The Undertaker On How Vince McMahon Handled Changing WWF To WWE
WWE legend The Undertaker has opened up about Vince McMahon changing the company's name from WWF to WWE, and if it impacted the business.
"The Deadman" recently hosted US Presidential nominee and WWE Hall of Famer Donald Trump on his "Six Feet Under" podcast, where 'Taker stated that McMahon took the opportunity to shake things up and rebrand WWE.
"At first, it really was [difficult to call it WWE over WWF]," he began. "I just think he seized the moment and [said], 'You know what, it's time for a little bit of change,' and it wasn't worth fighting it. I don't think anybody was going to confuse the World Wrestling Federation with the World Wildlife Fund. They were way ... it was just semantics."
Trump then asked 'Taker if McMahon lost the cause, to which the WWE legend clarified that WWE didn't pursue it legally. The former US President added that it was awkward, at first, to say "WWE," which Undertaker agreed.
"Originally it was WWWF, they took the 'W' off and it was a whole new facelift kind of deal with the WWE. We changed our branding and the way everything looked and it worked for the better," The Undertaker said.
The name change from WWF to WWE happened in 2002 after the World Wildlife Fund filed a lawsuit for the rights of the name, following which WWE dropped the "F" from their name. WWE initially blurred out the WWF logo from various old videos of theirs, but they reached an agreement with the World Wildlife Fund in 2012 to use the logo on older videos.