How Did They Handle The Name Change?

[Silent Brad]

I was just wondering this because I wasn't watching when it happened, but how did they handle the change from WWF to WWE?

Was it like one week everything was WWF and then the next week everything was WWE and they didn't really mention anything about it? Did they build it up as something? Did they have to blur everything out from the week before?

[Mayonnaise]

Feb 24, 2012 17:52:28 GMT -5 Silent Brad said:

Was it like one week everything was WWF and then the next week everything was WWE and they didn't really mention anything about it? Did they build it up as something? Did they have to blur everything out from the week before?

Pretty much. One week it was WWF and the next they opened with a video telling us to "Get the F out" and they were now WWE. Don't remember much about blurring though.


Search Google for "May 6, 2002 WWE Raw" and the actual show is the second result.

[pepsitwist]

Get the 'F' out campaign video among others. I recall them showing a video of an old lady in a garden setting fire to the WWF logo and becoming WWE. Then I'm sure there were promos about how they've always been about entertainment and it was a logical move to switch to World Wrestling Entertainment.

[xCompackx]

They've always been better at changing their company name than changing names of their wrestlers.

[Deleted]

Even though the name change happened in May 2002, the blurring of the 1998-2002 WWF logo and the censoring the letters "WWF" didn't start until around November or December. A few DVDs released in between like "Hulk Still Rules" and "Triple H: The Game" have the WWE logo in the bottom left corner of the screen with no blurring or censorship of "WWF".

[Sc]

They mentioned it at the start of Raw and I think King made a few panda jokes.

[xCompackx]

Aside question: Why couldn't they have edited the WWE logo over the WWF one instead of blurring?

[I *still* ✡ Johnny]

During the Bookdust section in the 7-11 that night they showed a WWF logo on the slurpee machine. No blurring then, I bet there were even signs in the crowd that still said WWF, even then many fans wouldn't be aware of it because they didn't have internet.

[Deleted]

Feb 24, 2012 18:12:11 GMT -5 xCompackx said:

Aside question: Why couldn't they have edited the WWE logo over the WWF one instead of blurring?

The blurs are distracting enough. It would be even worse with little WWE logos floating over turnbuckles and the T-shirts of ringside photographers.

[nWoElite]

My favorite thing at this time was that Stone Cold left and Rock came back that night and cut an awesome promo.

"...Then YOU get the F OUT!"

[cabbageboy]

I don't even recall them doing any of that. I just seem to recall reading about it online and then on that May 6 Raw Lilian Garcia opened the show with something like "Welcome the WWE champion..." The whole campaign started later with the "Get the F out" deal.

[Steveweiser]

Two days before was Insurrextion in London, the last major WWF show. Before you knew it, they were suddenly the WWE. The name change happened between that London show and RAW.

[Metalheadbanger Man]

I still remember the first WWE RAW, because JR kept going to say "WWF" before correcting himself.

[Ryushinku]

The "Get the F Out" ad was pretty funny though, the one with the boastful WWF head guy getting glassed.

[Ron Woodsman aka Shempaholic]

From what I recall rumors began spreading about the change either Sunday night or Monday afternoon before the "Get the 'F Out" Raw. It was pretty sudden from what I remember.

[Krimzon]

I really wish I had gotten one of those "Get the F Out" t-shirts. That has to be one of the most brilliant campaigns ever.

[zeez]

I remember finding out about it when I was on a gaming site looking up info on the Wrestlemania X8 video game. One day I get on there and search for "WWF Wrestlemania X8" and get nothing so I search the game list and see "WWE Wrestlemania X8" and was all like "WHAAA?"

Fun stuff. I remember the transition going fairly smoothly. The first Raw started with a "Get the 'F' Out" promo and off they went.

[Mayonnaise]

Feb 24, 2012 20:16:29 GMT -5 Krimzon said:

I really wish I had gotten one of those "Get the F Out" t-shirts. That has to be one of the most brilliant campaigns ever.

Yeah, I think some business magazine even called it the best rebranding effort ever.

[PKO]

I remember watching that first show (having no knowledge of the lawsuit) and being perplexed why WWF would change their name to WWE with no notice.

It's generally assumed they did the many Hardcore Title changes at the start of the show to get the name change in your head. "Get the F out" is actually pretty clever, especially for WWE.

[Andrew is Good]

I thought it was weird. I was on the WWF website one day, and I had read about the upcoming name change, but they had a picture of what happened on the previous Raw, and after the name change, the picture remained unchanged (it was Jericho and HHH) but all the logos were different and it was "WWE". I think though the change ended up being apropos with the brand extension and everything looking in hindsight.

I wasn't born when they made the change from WWWF to WWF or even when it went from Capitol Wrestling to World Wide Wrestling Federation.

I'm also watching that first show, and man. I know Trish Stratus wasn't the most technical of girls, but she's light years ahead of a lot of them now, and this was in 2002. I just finished it, great match with her and Jazz, and in this no DQ match, Trish took the Stevie Kick like a champ, maybe it's because I'm used to the divas matches now but my goodness, Trish and Jazz worked really well together