Search results
- Due to a legal conflict with the World Wildlife Fund over the WWF trademark, the WWE changed their name from Word Wrestling Federation to World Wrestling Entertainment in 2002.
8bitpickle.com › wrestling › why-did-the-wwf-change-their-name-to-wwe
Feb 18, 2020 · Instead, the agreement was largely ignored, with the Fund later taking particular issue with the regisration of the WWF.com domain name and the “scratch” version of the WWF logo.
People also ask
Why did WWE change the name 'WWF'?
Why did the World Wrestling Federation change its name?
Why did WWF rebrand?
How did WWE change from WWF to WWE Network?
- 10 An Extra W
- 9 World Wrestling Federation
- 8 The World Wildlife Fund
- 7 International Expansion
- 6 Legal Battles
- 5 The 1994 Agreement
- 4 The Agreement Is Broken
- 3 Another Legal Battle
- 2 Get The F Out
- 1 The F Gets Out
The shift to WWE wasn’t the first time the company changed its name. In 1953, the promotion began as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation. Soon it would become a pretty big wheel in the National Wrestling Alliance, thanks to the CWC’s popularity in the Northeast United States. However, a dispute with the NWA over booking decisionsled to the company br...
In 1979, the company shortened its name to the World Wrestling Federation, a decision that coincided with the transition of the company from the hands of Vincent J. McMahon to his son, Vincent K. McMahon (the one fans know today). At the helm of the WWF, the younger McMahon began expanding operations to turn the promotion from a regional success in...
Before the World Wrestling Federation existed with those initials, there was a previously existing WWF: the World Wildlife Fund. This WWF was founded in April of 1961, after a group called the International Union for Conservation of Nature was revealed to be struggling financially. RELATED: 10 WWE Superstars Who Had Multiple Name Changes, Ranked Ov...
In 1989, the World Wildlife Fund noticed that the World Wrestling Federation had applied for an “international class trademark” for WWF, and pursued action. The two parties negotiated, and the World Wrestling Federation agreed not to use the initials “WWF” in a plain typeface font, so as to not confuse the wrestling WWF with the panda WWF. In other...
However, as the World Wrestling Federation continued its international expansion, things between the two WWFs got contentious. In the 1990s, the Federation tried to block World Wildlife Fund trademark filings in various companies, which came to a head when the Fund sued the Federation in Switzerland over the Fed putting out a Swiss version of their...
Despite its crumbling reputation, the World Wrestling Federation never backed down in their legal battle, and so the two WWFs forged an agreement in 1994. This agreement stipulated that the World Wrestling Federation was never allowed to use the initials WWF in print and to avoid orally using “WWF” as much as possible, though the latter was less st...
In 1997, the World Wrestling Federation did two things to finally draw the ire of the World Wildlife Fund. First the company rolled out a new logo, referred to as the “scratch logo,” which the Fund felt was far too readable as “WWF,” as the original “block logo” was determined to look enough like “WF” that no one would confuse the two entities. REL...
In 2002, the World Wildlife Fund took the World Wrestling Federation to court in the UK over the above. The Federation’s legal team argued that they were allowed to use WWF in the US, and that the agreement doesn’t cover the Internet -- and moreover, that they had no idea the Internet would be such a big deal when they registered the WWF.com domain...
To the World Wrestling Federation’s credit, the way it rolled out its legally required rebranding was fairly clever and highly appropriate, given that the company at the time was known for delivering an “edgy” product. The ad campaign was centered around the phrase “Get The F Out”, to signify it was getting rid of the F in its name and logo, but th...
The transition to World Wrestling Entertainment was made public on Sunday, May 5th, 2002, with the first show under that banner being the Raw the following night. For about a decade, whenever WWE released matches on DVDor showed archival footage, it had to mute utterances of “WWF” and blur out the logo. This practice came to an end when WWE entered...
- Senior Author
Jun 4, 2022 · Through the 1960s and 1970s, the promotion continued to be known as the WWWF until its name was changed by dropping the superfluous second W, shortening the name to the World Wrestling Federation in 1979.
- Matt Reigle
Apr 6, 2023 · The name change from WWF to WWE marked a significant shift in the organization’s identity. It allowed WWE to distance itself from the legal dispute with the World Wildlife Fund and to establish a new brand that would be free from any potential confusion.
Mar 15, 2024 · Despite the failed appeal by the WWE, the wrestling organization strategically decided to rebrand itself to avoid further legal issues and establish a unique brand identity. Subsequently, in May 2002, the World Wrestling Federation officially changed its name to World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
- Rory Robinson
Aug 9, 2022 · The European courts sided with the World Wildlife Fund and the WWF became the WWE to avoid any further arbitration. The two organizations eventually also reached an agreement to allow usage of the WWF logos in archival footage.
Jan 9, 2019 · The reality is, the name did unconsciously signify a new era but that wasn't the reason it was changed. In 1980, Vince McMahon Jr. founded the company Titan Sports and attributed it the...
