The WWE to DROP "wrestling" from its name?

[KnowYoRole]

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/article/wwe-getting-rid-of-wrestling-wm-match-order-revealed-127737

"The Wrestling Observer is reporting that in a meeting held yesterday, it was agreed upon that WWE would no longer be referred to as "World Wrestling Entertainment." Because of Vince McMahon's desire to rid the use of the word "wrestling" in the company name, it's being said that the company will solely be referred to as "WWE," and it will be branded as such."

I haven't seen a thread on this yet. But, really? This is completely unnecessary, if true. Sure, Vince thinks it's sports entertainment, but it still HAS wrestling in it. It has bodyslams, submission moves, and all of those moves that when people see, EQUATE with "wrestling". He needs to face the fact that no matter how hard he tries, the WWE will always be thought of along with pro wrestling. What's the second 'W' going to mean, anyway? I just don't understand WHY he doesn't want the word "wrestling" to be used at all. What's next? Getting rid of in ring competition?

What are your thoughts on this? Is it a smart move, or totally useless?

 

[berlinbrawler]

I don't really mind, and for one particular reason: the E. World Wrestling ENTERTAINMENT. The name change was godawful then and it is godawful to this day. Yeah, yeah, I know, they couldn't use WWF anymore because the World Wide Fund for Nature had sued. But dropping the Federation in order to stress the Entertainment factor? I'm still not over that.

So they now never want to speak out the whole name in order to never mention the word WRESTLING again? Fine by me, because on the flipside it also means they will never mention the ENTERTAINMENT in their name, either.


At any rate, this move may not be as stupid as it may sound at first. The word "Wrestling" is kinda stigmatized as being a low-brow hillbilly event. Changing the language may affect the perception in the consumers' minds. True fans won't be fooled, of course, but such approaches work with the broad masses.
That's why Kentucky Fried Chicken changed their name to KFC a couple of years back, because the word FRIED sounded too fatty. It may seem sub-moronic psychology, but the simple fact is it works. KFCs sales increased almost immediately.

 

[Blue Beanie]

It's a modernizing business move. SciFi changed to SyFy, MTV doesn't stand for Music TeleVision anymore, the KFC change was already mentioned.

BerlinBrawler is spot on. Long time fans won't be fooled, and hopefully the minor change smoothes over negative perception and can bring in new fans more easily.

An even simpler observation; humans do it all the time. Timothy becomes Tim, Robert goes by Bob, Michael- Mike, Christopher- Chris... dozens more, and that's just English names. Friends know the full name, but introducing yourself with a shortened first name makes you seem more approachable and personable.

And yeah, it might be an April fool's gag, but it's nothing too crazy if it's true.

 

[CYoung2003]

If this is true, then I hope they don't start censoring more old footage because someone said wrestling, or a banner has it printed on it.

I can really see them branding it "World Wide Entertainment" one day if need be. But, like what was posted above, check the date that the article was posted on.

 

[VinnieSunshine]

It was posted by WRESTLEZONE on April 1st...but does it really matter if its a joke or not. There have been many rumors floating around the net in the last year pertaining to how the WWE is going to run. From the change in the title belt to the change in the WWE logo, who knows what to believe anymore.

Personally I couldn't care less if they drop it from their name. Some people who dont know any better STILL refer to them as WWF or WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION.

 

[vampirek]

Even if this is real, when do they ever use the full name anymore anyways? Back in the days of WWF, the champion was announced as he World Wrestling Federation Chamoion, since the name change not once has the full name been used. You only ever see the full name on the website or in important documents. Everybody from chat shows to Michael Cole refer the company as the WWE and have done for many years. (Apart from the ignorant who have yet to discover its name change...)

 

[johnseamann]

Just to point out some veracity to this: The intro video used to say "World Wrestling Entertainment" next to the logo in the last slide, then they changed it to "WWE", and as of the Press Conference they scratched the text completely leaving the logo to speak for itself. Also, under the login fields of the old WWE.com (old as in a couple weeks ago) it used to say "Official home site of World Wrestling Entertainment" and again they changed it to "Official home site of WWE." Now they scratched that line completely in the new site, but still you can read the legal info in the bottom of the page and nowhere does it say World Wrestling Entertainment, though it refers to "wrestling moves" being owned by WWE, Inc.

