World Wrestling Federation
The World Wrestling Federation began as Capital Wrestling, run by Vince McMahon Sr., and was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance. In January of 1963, Buddy Rogers, who at the time was NWA World Heavyweight Champion, lost the title to Lou Thesz in a one fall match, but McMahon and his Capital Wrestling partners refused to recognize the loss by Rogers. They renamed their company the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) and named Rogers as the first WWWF World Heavyweight champion. Although WWWF (and later WWF) recognized their own champion, they maintained their NWA membership for many years, and their World Champion did face the NWA World Champion on several occassions. In 1979, WWWF shortened its name to World Wrestling Federation. Later, McMahon sold the company to his son Vince Jr., who did not follow the "gentlemen's agreements" by other promoters and his father. The WWF raided talent from other company's rosters and ignored promotional territories. In May of 2002, after losing a court battle with the World Wildlife Fund over the use of the WWF initials, the company was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Pictured or listed below are wrestlers that have Oklahoma ties that have held the WWF World Heavyweight Title or the WWF World Tag Team Titles during the company's run before their name change to WWE.
