WWE Libraries
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File:WWELogo2014.svg | |
Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Professional wrestling, sports entertainment, Tape library |
Founded | 2001 |
Headquarters | Stamford, Connecticut, USA |
Parent | WWE |
Subsidiaries | American Wrestling Association Georgia Championship Wrestling Extreme Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling |
WWE Libraries Inc.[1] (branded as WWE Video Library) is a WWE-owned subsidiary that consists of the largest collection of professional wrestling videos and copyrights in the world.[2] It is comprised not only of past and current works by WWE (formerly the World Wrestling Federation and World Wrestling Entertainment) but the works of now defunct professional wrestling promotions dating back to the 1940s.[3] As of 2014, the library stands at 150,000 hours of content[4] including weekly television shows, pay-per-views, and recorded house shows.[2] The collection represents a very significant portion of the visual history of modern professional wrestling in the United States and Canada. WWE has made their classic holdings available through numerous home-video releases, WWE Vintage Collection and the WWE Network.
The dates listed below for purchased organizations and libraries represent the duration of that company, and may not necessarily represent the extent of historical video owned.
Classic WWE holdings
The library includes all past and present WWE tapes dating back to the 1950s, including all previous forms of the company:
- Capitol Wrestling Corporation (1952-1963)
- World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) (1963-1979)
- World Wrestling Federation (WWF) (1979-2002)
- World Wrestling Entertainment (2002-present)
Although not wrestling content, the library's holdings also include footage from various WWF/E produced ventures including the 1985-1987 cartoon series Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling, the 1989 film No Holds Barred, the World Bodybuilding Federation (1990-1992), the XFL (2001), and any motion pictures produced by WWE Films.
Non-WWE purchases
For years WWE has engaged in a campaign of purchasing libraries of defunct wrestling promotions. The first significant purchases took place in 2001, when they bought the complete historical archives of their former competitor World Championship Wrestling.[5] The purchase of Extreme Championship Wrestling in 2003[6] gave the company the majority of all national professional wrestling content available at the time.
- American Wrestling Association (1957-1991)[3]
- Georgia Championship Wrestling (1944-1985)
- Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW)[6] (1994-2001) and its predecessor
- Eastern Championship Wrestling (1992-1994)
- Memphis Championship Wrestling (2000-2001) *
- Ohio Valley Wrestling (1998-2008)*
- Deep South Wrestling (2005-2007) *
- Florida Championship Wrestling (2007-2012)*
- Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1992-1995)[3]
- Stampede Wrestling (1948-1989)[3]
- Ultimate Pro Wrestling (1998-2007)
- Global Wrestling Federation (1991-1994)
- World Championship Wrestling (WCW)[5] (1988-2001)
- Jim Crockett Promotions (1931-1988) which by the end included
- Eastern States Championship Wrestling (1945-1973)
- Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (1973-1988)
- Central States Wrestling (c. early 1950s-1986)
- Championship Wrestling from Florida (1961-1987)***
- Championship Wrestling from Georgia (1984-1985)
- NWA Tri-State/Mid-South Wrestling/UWF (1950s-1987)***
- Jim Crockett Promotions (1931-1988) which by the end included
- World Class Championship Wrestling (1966-1988**)[7]
- Maple Leaf Wrestling (1930-1995)
- ^* Former WWE developmental territory
- ^** Angelo and Mario Savoldi, the former owners of International World Class Championship Wrestling, own all post-1988 footage of WCCW and its successor promotions.[7]
- ^*** While the promotion was bought by JCP the video library was not part of the purchase. WWE bought the video library from the private owner.
National Wrestling Alliance
Throughout its history, WWE has had a long relationship with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). For many decades, until the mid-1980s, the NWA acted as a governing body of the many various regional wrestling promotions, and membership allowed for decreased regional competition and the shared use of big-name stars for local events. WWE (as Capitol Wrestling) was a member of the NWA between 1952 and 1963, and again (as the WWF) between 1971 and 1983.
Jim Crockett Promotions was an NWA member for its entire existence, and by the end of the promotion's run was, more or less, the NWA, thanks to its control of the largest regional NWA promotions. This was exemplified by the presence of all major NWA titles in World Championship Wrestling when Crockett Promotions morphed into WCW in the 1980s. WCW's relationship with the NWA was even more convoluted than WWE's, until WCW left the NWA in 1993.
As a result of WWE's former membership in the NWA, through its ownership of WCW and its predecessor libraries, and through its ownership of Extreme Championship Wrestling (which was an NWA member until it suddenly severed ties in 1994) and other smaller regional promotions, WWE owns a vast amount of NWA footage, making up the majority of significant NWA matches from the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.
