title: World War Z

text: The contiguous United States is liberated three years after the Honolulu Conference, and global victory is declared after another two years upon the liberation of China, although the British Armed Forces do not fully liberate London until three years after "Victory in China Day" due to their prioritization of low casualties. Russia, its armories badly depleted, is forced to heavily employ the use of outdated Great Patriotic War-era equipment while waging a costly, brute-force two-front war. France, desiring to restore its national pride and reputation after its humiliating defeats in the Battle of France, Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, and Algerian War, prosecutes its campaign of the war more aggressively than its Western allies. The US President dies, most likely from heart failure caused by extreme stress, toward the end of the war.


title: World War Z

text: Ten years after Victory in China Day, the world is still heavily damaged, but slowly on the road to recovery. Tens of millions of zombies remain active, mainly on the ocean floor, mountains above the snow line, and in arctic areas; the United Nations fields a large force to eliminate them. Iceland remains completely zombified, as its cold weather and lack of military made it the most vulnerable country to the undead. Following a religious revolution sparked by rampant suicide within the Russian military during the war, Russia has become an expansionist theonomy intent on annexing the former Soviet republics, and has adopted a repopulation program under which the nation's few remaining fertile women are used as state broodmares. North Korea remains quarantined as its entire population mysteriously vanished at the beginning of the pandemic, presumed to have fled into vast underground fallout shelters while remaining ignorant to the end of the zombie threat; fears that the population are now zombified have so far prevented Korean reunification. Cuba has become a capitalist democracy possessing the world's largest GDP. Tibet has become independent from China and hosts Lhasa as the world's most populous city, and China has democratized following a second civil war sparked by the collapse of the Three Gorges Dam. Several new, unnamed countries have emerged due to wartime governments expelling convicts into infested zones, with many of these criminals surviving and going on to establish their own independent "fiefdoms." The overall quality of human life has diminished, including shorter life expectancies, limited access to running water and electricity, and the resurgence of diseases like the Spanish flu. Many animals, notably whales, have gone extinct due to overhunting, pollution, or being killed by the undead. Fossil fuels are scarce, with petroleum from the Middle East becoming practically nonexistent after Saudi Arabia destroyed its oil reserves for unknown reasons during the war; sailboats have returned as the most common seafaring vessels. Nevertheless, the majority of those who have survived have hope for the future, knowing that humanity faced the brink of extinction and won.


title: World War Z

text: Brooks designed "World War Z" to follow the "laws" set up in his earlier work, "The Zombie Survival Guide" (2003), and explained that the guide may exist in the novel's fictional universe. The zombies of "The Zombie Survival Guide" are human corpses reanimated by an incurable virus with a one hundred percent infection and mortality rate. They are devoid of intelligence, desire solely to consume living flesh, and cannot be killed unless the brain is destroyed. The blood of the undead has coagulated, causing it to appear as a black, sludge-like substance. Decomposition will eventually destroy a zombie, but this process takes longer than for an uninfected body and can be slowed even further by cold weather. Zombies are also somehow capable of functioning after being unfrozen, and are unaffected by the extreme pressures on the ocean floor. Although zombies do not tire and are as strong as the humans they infect (though they appear to be slightly stronger due to lack of normal restraint), they are slow-moving and incapable of planning or cooperation in their attacks, though zombies can hear and are attracted by the moans of other zombies, potentially creating a "chain swarm."


title: World War Z

text: Brooks discussed the cultural influences on the novel. He claimed inspiration from ""The Good War": An Oral History of World War Two" (1984) by Studs Terkel, stating: "[Terkel's book is] an oral history of World War II. I read it when I was a teenager and it's sat with me ever since. When I sat down to write "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War", I wanted it to be in the vein of an oral history." Brooks also cited renowned zombie film director George A. Romero as an influence and criticized the "Return of the Living Dead" films: "They cheapen zombies, make them silly and campy. They've done for the living dead what the old "Batman" TV show did for the Dark Knight." Brooks acknowledged making several references to popular culture in the novel, including one to alien robot franchise "Transformers", but declined to identify the others so that readers could discover them independently.


title: World War Z

text: Brooks conducted copious research while writing "World War Z". The technology, politics, economics, culture, and military tactics were based on a variety of reference books and consultations with expert sources. Brooks also cites the US Army as a reference on firearm statistics.


title: World War Z

text: Reviewers have noted that Brooks uses "World War Z" as a platform to criticize government ineptitude, corporate corruption, and human short-sightedness. At one point in the book, a Palestinian refugee living in Kuwait City refuses to believe the dead are rising, fearing it is a trick by the Israeli government. Many American characters blame the United States' inability to counter the zombie threat on low confidence in their government and a general exhaustion over conflict due to recent "brushfire wars."


title: World War Z

text: Brooks further shows his particular dislike of government bureaucracy having government figures in the novel attempt to justify lying about the zombie outbreak to avoid widespread panic, while at the same time failing to develop a solution for fear of arousing public ire. He has also criticized US isolationism:


title: World War Z

text: Survivalism and disaster preparation are prevalent themes in the novel. Several interviews, particularly those from the United States, focus on policy changes designed to fundamentally restructure the country to properly survive and combat the pandemic. A new federal executive department known as the Department of Strategic Resources (DeStRes) is formed, led by the former Chair of the Federal Reserve, dedicated to reorganizing the country's limited resources and restarting the economy. It is mentioned that a weakness of the pre-war US was its post-industrial society, with white-collar workers like CEOs suddenly becoming classified as unskilled labor, and considered significantly less valuable assets than blue-collar workers like plumbers. The effects of the pandemic on the wealthy versus lower economic classes is explored—one interview is told from the perspective of a mercenary hired to protect a wealthy man and his mansion in Long Island, New York, which was fortified and seemingly disaster-proofed at the beginning of the Great Panic. The client populates his mansion with other wealthy celebrities and their armies of personal assistants, and installs cameras in each room to broadcast a live feed of their amenities to the rest of the world. This backfires when a crowd of terrified, desperate civilians storms the compound and sparks a mass slaughter. Throughout the novel, characters demonstrate the physical and mental requirements needed to survive a disaster—a soldier in the US Army describes a condition he terms "Z-Shock" that causes people to suffer potentially deadly psychological episodes induced by the extreme stress of battling the undead. To treat this, units of "combat shrinks" are formed with the purpose of monitoring soldiers for signs of Z-Shock and removing them from the battlefield when necessary. On the American homefront, a former Hollywood director creates propaganda films designed to inspire hope in the civilian populace, who are being afflicted by a mysterious, stress-related condition known as "Asymptomatic Demise Syndrome" that causes thousands to die in their sleep. Brooks described the large amount of research needed to find optimal methods for fighting a worldwide zombie outbreak. He also pointed out that the US likes the zombie genre because it believes that it can survive anything with the right tools and talent.


title: World War Z

text: Brooks considers the theme of uncertainty central to the zombie genre. He believes that zombies allow people to deal with their own anxiety about the end of the world. Brooks has expressed a deep fear of zombies:


title: World War Z

text: This mindlessness is connected to the context in which Brooks was writing. He declared: "at this point we're pretty much living in an irrational time", full of human suffering and lacking reason or logic. When asked in a subsequent interview about how he would compare terrorists with zombies, Brooks said:


title: World War Z

text: During an appearance on "George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight", Brooks' friend and contemporary novelist Chuck Palahniuk revealed that a major influence on "World War Z" was the deterioration and death via cancer of Brooks' mother, Anne Bancroft.


title: World War Z

text: Reviews for the novel have been generally positive. Gilbert Cruz of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the novel an "A" rating, commenting that the novel shared with great zombie stories the use of a central metaphor, describing it as "an addictively readable oral history." Steven H. Silver identified Brooks' international focus as the novel's greatest strength and commented favorably on Brooks' ability to create an appreciation for the work needed to combat a global zombie outbreak. Silver's only complaint was with "Good-Byes", the final chapter, in which characters get a chance to give a final closing statement; Silver felt that it was not always apparent who the sundry, undifferentiated characters were. "The Eagle" described the book as being "unlike any other zombie tale" as it is "sufficiently terrifying for most readers, and not always in a blood-and-guts way, either." Keith Phipps of "The A.V. Club" stated that the format of the novel makes it difficult for it to develop momentum, but found the novel's individual episodes gripping. Patrick Daily of the "Chicago Reader" said the novel transcends the "silliness" of "The Zombie Survival Guide" by "touching on deeper, more somber aspects of the human condition." In his review for "Time Out Chicago", Pete Coco declared that "[b]ending horror to the form of alternative history would have been novel in and of itself. Doing so in the mode of Studs Terkel might constitute brilliance."


title: World War Z

text: Ron Currie Jr. named "World War Z" one of his favorite apocalyptic novels and praised Brooks for illustrating "the tacit agreement between writer and reader that is essential to the success of stories about the end of the world ... [both] agree to pretend that this is not fiction, that in fact the horrific tales of a war between humans and zombies are based in reality." Drew Taylor of the "Fairfield County Weekly" credited "World War Z" with making zombies more popular in mainstream society.


title: World War Z

text: The hardcover version of "World War Z" spent four weeks on the "New York Times" Best Seller list, peaking at number nine. By November 2011, according to "Publishers Weekly", "World War Z" had sold one million copies in all formats.


title: World War Z

text: Random House published an abridged audiobook (5 hours 59 minutes) in 2007, directed by John McElroy and produced by Dan Zitt, with sound editing by Charles De Montebello. The book is read by Brooks but includes other actors taking on the roles of the many individual characters who are interviewed in the novel. Brooks' previous career in voice acting and voice-over work meant he could recommend a large number of the cast members.


title: World War Z

text: On May 14, 2013, Random House Audio released a lengthier (12 hours 9 minutes) audiobook titled "World War Z: The Complete Edition (Movie Tie-in Edition): An Oral History of the Zombie War". It contains the entirety of the original, abridged audiobook, as well as new recordings of each missing segment. Twenty additional actors read the added segments.


title: World War Z

text: A separate, additional audiobook containing only the new recordings not found in the original abridged audiobook was released simultaneously as "World War Z: The Lost Files: A Companion to the Abridged Edition". Its length is 6 hours 13 minutes.


