Wrestling trademark fillings picking up
Within the last two weeks, Cody Rhodes has filed trademarks for old WCW Pay-Per-View names Bash at the Beach, Slamboree and SuperBrawl.
He has also trademarked the name 鈥淭he American Dream鈥� Dusty Rhodes, which was his late father鈥檚 wrestling name.
And now, multiple wrestlers have trademarked names.
WWE wrestler Luke Harper, who has asked for, but not been granted, his release, has applied to trademark Brodie Lee.
That was his name on the independent scene before signing with WWE.
Charlotte Flair has applied to trademark the names Ashley Flair and The Queen of Wrestling while Andrade has applied for the names La Sombra and El Idolo.
This means different things for different people.
Harper is as good as out the door as soon as his WWE deal is up, but it is hard to believe that Flair would leave.
WWE will offer her a seven-figure a year deal to stay when it comes time to renegotiate.
With Andrade, he and Flair are dating, so he isn鈥檛 going anywhere in the short term, but could down the road.
As far as Cody trying to copyright the old WCW show names, I think it isn鈥檛 really a big deal as none of those names have been used this century.
It may be him wanting to use the names for shows because his dad was instrumental in the events.
WWE Network 鈥渇ree鈥�
After over a year of speculation, WWE has released the 鈥渇ree鈥� tier of content on the WWE Network.
The free tier can be seen at http://watch.wwe.com but will only be shown if an active subscriber has logged out of their subscription.
AEW signs PPV extension
AEW announced on Tuesday that it has signed a PPV deal with In Demand.
The company will put out at least four PPVs a year through 2021.
Its next PPV appears to be taking place in February although AEW is trying to figure out when to run it as there will be a lot of PPV competition that month.
Tyson Fury is fighting Deontay Wilder on Feb. 22, UFC has shows on Feb. 15 and Feb. 23 and NXT has one on Feb. 16.
Hall of fame class announced
Monday afternoon, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame announced its class of 2020.
Among the nominees include Dory Funk Sr. (Executive Division), The Great Kabuki (International), Butch and Luke Williams, known as The Bushwhackers/The Sheepherders/The Kiwis (Tag Team). Luna Vachon and Debbie Combs (Ladies Division), and Jake 鈥渢he Snake鈥� Roberts and Magnum TA (Modern Era).
The induction ceremony take place the weekend of May 14-16 in Wichita Falls, Texas.
This week鈥檚 question
Why was Starrcade, in one word, lame? I watched the first Starrcade in 1983 and this version was an insult. Steve, Connellsville.
WWE鈥檚 Starrcade show was a house show with about an hour of the event shown on the WWE Network.
Much like the previously-mentioned shows that Cody Rhodes filed for copyrights on, the name Starrcade meant something last century and means nothing to WWE today.
If Cody owned the name Starrcade, there is no doubt in my mind that he would try to make it AEW鈥檚 biggest show of the year.
Email questions/comments to Bill at powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to me @BillHughes_III.