title: Chaparral

text: Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intensity crown fires. Chaparral features summer-drought-tolerant plants with hard sclerophyllous evergreen leaves, as contrasted with the associated soft-leaved, drought-deciduous, scrub community of coastal sage scrub, found often on drier, southern facing slopes within the chaparral biome. Three other closely related chaparral shrubland systems occur in central Arizona, western Texas, and along the eastern side of central Mexico's mountain chains (mexical), all having summer rains in contrast to the Mediterranean climate of other chaparral formations. Chaparral comprises 9% of California's wildland vegetation and contains 20% of its plant species. The name comes from the Spanish word , which translates to "place of the scrub oak".


title: Chaparral

text: In its natural state, chaparral is characterized by infrequent fires, with natural fire return intervals ranging between 30 years and over a hundred years. Mature chaparral (at least 50 years since time of last fire) is characterized by nearly impenetrable, dense thickets (except the more open chaparral of the desert). These plants are flammable during the late summer and autumn months when conditions are characteristically hot and dry. They grow as woody shrubs with thick, leathery, and often small leaves, contain green leaves all year (are evergreen), and are typically drought resistant (with some exceptions). After the first rains following a fire, the landscape is dominated by small flowering herbaceous plants, known as fire followers, which die back with the summer dry period.


title: Chaparral

text: Similar plant communities are found in the four other Mediterranean climate regions around the world, including the Mediterranean Basin (where it is known as ), central Chile (where it is called ), the South African Cape Region (known there as ), and in Western and Southern Australia (as ). According to the California Academy of Sciences, Mediterranean shrubland contains more than 20 percent of the world's plant diversity. The word "chaparral" is a loanword from Spanish , meaning place of the scrub oak, which itself comes from a Basque word, , that has the same meaning.


title: Chaparral

text: Conservation International and other conservation organizations consider chaparral to be a biodiversity hotspot – a biological community with a large number of different species – that is under threat by human activity.


title: Chaparral

text: The California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, has three sub-ecoregions with ecosystem—plant community subdivisions:


title: Chaparral

text: For the numerous individual plant and animal species found within the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, see:


title: Chaparral

text: Chaparral characteristically is found in areas with steep topography and shallow stony soils, while adjacent areas with clay soils, even where steep, tend to be colonized by annual plants and grasses. Some chaparral species are adapted to nutrient-poor soils developed over serpentine and other ultramafic rock, with a high ratio of magnesium and iron to calcium and potassium, that are also generally low in essential nutrients such as nitrogen.


title: Chaparral

text: Another phytogeography system uses two California chaparral and woodlands subdivisions: the cismontane chaparral and the transmontane (desert) chaparral.


title: Chaparral

text: Cismontane chaparral ("this side of the mountain") refers to the chaparral ecosystem in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome in California, growing on the western (and coastal) sides of large mountain range systems, such as the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada in the San Joaquin Valley foothills, western slopes of the Peninsular Ranges and California Coast Ranges, and south-southwest slopes of the Transverse Ranges in the Central Coast and Southern California regions.


title: Chaparral

text: In Central and Southern California chaparral forms a dominant habitat. Members of the chaparral biota native to California, all of which tend to regrow quickly after fires, include:


title: Chaparral

text: The complex ecology of chaparral habitats supports a very large number of animal species. The following is a short list of birds which are an integral part of the cismontane chaparral ecosystems.


title: Chaparral

text: Transmontane chaparral or desert chaparral —"transmontane" ("the other side of the mountain") "chaparral"—refers to the desert shrubland habitat and chaparral plant community growing in the rainshadow of these ranges. Transmontane chaparral features xeric desert climate, not Mediterranean climate habitats, and is also referred to as desert chaparral. Desert chaparral is a regional ecosystem subset of the deserts and xeric shrublands biome, with some plant species from the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion. Unlike cismontane chaparral, which forms dense, impenetrable stands of plants, desert chaparral is often open, with only about 50 percent of the ground covered. Individual shrubs can reach up to in height.


title: Chaparral

text: Transmontane chaparral or desert chaparral is found on the eastern slopes of major mountain range systems on the western sides of the deserts of California. The mountain systems include the southeastern Transverse Ranges (the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains) in the Mojave Desert north and northeast of the Los Angeles basin and Inland Empire; and the northern Peninsular Ranges (San Jacinto, Santa Rosa, and Laguna Mountains), which separate the Colorado Desert (western Sonoran Desert) from lower coastal Southern California. It is distinguished from the cismontane chaparral found on the coastal side of the mountains, which experiences higher winter rainfall. Naturally, desert chaparral experiences less winter rainfall than cismontane chaparral. Plants in this community are characterized by small, hard (sclerophyllic) evergreen (non-deciduous) leaves. Desert chaparral grows above California's desert cactus scrub plant community and below the pinyon-juniper woodland. It is further distinguished from the deciduous sub-alpine scrub above the pinyon-juniper woodlands on the same side of the Peninsular ranges.


title: Chaparral

text: Due to the lower annual rainfall (resulting in slower plant growth rates) when compared to cismontane chaparral, desert chaparral is more vulnerable to biodiversity loss and the invasion of non-native weeds and grasses if disturbed by human activity and frequent fire.


title: Chaparral

text: Transmontane (desert) chaparral typically grows on the lower ( elevation) northern slopes of the southern Transverse Ranges (running east to west in San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties) and on the lower () eastern slopes of the Peninsular Ranges (running south to north from lower Baja California to Riverside and Orange counties and the Transverse Ranges). It can also be found in higher-elevation sky islands in the interior of the deserts, such as in the upper New York Mountains within the Mojave National Preserve in the Mojave Desert.


title: Chaparral

text: Chaparral is a coastal biome with hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. The chaparral area receives about of precipitation a year. This makes the chaparral most vulnerable to fire in the late summer and fall.


title: Chaparral

text: The chaparral ecosystem as a whole is adapted to be able to recover from naturally infrequent fire (fires occurring a minimum of 30 years apart); indeed, chaparral regions are known culturally and historically for their impressive fires. (This does create a conflict with human development adjacent to and expanding into chaparral systems.) Additionally, Native Americans burned chaparral near villages on the coastal plain to promote grasslands for textiles and food. Before a major fire, typical chaparral plant communities are dominated by manzanita, chamise "Adenostoma fasciculatum" and "Ceanothus" species, toyon (which can sometimes be interspersed with scrub oaks), and other drought-resistant shrubs with hard (sclerophyllous) leaves; these plants resprout (see resprouter) from underground burls after a fire.


title: Chaparral

text: Plants that are long-lived in the seed bank or serotinous with induced germination after fire include chamise", Ceanothus," and fiddleneck"." Some chaparral plant communities may grow so dense and tall that it becomes difficult for large animals and humans to penetrate, but may be teeming with smaller fauna in the understory. The seeds of many chaparral plant species are stimulated to germinate by some fire cue (heat or the chemicals from smoke or charred wood). During the time shortly after a fire, chaparral communities may contain soft-leaved herbaceous, fire following annual wildflowers and short-lived perennials that dominate the community for the first few years – until the burl resprouts and seedlings of chaparral shrub species create a mature, dense overstory. Seeds of annuals and shrubs lie dormant until the next fire creates the conditions needed for germination.


title: Chaparral

text: Several shrub species such as "Ceanothus" fix nitrogen, increasing the availability nitrogen compounds in the soil.


title: Chaparral

text: Because of the hot, dry conditions that exist in the California summer and fall, chaparral is one of the most fire-prone plant communities in North America. Some fires are caused by lightning, but these are usually during periods of high humidity and low winds and are easily controlled. Nearly all of the very large wildfires are caused by human activity during periods of hot, dry easterly Santa Ana winds. These man-made fires are commonly caused by power line failures, vehicle fires and collisions, sparks from machinery, arson, or campfires.


title: Chaparral

text: Though adapted to infrequent fires, chaparral plant communities can be eliminated by frequent fires. A high frequency of fire (less than ten years) will result in the loss of obligate seeding shrub species such as "Manzanita" spp. This high frequency disallows seeder plants to reach their reproductive size before the next fire and the community shifts to a sprouter-dominance. If high frequency fires continue over time, obligate resprouting shrub species can also be eliminated by exhausting their energy reserves below-ground. Today, frequent accidental ignitions can convert chaparral from a native shrubland to non-native annual grassland and drastically reduce species diversity, especially under drought brought about by climate change.


title: Chaparral

text: There are two older hypotheses relating to California chaparral fire regimes that caused considerable debate within the fields of wildfire ecology and land management. Research over the past two decades have rejected these hypotheses:


title: Chaparral

text: The perspective that older chaparral is unhealthy or unproductive may have originated during the 1940s when studies were conducted measuring the amount of forage available to deer populations in chaparral stands. However, according to recent studies, California chaparral is extraordinarily resilient to very long periods without fire and continues to maintain productive growth throughout pre-fire conditions. Seeds of many chaparral plants actually require 30 years or more worth of accumulated leaf litter before they will successfully germinate (e.g., scrub oak, "Quercus berberidifolia"; toyon, "Heteromeles arbutifolia"; and holly-leafed cherry, "Prunus ilicifolia"). When intervals between fires drop below 10 to 15 years, many chaparral species are eliminated and the system is typically replaced by non-native, invasive, weedy grassland.