title: World War Z

text: In her review of the audiobook for "Strange Horizons", Siobhan Carroll called the story "gripping" and found the listening experience evocative of Orson Welles's famous radio narration of "The War of the Worlds" (broadcast October 30, 1938). Carroll had mixed opinions on the voice acting, commending it as "solid and understated, mercifully free of 'special effects' and 'scenery chewing' overall", but lamenting what she perceived as undue cheeriness on the part of Max Brooks and inauthenticity in Steve Park's Chinese accent. "Publishers Weekly" also criticized Brooks' narration, but found that the rest of the "all-star cast deliver their parts with such fervor and intensity that listeners cannot help but empathize with these characters". In an article in "Slate" concerning the mistakes producers make on publishing audiobooks, Nate DiMeo used "World War Z" as an example of dramatizations whose full casts contributed to making them "great listens" and described the book as a "smarter-than-it-has-any-right-to-be zombie novel". The "World War Z" audiobook won the 2007 Audie Award for Multi-Voiced Performance and was nominated for Audiobook of the Year.


title: World War Z

text: In June 2006, Paramount Studios secured the film rights for "World War Z" for Brad Pitt's production company, Plan B Entertainment, to produce. The screenplay was written by J. Michael Straczynski, with Marc Forster directing and Pitt starring as the main character, UN employee Gerry Lane.


title: World War Z

text: Despite being the draft that got the film green-lit, Straczynski's script was tossed aside. Production was to begin at the start of 2009, but was delayed while the script was completely re-written by Matthew Michael Carnahan to set the film in the present – leaving behind much of the book's premise – to make it more of an action film. In a 2012 interview, Brooks stated the film now had nothing in common with the novel other than the title. Filming commenced mid-2011, and the film was released in June 2013.


title: Legolas

text: Legolas (pronounced ) is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings". He is a Sindar Elf of the Woodland Realm and one of the nine members of the Fellowship who set out to destroy the One Ring. He and the Dwarf Gimli are close friends.


title: Legolas

text: Commentators have noted that Legolas serves as a typical Elf in the story, demonstrating more-than-human abilities such as seeing further than anyone else in Rohan and sensing the memory of a long-lost Elvish civilisation in the stones of Hollin.


title: Legolas

text: Legolas was the son of Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm of Northern Mirkwood, who appeared as "the Elvenking" in "The Hobbit". Thranduil, one of the Sindar or "Grey Elves", ruled over the Silvan Elves or "Wood-elves" of Mirkwood.


title: Legolas

text: Legolas is introduced at the Council of Elrond in Rivendell, where he came as a messenger from his father to discuss Gollum's escape from their guard. Legolas was chosen to be a member of the Fellowship of the Ring, charged with destroying the One Ring. He accompanied the other members in their travels from Rivendell to Amon Hen, When the fellowship was trapped by a snowstorm while crossing the Misty Mountains, Legolas scouted ahead, running lightly over the snow, and told Aragorn and Boromir that the thick snow they were trying to push through was only a narrow wall. Back in the lowlands of Hollin, Legolas helped fend off an attack by Saruman's wargs. Gandalf then led the fellowship on a journey underground through Moria. In Moria, Legolas helped fight off Orcs and recognized "Durin's Bane" as a Balrog. After Gandalf's fall, Aragorn led the Fellowship to the Elven realm of Lothlórien. Legolas spoke to the Elf-sentries there on behalf of the Fellowship.


title: Legolas

text: There was initially friction between Legolas and the Dwarf Gimli, because of the ancient quarrel between Elves and Dwarves, rekindled by Thranduil's treatment of Gimli's father Glóin. Legolas and Gimli became friends when Gimli greeted Galadriel respectfully. When the fellowship left Lothlórien, Galadriel gave the members gifts; Legolas received a longbow, which he used to bring down a Nazgûl's flying steed in the dark with one shot.


title: Legolas

text: After Boromir's death and the capture of Merry Brandybuck and Pippin Took by orcs, Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli set out across Rohan in pursuit of the two captured hobbits. In the forest of Fangorn Legolas and his companions met Gandalf, resurrected as "Gandalf the White," who delivered a message to Legolas from Galadriel. Legolas interpreted this as foretelling the end of his stay in Middle-earth:


title: Legolas

text: The three met with the Riders of Rohan, fought in the Battle of Helm's Deep, and witnessed Saruman's downfall at Isengard, where they were reunited with Merry and Pippin.


title: Legolas

text: Legolas and Gimli accompanied Aragorn and the Grey Company on the Paths of the Dead. After Aragorn summoned the Dead of Dunharrow to fight for him, Legolas saw them terrify the Corsairs of Umbar from their ships at Pelargir. Galadriel's prophecy was fulfilled: as Legolas heard the cries of seagulls, he experienced the Sea-longing — the desire to sail west to Valinor, the "Blessed Realm", latent among his people. He fought in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and at the Black Gate, and watched as Sauron was defeated and Barad-dûr collapsed.


title: Legolas

text: After the destruction of the One Ring, Legolas remained in Minas Tirith for Aragorn's coronation and marriage to Arwen. Later, Legolas and Gimli travelled together through Fangorn forest and to the Glittering Caves of Aglarond, as Legolas had promised Gimli. Eventually Legolas brought south many Silvan Elves, and they dwelt in Ithilien, and it became once again the "fairest country in all the westlands." They stayed in Ithilien for "a hundred years of Men." After Aragorn dies, Legolas built a small ship and sailed West, reportedly taking Gimli with him.


title: Legolas

text: The name "Legolas Greenleaf" first appeared in "The Fall of Gondolin", one of the "Lost Tales", circa 1917. The character, who guides survivors of the sack of the city to safety, is mentioned only once.


title: Legolas

text: The medievalists Stuart D. Lee and Elizabeth Solopova note that Legolas's lament over the stones of the Elvish land of Hollin: "Only I hear the stones lament them: "deep they delved us, fair they wrought us, high they builded us; but they are gone,"" recalls the Old English poem "The Ruin".


title: Legolas

text: The Tolkien critic Paul Kocher writes of the same passage that it shows how Elves such as Legolas have senses keener than mortal Men: he can see further and can even hear the stones lamenting the passing of the Elves. In Kocher's view, Legolas is an "emissary for the Elves", as Gimli is for the dwarves; he suggests that the point Tolkien was making was that Legolas was a typical young elf.


title: Legolas

text: The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey observes that Legolas, describing the great hall of Meduseld in the capital of Rohan, too far off for any but an Elf to make out clearly, speaks a line which is a direct translation of one from "Beowulf": "The light of it shines far over the land", "líxte se léoma ofer landa fela".


title: Legolas

text: Legolas was voiced by Anthony Daniels in Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated version of "The Lord of the Rings". In the film, he takes Glorfindel's place in the "Flight to the Ford"; he meets Aragorn and the hobbits on their way to Rivendell and sets Frodo on his horse before Frodo is chased by the Nazgûl to the ford of Bruinen.


title: Legolas

text: Legolas was voiced by David Collings in the 1981 BBC Radio 4 adaptation. In the 1993 Finnish miniseries "Hobitit" he was portrayed by Ville Virtanen.


title: Legolas

text: In Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy (2001–2003), Legolas was portrayed by Orlando Bloom. He was presented as an unstoppable fighter, performing dramatic feats of battle.


title: Legolas

text: Bloom reprised his role as Legolas in Jackson's 2013 release "", and again for the 2014 follow-up "". Legolas's role in the films is an addition, as he did not appear in the novel. He is attracted to the non-canon elf-woman Tauriel.


title: Legolas

text: In the West End musical, "The Lord of the Rings: The Musical", Legolas was portrayed by Michael Rouse. Legolas appeared as a playable character in Lego Dimensions as an expansion character, bundled with an arrow launcher.


title: Shakers

text: The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a millenarian restorationist Christian sect founded in England and then organized in the United States in the 1780s. They were initially known as "Shaking Quakers" because of their ecstatic behavior during worship services. Espousing egalitarian ideals, women took on spiritual leadership roles alongside men, including founding leaders such as Jane Wardley, Ann Lee, and Lucy Wright. The Shakers emigrated from England and settled in Revolutionary colonial America, with an initial settlement at Watervliet, New York (present-day Colonie), in 1774. They practice a celibate and communal utopian lifestyle, pacifism, uniform charismatic worship, and their model of equality of the sexes, which they institutionalized in their society in the 1780s. They are also known for their simple living, architecture, technological innovation, music, and furniture.


title: Shakers

text: During the mid-19th century, an Era of Manifestations resulted in a period of dances, gift drawings, and gift songs inspired by spiritual revelations. At its peak in the mid-19th century, there were 2,000–4,000 Shaker believers living in 18 major communities and numerous smaller, often short-lived communities. External and internal societal changes in the mid- and late-19th century resulted in the thinning of the Shaker community as members left or died with few converts to the faith to replace them. By 1920, there were only 12 Shaker communities remaining in the United States. , there is only one active Shaker village: Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, in Maine. Consequently, many of the other Shaker settlements are now museums.


title: Shakers

text: The Shakers were one of a few religious groups which were formed during the 18th century in the Northwest of England; originating out of the Wardley Society. James and Jane Wardley and others broke off from the Quakers in 1747 at a time when the Quakers were weaning themselves away from frenetic spiritual expression. The Wardleys formed the Wardley Society, which was also known as the "Shaking Quakers". Future leader Ann Lee and her parents were early members of the sect. This group of "charismatic" Christians became the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing (USBCSA). Their beliefs were based upon spiritualism and included the notion that they received messages from the spirit of God which were expressed during religious revivals. They also experienced what they interpreted as messages from God during silent meditations and became known as "Shaking Quakers" because of the ecstatic nature of their worship services. They believed in the renunciation of sinful acts and that the end of the world was near.


title: Shakers

text: Meetings were first held in Bolton, England, where the articulate preacher, Jane Wardley, urged her followers to:


title: Shakers

text: Other meetings were then held in Manchester, Meretown (also spelled Mayortown), Chester and other places near Manchester. As their numbers grew, members began to be persecuted, mobbed, and stoned; Lee was imprisoned in Manchester. The members looked to women for leadership, believing that the second coming of Christ would be through a woman. In 1770, Ann Lee was revealed in "manifestation of Divine light" to be the second coming of Christ and was called Mother Ann.