 

[Chicago1989]

It's obvious that Vince has made WRESTLING a dirty word for a long time, so why not get rid of it? I mean, come on, the WWE is the most well-known company in the wrestling business that makes the most money but wants nothing to do with wrestling? Talk about selling out.....

Good god....thank God for ROH....

 

[DeadmanFan]

Well this wouldn't be too much of a shock given that last PR thing where their publicist said they staged "Entertainments" (what the hell is an "entertainment" anyway?) instead of "wrestling events."

I wonder what's next though if it's true? Their biggest show of the year is called "Wrestle"Mania. Logically they should change the name to "Entertainment"Mania given this move to get away from anything referencing the word "wrestling."

Lmao.

 

[Nada]

I thought this was already the case? They dont call them wrestlers anymore, its superstars, they dont say "wrestling match" or say the word Wrestle anymore bar WrestleMania.

Granted this could be aprils fools thing but it seems pretty consisstent with the last 5 years of WWE programming.

I bet the name WrestleMania bugs the hell out of Vince for this very reason it is their Superbowl and yet they cant change it or it will lose its "feel".

The only wrestling that i see appears on the back of Bryans shirt, but i see this the making more of making fun of "internet nerds" who still call it wrestling than it is paying homage to actual wrestling.

This wont bring in new fans, people who hated wrestling in 1985, 1995, 2005 and in 2015 do so for their own reasons and not because its called "wrestling", if anything "sports entertainment" will piss more of those people off who will go a extra mile to argue that it is not a sport but theatrics and stunts.

How many of you say watch tennis or even follow it? What if they started to market it as "Thunder Racket!", would you be inclined to watch it more? Would people from europe, south america, asia, africa watch the NFL more if it was called "Super Mega Ball"?

They should not be ashamed of their own proffession, the industry was built on the backs of wrestlers, even less than great wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, John Cena etc have a admiration and love for the actual inring performance.

Ric Flair was right, the biggest day in wrestling was not when WWF bought out WCW, it was when Vince McMahon started calling his product sports entertainment, alienated old fans and disgraced old traditions while also never gaining the sought out respect he so desperatly craves from the mainstream.

People hated wrestling in mid 90's, it was that thing Hogan was famous for they said, then WCW did a brilliant storyline with nWo and WWF had WRESTLERS who people, mainstream non hardcore fans, wanted to see. If the product is good, people will watch.

Removing a word is a bandage on brain tumor, WWE has 582.493.000 things they need to fix before a little word they think is scary

 

[Kizzo]

I have no problem with the name change... makes sense to me. As others have stated... MTV, KFC, and others have dropped the use of their full name. It's modernization... the business has changed alot. They don't even really wrestle.... it's just a circus with stunt guys performing some amazing moves in the ring.

Although World Wide Entertainment sounds good as well.

 

[Mekanik Kommandoh]

It's likely a combination of mirroring the popular business branding practices of other companies and something no one seems to have mentioned - further distancing from athletics. Removing terms such as "wrestling" and "wrestler" probably isn't some grand conspiracy by McMahon to eliminate "professional wrestling" from the population's vernacular; it's just a further way to not have to deal with athletic commissions and their state regulations. If you remove any branding of wrestling from your business, the show can be run as an entertainment spectacle as opposed to an athletic one and money and time is saved in the process. This decision, if true, doesn't make any difference and will not affect WWE's product at all; everyone knows what the fucking WWE is. It's just a way to modernize, save money, and avoid state athletic commissions.

 

[JaylisJayP]

Doesn't bother me at all. In fact, I don't even watch the wrestling itself on RAW or Smackdown anymore, I always Tivo through it. The matches are repetetive, short, uninspired...save for a few main events here and there.

I enjoy the characters and the storylines. The fact that they wrestle is actually secondary to me.