title: Chaparral

text: The idea that older chaparral is responsible for causing large fires was originally proposed in the 1980s by comparing wildfires in Baja California and southern California. It was suggested that fire suppression activities in southern California allowed more fuel to accumulate, which in turn led to larger fires. This is similar to the observation that fire suppression and other human-caused disturbances in dry, ponderosa pine forests in the Southwest of the United States has unnaturally increased forest density. Historically, mixed-severity fires likely burned through these forests every decade or so, burning understory plants, small trees, and downed logs at low-severity, and patches of trees at high-severity. However, chaparral has a crown-fire regime, meaning that fires consume nearly all the above ground growth whenever they burn, with a historical frequency of 30 to 150 years or more. A detailed analysis of historical fire data concluded that fire suppression activities have been ineffective at excluding fire from southern California chaparral, unlike in ponderosa pine forests. In addition, the number of fires is increasing in step with population growth and exacerbated by human-caused climate change. Chaparral stand age does not have a significant correlation to its tendency to burn.


title: Chaparral

text: Large, high-intensity wildfires are part of the natural fire regime for California chaparral. Extreme weather conditions (low humidity, high temperature, high winds), drought, and low fuel moisture are the primary factors in determining how large a chaparral fire becomes.


title: The Mentalist (season 6)

text: The sixth season of the CBS police procedural series "The Mentalist", created by Bruno Heller, premiered on September 29, 2013 and concluded on May 18, 2014.


title: The Mentalist (season 6)

text: CBS announced that it had renewed "The Mentalist" for a sixth season on March 27, 2013. It was revealed in July 2013 that the mystery of Red John would be revealed before the end of 2013.


title: The Mentalist (season 6)

text: On August 7, 2013, it was announced that characters Wayne Rigsby and Grace Van Pelt, played by Owain Yeoman and Amanda Righetti, both of whom had been on the series since the first episode, would be leaving. Emily Swallow and Rockmond Dunbar were cast as Kim Fischer and Dennis Abbott, two recurring characters with the potential to become series regulars. Dunbar was promoted to series regular on October 18, 2013, three weeks before his first episode had been broadcast. On November 15, Swallow was likewise promoted to series regular before her first appearance was aired.


title: The Mentalist (season 6)

text: The first episode of the season "The Desert Rose" was filmed in Bombay Beach, California. The production team created a sign for the fictional "Borrego Gas Diner" to stand-in for the local bar and restaurant Ski Inn.


title: The Mentalist (season 6)

text: All 22 episodes were included on the five disc complete sixth season set. It was released on September 20, 2014 in Region 1, October 20, 2014 in Region 2, and October 8, 2014 in Region 4. It included the featurette "Patrick Jane: Redeemed, Recovered, Restored" and unaired scenes.


title: Swathi Reddy

text: Swathi Reddy (born 19 April 1987) is an Indian actress and television presenter who predominantly works in Telugu films, along with Tamil and Malayalam films. Her nickname "Colours Swathi" comes from her stint in the Telugu television show "Colours", which was telecast on Maa TV.


title: Swathi Reddy

text: After playing supporting roles, she made her debut as a lead actress in the Tamil film "Subramaniapuram" (2008). Her role in the Telugu film "Ashta Chamma" (2008) earned her the Filmfare Award and Nandi Award for Best Actress. She also worked as a dubbing artist, and a playback singer in a few films. Her other notable films include "Aadavari Matalaku Arthale Verule" (2007), "Swamy Ra Ra" (2013), "Amen" (2013), and "Karthikeya" (2014).


title: Swathi Reddy

text: Swathi Reddy was born in the city of Vladivostok, located in the southerly reaches of the Russian Far East in the erstwhile Soviet Union. Her father, who was an officer in the Indian Navy, was training as a submariner in the Soviet Union when she was born. The Russian lady doctor named her ‘Svetlana’ but later her mom changed it to 'Swathi'. She has one elder brother named Siddharth.


title: Swathi Reddy

text: Reddy's family moved to Mumbai and later to the Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam, where she spent most of her childhood. She did her schooling at St. Francis De Sales’ School in Visakhapatnam. While studying in 11th class, she moved to Hyderabad. She enrolled at St. Mary's College in Yousufguda, Hyderabad and graduated in Biotechnology.


title: Swathi Reddy

text: After her EAMCET, she ventured into television at the age of 17 by hosting a show called "Colours". Due to a positive response, the show was further extended and moved to the primetime slot. She went on to present over 150 episodes.


title: Swathi Reddy

text: After the completion of her first year of graduation, she got an offer to make her film debut in Krishna Vamsi's "Danger" (2005). She was part of an ensemble cast and was one of the five leads. The film received mixed to positive reviews. Priyanka Pulla of fullhyd.com wrote, "Swati making her much-anticipated debut here, has a role somewhat akin to a single member in a Mexican wave - contributory, but not self-sufficient enough to be judged."


title: Swathi Reddy

text: After her second year of graduation, she did a supporting role in "Aadavari Matalaku Ardhalu Verule" (2007). The film won her good acclaim.


title: Swathi Reddy

text: After the completion of her graduation she signed two films. In 2008, she debuted as a female lead in her first Tamil film "Subramaniapuram". For her performance in "Ashta Chamma"(2008)"," she won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu and Nandi Award for Best Actress. She made her debut in Malayalam cinema with "Amen" (2013) which was a super hit.


title: Swathi Reddy

text: Swathi Reddy has been occasionally working as a dubbing artist and playback singer as well. In 2008, she had dubbed for actress Ileana in the film "Jalsa" (2008). In 2010, she gave her voice to an HIV/AIDS education animated software tutorial created by the nonprofit organization TeachAids. In 2011, she turned playback singer, rendering her voice for two songs, "Unbelievable" and "A Square B Square", for the soundtrack albums of her own film "Katha Screenplay Darsakatvam Appalaraju" (2011) and "100% Love" (2011), respectively. She has also appeared in an advertisement for "Cadbury's Dairy Milk".


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Purposeful production of alcoholic drinks is common and often reflects cultural and religious peculiarities as much as geographical and sociological conditions.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Discovery of late Stone Age jugs suggest that intentionally fermented beverages existed at least as early as the Neolithic period (c. 10,000 BC).


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: The oldest verifiable brewery has been found in a prehistoric burial site in a cave near Haifa in modern-day Israel. Researchers have found residue of 13,000-year-old beer that they think might have been used for ritual feasts to honor the dead. The traces of a wheat-and-barley-based alcohol were found in stone mortars carved into the cave floor. Some have proposed that alcoholic drinks predated agriculture and it was the desire for alcoholic drinks that lead to agriculture and civilization.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: As early as 7000 BC, chemical analysis of jars from the Neolithic village Jiahu in the Henan province of northern China revealed traces of a mixed fermented beverage. According to a study published in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" in December 2004, chemical analysis of the residue confirmed that a fermented drink made of grapes, hawthorn berries, honey, and rice was being produced in 7000–6650 BC.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: This is approximately the time when barley beer and grape wine were beginning to be made in the Middle East.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Evidence of alcoholic beverages has also been found dating from 5400 to 5000 BC in Hajji Firuz Tepe in Iran, 3150 BC in ancient Egypt, 3000 BC in Babylon, 2000 BC in pre-Hispanic Mexico and 1500 BC in Sudan. According to Guinness, the earliest firm evidence of wine production dates back to 6000 BC in Georgia.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: The medicinal use of alcohol was mentioned in Sumerian and Egyptian texts dating from about 2100 BC. The Hebrew Bible recommends giving alcoholic drinks to those who are dying or depressed, so that they can forget their misery (Proverbs 31:6–7).


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: In 55 BC the Romans took notice of an alcoholic cider being made in Britain using native apples, it quickly became popular and was imported back to the continent where it spread rapidly. People in Northern Spain were making cider around the same time period. Celtic people were known to have been making types of alcoholic cider as early as 3000 BC.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Wine was consumed in Classical Greece at breakfast or at symposia, and in the 1st century BC it was part of the diet of most Roman citizens. Both the Greeks and the Romans generally drank diluted wine (the strength varying from 1 part wine and 1 part water, to 1 part wine and 4 parts water).


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: In Europe during the Middle Ages, beer, often of very low strength, was an everyday drink for all classes and ages of people. A document from that time mentions nuns having an allowance of six pints of ale each day. Cider and pomace wine were also widely available; grape wine was the prerogative of the higher classes.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: By the time the Europeans reached the Americas in the 15th century, several native civilizations had developed alcoholic beverages. According to a post-conquest Aztec document, consumption of the local "wine" ("pulque") was generally restricted to religious ceremonies but was freely allowed to those who were older than 70 years. The natives of South America produced a beer-like beverage from cassava or maize, which had to be chewed before fermentation in order to turn the starch into sugar (beverages of this kind are known today as "cauim" or "chicha"). This chewing technique was also used in ancient Japan to make sake from rice and other starchy crops.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: The earliest evidence of wine was found in what is now China, where jars from Jiahu which date to about 7000 BC were discovered. This early rice wine was produced by fermenting rice, honey, and fruit. What later developed into Chinese civilization grew up along the more northerly Yellow River and fermented a kind of huangjiu from millet. The Zhou attached great importance to alcohol and ascribed the loss of the mandate of Heaven by the earlier Xia and Shang as largely due to their dissolute and alcoholic emperors. An edict ascribed to BC makes it clear that the use of alcohol in moderation was believed to be prescribed by heaven.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Unlike the traditions in Europe and the Middle East, China abandoned the production of grape wine before the advent of writing and, under the Han, abandoned beer in favor of huangjiu and other forms of rice wine. These naturally fermented to a strength of about 20% ABV; they were usually consumed warmed and frequently flavored with additives as part of traditional Chinese medicine. They considered it spiritual food and extensive documentary evidence attests to the important role it played in religious life. "In ancient times people always drank when holding a memorial ceremony, offering sacrifices to gods or their ancestors, pledging resolution before going into battle, celebrating victory, before feuding and official executions, for taking an oath of allegiance, while attending the ceremonies of birth, marriage, reunions, departures, death, and festival banquets." Marco Polo's 14th century record indicates grain and rice wine were drunk daily and were one of the treasury's biggest sources of income.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Alcoholic beverages were widely used in all segments of Chinese society, were used as a source of inspiration, were important for hospitality, were considered an antidote for fatigue, and were sometimes misused. Laws against making wine were enacted and repealed forty-one times between 1100 BC and AD 1400. However, a commentator writing around 650 BC asserted that people "will not do without beer. To prohibit it and secure total abstinence from it is beyond the power even of sages. Hence, therefore, we have warnings on the abuse of it."


