World Wrapping Entertainment: Packaging a Retro Wrestling Sign for the WWE
The wrestling fans at Commerce Packaging were thrilled to be trusted by World Wrestling Entertainment to keep a World Championship Wrestling Monday Nitro sign safe in transit. Signs of its design were used in many episodes of WCW Monday Nitro, available on WWE's official website, and can be seen prominently in the video below:
Our employees wrapped the sign in military-spec wrapping paper. Like any other wrapping paper, it helps protect the sign from scuff marks should it move about its container during transit. But the mil-spec wrapping paper we used is also suitable for all climates, greaseproofed, and waterproofed. It's the same material we use when wrapping military supplies and equipment. Our employees take pride in their craft, and carry the same high standards used for military packaging over to our commercial projects as well. We've included a photo of the sign (image rotated for convenience) next to the wrapped sign for comparison.
For this project, wrapping paper, mil-spec or not, isn't enough to keep the sign safe. Fortunately, we're a packaging company, not just a wrapping paper company, and employ carpenters who can build beautiful things. Our carpenters created a wooden crate, and polyethylene foam planks fitted to the crate. The planks serve to absorb the shock and give the sign a soft landing should it move around in transit. It works in the same way that falling onto your bed back-first doesn't hurt nearly as much as falling onto the floor. We've just put a metaphorical bed (foam) down for the sign, so it doesn't hit the floor (wood). See how we placed the sign into the crate below:
With the sign safely in the crate, we screwed the final side of the crate on. Typically, we use nails to secure the different sides of a crate together. But in this case, we used screws specifically to allow WWE employees to more easily remove the WCW sign. Then it came time to add the finishing touches. We added straps for easier handling of the crate, and informational stickers and stencils. You can see both a directive to remove the aforementioned screws to open the crate, our NeLMA stamp, a sticker indicating the fragility of the crate contents, and an orientation sticker.
We're honored to have had the opportunity to help transport a part of wrestling history.