Condition
Although professional wrestling has been on television throughout the medium's existence, not all broadcasts were recorded, nor necessarily saved, and most promotions did not have a regular television presence until the 1970s. Many promotions taped over everything, so very little footage is around. The historical availability of individual, non-televised matches is also incomplete, as likely only the most significant bouts were recorded for posterity, and can be lost to time.
A number of factors have adversely affected the quality of some surviving tapes. For example, upon taking control of the World Championship Wrestling library it was noted that the tapes were unlabeled and not categorized.[8] The condition of some WCW tapes is such that WWE could not air them on WWE Classics On Demand, or on the current WWE Network.[9]
Editing
WWE owns the unedited master tapes for all content in the library, however, due to a lawsuit over the "WWF" initials brought on by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) from May 2002 until June 2012 they were not allowed to use the letters WWF or the "scratch" logo used between 1998 and 2002 (the pre-1998 logo was not covered under this lawsuit, with a variation of this being used in the November 15, 2010 WWE Raw Old School edition).[10] As a result, any instances of someone saying "WWF" (though not World Wrestling Federation) were edited and shots of the "scratch" logo were either removed or blurred on re-airings or video releases released during that time frame, except for the UK exclusive WWE Tagged Classics DVD range. In late July 2012, WWE reached a settlement with the WWF which once again allows them to use the "WWF" initials and scratch logo on archive footage. Unedited footage first appeared on Raw 1000 and since then has appeared in full length matches posted to the WWE website and home video releases. In exchange, WWE is no longer permitted to use the WWF initials or logo in any new, original footage, with any old-school logos for retro-themed programming now using the original WWF logo, but modified without the F.[11]
Music rights issues are also reason for occasional editing by WWE of its library when airing or releasing videos. While most wrestlers' entrance themes are done in-house by WWE composer Jim Johnston and are therefore owned by WWE, those whose music is not owned by WWE are often dubbed over with cheaper alternatives rather than providing the original audio, in lieu of WWE paying licensing fees to the writers/performers of the original songs. Videos heavily affected in particular by these cost-cutting decisions are those featuring footage from Extreme Championship Wrestling, which was famous for using recordings by mainstream music acts such as Metallica, AC/DC and Dr. Dre for their wrestlers' entrances, although AC/DC and Metallica has provided music for WWE pay-per-view events as well. Exceptions to non-Johnston composed themes that WWE leaves in its archives are either songs that are in the public domain (most notably the "Dawn" section of Also sprach Zarathustra that is used by Ric Flair as well as Pomp and Circumstance, which was used by Gorgeous George and later Randy Savage) or songs that the WWE acquired from its purchase of WCW, most notably the entrance music to Booker T.
Due to a 1991 lawsuit matches featuring Jesse Ventura on commentary were dubbed over for subsequent releases. However, matches featuring Ventura commentating will air with unaltered audio on the WWE Network.[12]
Since 2007, WWE has edited footage featuring Chris Benoit due to the crimes Benoit committed at the end of his life. WWE has released some footage of Benoit from its own library as well as WCW and ECW in the years since, but have always been group shots where Benoit wasn't the featured individual. Benoit's wife Nancy Benoit, who wrestled in WCW as Woman, was initially removed, but footage of her was later re-added. The WWE Network airs footage featuring Benoit, but an advisory warning is displayed by WWE before each archival airing featuring Benoit.[13]
See also
References
- ^ http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1091907/000120677408000468/exhibit21-1.htm
- ^ a b "WWE Amasses 80,000 Hours Of Content" (Press release). WWE. 2006-06-05. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
- ^ a b c d "Video Library". TV Shows > WWE 24/7 On Demand. WWE. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
- ^ http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2014/0807/579784/how-many-hours-of-footage-wwe-has/
- ^ a b "WWE Entertainment, Inc. Acquires WCW from Turner Broadcasting" (Press release). WWE. 2001-03-23. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
- ^ a b "WWE Launches ECW As Third Brand" (Press release). WWE. 2006-05-25. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
- ^ a b "Has Kevin Von Erich sold the WCCW videotape library to Vince McMahon and WWE?". WCCW Frequently Asked Questions. World Class Memories. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
- ^ Storm, Lance. "Part One: Lance's Thoughts". Book Marks - The Death of WCW. Storm Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
- ^ "June 9, 1997". The Monday Night Wars. WWE Classics On Demand.
- ^ "World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Drops The "F" To Emphasize the "E" for Entertainment" (Press release). corporate.wwe.com. 2002-05-06. Retrieved 2007-09-09.
- ^ http://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.php?id=71245&p=1&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pwinsider+%28PWInsider+Latest+Articles%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
- ^ Gelston, Dan (2014-01-09). "WWE launching 24/7 network in February". Associated Press. Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
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(help) - ^ Caldwell, James (2014-01-03). "WWE NEWS: Ross returns to TV on ESPN, Benoit/WWE Network update, top indie tag team turned down?". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2014-01-07.