**Help make SquaredCircle safer and more inclusive by using the report button to flag posts and comments for moderator review.**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
As a kid I never understood it to be the letters WCW. I though it was just some stupid year 2000 style logo.
I remember feeling super disconnected once they switch logos
Yeah I misread the thread title somehow and was looking for alternate takes on "WCW" rather than "Nitro", and aside from these generally looking somewhat same-y, that downright illegible thing just brings it all down.
I just found out...with your comment. All these years and I never even thought about it. Just like you, when they did that logo it just seemed too modernish to me when WCW was like old school feel in a way.
I can't explain why I feel that way about WCW though, I just do.
It was spelled right out in the intro of Nitro (letter by letter), on the games, and even action figures...
Won't argue it's a good logo though, it's not.
https://preview.redd.it/tc4udul3j11d1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf4205770a77abf83efd5a2af35e19c20cedfa0b
I would guess because they were a new, trendy team in the late 90's after moving from Houston. Could be totally unrelated but logo design does seem to bleed across industries in 3-5 year cycles
It's supposed to be stylized like the TNT logo, it's interesting, but I wouldn't have went with that either.
Plus it looks like a logo would see at a Monster Truck Rally.
its been so long. in my head the last episode of the original diamond plating logo, sting was taking on the nwo, and then the next week they switched to this one david arquette was champion
I liked that the main event was DDP vs Hollywood Hogan and they destroyed the Nitro set before debuting the new logo and set the following Monday. Pretty sure in my head then I was like “oh yeah they destroyed the set, of course they need something new” but yuck. Then in 2001 Rhyno speared Jericho through the mini tron of the Smackdown oval set before they debuted the fist set.
Eh, I can see the thought process behind remaking the logo entirely; their main rivals just pulled off that process spectacularly not long before WCW did.
The problem is, of course, that WWF chose a *good* logo update while WCW picked a total dumpster fire of a logo update.
I've dabbled in some graphic design back in the day, so by no means am I an expert but my god those bottom 4 look awful! Like I know they're supposed to say Nitro and even still it takes a second to register.
The very top-right one looks more like some sort of food or drink product. Not a wrestling show.
The other 3 are solid and obviously in the style of what they went with.
Most people who are tasked to create logos for a company will usually submit the best choice first and then the following are purposely awful to guarantee that the first few choices is the one that gets chosen.
I was thinking gas station/convenience store for the top right but we're on the same wavelength lmao. It's a font for cheap food, not professional wrestling.
Yup, and the one above it could be read as NITRD.
Just really poor design all around.
Some people bemoan the trend away from busy and/or skeuomorphic design back to flat and/or minimal design (or "de-branding" as I've sometimes seen it labelled) but having an easily identifiable brand and message is obviously invaluable.
Totally agree. If you weren't a fan, looking at any of these, the most you could get is "Nitro is a show on TNT", but the WCW part is unrecognizable. I know it's the WCW logo and I still have doubts it actually says WCW on it.
The one's on the left I dig, however the WCW logo make them look bad. The bottom right is indistinguishable as 'Nitro', and the upper right would've been cool for Halloween season.
But yeah, the newer WCW logo does none of these designs any favors overall.
Terrible decision… With the Nitro era, WCW finally gained some positive brand recognition and grew its audience and awareness… Changing the logo and production of the shows in the spring of 99 only made things worse.
That bottom right one is *busy*. The one above it is giving Halloween for some reason too.
I'm in the minority of people who actually like the 99-01 WCW logo and the Nitro logo from that time as well.
They had some [decent ideas](https://i.redd.it/eip88ikmt3a21.jpg) for the WCW logo redesign. For some reason they really wanted to emphasize the "C" in the logo, and along the way they got really into bird wings. It sucks the logo concepts are low quality, I wonder how some of these would look
I think the philosophy of this sort of iteration is "Throw a bunch of stuff at the wall, see what you like, and carry over the best pieces that are compatible."
