Guest Report post Posted May 22, 2002 Lance Storm Commentary WWF vs. WWE May 20,2002 I received a comment on my comment board last week from a guy who felt the WWF’s name change to WWE was a slap in the face to fans. He went on to say that the new name of WWE ignored all of the WWF’s rich history and wanted to know my feelings on the subject. My answer was going to be a bit lengthy so I figured my take on the new WWE would make for a good commentary. Let me start by saying that I don’t know all of the reasons behind the name change but from what I understand it was due to a legal battle with the World Wildlife Fund over the rights to the name. Whether we lost the legal battle or whether the legal cost incurred in fighting the battle became too great to warrant continued fighting, I do not know. Either way the result is the same, the name HAD to be changed, let me repeat that because it’s important, HAD to be changed. This wasn’t just something that Vince and the WWF thought would be a neat idea one day. Let me assure you the cost involved in this will be huge. There are a lot of trucks to be painted, letterhead to be reprinted, T-Shirts and merchandise to be redone, etc. The Brand recognition behind the WWF and its logo are huge and we now have to try to transfer that to WWE, which will take time, a fair bit of time. I guess the point I’m trying to make here is that this was not a flippant decision nor was it a decision made to deny the WWF’s history or somehow further shift the emphasis of the WWF product from Sports to Entertainment. This was a business decision that I think it’s safe to assume no one really wanted to make. We are not denying any of the great events that occurred in WWF history, nor are we denying any of the talent that competed in the former WWF now WWE. This is simply a new moniker placed on the same product you’ve watched and enjoyed for the past… however many years. I am as big of an advocate of the wrestling end of pro-wrestling as there is. I have been uncomfortable with the “Sports Entertainment” nametag since it was coined, way back when, and I am not offended by the dropping of the “Federation” in place of “Entertainment”. I would have been much more upset had they dropped the word Wrestling out of the name instead. Let’s be honest with the name needing to be changed this was about as small of a change as you could make and the “Get The F Out” slogan is marketing genius. Its appeal to our core audience should be huge and it makes for a really cool T-Shirt. It’s time for hard-core, die-hard fans of “Wrestling” to cut Vince some slack, because after all, it’s just a name. If the new "Spider Man" movie was called “Spider Sense” would it make the film any less entertaining? No it wouldn’t. It might make you do a double take when reading the bill board and make you wonder, “Why’d they call it that?” but it would still be an awesome movie. If you are less interested in our product now, due to the new name, it is you who is slapping someone in the face, but it’s not Vince McMahon, it’s guys like Kurt Angle, Edge, HHH, and yours truly, who bust our @$$’s every night in hopes of entertaining you. Oddly enough my only problem with the name change is one of grammar. The WWE nametag creates the same problem that plagued WCW, the “THE”. Grammatically “The WWF” is correct, but “The WCW” was not. The World Championship Wrestling is grammatically incorrect as is The World Wrestling Entertainment. Out of sheer habit people will continue to say “The WWE” when referring to our product and that habit needs to be broken. Perhaps the next wave of marketing can focus around, the somewhat less catchy, phrase, “Get the THE out!” Okay perhaps I’m not the marketing genius the guy who coined, “Get The F Out” is, but at least I’m promotion good grammar. Till next week, Get The F Out! Lance Storm Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest J*ingus Report post Posted May 22, 2002 He's right on most of his points, though I still don't understand why 1.A court decision in England can change what an American company calls itself, and 2.Why not just the WWFE? That's the corporate name anyway. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest RicFlairGlory Report post Posted May 22, 2002 He's right on most of his points, though I still don't understand why 1.A court decision in England can change what an American company calls itself, and 2.Why not just the WWFE? That's the corporate name anyway. Because "Get the F out" will make a better T-Shirt than "Please add a little e after WWF. plEEEEEse?" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Report post Posted May 22, 2002 Who's going to keep count how many shots are taken at the fact that he listed HHH under guys who bust their ass? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest TheMikeSC Report post Posted May 22, 2002 He's right on most of his points, though I still don't understand why 1.A court decision in England can change what an American company calls itself, and 2.Why not just the WWFE? That's the corporate name anyway. >>> 1) The court can't do that---but it'll be very confusing for all involved to have the WWF called the WWF here and WWE overseas. They want a universal name brand---like McDonald's. McDonald's is called McDonald's everywhere---no different names in different regions. 2) I'm not sure why not WWFE, but I assume they worried that the Fund wouldn't like it at all and would go to court. -=Mike ...I don't think the Fund woulda had a case if they went to court over it, though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
