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WWE Magazine is the official professional wrestling magazine of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). This incarnation of the magazine contains lifestyle sections, a monthly calendar, entertainment, work out tips, and other information.
History
WWE Magazine has gone through many incarnations throughout the years. It was originally known as WWF Victory Magazine from its debut issue through the third issue of publication.
Starting with the third issue (April/May 1984) it became known as World Wrestling Federation Magazine (or WWF Magazine for short), with newly crowned WWF Champion Hulk Hogan on the cover. WWF Magazine would continue to be bi-monthly until June 1987, in which it would become a monthly operation and a staple of the WWF for the next decade. For several years, WWF Magazine operated as a kayfabe magazine; stories included fictional biographies of wrestlers and feuds (written to cater to the WWF's mark fan base), as well as previews of upcoming events, editorials, and other features targeted at younger audiences. Rarely, it would include a real life story (particularly if a wrestler had died or the topic had such far-reaching interest to WWF fans that it could not be ignored).
In April 1996, the WWF decided to create a second magazine called RAW Magazine, which became a focus on behind the scenes activity, focusing on wrestlers real life profiles. It debuted with the May/June 1996 issue, and was bi-monthly until the January 1998 issue.
In May 2002 the World Wrestling Federation became known as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and therefore the magazine was changed accordingly to WWE Magazine starting with the June 2002 issue.
Shortly before that, the WWF/E had split up into two brands, RAW and SmackDown!. However, WWE Magazine and RAW Magazine were unaffected until the January 2004 issues, in which the WWE decided to have separate magazines for their respective brands. RAW Magazine retained its name but followed the style of WWE Magazine in that it was largely kayfabe based; however, it focused solely on the RAW brand. WWE Magazine became SmackDown! Magazine, and would focus solely on the SmackDown! brand. That lasted until the summer of 2006, in which RAW Magazine and SmackDown Magazine would be discontinued and a new WWE Magazine would debut with the August 2006 issue (Dave Batista cover).
The new WWE Magazine was designed to move away from being solely a wrestling magazine. Instead of just wrestling feuds, the majority of the magazine contains lifestyle tips, product reviews and photos of WWE's superstars and divas outside the ring. The new style is similar to current men's magazines, such as Maxim and Stuff.
In November 2007, wrestling news site AnarchyWrestling.net reported that the Holiday 2007 issue of the magazine had spoiled the return of Chris Jericho on the November 19 edition of RAW, a week before the return took place.
Monthly sections
- Brawl - Includes exclusive match photos, polls, fan mail, and fan art.
- Grapplers - Contains wrestler interviews. These interviews usually go beyond character and storylines and deal with behind the scenes and personal lives. New banned moves are also explained in this section.
- Big Night - Wrestlers discuss their favorite foods and recipes. This section is meant to be a screening party planning guide.
- Knowledge - Wrestlers answer fan mail and offer advice on relationships, cars, and more. There are also quizzes with a different theme each month.
- Reviews - This section contains reviews for video games, music, DVDs, and more. Wrestlers also recommend some of their favorite products.
- Body Shop - Wrestlers offer workout and diet advice. Dr. Louis Rios discusses how WWE medical teams treat injuries.
- Insider - Contains TV and pay-per-view results as well as a monthly calendar of WWE events and birthdays. There are also photos of numerous wrestler appearances, a list of notable quotes made by wrestlers and announcers, a previous wrestler who recently died (last installment was October 2007), and historical photos. There is also a "Guess the Match" feature where a zoomed-in photo of a match is shown. If you guess correctly, you can win a piece of WWE merchandise.
- Abuse - A wrestler performs a wrestling move on editor Matt Christensen. (Last installment January 2007)
- Finisher - The last page of the magazine, usually showing a comedic story as told by a superstar and as animated by WWE action figures.