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: The Chinese may have independently developed the process of distillation in the early centuries of the Common Era, during the Eastern Han dynasty.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: A major step forward in our understanding of Neolithic winemaking came from the analysis of a yellowish residue excavated by Mary M. Voigt at the site of Hajji Firuz Tepe in the northern Zagros Mountains of Iran. The jar that once contained wine, with a volume of about 9 liters (2.5 gallons) was found together with five similar jars embedded in the earthen floor along one wall of a "kitchen" of a Neolithic mudbrick building, dated to c. 5400–5000 BC. In such communities, winemaking was the best technology they had for storing highly perishable grapes, although whether the resulting beverage was intended for intoxication as well as nourishment is not known.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Brewing dates from the beginning of civilization in ancient Egypt, and alcoholic beverages were very important at that time. Egyptian brewing began in the city of Hierakonpolis around 3400 BC; its ruins contain the remains of the world's oldest brewery, which was capable of producing up to three hundred gallons (1,136 liters) per day of beer. Symbolic of this is the fact that while many gods were local or familial, Osiris was worshiped throughout the entire country. Osiris was believed to be the god of the dead, of life, of vegetable regeneration, and of wine.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Both beer and wine were deified and offered to gods. Cellars and wine presses even had a god whose hieroglyph was a winepress. The ancient Egyptians made at least 17 types of beer and at least 24 varieties of wine. The most common type of beer was known as hqt. Beer was the drink of common laborers; financial accounts report that the Giza pyramid builders were allotted a daily beer ration of one and one-third gallons. Alcoholic beverages were used for pleasure, nutrition, medicine, ritual, remuneration, and funerary purposes. The latter involved storing the beverages in tombs of the deceased for their use in the after-life.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Numerous accounts of the period stressed the importance of moderation, and these norms were both secular and religious. While Egyptians did not generally appear to define drunkenness as a problem, they warned against taverns (which were often houses of prostitution) and excessive drinking. After reviewing extensive evidence regarding the widespread but generally moderate use of alcoholic beverages, the nutritional biochemist and historian William J. Darby makes a most important observation: all these accounts are warped by the fact that moderate users "were overshadowed by their more boisterous counterparts who added 'color' to history." Thus, the intemperate use of alcohol throughout history receives a disproportionate amount of attention. Those who excessively use alcohol cause problems, draw attention to themselves, are highly visible and cause legislation to be enacted. The vast majority of drinkers, who neither experience nor cause difficulties, are not noteworthy. Consequently, observers and writers largely ignore moderation.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Evidence of distillation comes from alchemists working in Alexandria, Roman Egypt, in the 1st century AD. Distilled water has been known since at least c. 200 AD, when Alexander of Aphrodisias described the process.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Beer was the major beverage among the Babylonians, and as early as 2700 BC they worshiped a wine goddess and other wine deities. Babylonians regularly used both beer and wine as offerings to their gods. Around 1750 BC, the famous Code of Hammurabi devoted attention to alcohol. However, there were no penalties for drunkenness; in fact, it was not even mentioned. The concern was fair commerce in alcohol. Although it was not a crime, the Babylonians were critical of drunkenness.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Alcohol distillation likely originated in India. Alcoholic beverages in the Indus Valley civilization appeared in the Chalcolithic Era. These beverages were in use between 3000 BC and 2000 BC. "Sura", a beverage brewed from rice meal, wheat, sugar cane, grapes, and other fruits, was popular among the Kshatriya warriors and the peasant population. "Sura" is considered to be a favorite drink of Indra.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: The Hindu Ayurvedic texts describe both the beneficent uses of consuming alcoholic beverages and the consequences of intoxication and alcoholic diseases. Ayurvedic texts concluded that alcohol was a medicine if consumed in moderation, but a poison if consumed in excess. Most of the people in India and China, have continued, throughout, to ferment a portion of their crops and nourish themselves with the alcoholic product.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: In ancient India, alcohol was also used by the orthodox population. Early Vedic literature suggests the use of alcohol by priestly classes.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: The two great Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, mention the use of alcohol. In Ramayana, alcohol consumption is depicted in a good/bad dichotomy. The bad faction members consumed meat and alcohol while the good faction members were abstinent vegetarians. However, in Mahabharata, the characters are not portrayed in such a black-white contrast.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Alcohol abstinence was promoted as a moral value in India by Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, and Adi Shankaracharya.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Distillation was known in the ancient Indian subcontinent, evident from baked clay retorts and receivers found at Taxila and Charsadda in modern Pakistan, dating back to the early centuries of the Common Era. These "Gandhara stills" were only capable of producing very weak liquor, as there was no efficient means of collecting the vapors at low heat.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: While the art of wine making reached the Hellenic peninsula by about 2000 BC, the first alcoholic beverage to obtain widespread popularity in what is now Greece was mead, a fermented beverage made from honey and water. However, by 1700 BC, wine making was commonplace. During the next thousand years wine drinking assumed the same function so commonly found around the world: It was incorporated into religious rituals. It became important in hospitality, used for medicinal purposes, and became an integral part of daily meals. As a beverage, it was drunk in many ways: warm and chilled, pure and mixed with water, plain and spiced. Alcohol, specifically wine, was considered so important to the Greeks that consumption was considered a defining characteristic of the Hellenic culture between their society and the rest of the world; those who did not drink were considered barbarians.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: While habitual drunkenness was rare, intoxication at banquets and festivals was not unusual. In fact, the symposium, a gathering of men for an evening of conversation, entertainment and drinking typically ended in intoxication. However, while there are no references in ancient Greek literature to mass drunkenness among the Greeks, there are references to it among foreign peoples. By 425 BC, warnings against intemperance, especially at symposia, appear to become more frequent.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Xenophon (431–351 BC) and Plato (429–347 BC) both praised the moderate use of wine as beneficial to health and happiness, but both were critical of drunkenness, which appears to have become a problem. Plato also believed that no one under the age of eighteen should be allowed to touch wine. Hippocrates (cir. 460–370 BC) identified numerous medicinal properties of wine, which had long been used for its therapeutic value. Later, both Aristotle (384–322 BC) and Zeno (cir. 336–264 BC) were very critical of drunkenness.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Among Greeks, the Macedonians viewed intemperance as a sign of masculinity and were well known for their drunkenness. Their king, Alexander the Great (356–323 BC), whose mother adhered to the Dionysian cult, developed a reputation for inebriety.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Several Native American civilizations developed alcoholic beverages. Many versions of these beverages are still produced today.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Pulque, or octli is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of the maguey, and is a traditional native beverage of Mesoamerica. Though commonly believed to be a beer, the main carbohydrate is a complex form of fructose rather than starch. "Pulque" is depicted in Native American stone carvings from as early as AD 200. The origin of pulque is unknown, but because it has a major position in religion, many folk tales explain its origins.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Balché is the name of a honey wine brewed by the Maya. The drink shares its name with the balché tree (Lonchocarpus violaceus), the bark of which is fermented in water together with honey from the indigenous stingless bee.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Tepache is a mildly alcoholic beverage indigenous to Mexico that is created by fermenting pineapple, including the rind, for a short period of three days.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Tejuino, traditional to the Mexican state of Jalisco, is a maize-based beverage that involves fermenting masa dough.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Chicha is a Spanish word for any of variety of traditional fermented beverages from the Andes region of South America. It can be made of maize, manioc root (also called yuca or cassava) or fruits among other things. During the Inca Empire women were taught the techniques of brewing chicha in Acllahuasis (feminine schools). "Chicha de jora" is prepared by germinating maize, extracting the malt sugars, boiling the wort, and fermenting it in large vessels, traditionally huge earthenware vats, for several days. In some cultures, in lieu of germinating the maize to release the starches, the maize is ground, moistened in the chicha maker's mouth and formed into small balls which are then flattened and laid out to dry. Naturally occurring diastase enzymes in the maker's saliva catalyze the breakdown of starch in the maize into maltose. Chicha de jora has been prepared and consumed in communities throughout in the Andes for millennia. The Inca used chicha for ritual purposes and consumed it in vast quantities during religious festivals. In recent years, however, the traditionally prepared chicha is becoming increasingly rare. Only in a small number of towns and villages in southern Peru and Bolivia is it still prepared. Other traditional drinks made from fermented maize or maize flour include "pozol" and "pox".


