title: Liberty University

text: In a December 5, 2015, convocation speech, President Jerry Falwell Jr. encouraged the student body to obtain concealed handgun permits. Falwell discussed the 2015 San Bernardino attack and said, "If more good people had concealed carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in." This was met with public condemnation for singling out the Muslim religion rather than the act of terrorism. Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe called the statement "repugnant". Falwell later stated that he was referring to the Muslim shooters in the San Bernardino attack, not all Muslims.


title: Liberty University

text: Jerry Falwell Jr.'s uncritical support for President Donald Trump was characterized as a repudiation of Christian values. The former leadership's support for Trump became an issue from his candidacy: a number of students protested the university's ties with Trump during his campaign and were critical of LU president Jerry Falwell, Jr. over his staunch support of Trump. Mark DeMoss, chief of staff of Falwell, was forced to resign from Liberty's board of trustees after criticizing the university's close affiliation with Trump. Liberty University rescinded a speaking invitation of Jonathan Merritt, an alumnus of the school, after he criticized Liberty University. Liberty expelled Christian author Jonathan Martin from campus due to his repeated criticisms of the university's affiliation with Trump.


title: Liberty University

text: In 2016, a student editor said that an opinion column critical of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump was censored by Falwell. The column was written after lewd comments made by Trump on an "Access Hollywood" tape were made public. Other articles in the student newspaper which mentioned Trump were reportedly spiked by faculty members. In 2018, two student editors were fired for reportedly running articles that reflected negatively on Trump; one of the student editors lost a $3,000-a-semester scholarship. In 2019, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education ranked Liberty University as among the worst universities in terms of free speech, citing the censorship at the student newspaper.


title: Liberty University

text: Trump twice spoke at Liberty University's Convocation, in 2012, when he was awarded an honorary doctor of business degree, and in 2016. President Trump was the keynote speaker at the Liberty University commencement in May 2017 where he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Jerry Falwell, Jr. commended Trump for "bombing those in the Middle East who persecute and kill Christians," and that Trump had "proved that he is a man of his word.” As of 2022, three honorary degrees Trump received from other institutions have been rescinded, but Liberty has not rescinded the two it granted Trump.


title: Liberty University

text: Some students protested when President Trump criticized both white supremacists and counter-protesters after the August 2017 Charlottesville rally where three people died and 33 were injured. Following Trump's remarks, Falwell said that he was "so proud" of Trump for his "bold truthful" statement on the tragedy. A number of students returned their diplomas to Liberty University and called on the university to disavow Trump's remarks. The students argued that Trump's remarks were "incompatible with Liberty University's stated values, and incompatible with a Christian witness."


title: Liberty University

text: In 2018, some Liberty students went to Washington, D.C., to support President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh.


title: Liberty University

text: Students at the university gave First Lady of the United States Melania Trump, along with several Trump cabinet officials who spoke at the university during a town hall about the drug epidemic, a standing ovation.


title: Liberty University

text: In Spring 2018, Liberty's Zaki Gordon Cinematic Arts Center co-produced a feature film called "The Trump Prophecy". The film focuses on a retired firefighter from Florida who says God revealed to him in 2011 that Trump would one day be president. The film was shown in select cinemas in October 2018.


title: Liberty University

text: In 2019, "The Wall Street Journal" and "Inside Higher Education" reported that CIO John Gauger allegedly accepted cash, through his IT consulting firm unaffiliated with the school, to rig two online polls for Trump before he became a candidate.


title: The Raven

text: "The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a distraught lover who is paid a mysterious visit by a talking raven. The lover, often identified as a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. Sitting on a bust of Pallas, the raven seems to further antagonize the protagonist with its constant repetition of the word "Nevermore". The poem makes use of folk, mythological, religious, and classical references.


title: The Raven

text: Poe claimed to have written the poem logically and methodically, with the intention to create a poem that would appeal to both critical and popular tastes, as he explained in his 1846 follow-up essay, "The Philosophy of Composition". The poem was inspired in part by a talking raven in the novel "Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty" by Charles Dickens. Poe based the complex rhythm and meter on Elizabeth Barrett's poem "Lady Geraldine's Courtship", and made use of internal rhyme as well as alliteration throughout.


title: The Raven

text: "The Raven" was first attributed to Poe in print in the "New York Evening Mirror" on January 29, 1845. Its publication made Poe popular in his lifetime, although it did not bring him much financial success. The poem was soon reprinted, parodied, and illustrated. Critical opinion is divided as to the poem's literary status, but it nevertheless remains one of the most famous poems ever written.


title: The Raven

text: "The Raven" follows an unnamed narrator on a dreary night in December who sits reading "forgotten lore" by a dying fire as a way to forget the death of his beloved Lenore. A "tapping at [his] chamber door" reveals nothing, but excites his soul to "burning". The tapping is repeated, slightly louder, and he realizes it is coming from his window. When he goes to investigate, a raven flutters into his chamber. Paying no attention to the man, the raven perches on a bust of Pallas above the door.


title: The Raven

text: Amused by the raven's comically serious disposition, the man asks that the bird tell him its name. The raven's only answer is "Nevermore". The narrator is surprised that the raven can talk, though at this point it has said nothing further. The narrator remarks to himself that his "friend" the raven will soon fly out of his life, just as "other friends have flown before" along with his previous hopes. As if answering, the raven responds again with "Nevermore". The narrator reasons that the bird learned the word "Nevermore" from some "unhappy master" and that it is the only word it knows.


title: The Raven

text: Even so, the narrator pulls his chair directly in front of the raven, determined to learn more about it. He thinks for a moment in silence, and his mind wanders back to his lost Lenore. He thinks the air grows denser and feels the presence of angels, and wonders if God is sending him a sign that he is to forget Lenore. The bird again replies in the negative, suggesting that he can never be free of his memories. The narrator becomes angry, calling the raven a "thing of evil" and a "prophet". Finally, he asks the raven whether he will be reunited with Lenore in Heaven. When the raven responds with its typical "Nevermore", he is enraged, and, calling the bird a liar, commands it to return to the "Plutonian shore"—but it does not move. At the time of the poem's narration, the raven "still is sitting" on the bust of Pallas. The raven casts a shadow on the chamber floor and the despondent narrator laments that out of this shadow his soul shall be "lifted 'nevermore.


title: The Raven

text: Poe wrote the poem as a narrative, without intentional allegory or didacticism. The main theme of the poem is one of undying devotion. The narrator experiences a perverse conflict between desire to forget and desire to remember. He seems to get some pleasure from focusing on loss. The narrator assumes that the word "Nevermore" is the raven's "only stock and store", and, yet, he continues to ask it questions, knowing what the answer will be. His questions, then, are purposely self-deprecating and further incite his feelings of loss. Poe leaves it unclear whether the raven actually knows what it is saying or whether it really intends to cause a reaction in the poem's narrator. The narrator begins as "weak and weary", becomes regretful and grief-stricken, before passing into a frenzy and, finally, madness. Christopher F. S. Maligec suggests the poem is a type of elegiac paraclausithyron, an ancient Greek and Roman poetic form consisting of the lament of an excluded, locked-out lover at the sealed door of his beloved.


title: The Raven

text: Poe says that the narrator is a young scholar. Though this is not explicitly stated in the poem, it is mentioned in "The Philosophy of Composition". It is also suggested by the narrator reading books of "lore" as well as by the bust of Pallas Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom.


title: The Raven

text: He is reading in the late night hours from "many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore". Similar to the studies suggested in Poe's short story "Ligeia", this lore may be about the occult or black magic. This is also emphasized in the author's choice to set the poem in December, a month which is traditionally associated with the forces of darkness. The use of the raven—the "devil bird"—also suggests this. This devil image is emphasized by the narrator's belief that the raven is "from the Night's Plutonian shore", or a messenger from the afterlife, referring to Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld (also known as Dis Pater in Roman mythology). A direct allusion to Satan also appears: "Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore..."


title: The Raven

text: Poe chose a raven as the central symbol in the story because he wanted a "non-reasoning" creature capable of speech. He decided on a raven, which he considered "equally capable of speech" as a parrot, because it matched the intended tone of the poem. Poe said the raven is meant to symbolize ""Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance"". He was also inspired by Grip, the raven in "Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty" by Charles Dickens. One scene in particular bears a resemblance to "The Raven": at the end of the fifth chapter of Dickens's novel, Grip makes a noise and someone says, "What was that—him tapping at the door?" The response is, Tis someone knocking softly at the shutter."<ref name="Staford Cremains / Ravens"></ref> Dickens's raven could speak many words and had many comic turns, including the popping of a champagne cork, but Poe emphasized the bird's more dramatic qualities. Poe had written a review of "Barnaby Rudge" for "Graham's Magazine" saying, among other things, that the raven should have served a more symbolic, prophetic purpose. The similarity did not go unnoticed: James Russell Lowell in his "A Fable for Critics" wrote the verse, "Here comes Poe with his raven, like "Barnaby Rudge" / Three-fifths of him genius and two-fifths sheer fudge." The Free Library of Philadelphia has on display a taxidermied raven that is reputed to be the very one that Dickens owned and that helped inspire Poe's poem.


title: The Raven

text: Poe may also have been drawing upon various references to ravens in mythology and folklore. In Norse mythology, Odin possessed two ravens named Huginn and Muninn, representing thought and memory. According to Hebrew folklore, Noah sends a white raven to check conditions while on the ark. It learns that the floodwaters are beginning to dissipate, but it does not immediately return with the news. It is punished by being turned black and being forced to feed on carrion forever. In Ovid's "Metamorphoses", a raven also begins as white before Apollo punishes it by turning it black for delivering a message of a lover's unfaithfulness. The raven's role as a messenger in Poe's poem may draw from those stories.


title: The Raven

text: Nepenthe, a drug mentioned in Homer's "Odyssey", erases memories; the narrator wonders aloud whether he could receive "respite" this way: "Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"


title: The Raven

text: Poe also mentions the Balm of Gilead, a reference to the Book of Jeremiah (8:22) in the Bible: "Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" In that context, the Balm of Gilead is a resin used for medicinal purposes (suggesting, perhaps, that the narrator needs to be healed after the loss of Lenore). In 1 Kings 17:1 – 5 Elijah is said to be from Gilead, and to have been fed by ravens during a period of drought.


title: The Raven

text: Poe also refers to "Aidenn", another word for the Garden of Eden, though the narrator uses it to ask if he shall reunite with his Lenore in Heaven.


