Vince McMahon wants to take the "wrestling" out of World Wrestling Entertainment.

No, this isn't an outrageous plot the colorful impresario has cooked up for his wrestlers to act out in front of thousands of screaming fans. McMahon, the chairman and chief executive of WWE, wants to give the company a makeover, starting with the name. From now on, WWE will no longer stand for World Wrestling Entertainment. It will just be WWE, plain and simple.

Fear not, fanatics. There will still be plenty of smack in "Smackdown," and "Raw" will still be fresh.

But McMahon wants more than men in tights in his life. He wants to grow the WWE through acquisitions and expand its business beyond the ring. In particular, he said, WWE is targeting companies involved in production, live entertainment and branding.

"I think every brand has to re-create itself," he said. "I want everyone to look at us in a vastly different way than they have."

Besides hunting for acquisitions, WWE is moving ahead with long-talked-about plans to create its own cable network for its vast library of wrestling fare. The company has been meeting with distributors including Verizon and hopes to get a channel launched in 2012.

McMahon also wants to start marketing WWE's expertise in producing live events.

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