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Cauim is a traditional alcoholic beverage of the Native American populations of Brazil since pre-Columbian times. It is still made today in remote areas throughout Panama and South America. "Cauim" is very similar to "chicha" and it is also made by fermenting manioc or maize, sometimes flavored with fruit juices. The Kuna Indians of Panama use plantains. A characteristic feature of the beverage is that the starting material is cooked, chewed, and re-cooked prior to fermentation. As in the making of "chicha", enzymes from the saliva of the "cauim" maker break down the starches into fermentable sugars.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Tiswin, or niwai is a mild, fermented, ceremonial beverage produced by various cultures living in the region encompassing the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Among the Apache, tiswin was made from maize, while the Tohono O'odham brewed tiswin using saguaro sap. The Tarahumara variety, called tesgüino, can be made from a variety of different ingredients. Recent archaeological evidence has also revealed the production of a similar maize-based intoxicant among the ancestors of the Pueblo peoples.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Cacao wine was produced during the formative stage of the Olmec Culture (1100–900 BC). Evidence from Puerto Escondido indicates that a weak alcoholic beverage (up to 5% alcohol by volume) was made from fermented cacao pulp and stored in pottery containers.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Bacchus, the god of wine –for the Greeks, Dionysus– is the patron deity of agriculture and the theater. He was also known as the Liberator (Eleutherios), freeing one from one's normal self, by madness, ecstasy, or wine. The divine mission of Dionysus was to mingle the music of the aulos and to bring an end to care and worry. The Romans would hold dinner parties where wine was served to the guest all day along with a three course feast. Scholars have discussed Dionysus' relationship to the "cult of the souls" and his ability to preside over communication between the living and the dead.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: The Roman belief that wine was a daily necessity made the drink "democratic" and ubiquitous: wine was available to slaves, peasants, women and aristocrats alike. To ensure the steady supply of wine to Roman soldiers and colonists, viticulture and wine production spread to every part of the empire. The Romans diluted their wine before drinking. Wine was also used for religious purposes, in the pouring of libations to deities.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Though beer was drunk in Ancient Rome, it was replaced in popularity by wine. Tacitus wrote disparagingly of the beer brewed by the Germanic peoples of his day. Thracians were also known to consume beer made from rye, even since the 5th century BC, as the ancient Greek logographer Hellanicus of Lesbos says. Their name for beer was "brutos", or "brytos". The Romans called their brew "cerevisia", from the Celtic word for it. Beer was apparently enjoyed by some Roman legionaries. For instance, among the Vindolanda tablets (from Vindolanda in Roman Britain, dated c. 97–103 AD), the cavalry decurion Masculus wrote a letter to prefect Flavius Cerialis inquiring about the exact instructions for his men for the following day. This included a polite request for beer to be sent to the garrison (which had entirely consumed its previous stock of beer).


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Thin, gruel-like, alcoholic beverages have existed in traditional societies all across the African continent, created through the fermentation of sorghum, millet, bananas, or in modern times, maize or cassava.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Medieval Muslim chemists such as Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Latin: Geber, ninth century) and Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (Latin: Rhazes, ) experimented extensively with the distillation of various substances. The distillation of wine is attested in Arabic works attributed to al-Kindī (c. 801–873 CE) and to al-Fārābī (c. 872–950), and in the 28th book of al-Zahrāwī's (Latin: Abulcasis, 936–1013) "Kitāb al-Taṣrīf" (later translated into Latin as "Liber servatoris").


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Distillation in China could have begun during the Eastern Han Dynasty (during the 1st & 2nd centuries), but the earliest archaeological evidence found so far indicates that the true distillation of alcohol began sometime during the Jin or Southern Song dynasties. A still has been found at an archaeological site in Qinglong, Hebei, dating to the 12th century.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: In India, the true distillation of alcohol was introduced from the Middle East. It was in wide use in the Delhi Sultanate by the 14th century.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: The process of distillation spread from the Middle East to Italy, where evidence of the distillation of alcohol appears from the School of Salerno in the 12th century. The works of Taddeo Alderotti (1223–1296) describe a method for concentrating alcohol involving repeated fractional distillation through a water-cooled still, by which an alcohol purity of 90% could be obtained.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: In 1500, German alchemist Hieronymus Braunschweig published "Liber de arte destillandi" (The Book of the Art of Distillation), the first book solely dedicated to the subject of distillation, followed in 1512 by a much expanded version. In 1651, John French published The Art of Distillation the first major English compendium of practice, though it has been claimed that much of it derives from Braunschweig's work. This includes diagrams showing an industrial rather than bench scale of the operation.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Names like "life water" have continued to be the inspiration for the names of several types of beverages, like Gaelic whisky, French eaux-de-vie and possibly vodka. Also, the Scandinavian akvavit spirit gets its name from the Latin phrase "aqua vitae".


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: At times and places of poor public sanitation (such as Medieval Europe), the consumption of alcoholic drinks was a way of avoiding water-borne diseases such as cholera. Small beer and faux wine in particular, were used for this purpose. Although alcohol kills bacteria, its low concentration in these beverages would have had only a limited effect. More important was that the boiling of water (required for the brewing of beer) and the growth of yeast (required for fermentation of beer and wine) would kill dangerous microorganisms. The alcohol content of these beverages allowed them to be stored for months or years in simple wood or clay containers without spoiling. For this reason, they were commonly kept aboard sailing vessels as an important (or even the sole) source of hydration for the crew, especially during the long voyages of the early modern period.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: During the early modern period (1500–1800), Protestant leaders such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, the leaders of the Anglican Church, and even the Puritans did not differ substantially from the teachings of the Catholic Church: alcohol was a gift of God and created to be used in moderation for pleasure, enjoyment and health; drunkenness was viewed as a sin (see Christianity and alcohol).


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: From this period through at least the beginning of the 18th century, attitudes toward drinking were characterized by a continued recognition of the positive nature of moderate consumption and an increased concern over the negative effects of drunkenness. The latter, which was generally viewed as arising out of the increased self-indulgence of the time, was seen as a threat to spiritual salvation and societal well-being. Intoxication was also inconsistent with the emerging emphasis on rational mastery of self and world and on work and efficiency.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: In spite of the ideal of moderation, consumption of alcohol was often high. In the 16th century, alcohol beverage consumption reached 100 liters per person per year in Valladolid, Spain, and Polish peasants consumed up to three liters of beer per day. In Coventry, England, the average amount of beer and ale consumed was about 17 pints per person per week, compared to about three pints today; nationwide, consumption was about one pint per day per capita. Swedish beer consumption may have been 40 times higher than in modern Sweden. English sailors received a ration of a gallon of beer per day, while soldiers received two-thirds of a gallon. In Denmark, the usual consumption of beer appears to have been a gallon per day for adult laborers and sailors. It is important to note that modern beer is much stronger than the beers of the past. While current beers are 3–5% alcohol, the beer drunk in the historical past was generally 1% or so. This was known as 'small beer'.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: However, the production and distribution of spirits spread slowly. Spirit drinking was still largely for medicinal purposes throughout most of the 16th century. It has been said of distilled alcohol that "the sixteenth century created it; the seventeenth century consolidated it; the eighteenth popularized it."


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: A beverage that clearly made its debut during the 17th century was sparkling champagne. The credit for that development goes primarily and erroneously to Dom Perignon, the wine-master in a French abbey. Although the oldest recorded sparkling wine is Blanquette de Limoux, in 1531, the English scientist and physician Christopher Merret documented the addition of sugar to a finished wine to create a second fermentation six years before Dom Perignon joined the Abbey of Hautvillers and almost 40 years before it was claimed that he invented Champagne. Around 1668, Perignon used strong bottles, invented a more efficient cork (and one that could contain the effervescence in those strong bottles), and began developing the technique of blending the contents. However, another century would pass before problems, especially bursting bottles, would be solved and champagne would become popular.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: The original grain spirit, whisky (or "whiskey" in Hiberno-English) and its specific origins are unknown but the distillation of whisky has been performed in Ireland and Scotland for centuries. The first confirmed written record of whisky comes from 1405 in Ireland, the production of whisky from malted barley is first mentioned in Scotland in an entry from 1494, although both countries could have distilled grain alcohol before this date.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Distilled spirit was generally flavored with juniper berries. The resulting beverage was known as jenever, the Dutch word for "juniper." The French changed the name to genievre, which the English changed to "geneva" and then modified to "gin." Originally used for medicinal purposes, the use of gin as a social drink did not grow rapidly at first. However, in 1690, England passed "An Act for the Encouraging of the Distillation of Brandy and Spirits from Corn" and within four years the annual production of distilled spirits, most of which was gin, reached nearly one million gallons. "Corn" in the British English of the time meant "grain" in general, while in American English "corn" refers principally to maize.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: The dawn of the 18th century saw the British Parliament pass legislation designed to encourage the use of grain for distilling spirits. In 1685, consumption of gin had been slightly over one-half million gallons but by 1714 it stood at two million gallons. In 1727, official (declared and taxed) production reached five million gallons; six years later the London area alone produced eleven million gallons of gin.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: The English government actively promoted gin production to utilize surplus grain and to raise revenue. Encouraged by public policy, very cheap spirits flooded the market at a time when there was little stigma attached to drunkenness and when the growing urban poor in London sought relief from the newfound insecurities and harsh realities of urban life. Thus developed the so-called Gin Epidemic.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: While the negative effects of that phenomenon may have been exaggerated, Parliament passed legislation in 1736 to discourage consumption by prohibiting the sale of gin in quantities of less than two gallons and raising the tax on it dramatically. However, the peak in consumption was reached seven years later, when the nation of six and one-half million people drank over 18 million gallons of gin. And most was consumed by the small minority of the population then living in London and other cities; people in the countryside largely consumed beer, ale and cider.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: After its peak, gin consumption rapidly declined. From eighteen million gallons in 1743, it dropped to just over seven million gallons in 1751 and to less than two million by 1758, and generally declined to the end of the century. A number of factors appear to have converged to discourage consumption of gin. These include the production of higher quality beer of lower price, rising corn prices and taxes which eroded the price advantage of gin, a temporary ban on distilling, an increasing criticism of drunkenness, a newer standard of behavior that criticized coarseness and excess, increased tea and coffee consumption, an increase in piety and increasing industrialization with a consequent emphasis on sobriety and labor efficiency.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: While drunkenness was still an accepted part of life in the 18th century, the 19th century would bring a change in attitudes as a result of increasing industrialization and the need for a reliable and punctual work force. Self-discipline was needed in place of self-expression, and task orientation had to replace relaxed conviviality. Drunkenness would come to be defined as a threat to industrial efficiency and growth.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Ethanol can produce a state of general anesthesia and historically has been used for this purpose (Dundee et al., 1969).