 

[xcoN]

What I read is that they aren't DROPPING the word "wrestling" they are just gonna refer to the business as "WWE" instead of saying the entire thing. That way you don't hear/see the word "wrestling" anymore. So now its gonna be simply "WWE" not refered to as "world wrestling entertainment." I found this to be no big deal; however it kinda makes no sense due to WRESTLEmania. Unless they plan to refer to that as "W.M" ahaha.

 

[WunNightStan619]

i really cant wait for Vince to step down and have HHH and Steph take over. This is ridiculous Vince is going too far. I personally LOVE wrestling and it seems like vince is little by little ridding himself of it to transition into mainstream media. Wat he doesnt realize is no moatter how much he tries to water down the product or dress it up so its not "pro-wrestling" it will always and forever be looked at as Wrestling...period

 

[ECW Sandman]

Vince is doing what's good his company although I think it's really stupid after the World Wildlife Foundation sue Vince and the WWF for the WWF name It was and still is strange to hear and see ''WWE'' instead of WWF I still call it WWF because I grew up saying WWF, but if Vince is going to get rid of the world ''Wrestling'' I think he's making a Hugh mistake I still say they should have had it as WWFE just like it was written out World Wrestling Federation Entertainment.

 

[DeadmanFan]

Vince is doing what's good his company although I think it's really stupid after the World Wildlife Foundation sue Vince and the WWF for the WWF name It was and still is strange to hear and see ''WWE'' instead of WWF I still call it WWF because I grew up saying WWF, but if Vince is going to get rid of the world ''Wrestling'' I think he's making a Hugh mistake I still say they should have had it as WWFE just like it was written out World Wrestling Federation Entertainment.

Yeah, seriously that whole thing was fucktarded. To me it was like "herpa derp you're stealing our letters! Only we can have those letters, only we!"

It's not even the "World Wildlife Fund" anymore but the "World Wide Fund for Nature" so wouldn't WWFN make sense now?

The most ******ed thing of all though is that the old WWF scratch logo has to be censored, but the block logo is fine. So now when you watch an official DVD of the Attitude Era it's filled to the brim with censors. It's kind of annoying to see Stone Cold getting thrown into a big wall of blurs (the turnbuckle).

But that's the absurdity of copyright and trademarks these days.

 

[CuddleBuns84]

Doesn't really sound like a big deal. It just sounds like they are referring it to WWE now. Instead of saying... Welcome to World Wrestling Entertainment, you can say... Welcome to the WWE!

A lot of companies are doing that now, as mentioned in previous posts. Kentucky Fried Chicken is just KFC, Music Television, is just MTV. So the World Wrestling Entertainment, if now the WWE.

It's easier to remember. It's brand management. It's not the end of the world, just a different, and easier way of saying the company's name. I'm not really going to get to upset with it.

As stated in a previous post as well. You won't hear the word entertainment. So, yea, we won't hear the word wrestling, but we won't hear the word entertainers.

So it's somewhat of a win-win for us.

Not also that. But yes, Vince doesn't call it wrestling. But there is still a ring, ropes, announcers. So, if it looks like wrestling, then good chance it is wrestling. Just because another company is going to call it WWE, doesn't mean it's the end of the world.

I know this might sound strange, but I also read in the previous posts that, how do they turn the word wrestling into a dirty word. The thing is, the WWE knows a thing or two about selling out large crowds. They know a thing or two about making a superstar. They know a thing about marketing. If you look at the last 30 years in the business, you will see many companies that went under. Some companies even had big talent, and the capital. Some companies with the right booking, and fan base. But they went under.

The WWE however, keeps on finding ways to make good money at the business. We really shouldn't shun what Vince does, or What the WWE does. If the WWE goes out of business, Wrestling won't be around. I know this sounds like a bold statement. But if the WWE dies tomorrow, wrestling would be hurting. I don't care what anyone says.

 

[Rammsteinerteen]

Who cares, honestly, it's still wrestling. No matter what Vince wants, they'll still be wrestling on this show, because it's a fucking wrestling show, Vince is just ******ed for doing something so pointless.

Too much people are thinking into something so stupid, it doesn't matter what they call it. And I happen to enjoy a lot of matches that WWE provides,

that's right, I'm talking to the IWC Smarks stupid enough to think this means WWE will get rid of wrestling.

