:
A History
:
A History
Written By:
Brittany B. Dyer
Copyright© 2007
Dedicated to my dad for
taking me to every live
wrestling event before I
could drive.
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With over 700 episodes of Monday Night Raw under
their belt World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. has
solidified its spot as the longest running television
program without taking a hiatus. Founded in 1952 by Jess
McMahon, the WWE is led today by his grandson, the third
generation promoter, Chairman Vincent K. McMahon. With
wife Linda and children Shane and Stephanie the WWE has
grown into a multi-million dollar company. Just as the
faces of the company have changed over the years their
logo has changed as well from the plain and simple days of
the World Wide Wrestling Federation to the company name
change in 2002 to World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
Roderick James “Jess” McMahon founded the Capitol
Wrestling Corporation with Raymond Mondt in 1952. A year
later CWC joined forces with the National Wrestling
Alliance. That same year McMahon’s son Vincent J. was
brought in to replace his father. Mondt became responsible
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for teaching the younger of 1963 they crowned their
McMahon the in and outs of first champion “Nature
the wrestling business. Boy” Buddy Rogers. In
After a fallout the late sixties Mondt
with the NWA in 1963, left the WWWF. In March
Mondt and McMahon created of 1979 McMahon changed
the World Wide Wrestling the company name to World
Federation and a new logo Wrestling Federation.
was born. This logo was The move was just for
fairly basic with just cosmetic reasons as the
the WWWF in simple block front office personnel and
letters placed next to a ownership remained the
wrestler body slamming same. With the drop of a
another wrestler. At the “W” McMahon launched a
time the logo was wasn’t new black and neon green
so much the brand as the logo with the “W’s” all
wrestlers were. In April connected. This new logo
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wouldn’t stay around for
very long, as the company
was about to change hands.
Vincent K. McMahon,
son of Vincent J. McMahon
founded Titan Sports Inc.
and purchased the World
Wrestling Federation from
his father in 1980. With
the purchase of the WWF
Vincent K. McMahon changed the logo to two “W’s” overlapping
one another and connected with an F in block letters. This
new logo would stand out from the other territory logos
at the time and represented the fresh ideas being created
by McMahon’s son. The younger McMahon would end up going
against his father’s wishes and planned on expanding the
WWF throughout the United States. To that point the WWF was
established only in the northeast of the US. The younger
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McMahon began the revolution of pro wrestling. He took
the company and his family to places they had never been
before.
The wrestling industry is one of great tradition
and McMahon was one who began to break such traditions
in order to expand his company. The WWF began to run
syndicated television programs across the country. And
after acquiring the not yet legendary Hulk Hogan from the
American Wrestling Alliance, the WWF was able to acquire
other wrestlers such as “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, “Superstar”
Billy Graham, Jesse “The Body” Venture, Andre The Giant,
Jimmy Snuka, Don Muraco, Greg Valentine, Ricky “The
Dragon” Steamboat and The Iron Sheik.
With a locker room full of big names and big egos
Vince McMahon launched one of his greatest ideas to date:
Wrestlemania. The first Wrestlemania was held on March 31,
1985 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Twenty-
three years later Wrestlemania creates millions of dollars
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for the WWE and the host city. In 2007, Wrestlemania
23 was held at Ford Field in Detroit, MI. Over 80,103
fans packed the arena setting a new attendance
record. Each year the logo for Wrestlemania reflects
the city it is in. For example, Wrestlemania IX
was held at Cesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. The logo
reflected the Roman theme set for the event.
Wrestlemania 23’s logo reflected Detroit’s rich auto
manufacturing history and looked similar to a grill
on a car.
With the birth of Wrestlemania on pay-per-
view the WWF was quickly gaining success. The WWF
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logo changed again to reflect
the changing times within the
company. It went from the
basic logo before to have more
depth and a bit of glamour.
The simple over lapped “W’s”
connected to the “F” now had gold, silver and blue gradient,
along with a bit of a glow coming off the top of the “F”.
In the late 1980’s the company saw great success when Hulk
Hogan put on those famous yellow trunks and red bandana.