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Alcoholic beverages played an important role in the Thirteen Colonies from their early days. For example, the "Mayflower" shipped more beer than water when it departed for the New World in 1620. While this may seem strange viewed from the modern context, note that drinking wine and beer at that time was safer than drinking water – which was usually taken from sources also used to dispose of sewage and garbage. Experience showed that it was safer to drink alcohol than the typically polluted water in Europe. Alcohol was also an effective analgesic, provided energy necessary for hard work, and generally enhanced the quality of life.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: For hundreds of years the English ancestors of the colonists had consumed beer and ale. Both in England and in the New World, people of both sexes and all ages typically drank beer with their meals. Because importing a continuing supply of beer was expensive, the early settlers brewed their own. However, it was difficult to make the beer they were accustomed to because wild yeasts caused problems in fermentation and resulted in a bitter, unappetizing brew. Although wild hops grew in New England, hop seeds were ordered from England in order to cultivate an adequate supply for traditional beer. In the meantime, the colonists improvised a beer made from red and black spruce twigs boiled in water, as well as a ginger beer.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Beer was designated X, XX, or XXX according to its alcohol content. The colonists also learned to make a wide variety of wine from fruits. They additionally made wine from such products as flowers, herbs, and even oak leaves. Early on, French vine-growers were brought to the New World to teach settlers how to cultivate grapes.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Colonists adhered to the traditional belief that distilled spirits were "aqua vitae", or water of life. However, rum was not commonly available until after 1650, when it was imported from the Caribbean. The cost of rum dropped after the colonists began importing molasses and cane sugar directly and distilled their own rum. By 1657, a rum distillery was operating in Boston. It was highly successful and within a generation the production of rum became colonial New England's largest and most prosperous industry.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Almost every important town from Massachusetts to the Carolinas had a rum distillery to meet the local demand, which had increased dramatically. Rum was often enjoyed in mixed drinks, including flip. This was a popular winter beverage made of rum and beer sweetened with sugar and warmed by plunging a red-hot fireplace poker into the serving mug.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: Alcohol was viewed positively while its excessive use was condemned. Increase Mather (d. 1723) expressed the common view in a sermon against drunkenness: "Drink is in itself a good creature of God, and to be received with thankfulness, but the abuse of drink is from Satan; the wine is from God, but the drunkard is from the Devil."


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: In colonial period of America from around 1623, when a Plymouth minister named William Blackstone began distributing apples and flowers, up until the mid-1800s, hard cider was the primary alcoholic drink of the people. Hard cider was prominent throughout this entire period and nothing compared in scope or availability. It was one of the few aspects of American culture that all the colonies shared. Settlement along the frontier often included a legal requirement whereby an orchard of mature apple trees bearing fruit within three years of settlement were required before a land title was officially granted. For example, The Ohio Company required settlers to plant not less than fifty apple trees and twenty peach trees within three years. These plantings would guarantee land titles. In 1767, the average New England family was consuming seven barrels of hard cider annually, which equates to about 35-gallons per person. Around the mid-1800s, newly arrived immigrants from Germany and elsewhere increased beer's popularity, and the temperance movement and continued westward expansion caused farmers to abandon their cider orchards.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: In the early 19th century, Americans had inherited a hearty drinking tradition. Drinking hard liquor was a universally popular occurrence in early nineteenth-century America. Many types of alcohol were consumed. One reason for this heavy drinking was attributed to an overabundance of corn on the western frontier, which encouraged the widespread production of cheap whiskey. It was at this time that alcohol became an important part of the American diet. In the 1820s, Americans drank seven gallons of alcohol per person annually.


title: History of alcoholic drinks

text: In colonial America, water contamination was common. Two means to ensure that waterborne illness, for example typhoid and cholera, was not conveyed by water was to boil it in the process of making tea or coffee, or to use it to make alcohol. As a result, alcohol consumption was much higher in the nineteenth century than it is today -- of pure alcohol per person per year. Before the construction of the Erie Canal, transportation of grain from the west was cost prohibitive; farmers instead converted their grain to alcohol for shipping eastward. This dependence on alcohol as a revenue source led to the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. Later in the nineteenth century opposition to alcohol grew in the form of the temperance movement, culminating in Prohibition in the United States from 1920 to 1933.


title: Knights Templar Cartel

text: The Knights Templar Cartel (Spanish: "Los Caballeros Templarios") was a Mexican criminal organization originally composed of the remnants of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel based in the Mexican State of Michoacán.


title: Knights Templar Cartel

text: The Knights Templar Cartel indoctrinates its operatives to "fight and die" for the cartel. They have taken full control of the now defunct La Familia Michoacana operations in states including Michoacán, Guerrero, the state of Mexico, and Morelos.


title: Knights Templar Cartel

text: After the first alleged death of Francisco Montes and co-founder Nazario Moreno, leaders of the La Familia Michoacana cartel, on 9 December 2010, a split between the cartel leaders emerged. Some of the cartel co-founders, Montes brothers; Fred Montes CM and Frank Montes, Servando Gómez Martínez, and Dionisio Loya Plancarte, formed into a Royalty of "La Familia" calling itself "Caballeros Templarios" (or Knights Templar). A large part of La Familia Michoacana left with them to form the Knights Templar group, while José de Jesús Méndez Vargas kept the leadership of the now greatly diminished "Familia Michoacana", starting a fight for the control of Michoacán.


title: Knights Templar Cartel

text: Along with the Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Cartel, the Knights Templar formed a short-lived joint enforcer gang called Cárteles Unidos (English: "United Cartels") or La Resistencia, composed of well-trained gunmen dedicated to kill and expel Los Zetas Cartel operatives who were invading the former La Familia Michoacana territories in Michoacán and Jalisco.


title: Knights Templar Cartel

text: The Templars' most recent feud is against the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which is trying to gain full control of Jalisco and Michoacán, and also against Civilian vigilante and Militia groups that are fighting back the criminals in an attempt to clear Michoacan from the Knights Templar.


title: Knights Templar Cartel

text: On 27 February 2015, Servando "La Tuta" Gómez Leader of the Knights Templar was arrested by the Mexican federal police. A number of his associates were also arrested and many properties were also seized by the Mexican government.


title: Knights Templar Cartel

text: As of September 2017, it is believed the cartel has ceased to exist after their leader Pablo "El 500" Toscano Padilla and his lieutenant Ezequiel "El Cheques" Castaneda were reported to have been killed by remnants of La Nueva Familia Michoacana Organization while on their way to a regional meeting with members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel to form an alliance with them. By May 2020, all 39 non-New Generation cartel operating in Guerrero were splinter cartels. In June 2020, it was reported that the Cartel del Abuelo and Los Viagras, as well as to a lesser extent the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, were the active cartels in Michoacán.


title: Knights Templar Cartel

text: The former Pope Benedict XVI had a visit scheduled on 23 March 2012 to the Mexican state of Guanajuato. Prior to that date, on 17 March 2012, the Knights Templar Cartel allegedly put up 14 banners on the bridges of León, San Miguel de Allende, Irapuato, Salamanca, Yuriria, Moroleón and Uriangato, all municipalities of Guanajuato, pledging to not provoke any violent acts during the pope's visit. The banners read the following, "The Knights Templar Cartel will not partake in any warlike acts, we are not killers, welcome Pope (sic)".


title: Knights Templar Cartel

text: There were other similar banners that were allegedly signed by their rivals, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.


title: Knights Templar Cartel

text: The Knights Templar cartel was founded on a strict ethical code developed by La Tuta. The code is contained in a small book that is handed out to all members of the cartel and even to the public. The book is decorated with knights on horseback with lances and crosses. The 22 page book is titled "The Code of the Knights Templar of Michoacan" and contains the rules and regulations of the gang. The gang has based its rules on those of the European Knights Templar. Members swear to help the poor and helpless, fight against materialism, respect women and children, not kill for money, and not use drugs. The Knights even go as far as drug testing all members. While the cartel has moved more towards accepting criminal acts prohibited by the ethical code, breaking the code can still incur punishment by death.


title: Jackie Mason

text: Jackie Mason (born Yacov Moshe Maza; ; June 9, 1928 – July 24, 2021) was an American stand-up comedian and actor.


title: Jackie Mason

text: His 1986 one-man show "The World According to Me!" won a Special Tony Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, an Ace Award, an Emmy Award, and earned a Grammy nomination. Later, his 1988 special "Jackie Mason on Broadway" won another Emmy Award (for outstanding writing) and another Ace Award, and his 1991 voice-over of Rabbi Hyman Krustofski in "The Simpsons" episode "Like Father, Like Clown" won Mason a third Emmy Award. He wrote and performed six one-man shows on Broadway.


title: Jackie Mason

text: Known for his delivery and voice, as well as his use of innuendo and pun, Mason's often culturally grounded humor was described as irreverent and sometimes politically incorrect. A critic for "Time" magazine wrote that, throughout his career, Mason spoke to audiences: "... with the Yiddish locutions of an immigrant who just completed a course in English. By mail."


title: Jackie Mason

text: Jackie Mason was born Yacov Moshe Maza on June 9, 1928 (according to the 1940 NYC census), in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the fourth and last son (and only son born in the United States) in a family of six children of strict Orthodox Jews. Mason came from a long line of rabbis, which included his father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather, and his great-great grandfather.


title: Jackie Mason

text: His father Eli Maza and his mother, Belle (Gitlin), were born in Minsk, and immigrated to the U.S. in the 1920s with the rest of Mason's family; his father died in 1959. A Jewish refugee organization helped his father find a position in Sheboygan, as it needed a rabbi. When Mason was five years old, his family moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, largely so that he and his siblings could pursue a yeshiva education, where he grew up on Henry Street, Rutgers Street, and Norfolk Street. There, his parents and their friends all spoke Yiddish.