title: Shakers

text: Ann Lee joined the Shakers by 1758, then became the leader of the small community. "Mother Ann", as her followers later called her, claimed numerous revelations regarding the fall of Adam and Eve and its relationship to sexual intercourse. A powerful preacher, she called her followers to confess their sins, give up all their worldly goods, and take up the cross of celibacy and forsake marriage, as part of the renunciation of all "lustful gratifications".


title: Shakers

text: Having supposedly received a revelation, on May 19, 1774, Ann Lee and eight of her followers sailed from Liverpool for colonial America. Ann and her husband Abraham Stanley, brother William Lee, niece Nancy Lee, James Whittaker, father and son John Hocknell and Richard Hocknell, James Shephard, and Mary Partington traveled to colonial America and landed in New York City. Abraham Stanley abandoned Ann Lee shortly thereafter and remarried. The remaining Shakers settled in Watervliet, New York, in 1776. Mother Ann's hope for the Shakers in America was represented in a vision: "I saw a large tree, every leaf of which shone with such brightness as made it appear like a burning torch, representing the Church of Christ, which will yet be established in this land." Unable to swear an Oath of Allegiance, as it was against their faith, the members were imprisoned for about six months. Since they were only imprisoned because of their faith, this raised sympathy of citizens and thus helped to spread their religious beliefs. Mother Ann, revealed as the "second coming" of Christ, traveled throughout the eastern states, preaching her gospel views.


title: Shakers

text: After Ann Lee and James Whittaker died, Joseph Meacham (1742–1796) became the leader of the Shakers in 1787, establishing its New Lebanon headquarters. He had been a New Light Baptist minister in Enfield, Connecticut, and was reputed to have, second only to Mother Ann, the spiritual gift of revelation.


title: Shakers

text: Joseph Meacham brought Lucy Wright (1760–1821) into the Ministry to serve with him and together they developed the Shaker form of communal living (religious communism). By 1793 property had been made a "consecrated whole" in each Shaker community.


title: Shakers

text: Shakers developed written covenants in the 1790s. Those who signed the covenant had to confess their sins, consecrate their property and their labor to the society, and live as celibates. If they were married before joining the society, their marriages ended when they joined. A few less-committed Believers lived in "noncommunal orders" as Shaker sympathizers who preferred to remain with their families. The Shakers never forbade marriage for such individuals, but considered it less perfect than the celibate state.


title: Shakers

text: In the 5 years between 1787 and 1792, the Shakers gathered into eight more communities in addition to the Watervliet and New Lebanon villages: Hancock, Harvard, Shirley, and Tyringham Shaker Villages in Massachusetts; Enfield Shaker Village in Connecticut; Canterbury and Enfield in New Hampshire; and Sabbathday Lake and Alfred Shaker Village in Maine.


title: Shakers

text: After Joseph Meacham died, Lucy Wright continued Ann Lee's missionary tradition. Shaker missionaries proselytized at revivals, not only in New England and New York but also farther west. Missionaries such as Issachar Bates and Benjamin Seth Youngs (older brother of Isaac Newton Youngs) gathered hundreds of proselytes into the faith.


title: Shakers

text: Mother Lucy Wright introduced new hymns and dances to make sermons more lively. She also helped write Benjamin S. Youngs' book "The Testimony of Christ's Second Appearing" (1808).


title: Shakers

text: Shaker missionaries entered Kentucky and Ohio after the Cane Ridge, Kentucky revival of 1801–1803, which was an outgrowth of the Logan County, Kentucky, Revival of 1800. From 1805 to 1807, they founded Shaker societies at Union Village, Ohio; South Union, Logan County, Kentucky; and Pleasant Hill, Kentucky (in Mercer County, Kentucky). In 1806, a Shaker village, named Watervliet, after the New York town that was the site of the first Shaker settlement, was established in what is today Kettering, Ohio, surviving until 1900 when its remaining adherents joined the Union Village Shaker settlement. In 1824, the Whitewater Shaker Settlement was established in southwestern Ohio. The westernmost Shaker community was located at West Union (called Busro because it was on Busseron Creek) on the Wabash River a few miles north of Vincennes in Knox County, Indiana.


title: Shakers

text: The Shaker movement was at its height between 1820 and 1860. It was at this time that the sect had the most members, and the period was considered its "golden age". It had expanded from New England to the Midwestern states of Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. It was during this period that it became known for its furniture design and craftsmanship. In the late 1830s a spiritual revivalism, the Era of Manifestations was born. It was also known as the "period of Mother's work", for the spiritual revelations that were passed from the late Mother Ann Lee.


title: Shakers

text: The expression of "spirit gifts" or messages were realized in "gift drawings" made by Hannah Cohoon, Polly Reed, Polly Collins, and other Shaker sisters. A number of those drawings remain as important artifacts of Shaker folk art.


title: Shakers

text: Isaac N. Youngs, the scribe and historian for the New Lebanon, New York, Church Family of Shakers, preserved a great deal of information on the era of manifestations, which Shakers referred to as Mother Ann's Work, in his Domestic Journal, his diary, Sketches of Visions, and his history, A Concise View of the Church of God.


title: Shakers

text: In addition, Shakers preserved thousands of spirit communications still extant in collections now held by the Berkshire Athenaeum, Fruitlands Museums Library, Hamilton College Library, Hancock Shaker Village, Library of Congress, New York Public Library, New York State Library, the Shaker Library at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, Shaker Museum Mount Lebanon, Western Reserve Historical Society, Williams College Archives, Winterthur Museum Library, and other repositories.


title: Shakers

text: As pacifists, the Shakers did not believe that it was acceptable to kill or harm others, even in time of war. During the American Civil War, both Union and Confederate soldiers found their way to the Shaker communities. Shakers tended to sympathize with the Union but they did feed and care for both Union and Confederate soldiers. President Lincoln exempted Shaker males from military service, and they became some of the first conscientious objectors in American history.


title: Shakers

text: The end of the Civil War brought large changes to the Shaker communities. One of the most important changes was the postwar economy. The Shakers had a hard time competing in the industrialized economy that followed the Civil War. With prosperity falling, converts were hard to find.


title: Shakers

text: By the early 20th century, the once numerous Shaker communities were failing and closing. By mid-century, new federal laws were passed denying control of adoption to religious groups. Today, in the 21st century, the Shaker community that still exists—The Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community—denies that Shakerism was a failed utopian experiment.


title: Shakers

text: Shakerism is not, as many would claim, an anachronism; nor can it be dismissed as the final sad flowering of 19th century liberal utopian fervor. Shakerism has a message for this present age–a message as valid today as when it was first expressed. It teaches above all else that God is Love and that our most solemn duty is to show forth that God who is love in the World.


title: Shakers

text: In 1992, Canterbury Shaker Village closed, leaving only Sabbathday Lake open. Eldress Bertha of the Canterbury Village closed their official membership book in 1957, not recognizing the younger people living in other Shaker Communities as members.


title: Shakers

text: On January 2, 2017, Sister Frances Carr died aged 89 at the Sabbathday community, leaving only two remaining Shakers: Brother Arnold Hadd, age 58, and Sister June Carpenter, 77. The Spring/Summer 2019 issue of the Shaker newsletter "The Clarion" also makes reference to a Brother Andrew. These remaining Shakers hope that sincere newcomers will join them.


title: Shakers

text: Nevertheless, the Shakers at Sabbathday Lake "stressed the autonomy of each local community" and therefore do accept new converts to Shakerism into their community. This Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community receives around two enquiries every week.


title: Shakers

text: After 1821, there was no one single leader, but rather a small nucleus of Ministry elders and eldresses with authority over all the Shaker villages, each with their own teams of elders and eldresses who were subordinate to the Ministry.


title: Shakers

text: Shaker theology is based on the idea of the dualism of God as male and female: "So God created him; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27). This passage was interpreted as showing the dual nature of the Creator.


title: Shakers

text: Shakers believed that Jesus, born of a woman, the son of a Jewish carpenter, was the male manifestation of Christ and the first Christian Church; and that Mother Ann, daughter of an English blacksmith, was the female manifestation of Christ and the second Christian Church (which the Shakers believed themselves to be). She was seen as the Bride made ready for the Bridegroom, and in her, the promises of the Second Coming were fulfilled.


title: Shakers

text: Because of the adoptionist view of Christ only becoming divine during his baptism and the dualist idea that God was to be expressed in male and female genders, Shakers are sometimes viewed as being nontrinitarian. However, modern-day Shakers profess the divinity of Christ and claim that Shaker dualism is because "God has no sex in our human understanding of the term; yet being pure spirit He may best be thought of by man with his limited power of comprehension as having the attributes of both maleness and femaleness". The Trinity is not viewed as being false. Instead, Shakers argue that the Trinity has been misinterpreted for being completely masculine. Ann Lee's embodiment of Christ thus completed the Trinity by fulfilling the female aspect of God.


title: Shakers

text: Adam's sin was understood to be sex, which was considered to be an act of impurity. Therefore, marriage was abolished within the body of the Believers in the Second Appearance, which was patterned after the Kingdom of God, in which there would be no marriage or giving in marriage. The four highest Shaker virtues were virgin purity, communalism, confession of sin – without which one could not become a Believer – and separation from the world.


title: Shakers

text: Ann Lee's doctrine was simple: confession of sins was the door to the spiritual regeneration, and absolute celibacy was the rule of life. Shakers were so chaste that men and women could not shake hands or pass one another on the stairs.


title: Shakers

text: Shakers were celibate; procreation was forbidden after they joined the society (except for women who were already pregnant at admission). Children were added to their communities through indenture, adoption, or conversion. Occasionally a foundling was anonymously left on a Shaker doorstep. They welcomed all, often taking in orphans and the homeless. For children, Shaker life was structured, safe and predictable, with no shortage of adults who cared about their young charges.


title: Shakers

text: When Shaker youths, girls and boys, reached the age of 21, they were free to leave or to remain with the Shakers. Unwilling to remain celibate, many chose to leave; today there are thousands of descendants of Shaker-raised seceders.