Hulkamania was born and began to sweep the nation. On
January 11, 1993 McMahon launched Monday Night Raw. Raw
would go on to be one of the highest rated shows on cable
television. However, as 1994 began to roll around, McMahon
and the WWF was about the face their toughest opponent yet.
In 1994 steroid abuse allegations began to flood the
WWF and McMahon’s offices in Stamford, CT. Though McMahon
and the WWF were eventually exonerated the lawsuit ended up
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costing the company $5 million.
At this time the WWF’s revenue
was at an all time low. McMahon
ended up cutting the salaries
of both performers and office
personnel alike in order to
try and make up for some of
his losses. As a result many of McMahon’s top performers
decided to leave the company. A younger generation was
leading the way in the ring and the WWF logo began to
reflect just that. Though the logo looked similar to the
logo used when Vince K. McMahon took over the company from
his father certain things had changed. The same gold WWF
used in the previous two logos was slanted slightly and
appeared to be jumping out of the navy blue box behind it.
In 1996 Stone Cold Steve Austin helped lead the way
for the “Attitude Era”. That year Steve Austin won the
King of the Ring tournament and his infamous Austin 3:16
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speech was born. This was
the time the WWF decided
to grow up. The storylines
matured and wrestlers such
as Shawn Michaels, Triple
H, Mankind, The New Age
Outlaws and Golddust pushed
the envelope. Ratings began
to rise and the WWF began
to beat its major competition, Ted Turner’s WCW, in the
ratings. In 2000, the WWF launched a second weekly wrestling
show, Smackdown! Thursday nights on UPN. For the next five
years the WWF became more popular and Vince McMahon became
a billionaire. The WWF logo saw a face lift with the birth
of the “Attitude Era”. The logo left the blue and gold
behind and transformed into a white, red and black sketch of
WWF. The new sketch look of the logo was edgy, just as the
company was becoming more edgy as well. The days of the old
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block WWF logo were long gone and the “Attitude Era” of
the WWE had begun.
In 2001 McMahon became king of pro wrestling when
he bought out Ted Turner’s WCW. McMahon had officially
eliminated any major competition he had with this
acquisition. A year later McMahon lost a battle to the
World Wildlife Fund. On May 5, 2002 the WWF changed
the “F” to an “E”. From then on they would be known as
World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. The company promoted
the change with the “Get the
F Out” campaign. The “F” in
the logo was dropped and the
new logo is the one still
being used today. A month
later the WWE announced that
it would create two separate
rosters by making Raw one
brand and Smackdown the other.
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This allowed for the WWE to
utilize more of its talent
that it had acquired from
buying out WCW. Though the
“Attitude Era” is part of
the past, the logo today
represents where the company
is currently. The WWE’s product is a bit more tame compared
to what it was in 1998, however it still has a bit of an edge
to it and McMahon is always looking for new ways to push the
envelop in order to entertain the fans.
The WWE’s success would continue as the new millennium
went on. In 2006 WWE generated $400 million worth of revenue
with a net profit of $47 million. The company’s market
capitalization is over $1 billon. With close to 300 live
shows a year the WWE continues to reach tremendous success
both in the United States and abroad.
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Stephanie, Vince, Linda and Shane McMahon say a little
prayer before Vince’s Wrestlemania 22 match.
Vincent K. McMahon along with his wife, Linda, son,
Shane, and daughter Stephanie have revolutionized the pro
wrestling industry. He took it from its regionally based
beginnings and launched it into a global phenomenon. With
the launch of WWE Films and other brands, the sky is the
limit for McMahon. The WWE and their logo will go on to
represent just that.
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Works Cited
“Business Overview.” WWE Corporate. World
Wrestling Entertainment Inc. 23 Apr. 2007
<http://corporate.wwe.com/company/overview.
jsp>.
McMahon. Perf. Vince McMahon, Linda McMahon,
Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon. DVD. World
Wrestling Entertainment, 2006.
“World Wrestling Entertainment.” Wikipedia. 23
Apr. 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
World_Wrestling_Entertainment>.
“WWE: Superstar>Raw>Bio>Mr. McMahon.” WWE.
World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. 23 Apr. 2007
<http://www.wwe.com/superstars/raw/mrmcmahon/
bio/>.