title: Jackie Mason

text: As a teenager, Mason worked as a busboy at resorts in the Borscht Belt in New York's Catskill Mountains. He recalled: "Twenty minutes, at the Pearl Lake Hotel. I broke all the dishes. They made me a lifeguard. 'But I can't swim', I told the owner. 'Don't tell the guests', he says."


title: Jackie Mason

text: In 1953 Mason graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in his double major of English and sociology from the City College of New York. At age 18 he became a cantor, and at age 25 he received "semikhah" from Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and was ordained a rabbi (as his three brothers, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had been). He led congregations in Weldon, North Carolina, and at Beth Israel Congregation in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He said that in synagogue, "I started telling more and more jokes, and after a while, a lot of gentiles would come to the congregation just to hear the sermons." Three years later, after his father died, he resigned from his job as a rabbi in a synagogue to become a comedian because, he said, "Somebody in the family had to make a living."


title: Jackie Mason

text: Mason wrote most of his own material. A sampling of his humor is his commentary on doctors: "That's a great profession, a doctor. Where else can you ask a woman to get undressed and then send the bill to her husband?" And his commentary on what is important in life: "Money is not important. Love is important. Fortunately, I love money." As well as his ruminations on pleasing people: "You can't please everyone. I have a girlfriend. I think she's the most wonderful person in the world. That's to me. But to my wife ..." And on trust: "My grandfather always said that I shouldn't watch my money. That I should watch my health. So while I was watching my health, someone stole my money. It was my grandfather." And on fidelity: "Eighty percent of married men cheat in America. The rest cheat in Europe."


title: Jackie Mason

text: He was a comedian at the Fieldston Hotel in Swan Lake, New York, in the summer of 1955. Mason was let go because his act was considered too far ahead of its time. The patrons had not been exposed to a comic who seemed to be ridiculing them. A few years later, Don Rickles came along, but at that point audiences had become open to this type of humor throughout the Borscht Belt. He adopted his stage name after appearing on the Barry Gray radio show. He performed at New York City nightclubs (where he was earning as much as $10,000 ($ in current dollar terms) a week), and on "The Steve Allen Show", his first national TV appearance, in 1962, and the "Tonight Show" with Steve Allen, as well as on "The Perry Como Show", "The Dean Martin Show", and "The Garry Moore Show". The William Morris Agency advised him in 1962 to take elocution lessons so that he could shed his heavy Yiddish accent, but he refused.


title: Jackie Mason

text: Mason made several appearances as a guest on "The Ed Sullivan Show" during the 1960s. He claimed to have been on the episode which featured the American television debut of the Beatles, although research does not bear this fact out. Mason revealed during his appearance on the BBC show "Desert Island Discs", in March 2012, that at the time he did not think much of the group, referring to them as "four kids in search of a voice who needed haircuts". In 1962 he came out with his initial LP record, a best-seller entitled "I'm the Greatest Comedian in the World, Only Nobody Knows It Yet", followed by "I Want to Leave You with the Words of a Great Comedian".


title: Jackie Mason

text: In the "Desert Island Discs" interview, he also related how Frank Sinatra and a group of others once came to his show in Las Vegas and Sinatra started heckling his act. Mason made uncomplimentary comments to Sinatra until he "and his whole group" left. When asked whether he thought it was naïve to do that, given Sinatra's connections with "the Mob", Mason said, "No, I said to myself...what could they do me?" He went on to describe how shots were later fired into his room which cracked all the windows. The police did not pursue an investigation.


title: Jackie Mason

text: On October 18, 1964, in an appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show", Mason allegedly gave host Ed Sullivan the finger on air. Footage of the incident shows Mason in the middle of doing his stand-up comedy act and then looking toward Sullivan, who had placed himself directly behind the camera, commenting that Sullivan was signaling him. Sullivan was reportedly letting Mason know (by holding up two fingers) that he had only two minutes left, and to cut his act short, as the program was about to cut away due to having been partly pre-empted by an impromptu speech by President Lyndon B. Johnson that the show carried.


title: Jackie Mason

text: Mason began working his own fingers into his act to make fun of the situation and pointed toward Sullivan with an index finger, a thumb, but not, as Sullivan mistakenly believed, his middle finger. Sullivan was infuriated by this, and banned Mason from future appearances on the show, canceling Mason's six-appearance contract worth $45,000 (). Mason denied knowingly giving Sullivan the middle finger; he later said that he had not heard of the middle finger gesture at that time.


title: Jackie Mason

text: To clear his name, Mason filed a libel suit on the grounds that Sullivan had defamed him at the New York Supreme Court. That court dismissed most of Mason's complaint. Both Mason and Sullivan appealed to the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division (which reinstated three additional causes of action against Sullivan) in June 1966.


title: Jackie Mason

text: Mason was nevertheless banned from the show for a period of time. Sullivan asserted that Mason was unpredictable and could not be trusted. Because of Sullivan's influence, he was branded as unreliable, volatile, and obscene, and he failed to get substantial television work for the next two decades.


title: Jackie Mason

text: Mason was given a single comeback appearance on Sullivan's television program two years later, and Sullivan publicly apologized to him, but the damage was done. At that time, Mason opened his monologue by saying, "It is a great thrill ... and a fantastic opportunity to see me in person again." Mason later appeared on the show five times: April 23, 1967; February 25, 1968; November 24, 1968; July 22, 1969; and August 31, 1969. Mason later said: "It took twenty years to overcome what happened in one minute".


title: Jackie Mason

text: In 1969, Mason made his Broadway theater debut as Jewish widower Nat Weiss in the comedy play "A Teaspoon Every Four Hours", which he wrote with Mike Mortman. It held the Broadway record of 97 previews and closed after its official opening performance (a preview record succeeded by "" with its 182 previews prior to opening). He also appeared in the films "The Jerk" (1979) and "History of the World, Part I" (1981).


title: Jackie Mason

text: In 1986, Mason made a triumphant return to Broadway in the two-year run of "The World According to Me!" which ran for 367 performances in its first run and 203 performances in its second run at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, his first of several one-man theatrical shows. It was well received both by critics and the public; Frank Rich, the sometimes harsh reviewer of "The New York Times", wrote: "So sue me ... Mason was very, very funny". It won a Special Tony Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, an Ace Award, an Emmy Award, and a Grammy nomination. His special "Jackie Mason on Broadway" won an Emmy Award for outstanding writing and an Ace Award.


title: Jackie Mason

text: Mason starred in the movie "Caddyshack II" (1988), where his character had the same surname, Hartounian, as his character in "The Jerk". In 1990 and 1991, Mason again was on Broadway, this time with his successful two-act show "Brand New", which ran for 216 performances at the Neil Simon Theatre, and won him his second Outer Critics Circle Award. Critic Clive Barnes of the "New York Post" praised the "brilliant" comic and his "totally new from top to "tuchis"" humor. Critic Mel Gussow of "The New York Times" remarked on the "exact meeting" between performance and material in which Mason engaged in a comic attack on everyone, including himself, cutting them all down to size.


title: Jackie Mason

text: In 1992, Mason won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his voice-over of Rabbi Hyman Krustofski in "The Simpsons" episode "Like Father, Like Clown", making him the first guest star to win an Emmy for his role. Mason also appeared in "The Simpsons" episodes "Today I Am a Clown", "Once Upon a Time in Springfield", "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution", "At Long Last Leave", and "Clown in the Dumps"; the last episode focuses upon Rabbi Krustofski's death and its effects on his son, Krusty the Clown. The character would appear three more times in fantasy sequences/flashbacks in "The Nightmare After Krustmas", "Flanders' Ladder" and "Woo-Hoo Dunnit? which was his final appearance in the series and final acting performance before his death in 2021."


title: Jackie Mason

text: One of his Broadway shows, his two-act "Politically Incorrect" (1994–95) ran for 347 performances at Broadway's John Golden Theater. Critic John Simon of "Time" wrote: "His method is hyperbole and "reductio ad absurdum", but always informed by bitter reason. His irony is a spotlight illuminating our absurdities; his zingers are scalpels laying bare the sickness under the skin. There is a unifying thrust, a focus, a structure: an attack on both liberal hypocrisy and conservative apathy, and on the climate of political correctness that makes it impossible to attack anyone but WASPs. ... Mason is a true satirist in the mold of ... Mark Twain . ... " It was performed during the same period that Bill Maher's late-night, half-hour political TV talk show "Politically Incorrect" was on the air. Maher brought a lawsuit against Mason's production, which was dismissed as frivolous. Mason was able to use this show title, and it is one of his most successful road productions. Between these shows, Mason played the lead in a short-lived television interfaith sitcom called "Chicken Soup" alongside Lynn Redgrave.


title: Jackie Mason

text: Mason also put on the Broadway one-man shows "Love thy Neighbor" (1996–97) which ran for 225 performances at the Booth Theatre (critic Lawrence Van Gelder of "The New York Times" described Mason's routines as "roaringly funny"), "Much Ado About Everything" (1999–2000) which was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment for its run in London) and ran for 183 performances at the John Golden Theatre (in this effort Van Gelder described Mason as "convulsing audiences"), "Prune Danish" (2002; nominated for a Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event), "Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed" (2005; for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance), and "The Ultimate Jew" (2008).


title: Jackie Mason

text: In a 2005 poll to find the Comedian's Comedian, Mason was voted #43 among the top-50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. He was also ranked #63 in "Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time". He holds the record for the longest-running one-man show in Broadway history and the longest-running stand-up show in the history of London's West End.


title: Jackie Mason

text: His full-length courtroom dramedy motion picture "One Angry Man" was released in 2010 throughout the US and Canada. Mason's most recent film "Jackie Goldberg: Private Dick" (2011) was a direct-to-DVD production, released by FilmWorks Entertainment.


title: Jackie Mason

text: A longtime Democrat, Mason was a registered Republican by 2007. He had spoken out in defense of Donald Trump.


