FAQs on WWF/E and WCW (First time here)
Aug 5, 2014 17:10:08 GMT -5
Captain2, Lila, and 1 more like this
Post by silverplaquevii on Aug 5, 2014 17:10:08 GMT -5
Hi there. Although I am already new to this forum, there are the FAQs about the corporate history of WWF/E and WCW.
Any thoughts on this? Sound off below.
Are Capitol and Titan the same company as WWE?
No. Vincent J. McMahon's Capitol Wrestling Corporation (which was founded by his father Jess and Toots Mondt in 1952) was the parent entity/sanctioning body for the World (Wide) Wrestling Federation from the time they initially joined the NWA up until 1982.
His son, Vincent K. and his wife Linda started Titan Sports in 1979 and did not incorporate until 1980 in the Cape Cod offices as a Massachusetts entity. In 1982, Titan acquired Capitol and moved to Greenwich, CT where they continued as an NWA member until exiting in 1983. Two years later, Titan Sports moved to its present location in Stamford, CT.
In 1987, the McMahons formed a separate corporation in Delaware that may have initially been called WWF, Inc. before being renamed Titan Sports, Inc. In 1988, the Delaware entity. legally merged the Massachusetts counterpart.
In 1998, Titan Sports, Inc. was renamed World Wrestling Federation, Inc. before the company went public in 1999 and renamed to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. In 2002, the name was changed to World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. after they lost the lawsuit to the World Wildlife Fund/Worldwide Fund for Nature. Since 2011, the name was shortened to simply WWE which is no longer an initialism, though the company's legal name remains unchanged. (Hate to nitpick, but there's a hybrid WWF logo on the link here.)
Does WCW still exist?
As a corporate entity yes, but as a promotion no. Universal Wrestling Corporation (f/ka World Championship Wrestling, Inc. - "Old WCW") is a Time Warner subsidiary that holds certain legal ligations and contracts (e.g. Nash sued Universal over royalty payments). WWE (though it's subsidiary, WCW, Inc. aka "New WCW") owns the rights to the WCW name and associated trademarks, the merchandising rights (video/console games, tshirts, etc.), certain rights to associated past media related to WCW (old broadcasts, house shows, PPV's, etc. as well as the GCW/JCP/post-Watts UWF tape libraries) and other properties (rings, championship belts, entrance ramps, etc.) since it acquired the assets from AOL Time Warner in 2001 after their programming was cancelled.
How did Turner formed WCW when he bought JCP?
Ted Turner and Jim Crockett Promotions formed Universal Wrestling Corporation on October 11, 1988 taking over Crockett's operations and assets, just mere weeks before prior to the sale becoming "official". It was renamed World Championship Wrestling, Inc. sometime in early 1989. However, Jim Crockett Promotions, Inc. continued to exist as a business entity post sale to Turner and owned non-voting shares of World Championship Wrestling, Inc. up until April 14, 1993 when JCP, Inc. was disbanded according to North Carolina records.
The NWA name is brought back into the picture by the company for the period of June 1992 through September 1993 until WCW officially leaves the National Wrestling Alliance on the 1st of the latter month.
In 2001, America Online merges with Time Warner (parent company of Turner Broadcasting, the owner of WCW) to form AOL Time Warner (later de-merged in 2009), which subsequently sells the assets (see above) of WCW to Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation Entertainment in March 2001. The WCW brand name is kept around by WWFE until November when the entity is "put out of business" after the WWF team defeats the WCW/ECW Alliance team in a "winner take all match" at the Survivor Series PPV.
As mentioned above, the actual corporation owned by Time Warner (World Championship Wrestling, Inc.) changed it's name back to it's original title of Universal Wrestling Corporation after the sale to WWFE and continues to exist on paper to this very day.
Any thoughts on this? Sound off below.