:

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.
 1

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

2

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

4
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

6
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

 7
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

8

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
 9
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.

10
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/>.