title: Shakers

text: Shaker religion valued women and men equally in religious leadership. The church was hierarchical, and at each level women and men shared authority. This was reflective of the Shaker belief that God was both female and male. They believed men and women were equal in the sight of God, and should be treated equally on earth, too. Thus two Elders and two Eldresses formed the Ministry at the top of the administrative structure. Two lower-ranking Elders and two Eldresses led each family, women overseeing women and men overseeing men.


title: Shakers

text: In their labor, Shakers followed traditional gender work-related roles. Their homes were segregated by sex, as were women and men's work areas. Women worked indoors spinning, weaving, cooking, sewing, cleaning, washing, and making or packaging goods for sale. In good weather, groups of Shaker women were outdoors, gardening and gathering wild herbs for sale or home consumption. Men worked in the fields doing farm work and in their shops at crafts and trades. This allowed the continuation of church leadership when there was a shortage of men.


title: Shakers

text: Shakers worshipped in meetinghouses painted white and unadorned; pulpits and decorations were eschewed as worldly things. In meeting, they marched, sang, danced, and sometimes turned, twitched, jerked, or shouted. The earliest Shaker worship services were unstructured, loud, chaotic and emotional. However, Shakers later developed precisely choreographed dances and orderly marches accompanied by symbolic gestures. Many outsiders disapproved of or mocked Shakers' mode of worship without understanding the symbolism of their movements or the content of their songs.


title: Shakers

text: The Shakers built more than twenty communities in the United States. Women and men shared leadership of the Shaker communities. Women preached and received revelations as the Spirit fell upon them. Thriving on the religious enthusiasm of the first and second Great Awakenings, the Shakers declared their messianic, communitarian message with significant response. One early convert observed: "The wisdom of their instructions, the purity of their doctrine, their Christ-like deportment, and the simplicity of their manners, all appeared truly apostolical." The Shakers represent a small but important Utopian response to the gospel. Preaching in their communities knew no boundaries of gender, social class, or education.


title: Shakers

text: The communality of the Believers was an economic success, and their cleanliness, honesty and frugality received the highest praise. All Shaker villages ran farms, using the latest scientific methods in agriculture. They raised most of their own food, so farming, and preserving the produce required to feed them through the winter, had to be priorities. Their livestock were fat and healthy, and their barns were commended for convenience and efficiency.


title: Shakers

text: When not doing farm work, Shaker brethren pursued a variety of trades and hand crafts, many documented by Isaac N. Youngs. When not doing housework, Shaker sisters did likewise, spinning, weaving, sewing, and making sale goods—baskets, brushes, bonnets, brooms, fancy goods, and homespun fabric that was known for high quality, but were more famous for their medicinal herbs, garden seeds of the Shaker Seed Company, apple sauce, and knitted garments (Canterbury). Some communities, especially those in New England, produced maple syrup for sale as well.


title: Shakers

text: Shakers ran a variety of businesses to support their communities. Many Shaker villages had their own tanneries, sold


title: Shakers

text: The Shaker goal in their labor was perfection. Ann Lee's followers preserved her admonitions about work:


title: Shakers

text: Shaker craftsmen were known for a style of Shaker furniture that was plain in style, durable, and functional. Shaker chairs were usually mass-produced because a great number of them were needed to seat all the Shakers in a community.


title: Shakers

text: Around the time of the American Civil War, the Shakers at Mount Lebanon, New York, increased their production and marketing of Shaker chairs. They were so successful that several furniture companies produced their own versions of "Shaker" chairs. Because of the quality of their craftsmanship, original Shaker furniture is costly.


title: Shakers

text: Shakers won respect and admiration for their productive farms and orderly communities. Their industry brought about many inventions like Babbitt metal, the rotary harrow, the circular saw, the clothespin, the Shaker peg, the flat broom, the wheel-driven washing machine, a machine for setting teeth in textile cards, a threshing machine, metal pens, a new type of fire engine, a machine for matching boards, numerous innovations in waterworks, planing machinery, a hernia truss, silk reeling machinery, small looms for weaving palm leaf, machines for processing broom corn, ball-and-socket tilters for chair legs, and a number of other useful inventions. Even prolific Shaker inventors like Tabitha Babbit did not patent their inventions before or after putting them into practice, which has complicated subsequent efforts by 20th century historians to assign priority.


title: Shakers

text: Shakers were the first large producers of medicinal herbs in the United States, and pioneers in the sale of seeds in paper packets. Brethren grew the crops, but sisters picked, sorted, and packaged their products for sale, so those industries were built on a foundation of women's labor in the Shaker partnership between the sexes.


title: Shakers

text: The Shakers believed in the value of hard work and kept comfortably busy. Mother Ann said: "Labor to make the way of God your own; let it be your inheritance, your treasure, your occupation, your daily calling".


title: Shakers

text: The Shakers' dedication to hard work and perfection has resulted in a unique range of architecture, furniture and handicraft styles. They designed their furniture with care, believing that making something well was in itself, "an act of prayer". Before the late 18th century, they rarely fashioned items with elaborate details or extra decoration, but only made things for their intended uses. The ladder-back chair was a popular piece of furniture. Shaker craftsmen made most things out of pine or other inexpensive woods and hence their furniture was light in color and weight.


title: Shakers

text: The earliest Shaker buildings (late 18th – early 19th century) in the northeast were timber or stone buildings built in a plain but elegant New England colonial style. Early 19th-century Shaker interiors are characterized by an austerity and simplicity. For example, they had a "peg rail", a continuous wooden device like a pelmet with hooks running all along it near the lintel level. They used the pegs to hang up clothes, hats, and very light furniture pieces such as chairs when not in use. The simple architecture of their homes, meeting houses, and barns has had a lasting influence on American architecture and design. There is a collection of furniture and utensils at Hancock Shaker Village outside of Pittsfield, Massachusetts that is famous for its elegance and practicality.


title: Shakers

text: At the end of the 19th century, however, Shakers adopted some aspects of Victorian decor, such as ornate carved furniture, patterned linoleum, and cabbage-rose wallpaper. Examples are on display in the Hancock Shaker Village Trustees' Office, a formerly spare, plain building "improved" with ornate additions such as fish-scale siding, bay windows, porches, and a tower.


title: Shakers

text: By the middle of the 20th century, as the Shaker communities themselves were disappearing, some American collectors whose visual tastes were formed by the stark aspects of the modernist movement found themselves drawn to the spare artifacts of Shaker culture, in which "form follows function" was also clearly expressed. Kaare Klint, an architect and furniture designer, used styles from Shaker furniture in his work.


title: Shakers

text: Other artifacts of Shaker culture are their spirit drawings, dances, and songs, which are important genres of Shaker folk art. Doris Humphrey, an innovator in technique, choreography, and theory of dance movement, made a full theatrical art with her dance entitled Dance of The Chosen, which depicted Shaker religious fervor.


title: Shakers

text: The Shakers composed thousands of songs, and also created many dances; both were an important part of the Shaker worship services. In Shaker society, a spiritual "gift" could also be a musical revelation, and they considered it important to record musical inspirations as they occurred.


title: Shakers

text: Scribes, many of whom had no formal musical training, used a form of music notation called the letteral system. This method used letters of the alphabet, often not positioned on a staff, along with a simple notation of conventional rhythmic values, and has a curious, and coincidental, similarity to some ancient Greek music notation.


title: Shakers

text: Many of the lyrics to Shaker tunes consist of syllables and words from unknown tongues, the musical equivalent of glossolalia. It has been surmised that many of them were imitated from the sounds of Native American languages, as well as from the songs of African slaves, especially in the southernmost of the Shaker communities , but in fact the melodic material is derived from European scales and modes.


title: Shakers

text: Most early Shaker music is monodic, that is to say, composed of a single melodic line with no harmonization. The tunes and scales recall the folksongs of the British Isles, but since the music was written down and carefully preserved, it is "art" music of a special kind rather than folklore. Many melodies are of extraordinary grace and beauty, and the Shaker song repertoire, though still relatively little known, is an important part of the American cultural heritage and of world religious music in general.


title: Shakers

text: Shakers' earliest hymns were shared by word of mouth and letters circulated among their villages. Many Believers wrote out the lyrics in their own manuscript hymnals. In 1813, they published "Millennial Praises," a hymnal containing only lyrics.


title: Shakers

text: After the Civil War, the Shakers published hymnbooks with both lyrics and music in conventional four-part harmonies. These works are less strikingly original than the earlier, monodic repertoire. The songs, hymns, and anthems were sung by the Shakers usually at the beginning of their Sunday worship. Their last hymnbook was published in 1908 at Canterbury, New Hampshire.


title: Shakers

text: The surviving Shakers sing songs drawn from both the earlier repertoire and the four part songbooks. They perform all of these unaccompanied, in single-line unison singing. The many recent, harmonized arrangements of older Shaker songs for choirs and instrumental groups mark a departure from traditional Shaker practice.


title: Shakers

text: "Simple Gifts" was composed in 1848 by Elder Joseph Brackett, on or about the time he moved to the Shaker community at Alfred, Maine. English poet and songwriter Sydney Carter used the song as the basis for a hymn in 1963 "Lord of the Dance," also referenced as "I Am the Dance."


title: Shakers

text: Some scholars, such as Daniel W. Patterson and Roger Lee Hall, have compiled books of Shaker songs, and groups have been formed to sing the songs and perform the dances.


title: Shakers

text: The most extensive recordings of the Shakers singing their own music were made between 1960 and 1980 and released on a 2-CD set with illustrated booklet, "Let Zion Move: Music of the Shakers". Other recordings are available of Shaker songs, both documentation of singing by the Shakers themselves, as well as songs recorded by other groups (see external links). Two widely distributed commercial recordings by The Boston Camerata, "Simple Gifts" (1995) and "The Golden Harvest" (2000), were recorded at the Shaker community of Sabbathday Lake, Maine, with active cooperation from the surviving Shakers, whose singing can be heard at several points on both recordings.


title: Shakers

text: Aaron Copland's 1944 ballet score "Appalachian Spring", written for Martha Graham, uses the Shaker tune "Simple Gifts" as the basis of its finale. Given to Graham with the working title "Ballet for Martha", it was named by her for the scenario she had in mind, though Copland often said he was thinking of neither Appalachia nor a spring while he wrote it. Shakers did, in fact, worship on Holy Mount in the Appalachians.


