New WWE Show! Mr McMahon Netflix Trailer Reaction, Cody Rhodes LAWSUIT! | WrestleTalk

Coming up... Cody Rhodes is sued. WWE have a new TV show.  The first trailer for the Mr  McMahon Netflix docuseries and more.  I’m Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News. The wrestling calendar has many different seasons.   Cody Rhodes & WWE Lawsuit There’s the Road to WrestleMania.  There’s the All In/All Out/Shake It   All About fortnight. And next week we’ll  be getting WWE’s season premiere of their   shows that have never once stopped broadcasting. But this week, this week has a different theme:   everyone’s suing everyone else week! Following former AEW commentator Kevin Kelly   and the Tate Twins - who played Dalton Castle’s  The Boys - filing a lawsuit against AEW alleging   defamation and trying to get its talent classified  as employees rather than independent contractors.  That’s when you know you’ve made it, Tony  Khan. When you’re wrestlers try to unionise.  Cody Rhodes, WWE and their merchandising partner  Fanatics have been hit with a lawsuit over   their use of the American Nightmare phrase. Now, this sort of stuff happens all the time,   and typically goes nowhere. WWE are too big  of a machine to wage a legal battle against,   and sometimes the parties filing the claims are  just chancers who don’t actually have a case.  But this one is different, as it’s by the Boston  punk band American Nightmare, who had already   agreed how WWE would use the American Nightmare  phrase, which they claim WWE has now gone back on.  According to Post Wrestling, this isn’t just  an allegation of trademark infringement - i.e.   using the American Nightmare phrase -  it’s “breach of contract, and intentional   interference with contractual relations.” The band registered the trademark back in   2016 for music, clothing and apparel and  entertainment services - mainly live music   performances. Cody filed for the trademark  in 2019 for wrestling-related activities.  This was a period of time where Cody  seemingly couldn’t use any of his own names,   as WWE also reportedly prevented  him from having the surname Rhodes.  Cody’s trademark filing started a back and forth  between him and the band, which was settled in   March 2021, while Cody was still under contract  with AEW, where they agreed Cody would make a   one-off payment of $30,000, and he could  use American Nightmare on his merchandise:  “under the condition that such items  prominently used Rhodes’ name, likeness,   or wrestling-related imagery in a size at least  75% larger than the “American Nightmare” text”  This was so it was clear that the American  Nightmare merchandise was for Cody Rhodes   the wrestler, not American Nightmare the band. But now American Nightmare claim WWE is selling   merchandise through Fanatics that doesn’t meet the  75% size Cody likeness they agreed upon. And that   fans have turned up to American Nightmare gigs  wearing Cody American Nightmare shirts, showing   there is confusion between the two. Confusion  that’s backed up further by fans often tagging   American Nightmare the band on social media  posts instead of American Nightmare the Cody.  Apparently the band’s legal representation  first contacted Rhodes’ lawyer in 2022 about   the infringing Crown design, but didn’t get a  reply. They reached out against in April and   May this year, sending cease and desist letters.  WWE replied to them in May, stating that Fanatics   had passed this over to them. The band are seeking:  “damages of at least $150,000, as well as  treble damages of up to $300,000 related to   federal trademark infringement” But as a famed Eastern mystic   once said, karma’s a bitch. Because WWE have been serving   Bryan Danielson WWE Cease & Desist independent wrestlers for years with cease  and desist letters, on far weaker cases.   Like Bryan Danielson just the other month. AEW’s Danielson had previously said he would   avoid doing the YES chant because when he was  leaving, Kevin Dunn politely asked him to respect   WWE’s intellectual property, even the ones  that might not be legally enforceable.  But back on the 29th July, Danielson decided  to test that - filing to trademark the ‘YES’   chant he first got over in WWE for  wrestling entertainment purposes.  In an interview with Luke James Chats  conducted in August, Danielson revealed   he received an email shortly after from WWE: “I applied for it, but then I got — it wasn’t   necessarily a cease and desist, I got some sort  of legal letter from WWE. It’s really weird   because my manager just texted me and said like,  ‘Hey, this thing is available. Do you want to get   it?’ And I was like, ‘How much does it cost?’  And it wasn’t that much. And I was like, ‘Ok,   sure.’ And then shortly after that I got an email  from WWE saying like, ‘Oh, this is infringing on   this or that or whatever.’ And I’m like, ‘Dude,  I’m not trying to sell anybody anything.’”  But you can’t cover lawsuits and wrestling  without… talking about Vince McMahon.  Janel Grant accused McMahon of sexual assault  and trafficking back in January, leading to   McMahon resigning from WWE. The two sides have  been engaged in legal back and forth ever since,   but Grant’s lawsuit had to be put on pause  because the US government is conducting   their own investigation into McMahon. With that part paused, Grant’s team   filed a petition in July seeking medical  records from Dr Carlon Colker and Peak   Wellness - where she alleges Vince sent her  for treatments that weren’t disclosed to her.  In response, Colker filed a complaint against  Grant accusing her of a smear campaign against   him, and that he had suffered damages as a result. POST Wrestling has now reported, though,   that Colker has withdrawn the complaint.  