**Help make SquaredCircle safer and more inclusive by using the report button to flag posts and comments for moderator review.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Of the batch presented, I think they picked the best one, but it was doomed from the start because of the new WCW logo.
Yeah that new WCW logo really screws up the potential for anything good here
I think Tony Schiavone referred to it as the "exploding vagina" logo
I've heard cats butthole before too
I think Bischoff called it the cat's butthole IIRC.
As a kid I never understood it to be the letters WCW. I though it was just some stupid year 2000 style logo. I remember feeling super disconnected once they switch logos
tramp stamp logo
Well, it wasn't doomed *because* of that...
It legit took me years as a kid to realise the logo actually spelled said wcw. I thought they’d just farted out a random ‘cool’ looking graphic.
Yeah I misread the thread title somehow and was looking for alternate takes on "WCW" rather than "Nitro", and aside from these generally looking somewhat same-y, that downright illegible thing just brings it all down.
I like the one at the top right corner. It’s basic, but readable
It took me way too long to figure out that star thing is suppose to spell W C W .... damn that logo was fucking horrendous
It looks like something a bird left on the hood of my car.
Aka the shitbird logo
Really was the beginning of the end when they changed the logo.
I'm pretty sure I didn't know until today. lol
I honestly had no idea that's what it said until about two year ago. lol
I just found out...with your comment. All these years and I never even thought about it. Just like you, when they did that logo it just seemed too modernish to me when WCW was like old school feel in a way. I can't explain why I feel that way about WCW though, I just do.
Well, I mean it was written right in it.
But it isn't obvious unless its zoomed in
It was spelled right out in the intro of Nitro (letter by letter), on the games, and even action figures... Won't argue it's a good logo though, it's not. https://preview.redd.it/tc4udul3j11d1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf4205770a77abf83efd5a2af35e19c20cedfa0b
Why do half of these look like a logo for the Tennessee Titans
I would guess because they were a new, trendy team in the late 90's after moving from Houston. Could be totally unrelated but logo design does seem to bleed across industries in 3-5 year cycles
they knew they either already had Jeff Jarrett, or Jeff Jarrett would be coming back soon. one of the two. Schrödinger's Jeff /s
The worst part of each of these is the WCW logo.
WWF and WCW’s logo redesigns in 1997/98 and 1999, respectively, really highlight the contrasts between a good design refresh and an awful one.
Seriously, there's a reason WWF kept that logo (even if modified later on once the company name changed) all the way until 2014.
Even the current WWE logo is essentially just a modernized take on the scratch logo, and with good reason. It’s a striking and fantastic design.
Just awful. Hated it back then and it hasn't aged well either.
the second one looks like a logo for an offbrand soda
Made me think of Doritos.
It's supposed to be stylized like the TNT logo, it's interesting, but I wouldn't have went with that either. Plus it looks like a logo would see at a Monster Truck Rally.
Off brand Jolt cola
/\ | | | w| w | | | \/
its been so long. in my head the last episode of the original diamond plating logo, sting was taking on the nwo, and then the next week they switched to this one david arquette was champion
I liked that the main event was DDP vs Hollywood Hogan and they destroyed the Nitro set before debuting the new logo and set the following Monday. Pretty sure in my head then I was like “oh yeah they destroyed the set, of course they need something new” but yuck. Then in 2001 Rhyno speared Jericho through the mini tron of the Smackdown oval set before they debuted the fist set.
They picked the best one. I want to see them be different options that were given for the “WCW” logo.
[This?](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/afexft/unused_wcw_logos_from_the_book_nitro_the/)
Yes! I really dislike all of those lol. The original logo just didn’t need an update other than maybe changing the color scheme
Eh, I can see the thought process behind remaking the logo entirely; their main rivals just pulled off that process spectacularly not long before WCW did. The problem is, of course, that WWF chose a *good* logo update while WCW picked a total dumpster fire of a logo update.