title: Shakers

text: "Laboring Songs," a piece composed by Dan Welcher in 1997 for large wind ensemble, is based upon traditional shaker tunes including "Turn to the Right" and "Come Life, Shaker Life".


title: Shakers

text: For a Shaker Seminar held in Massachusetts in 1981, composer Roger Lee Hall wrote a pageant of original Shaker poetry and music titled, "The Humble Heart", featuring singing and dancing by "The New English Song and Daunce Companie".


title: Shakers

text: Shaker lifestyle and tradition is celebrated in Arlene Hutton's play "As It Is in Heaven", which is a re-creation of a decisive time in the history of the Shakers. The play is written by Arlene Hutton, the pen name of actor/director Beth Lincks. Born in Louisiana and raised in Florida, Lincks was inspired to write the play after visiting the Pleasant Hills Shaker village in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, a restored community that the Shakers occupied for more than a century, before abandoning it in 1927 because of the inability of the sect to attract new converts.


title: Shakers

text: Novelist John Fowles wrote in 1985 "A Maggot", a postmodern historical novel culminating in the birth of Ann Lee, and describing early Shakers in England.


title: Shakers

text: In 2004 the Finnish choreographer Tero Saarinen and Boston Camerata music director Joel Cohen created a live performance work with dance and music entitled "Borrowed Light". While all the music is Shaker song performed in a largely traditional manner, the dance intermingles only certain elements of Shaker practice and belief with Saarinen's original choreographic ideas, and with distinctive costumes and lighting. "Borrowed Light" has been given over 60 performances since 2004 in eight countries, recently (early 2008) in Australia and New Zealand, and most recently (2011) in France, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In addition to Doris Humphrey, Martha Graham and Tero Saarinen cited above, choreographers Twyla Tharp ("Sweet Fields", 1996) and Martha Clarke ("Angel Reapers", 2011) also set movement to Shaker hymns. Playwright Alfred Uhry collaborated with Martha Clarke on "Angel Reapers" and used Shaker texts as source material. The music of "Angel Reapers" was successfully and uniquely arranged by Music Director Arthur Solari.


title: Shakers

text: In 2009, Toronto-based, American-born poet Damian Rogers released her first volume of poetry, "Paper Radio". The lifestyle and philosophy of the Shakers and their matriarch Ann Lee are recurring themes in her work.


title: Shakers

text: New Lebanon, New York, Shakers began keeping school in 1815. Certified as a public school by the state of New York beginning in 1817, the teachers operated on the Lancasterian system, which was considered advanced for its time. Boys attended class during the winter and the girls in the summer. The first Shaker schools taught reading, spelling, oration, arithmetic and manners, but later diversified their coursework to include music, algebra, astronomy, and agricultural chemistry.


title: Shakers

text: Non-Shaker parents respected the Shakers' schooling so much that they often took advantage of schools that the Shaker villages provided, sending their children there for an education. State inspectors and other outsiders visited the schools and made favorable comments on teachers and students.


title: Shakers

text: Turnover was high; the group reached maximum size of about 5,000 full members in 1840, and 6,000 believers at the peak of the Shaker movement. The Shaker communities continued to lose members, partly through attrition, since believers did not give birth to children, and also due to economics; hand-made products by Shakers were not as competitive as mass-produced products and individuals moved to the cities for better livelihoods. There were only 12 Shaker communities left by 1920.


title: Shakers

text: In 1957, after "months of prayer", Eldresses Gertrude, Emma, and Ida, leaders of the United Society of Believers in Canterbury Shaker Village, voted to close the Shaker Covenant, the document which all new members need to sign to become members of the Shakers in Canterbury Shaker Village. In 1988, speaking about the three men and women in their 20s and 30s who had become Shakers and were living in the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, Eldress Bertha Lindsay of the other community, the Canterbury Shaker Village, disputed their membership in the society: "To become a Shaker you have to sign a legal document taking the necessary vows and that document, the official covenant, is locked up in our safe. Membership is closed forever."


title: Shakers

text: However, Shaker covenants lack a "sunset clause" and today's Shakers of Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village welcome sincere new converts to Shakerism into the society:


title: Shakers

text: On January 2, 2017, Sister Frances Carr died aged 89 at the Sabbathday community, leaving only two remaining Shakers: Brother Arnold Hadd, age 58, and Sister June Carpenter, 77. In the Spring/Summer 2019 issue of the Shaker newsletter "The Clarion", the current membership was given as Brother Arnold, Sister June, and Brother Andrew. These remaining Shakers hope that sincere newcomers will join them.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: Trevor Dean Mann (born October 11, 1988) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Ricochet.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: Before signing with WWE, Mann is best known for his tenure with various Japanese promotions such as Dragon Gate (DG) and its American branch Dragon Gate USA (DGUSA), where he held the Open the Brave, Dream, Triangle, Twin and Freedom Gate Championships once, and also won the 2013 King of Gate, DDT Pro-Wrestling's umbrella brand CyberFight, where he won the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship once, and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), where he won the 2014 Best of the Super Juniors tournament, and the 2015 Super Junior Tag League tournament alongside Matt Sydal, in addition to being a former three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion and a former three-time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: Mann also wrestled as Prince Puma for American promotion Lucha Underground, where he was the inaugural and first ever two-time Lucha Underground Champion. Mann is also best known for his tenure with Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) from 2010 to 2018, where he is a former World Champion, and the only two time Battle of Los Angeles (BOLA) winner, winning the 2014 and 2017 tournaments. Mann also worked for the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania–based Chikara promotion, working under a mask as Helios.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: After signing with WWE in 2018, Ricochet beat Fabian Aichner in his debut match for NXT and later competed at for the NXT North American Championship, a title he would eventually win four months later at . He lost the title to Johnny Gargano at in early 2019. In February 2019, Ricochet started appearing on the main roster, making appearances on "Raw" and "SmackDown Live". This led to him teaming with Aleister Black, winning the fourth annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, and challenging for the Raw Tag Team Championship at Fastlane and the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 35. After officially moving to the main roster following WrestleMania 35, Ricochet would win his first main roster title, the United States Championship, at Stomping Grounds. He later would go on to win the Intercontinental Championship on an episode of SmackDown in 2022, where became the first wrestler to hold all of WWE's three major secondary titles, being the United States, Intercontinental, and North American Championships.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: Trevor Mann started out in Chaos Pro Wrestling in 2003 under the ring name Ricochet. He began competing on the independent circuit until he made his first major outing on February 6, 2006, at Insanity Pro Wrestling's Sacrifice event, where he took part in a five-man elimination match involving future long-time rival Chuck Taylor, DieHard, Tony Galloway and Ty Blade. Ricochet was the final wrestler eliminated as Taylor pinned him to win the match. A few weeks later on February 18, Ricochet took part in his first major championship match as he, Chuck Taylor, Jeff Jameson, Brian Sterling and Cabana Man Dan took part in another five-man elimination match at Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South's Xtreme Warfare event for the vacant Deep South Heavyweight Championship, which Cabana Man Dan won.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: A few months later at IWA Mid-South's event We're No Joke! on April 1, Ricochet took part in a nine-man Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match to determine the one contender for the Light Heavyweight Championship, also involving his rival Chuck Taylor. Although he lost the match to Darin Corbin, he was involved in an infamous spot in which he performed his finishing move, a double rotation moonsault, off of a ladder to the outside of the ring and onto the other eight competitors. On that same day, Ricochet also competed at Insanity Pro Wrestling's event Mischief, Mayhem and Revenge, where he lost to Taylor for the promotion's Junior Heavyweight Championship.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On June 24, Ricochet made his Chikara debut as he lost in the first round of the fourth Young Lions Cup tournament against Chuck Taylor. The following day, he teamed with Player Uno in a losing effort to Taylor and Cloudy. A few months later on November 17 at the event Brick, Ricochet picked up his first win as a member of the Chikara roster after he, Cloudy and Mike Quackenbush defeated Cheech, Retail Dragon and Shane Storm. The following day, Ricochet again lost to Taylor at the event Talent Borrows; Genius Steals.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On February 16, 2007, at the King of Trios event, Ricochet made his first challenge for the Young Lions Cup, but was unable to defeat Max Boyer for the title. Two days later, he lost to Claudio Castagnoli. On April 22, Ricochet took part in the semi-finals of the first-ever Rey de Voladores tournament, where he lost in a fatal four-way elimination match involving Retail Dragon, Pac and long-time rival Chuck Taylor, the latter of whom would go on to win the tournament. On June 23, Ricochet won his first round match of the fifth Young Lions Cup tournament after he defeated Chrisjen Hayme. Later on in the day, Ricochet won a six-way elimination match in the semi-finals to advance to the final. The next day, Ricochet lost to Chuck Taylor for the vacant Young Lions Cup. On August 18 at the event Here Come The International Invaders, Ricochet faced and lost to Taylor in a Young Lions Cup vs. Career match, resulting in Ricochet being forced to leave Chikara.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On October 27 at New Star Navigation, Ricochet, sporting a new haircut, new attire and a wrestling mask, returned to Chikara under the ring name Helios, where he finally defeated Taylor for the Young Lions Cup. However, Taylor disputed Helios' win by claiming that Helios was actually Ricochet in disguise. Despite Taylor's claims, Helios' win was still ruled as valid and was thus still the official new champion. On November 16 at Battle Of Who Could Care Less, Helios retained his Young Lions Cup title after defeating Hydra. The following day at The Sordid Perils Of Everyday Existence, Helios again retained his title, this time against Fire Ant.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On February 29, 2008, Helios teamed with Incoherence (Hallowicked and Delirious) and the three became "The Golden Trio" in order to participate in the 2008 King of Trios tournament. After receiving a bye in the first round, The Golden Trio defeated Team IPW:UK (Martin Stone, Terry Frazier and Sha Samuels) and The Fabulous Three (Larry Sweeney, Mitch Ryder and Shayne Hawke) in the second and quarterfinal rounds, respectively, before losing to The BLKOUT in the semi-finals. On April 19 at Deuces Wild, Helios successfully retained the Young Lions Cup against Lince Dorado. At Grit And Glory on May 15, Helios advanced to the final of the Rey de Voladores tournament but ultimately lost to Incognito. On June 15, Helios lost his Young Lions Cup after Fire Ant defeated Vin Gerard in the final of the sixth Young Lions Cup tournament. On September 6, Helios teamed up with Tim Donst to take part in the first-ever La Lotería Letal tournament, where they lost to Icarus and Ultimo Breakfast in the first round. On November 11 at Cibernetico Begins, Helios was a part of Team Equinox (Equinox, Fire Ant, Soldier Ant, Worker Ant, Hydra, Tim Donst and Mike Quackenbush) as they defeated Team Vin Gerard (Gerard, STIGMA, Lince Dorado, UltraMantis Black, Crossbones, Amasis, Ophidian and Eddie Kingston) in a 16-man elimination tag team match. At Face with a View on December 12, Helios formed The Future is Now with Equinox and Lince Dorado and they defeated The UnStable (Vin Gerard, Colin Delaney and STIGMA).


