New WWE Trademark Has Controversial WWII Ties

WWE has once again filed a new trademark application for an upcoming superstar ring name. The company has been making such filings regularly as they continue to add new talent to NXT. The WWE creative team may have to explain why they didn’t Google their latest creation first.

The latest filing is for “Gunther Stark”, according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The filing date was January 13, 2022. The trademark description reads as follows:

“G & S: Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibitions and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer rendered live and through broadcast media including television and radio, and via the internet or commercial online service; providing wrestling news and information via a global computer network; providing information in the fields of sports and entertainment via an online community portal; providing a website in the field of sports entertainment information; fan club services, namely, organizing sporting events in the field of wrestling for wrestling fan club members; organizing social entertainment events for entertainment purposes for wrestling fan club members; providing online newsletters in the fields of sports entertainment; online journals, namely blogs, in the field of sports entertainment”

Fans who are interested in learning more about the new mystery wrestler would naturally Google it. Unfortunately for WWE, the first result is for a Nazi military commander. Günther Stark served as Kapitänleutnant for Hitler’s U-Boat command in the English Channel. Stark died when his vessel was sunk on June 8, 1944.

WWE is unlikely to have intentionally named a new character after a Nazi. In the history of World War 2, Stark was a small player. Still, due diligence was obviously not done to ensure that the first result of a search for their latest wrestler would not return a Nazi war commander.

Time will tell if WWE notices the gaffe and makes any changes. NXT has been churning out new faces almost every week. We could see Gunther Stark as soon as tonight.

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