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). As a result, any instance 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 the 1000th episode of Monday Night Raw and since then has appeared in full length matches posted to the WWE website and home video releases.
Music rights issues are also reason for occasional editing by WWE of its library when airing or releasing videos. Wrestlers' entrance themes 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.
Read more about this topic: WWE Video Library
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“In this century the writer has carried on a conversation with madness. We might almost say of the twentieth-century writer that he aspires to madness. Some have made it, of course, and they hold special places in our regard. To a writer, madness is a final distillation of self, a final editing down. It’s the drowning out of false voices.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)