Grant’s attorney claimed it was only ever a   “baseless motion… filed simply as yet another  frivolous attempt to intimidate Ms. Grant.”  We’re going to need a McMahon  Netflix documentary series 2.  But before then, we actually need a series 1  - which has been four years and two separate   Mr McMahon Netflix Trailer resignations in the making, and Netflix  have released its first official trailer.  It begins with a sitdown interview clip of  Vince, where he talks about others portraying   him as a bad guy - but nobody really knows him. It continues with talking heads from the biggest   names ever in WWE - Rock ‘The Dwayne’ Johnson,  Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin and… who’s   that, why’s there a blank screen there? And also Bruce Prichard and Eric   Bischoff. That’s going to be objective. It then mostly chronologically goes through his   wrestling career - not his abusive childhood under  his step father, nor his failed non-wrestling   projects before he took over the WWF. And then  also notes his scandals - the steroid trial,   Chris Benoit’s murder-suicide, and then, yes, the  recent lawsuits and allegations of sexual assault.  The docuseries is said to be 6 one hour  episodes long. If told chronologically,   his scandals over the last two years will  probably be covered in the final show.  While the project initially started out as a  collaboration between Netflix and WWE, with WWE   announcing it in their Q3 2020 earnings call, and  Vince conducting numerous interviews and claiming   he wanted a warts and all portrayal, this stopped  when the Washington Post first broke their story   in 2022 and didn’t provide any further interviews.  PWInsider is reporting that Vince didn’t have any   say over the final edit of the show. Bret Hart is also shown as a talking   Bret Hart Returning To WWE head in the docuseries, where the producers  presumably edited around him mostly s****** on   Bill Goldberg. But we won’t have to wait  until the show’s 25th September premiere   date to see him again. Because Bret has just been  announced for Monday’s episode of Raw in Calgary!  Jackie Remond announced the news, and  Triple H said “You definitely won’t   want to miss this” for Raw’s season premiere. Hart hasn’t been seen on WWE screens since sitting   at ringside for 2022’s Clash at the Castle show.  Seeing that he’s CM Punk’s favourite wrestler,   expect Drew McIntyre to kill him. Monday Night Raw will be getting   WWE More Edgier On Netflix? another season premiere just under  four months later, as the show moves   from the USA Network to Netflix on January 6th. Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman made their first   public appearance together since WrestleMania 40  on Thursday - you’re exposing the business! - to   talk about the move, and WWE’s larger business  success, at Bloomberg’s Power Players summit.  Heyman spoke about how WWE has doubled its  profits since 2019 thanks to Nick Khan,   Paul Levesque, Roman Reigns, who is the biggest  box office draw in sports entertainment history,   and the $5 billion deal with Netflix. It’s been speculated that WWE could get edgier   with the move, as they will no longer be under  broadcast TV’s censorship restrictions - not that   The Rock ever cared. But Roman said at the summit  he thinks WWE needs to stick to their values and   morals they have in place and the culture they  have now - to appeal to the widest audience.  Heyman, the creator of Extreme Championship  Wrestling, was more flexible, saying it will   all depend on what the storylines call for. But it might just come down to analytical   driven data. Reigns talked about how much  more viewership data they’ll have access to   by being on Netflix. They can constantly use  that to decide what’s working and what isn’t.  New WWE Show But WWE still have a foot and one arm in  traditional broadcast TV - with SmackDown   moving to the USA Network, and NXT  premiering on the CW next month. And   now WrestleVotes is reporting a new show: “WWE is set to announce a live primetime   special on @NBC in the next few days. While  the location remains unknown, sources say   tickets are set to go on sale next Friday. We’ve heard some internal speculation about   a Saturday night in December. This will be WWE’s  first primetime NBC special since August 2, 2008.”  AEW Dynamite Low Rating Unfortunately for AEW, despite a very good All  Out go-home show, with Hangman Page setting   fire to Swerve Strickland’s childhood home  excellent closing angle, their traditional   TV figures are struggling - with Wednesday’s  show drawing 660,000 viewers and a 0.19 rating   in the 18-49 demographic. This is down from the  last few week’s near 700,000 and 0.23 figures,   and is concerning due to the lack of  competition now the Olympics is over.  Raw was also down this week, drawing  its lowest rating since January, but   that is more explainable, as it was on Labor Day. Tony Khan remains optimistic, though, as he’s said   in the All Out media call that AEW fans spend the  most money per month on streaming video compared   to fans of any other sporting league in the world  - a good sign for any current rights negotiations   who might want streaming content, *cough* Warner  Bros Discovery and Max *cough* - and that AEW   and WBD have lots of details to work out, but  “there is a lot of excitement on each side.”  And that if they can pull everything off,  he believes AEW could be the second most   profitable wrestling company in the  history of the wrestling business.  Now go watch mine and Luke’s AEW All Out  predictions ahead of tomorrow’s show!