title: The Raven

text: The poem is made up of 18 stanzas of six lines each. Generally, the meter is trochaic octameter—eight trochaic feet per line, each foot having one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable. The first line, for example (with / representing stressed syllables and x representing unstressed):


title: The Raven

text: Poe, however, claimed the poem was a combination of octameter acatalectic, heptameter catalectic, and tetrameter catalectic. The rhyme scheme is ABCBBB, or AA,B,CC,CB,B,B when accounting for internal rhyme. In every stanza, the "B" lines rhyme with the word "nevermore" and are catalectic, placing extra emphasis on the final syllable. The poem also makes heavy use of alliteration ("Doubting, dreaming dreams ..."). 20th-century American poet Daniel Hoffman suggested that the poem's structure and meter is so formulaic that it is artificial, though its mesmeric quality overrides that.


title: The Raven

text: Poe based the structure of "The Raven" on the complicated rhyme and rhythm of Elizabeth Barrett's poem "Lady Geraldine's Courtship". Poe had reviewed Barrett's work in the January 1845 issue of the "Broadway Journal" and said that "her poetic inspiration is the highest—we can conceive of nothing more august. Her sense of Art is pure in itself." As is typical with Poe, his review also criticizes her lack of originality and what he considers the repetitive nature of some of her poetry. About "Lady Geraldine's Courtship", he said "I have never read a poem combining so much of the fiercest passion with so much of the most delicate imagination."


title: The Raven

text: Poe first brought "The Raven" to his friend and former employer George Rex Graham of "Graham's Magazine" in Philadelphia. Graham declined the poem, which may not have been in its final version, though he gave Poe $15 as charity. Poe then sold the poem to "", which paid him $9 for it, and printed "The Raven" in its February 1845 issue under the pseudonym "Quarles", a reference to the English poet Francis Quarles. The poem's first publication with Poe's name was in the "Evening Mirror" on January 29, 1845, as an "advance copy". Nathaniel Parker Willis, editor of the "Mirror", introduced it as "unsurpassed in English poetry for subtle conception, masterly ingenuity of versification, and consistent, sustaining of imaginative lift ... It will stick to the memory of everybody who reads it." Following this publication the poem appeared in periodicals across the United States, including the "New York Tribune" (February 4, 1845), "Broadway Journal" (vol. 1, February 8, 1845), "Southern Literary Messenger" (vol. 11, March 1845), "Literary Emporium" (vol. 2, December 1845), "Saturday Courier", 16 (July 25, 1846), and the "Richmond Examiner" (September 25, 1849). It has also appeared in numerous anthologies, starting with "Poets and Poetry of America" edited by Rufus Wilmot Griswold in 1847.


title: The Raven

text: The immediate success of "The Raven" prompted Wiley and Putnam to publish a collection of Poe's prose called "Tales" in June 1845; it was his first book in five years. They also published a collection of his poetry called "The Raven and Other Poems" on November 19 by Wiley and Putnam which included a dedication to Barrett as "the Noblest of her Sex". The small volume, his first book of poetry in 14 years, was 100 pages and sold for 31 cents. In addition to the title poem, it included "The Valley of Unrest", "Bridal Ballad", "The City in the Sea", "Eulalie", "The Conqueror Worm", "The Haunted Palace" and eleven others. In the preface, Poe referred to them as "trifles" which had been altered without his permission as they made "the rounds of the press".


title: The Raven

text: Later publications of "The Raven" included artwork by well-known illustrators. Notably, in 1858 "The Raven" appeared in a British Poe anthology with illustrations by John Tenniel, the "Alice in Wonderland" illustrator ("The Poetical Works of Edgar Allan Poe: With Original Memoir", London: Sampson Low). "The Raven" was published independently with lavish woodcuts by Gustave Doré in 1884 (New York: Harper & Brothers). Doré died before its publication. In 1875, a French edition with English and French text, "Le Corbeau", was published with lithographs by Édouard Manet and translation by the Symbolist Stéphane Mallarmé.


title: The Raven

text: Many 20th-century artists and contemporary illustrators created artworks and illustrations based on "The Raven", including Edmund Dulac, István Orosz, and Ryan Price.


title: The Raven

text: Poe capitalized on the success of "The Raven" by following it up with his essay "The Philosophy of Composition" (1846), in which he detailed the poem's creation. His description of its writing is probably exaggerated, though the essay serves as an important overview of Poe's literary theory. He explains that every component of the poem is based on logic: the raven enters the chamber to avoid a storm (the "midnight dreary" in the "bleak December"), and its perch on a pallid white bust was to create visual contrast against the dark black bird. No aspect of the poem was an accident, he claims, but is based on total control by the author. Even the term "Nevermore", he says, is used because of the effect created by the long vowel sounds (though Poe may have been inspired to use the word by the works of Lord Byron or Henry Wadsworth Longfellow). Poe had experimented with the long "o" sound throughout many other poems: "no more" in "Silence", "evermore" in "The Conqueror Worm". The topic itself, Poe says, was chosen because "the death... of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world." Told from "the lips ... of a bereaved lover" is best suited to achieve the desired effect. Beyond the poetics of it, the lost Lenore may have been inspired by events in Poe's own life as well, either to the early loss of his mother, Eliza Poe, or the long illness endured by his wife, Virginia. Ultimately, Poe considered "The Raven" an experiment to "suit at once the popular and critical taste", accessible to both the mainstream and high literary worlds. It is unknown how long Poe worked on "The Raven"; speculation ranges from a single day to ten years. Poe recited a poem believed to be an early version with an alternate ending of "The Raven" in 1843 in Saratoga, New York. An early draft may have featured an owl.


title: The Raven

text: In the summer of 1844, when the poem was likely written, Poe, his wife, and mother-in-law were boarding at the farmhouse of Patrick Brennan. The location of the house, which was demolished in 1888, has been a disputed point and, while there are two different plaques marking its supposed location on West 84th Street, it most likely stood where 206 West 84th Street is now.


title: The Raven

text: In part due to its dual printing, "The Raven" made Edgar Allan Poe a household name almost immediately, and turned Poe into a national celebrity. Readers began to identify poem with poet, earning Poe the nickname "The Raven". The poem was soon widely reprinted, imitated, and parodied. Though it made Poe popular in his day, it did not bring him significant financial success. As he later lamented, "I have made no money. I am as poor now as ever I was in my life—except in hope, which is by no means bankable".


title: The Raven

text: The "New World" said, "Everyone reads the Poem and praises it ... justly, we think, for it seems to us full of originality and power." "The Pennsylvania Inquirer" reprinted it with the heading "A Beautiful Poem". Elizabeth Barrett wrote to Poe, "Your 'Raven' has produced a sensation, a fit o' horror, here in England. Some of my friends are taken by the fear of it and some by the music. I hear of persons haunted by 'Nevermore'." Poe's popularity resulted in invitations to recite "The Raven" and to lecture—in public and at private social gatherings. At one literary salon, a guest noted, "to hear [Poe] repeat the Raven ... is an event in one's life." It was recalled by someone who experienced it, "He would turn down the lamps till the room was almost dark, then standing in the center of the apartment he would recite ... in the most melodious of voices ... So marvelous was his power as a reader that the auditors would be afraid to draw breath lest the enchanted spell be broken."


title: The Raven

text: Parodies sprung up especially in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia and included "The Craven" by "Poh!", "The Gazelle", "The Whippoorwill", and "The Turkey". One parody, "The Pole-Cat", caught the attention of Andrew Johnston, a lawyer who sent it on to Abraham Lincoln. Though Lincoln admitted he had "several hearty laughs", he had not, at that point read "The Raven". However, Lincoln eventually read and memorized the poem.


title: The Raven

text: "The Raven" was praised by fellow writers William Gilmore Simms and Margaret Fuller, though it was denounced by William Butler Yeats, who called it "insincere and vulgar ... its execution a rhythmical trick". Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I see nothing in it." A critic for the "Southern Quarterly Review" wrote in July 1848 that the poem was ruined by "a wild and unbridled extravagance" and that minor things like a tapping at the door and a fluttering curtain would only affect "a child who had been frightened to the verge of idiocy by terrible ghost stories". An anonymous writer going by the pseudonym "Outis" suggested in the "Evening Mirror" that "The Raven" was plagiarized from a poem called "The Bird of the Dream" by an unnamed author. The writer showed 18 similarities between the poems and was made as a response to Poe's accusations of plagiarism against Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It has been suggested Outis was really Cornelius Conway Felton, if not Poe himself. After Poe's death, his friend Thomas Holley Chivers said "The Raven" was plagiarized from one of his poems. In particular, he claimed to have been the inspiration for the meter of the poem as well as the refrain "nevermore".


title: The Raven

text: "The Raven" became one of the most popular targets for literary translators in Hungary; more than a dozen poets rendered it into Hungarian, including Mihály Babits, Dezső Kosztolányi, Árpád Tóth, and György Faludy. Balázs Birtalan wrote its paraphrasis from the raven's point of view, with the motto "Audiatur et altera pars" ("let the other side be heard as well").


title: The Raven

text: "The Raven" has influenced many modern works, including Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" in 1955, Bernard Malamud's "The Jewbird" in 1963 and Ray Bradbury's "The Parrot Who Met Papa" in 1976. The process by which Poe composed "The Raven" influenced a number of French authors and composers, such as Charles Baudelaire and Maurice Ravel, and it has been suggested that Ravel's "Boléro" may have been deeply influenced by "The Philosophy of Composition". The poem is additionally referenced throughout popular culture in films, television, music, and video games.


title: The Raven

text: The painter Paul Gauguin painted a nude portrait of his teenage wife in Tahiti in 1897 titled "Nevermore", featuring a raven perched within the room. At the time the couple were mourning the loss of their first child together and Gauguin the loss of his favourite daughter back in Europe.


title: The Raven

text: The name of the Baltimore Ravens, a professional American football team, was inspired by the poem. Chosen in a fan contest that drew 33,288 voters, the allusion honors Poe, who spent the early part of his career in Baltimore and is buried there.


title: The Raven

text: The mantel of the room in which Poe penned "The Raven" was removed and donated to Columbia University before the demolition of the Brennan Farmhouse. It currently resides at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, on the 6th floor of Butler Library.


title: Sami Zayn

text: Rami Sebei (; born July 12, 1984) is a Canadian professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Sami Zayn, and is a member of The Bloodline.


title: Sami Zayn

text: Prior to joining WWE, Sebei wrestled for Ring of Honor under the ring name El Generico, using the character of a "luchador" from Mexico with the catchphrase "Olé!" He wrestled while masked from his debut in 2002 until 2013. Upon signing with WWE, he began wrestling without a mask, eventually winning the NXT Championship while in WWE's developmental brand NXT, and after being promoted to the main roster, he would become a three-time Intercontinental Champion.


