and this appeared on early stamp issues, although no coins or banknotes are known to have been produced. It had equivalent value to the Italian lira. The denomination's name was translated into Esperanto as "milo" (plural "miloj") on later stamp issues (it was unrelated to the Esperantist currency spesmilo).


title: Republic of Rose Island

text: Rosa's actions were viewed by the Italian government as a ploy to raise money from tourists while avoiding national taxation. Whether or not this was the real reason behind Rosa's micronation, the Italian government's response was swift: a group of four carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza officers landed on the island and assumed control.


title: Republic of Rose Island

text: On 13 February 1969, the Italian Navy used explosives to destroy the facility, an act later portrayed on postage stamps issued by Rosa's self-declared government in exile.


title: Republic of Rose Island

text: Only one death was counted but never confirmed: apparently, Rosa's dog was on the platform during the facility's detonation.


title: Republic of Rose Island

text: Rosa died in 2017, having given his blessing for a film to be made about Rose Island. This was released in 2020.


title: The Decameron

text: The Decameron (; or Decamerone ), subtitled "Prince Galehaut" (Old ) and sometimes nicknamed "l'Umana commedia" ("the Human comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Dante Alighieri's "Comedy" ""Divine""), is a collection of short stories by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375). The book is structured as a frame story containing 100 tales told by a group of seven young women and three young men; they shelter in a secluded villa just outside Florence in order to escape the Black Death, which was afflicting the city. Boccaccio probably conceived of the "Decameron" after the epidemic of 1348, and completed it by 1353. The various tales of love in "The Decameron" range from the erotic to the tragic. Tales of wit, practical jokes, and life lessons contribute to the mosaic. In addition to its literary value and widespread influence (for example on Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales"), it provides a document of life at the time. Written in the vernacular of the Florentine language, it is considered a masterpiece of classical early Italian prose.


title: The Decameron

text: The book's primary title exemplifies Boccaccio's fondness for Greek philology: "Decameron" combines Greek , "déka" ("ten") and , "hēméra" ("day") to mean "ten-day [event]", referring to the period in which the characters of the frame story tell their tales.


title: The Decameron

text: Boccaccio's subtitle, "Prencipe Galeotto", refers to Galehaut, a fictional king portrayed in the 13th-century "Lancelot-Grail" who was sometimes called by the title "haut prince" "high prince". Galehaut was a close friend of Lancelot, but an enemy of King Arthur. When Galehaut learned that Lancelot loved Arthur's wife, Guinevere, he set aside his own ardor for Lancelot in order to arrange a meeting between his friend and Guinevere. At this meeting the Queen first kisses Lancelot, and so begins their love affair.


title: The Decameron

text: In of "Inferno", Dante compares these fictional lovers with the real-life paramours Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta, whose relationship he fictionalises. In "Inferno", Francesca and Paolo read of Lancelot and Guinevere, and the story impassions them to lovemaking.


title: The Decameron

text: Dante's description of Galehaut's munificence and savoir-faire amidst this intrigue impressed Boccaccio. By invoking the name "Prencipe Galeotto" in the alternative title to "Decameron", Boccaccio alludes to a sentiment he expresses in the text: his compassion for women deprived of free speech and social liberty, confined to their homes and, at times, lovesick. He contrasts this life with that of the men free to enjoy hunting, fishing, riding, and falconry.


title: The Decameron

text: In Italy during the time of the Black Death, a group of seven young women and three young men flee from plague-ridden Florence to a deserted villa in the countryside of Fiesole for two weeks. To pass the evenings, each member of the party tells a story each night, except for one day per week for chores, and the holy days during which they do no work at all, resulting in ten nights of storytelling over the course of two weeks. Thus, by the end of the fortnight they have told 100 stories.


