Linda McMahon once threatened to fine WWE staff, ex-employee recalls
Former WWE employee Debra Jaswaye recently disclosed details about a warning her department once received from Linda McMahon.
In 2002, WWE changed its name from World Wrestling Federation to World Wrestling Entertainment following a legal battle with the World Wildlife Fund. Jaswaye was WWE's Creative Director at the time, meaning she was responsible for ensuring the company's branding no longer contained the letters "WWF."
On the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast, Jaswaye said Vince McMahon's wife threatened to fine anyone who failed to follow instructions about the name change:
"One thing that was huge is, because of the legal ramifications, we could not use WWF anywhere, so we had to literally take that off of everything. All of our old videos. And I remember it was an edict from Linda McMahon that if we used it, we were fined and we were in a lot of trouble." [36:38 – 37:01]
Linda McMahon worked in several behind-the-scenes WWE roles between 1980 and 2009. She also appeared as an on-screen persona, most notably in the Attitude Era.
WWE staff understood Linda McMahon's warning
Debra Jaswaye added that every type of WWE memorabilia had to be altered, from clothes and posters to signs and videotapes.
Due to the seriousness of the legal battle, Jaswaye had no problem with Linda McMahon's strict demands:
"That was a very busy time for all of us to acclimate to that, but we made the best of it because it really was a good way to launch ourselves seriously as an entertainment company, so getting the F out was a great idea!" [37:18 – 37:34]
In the same interview, Jaswaye shared details about an alleged WWE misconduct case from the 1990s.
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Please credit the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.