title: Sami Zayn

text: Sebei achieved much success in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) as a two-time PWG World Champion and five-time World Tag Team Champion. He is the only person to have won both of PWG's annual tournaments, the Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament in 2010 and the Battle of Los Angeles in 2011. He has also held the ROH World Television Championship and the ROH World Tag Team Championship as part of a team with Kevin Steen, with whom he later earned the 2010 Feud of the Year award from the "Wrestling Observer Newsletter". He is also a two-time IWS World Heavyweight Champion for the Montreal-based International Wrestling Syndicate (IWS). Having wrestled internationally, he won the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship in Germany and DDT Pro-Wrestling's KO-D Openweight Championship in Japan.


title: Sami Zayn

text: Rami Sebei was born on July 12, 1984, in Laval, Quebec. Both of his parents are Syrian immigrants to Canada, having relocated from Homs in the 1970s.


title: Sami Zayn

text: Sebei trained under Jerry Tuite and Savio Vega and made his professional wrestling debut on March 1, 2002, for the FLQ promotion in Quebec as Stevie McFly. On July 14, 2002, as El Generico, he made his International Wrestling Syndicate (IWS) debut at the Scarred For Life event in a count out victory. On October 18, 2003, at Blood, Sweat and Beers, Generico lost to Carl Ouellet in a three-way match also involving Kevin Steen. On November 15 at Payback's A Bitch, El Generico defeated Kevin Steen in their first-ever singles match against each other. IWS held its fifth-anniversary show "V" on June 15, 2004, at Le SPAG, where Generico defeated PCO in an IWS title match for his first IWS World Heavyweight Championship, only to have Kevin Steen reclaim his number one contendership won earlier in the night against Excess 69. Generico lost to Steen for the IWS World Heavyweight Championship.


title: Sami Zayn

text: On September 11 at CZW High Stakes II, Generico, Steen and Excess 69 lost to SeXXXy Eddy in an IWS four-way match which was unofficially chosen as "CZW Match of the Year". On August 20, 2005, at Extreme Dream II, Generico lost to Chris Bishop in the Extreme Dream Tournament final match for the IWS Canadian Championship. On February 16, 2008, Generico defeated Kevin Steen for the IWS World Heavyweight Championship at Violent Valentine. On March 22, at Know Your Enemies, Generico lost the IWS World Heavyweight Championship to Steen a three-way match also involving Max Boyer.


title: Sami Zayn

text: In 2004, members of the IWS started making appearances in the popular independent company Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). El Generico held the PWG World Tag Team Championship five times with four different partners: with Human Tornado as 2 Skinny Black Guys, Quicksilver as Cape Fear, Kevin Steen, and Paul London as "¡Peligro Abejas!". Generico is also the only participant to consecutively appear in the first eight Battle of Los Angeles tournaments from 2005. On February 24, 2007, Generico defeated former partner Tornado to win the PWG World Championship during his title run with Cape Fear. Later that year, while Generico was still World Champion, he and Steen defeated PAC and Roderick Strong for the belts, making Generico the only man in PWG history to hold both the World and World Tag Team titles not once, but twice at the same time.


title: Sami Zayn

text: In mid-2009, Generico entered a lengthy feud with the tag team Men of Low Moral Fiber, consisting of Kenny Omega and Chuck Taylor, recruiting Colt Cabana, referee Rick Knox, and former partner Human Tornado (effectively reuniting 2 Skinny Black Guys) to stand by his side. At PWG's sixth anniversary event, "Threemendous II", 2 Skinny Black Guys defeated current champions The Young Bucks in a non-title match, giving the Bucks their first tag team loss in almost a year and a half. On November 21 during the second night of the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles, Generico and Kevin Steen lost a title match against the Bucks. Later, he and Cabana saved the new PWG World Champion Kenny Omega from Brian Kendrick and the Bucks and made peace with him as they now had a common enemy.


title: Sami Zayn

text: On May 9, 2010, Generico teamed up with "Intrepid Traveler" Paul London to form a duo introduced as "¡Peligro Abejas!" (translated as Danger Bees!) in the fourth annual "DDT4" eight-team tag tournament. After defeating Chuck Taylor and Scott Lost in the first round and the Briscoe Brothers (Jay and Mark) in the semifinals, Generico and London defeated the Young Bucks in the finals of the tournament to not only win DDT4, but also the PWG World Tag Team Championship, Generico's fifth time holding the title. On December 11, 2010, El Generico earned himself a shot at the PWG World Championship, when ¡Peligro Abejas! successfully defended the PWG World Tag Team Championship against Chris Hero and the PWG World Champion, Claudio Castagnoli, the team known collectively as The Kings of Wrestling. Generico received his shot at the PWG World Championship on January 29, 2011, during the WrestleReunion 5 weekend, but was defeated by Castagnoli. On April 9, El Generico teamed with Ricochet, who filled in for London who was unable to appear at the event, in a match, where they lost the PWG World Tag Team Championship back to The Young Bucks. On August 20, Generico entered the 2011 Battle of Los Angeles, defeating Claudio Castagnoli and Willie Mack in his first round and semifinal matches. Later that same night, Generico defeated old rival Kevin Steen in the finals to win the tournament, becoming the first person to have won the PWG World and World Tag Team championships as well as the DDT4 and Battle of Los Angeles tournaments. In the process, Generico also earned himself a match for Steen's PWG World Championship. On October 22, El Generico defeated Steen in a ladder match, following outside interference from The Young Bucks, to win the PWG World Championship for the second time. On March 17, 2012, El Generico re-lost the title to Steen in a three-way match, which also included Eddie Edwards. After agreeing to a deal with WWE, El Generico made his farewell appearance for PWG on January 12, 2013, when he and Kevin Steen entered the 2013 Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament. After wins over the Briscoe Brothers and Future Shock (Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly), El Generico and Steen were defeated in the finals of the tournament by The Young Bucks.


title: Sami Zayn

text: On February 19, 2005, El Generico made his debut for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania–based promotion Chikara, taking part in the 2005 Tag World Grand Prix, where he teamed with Kevin Steen as Team IWS. The team made it to the quarterfinals of the tournament, before being defeated by the SuperFriends (Chris Hero and Mike Quackenbush).


title: Sami Zayn

text: El Generico returned to Chikara three years later to take part in the 2008 King of Trios, where he teamed with Player Uno and Stupefied, again, as Team IWS. After defeating the F1rst Family (Arik Cannon, Darin Corbin and Ryan Cruz) in their first round match on March 1, Team IWS was eliminated from the tournament later that same day by "Los Luchadores de Mexico" (Incognito, Lince Dorado and El Pantera), who went on to win the entire tournament. The following year, on March 27, El Generico returned for the 2009 King of Trios, this time teaming with Matt and Nick Jackson as Team PWG. They were eliminated from the tournament in the first round by The Osirian Portal (Amasis, Escorpion Egipcio and Ophidian). The following day El Generico entered the "Rey de Voladores" tournament, but was defeated by Kota Ibushi in his four-way elimination semifinal match, which also included Jigsaw and Nick Jackson. On the third night of the tournament, El Generico was defeated by Arik Cannon in a singles match.


title: Sami Zayn

text: El Generico's next appearance for Chikara occurred almost two years later on January 23, 2011, when he faced Eddie Kingston in a losing effort. For the 2011 King of Trios El Generico came together with 3.0 (Scott Parker and Shane Matthews) to form ¡3.0le!. The team was eliminated from the tournament in the first round by The Osirian Portal (Amasis, Hieracon and Ophidian). The following day El Generico entered his second "Rey de Voladores" and defeated Pinkie Sanchez, Zack Sabre Jr. and Marshe Rockett in his four-way elimination semifinal match to qualify for the following day's finals. The following day El Generico defeated the 1–2–3 Kid in the finals to win the 2011 "Rey de Voladores". El Generico returned to Chikara on July 30, 2011, when he reunited ¡3.0le! with Scott Parker and Shane Matthews in a six-man tag team match, where they defeated F.I.S.T. (Chuck Taylor, Icarus and Johnny Gargano). The following day ¡3.0le! was defeated by the Spectral Envoy (Frightmare, Hallowicked and UltraMantis Black) in a six-man tag team match.


title: Sami Zayn

text: El Generico first wrestled for Ring of Honor (ROH) in 2005, earning a spot in a Four Corner Survival match at "Do Or Die IV". He teamed with the Ring Crew Express (Dunn and Marcos) in the "Trios Tournament 2005", losing to the Rottweilers. At "Stalemate", he lost to Roderick Strong, then teaming with Sal Rinauro against The Embassy at "New Frontiers" (and losing). He only received a few more matches, losing to Austin Aries at "Fate of an Angel" and getting his first win against fellow IWS alumnus Kevin Steen at "The Homecoming" (a match that didn't even make it to the event's DVD). His final ROH match of this run was a loss to Homicide at "Dragon Gate Invasion".


title: Sami Zayn

text: Generico returned to ROH in late 2006, making an appearance at "Dethroned", where he was defeated by Brent Albright. Following this, he took part in (and lost) a Four Corner Survival match to Jimmy Rave at "Final Battle 2006". In 2007, El Generico formed a permanent team with Kevin Steen, taking on the Briscoe Brothers at the "Fifth Year Festival: Philly". Much like many previous matches, they were defeated in this encounter, but the two men had a memorable showing that eventually earned them a full-time spot on the roster. Throughout 2007, the two teams feuded with one another, having several memorable matches including (but not limited to) a great match on the "Driven" pay-per-view, ROH's second-ever. Their feud came to an end following a brutal Street Fight at "Death Before Dishonor V: Night 1", a steel cage match at "Caged Rage", a two out of three falls match at "Manhattan Mayhem 2" and a ladder match advertised as a "Ladder War" at "Man Up". This final match became the Main Event of ROH's third pay-per-view.


title: Sami Zayn

text: Also during this time, Generico broke out as a singles competitor, having a strong run in the Race to the Top Tournament of 2007. He defeated (in order) Delirious, Chris Hero and Davey Richards, only to lose in the final match of the tournament to Claudio Castagnoli. After the feud with the Briscoes ended, Generico and Steen spent several months feuding with the Hangmen Three in an inconclusive feud that carried on into 2008. They also worked through the tag ranks and attempted to win the tag titles, but came up short in a tag title tournament at "Up For Grabs". Generico took ROH World champion Nigel McGuinness to the limit at "Age of Insanity", but eventually lost.


