WWE News: Vince McMahon And AEW Both File Trademarks For Old WCW Pay-Per-Views
Many years ago, Vince McMahon bought out WCW and made WWE the top wrestling promotion in the world. Two decades later, McMahon and Cody Rhodes are both still playing off of ideas that the promotion once had, and they are trying to trademark old pay-per-views names from it. In the last couple of months, both WWE and All Elite Wrestling have tried to keep some tradition alive by trademarking the names of old WCW events.
Over the years, WWE has brought back some classic pay-per-view names for its events. Fans have seen Great American Bash, Starrcade, and a number of others, but there are some ideas that have been better than others.
According to PW Insider, WWE applied to trademark WarGames on November 19, 2019, after purchasing the rights to it in February. The promotion has been using WarGames for a few years now, assigning the gimmick match and event name to the NXT brand.
Major League Wrestling used the name as far back as 2003, when there were no active trademarks in place for WarGames. They even trademarked it in 2007 after the original trademark lapsed, and it was up for grabs again after it expired.
On the same day, WWE applied to trademark WWE Crown Jewel, which is an event they have held in Saudi Arabia for the last couple of years.
Cody Rhodes has also started filing for trademarks for old WCW events, which is not surprising since his father was such a big part of the promotion. PW Insider reports that Rhodes has filed trademarks for Slamboree and SuperBrawl, which are two PPVs that the promotion used to run.
Obviously, Rhodes could end up using these event names for All Elite Wrestling in the future. Both of the trademarks were also filed on November 19, 2019.
Earlier this week, AEW revealed that they were going to bring back the Bash at the Beach pay-per-view. Fans will remember this WCW event was where Hulk Hogan made his infamous heel turn and joined the New World Order in 1996.
Eric Bischoff recently spoke out on After 83 Weeks and doesn’t believe that AEW should use the Bash at the Beach name. Bischoff says he has “mixed emotions” about it and feels as if AEW “needs to find their own vision” and become their own brand in today’s wrestling world.
Both AEW and WWE know that there are things from the past that have worked and that is why they have pinpointed old WCW event names to trademark.