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On January 1, 2009, The Future is Now (Helios and Dorado) lost their first match together against Team F.I.S.T. (Icarus, Gran Akuma). At the 2009 King of Trios tournament, The Future is Now defeated Team DDT (Kota Ibushi, KUDO and Michael Nakazawa) and The Osirian Portal (Amasis, Ophidian and Escorpion Egipcio) in the first and quarterfinal rounds, respectively, before losing to Team F.I.S.T. (Icarus, Gran Akuma and Chuck Taylor) in the semi-finals. Following the tournament, The Future is Now then began a feud with The Osirian Portal, resulting in Helios defeating Escorpion Egipcio in a singles match at Behind The 8 Ball on April 25 and The Future is Now defeating The Osirian Portal at The Bobliographon event the following day.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On the first show of 2010, Lince Dorado turned on Equinox and left the Future is Now to join the new heel stable Bruderschaft des Kreuzes (BDK). In May 2010, during the "Aniversario" weekend, Helios and Equinox first defeated Dorado and his BDK teammate Tim Donst in a tag team match and then won a four-team elimination match to earn the three points needed in order to challenge for the Campeonatos de Parejas. Helios and Equinox received their title shot on June 27 at "Faded Scars and Lines", but were defeated by the defending champions BDK (Ares and Claudio Castagnoli) in two straight falls, after a pre–match assault. The Future is Now came to its end on September 19, 2010, when Olsen left the stable to re–form his old tag team with Colin Delaney. This event also marked Helios' final appearance for Chikara as he began working regularly for both Dragon Gate and Dragon Gate USA.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On January 16, 2010, Ricochet would make his debut for Evolve at the company's debut show "Evolve 1: Ibushi vs Richards" in a winning effort against Arik Cannon. However Ricochet would lose at the next event on March 13, 210 at "Evolve 2: Hero vs Hidaka" to Chuck Taylor and again via countout on May 1, 2010, at "Evolve 3: Rise Or Fall" to Johnny Gargano. After being defeated by Drake Younger in a four-way match on July 23, Ricochet ended his losing streak on September 11, by defeating Kyle O'Reilly.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On July 24, 2010, Ricochet made his debut for Dragon Gate USA at Enter the Dragon 2010, being defeated by Chuck Taylor in a four-way match, which also included Arik Cannon and Adam Cole. At the following event on September 25, Ricochet teamed with Cima to defeat Speed Muscle (Masato Yoshino and Naruki Doi) in a tag team match. After the match Cima gave Ricochet a spot in his Warriors International stable. The following day Ricochet defeated Gran Akuma in a singles match. On October 29 at Dragon Gate USA's first live pay-per-view, Bushido: Code of the Warrior, Ricochet wrestled in a four-way match, which was won by Chuck Taylor and also included Arik Cannon and Johnny Gargano. At the following day's tapings of Freedom Fight 2010, Ricochet teamed with his Warriors International stable mate Genki Horiguchi and Austin Aries in a six-man tag team match, where they were defeated by Ronin (Chuck Taylor, Johnny Gargano and Rich Swann).


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: When Dragon Gate USA returned on January 29, 2011, Ricochet now represented heel stable Blood Warriors and teamed with new stable mate Naruki Doi in the tournament to determine the first ever Open the United Gate Champions. In their first tournament match, Ricochet and Doi were defeated by Ronin representatives Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano. The following day Ricochet and Doi were defeated in the main event of the evening by the World–1 team of Masato Yoshino and Pac. On April 2 at Mercury Rising 2011, Ricochet, Cima and Naruki Doi defeated Ronin (Chuck Taylor, Johnny Gargano and Rich Swann) in the main event six-man tag team match. During the match Ricochet suffered an ankle injury, which forced him out of the following day's match for the Open the United Gate Championship.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On September 11 at Way of the Ronin 2011, Ricochet and Cima defeated Masato Yoshino and Pac to win the Open the United Gate Championship in a match, where Ricochet's and Cima's Open the Twin Gate Championship was also on the line. After the merger of Evolve and Dragon Gate USA, Ricochet took part in the final official professional wrestling match in the Asylum Arena, when he unsuccessfully challenged Johnny Gargano for the Open the Freedom Gate Championship at an Evolve event on January 14, 2012. On March 30, Ricochet and Cima were forced to vacate the Open the United Gate Championship, after Cima was sidelined with a neck injury. In the main event of the evening, Ricochet teamed with Masato Yoshino to defeat Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano and regain the Open the United Gate Championship. On June 21, Ricochet and Yoshino were stripped of the title due to Yoshino being unable to appear at the following month's Dragon Gate USA events. On July 29, Ricochet teamed with Rich Swann in a match to determine the new Open the United Gate Champions. They were, however, defeated in the match by Cima and A. R. Fox. On November 2 at Fearless 2012, Ricochet was defeated by Fox in a Respect match and, as a result, was forced to tell his opponent that he respected him. Two days later at Freedom Fight 2012, Ricochet unsuccessfully challenged Johnny Gargano for the Open the Freedom Gate Championship in a four-way elimination match, which also included Akira Tozawa and A. R. Fox. On April 4, 2014, Ricochet defeated Gargano to win the Open the Freedom Gate Championship. On November 16, 2014, during Dragon Gate USA's parent company WWNLive's tour of China, Ricochet lost the title back to Gargano.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On September 5, 2010, Ricochet made his debut for Southern California promotion Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, losing to Claudio Castagnoli in the first round of the 2010 Battle of Los Angeles, in what was called a "star making performance".


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: The following day Ricochet participated in a six-man tag team match, where he, Johnny Goodtime and Rocky Romero were defeated by Brian Cage, Chuck Taylor and Ryan Taylor, when Ricochet was pinned by his old rival, Chuck Taylor.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: At the following event on October 9, Ricochet picked up a major victory over PWG World Tag Team Champion El Generico.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: Ricochet returned to PWG on April 9, 2011, when he filled in for Paul London, who was unable to appear at the event, and teamed with El Generico in a match, where they lost their PWG World Tag Team Championship to The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson). Even though El Generico blamed Ricochet for the loss, the two teamed up once again on May 27, during the first night of "All Star Weekend 8", when they were defeated by the Nightmare Violence Connection (Akira Tozawa and Kevin Steen). Ricochet returned to PWG on January 29, 2012, teaming with Cima in a match, where they were defeated by the RockNES Monsters (Johnny Goodtime and Johnny Yuma).


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On September 1, Ricochet entered the 2012 Battle of Los Angeles, defeating PWG World Champion Kevin Steen in his first round match, following a distraction from his rival Brian Cage. The following day, Ricochet defeated Roderick Strong in the quarter finals, before being eliminated by Michael Elgin in the semi-finals of the tournament. On October 27, Ricochet unsuccessfully challenged Kevin Steen for the PWG World Championship in a three-way match, which also included Michael Elgin.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On January 12, 2013, Ricochet teamed up with Rich Swann for the 2013 Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament. The team, dubbed "The Inner City Machine Guns", was eliminated in their first round match by The Young Bucks.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On August 9 at PWG's tenth anniversary event, the Inner City Machine Guns unsuccessfully challenged The Young Bucks for the PWG World Tag Team Championship in a three-way ladder match, which also included the DojoBros (Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong).


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On January 31, 2014, the Inner City Machine Guns made it to the final of the 2014 Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament, before losing to the Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent?).