title: Sami Zayn

text: On September 19, 2008, Generico and Steen finally won the ROH World Tag Team Championship by beating The Age of the Fall at Driven. Generico lost a second match to McGuinness at "Glory by Honor VII". Generico was booked in another match against McGuinness at Caged Collision, which he lost. On April 10, 2009, at a television taping, Generico and Steen lost the ROH World Tag Team Championship to The American Wolves (Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards). Generico then suffered a knee injury, sustaining damage to his Medial collateral ligament.


title: Sami Zayn

text: On December 19, 2009, at Final Battle 2009, ROH's first live pay-per-view, after a loss to The Young Bucks, Steen turned heel by attacking El Generico. He then formed a team with Colt Cabana and together the two of them started a feud with Steen and his new partner Steve Corino. At the following pay-per-view, The Big Bang!, Generico and Cabana defeated Steen and Corino via disqualification when Steen used a chair on his former partner. On June 19 at Death Before Dishonor VIII, Steen defeated El Generico in a singles match. On September 11 at Glory By Honor IX Generico and Cabana defeated Steen and Corino in a Double Chain match, when Cabana forced Corino to tap out. After the match Steen attacked El Generico and unmasked him. On December 18 at Final Battle 2010 El Generico and Steen ended their year-long feud in an unsanctioned Fight Without Honor, where Generico put his mask on the line against Steen's ROH career. In the weeks leading up to the event, Generico debuted a new darker character and an all-black outfit. In the end El Generico won the match and thus forced Steen out of Ring of Honor. On March 2, 2011, ROH announced that El Generico had signed a new contract with the promotion.


title: Sami Zayn

text: On April 1 at the first night of Honor Takes Center Stage, El Generico was defeated by Michael Elgin from the House of Truth following interference from a masked man, led by Truth Martini. The following day, El Generico defeated another member of the House of Truth, Roderick Strong, but after the match was attacked by Elgin and Martini. Colt Cabana came out to make the save but was stopped by the House of Truth's advantage in numbers. This led to Christopher Daniels coming out, but he ended up turning heel and hitting El Generico with the Book of Truth and Cabana with the Angel's Wings, thus joining the House of Truth and revealing himself as the man who had cost El Generico his match against Elgin. On June 26 at Best in the World 2011, Generico defeated Daniels to win the ROH World Television Championship. He lost the title to Jay Lethal on August 13 at the first "Ring of Honor Wrestling" tapings under the Sinclair Broadcast Group banner. On March 30, 2012, at Showdown in the Sun, El Generico faced the reinstated Kevin Steen in a losing effort in a Last Man Standing match and then disappeared from ROH. After Steen successfully defended the ROH World Championship on October 13 at , he received a parcel containing Generico's mask. El Generico returned to ROH on December 16 at , where he unsuccessfully challenged Steen for the ROH World Championship in a ladder war. This was his last appearance with ROH before signing with WWE.


title: Sami Zayn

text: Generico travelled to Japan during the summer of 2007, where he worked for the Dragon Gate (DG) promotion as the gaijin (foreign) representative of the New Hazard stable. He returned to the promotion in July 2008, where he was announced as Tozawa-juku's "foreign exchange student." El Generico made his third tour of Dragon Gate in October 2009, when he wrestled as a member of the Kamikaze stable.


title: Sami Zayn

text: In early 2011, El Generico began making semi-regular appearances for the Japanese DDT Pro-Wrestling sister-promotion Union Pro Wrestling, making his debut on January 3 with a win over Shinichiro Tominaga. On September 19, El Generico won his first title in Japan, when he defeated Isami Kodaka for the DDT Extreme Championship. After successful title defenses against Shuji Ishikawa and Sanshiro Takagi, he re-lost the title to Kodaka on January 3, 2012. El Generico has also made some appearances for Union Pro's parent promotion, DDT Pro-Wrestling, most notably defeating Kota Ibushi in Ibushi's return match from a shoulder injury on May 4, 2012. On August 18, El Generico wrestled his first match in the Nippon Budokan, defeating the debuting Konosuke Takeshita. On September 30, El Generico defeated Kota Ibushi to win the KO-D Openweight Championship, DDT's top title. El Generico made his first successful title defense on October 21 in a rematch against Ibushi. On November 25, El Generico defeated KO-D Tag Team Champion Mikami for his second successful defense of the KO-D Openweight Championship. On December 23, El Generico lost the KO-D Openweight Championship to Kenny Omega in his third defense.


title: Sami Zayn

text: On March 31, 2012, El Generico made his debut for Dragon Gate USA (DGUSA), when he defeated Chuck Taylor, Cima, Lince Dorado, Rich Swann and Samuray del Sol in a six-way match. On April 13, El Generico made his debut for Evolve, a promotion closely affiliated with DGUSA, losing to Low Ki. After another loss to Ricochet on May 11, El Generico picked up his first win in the promotion on May 12 by defeating Sami Callihan. El Generico then had two singles matches against Samuray del Sol; the first on June 28 at Evolve 14 was won by El Generico and the rematch the following day at Evolve 15 was won by Samuray. El Generico returned to Dragon Gate USA on July 28, when he and Samuray were defeated in a tag team match by A. R. Fox and Cima. On September 8, El Generico and Samuray del Sol faced off in another Evolve main event, which was won by El Generico. On November 4 at Dragon Gate USA's Freedom Fight 2012, El Generico teamed with Samuray in a tag team match, where they defeated Genki Horiguchi and Ryo Saito. The two continued their winning ways on December 8 at Evolve 18, where they defeated the Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno and Stupefied).


title: Sami Zayn

text: From 2005 onwards, El Generico has made several appearances for the German Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) promotion. On March 4, 2012, El Generico defeated Tommy End to win wXw's 2012 16 Carat Gold Tournament. On May 19, El Generico defeated Big van Walter to also win the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship. On August 12, 2012, he lost the title to Axel Tischer in a four-way match, which also included Bad Bones and Karsten Beck. In October 2009 El Generico traveled to Poland to take part in Do or Die Wrestling's event in Warsaw, defeating Michael Kovac in the main event of the show. In May 2010, Generico competed in the main-event of Capital City Championship Combat's show, Stand Alone. On October 23, Generico competed at Pro Wrestling Superstars' inaugural show in Jacksonville, North Carolina, where he teamed with Paul London to defeat Joey Silvia and Jake Manning.


title: Sami Zayn

text: On January 11, 2011, El Generico wrestled in a tryout dark match for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) at the promotion's "Impact!" tapings, losing to Amazing Red. The following day he defeated T. J. Perkins in another dark match. On April 20, 2011, El Generico made his South American debut, when he wrestled for Peruvian promotion Leader Wrestling Association (LWA), facing Apocalipsis, Axl and Kaiser in a number one contender's match to determine a challenger for Caoz, the promotion's "Campeón Máximo". In the end, Kaiser came out of the match victorious. On April 24, El Generico wrestled for Chilean promotion Xplosion Nacional de Lucha (XNL), losing to Crazy Sid in an XNL Championship number one contender's three-way match, which also included XL. On February 26, 2012, El Generico visited Russia for the first time, making his debut for the Independent Wrestling Federation (IWF), where he faced Ivan "Locomotive" Markov and won. Later in the year, on September 16, they wrestled in a rematch and this time Markov was victorious. On September 8, 2012, Generico made an appearance for Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), unsuccessfully challenging Masada for the CZW World Heavyweight Championship.


title: Sami Zayn

text: After signing with WWE, El Generico made his final Canadian independent appearance on January 18, 2013, when he worked for the Hart Legacy Wrestling (HLW) promotion in Calgary. In the opening four-way elimination match, El Generico and Samuray del Sol were victorious over Cam!kaze and Pete Wilson, Brian Cage and Trent Barreta, and Andrew Hawkes and Ryan Rollins. As a result, the two earned a spot in the main event ten man tag team match, where they teamed with Barreta, Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Jack Evans in a losing effort against the team of Teddy Hart, Brian Cage, Cam!kaze, Flip Kendrick and Pete Wilson, with Generico being pinned for the win by Hart.


title: Sami Zayn

text: In January 2013, Sebei signed with WWE after passing all medical tests. On February 13, Sebei made his debut for WWE's developmental territory NXT, but did not wrestle. Sebei's NXT in-ring debut took place at a live event on March 7 in Tampa, Florida, wrestling a tag team match unmasked under his real name. Sebei eventually settled on the ring name Sami Zayn. Zayn made his televised debut on the May 22 episode of "NXT", first defeating Curt Hawkins in the opening match and then challenging and scoring an upset win over Antonio Cesaro later in the show. The following week, he took part in an 18-man battle royal to determine the number one contender to the NXT Championship, but was eliminated by Mason Ryan. On the June 12 episode of "NXT", Zayn suffered his first pinfall loss in NXT in a rematch with Cesaro. On the July 17 "NXT", Zayn failed to win another number one contender's match also involving Cesaro and Leo Kruger. On the July 31 episode of "NXT", Zayn teamed with NXT Champion Bo Dallas against Cesaro and Kruger; after Cesaro and Zayn brawled to the back, Dallas lost the match and later blamed Zayn for the loss. On the August 21 episode of "NXT", Zayn lost to Cesaro in a two-out-of-three falls match to conclude the feud. On September 6, Zayn made his WWE debut at a house show in his hometown of Montreal, where he defeated Cesaro. When Zayn targeted Dallas' NXT Championship, Dallas cost Zayn his match against Cesaro's fellow Real American Jack Swagger. Dallas held an open challenge to determine the next title contender, but he banned Zayn from competing. However, Zayn masqueraded as the masked El Local and defeated Dallas to earn his title shot. The match occurred on the October 16 episode of "NXT", but NXT General Manager John Bradshaw Layfield restarted the match when Zayn won despite Dallas' foot being on the ropes and then Dallas sent Zayn into an exposed turnbuckle to retain his title.


title: Sami Zayn

text: In November 2013, after tying a Beat the Clock challenge with Adrian Neville by defeating Leo Kruger, Zayn lost a number one contender's match to Neville on the November 27 episode of "NXT". Zayn moved on to feud with Kruger and the feud culminated in Zayn winning a two-out-of-three falls match on the January 1, 2014 episode of "NXT". After that, Zayn's obsession with his loss to Cesaro the previous year led to him challenging Cesaro to a rematch at NXT Arrival on February 27, which he lost, but Cesaro showed respect to Zayn after the match. Zayn then feuded with Corey Graves, with Zayn losing to Graves via referee stoppage on the April 3 episode of "NXT" after Graves capitalized on Zayn's head injury. On the May 8 episode of "NXT", Zayn participated in a 20-man battle royal for an NXT Championship shot, with Zayn being involved in a triple threat match tie. As a result, Zayn faced the other two winners, Tyler Breeze and Tyson Kidd in a triple threat match on the next episode of "NXT", where Kidd won to become number one contender. At NXT TakeOver on May 29, Zayn lost to Breeze in another number one contender's match.