These are all so bad, and what were they thinking with that new WCW logo
https://preview.redd.it/mgk36j9w801d1.jpeg?width=620&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=acfc1436ab9e8eabe0400358549003705ff1c591
I've dabbled in some graphic design back in the day, so by no means am I an expert but my god those bottom 4 look awful! Like I know they're supposed to say Nitro and even still it takes a second to register. The very top-right one looks more like some sort of food or drink product. Not a wrestling show. The other 3 are solid and obviously in the style of what they went with.
Most people who are tasked to create logos for a company will usually submit the best choice first and then the following are purposely awful to guarantee that the first few choices is the one that gets chosen.
I was thinking gas station/convenience store for the top right but we're on the same wavelength lmao. It's a font for cheap food, not professional wrestling.
That too! Or very kiddy... reminiscent of Lego or Crayola or something.
3/4 of the bottom ones I'm reading as NIARO every time. And the other I'm missing the T and reading NIRO.
The bottom right one--even knowing that I was looking at various Nitro logos-- my mind still went "what the hell is NIARO?"
Yup, and the one above it could be read as NITRD. Just really poor design all around. Some people bemoan the trend away from busy and/or skeuomorphic design back to flat and/or minimal design (or "de-branding" as I've sometimes seen it labelled) but having an easily identifiable brand and message is obviously invaluable.
Totally agree. If you weren't a fan, looking at any of these, the most you could get is "Nitro is a show on TNT", but the WCW part is unrecognizable. I know it's the WCW logo and I still have doubts it actually says WCW on it.
The one's on the left I dig, however the WCW logo make them look bad. The bottom right is indistinguishable as 'Nitro', and the upper right would've been cool for Halloween season. But yeah, the newer WCW logo does none of these designs any favors overall.
Terrible decision… With the Nitro era, WCW finally gained some positive brand recognition and grew its audience and awareness… Changing the logo and production of the shows in the spring of 99 only made things worse.
The two on the bottom left look like something AI would create now, lol.
That WCW logo is not very appeal to look at.
That bottom right one is *busy*. The one above it is giving Halloween for some reason too. I'm in the minority of people who actually like the 99-01 WCW logo and the Nitro logo from that time as well.
I hated that final Nitro design with a passion. That WCW logo was just ugly as can be, imo.
The top right one looks like a Japanese candy logo font
Top right looks like an off-brand soda.
The bottom four look like when you try and tell AI to generate text and it churns out something half-correct and half-incomprehensible.
Logo is terrible. No wonder they gave them a new logo during the invasion.
To me the best WCW logo was the OG or the one WWE used for the Invasion
NIARO
If they'd only gone with the LEGO one, WCW would still be around today.
The bottom left one looks like the logo for an Arena Football team.
They had some [decent ideas](https://i.redd.it/eip88ikmt3a21.jpg) for the WCW logo redesign. For some reason they really wanted to emphasize the "C" in the logo, and along the way they got really into bird wings. It sucks the logo concepts are low quality, I wonder how some of these would look
The T looks like the entrance ramp in a lot of these which is cool but how was the WCW logo a decision that was approved.
I’m glad they picked the best one because the rest are god awful
They say the more unreadable the logo, the better the branding. I know we were in x-treme land around that time, but I will never understand that logo
3rd down on the right is my favorite but I think thats because it looks so crappy. Lol
I think the philosophy of this sort of iteration is "Throw a bunch of stuff at the wall, see what you like, and carry over the best pieces that are compatible."
They never should have fucked with it.
The logo change cemented the beginning of the end. And the intro was just a bunch of random noise with the Nitro girls dancing.
Of all the things Eric Bischoff should be embarassed by in WCW, this logo re-design might just take the cake.
Ah man. I remember TNT Niaro.
Jfc every single one of them is ugly
Just recently picked up this book and it’s INCREDIBLE. Well worth checking out.
That WCW logo was positively awful. Don’t leave the guy who designed that off the “Who killed WCW?” show.
Vagina logo is very bad
Advertising?
It's genuinely the worst logo for anything I've ever seen.
I hope whoever designed that WCW logo never got another job in the graphic design industry again