Published 07:00 IST, January 15th 2020

WWF to WWE: Here's why the cash-rich company decided to change the brand name

In its more than 40-year-old existence, WWE has seen a lot of changes. But the biggest change they saw was in 2002 when they changed their name from WWF to WWE.

Reported by: Adil Khan
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In its more than 40-year-old existence, WWE has seen a lot of changes. But by far  biggest change y saw was in 2002 when y changed ir name from WWF (World Wrestling Federation) to WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). It all started in 1980 when Vince McMahon Jr. founded major US wrestling company Titan Sports and assigned it acronym "WWF".

In beginning, everything was going fine, but soon a company which was using same initials took m to court. World Wide Fund for Nature was founded in 1961 and y trademarked initials ‘WWF’ same year. Titan Sports started ir legal battle with World Wide Fund (WWFN) in 1989. charity claimed that Vince McMahon used acronym "WWF" without ir permission.

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In 1994, World Wide Fund and Titan Sports came to an agreement that stated that wrestling company would stop using WWF acronym and would t use word on ir live broadcasts. This is reason why fans used to hear beep sounds when anyone on show used to say WWF. However, t everything was bad for McMahon’s company. In 1994 agreement, company was allowed to use words "World Wrestling Federation" on ir logo. Which meant that y could keep on selling merchandise with ‘World Wrestling Federation’ logo.

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For six years, everything ran smoothly as WWF was providing fans with some great content. But in 2000, WWFN claimed that company has violated ir agreement by using word ‘WWF’ in ir live shows. World Wide Fund which promotes n-violence against nature decided to take wrestling company to court once again. charity got an injunction approved which stated that wrestling company will t use 'WWF' initials in future. In 2001, a London Court denied WWE’s appeal to challenge injunction.

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In same year, Vince’s wife and partner Linda McMahon said in an interview, "Our new name puts emphasis on 'E' for entertainment, what our company does best."

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big changes made by WWE

In 2003, WWE won a small battle. court allowed m to use already made products which included merchandise and videogames and sell m in market. After that, company saw some major changes. y had to change everything from stocks to in-ring products, everything which had initials ‘WWF’ was changed to ‘WWE’. Many say that company had to start from bottom, but y kept on doing good on television and attracted a lot of followers. Some even said that Vince McMahon and his wife used to be in office for 24 hours to make sure that thing wrong happens.

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Im Courtesy: WWE

07:00 IST, January 15th 2020