title: Jackie Mason

text: Mason was an admirer of Rabbi Meir Kahane. He openly endorsed Kahane's plan to pay Israeli Arabs unwilling to accept Israeli sovereignty to emigrate. He also served as the honored speaker at a fundraising event for a yeshiva founded by Kahane.


title: Jackie Mason

text: In January 2001, Mason co-founded the organization One Jerusalem in response to the Oslo peace agreement. Its stated cause is "Maintaining a united Jerusalem as the un-divided capital of Israel."


title: Jackie Mason

text: In 1991, Mason was criticized by African-American organizations including the NAACP, when he called New York City mayor David Dinkins "a fancy "" with a moustache"; Mason later apologized. In 2009, Mason referred to Barack Obama as a "shvartze" during one of his stand-up routines, which prompted members of the audience to walk out.


title: Jackie Mason

text: In 2003, Mason co-wrote an article that advised Israeli leaders to threaten the expulsion of Palestinians from Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip. Mason and Raoul Felder wrote, "We have paralyzed ourselves by our sickening fear of World Opinion, which is why we find it impossible to face one simple fact: We will never win this war unless we immediately threaten to drive every Arab out of Israel if the killing doesn't stop."


title: Jackie Mason

text: On 2006, Mason filed a lawsuit against the group Jews for Jesus for using his likeness in a pamphlet. His image was used next to the tagline "Jackie Mason ... a Jew for Jesus!?" Mason said in court papers filed in New York: "While I have the utmost respect for people who practice the Christian faith, the fact is, as everyone knows, I am as Jewish as a Matzah ball or kosher salami." Mason asserted that the group was using his image and fame to gain attention and converts. The group responded to the suit by saying, "Shame on him for getting so upset about this." The lawsuit was settled in 2006, with Jews for Jesus apologizing.


title: Jackie Mason

text: In 2012, Mason said that a friend at the time, Kaoru Suzuki-McMullen, attacked him while leaving his apartment on West 57th Street in Manhattan. Suzuki-McMullen said she was attacked by Mason, but she was arrested. Both sides agreed to drop the matter and all charges were dropped against Suzuki-McMullen.


title: Jackie Mason

text: Mason died on July 24, 2021, at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan after being hospitalized for over two weeks.


title: Jackie Mason

text: Many celebrities and other notable figures mourned Mason's death. Gilbert Gottfried called him "one of the best." Fox News personality Sean Hannity remarked that he was "irreverent, iconoclastic, funny, smart and a great American patriot." Actor Henry Winkler tweeted that Mason put on "truly one of the funniest shows I have ever seen .. ever .. thank you Jackie and now you get to make heaven laugh."


title: Jackie Mason

text: Mason appeared in over 200 self-written video blog entries on YouTube, in which he gave his opinions on current events and politics. He also experimented with podcasting, and in February 2012 appeared on the cult British podcast "Answer Me This!", to promote his West End stand-up show, "Fearless".


title: Jackie Mason

text: Mason won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program for his 1988 HBO special "The World According to Me!" (also known as "Jackie Mason on Broadway"). He also won a 1992 Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his role as Rabbi Krustofsky on "The Simpsons", shared with five of the show's regular cast members.


title: Jackie Mason

text: In DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' animated cartoon series "The Ant and the Aardvark", the Aardvark's voice was performed by John Byner as an imitation of Mason.


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: The Money in the Bank ladder match is a multi-person ladder match held by the professional wrestling promotion WWE. First contested at WWE's annual WrestleMania event beginning in 2005, a separate Money in the Bank pay-per-view was established in 2010. The prize in the match is a briefcase containing a contract for a championship match of the winner's choice, which can be "cashed in" by the holder of the briefcase at any point in the year following their victory—until 2022, the contract was only for a world championship match. If the contract is not used within a year of winning it, it will be invalid, but this has yet to happen. From its inception until 2017, ladder matches only involved male wrestlers. Beginning with the 2017 Money in the Bank event, women also have the opportunity to compete in such a match, with their prize being a contract for a women's championship match.


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: The first match was contested in 2005 at WrestleMania 21, after Chris Jericho invented the concept. At the time, it was exclusive to wrestlers of the Raw brand, and Edge won the inaugural match. From then until WrestleMania XXVI, the Money in the Bank ladder match, now open to all WWE brands, became a WrestleMania mainstay. The 2010 Money in the Bank event saw a second and third Money in the Bank ladder match when the eponymous WWE pay-per-view debuted in July, with WrestleMania no longer featuring the match. Unlike the matches at WrestleMania, this new event included two such ladder matches: one each for a contract for a WWE Championship match and a World Heavyweight Championship match, respectively.


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: Before the establishment of the annual Money in the Bank pay-per-view, wrestlers were allowed to use the contract to claim a match for any world championship in WWE. After the establishment of the pay-per-view, the Money in the Bank contracts were specifically aimed at one or the other championship. With the championship unification of the WWE and World Heavyweight titles into the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the event, there was only a single contract in play. This went into effect beginning with the 2014 Money in the Bank event.


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: The brand split returned shortly after the 2016 Money in the Bank event along with a new world title. The 2017 event was SmackDown-exclusive and the contract was a match for its world championship, the WWE Championship (formerly WWE World Heavyweight Championship). It also included the first-ever women's Money in the Bank ladder match, with the winner receiving a contract for a SmackDown Women's Championship match. Due to the controversy surrounding the ending of that match, the first non-pay-per-view Money in the Bank ladder match occurred on the June 27 episode of "SmackDown Live". It became dual-branded beginning with the 2018 Money in the Bank event, involving both the Raw and SmackDown brands with one men's match and one women's match with participants evenly divided between the brands; the respective contracts guaranteed the winner a championship match for the top title of their respective brand, allowing Raw wrestlers (should they win) to cash-in on the Universal Championship or Raw Women's Championship. Beginning with the 2019 Money in the Bank, the respective winners could challenge either brand's champion.


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: At the 2020 Money in the Bank event, while the rules of the match remained the same, a "Corporate Ladder" gimmick was added on top of the match; both the men's and women's matches, which were held at the same time, took place at WWE's Titan Towers in Stamford, Connecticut, in which the participants began on the ground floor of the building and fought their way to the roof where a ring and ladders were located with the briefcases suspended above the ring; this change was brought about due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The matches returned to their regular format for the 2021 Money in the Bank event. While the contract was originally only for a world championship match, 2022 Money in the Bank winner Austin Theory was the first to cash-in on a non-world championship when he unsuccessfully challenged for the WWE United States Championship.


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: The Money in the Bank ladder match can involve anywhere from 5–10 participants, with the objective being to retrieve a briefcase that is suspended 20 feet above the ring. The match was originally only for male wrestlers until 2017, when women began to have their own ladder match. The briefcase originally contained a contract that guaranteed a match for a world championship, and beginning in 2017 also a women's world championship—as of 2022, the contract can be used on any championship. The original match at WrestleMania 21 was exclusive to the Raw brand, with the contract guaranteeing a match for Raw's top title at the time, the World Heavyweight Championship. After this, wrestlers had the option between the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship, regardless of the brand the wrestler belonged to. In 2006, ECW's world title, the ECW Championship, became a third option until 2010, as in February that year, the ECW brand along with the title was deactivated; despite being an option, no contract holder cashed-in on the ECW Championship.


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: Beginning with the 2010 Money in the Bank event in July, it included two ladder matches, one for the Raw brand and one for SmackDown; Raw's ladder match was for a contract for a match for its top title at the time, the WWE Championship, while SmackDown's contract was for a match for its top title at the time, the World Heavyweight Championship. Although the WWE brand split ended after the 2011 event, a ladder match dedicated to each championship continued through the 2013 event. In December 2013, the titles were unified as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The next three years' events included a sole ladder match with a contract guaranteeing a match for the unified title. The brand split returned after the 2016 event. The WWE World Heavyweight Championship was made exclusive to SmackDown and renamed back to WWE Championship, while Raw established the WWE Universal Championship as their top title. Despite this, the 2017 event was SmackDown-exclusive and the contract was for a match for its world title. The 2017 event also saw the first women's Money in the Bank match with its contract for a SmackDown Women's Championship match.


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: Brand-exclusive PPVs ended following WrestleMania 34 in 2018, with all future events involving both the Raw and SmackDown brands. The Money in the Bank event now features two ladder matches, one for males and one for females, and each has eight participants evenly divided between the brands. The 2018 event was also the first year that the winners could challenge for the Universal Championship and Raw Women's Championship, respectively. For 2018, the winners received a contract for a match for their respective brand's world championship; in 2019, it was changed so that the winners could choose either brand's top championship. The 2020 event saw a variation to the match due to the COVID-19 pandemic: the men's and women's matches, featuring only six competitors each but still evenly divided between the brands, were moved to WWE's headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, and occurred at the same time, with all competitors beginning on the ground floor and fighting their way to the roof where the briefcases were suspended above a ring. The 2021 event returned to the standard rules, but the 2022 event saw an uneven number of participants in the women's match; there were seven participants with four from Raw and three from SmackDown. The men's match was originally booked with an uneven division but that was rectified just before the match occurred. The 2022 event also changed the rules of the contract: winners can now challenge for any championship, as demonstrated by 2022 winner Austin Theory, who unsuccessfully cashed in on the WWE United States Championship.


