On Tuesday, August 26th, AEW Stars FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) (F.K.A. The Revival in WWE) reportedly filed to trademark several names/terms they have used while they were still employed by the WWE, which includes Shatter Machine, Say Yeah, Top Guys, #FTRKO, and No Flips, Just Fists.
According to PWInsider.com, WWE filed an opposition to those trademarks, saying that each of those mentioned names/terms is not identified as “Wrestler Intellectual Property,” but was created by the company.
You can check out what WWE mentioned in the opposition they filed against FTR:
“Applicants (Wheeler and Harwood) entered into contracts with Opposer (WWE) effective as of April 10, 2017 to exclusively perform professional wrestling services for Opposer in connection with WWE live and televised professional wrestling exhibitions (the ‘Booking Agreements’). Pursuant to Section 3 of the Booking Agreements entitled “Intellectual Property, Applicants expressly agreed that Opposer owned, in perpetuity, any and all trademarks, service marks, and/or distinctive and identifying indicia, including among other things, ring name, nickname, likeness, personality, characters, gestures, routines, themes and any other items of tangible or intangible intellectual property written, composed, submitted, added, improvised, created, used by or associated with Applicants’ performance during the term of the Booking Agreements. The sole exception to the intellectual property rights owned by WWE under the Booking Agreements is any intellectual property specifically identified in Exhibit A to the Booking Agreements, defined in the Booking Agreements as ‘WRESTLER Intellectual Property’.”
“In or around April 2020, Applicants and WWE terminated the Booking Agreements (‘Termination Agreements’). Consistent with the plain language of Paragraph 3 of the Booking Agreements and WWE’s ownership of SHATTER MACHINE, Applicants agreed and confirmed in the Termination Agreements that they were forever precluded from using any intellectual property not identified as WRESTLER Intellectual Property. The Termination Agreements explicitly provide that Applicants were forever precluded from using any WWE intellectual property including but not limited to “the names, likenesses, costumes, props, gimmicks, gestures, routines, themes, sayings (e.g., WWE tag team references or sayings such as the Top Guys, ‘No flips, Just fists’ or FTKRO [sic]), personalities, caricatures or finishing moves (e.g. Shatter Machine) which refer or relate to, or which are confusingly similar to those used in connection with your performances” with WWE.”
FTR was released from the WWE back in early April, but the trademark issues with WWE began even before they were granted their releases. FTR reportedly has only until this Monday, October 5th to respond to WWE’s opposition.