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On August 31, Ricochet defeated Johnny Gargano and Roderick Strong in the final to win the 2014 Battle of Los Angeles. As a result, Ricochet was granted a shot at the PWG World Championship, but was defeated by the defending champion, Kyle O'Reilly, on December 12.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On September 3, 2017, Ricochet defeated Jeff Cobb and Keith Lee in the final to win the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles, becoming the first two-time winner of the tournament. On October 21, Ricochet defeated Chuck Taylor to win the PWG World Championship for the first time. At PWG Mystery Vortex V, Ricochet lost the PWG World Championship back to Taylor in a Guerrilla Warfare match.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: Through his work in Dragon Gate USA, Ricochet got to make his first tour of Japan with its parent promotion Dragon Gate, making his debut on December 10, 2010, in Toyama, where he teamed with his Warriors stable mate Cima and Masaaki Mochizuki in a six tag team match, where they defeated Gamma, Kzy and Naruki Doi. Ricochet's first tour of Japan ended on December 26, when he, Cima and Dragon Kid defeated Naoki Tanisaki, Takuya Sugawara and Yasushi Kanda in Fukuoka at "Final Gate 2010" to win the Dragon Gate Open the Triangle Gate Championship.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: Ricochet turned heel on January 14, 2011, along with the rest of Warriors, attacking Masato Yoshino and World–1, and joining forces with Naruki Doi's group. On January 18 the new group was named Blood Warriors. On February 10 Cima, Naruki Doi and Gamma defeated World–1 representatives Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk and Susumu Yokosuka in a six-man tag team match and as a result, Pac was forced to leave World–1 and join Blood Warriors. However, Ricochet blocked the move as he felt that he, not Pac, was the top high flyer in the world and instead challenged him to a match for his Open the Brave Gate Championship. The title match between Pac and Ricochet took place on March 1 and ended with Pac retaining his title. On May 15, the rest of Blood Warriors turned on Dragon Kid and kicked him out of the group, despite the fact that he still held the Open the Triangle Gate Championship with Ricochet and Cima. As a result, the title was declared vacant. On July 17, Ricochet and Cima defeated Dragon Kid and Pac of rival group Junction Three to win the Open the Twin Gate Championship. On November 19, Ricochet defeated Pac for the Open the Brave Gate Championship. After their third successful defense of the Open the Twin Gate Championship on November 30, Ricochet and Cima vacated the title in order for Ricochet to concentrate on defending the Open the Brave Gate Championship and Cima to concentrate on chasing the Open the Dream Gate Championship.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On January 19, 2012, Akira Tozawa took over the leadership of Blood Warrios, kicking Cima out of the group. After Ricochet continued to team with CIMA in Dragon Gate USA, it was announced on February 9, that he was also kicked out of Blood Warriors. On March 4, Ricochet and Cima decided to mutually split up, with Ricochet joining Masato Yoshino's and Naruki Doi's new World-1 International stable and Cima reviving the Veteran-gun. On May 6, Ricochet lost the Open the Brave Gate Championship to Dragon Kid in his fourth defense. On May 25, 2013, Ricochet defeated Shingo Takagi in the final to win the 2013 King of Gate tournament. As a result, Ricochet earned a shot at the Open the Dream Gate Championship, but was defeated in the title match on June 16 by Cima. On July 21, Ricochet and Naruki Doi defeated Akira Tozawa and BxB Hulk for the Open the Twin Gate Championship. They lost the title to Dragon Kid and K-Ness on August 30. On September 12, Doi turned on Masato Yoshino, signaling the end of World-1 International. Ricochet quickly found a new alliance, forming Monster Express with Yoshino, Akira Tozawa, Shachihoko Boy, Shingo Takagi and Uhaa Nation.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On March 2, 2014, Ricochet defeated Monster Express stablemate Masato Yoshino for the Open the Dream Gate Championship, becoming the first "gaijin" to hold the title. Ricochet made his first successful title defense just four days later against another stablemate, Uhaa Nation. After a two-month reign, Ricochet lost the Open the Dream Gate Championship to Yamato in his second defense on May 5. Ricochet returned to Dragon Gate during the summer of 2015. On July 20, he and Matt Sydal unsuccessfully challenged Naruki Doi and Yamato for the Open the Twin Gate Championship. Ricochet returned to Dragon Gate two years later on November 3, 2017, defeating Eita. He wrestled his Dragon Gate farewell match five days later.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On May 3, 2013, New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced Ricochet as a participant in the 2013 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. He made his debut for the promotion on May 22, teaming with Kenny Omega in a tag team match, where they defeated "Suzuki-gun" (Taichi and Taka Michinoku). In the round-robin portion of the tournament, which ran from May 24 to June 6, Ricochet managed to win five out of his eight matches with a loss against Alex Shelley on June 6, costing him a spot in the semi-finals.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: Ricochet returned to take part in the 2014 Best of the Super Juniors tournament on May 30, this time advancing to the semi-finals, after finishing second in his block with a record of five wins and two losses. On June 8, Ricochet first defeated Ryusuke Taguchi in the semi-finals and then Kushida in the final to win the 2014 Best of the Super Juniors and become the number one contender to the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. With his win, Ricochet became the youngest person to win the tournament and the second American to do so. On June 21 at Dominion 6.21, Ricochet unsuccessfully challenged Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On July 3, 2015, Ricochet made a surprise return to NJPW, challenging the winner of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match between Kenny Omega and Kushida, set to take place two days later, to a title match. Ricochet received his title match on August 16, but was defeated by Kushida. Ricochet returned to NJPW on October 24, when he and Matt Sydal entered the 2015 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, defeating Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida) in their first round match. On November 1, Ricochet and Sydal defeated The Young Bucks to advance to the final of the tournament. On November 7 at Power Struggle, Ricochet and Sydal defeated Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero) in the final to win the 2015 Super Jr. Tag Tournament.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On January 4, 2016, at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome, Ricochet and Sydal took part in a four-way match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, but were defeated by The Young Bucks. On February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, Ricochet and Sydal defeated The Young Bucks and reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) in a three-way match to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. They lost the title to Roppongi Vice on April 10 at Invasion Attack 2016, before regaining the title on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2016. Later in the month, Ricochet entered the 2016 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. On May 27, Ricochet faced Will Ospreay in the tournament in a match, which received widespread attention in the professional wrestling world. While some like William Regal praised the two, others criticized the match with the most notable criticism coming from Vader, who compared the match to a "gymnastics routine". Ricochet finished the tournament with a record of four wins and three losses, failing to advance to the final due to losing to Chase Owens in his final round-robin match. On June 19 at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall, Ricochet and Sydal lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to The Young Bucks in a four-way elimination match, also involving reDRagon and Roppongi Vice.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On July 3, Ricochet and Sydal teamed up with Satoshi Kojima to defeat The Elite (Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks) for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. They were stripped of the title on September 25 due to Sydal failing to make a scheduled title defense at Destruction in Kobe because of travel issues. That same day, Ricochet and Kojima, now teaming with David Finlay, defeated Adam Cole and The Young Bucks to regain the vacant title. This led to a match on October 10 at King of Pro-Wrestling, where Ricochet and Finlay unsuccessfully challenged The Young Bucks for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Ricochet, Finlay and Kojima lost the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to "Los Ingobernables de Japón" (Bushi, Evil and Sanada) in a four-team gauntlet match at Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2017. Afterwards, Ricochet joined the Taguchi Japan stable as part of which he, Ryusuke Taguchi and Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated "Los Ingobernables de Japón" on April 4 to win the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. On April 29, Ricochet unsuccessfully challenged Hiromu Takahashi for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2017, Ricochet, Tanahashi and Taguchi lost the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship back to L.I.J. Ricochet then entered the 2017 Best of the Super Juniors tournament, where, despite a win over reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi, he failed to advance to the final with a record of four wins and three losses.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: Ricochet then formed a new tag team named "Funky Future" with Ryusuke Taguchi under the banner of Taguchi Japan. On August 13, the two defeated The Young Bucks to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) on October 9 at King of Pro-Wrestling. Following the match, Ricochet took responsibility for the loss and thanked both NJPW and Taguchi Japan. His mannerisms were interpreted as meaning he had wrestled his final NJPW match. On November 8, Ricochet confirmed he had wrestled his final match in Japan.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: In September 2014, it was reported that Mann had signed with the El Rey network's new television series, "Lucha Underground". He assumed a masked character by the ring name of Prince Puma. He was given a fictional Latino background and managed by Konnan, with him doing most of the talking on his behalf. Puma wrestled in the main event of the debut episode of "Lucha Underground" on October 29, losing to Johnny Mundo. On the January 7, 2015, episode (taped October 5, 2014), Puma defeated 19 other wrestlers to win the Aztec Warfare battle royal and become the inaugural Lucha Underground Champion. Puma made his first televised defense of the Lucha Underground Championship on the January 14, 2015, episode of "Lucha Underground" against Fénix. Puma then entered a rivalry with Cage, which led to a title match between the two on the March 25 episode, where Puma retained his title. On April 19 at "Ultima Lucha", Lucha Underground's season one finale, Puma lost the Lucha Underground Championship to Mil Muertes. After failing to regain the title, he formed a team with El Dragon Azteca Jr. and Rey Mysterio Jr. and entered a tournament for the Trios championship. After defeating the team which consisted of Taya and two of Puma's old adversaries Cage, and Johnny Mundo, in a qualifying match, they captured the titles last eliminating Fenix, P. J. Black, and Jack Evans in the final.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: Mann had originally signed a contract with Lucha Underground, which gave him an out following the conclusion of the program's third season. With WWE reportedly looking to sign him, Lucha Underground offered Mann a new contract, which would have allowed him to continue working NJPW and the indies and would have made him "one of the highest paid non-WWE talents in the business". Mann, however, decided to opt out of his contract. On June 26, 2016, at the third season concluding "Ultima Lucha Tres", Prince Puma challenged Johnny Mundo for the Lucha Underground Championship in a match, where he put his Lucha Underground career on the line. Though Puma won the match and the title, he was immediately afterwards challenged by Gift of the Gods Champion Pentagón Dark, with Dario Cueto stating that the loser of the match would be forced to retire. Pentagón won the match and the Lucha Underground Championship with help from Vampiro, ending Prince Puma's Lucha Underground career. Though Mann's Lucha Underground contract had expired, he could not appear on television for another promotion until season three had been aired in its entirety. Mann later commented on his status, stating that an "underground fighting company holding [him] back" was the reason he had not yet been signed by a "major promotion". The final episode of the third season aired on October 18, 2017, sixteen months after being taped.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On January 16, 2018, WWE announced on their website that Ricochet had signed a contract with the company and would be wrestling in WWE's developmental territory NXT. On January 27 at , Ricochet, billed as his real name, was shown sitting in the audience. Ricochet made his debut in a dark match prior to a "NXT" taping on February 2, defeating Fabian Aichner. Ricochet made his televised debut at on April 7, competing in a six-man ladder match for the inaugural North American Championship, which was eventually won by Adam Cole. Ricochet began a feud with Velveteen Dream after both men argued over who was the better performer. At on June 16, Ricochet defeated Velveteen Dream to end the feud.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: Ricochet then began a feud with North American Champion Adam Cole and his stable The Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish, Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong). At on August 18, Ricochet defeated Cole to win the title, his first championship in WWE. At on November 17, Ricochet, Pete Dunne and The War Raiders defeated The Undisputed Era in a WarGames match. On January 26, 2019, at , Ricochet lost the North American Championship to Johnny Gargano, ending his reign at 161 days. In March, Ricochet formed a tag team with Aleister Black, and the two competed in the 2019 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, which they won after defeating The Forgotten Sons (Steve Cutler and Wesley Blake) in the finals. At on April 5, Ricochet and Black unsuccessfully faced The War Raiders for the NXT Tag Team Championship in what was Ricochet's final match in NXT.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On the February 18, 2019 episode of "Raw", Ricochet made his main roster debut, teaming with Intercontinental Champion Finn Bálor to defeat Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush. Ricochet also continued his team with Aleister Black, and the duo competed in a Raw Tag Team Championship match at Fastlane on March 10 that featured The Revival, and Bobby Roode and Chad Gable, but failed to win. Ricochet and Black also competed for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship in a fatal four-way match at WrestleMania 35 on April 7, but were again unsuccessful.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On April 15, Ricochet was drafted to Raw as part of the Superstar Shake-up, separating him from Black, who was drafted to SmackDown. On the April 22 episode of "Raw", Ricochet lost to Robert Roode, suffering his first pinfall loss on the main roster. At Money in the Bank on May 19, Ricochet competed in the titular ladder match, which was won by Brock Lesnar. At Super ShowDown on June 7, Ricochet competed in the 51-man battle royal in a losing effort. On the June 17 episode of "Raw", Ricochet won a fatal five-way elimination match to become the #1 contender for the United States Championship. At Stomping Grounds on June 23, Ricochet defeated Samoa Joe to win the United States Championship, his first singles title on the main roster. Ricochet lost the title to AJ Styles at Extreme Rules on July 14, ending his reign at 21 days. Ricochet failed to regain the title at SummerSlam on August 11.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: Ricochet then competed in the King of the Ring tournament, defeating Drew McIntyre in the first round, but was eliminated by Baron Corbin in the semi-finals. At Crown Jewel on October 31, Ricochet made up part of Hulk Hogan's team alongside Roman Reigns, Ali, Rusev, and Shorty G in a winning effort over Ric Flair's team (Randy Orton, Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre, King Corbin, and Shinsuke Nakamura). At Survivor Series on November 24, Ricochet was included as part of Team Raw, where they lost to Team SmackDown in a 5-on-5-on-5 Survivor Series match, also involving Team NXT. At Royal Rumble on January 26, 2020, Ricochet participated in his first Royal Rumble match at #15, causing Brock Lesnar to be eliminated after delivering a low blow to him, but was eliminated by eventual winner Drew McIntyre afterwards. On the February 3 episode of "Raw", Ricochet defeated Bobby Lashley and Seth Rollins in a triple threat match to earn a WWE Championship opportunity against Brock Lesnar at Super ShowDown. At the event on February 27, Ricochet was quickly defeated by Lesnar in under two minutes.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On the April 6, 2020 episode of "Raw", Ricochet formed a tag team with Cedric Alexander, defeating Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan. Ricochet and Alexander feuded with The Hurt Business (MVP, Bobby Lashley, and Shelton Benjamin) after they injured Apollo Crews. However, on the September 7 episode of "Raw", Alexander turned on Ricochet and Crews during a six-man tag team match against The Hurt Business, attacking them and joining The Hurt Business, thus disbanding the team. On the October 12 episode of "Raw", Ricochet defeated Alexander by disqualification, ending their storyline.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: At Royal Rumble on January 31, 2021, Ricochet entered at #12 but was eliminated by Kane. At Elimination Chamber on February 21, Ricochet lost a fatal four-way match to determine who would fill in the vacant spot at the event for the United States Championship later that night. At WrestleMania Backlash on May 16, Ricochet accepted United States Champion Sheamus' open challenge for a non-title match, which he lost. On the June 21 episode of "Raw", Ricochet defeated AJ Styles to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match at Money in the Bank. At the event on July 18, he was unsuccessful as the match was won by Big E. On the September 27 episode of "Raw", Ricochet faced Reggie for the 24/7 Championship, but the match ended in a no contest.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: As part of the 2021 Draft, Ricochet was drafted to the SmackDown brand. In October, Ricochet entered the King of the Ring tournament, where he lost to Xavier Woods in the first round. At Survivor Series on November 21, Ricochet participated in a 25-man dual-branded battle royal, which was won by Omos. On the following episode of "SmackDown", he failed to win a Black Friday Invitational battle royal, where the winner would become the #1 contender for the Universal Championship. On the December 24 (taped December 17) episode of "SmackDown", Ricochet competed in a gauntlet match for #1 contendership to the Intercontinental Championship, where he was the last person eliminated by Sami Zayn. At the Day 1 pre-show on January 1, 2022, Ricochet and Cesaro lost to Sheamus and Ridge Holland. At Royal Rumble on January 29, Ricochet entered at #12, where he and other competitors eliminated Omos before he was eliminated by Happy Corbin.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On the February 25 episode of "SmackDown", Ricochet confronted new Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn, challenging him to a title match, which was made official for the following week. On the March 4 episode of "SmackDown", Ricochet defeated Zayn with help from Johnny Knoxville to win the Intercontinental Championship for the first time in his career, and retained the title against Zayn in a rematch the following week. On the April 1 episode of "SmackDown", he successfully defended the title against Angel and Humberto in a triple threat match. On the April 15 episode of "SmackDown", he retained the title against Jinder Mahal, and against Shanky on April 29. On the June 10 episode of "SmackDown", Ricochet lost the Intercontinental Championship to Gunther, ending his reign at 98 days. He challenged for the title in a rematch on the June 24 episode of "SmackDown" in a losing effort"." On the following episode of "Raw", Ricochet competed in a Money in the Bank qualifying battle royal, which was won by Riddle. On the August 19 episode of "SmackDown", he competed in a fatal five way match to determine the #1 contender for the Intercontinental Championship, which was won by Sheamus.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: On the August 30 episode of "NXT 2.0", Ricochet returned to the brand, confronting Carmelo Hayes. A match between the two for the NXT North American Championship was made for Worlds Collide on September 4, where Ricochet was defeated by Hayes. On the December 2 episode of "SmackDown," Ricochet won the SmackDown World Cup, becoming the #1 contender for the Intercontinental Championship. Two weeks later, on December 16, Ricochet faced Gunther in a rematch for the title in a losing effort.