title: Sami Zayn

text: In June 2014, Zayn went on to feud with Tyson Kidd after Kidd abandoned him during their match against NXT Tag Team Champions The Ascension. After Zayn defeated Justin Gabriel, both Kidd and Gabriel attacked Zayn, who was saved by his friend, NXT Champion Adrian Neville. Zayn later defeated Kidd twice to end the feud, once in a singles match on the July 17 episode of "NXT" as well in a tag match with Adam Rose against Gabriel and Kidd, which was the first round of a tournament for an opportunity at the NXT Tag Team Championship. Zayn and Rose lost in the second round to The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara). When Zayn, Kidd and Tyler Breeze each staked a claim for an NXT Championship match, champion Neville agreed to face all three in a fatal-four-way match at the next NXT TakeOver event. To hype that match, Zayn and Neville appeared on the September 8 episode of "Raw", defeating Breeze and Kidd while making their main roster debuts. At on September 11, Zayn nearly won the four-way match and the NXT Championship, but champion Neville stopped him by dragging the referee out of the ring as he went on to win and retain his title. This caused tension within Neville and Zayn's friendship. After Zayn lost another match, this time to Titus O'Neil, he vowed to start a "road to redemption" leading to the NXT Championship, which saw him defeat Tyson Kidd, Titus O'Neil and Tyler Breeze in singles matches. Zayn was rewarded with a title match against Neville on the November 13 episode of "NXT" in which Neville appeared to injure himself during the match, but he took advantage on Zayn checking on him to win the match and retain the title. Neville agreed to Zayn's request for a title rematch, with Zayn vowing to quit NXT if he lost.


title: Sami Zayn

text: At on December 11, Zayn defeated Neville to win the NXT Championship, and was congratulated by many other NXT wrestlers afterwards, including Neville and Kevin Owens (the former Kevin Steen). The show ended with Owens powerbombing Zayn onto the ring apron to ruin their reunion. Zayn retained the title against Neville in a rematch on the January 14, 2015 episode of "NXT", but suffered another post-match attack by Owens. After an irate Zayn demanded a match against Owens, even if it meant putting the title on the line, a title match was set for . At the event on February 11, Owens captured the title from Zayn via referee stoppage, having powerbombed a disorientated Zayn five times, ending his reign at 62 days.


title: Sami Zayn

text: On the May 4 episode of "Raw", Zayn was introduced by Bret Hart as John Cena's opponent for his weekly "U.S. Open Challenge" for his United States Championship; taking place in his hometown of Montreal. Zayn was heavily favored by the crowd over Cena, but ultimately lost the match. After the match, Cena let Zayn have the ring to an outstanding ovation from the live crowd following the match. However, Zayn had injured his shoulder before the match and underwent an MRI for further analysis. At on May 20, Zayn's NXT Championship rematch against Kevin Owens ended in a no contest when Zayn was unable to continue the match. Owens continued assaulting Zayn until the debuting Samoa Joe made the save. After a seven-month hiatus, Zayn returned from injury on the December 23 episode of "NXT" (taped at the event on December 16) and defeated Tye Dillinger. Zayn was defeated by Shinsuke Nakamura in the latter's debut match at on April 1, after which both were given a standing ovation and while Nakamura left the ring he was left waving goodbyes to the NXT fans, signaling his final appearance in NXT.


title: Sami Zayn

text: On January 24, 2016, at the Royal Rumble, Zayn competed in the Rumble match at #20, eliminating Kevin Owens before being eliminated by Braun Strowman. On the March 7 episode of "Raw", Zayn made a surprise return to the main roster and attacked Owens, who was attempting to attack Neville after their match. This led to a tag team match on "SmackDown", in which Zayn and Neville defeated Owens and The Miz. Zayn continued to score victories against the likes of The Miz and Stardust. At WrestleMania 32 on April 3, Zayn competed against Owens, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, Stardust, Sin Cara and Zack Ryder in a ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship, which was won by Ryder. On the April 4 episode of "Raw", Zayn was scheduled to compete in a fatal four-way match against Owens, AJ Styles, and Chris Jericho to determine the number one contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, but was attacked by Owens, who attacked him with a Powerbomb through a table backstage, and replaced by a returning Cesaro. Because of the actions of Owens, Shane McMahon gave Zayn another opportunity on the April 11 episode of "Raw" to become a number one contender by having him face Styles, who had won the contender's match the week before, but Zayn lost to Styles. On the April 18 episode of "Raw", McMahon booked Zayn and Owens in a match at Payback on May 1, which Owens won. On the May 9 episode of "Raw", Zayn defeated The Miz to enter a fatal four-way match for the Intercontinental Championship at Extreme Rules on May 22, but Miz retained the title. On the May 23 episode of "Raw", Zayn defeated Sheamus to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match, but at the eponymous event on June 19, he was unsuccessful as the briefcase was won by Dean Ambrose. On July 19 at the 2016 WWE draft, Zayn was drafted to Raw. At Battleground on July 24, Zayn defeated Owens.


title: Sami Zayn

text: At SummerSlam on August 21, Zayn and Neville defeated The Dudley Boyz on the kickoff show. On the September 12 episode of "Raw", Zayn appeared on Chris Jericho's "Highlight Reel" segment, where he was attacked by Jericho, leading to a match at Clash of Champions on September 25, which Jericho won. On the October 17 episode of "Raw", Zayn began a feud with Braun Strowman after preventing him from confronting Raw General Manager Mick Foley. On the October 31 episode of "Raw", Zayn participated in a battle royal to qualify for Team Raw at Survivor Series, but was last eliminated by Strowman. On the November 1 episode of "SmackDown Live", Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler made an open challenge to any wrestler from the Raw brand. The following week, Zayn stated that Mick Foley wanted him to face Ziggler, but Commissioner Stephanie McMahon, who preferred Rusev, made Zayn face Rusev with the winner going on to face Ziggler for the title; Zayn defeated Rusev to earn the title match. On the November 15 episode of "SmackDown Live", The Miz defeated Ziggler for the championship and Zayn instead faced The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship at Survivor Series on November 20, which Zayn lost. On the November 21 episode of "Raw", Mick Foley ordered Zayn to compete in a match with Braun Strowman as punishment for failing to bring the Intercontinental Championship to Raw; Strowman attacked Zayn before the match and attacked him until Foley came out to stop the match. On the November 28 episode of "Raw", during Strowman's match, Zayn attacked Strowman, leading to a faceoff between him and Foley. On the December 12 episode of "Raw", after Zayn defeated Jinder Mahal, he refused to be traded to SmackDown and wanted a match with Strowman. The match was made for on December 18 with a time limit of 10 minutes, which Zayn won after completing 10 minutes. On the January 2, 2017 episode of "Raw", Zayn lost a Last Man Standing match to Strowman, ending the feud.


title: Sami Zayn

text: On the January 23 episode of "Raw", Zayn defeated Seth Rollins to win Rollins' opportunity in the Royal Rumble match after Rollins was distracted by Triple H. At the Royal Rumble on January 29, Zayn entered at #8 and lasted over 47 minutes before being eliminated by The Undertaker. On the January 30 episode of "Raw", Zayn defeated United States Champion Chris Jericho in a non-title match, but failed to win the title the following week. On the February 13 episode of "Raw", Zayn responded to comments made by Samoa Joe during a backstage interview, and was attacked by Joe. At Fastlane on March 5, Zayn lost to Joe. On the March 27 episode of "Raw", Zayn defeated Owens in a no disqualification match to end their feud, saving his job and qualifying for Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33 on April 2, which he failed to win.


title: Sami Zayn

text: On April 11, Zayn was traded to SmackDown as part of the Superstar Shake-up. The following week on "SmackDown Live", Zayn failed to become the number one contender for WWE Championship after losing a six-pack challenge. Zayn defeated Baron Corbin at Backlash on May 21. Zayn was later announced as one of the participants in the Money in the Bank ladder match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view on June 18 along with AJ Styles, Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens and Shinsuke Nakamura, in which he was unsuccessful in winning. Zayn was then involved in a brief feud with Mike Kanellis, whom he lost to in the latter's debut match on the July 18 episode of "SmackDown". A rematch between the two was set for Battleground on July 23 which Zayn won.


title: Sami Zayn

text: At Hell in a Cell on October 8, Zayn helped Kevin Owens defeat Shane McMahon in a Hell in a Cell match, turning heel for the first time in his WWE career. On the October 10 episode of "SmackDown Live", Zayn referred to Owens as his "brother" and explained that his actions were due to McMahon not giving Zayn opportunities despite SmackDown being dubbed the "Land of Opportunity". On the October 24 episode of "SmackDown Live", Zayn lost to Randy Orton, failing to acquire a spot on Team SmackDown to face Team Raw at Survivor Series. At the Survivor Series kick-off show on November 19, Zayn and Owens defeated Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango). Later that night, Owens and Zayn interfered in the main event and attacked Shane, which backfired after Shane attacked both with a steel chair and Orton delivered an "RKO" to Owens. Owens and Zayn defeated Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura in a tag team match at Clash of Champions on December 17 with SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon and SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan as special guest referees and their jobs on the line after a fast count by Bryan. Zayn and Owens then both scored non-title victories over WWE Champion AJ Styles on respective episodes of "SmackDown Live", thus earning a title opportunity against Styles in a handicap match at the Royal Rumble on January 28, where they failed to win the title. Zayn later stole Tye Dillinger's #10 spot at the Royal Rumble match but was eliminated by eventual winner Shinsuke Nakamura.


