Wrestling...WWE???

[Bilulan]

This is way off topic, but anyone have any idea as to the reasoning behind Vince McMahon's highly successful WWF label changing to the WWE?

I must have missed something. I find myself watching 3 or 4 times a month, and initially thought it was just a new storyline, but I haven't really seen any talk of the WWF any longer...

Just curious as to the business logic.

 

[Michigan NSX]

The actual letters for WWF are copyrighted by the World Wildlife Fund. Vince fought this in court. He lost. WWE = World Wrestling Entertainment.

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'91 Black/Black

 

[Russ]

Originally posted by Michigan NSX:
The actual letters for WWF are copyrighted by the World Wildlife Fund. Vince fought this in court. He lost. WWE = World Wrestling Entertainment.

Actually it was an internet domain name issue. The wildlife people owned the wwf.com domain name and wouldn't give it up, nor could they be forced to because in a nutshell, their use was legitimate. The wrestling people, recognizing this and the importance of The Domain Name from a business perspective, decided to change their business name - WWF - to one for which they could obtain a domain name - hence WWE.


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Russ
'91 black/black

[This message has been edited by Russ (edited 23 July 2002).]

 

[cojones]

A name change was also useful, as I think they merged Ted Turner's outfit into theirs at some point.

Also, changing from WWF to WWE gave them the cool tagline -- "get the 'F' out"

 

[robr]

it wasnt just an internet domain name thing. wrestling licensed the use of WWF from wildlife for use in the US. Then they started expanding worldwide and still used WWF, but their agreement was for US use only. wildlife filed suit against wresting and won, however by the time they won, wrestling had already switched to start using WWE.