WWF or WWE: What’s The Difference?

WWE’s roots can be traced to the 1950s, when the inaugural episode under the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was produced on January 7, 1953. The identity of the CWC’s founder remains unknown. Some sources credit Vincent J. McMahon as the founder of CWC, while others credit McMahon’s father, Jess McMahon. The CWC afterward joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and famous New York promoter Toots Mondt soon joined the promotion. 

Difference Between WWE vs WWF

WWF is an abbreviation for World Wrestling Federation, and WWE is an abbreviation for World Wrestling Entertainment. The only difference between them is that E has been substituted for F in their initials. Before we can understand how the name was changed, we must first understand the history of the World Wrestling Federation.

Vince McMahon, who is no longer the owner and Chief operating officer of World Wrestling Entertainment today, resigned as executive chairman of TKO Holdings, owner of World Wrestling Entertainment, in January 2024.

WWF was established in 1982, altering the name of the erstwhile World Wrestling Federation possessed by his father. The WWF was a pure entertainment company that aimed to attract audiences to watch professional wrestlers compete in the ring. Vince began to organize large-scale wrestler fights and sell videotapes of these brawls to numerous TV channels. Shortly, he made quite a bit with promotional and marketing activities and enticed wrestlers who were waging war for competing bodies. He decided to sign Hulk Hogan, who had a national following after appearing in Rocky III.

Vince McMahon introduced concepts such as WWF World Tour and Wrestle Mania that captured the public’s attention, and the World Wrestling Federation soon filtered its way into every household in America via cable television. In the interim, Vince had to compete with the onset of WCW, which was established to mitigate the popularity of the World Wrestling Federation and was essentially an affiliation of discontented wrestlers who were enraged by a pay cut instituted by Vince. On the other hand, the World Wrestling Federation emerged victorious and regained its popularity. Finally, in 1999, the World Wrestling Federation purchased WCW and ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) to reign supreme on national and cable television around the world.

 

WWF became engrossed in a controversy in 2000 when the Worldwide Fund for Nature, an environmental organization, threatened to sue Vince for using its initials. The lawsuit hauled on for years until Vince got tired of it and decided to change the company’s name from World Wrestling Federation to World Wrestling Entertainment. Everything else stays the same, and only E substitutes F throughout the entire drama.

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