 

[famous]

Look at it from a business perspective, this change is good for everyone INCLUDING TNA and ROH, the 'E is able to further cement itself as and entertainment company and ROH and TNA are able to take shots at the 'E by having wrestling, something TNA has been doing since the Anderson concussion incident. week after week when anderson was shelved he would get in peoples faces and scream about how he was a wrestler and back when it was called wrestling they didn't care about injuries so he was going to go out and wrestle. from a competition standpoint anything the wwe does to further the sports entertainment aspect the "rasslin" (yes in the south there are still fans of rasslin (defined as the southern style emphasizing athleticism something both ROH and TNA do more than the 'e as well as sportsmanship, the backbone of ROH)) fans get to see the wrestling promotions take a shot at the wwe. and if you can decipher and elaborate on my overly convoluted post, please do because i just woke up and cannot organize my thoughts for shit atm.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

It's not really a huge deal. It's still WWE and Vince is doing what other well known brands have already been doing for a very long time. Of course, as tends to happen with the smarks, they'll try to make it into a big deal. They've got to have something to bitch about after all.

What this is more than anything else, to me, is an example of just how much of a control freak Vince McMahon is. The man wants WWE to be known for more than wrestling, that's all well and good but the simple fact is that WWE is ALWAYS going to be viewed by pretty much everyone as a wrestling company first and foremost. Non-wrestling fans might see pro wrestling as being unsophisticated and that's just the way it is.

 

[GW_Hart86]

This would well and truly suck in my opinion. Pro wrestling is pro wrestling...it is what it is....you can't change that! If wrestling was taken away from the title it just would make no sense and I would be worried about the future of the business.

 

[Arkham Noir]

Like Jack-Hammer said, it really isn't a big deal. If I recall correctly, they stopped using the term "wrestling" sometime last year, possibly before that . They only started re-using the term around the time the Daniel Bryan started. Whether it was by coincidence or a tactic to help him get over I don't know.

Pro wrestling really isn't wrestling anyways and most other countries refer to it as something else anyways. In Europe they refer to it as catch and in Mexico it is known as lucha libre. Or course, WWE being the juggarnaut they are is just going to refer to themselves as the label that most people in the world know it by. No point in bringing the term wrestling into. Alot of people only know wrestling as WWE anyways. Sort of like the video game company "Nintendo". Alot of people refer to video games as Nintendo because that has always been the big company and that is all they know/care about.

 

[kingjaekob]

This is the PERFECT TIME for someone to open a NEW WRESTLING CO. I would do the opposite and focus on Wrestling, Different characters than the wwe guys. Most WWE guys look and act the same. Vince has made many marketing mistakes in the past, and this one is no different! I will give you an example: Remember when Vince formed his XFL? He started saying, "what happened to hard nosed football?" Where is my football? Well Vince, Where is our WRESTLING? What happened to our Wrestlers? The guys today would not hold up, with guys from last few decades! In the long run, the old guys were bigger wrestling SUPERSTARS, The Flairs, Hogans, Stings, Austin's, steamboat, funks, von erichs, etc.... these guys werent scripted, and made wrestling fun and exciting, this crap today is so boring! Yeah, and Vince are you gonna make WrestleMania, WM28 next year? Vince you dont know what your audience wants anymore!

 

[blackmetalbuick]

This is so stupid. It's been bad enough all along while Vince tells the announcers to never say "wrestling, wrestler, etc", but now to pretend that's not what WWE stands for? It's insulting to the fans, it's insulting to the history of the business, and frankly if I'm a wrestling fan and the WWE finds that so appalling, then maybe I just shouldn't watch or spend my money on your non-wrestling company. Seemingly being embarrassed in your own product isn't a good thing. It's wrestling, regardless of what you call it. I don't know why Vince has this childish obsession with avoiding the word. Does he really think people won't know that this is still PRO WRESTLING? Does he really hope to avoid controversy or have better sponsorship opportunities because people will think "pro wrestling has dozens up people dying under the age of 45, pro wrestling created Chris Benoit, but thank god the WWE isn't wrestling!". Maybe TNA finally one-upped Vince on something, they didn't put a "W" in their company name lol.