Its #IPThursday again. This week we take a look at the dramatic story of the Ultimate Warrior‘s long war with Vince McMahon and the WWE. The question this week is, who owns the Character IP and the names of the wrestlers, the wrestler himself or the WWE. 
Our story this week begins in 1982, Vince McMahon wanted to create a wrestling company that would be the biggest in the world. At the time, he worked with his father, Vince Senior, who owned a wrestling company.
There were a few other wrestling companies around at the time, but none that were big global brands. So in 1983 Vince and his wife Linda bought his father’s company and the WWF was born.
Vince immediately got to work. He gained a lot of traction when he signed Hulk Hogan in 1983. Hogan had starred in Rocky III and his popularity boosted the brand of the WWF.
They would later change their name to WWE due to a trade mark lawsuit from the World Wide Fund For Nature, but thats a story for another #IPThursday.
The WWF grew in popularity during the 80s. Vince invited celebrities to boost viewership and they held shows worldwide. Everyone was in awe of the wrestling and the amazing storylines behind it. Vince had mastered it, sell fake wrestling with crazy stories that seem real.
Yes guys, wrestling is fake, it broke my heart too. Growing up I thought the Undertaker actually died and resurrected. Not to mention the custody of Dominic ladder match. The storylines are all written and the wrestlers are trained actors. (Sigh!)
The WWE grew to become the most popular wrestling program in the world. Largely due to its poster boy, steroid juiced Hulk Hogan. You don’t get that buff from protein shakes kids.
Sometime in the mid 80s Vince wanted to expand his roster and add more stars. It was common at the time for the WWE to snatch stars from other shows. Which brings us to the star of our story.
In 1997, Vince signed Jim Hellwig from the smaller World Class Championship Wrestling to his company. At the time he signed for the WWE, Hellwig performed as The Dingo Warrior. However, just before he signed, Vince persuaded Hellwig to only go by the name “Warrior”.
After joining the WWF, Hellwig decided to change his name to the “Ultimate Warrior”. He became very popular with the fans, for a few reasons, he wore face paint, a colourful costume and he would sprint to the ring and dramatically shake the ropes....like a warrior”. 🤷🏾♂️
In 1990, the Ultimate Warrior got his big push in the WWF. He was booked to face Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship at Wrestle-mania. He won the match and became the star on the show. He was the star of the show now.
Unfortunately, despite his star power, he felt under appreciated by Vince because he was earning less than Hulk Hogan. Vince didn’t really want to increase his pay and their relationship went sour after that. He wanted to be close on par with what Hogan was making.
The Ultimate Warrior would go on strike and sometimes he would even miss live shows. He insisted that this was because Vince was not paying him from selling his merchandise as per his employment agreement. So Vince did what Vince is famous for, he fired him.
The Ultimate Warrior then decided to join Vince’s biggest competition, the WCW. During the 90s, the WWE had massive competition from the WCW. Both shows were constantly trying to out do each other. If you’re old enough, you’ll remember the Monday Night Wars.
Vince was obviously very shocked and upset about this. Imagine one of your big stars and their merchandise joining your biggest rivals.
Lemme take this chance to explain how Character IP works in the wrestling world. When wrestlers sign for the WWE, their stage name and overall appearance belongs to the company. This is because they make a lot of money selling merchandise.
The names “Stone Cold”, “The Rock”, “Undertaker” “EDGE” etc. are all trade marks of the WWE. While the wrestlers’ appearance and theme songs are creative works protected by copyright, also owned by the WWE. The WWE invests a lot of money into these brands.
The WWE considers itself like any other scripted TV drama on TV. You cannot leave with your character name to another show, unless of course they let you. It is their IP. There is a very obvious exception to this rule, I’m sure you can figure it out......
The exception is if you use your real name (ie. John Cena, Brock Lesnar). They cannot claim that as their IP. It belongs to the wrestler. I’m convinced if Vince owned the name John Cena, Sho Madjozi would be deep within a lawsuit. Luckily, for her John Cena’s a cool guy.
When the Ultimate Warrior left. Vince told him that he could not use the name and gimmick of the Ultimate Warrior outside the WWE. If he appeared on any other show under that gimmick, any recording would belong to Vince.
In reply, The Ultimate Warrior ran to court and filed a lawsuit against Vince McMahon claiming 2 very important grounds. First, he said he owned the name as he came up with it when he joined the WWF.
Vince responded that since Warrior came up with the name while he was an employee of the WWF, it was a work for hire, which belongs to the employer. You know, like journalists and designers that work for companies.
Secondly, a few years before in 1993, when his relationship with Vince had turned sour, he actually changed his legal name to Warrior. Yes, he went to “Home Affairs” and changed his real name. His children could now use the surname Warrior. Its like he saw this coming.
Warrior then said Vince cannot claim that the name was his IP, since it was his legal name. You have to admire his determination.
The WWE argued that they had an agreement signed by Warrior in 1987 which stated that they owned the name as IP. This agreement is signed by most of their wrestlers.
They also relied on a previous case where a court held that the trade mark for Superman belonged to Warner Bros. WWE said the Warrior IP is similar to that of superheroes, it should belong to companies like Marvel and Warner Bros.
The matter was heard in a court and the judge held that Ultimate Warrior came up with the name, he was entitled to use it anywhere in future as it was also his legal name. He also said he can use the Warrior Gimmick.
Furthermore, unlike superhero films, the WWE does not replace the character with another performer. You will not wake up one day to find that Mark Callaway is no longer The Undertaker. Or that someone else is now The Rock. Vince obviously didn’t like the decision.
Warrior won the case and joined the WCW. He was able to use the name and he managed to beat Vince in court.
However, he retired from wrestling soon thereafter. His relationship with the WWE was very bitter after that. In 2005, Vince released a documentary titled “The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior.”
The documentary painted Warrior in a very bad light and blamed him for the failure of his wrestling career, steroid abuse and why he left the WWE. He took Vince to court again, this time he sued the WWE for defamation of character and won....again.
Most of the stuff in the documentary were lies, except the steroid abuse issues. Warrior was not hyped like this off normal pre-workouts, he was also juicing. However, it turned out that Vince was obsessed with his wrestlers looking jacked so he would give them steroids.
In 2014, after 2 decades of lawsuits, Warrior and Vince eventually put their differences aside and made up. Warrior was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on that year. Yea this was definitely a toxic relationship.
Sadly, after making his first appearance on the WWE in years, Warrior died just 3 days later from a what seemed to be a heart attack at the age of 54, which many suspect to have been caused by years of steroid abuse.
Warrior’s decision to change his name legally probably got him to keep it. I think if the wrestler comes up with the name, he should keep it. If the company comes up with it, and then hires a wrestler after that, then they can keep it as their IP. Lemme know what you think!
Vince has never fumbled a bag and he is very protective over WWE IP. No wonder it is now the biggest wrestling company in the world.
Big Lesson: Most employers will try to own your IP, especially if its linked to your employment. Legally, some of them can. The Ultimate Warrior was very aware of what he signed and he was lucky to find a way around it. Most people aren’t. Stay Safe Good People! ❤️💛💚
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