title: Sami Zayn

text: Zayn walked out on Owens during a tag team match against Styles and Nakamura two nights later on "SmackDown Live". Zayn faced Owens on the February 6 episode of "SmackDown Live" to determine who would face Styles for the WWE Championship at Fastlane, which ended in a double disqualification after Styles, who was on commentary, attacked Zayn and Owens, leading to SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan scheduling a triple threat match for the WWE Championship involving both Owens and Zayn. Zayn then said he would lay down for Owens, only for Zayn to pin Owens in a fatal five-way match. At Fastlane on March 11, Styles retained the WWE Championship in the six-pack challenge. On the March 20 episode of "SmackDown", Zayn and Owens were (kayfabe) fired by Bryan as punishment for an attack against McMahon the week prior. At WrestleMania 34 on April 8, Owens and Zayn lost to Bryan and McMahon, and would have been rehired to SmackDown if they won. On the following "Raw", as free agents, they asked Raw General Manager Kurt Angle for a job. Though reluctant, Angle made a match between the two with the winner earning a Raw contract, which ended in a no contest, leaving them both as free agents. On the April 16 episode of "Raw", Zayn and Owens were awarded Raw contracts by "Raw" Commissioner Stephanie McMahon. At Backlash on May 6, Zayn and Owens faced Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman in a losing effort. At Money in the Bank on June 17, Zayn lost to Lashley. After the event, it was reported that Zayn had surgery to repair both of his rotator cuffs. He was later reported to have undergone a successful double shoulder surgery.


title: Sami Zayn

text: After ten months of inactivity due to injury, Zayn returned on the April 8, 2019 episode of "Raw", losing to Intercontinental Champion Finn Bálor. The following week, Zayn defeated Strowman with the help of Baron Corbin and Drew McIntyre, earning Strowman's spot in the Money in the Bank ladder match. At Money in the Bank on May 19, Zayn was attacked backstage and left unable to compete by what was believed to be Braun Strowman, however it was later revealed to be Brock Lesnar, who took Zayn's place in the match. After the event, Zayn began teaming with Owens again, and they defeated The New Day (Big E and Xavier Woods) at Stomping Grounds on June 23. However, the team of Zayn and Owens drifted apart again after Owens turned face and reignited his feud with Shane McMahon. After their team disbanded, Zayn lost to Rey Mysterio twice, first at "Raw Reunion", and second in the gauntlet match the following week. Zayn then competed in the King of the Ring tournament, but lost in the first round to Cedric Alexander.


title: Sami Zayn

text: On the August 20 episode of "SmackDown Live", Zayn joined forces with Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura after attacking The Miz. Zayn was positioned as Nakamura's mouthpiece. At Clash of Champions on September 15, he helped Nakamura retain his title. As part of the 2019 draft, Zayn was drafted to the SmackDown brand. Following the draft, he would also become the manager of Cesaro. At Survivor Series on November 24, Zayn accompanied Nakamura in a non-title match against United States Champion AJ Styles and NXT North American Champion Roderick Strong, which was won by Strong. On the January 31, 2020 episode of "SmackDown", Nakamura lost the title to Braun Strowman, despite interferences from Zayn and Cesaro.


title: Sami Zayn

text: At Elimination Chamber on March 8, Zayn, Nakamura, and Cesaro defeated Braun Strowman in a 3-on-1 handicap match to win the Intercontinental Championship; Zayn won the title by pinning Strowman. On the March 13 episode of "SmackDown", Zayn began a feud with Daniel Bryan, during which Bryan and Drew Gulak faced Zayn's Artist Collective partners Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro in various matches. On the first night of WrestleMania 36 on April 4, Zayn defeated Bryan to retain the title. On May 12, he was stripped off the championship after refraining from competing during the COVID-19 pandemic, ending his reign at 65 days. On the August 28 episode of "SmackDown", Zayn attacked Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy and declared himself the "real" Intercontinental Champion, eventually reuniting with Cesaro and Nakamura backstage; however, Cesaro dismissed him from the locker room so that he and Nakamura could have some discussion by themselves.


title: Sami Zayn

text: At Clash of Champions on September 27, Zayn defeated Hardy and AJ Styles in a triple threat ladder match to reclaim the Intercontinental Championship by handcuffing both with the ladders. On the October 2 episode of "SmackDown", Zayn defeated Hardy to retain the title. On the November 13 episode of "SmackDown", Zayn retained the title against Apollo Crews by countout. At Survivor Series on November 22, Zayn lost to United States Champion Bobby Lashley in a champion vs. champion match. On the December 25 episode of "SmackDown", he lost the Intercontinental Championship to Big E, ending his second reign at 89 days.


title: Sami Zayn

text: At Royal Rumble on January 31, 2021, Zayn entered at #3 but was eliminated by Big E. On the February 12 episode of "SmackDown", Zayn teamed with King Corbin and defeated The Mysterios (Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio) to qualify for the Elimination Chamber match at the namesake event. At the event on February 21, Zayn was the second man eliminated by Kevin Owens. His gimmick would be tweaked into a deranged conspiracy theorist who believed that WWE bosses were holding him down, and he soon reignited his feud with Owens. Zayn lost to Owens on the second night of WrestleMania 37 on April 11 but defeated him in a rematch at Hell in a Cell on June 20. On the July 2 episode of "SmackDown", Zayn failed to qualify for the men's Money in the Bank ladder match at the namesake event after losing to Owens in a Last Man Standing match, ending their rivalry.


title: Sami Zayn

text: In October, Zayn entered the King of the Ring tournament, where he defeated Rey Mysterio in the first round but lost to Finn Bálor in the semi-finals. On November 6, Zayn was announced as a part of Team SmackDown at Survivor Series, however, on the November 12 episode of "SmackDown", Zayn faced Jeff Hardy in a match with the stipulation that whoever lost was removed from the SmackDown Survivor Series team, which Zayn lost, thus removing him. On the November 26 episode of "SmackDown", Zayn would compete in a battle royal to determine the number one contender for the Universal Championship, last eliminating Jeff Hardy to win the match. On the December 3 episode of "SmackDown", Zayn would face the champion Roman Reigns for the title, but lost in 15 seconds due to Brock Lesnar attacking him before the match. On the December 24 episode of "SmackDown", Zayn won a 12-man gauntlet match to become the number one contender for the Intercontinental Championship.


title: Sami Zayn

text: On the January 7, 2022 episode of "SmackDown", Zayn entered a feud with Johnny Knoxville after Knoxville announced he would be entering the Royal Rumble match. At Royal Rumble on January 29, Zayn entered at #8, eliminating Knoxville before he was eliminated by AJ Styles. On the February 18 (taped February 11) episode of "SmackDown", Zayn defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to win the Intercontinental Championship for the third time in his career. On the March 4 episode of "SmackDown", Zayn lost the title to Ricochet after interference from Knoxville, ending his reign at 21 days (recognized by WWE as 13 days). Zayn then challenged Knoxville to a match at WrestleMania 38 which was made official shortly after. The following week, Zayn failed to regain the Intercontinental Championship from Ricochet in a rematch. On the March 18 episode of "SmackDown", Zayn added an Anything Goes stipulation to their match, and Knoxville accepted the challenge afterwards. On the second night of WrestleMania 38 on April 3, Zayn lost to Knoxville after the latter's "Jackass" co-actors interfered in the match.


title: Sami Zayn

text: Having felt as he had lost respect and credibility in the locker room, starting on the April 22 episode of "SmackDown", Zayn sought to seek favor with The Bloodline, the stable that led by Roman Reigns. On the May 27 episode of "SmackDown," after helping the group on a couple of occasions, Zayn was deemed an "Honorary Uce" and became an associate of the group. On the June 24 episode of "SmackDown", Zayn defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match. At the eponymous event on July 2, Zayn failed to win as the match was won by Theory. On the August 19 episode of "SmackDown", he competed in a fatal five-way match to determine the number one contender for the Intercontinental Championship, which was won by Sheamus.


title: Sami Zayn

text: In the following weeks, the tensions between Zayn and Jey Uso, another member of The Bloodline, escalated as Jey did not trust Zayn, and the constantly argued. On the September 23 episode of "SmackDown", Reigns declared Zayn an official "Honorary Uce". At Survivor Series WarGames, Zayn, along with The Bloodline, defeated the team of Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens, and The Brawling Brutes (Sheamus, Butch, and Ridge Holland) in a WarGames match. After the match, due to Zayn showed his loyalty to the stable by delivering a low-blow to Owens, Jey finally accepted Zayn as part of The Bloodline and the stable celebrated.


title: Sami Zayn

text: Zayn is a playable character in the video games "WWE 2K15", "WWE 2K16", "WWE 2K17", "WWE 2K18", "WWE 2K19", "WWE 2K20", "WWE 2K Battlegrounds" and "WWE 2K22".


title: Sami Zayn

text: Sebei is known for being quiet about his private life. He is married and has a child. He is a Muslim and a vegan, and is fluent in English, Arabic, and French. Sebei is also best friends with fellow professional wrestler Kevin Steen, better known currently in WWE as Kevin Owens. Their friendship has been well documented, dating back to 2002.


title: Sami Zayn

text: In July 2017, Sebei set up a fund called Sami for Syria to support the Syrian American Medical Society.


title: Sami Zayn

text: Sebei, a Canadian citizen, endorsed Bernie Sanders in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.


title: New Balance

text: New Balance Athletics, Inc. (NB), best known as simply New Balance, is one of the world's major sports footwear and apparel manufacturers. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the multinational corporation was founded in 1906 as the New Balance Arch Support Company.


title: New Balance

text: New Balance maintains a manufacturing presence in the United States, as well as in the United Kingdom for the European market, where they produce some of their popular models. New Balance claims to differentiate their products with technical features, such as blended gel inserts, heel counters and a greater selection of sizes, particularly for very narrow or very wide widths. The company is privately held and totaled $4.4 billion in revenue in 2021.


title: New Balance

text: In 1906, William J. Riley, an Irish immigrant, founded the New Balance Arch Support Company in the Boston area, manufacturing arch supports and other accessories designed to improve shoe fit. His first product, a flexible arch support, was designed with three support points to provide greater balance and comfort in the shoe. It is believed that Riley came up with the name "New Balance" by observing chickens in his yard and demonstrated the way his arch supports worked by keeping a chicken foot on his office desk. He explained to customers that the chicken's three-pronged foot resulted in perfect balance. In 1927, Riley hired Arthur Hall to be a salesman. In 1934, Hall became a business partner. The company later did business under the name New Balance Athletic Shoe Company. As New Balance slowly established itself as a niche business in the 1930s, baseball players and track and field athletes sought the company out for its specialty footwear.


title: New Balance

text: In 1956, Hall sold the business to his daughter Eleanor and her husband Paul Kidd. Eleanor and Paul Kidd continued to sell mainly arch supports until 1960, when they designed and manufactured the "Trackster", the first running shoe to come in varying widths. The Trackster gained popularity through YMCA programs in which it became the unofficial shoe. College track teams such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Tufts University and Boston University adopted the Trackster for their cross-country teams, soon to be followed by other colleges and private high schools around the country. Marketing was mostly word-of-mouth or through local sports fairs.