title: Ricochet (wrestler)

text: Mann, as Ricochet, made his video game debut as part of "WWE 2K19"'s "Rising Stars" DLC pack. He has also appeared as a playable character in "WWE 2K20", "WWE 2K Battlegrounds", and "WWE 2K22".


title: German Reich

text: German "Reich" (lit. German Realm, German Empire, from , ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The "Reich" became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty entirely from a continuing unitary German Volk ("national people"), with that authority and sovereignty being exercised at any one time over a unitary German "state territory" with variable boundaries and extent. Although commonly translated as "German Empire", the word "Reich" here better translates as "realm" or territorial "reach", in that the term does not in itself have monarchical connotations.


title: German Reich

text: The Federal Republic of Germany asserted, following its establishment in 1949, that within its boundaries it was the sole legal continuation of the German Reich, and consequently "not" a successor state. Nevertheless, the Federal Republic did not maintain the specific title "German Reich", and so consistently replaced the prefix "Reichs-" in all official titles and designations with "Bundes-" ("Federal"). Hence, for instance, the "Reichskanzler" became the "Bundeskanzler". Following German reunification in 1990, the expanded Federal Republic describes itself as "United Germany", emphasizing that it does not now recognize any territories once included in the former German Reich outside its boundaries as having a valid claim to be a part of Germany as a whole.


title: German Reich

text: In referring to the entire period 1871–1945 the partially translated English phrase "German Reich" () is applied by historians in formal contexts; although in common English usage this state was and is known simply as Germany, the English term "German Empire" is reserved to denote the German state between 1871 and 1918.


title: German Reich

text: However the term "Deutsches Reich" dates back earlier than all of this. It was occasionally applied in contemporary maps to the Holy Roman Empire (911–1806), also called "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" from the 16th century onwards. The Holy Roman Empire however was not exclusively German-speaking but constituted a supranational entity extending beyond the frontiers of the German language area ("Sprachraum"). The first attempt to re-establish a "German Empire" during the 1848 March Revolution by the Frankfurt Constitution ultimately failed: it was aborted by the monarchs of the German Confederation, especially by the Prussian aristocracy and the King of Prussia himself, which opposed German nationalism, as then was associated with the idea of popular sovereignty.


title: German Reich

text: A 1923 book entitled "Das Dritte Reich" by Arthur Moeller van den Bruck counted the medieval Holy Roman Empire as the first, and the 1871–1918 monarchy as the second, which was then to be followed by a "reinvigorated" third one. Subsequently the Nazi regime was (unofficially) called the "Third Reich"; this usage was sometimes contemporaneous, but mostly retrospective and applied by non-Germans.


title: German Reich

text: Following the "Anschluss" annexation of Austria in 1938, Nazi Germany informally named itself the Greater German Reich (). This name was made the official state name only during the last two years (1943–45) of Nazi rule under Adolf Hitler, although the change was never proclaimed. After World War II, the denotation "German "Reich"" quickly fell into disuse in Allied-occupied Germany, however, and the state's continued existence remained a matter of debate; the post-war Bonn Republic maintained the continued existence of the German "Reich" as an 'overall state", but dormant while East and West Germany continued to be divided. Nevertheless, when Germany was reunited in 1990 the term "German "Reich"" was not revived as a title for the Berlin Republic.


title: German Reich

text: The Federal Republic does not apply the term 'Third Reich' to Nazi Germany; as the Hitler regime is considered to have been a 'criminal state' "(Verbrecherstaat)", a criminal enterprise masquerading as a state, and hence never in any respect a legitimate state organisation of the German Reich.


title: German Reich

text: The German word "Reich" translates to the English word "empire" (it also translates to such words as "realm" or "domain"). However, this translation was not used throughout the full existence of the German Reich. Historically, only Germany from 1871 to 1918—when Germany was under the rule of an emperor ("Kaiser")—is known in English as the "German Empire" ("Deutsches Kaiserreich" in German historiography), while the term "German Reich" describes Germany from 1871 to 1945. As the literal translation "German Empire" denotes a monarchy, the term is used only in reference to Germany before the fall of the monarchy at the end of World War I in 1918.


title: German Reich

text: After the Unification of Germany, under the reign of the Prussian king Wilhelm I and his Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the historic German states ("e.g." Bavaria and Saxony) were united with Prussia under imperial rule, by the Hohenzollern dynasty. On 18 January 1871, Wilhelm I was proclaimed "German Emperor" at the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles, the German Reich was officially declared "Deutsches Reich", or "German Empire", explicitly harking back to the extinct Holy Roman Empire. The title "German Emperor" was a compromise; Wilhelm I had wanted the title of "Emperor of Germany", but Bismarck refused this, so as to avoid implying a claim to extended monarchical authority over non-Prussian German kingdoms. On 14 April 1871, the Reichstag parliament passed the Constitution of the German Empire ("Verfassung des Deutschen Reiches"), which was published two days later.