10 Unthinkable Masterminds Behind Legendary Wrestling Ideas

6. Who Came Up With The Attitude Era Logo?

Kevin Kelly Triple H Stephanie McMahon
WWE.com

The WWF Attitude Era logo that debuted in 1998 was iconic.

Cool in a way that is hard to describe - as if the polished nature of the WWF itself was literally disintegrating, complete with a black metal-adjacent font - it literally symbolised that the new World Wrestling Federation was a new beast. It's so iconic, in fact, that every new logo is a spiritual sequel to it. Much like WWE TV to this day, with its long show-opening promos, invisible camera and authority figures setting up impromptu matches on the night, the new logo is a cleaner version of what came before.

You'd expect WWE to have tasked its creative services department with designing a new logo to better fit the new stylistic direction, but it was actually Vince McMahon himself; after the ratings disasters of the Berlin and South Africa editions of Monday Night Raw, he threw a fit and decided everything needed to change. This is how Vince Russo crept into creative, and this is how the logo changed: Vince decided the old one was precisely that, a reminder that the WWE was passé.

As revealed by Mike Sempervive of the Wrestling Observer, Vince scratched something close to the logo that was implemented several months later - only, because of course, with a pair of testicles underneath it. This new WWF had balls, damn it!

He was talked down from that idea, but it was felt the logo he had drawn, impulsively, was a strong reflection of the new "attitude" direction.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!