Many were confused when MLW was able to run a War Games event earlier this year, as it was assumed that WWE had the trademark for the event. It turned out to not be the case, as MLW LLC owns two trademarks under the name. It’s also not the first time that the company ran such an event, as they ran a War Games back in 2003. Regardless, WWE was quite unhappy with the decision according to this week’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required).
WWE chose to retaliate in two different ways. One was the recent trademarking of several old WCW events including “WCW Thunder,” “NWO New World Order,” “All Star Wrestling,” “WCW Monday Nitro,” “World Championship Wrestling,” “Halloween Havoc,” “Fall Brawl,” and “Starrcade.” Clearly the company should’ve been more up to date with their trademarks, but this assures that none of these will slip through the cracks like what happened with War Games.
Secondly, WWE has been in talks with key MLW talent about signing with them. However, many of the top stars such as Shane Strickland, Pentagon, and Fénix are under deals that don’t allow them to go to WWE. So while no moves will be made in the short-term, the long game appears to be snatching up such talent.
