5 weird WWE facts you may not have known

WWE has been around for almost 60 years at this point. It started as the Capital Wrestling Corporation, but reformed as the World Wide Wrestling Federation after splitting from the NWA in 1963. It's undergone several name changes since, but for the purpose of this article, we will refer to it simply as WWE.

Under Vince McMahon, WWE has become the largest promotion in the history of pro wrestling, drawing millions of fans from all over the globe every year. It's also become something of a media empire in its own right, but you guys can argue about that in the comments - we're not discussing it here.

What we are discussing are some of the more interesting details of WWE history. Call it "trivia." Call them "fun facts to know and tell." Or you can call them "things I already knew, you dorks." We don't care. We just want you to enjoy.

Let's begin with something a bit timely.

#5. John Cena was the first person to point at the WrestleMania sign

John Cena points. (photo courtesy of jobberknocker.wordpress.com)

The whole "pointing at the sign" trope is so ingrained in WWE's culture that seems a decades-old tradition at this point. What many may not realize is that it's relatively new.

In researching for this piece, we've gathered that the promotion first began hanging the iconic WrestleMania sign at the events leading up to the Show of Shows around WrestleMania XX, back in 2004. It wasn't until four years later that the whole 'pointing-at-the-thing' thing really started.

In 2008, following a shocking and, let's be honest, nearly miraculously quick comeback from injury, John Cena won that year's Royal Rumble. It was then that he hit the turnbuckles and pointed at the WrestleMania sign, indicating "yep... John Cena's going to WrestleMania."

So, yeah, it feels like the whole "pointing at the sign" trope is something they've been doing forever. However, the next time someone does that and your friend asks "when did they start doing that?", you can tell them.

Now for something completely different.

#4. Rey Mysterio was not the very first masked WWE Champion

First thing's first - Rey Mysterio was actually WWE Champion at one point, for all of you about to nitpick.

Yes, he's most famous for holding the World Heavyweight Championship. However, in 2011, following CM Punk's defeat of John Cena and that year's Money in the Bank PPV, where Punk "left" the company with the title, Mysterio won a tournament to be crowned the new champion.

However, he's not the first masked wrestler to hold that title - although the other one held it barely longer than Rey did.

At King of the Ring 1998, then-champion Stone Cold Steve Austin defended his title against Kane. If that PPV sounds familiar, it's because it was the same show where Undertaker and Mankind had their infamous Hell in a Cell match.

So, yes, the Devil's Favorite Demon only held the WWE Championship for a day, but, you know, how many WWE Championships have you won? That's what we thought.

Coincidentally, Kane's other World Championship reign would come from defeating, of all people, Rey Mysterio at Money in the Bank 2010.

Kane wasn't wearing a mask then - obviously - but it certainly is weird how things like this kind of come full circle.

Speaking of which, let's move on to the man Kane defeated for the title, Stone Cold Steve Austin.

#3. Stone Cold Steve Austin has never defended the WWE Championship at WrestleMania

When it comes to who the biggest stars in WWE history are, there's no doubt that Stone Cold Steve Austin sits near the top. There's an argument to be made that he was the biggest draw ever, though a certain other Hall of Famer might slightly disagree with that.

Be that as it may, Austin was also one of the most popular WWE Champions of all time. Part of that had to do with the thrill of watching him overcome all the obstacles that Vince McMahon and his cronies put in front of him.

In short, Austin was at his best when chasing the title. As a result, he competed in each of his championship matches at WrestleMania as the challenger.

WrestleMania XIV saw Austin earn his first victory against Shawn Michaels. The next year, he regained the title in the main event against The Rock. Finally, at WrestleMania X-7, he once again defeated the Great One, albeit as part of an ill-advised heel turn.

The Texas Rattlesnake may have been one of the greatest world champions of all time, but he never once walked into WWE's biggest show with the title around his waist. He did, however, usually walk out wearing it.

#2. The Undertaker was the first WWE Champion to be younger than the title itself

The title now known as the WWE Championship was established on April 25th (hey, this writer's birthday!), 1963. It was "won" by the original "Nature Boy," Buddy Rogers in a factional tournament in Rio de Janerio, Brazil.

Interestingly, this was the same location the company claimed the fictional tournament to crown the first Intercontinental Champion was held. There must be something about Rio.

Survivor Series 1991 saw The Undertaker - the company's newest (and scariest ever) villain - defeat Hulk Hogan to win his first WWE Championship.

Mark Calaway was born on was born on March 24th, 1965, almost two years after the title was established. At 26 years old, the soon-to-be Hall of Famer was also the youngest person to win the championship at the time. That record would be broken by Yokozuna a few years later,

Much like his storyline brother Kane - we just talked about him - Undertaker's first WWE Championship reign didn't last particularly long. The Deadman lost the title to Hulk Hogan about a month later at the This Tuesday in Texas event, following some mistimed interference by Ric Flair.

As mentioned before, everything circles back, and following the title being vacated due to Flair's shenanegans, it was Flair who ended up champion the next month after winning the Royal Rumble.

When we look at Undertaker these days, we see an elder statesman of the wrestling industry. It's impressive to look back and see that even in his early days, he was pretty incredible.

Coincidentally, who was it that defeated Hogan and ended the Hulkster's final world championship reign in 2002? The Undertaker.

Also, just going along with this: When Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract at WrestleMania 31, he became the first wrestler younger than WrestleMania itself to be in the main event.

#1. Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle were the first WWE WrestleMania headliners to use their real names

Up until WrestleMania XIX, the Show of Shows had some pretty great main events. Sure, some of them were not so great - we're looking at you, WrestleMania IX. But we've also seen main event matches like Hogan vs. Andre, Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior, and Steve Austin vs. The Rock (twice!).

However, what do all these matches have in common? Until WrestleMania XIX, every main event had at least one competitor using a ring name.

WrestleMania 19 saw former NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion Brock Lesnar challenge for Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle's WWE Championship. And like the headline says, it's the first main event in the history of the Show of Shows where both men were using their real names.

In fact, this has been the only time (so far) where this has happened. It doesn't look like it's going to happen this year, either.

Lesnar will be taking on Roman Reigns (aka Leati Joseph "Joe" Anoaʻi) on night two while former Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey (her real name) will challenge for the SmackDown Women's Championship against Charlotte Flair (definitely not her real name) on night one.

This isn't a knock on anyone who uses a ring name - people have used "stage names" in entertainment since entertainment was created. It's just interesting to see that out of the almost 40 WrestleManias we've had so far, only one has had a main event with both performers using their real names.

Do you know any other cool WWE facts? These obviously aren't all of them, and it's thanks to sites like TheSportster.com and the SubReddit r/SquaredCircle that some of these were unearthed.

One last thing: we were going to mention that Shawn Michaels was the first WWE Champion to come to the ring wearing a ponytail, but only because we couldn't find any photos of "Superstar" Billy Graham doing the same - and we're sure he did. So if you have any photos of such, please share them in the comments.