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Kyle_C_Haight · 03-12-2013, 11:47 PM

This is more of a theoretical thread, I doubt anyone will be able to offer an official explanation.

As you may be aware, last July, WWE reached an agreement with the World Wildlife Fund for Nature over the use of WWE's "WWF Attitude" scratch logo, meaning that WWE no longer has to censor (read: blur) it out of their footage or events from 1998 through 2002. This is the logo in question...

Despite the litigation, during the time of dispute between the WWE and the Fund (from 2002 through 2012), WWE was still legally able to use the classic WWF logo without repercussion; the logo used by the company from 1983 until 1998. This is the logo in question...

Now today, with everything all wrapped up in a nice little package where nothing needs to be edited and the company is free to use any of their old trademarks and logo, we get an "Old School" episode of Monday Night RAW where they exclusively use THIS logo...

...which is obviously the WWE logo in a retro-style, not the classic World Wrestling Federation logo. In addition to this, WWE is now releasing WrestleMania 1 through 15 on DVD. Here's an example of the logo used for the cover-art for WrestleMania VI...

...and this is the logo originally used for WrestleMania VI...

As you can see, on the new DVDs being released, they have replaced the classic WWF logo with the standard ("scratch-style") WWE logo, making for an anachronism.

One further example being that photos on WWE.com (among other places) are having instances of the classic logo being deliberately edited out for some reason. For example, here's a photo from the first episode of RAW...

This photo has not been edited in any way and is available for viewing also on WWE.com. However, they also have this photo available on WWE.com, as well...

...which has the WWF logo airbrushed off the Monday Night RAW banner and the turnbuckle pads.

Personally, I find it very irritating. More often than not, I'm a bigger fan of WWE's classic footage than I am of what they're putting out as new and now that they don't have to do any editing anymore, it's disappointing to see them do it anyway when it doesn't need to happen. More to the point, I much prefer the classic logo over the current one and to see it get airbrushed away is unfortunate, as well.

The question is why is this happening? Is there some legal reason we don't know about why this happens? We know that WWE was never required to edit out the classic logo as it's visible on any number of DVDs put out in the past 10 years. Is WWE once again trying to rewrite their own history by trying to trick newer fans into thinking that they've always been known as "WWE" and "World Wrestling Entertainment" and that they were never the "WWF" and the "World Wrestling Federation"? There has to be some logical reason why this is happening, because it's not happening by accident, surely. So, any idea what's the story is here?

TwoWords · 03-12-2013, 11:54 PM

It's because it annoys you and they want you to watch the new stuff. That's all I can come up with.

Mrs. Austin Aries · 03-13-2013, 12:53 AM

Thank you for detailing this. I think it's a shame, as I take exception to revisionism as a whole.

They should learn from George Lucas' mistakes of trying to "fix" something. Sometimes you should just leave it as it is and let Han shoot first.

Zk29 · 03-13-2013, 12:56 AM

Because they want to erase the idea that WWF ever existed. WWE has always been the only wrestling company to ever exist. And Bruno Sammartino used to tout every time he successfully defended his spinning WWE championship.

NO! · 03-13-2013, 01:36 AM

Question, why hasn't the WWE advertised these new releases of past Wrestlemanias? are they not the ones who released them? It was never on their schedule of DVD releases for 2013 either. I know it's from the anthology set, but why not advertise them if you want people to buy them?

Or did I miss something? I only heard about them on here.

Vic Capri · 03-13-2013, 01:54 AM

They are allowed to use the WWF Attitude logo now (we don't have to worry about WWF censorship ever either in the scratch style or commentary usage), but WWE chooses to use the retconned old school logo (which was debuted by John Cena in late 2003) because they don't want confusion for their brand.

- Vic

wrestlinggameguy · 03-13-2013, 02:08 AM

THEY CAN ONLY USE REAL WWF LOGOS ON OLD FOOTAGE! /thread

Cookie Monster · 03-13-2013, 04:25 AM

Yeah, I thought it was just so on old footage they don't have to blur and edit shit out.

As for why it wasn't a "WWF OLD SCHOOL RAW".. well, because the company is now called WWE? They aren't going to use old WWF logos on a WWE program designed to get fans a little nostalgic. Would be pointless.

bacardimayne · 03-13-2013, 04:40 AM

I'm not bothered with them branding DVD covers with the current logo as long as they don't tamper with the footage on the disc.

Kyle_C_Haight · 03-13-2013, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cookie Monster

Yeah, I thought it was just so on old footage they don't have to blur and edit shit out.

As for why it wasn't a "WWF OLD SCHOOL RAW".. well, because the company is now called WWE? They aren't going to use old WWF logos on a WWE program designed to get fans a little nostalgic. Would be pointless.

Then explain why on the first Old School RAW, they used the WWF logo?