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: The primary gimmick of the Money in the Bank briefcase is that it can be cashed in at the holder's sole discretion, at literally any time on any WWE programming. This enables the holder to take advantage of a moment's weakness in the champion, even if the champion had just finished a title defense for the night. This strategic use of the briefcase was popularized by Edge, the first Money in the Bank holder, who cashed it in at New Year's Revolution in January 2006, immediately after defending champion John Cena had finished a grueling Elimination Chamber match against five other wrestlers. Because Cena was exhausted and barely able to defend himself, Edge made quick work of the champion, thus setting a powerful precedent for all Money in the Bank holders to come. At WrestleMania 31 in 2015, Seth Rollins set a precedent that a cash-in can even occur whilst a championship match is in progress; Rollins cashed in during the main event match between Royal Rumble winner Roman Reigns and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, converting the match to a triple threat match, and pinned the challenger Reigns to win the title. The Miz attempted to repeat this at the event; however, since his tag team partner John Morrison cashed in the contract on his behalf, it was ruled an invalid cash-in and the contract was returned to Miz, thus enforcing that only the contract holder can cash in the contract.


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: The contract is valid for one year and the briefcase holder—dubbed "Mr./Ms. Money in the Bank"—can cash in the contract at the date, place, and time of their choosing. The briefcase may also be defended in matches, similar to how championships are defended. All of the briefcase holders have successfully defended and cashed in the contract except Mr. Kennedy and Otis, who both won the contract in the ladder match but lost the contract in defending the contract itself in a match. John Cena, Damien Sandow, Baron Corbin, Braun Strowman, and Austin Theory are the only Money in the Bank contract holders to cash in and fail to gain a championship. To date, Cena, Charlotte Flair, and Seth Rollins have had the contract cashed in against them the most (three times), as Edge, Rob Van Dam, and Damien Sandow have all cashed in against Cena, Carmella, Bayley, and Nikki A.S.H. have all cashed in against Flair, and Dean Ambrose, Brock Lesnar, and Austin Theory have all cashed in against Rollins, who has the unique distinction in that all three cash-ins against him were for different championships: the WWE World Heavyweight Championship with Ambrose, the Universal Championship with Lesnar, and the United States Championship with Theory. Cena was also involved in the first three instances where the championship failed to change hands after cashing in the contract: once as the challenger, which he won by disqualification against CM Punk, the second time as champion by defeating Sandow clean, and lastly as a distraction causing Corbin to lose to champion Jinder Mahal. Strowman was the first to fail by a no-contest ruling, when Brock Lesnar interfered during his Universal Championship match against Roman Reigns at the 2018 Hell in a Cell event and laid out both men. Theory is the most recent wrestler to fail in his cash in, losing to United States Champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins thanks to an attack by Bobby Lashley on the November 7, 2022, episode of "Raw". Edge, Daniel Bryan, and Seth Rollins are the only Money in the Bank contract holders to be given a title opportunity that was not their cash-in match: Edge won a championship tournament in 2005 on "Raw" to earn him a World Heavyweight Championship match against Batista, Bryan faced reigning World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry in a steel cage match on the November 29, 2011, episode of "SmackDown", and Rollins received a title shot in a triple threat match, also involving Cena and reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar at the 2015 Royal Rumble. Rollins and Lesnar also have a unique history of cash-ins with each other, as they are the only two contract holders to cash in on one another and win a championship: Rollins at WrestleMania 31 when he cashed in and won Lesnar's WWE World Heavyweight Championship and Lesnar at Extreme Rules 2019 when he cashed in and won Rollins' Universal Championship.


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: In kayfabe, the concept for the Money in the Bank match was introduced in March 2005 by Chris Jericho. Jericho then pitched the idea to Raw general manager Eric Bischoff, who liked it and promptly began to book the match for WrestleMania 21. Edge won the inaugural match and held the contract until New Year's Revolution in January 2006. There, he cashed in his Money in the Bank contract against WWE Champion John Cena, who had just successfully defended the title in an Elimination Chamber match. Edge defeated Cena to become WWE Champion and quickly establishing the precedent of "cashing in" on a vulnerable champion.


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: The Money in the Bank idea was revived by Carlito on a February 2006 episode of "Raw". Mr. McMahon approved the suggestion and set up qualifying matches for the match that would take place at WrestleMania 22. It was later announced that the match was to be interpromotional, and SmackDown! general manager Theodore Long also set up qualifying matches to select three members of his roster to compete. In the Raw brand qualifying matches, Rob Van Dam defeated Trevor Murdoch, Shelton Benjamin defeated Chavo Guerrero, and Ric Flair defeated Carlito. On "SmackDown!", Finlay defeated Bobby Lashley, Matt Hardy defeated Road Warrior Animal, and Bobby Lashley won a "last chance battle royal".


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: Rob Van Dam won the WrestleMania 22 Money in the Bank ladder match after pushing Shelton Benjamin and Matt Hardy off of a ladder, while he was on another ladder, and retrieving the briefcase. That April, he defended the contract and won the WWE Intercontinental Championship in a contract vs. title/winner take all match against Benjamin at Backlash. Van Dam announced in May 2006 that he would cash in his contract at ECW One Night Stand against Cena in an Extreme Rules match. The match ended with Cena losing (with interference from Edge spearing Cena) after Van Dam performed a "Five Star Frog Splash". Van Dam is the first person to give prior notice to an opponent before cashing in his contract, presumably to ensure Cena appeared at the event.


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: The third Money in the Bank ladder match was held at WrestleMania 23, and was the first to involve eight participants from Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW. Qualifying matches began on the February 19 episode of "Raw". On the February 19 episode of "Raw", two former Money in the Bank winners (Edge and Rob Van Dam) faced off, with Edge earning a pinfall win to earn the first spot in the match.


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: The next night on "ECW", another cross-brand match took place, with CM Punk defeating Johnny Nitro to qualify. On that week's "SmackDown!", King Booker defeated Kane in a Falls Count Anywhere match following interference from The Great Khali to become the third man to qualify. On the following episode of "Raw", Jeff Hardy defeated Shelton Benjamin to become the fourth man to qualify. The next night on "ECW", Mr. Kennedy defeated Sabu in an Extreme Rules match to earn the fifth spot. Two qualifying matches took place on the next "SmackDown!"'s episode, with Matt Hardy defeating Joey Mercury, while Finlay won a triple threat match against Chris Benoit and Montel Vontavious Porter to qualify. What was to be the final qualifying match on "Raw" between Carlito and Ric Flair, it was deemed to be a no contest when The Great Khali interfered and attacked both men. The match was rescheduled for the next week on "Raw", with Randy Orton bribing his way into the match, which was to be a triple threat elimination match that Orton won by pinning both Carlito and Flair after performing an "RKO" on each of them. Edge and Orton had recently stopped teaming together, and there was a lot of tension between them as they both attempted to get the other taken out of the Money in the Bank ladder match; both failed, as Edge ultimately won a "last chance battle royal" after feigning injury to retain his slot. Orton was forced to fight Bobby Lashley on "ECW" to retain his spot, which he did.


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: Kennedy ultimately won at WrestleMania 23, after ramming Punk off the ladder using another ladder (Edge had been taken out earlier by Jeff Hardy). During the next few weeks, Kennedy kept declaring that he would cash in the briefcase at WrestleMania XXIV, however, on the May 7, 2007 episode of "Raw", he defended and lost the Money in the Bank briefcase to Edge. Kennedy was the first wrestler in WWE history to lose the briefcase without cashing it in. The following night at the taping for the May 11, 2007 episode of "SmackDown!", World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker and Batista fought to a draw in a steel cage match, after which a returning Mark Henry assaulted Undertaker and left him injured in the ring. As Henry was leaving, Edge came to the ring with his briefcase, handed it to referee Jim Korderas, and defeated the Undertaker after one spear to win the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time. Edge thus became the first person to gain the Money in the Bank contract twice.


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: The fourth Money in the Bank ladder match took place at WrestleMania XXIV and was intended to be another eight-man match-up, consisting of wrestlers from Raw, SmackDown, and ECW. Qualifying matches began on the February 18 episode of "Raw", as both Jeff Hardy and Mr. Kennedy qualified by defeating Snitsky and Val Venis, respectively, in singles matches. On the February 22 episode of "SmackDown", Shelton Benjamin qualified by defeating Jimmy Wang Yang in another singles match. Back on "Raw", general manager William Regal placed Chris Jericho in a match against Jeff Hardy with the stipulation that if Jericho won, he would be in the ladder match. Jericho defeated Hardy in that match on February 25. The following week on "Raw", the two faced off once again, this time for Hardy's WWE Intercontinental Championship. Jericho won the match and title, and it was revealed that Hardy was suspended from WWE for 60 days for violating the wellness policy. Hardy was subsequently removed from the Money in the Bank ladder match and WrestleMania altogether, making this ladder match a seven-man contest. Also on this episode of "Raw", Carlito defeated Cody Rhodes to qualify. On a SmackDown/ECW live event on March 9, United States Champion Montel Vontavious Porter defeated Jamie Noble to qualify. On the March 11 episode of "ECW", CM Punk defeated Big Daddy V to qualify. On the March 14 episode of "SmackDown", John Morrison defeated his tag team partner The Miz to be the last man to qualify.


title: Money in the Bank ladder match

text: Punk won the WrestleMania XXIV match after trapping Jericho's leg in a ladder and then climbing the ladder. Punk cashed in his title shot on the June 30 episode of "Raw". A farewell speech by Jim Ross was interrupted by then-World Heavyweight Champion Edge who had him removed from the ring and then began to insult the crowd, saying that they would never get to see a world championship being defended on "Raw" (as at the time both Edge and WWE Champion Triple H were members of the SmackDown brand and the ECW Championship was on the ECW brand after Mark Henry defeated then champion Kane of the Raw brand and Big Show of the SmackDown brand at Night of Champions in a triple threat match to win the title). When he was about to leave the arena, Batista came out and assaulted Edge in retaliation for Edge cheating to win their title match the previous night at Night of Champions. Punk then immediately ran to the ring with a referee to cash in his contract, then performed a "Go to Sleep" on Edge to win the World Heavyweight Championship, making it Raw-exclusive in the process.