World Wrestling Entertainment announced this past week its re-branding efforts to further move itself away from being known as a pro wrestling company.
The full press release can be found on WWE’s corporate website.
From now on World Wrestling Entertainment will simply only known as “WWE.” This is a concerted effort to remove the term “wrestling” from the company’s lexicon. For many years the actual word “wrestling” has been a dirty word in the company’s eyes and they have tried in earnest to make the term “sports-entertainment” the new buzzword for the material that the company produces day in and day out.
So much like Kentucky Fried Chicken has simply become “KFC” with no true meaning attached to the three letter moniker, WWE will essentially no longer stand for World Wrestling Entertainment, just three letters representing a company originally started back in the 1960s.
In addition to the new name branding, WWE will look to “acquire entertainment content companies and the outsourcing of WWE's core competencies – television and film production, live event production and licensing.” The company is also looking to create new television programming, both scripted and unscripted and launch its much talked about WWE network.
Despite the change and the company’s constant desire to move itself from pro wrestling, WWE Chairman and CEO indicated in the press release that pro wrestling won’t completely be forgotten about.
"The new business model of the company better reflects what WWE is all about, being a global entertainment company," said McMahon. "We will always be loyal to our core business that made WWE a globally known entity, however, the future of WWE will be the addition of new entertainment content opportunities beyond the ring."
In fact its “core business,” as it is called, will be getting renewed focus thanks to McMahon’s son-in-law Paul Levesque, better known worldwide as Triple H. Levesque will oversee a new international talent development department to ensure new talent that will be appear inside in the ring.
This certainly isn’t the first time McMahon has steered himself from his “core business.” Usually these ventures have resulted in failure. Things such as the World Bodybuilding Federation, ICOPRO, the XFL, WWF New York and WWE Nigara Falls are just a few of the outside ventures built on the wrestling company’s name that have ultimately failed.
Not surprisingly, long term and old school pro wrestling are unhappy about this recent development, but as long as there is still a wrestling ring in the middle of an arena a few times a week and pre-determined Championships are won and lost then the company will still promote pro wrestling.
As a twenty-plus year fan of the concept of pro wrestling myself, I am certainly not thrilled with the decision to eliminate “wrestling” from the company’s name either but to many casual fans what they watch on television every Monday night will always be “wrestling” or “rasslin” and still be called “World Wrestling Entertainment” or even the “World Wrestling Federation.”
After all, the company’s most profitable venture in its forty-plus years of existence is still a little event simply called “WrestleMania.” And trust me, after twenty seven years of “branding” that event into what it has become there is no way they are going to change it now.
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