At the outset of WCW's existence, as well as that of its predecessors, the company was strongly identified with the Southern style of professional wrestling (i.e., "rasslin'"), which emphasized athletic and competitive in-ring performances over the showmanship and cartoon-like characterizations of the WWF. This identity persisted into the 1990s, even as the company signed stars whom their audience had only ever known as WWF-only stars (e.g., Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage). WCW dominated pro wrestling's television ratings from mid-1996 to 1998 in the U.S. (i.e., for 84 straight weeks) mainly due to its incredibly popular New World Order storyline; but thereafter, began to lose heavy ground to the WWF, which had successfully rebounded from the WCW threat with its edgy, antihero-driven Attitude Era that saw the rise of former WCW workers as WWF superstars such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, Mick Foley, and Chris Jericho, as well as fresh, young talent including The Rock. Stale storylines, unimpressive pay-per-view main event performances, a policy of vastly overpaying all headliners – and even many middle-tier performers – exorbitant, guaranteed salaries, questionable booking decisions, and eventual and sudden spending restrictions imposed by corporate parent Time Warner caused a quickly-ballooning loss. As a result, AOL Time Warner sold the trademarks for WCW's name and logo to the WWF for $2.5 million, in 2001. Shortly after the purchase, Vince McMahon purchased the entire WCW videotape library for an additional $1.7 million, bringing the final tally of World Championship Wrestling's sale to $4.2 million. The WWF initially kept the WCW United States Championship, WCW Cruiserweight Championship, WCW World Tag Team Championship, and WCW World Heavyweight Championship active as part of the Invasion storyline. Eventually, the titles were unified into their respective WWF counterparts. In 2003, by which time the World Wrestling Federation was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the company resurrected the U.S. title.