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question for the blog



Godfather is getting back into indy wrestling. He will work as Godafther or Papa Shango. Goldust works indys as Goldust as well.
 
My question is how does this work? Does WWE not care about ex employees using old gimmicks?
 
thanks
 
rancho king

Short answer, no they don't care.  Long answer, it depends on the contract they signed and whether the person has the rights to their own gimmick and whether they're on good or bad terms with WWE and a zillion other reasons.  Generally they've got everyone important from that era under some sort of Legends agreement and they'll look the other way.

Comments

  1. In addition to what Scott said it probably depends on where they wrestle. They may be fine with Dustin wrestling as Golddust in an indy. They probably wouldn't be ok if he wrestled in TNA as Golddust.

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  2. Agreed on the Usos, lol.

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  3. As long as they aren't working TV/DVD/iPPV indy shows I don't think the WWE cares.

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  4. MVP wrestles as MVP in Japan, so I suppose they're pretty lenient.

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  5. I'm sure there's rules to it. Goldust can't drink blood and the Godfather can't fuck one of his hoes in the ring. That sort of thing.

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  6. The Dudleys say "hi".

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  7. He would have to wrestle as Black Reign

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  8. As Scott said, as long as WWE can profit off of them (through the "legends" deals), and they don't use the gimmick on any sort of broadcasted competitor's show, Vince probably doesn't/shouldn't care.

    Plus, it CAN end-up benefitting Vince - if I go to a show and remember how cool Godfather was back in the day, then I may be tempted to buy a piece of WWE-licensed "legends" memorabilia.

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  9. If "Rancho King" isnt a porn name, I dont know what is.

    #jealous

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  10. Somebody please book Papa Shango vs. Colt Cabana.

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  11. I've always assumed that it was written into the legends deals that they are allowed to work their gimmick on non-televised shows, or something similar.
    I'd be surprised if they simply look the other way knowingly. Lawyers don't like that sort of thing, and intellectual property is sort of a thing these days moreso than ever.

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  12. Shane Helms wrestles all the time on the indies as The Hurricane, in full costume and all. That one surprises me more than Papa Shango or Golddust.


    On a related note, I'm surprised they haven't tried bringing him back (if he'd even be interested). The marketing towards kids would make The Hurricane gimmick a pretty good seller, I imagine.

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  13. The Dudleys changed their name without a lawsuit IIRC...

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  14. So what was the deal with that? Did they have to give up the rights to the name in order for the WWE to sign them?

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  15. My understanding from various interviews I've read is that OFFICIALLY a huge number of gimmicks belong to the WWE either because they came up with them (Godfather, Goldust) or they bought the rights to them (Dudley Boyz, etc) however WWE is perfectly fine with performers using their previous gimmicks to find work as long as it only for a company that doesn't have a tv deal in the US.
    Even if the wrestler doesn't appear on tv, the fact that the company has a tv deal means they are out, which is why you can have Shelton Benjamin appearing in ROH but you can't get Hardcore Holly, instead he's had to trademark his name as Bob Holly instead.

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  16. He might own it, or maybe they have good relations with Japan.

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  17. Charismatic e-Negro Jef VinsonSeptember 27, 2013 at 6:58 PM

    From what I understood Heyman gave them the name but they never trademarked them, so Vince swooped in and did it.

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  18. Dang! I can't fault Vince but that still sounds a tad shady; although, it probably doesn't rank on the Vince shady scale.

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  19. But in Japan it stands for Malcolm Victorious Paltrow.

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  20. Nailed it... and apparently Heyman said he HAD done the legal work on the Dudley name... but no luck for them.


    (Allegation made by the Dudleys, someone else probably knows exactly where it came from. RF Shoot?)

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  21. Hurricane is awesome. It would fit so well with the current product. It's a shame WWE never took full advantage.

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  22. I heard MVP say in a couple interviews that he owns the MVP gimmick.

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  23. Why would Goldust drink blood? Are you thinking of Gangrel?

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