Wikipedia can be a great source of knowledge – but that word “source” is often disputed. Due to the nature of the site and the ability to freely edit much of the content, the integrity of Wikipedia is often brought into disrepute, despite it being a “go-to” for many looking to scratch the surface and begin delving into research.
Launching 20 years ago, on 15 January 2001, Wikipedia has gone on to be hugely successful as the 15th most popular destination on the web, and wrestling fans have clearly taken to it, too – with championship reigns and basic history and background being freely available on the site.
Rather surprisingly, though, a wrestling page has been named as THE most edited page on the entirety of Wikipedia.
According to a BBC article on the history of Wikipedia, the page for “List of WWE Personnel” is the most edited page on Wikipedia, having been edited more than 53,000 times.
“For many years the George W Bush page was the one with the most edits, but now it has been overtaken by this one. The list of WWE professional wrestlers has had more than 53,000 edits over the years. But although the “sport” attracts its fair share of controversy it seems its number one spot is less about fights between editors, than the passion of its fans. They come here to log every single wrestler who has ever climbed into the ring, along with their managers and every other person connected to WWE. Wikipedia may be the place you go to try to puzzle out quantum computing or find out how many US presidents have been impeached, but all human life is here. At least until an editor decides an entry is just too trivial for inclusion and suggests it should be deleted.”
The aforementioned George W Bush page, coincidentally, would likely have been the most edited due to the timing of his inauguration in relation to Wikipedia’s launch.
“George W Bush was inaugurated as the 43rd president of the United States five days after the launch of Wikipedia. His entry went on to provide a fundamental challenge to its core principle: openness. ‘Anyone can hit edit,’ explains David Gerard, who has been a volunteer editor since the early days. “I hope that people understand that Wikipedia is just a bunch of well-meaning amateurs, doing our best to make something nice. But not everyone wanted to play nice.”