WWE has gone through a ton of changes since opening their doors, but few of those alterations were as big as when they had to change the name of the company. This was quite a moment in pro wrestling history, and a rather complicated legal issue as well.
In 2000, the World Wide Fund for Nature sued the World Wrestling Federation for unfair trade practice, as both parties had been using the WWF initials. In May 2002, the World Wrestling Federation officially became World Wrestling Entertainment as they relented to the lawsuit.
During the Mr. McMahon Netflix docuseries, Vince McMahon spoke about WWE changing their name from WWF. He made it clear that this wasnt necessarily a good thing that they had to change their name, after all, it also came with an expensive rebranding campaign.
WWE started the campaign to Get the F out in changing from WWF to WWE. In the process of changing the name, initials, and logo, WWE edited references to WWF in archived footage. This caused WWE to hire editors for years to go back and edit the old Attitude Era logo from all the companys DVD releases.
The series included interviews with Vince McMahon, where he discussed various topics, but it was later said that he isnt the most reliable narrator. He also had lapses in his memory,like pertaining to Sables lawsuitagainst his company. He also asserted thatnobody can understand his thought process. After all,McMahon needed to be remindedabout many things that happened during his own life.
Fans did hear Vinces hot take onThe UndertakersWrestleMania XXXconcussion. He addressedthe Chris Benoit tragedy as well, as he made it clear that the situation had nothing to do with steroids.
Fans who havent been able to watch the Mr. McMahon docuseries still have plenty of time to watch it.Netflix also makes it very easy to sign upand subscribe for their service, one that will hostWWE RAWevery week starting in January 2025.
What did you think when the company first changed it's name? Which name do you prefer: WWE or WWF? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.