title: New Balance

text: Sales languished until 1972, when 28-year-old Jim Davis bought the company, feeling that "leisure-time products would be a high-growth market." At the time, the company consisted of six people making 30 pairs of shoes daily and selling products primarily through mail-order with a few U.S. retailers. The Boston area became a center for the running boom of the 1970s, and the product line expanded and sales grew rapidly.


title: New Balance

text: In 2001, New Balance purchased canvas sneaker company PF Flyers and re-launched the brand in 2003. In February 2004, the company purchased Warren, Michigan-based Warrier Lacrosse, now Warrior Sports. In 2011 New Balance placed its Aravon, Cobb Hill, and Dunham brands under its Drydock Footwear affiliate. In 2015, New Balance's parent, together with Berkshire Partners, bought the Rockport shoe company from the Adidas Group and combined it with Drydock Footwear under the name The Rockport Group, now with the Aravon, Cobb Hill, Dunham, and Rockport brands. In 2018, The Rockport Group went into bankruptcy and was sold.


title: New Balance

text: In February 2015, New Balance announced its entry into the global soccer (association football) market. The company had started its soccer business through its subsidiary Warrior Sports in 2012, punctuated by a $40-million-a-year sponsorship deal with Liverpool, but made the move to rebrand based on the global reach of the parent brand. Later on, the UK High Court rejected the legal filling of New Balance against the Liverpool's UK£70 million+ kit deal with Nike, which come into force in January 2020 and staggered the Manchester United deal with Adidas for £75 million annually.


title: New Balance

text: During 2016, New Balance opposed the Trans Pacific Partnership and condemned the Obama administration's support for it, arguing that it would hurt their domestic shoe manufacturing (while Nike, which does not manufacture in the US, supported the TPP). Matt Lebretton, the company's Vice President of public affairs said in April 2016 "I would say that when Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump all agree on something, then it has to be given a closer look; and they all agree that TPP is not the right policy." After Donald Trump won the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Lebretton told a reporter, "The Obama administration turned a deaf ear to us [about trade] and frankly, with President-elect Trump, we feel things are going to move in the right direction." Some news outlets reported that an ad hoc boycott campaign was created out of an interpretation of Lebretton's remarks as supportive of Trump. Owner and Chairman Davis donated almost $400,000 to the Trump Victory Committee in September 2016.


title: New Balance

text: In February 2018, the company signed a sponsorship deal with the New York Mets baseball team. In November, New Balance signed NBA star Kawhi Leonard to an exclusive basketball shoe contract. In December, Chief Commercial Officer Joe Preston succeeded Rob DeMartini as New Balance's president. In February 2020, the company announced a multi-year sponsorship deal with the NBA, and launched its new line of Kawhi Leonard-signature sneakers, named "Kawhi". Also in February, the company launched a FuelCell branded shoe with a carbon plate, after new running guidelines allowing the plates in competitive races were approved.


title: New Balance

text: In March 2020, the company announced that it would be converting some of its manufacturing facilities in New England to produce face masks in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: New Balance

text: New Balance's running shoes include its Fresh Foam and FuelCell lines, named for the type of foam in their soles.


title: New Balance

text: The company markets a line of Kawhi Leonard-branded signature basketball shoes. The first version was called "Omn1s", and the second version was named "Kawhi".


title: New Balance

text: New Balance manufactures a line of baseball shoes that are described as a runner's shoe with spikes. The underfoot is designed to relieve spike pressure.


title: New Balance

text: New Balance Numeric is the company's skateboarding shoe brand, which is distributed by Black Box Distribution, a company founded by professional skateboarder Jamie Thomas. The brand also consists of a sponsored team that is coordinated by professional skateboarder John Rattray. The team includes professional skateboarders PJ Ladd, Tiago Lemos, Arto Saari, Brandon Westgate and Jamie Foy.


title: New Balance

text: The company manufactures the Made in USA line of everyday sneakers known for being manufactured in the United States. It also manufacturers a line called Made by Women, created by women who work at New Balance's design and manufacturing facilities in Massachusetts.


title: New Balance

text: New Balance's athletic apparel includes running caps, athletic socks and water bottles. The company also manufactures a line of everyday apparel including snap button shirt-jackets, windbreakers, long-sleeved shirts and track pants, as well as hoodies, sweaters and sweatpants.


title: New Balance

text: New Balance maintains a manufacturing presence in the United States, as well as in the United Kingdom for the European market, where they produce some of their most popular models such as the 990—in contrast to its competitors, which often manufacture exclusively outside the United States and Europe. As a result, New Balance shoes tend to be more expensive than those of many other manufacturers. To offset this pricing difference, New Balance claims to differentiate their products with technical features, such as blended gel inserts, heel counters and a greater selection of sizes, particularly for very narrow or very wide widths. Between 1992 and 2019, the company made approximately $69 billion in profit. In 2017, New Balance's facility in Flimby, England was producing 28,000 pairs of shoes a week, 5 percent of the New Balance shoes sold in the European market.


title: New Balance

text: New Balance sponsors a variety of sports teams, leagues and individuals. Sponsorships include the New York Road Runners, which organizes the New York City Marathon, the National Basketball Association, major league baseball teams the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox, and the Olympic teams of Ireland and Chile at the Rio 2016 Olympics. It has sponsored football national and club teams worldwide, US and European athletics teams, and individual athletes in basketball, cricket, cycling, tennis, rugby, lacrosse, motorsports, and skateboarding.


title: New Balance

text: The company has launched products in collaboration with apparel company Aimé Leon Dore, NBA star Kawhi Leonard, and British fashion designer Paul Smith. The company's brand ambassadors include Boston Red Sox Shortstop Xander Bogaerts, entertainer Jaden Smith and US Olympic sprinter Sydney McLaughlin. In July 2021, it was announced that South Korean superstar IU will be partnering with New Balance as a brand ambassador for its "We Got Now" campaign. In February 2022, during NBA All-Star Weekend, New Balance signed rapper Jack Harlow as a brand ambassador. Harlow is known for frequently wearing New Balance and mentioning the brand in songs.


title: New Balance

text: The company debut on the Olympics stage, dressing the Olympic Council of Ireland and the Chilean Olympic Committee at Rio 2016.


title: New Balance

text: From 2013, New Balance has considerably increased the number of athletes it sponsors. Noticeable athletes signed by the company include Sydney McLaughlin and since 2015, they have sponsored the young rising star Trayvon Bromell. New Balance also sponsors athletics teams such as New Zealand and the Antigua and Barbuda national team.


title: New Balance

text: Since 2011, New Balance have supplied the official uniforms of the Melbourne Football Club in the AFL, the top league of Australian rules football. The company's other official involvement in the game has also included supplying uniforms for both the St Kilda Football Club and Gold Coast Suns since 2021 while providing supplies for lower level competitions including the VFL and SANFL.


title: New Balance

text: The company previously partnered with Matt Bonner of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s San Antonio Spurs, providing him with shoes over a period of several years. James Worthy from the Los Angeles Lakers also used New Balance shoes. During the 2010–11 NBA season, Bonner was sent a prototype for a signature shoe that he was developing with the brand, but the shoes fell apart at the beginning of the game that he first wore them in. After Bonner was informed that the prototype shoes were not meant to be worn, a representative informed him that New Balance was ceasing its sponsorship of basketball. In 2018, New Balance signed then Toronto Raptors small forward, Kawhi Leonard.


title: New Balance

text: From 2017, New Balance signed a 5 year deal with the England & Wales Cricket Board, to become kit supplier to the England team till 2022. New Balance also sponsors the following international cricketers.


title: New Balance

text: Following the official launch in July 2011, New Balance was the primary sponsor of Boston's bike share system, the New Balance Hubway.


title: New Balance

text: New Balance began a partnership with American professional cycling team in 2011, providing the team kits as well as their "exclusive off bike athletic footwear" sponsor.


title: New Balance

text: After its merger in 2004 with Warrior Sports New Balance began to produce lacrosse products, which then leads to sponsorships of players. They began with sponsorship of Major League Lacrosse then in 2018 after the Premier Lacrosse League announcement they became official sponsors of many different players.


title: New Balance

text: The New Balance Foundation was established in 1981. The foundation donates to national and Boston-based charitable organizations, and groups that support children and families with a focus on health, nutrition, education and physical activity.


title: New Balance

text: In 2011, a class action lawsuit was filed against New Balance alleging that the company's toning footwear touts unproven benefits. In support of its claim of false advertising, it cited a University of Wisconsin–La Crosse research study on toning shoes that was funded and published by the American Council on Exercise.