title: The Decameron

text: Each of the ten characters is charged as King or Queen of the company for one of the ten days in turn. This charge extends to choosing the theme of the stories for that day, and all but two days have topics assigned: examples of the power of fortune; examples of the power of human will; love tales that end tragically; love tales that end happily; clever replies that save the speaker; tricks that women play on men; tricks that people play on each other in general; examples of virtue. Only Dioneo, who usually tells the tenth tale each day, has the right to tell a tale on any topic he wishes, due to his wit. Many commentators have argued that Dioneo expresses the views of Boccaccio himself. Each day also includes a short introduction and conclusion to continue the frame of the tales by describing other daily activities besides story-telling. These framing interludes frequently include transcriptions of Italian folk songs. The interactions among tales in a day, or across days, as Boccaccio spins variations and reversals of previous material, forms a whole and not just a collection of stories. Recurring plots of the stories include mocking the lust and greed of the clergy; female lust and ambition on a par with male lust and ambition; tensions in Italian society between the new wealthy commercial class and noble families; and the perils and adventures of traveling merchants.


title: The Decameron

text: Throughout the "Decameron" the mercantile ethic prevails and predominates. The commercial and urban values of quick wit, sophistication, and intelligence are treasured, while the vices of stupidity and dullness are cured, or punished. While these traits and values may seem obvious to the modern reader, they were an emerging feature in Europe with the rise of urban centers and a monetized economic system beyond the traditional rural feudal and monastery systems which placed greater value on piety and loyalty.


title: The Decameron

text: Beyond the unity provided by the frame narrative, the "Decameron" provides a unity in philosophical outlook. Throughout runs the common medieval theme of Lady Fortune, and how quickly one can rise and fall through the external influences of the "Wheel of Fortune". Boccaccio had been educated in the tradition of Dante's "Divine Comedy", which used various levels of allegory to show the connections between the literal events of the story and the Christian message. However, the "Decameron" uses Dante's model not to educate the reader but to satirize this method of learning. The Roman Catholic Church, priests, and religious belief become the satirical source of comedy throughout. This was part of a wider historical trend in the aftermath of the Black Death which saw widespread discontent with the church.


title: The Decameron

text: Many details of the "Decameron" are infused with a medieval sense of numerological and mystical significance. For example, it is widely believed that the seven young women are meant to represent the Four Cardinal Virtues (Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude) and the Three Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope, and Charity). It is further supposed that the three men represent the classical Greek tripartite division of the soul (Reason, Spirit, and Appetite, see Book IV of "Republic"). Boccaccio himself notes that the names he gives for these ten characters are in fact pseudonyms chosen as "appropriate to the qualities of each". The Italian names of the seven women, in the same (most likely significant) order as given in the text, are Pampinea, Fiammetta, Filomena, Emilia, Lauretta, Neifile, and Elissa. The men, in order, are Panfilo, Filostrato, and Dioneo.


title: The Decameron

text: Boccaccio focused on the naturalness of sex by combining and interlacing sexual experiences with nature.


title: The Decameron

text: Boccaccio borrowed the plots of almost all his stories (just as later writers borrowed from him). Although he consulted only French, Italian and Latin sources, some of the tales have their origin in such far-off lands as India, the Middle East, Spain, and other places. Some were already centuries old. For example, part of the tale of Andreuccio of Perugia (Day II, Story 5) originated in 2nd-century Ephesus (in the Ephesian Tale). Even the description of the central motivating event of the narrative, the Black Plague (which Boccaccio surely witnessed), is not original, but is based on a description in the "Historia gentis Langobardorum" of Paul the Deacon, who lived in the 8th century. Boccaccio also drew on Ovid's works as inspiration. He has been called "the Italian Ovid," both because of his writing as well as his relationship to Ovid.


title: The Decameron

text: Some scholars have suggested that some of the tales for which no prior source has been found may still not have been invented by Boccaccio, but may have been circulating in the local oral tradition. Boccaccio himself says that he heard some of the tales orally. In VII, 1, for example, he claims to have heard the tale from an old woman who heard it as a child.