 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Professional wrestling Sports entertainment Tape library archiving |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Stamford, Connecticut,U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Home video releases (DVD,Blu-ray,VHS) Online streaming services Television channel subscriptions |
| Parent | WWE |
| Subsidiaries | American Wrestling Association Evolve[1] Extreme Championship Wrestling Georgia Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling Others |
WWE Libraries Inc.,[2] branded as theWWE Legacy Department,[3] is an American media company that consists of the largest collection ofprofessional wrestling videos and copyrights in the world.[4] The Legacy Department is a subsidiary ofWWE, the professional wrestling subsidiary ofTKO Group Holdings. It comprises not only past and current works by WWE (formerly the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, World Wide Wrestling Federation, World Wrestling Federation, and World Wrestling Entertainment) but also the works of now defunctprofessional wrestling promotions dating back to the 1930s.[5] As of 2014, the library stands at 150,000 hours of content[6] including weekly television shows,pay-per-views, and recordedhouse shows.[4] The collection represents a very significant portion of the visual history of modernprofessional wrestling in the United States andCanada. WWE has made their classic holdings available through numeroushome video releases, theVintage television program, and on theWWE Network andWWE Classics on Demand services.
The Legacy Department's library includes all past and present WWE tapes dating back to the 1950s, including the footage from previous forms of the company. The footage saved from WWE's time as theCapitol Wrestling Corporation is among the raresurviving footage of broadcasts from theDuMont Television Network, as most of their footage was destroyed in the mid-1970s.[7][8]
Although not wrestling content, the library's holdings include footage from various documentaries, reality shows, and fictional works produced for home video, theWWE Network and other broadcasters, and any motion pictures produced byWWE Studios. The library also maintains footage from WWE's non-wrestling sister companies, theWorld Bodybuilding Federation andXFL.
For years, WWE has engaged in a campaign of purchasing libraries of defunct wrestling promotions. The first significant purchase took place in 2001 when the company bought the complete historical archives of their former competitorWorld Championship Wrestling.[9] The purchase of theExtreme Championship Wrestling's intellectual proprieties and video library during its bankruptcy proceedings in 2003[10] gave WWE control over the majority of all national professional wrestling footage available at the time.
On August 13, 2020, WWE announced that shows from the libraries of activeindependent wrestling promotionsEvolve,Westside Xtreme Wrestling,Progress Wrestling, andInsane Championship Wrestling would begin airing on the WWE Network.[11] As part of the agreement, all the respective promotions would continue to own their footage and remain separate entities from WWE. However, later in 2020, WWE purchased Evolve andDragon Gate USA, its defunct sister promotion, after which Evolve ceased operations until it was revived as adevelopmental brand in 2025.[1]
The dates listed below for purchased organizations and libraries represent the duration of footage that WWE owns and may not necessarily represent the entire extent of the promotion's existence.
Throughout its history, WWE has had a long relationship with theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA). For many decades, from its founding in 1948 until the mid-1980s, the NWA acted as agoverning body of America's many regional wrestling promotions, and membership in the NWA allowed for the shared use of big-name stars for local wrestling events. WWE (as the CWC) was a member of the NWA between 1950s and 1963, and again (as the WWWF/WWF) between 1971 and 1983. In 1998, WWE (as the WWF)hosted NWA matches on its programming.
Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) was an NWA member for its entire post-1948 existence and by the end of the promotion's run was widely regarded as the NWA itself, due to its purchases and control of the largest regional NWA promotions. This was exemplified by the presence of all majorNWA titles inWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) when JCP morphed into WCW in 1988. WCW's relationship with the NWA continued until 1993, when the promotion pulled out of the NWA.
As a result of WWE's former membership in the NWA, through its ownership of WCW and its predecessor, and through its ownership ofExtreme Championship Wrestling (which was an NWA member until itsuddenly 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. While WWE owns the majority of the video libraries of the NWA's previous notable members, WWE does not own the NWA itself, which is currently owned byBilly Corgan's Lightning One, Inc. company. As such, the WWE Legacy Department is not allowed to use the NWA name or logo to promote their video libraries.
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. Most broadcasts were taped over, so very little footage exists from pre-1970s promotions. 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.
Several factors have adversely affected the quality of some surviving tapes. Upon taking control of the World Championship Wrestling library, it was noted that the tapes were unlabeled and not categorized.[17] The condition of some WCW tapes is such that WWE could not air them onWWE Classics on Demand, or on theWWE Network.[18]
WWE owns the unedited master tapes for all content in the library. However, due to a lawsuit over the "WWF" initials brought on by theWorld 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 December 15, 1997, and April 29, 2002 (the pre-"scratch" logo was not covered under this lawsuit, with a variation of this being used in the November 15, 2010 WWERaw Old School edition).[19] 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 theUnited Kingdom exclusiveWWE Tagged Classics DVD line. 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 onRaw 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 logos for retro-themed programming now using the original WWF logo, but modified without the F.[20]
Music rights issues are also reasons for occasional editing by WWE of its library when airing or releasing videos. While most wrestlers'entrance themes are done in-house (notably by composerJim Johnston), those whose music is not owned by WWE are often dubbed over with cheaper alternatives rather than providing the original audio, to save 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 fromExtreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), which was famous for using recordings by mainstream music acts such asMetallica,AC/DC, andDr. Dre for their wrestlers' entrances, although AC/DC and Metallica have provided music for WWEpay-per-view events as well. Exceptions to non-Johnston composed themes that WWE leaves in its archives are either songs that are in thepublic domain, such as the "Dawn" section ofAlso sprach Zarathustra used byRic Flair andPomp and Circumstance, which was used byGorgeous George and laterRandy Savage; or songs that the WWE acquired from its purchase of WCW. Additionally, wrestlers who worked for WWE but whose entrance music in other promotions may be owned by an outside company have had their songs in those promotions replaced by their WWE counterparts, such asChris Jericho's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) theme being replaced by his WWE theme.
Due to a1991 lawsuit, matches featuringJesse Ventura on commentary were dubbed over for subsequent home video releases. However, matches featuring Ventura commentating are shown with unaltered audio on theWWE Network.[21]
Since 2007, WWE has edited footage featuringChris Benoit from repeat broadcasts, due to Benoit'smurder-suicide. WWE has released some footage of Benoit from its library as well as WCW and ECW in the years since, but all of these have been group shots not focused on Benoit (most notably the2004 Royal Rumble). Benoit's wifeNancy Benoit, who performed in a manager role in WCW under thering name Woman, was also initially removed, but footage of her was later re-added. All archive footage of Chris Benoit has been available uncut on the WWE Network since its launch in 2014. Benoit's name is also never mentioned in the chapters selection, merely stating (insert opponent's name here) in singles action. Event posters that include Benoit, likeBacklash 2004 have also been changed.
When WWE Network programming began being moved toPeacock in theUnited States in 2021, WWE andNBCUniversal (NCBU) began editing controversial content from WWE's past in order to meet NBCU'sstandards and practices; this also applied to the standalone WWE Network feed that remained overseas.[22]