title: New Balance

text: Researchers studying rival toning shoes made by Skechers and Reebok reported that there were no "statistically significant increases in either exercise response or muscle activation" as a result of wearing the toning shoes. There was no statistically significant difference between participants wearing special "toning shoes" and controls wearing normal sneakers. The researchers concluded that there is "simply no evidence to support the claims that these shoes will help wearers exercise more intensely, burn more calories or improve muscle strength and tone." However, it was noted that "These shoes may be encouraging a fair number of people who probably wouldn't put on a normal pair of walking shoes and go out and walk." In August 2012, New Balance agreed to pay $2.3 million to settle false advertising claims.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: The Legend of Tarzan is a 2016 adventure film directed by David Yates. Based on the character Tarzan created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the film stars Alexander Skarsgård, Samuel L. Jackson, Margot Robbie, Djimon Hounsou, Jim Broadbent, and Christoph Waltz. The story follows John Clayton (Tarzan), who, after moving to London, is convinced by George Washington Williams to return to his former home in the jungles of Africa, to investigate claims of slavery.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: Principal photography began on June 21, 2014 at Leavesden Studios in the United Kingdom and wrapped four months later. The film premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on June 29, 2016, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 1, 2016 in 2D, 3D, and IMAX, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It grossed $356.7 million worldwide against a budget of $180 million and received mixed reviews from critics.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: At the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, the Congo Basin is claimed by King Leopold II of the Belgians. Five years later, Leopold has accrued massive debts in exploiting the resources of the Congo Free State, and sends his envoy Léon Rom to secure the fabled diamonds of Opar. Rom's expedition is massacred by warriors led by Chief Mbonga, who offers Rom diamonds in exchange for Tarzan.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: The man once called "Tarzan", The Rt Hon. John Clayton, Earl of Greystoke, has left Africa for his ancestral estate in Britain with his American wife, Jane, and embraced life as a wealthy nobleman. The British Prime Minister offers Lord Greystoke an invitation from Leopold to visit Boma. The Prime Minister and an American envoy, George Washington Williams, explain that Leopold is defaulting on his loans, and a visit from Greystoke – whose exploits as Tarzan have made him a celebrity – would secure Britain's influence in the Congo, but Greystoke refuses. George reveals to John, Lord Greystoke, his suspicions that Leopold is enslaving the Congolese population, and persuades John to go to the Congo to discover the truth. When he arrives back to at Greystoke Manor, a flashback reveals the deaths of John's parents after their shipwreck in Africa, and his adoption by the great apes called the Mangani. In Greystoke country house, Jane is telling visiting children a story. After a fight with Jane that evening, John has a flashback to when he was 5 years old playing in the treehouse with his ape foster mother, Kala and foster brother, Akut, and then is chased by Alpha Male Kerchak.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: John, Jane, and George journey to the Congo, circumventing Rom and his corrupt financier Mr. Frum, and are welcomed by the Kuba village of John and Jane's youth. Jane tells George of John's life with the Mangani, and how she first met him. Rom and his men capture the villagers, killing Chief Muviro, and taking Wasimbu along with other able young men to serve as porters. George rescues John, but Jane and the captive villagers are taken aboard Rom's steamship. Rom reveals to Jane that he arranged John's invitation from Leopold to deliver him to Mbonga. Pursuing the steamship, John, George, and the village's remaining warriors seize a train carrying Belgian soldiers and enslaved Congolese. An engineer informs them of Rom's plan to take over the Congo, sanctioned by Leopold: using slave labor, Rom has built forts across the region, linked by railway and river travel, for an army of 20,000 mercenaries soon to arrive. With Leopold bankrupt, Rom needs the diamonds of Opar to pay for the army.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: Finding documents that will expose Leopold, John and George leave the proof with the Kuba warriors and rescued slaves to deliver to Boma, and the pair continue on through Mangani territory. Confronted by the apes, John is forced to fight their leader, his foster brother Akut. John loses, but he and George are permitted to travel on. Jane and Wasimbu escape the steamship and flee into the jungle. Jane sends Wasimbu off to rally the other tribes, knowing Rom's men will follow her. Jane encounters the Mangani, and Rom's men open fire on the apes. John arrives, saving the surviving Mangani, and pursues Rom, who takes Jane to Mbonga's tribe. It is revealed that years ago, Mbonga's son was killed by John for killing John's foster mother, Kala. Mbonga attacks John, who gains the upper hand but spares the chief. George and the Mangani arrive, and he and John convince Mbonga that Rom is their common enemy.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: Rom takes Jane (who is about to be sold as a slave) and the diamonds to Boma, where the mercenary army approaches shore. John and George send a massive stampede of wildebeest through the town, overrunning Rom's men, as the Kuba warriors arrive by train and free their families. John rescues Jane and pursues Rom, who prepares to deliver the diamonds to Frum and the mercenaries. Williams sinks Rom's steamship, but Rom strangles John with his rosary. Using a mating call to summon crocodiles, John breaks free and leaves Rom to be devoured by the crocodiles, escaping as the vessel's boiler explodes. Frum and the fleet of mercenaries depart. George returns to London and presents the prime minister with an open letter to Leopold exposing the slavery and abuses of the Congolese people. One year later, John and Jane have relocated to Africa, in Jane's father's old house. They celebrate the birth of their son, and John returns to the great apes as Tarzan.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: An updated version of Tarzan had been in the works since at least 2003, with John August writing. followed by John Collee in 2006 with Guillermo del Toro slated to direct. Del Toro dropped out to work on "The Hobbit" and by 2008, it was reported that a different version of "Tarzan", co-written by Stephen Sommers and Stuart Beatle, that was said to resemble the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, was in development. By 2011, Craig Brewer, who also rewrote a version of the script, was set to direct the film, although this did not come to pass. Instead, David Yates was chosen to direct in 2012. Other directors in the running included Susanna White and Gary Ross. In April 2013, it was reported that the production was temporarily suspended due to budgetary concerns.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: For a while, producer Jerry Weintraub wanted swimmer Michael Phelps to play the title role, feeling that he was the heir apparent to Johnny Weissmuller, the actor who had famously played Tarzan, and who was also a prominent competitive swimmer. Weintraub reportedly changed his mind after watching Phelps host "Saturday Night Live", for only two minutes. Other early contenders for the role included Henry Cavill, Tom Hardy, and Charlie Hunnam. On November 14, 2012, Alexander Skarsgård was cast in the title role, the choice of director Yates, while Samuel L. Jackson was being eyed to play Williams in the film. Yates found Skarsgård to be the perfect Tarzan. He liked that he was born in Sweden but had found a career in America, so "he has this wonderful quality of not quite belonging to one or the other", he said. On March 6, 2013, it was reported that Yates wanted Jessica Chastain to play Jane Porter. On September 26, 2013, Christoph Waltz was in talks to play the villain in the film; he was later cast, as Captain Rom.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: The studio eyed Margot Robbie and Emma Stone to play the female lead character, Jane Porter. Emma Watson, Sarah Bolger, Georgina Haig, Lucy Hale, Lyndsy Fonseca, Eleanor Tomlinson, Gabriella Wilde, Lucy Boynton and Cressida Bonas were all considered for the part. On January 18, 2014, Robbie was cast in the film, opposite Skarsgård, beating Stone for the role. On June 4, Djimon Hounsou was set to play Chief Mbonga in the film. On June 17, Osy Ikhile was added to the cast to play a supporting role, but the character was not then named. Casper Crump was cast to play Captain Kerchover. The release of the first trailer in December 2015 revealed that Jim Broadbent was also part of the cast.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: Principal photography on the film commenced on June 30, 2014, at Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, England. Filming had begun on the day an announcement was made for the expansion of the studio. Filming wrapped the same year on October 3. Filming took place for a total of 70 days. According to "The Wall Street Journal", shooting the film in Africa would have made the budget even higher.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: Making Africa seem authentic was especially important to the filmmakers, since the film was shot in England, except for six weeks in Gabon, filming background by helicopter without the cast. A working waterfall and a 100-foot-long collapsible pier were assembled at Warner Bros.’ Leavesden studios. Seven versions of the African jungle were constructed to show different scenery throughout the filming. Plants from Holland were mixed with trees sculpted by the art department. Kedleston Hall stood in for the Greystoke Manor, and a cedar tree on the grounds of Highclere Castle served as the setting for an early pivotal scene between Tarzan and Jane.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: The film's score was composed by Rupert Gregson-Williams. The soundtrack was released on June 16, 2016 by WaterTower Music and on CD on June 24, 2016. Tony Clarke, Thomas Farnon, and Tom Howe are credited for additional music. Hozier provided a single, "Better Love", which is played at the film's end credits.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: The film was released on July 1, 2016 by Warner Bros., in traditional formats as well as 3D and IMAX 3D.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: "The Legend of Tarzan" grossed $126.6 million in the United States and Canada and $230.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $356.7 million. Given its $180 million production budget, it would have had to have earned at least $400 million to break even and justify a sequel. "Deadline Hollywood"s financial analysts stated that Warner Bros. lost an estimated $40 million on the film, although the studio itself asserted the film broke even.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: In the United States and Canada, "The Legend of Tarzan" opened alongside "The BFG" and "", and was projected to gross to $25–33 million in its opening weekend. It opened Friday, July 1, 2016 across 3,561 theaters and 6,700 screens, and grossed $14 million on its opening day, including $1.4 million in IMAX showings. This includes $2.6 million it made from Thursday night previews. In its opening weekend, buoyed by positive word of mouth, the film grossed a better-than-expected $38.5 million, of which IMAX contributed $3.9 million, and $45.6 million over its four-day Independence Day holiday frame, finishing second place at the box office behind "Finding Dory", but first among new releases. However, despite its opening numbers, "Deadline" called the film a "dud", due to its lofty budget.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: Internationally, "The Legend of Tarzan" received a scattered release pattern, in order to take advantage of the competitive landscape surrounding the 2016 European Championship. It is likely that a recoup of the film's hefty production budget will be dependent on international audiences and returns. Jeff Goldstein, Warner's executive vice president of domestic distribution, told "The New York Times", "This property has always really been about the international opportunity." The film opened across 19 markets on the same weekend it debuted in North America, including major territories like Russia and South Korea. In its opening weekend, it grossed $19.3 million on about 6,700 screens, and an IMAX total of $1.2 million from 122 IMAX theaters. In Russia and the CIS, it opened with $3.1 million, debuting in first place at the box office. However, it was the lowest No. 1 opening for a film since April, while in South Korea it debuted at No. 2, with $4 million. In the latter market, it faced significant competition from local films "Familyhood" and "The Hunt", both of which performed strongly. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it came in second place with $4.7 million, including previews, debuting behind the animated "The Secret Life of Pets", and in Australia with $3.2 million, behind "Finding Dory". Elsewhere, Asia had No. 1 openings in India, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. The studio also reported No. 1 debuts in Mexico ($4.6 million), Brazil ($3.4 million), Spain ($1.8 million), Italy ($1.6 million), the majority of Eastern European markets, and Puerto Rico. Germany ($2 million), the UAE ($1.6 million), and Japan ($1.5 million) had similar opening figures.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: In China – the film's second biggest market – the film was granted a rare release date in the month of July, a peculiar move since July is typically the month when Chinese regulators ban foreign films (including Hollywood films) in order to protect and promote their own local films. It opened on Tuesday, July 19, and made $7 million on its opening day. It went on to deliver a six-day opening of around $27 million and a three-day weekend opening of $12 million. Although the opening number was regarded strong, it came in second place, behind "Skiptrace", which occupied a market share in excess of 56%, in comparion to "The Legend of Tarzan"s 16%.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: In terms of total earnings, its biggest markets outside of the United States are China ($45.1 million), Mexico ($13.7 million) and the U.K. and Ireland ($11.9 million).


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 35% based on 260 reviews with an average rating of 5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""The Legend of Tarzan" has more on its mind than many movies starring the classic character, but that isn't enough to make up for its generic plot or sluggish pace." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 44 out of 100 based on 41 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: The Legend of Tarzan (film)

text: Manohla Dargis of "The New York Times" gave the film a positive review, stating "What makes it more enjoyable than a lot of recycled stories of this type is that the filmmakers have given Tarzan a thoughtful, imperfect makeover." In his review, Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" stated "At least it's watchable. In summer, baby, that's high praise."