17 Ways WWE Has Changed Since It Was The WWF
Getting The F Out & The $$$s In...
17 years before the company learned how to instruct audiences to "Get The F Out" simply by booking episodes of Raw so heinous that nobody in their right mind would really want to watch, they kicked off a marketing campaign designed to make the best of a very, very bad situation.
In 1994, Vince McMahon had made an agreement with the World Wildlife Fund not to abuse the WWF initials, then spent the following eight years reneging on just about every aspect of the deal. By 2002, the group were well and truly out of patience, and McMahon himself was sh*t out of luck - The World Wrestling Federation was doomed, World Wrestling Entertainment rather awkwardly shunted in as its replacement.
This glum Sports Entertainment week in May marks 17 years since the company made the switch, lasting way beyond early prognosis' from some fans that the new initials wouldn't work. In 2022, WWE will have formally outlasted WWF, casting aside the last stubborn few that refuse to retroactively christen older footage with the vowel rather than the consonant - but how have things beyond labels truly changed?
17. The Original Brand Split's False Start
When Linda McMahon launched the 2002 "Brand Extension" as an acceptance of Ric Flair and Vince McMahon's inability to work together, the planned format required the splitting of the company's raft of massive megastars to keep both brands afloat.
It was a short-sighted start to what was presented as a very long-term plan. Within weeks, said megastars were absent from the brands they'd been sent to shore up, and confusion over what to do with floating champions led to several hastily rebooked topline programmes that undermined the supposed Red Vs Blue divide.
Stone Cold Steve Austin's frustrated post-WrestleMania walkout had damaged the integrity of the idea at inception, but it totally f*cked both his feud with new heel Raw "Owner" Ric Flair and the flagship's direction in general when he left again in June. The panic booking that followed but a bullet in the brand split in under two months - McMahon defeated Flair to assume 100% storyline control and rethink the severed ties.
Introducing Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon as warring General Managers was an extremely positive start - imbuing the gimmick with the same newness the unwelcome "WWE" name change desperately required...