Not only that, but WWE has double locked their downloadable content packs (DLC) behind Season Passes in the NBA 2K26 video game.
No more can you download the characters you want and have access to them right away. No, you have to grind to “earn” them, or pay more.
That’s one reason I’m not getting 2K26.
I’m going to assume you meant WWE 2K26, not NBA 2K26, as I don’t play any sports or wrestling games and locking characters for one game behind an unrelated games seems…dystopian. So I can also maybe see that happening.
Yeah. WWE, obviously.
EVIL’s new name in NXT will be Naraku, because I guess TKO wants to get sued by the creators of Inuyasha or something.
Was his former name in all caps to get by trademark laws or something?
Just like Asuka couldn’t be sued by the makers of Neon Genesis: Evangelion, Naraku is safe, as it is also a term for Hell’s equivalent in Buddhism. Now, should he ever cosplay his ring attire similar to the Inuyasha character, then there could be a problem.
I’m honestly surprised that it was never a problem that, when Asuka debuted in NXT, there was ALREADY another female Japanese wrestler going by that name.
Per Wikipedia, the Buddhist hell is Naraka, with an A. Naraku with a U, according to them, is either the villain from Inuyasha, the titular character of Ninja Slayer, or a village in Iran.
Probably not enough there to actually sustain a legal challenge, it’s just a silly name choice.
That’s just something Japanese wrestlers do for emphasis, especially with wrestlers or groups where the name is a single word. Japanese doesn’t have upper or lower cases, so presenting the English transliteration in all caps just makes it look more visually impressive. See also KENTA, BUSHI, SANADA, or Okada’s stable CHAOS.
Asuka/Veny started in August 2015 and Asuka/Kana debuted her new name in September 2015. It is extremely likely no one knew of Asuka/VENY and doubtful Asuka/Veny had trademarked anything as a debuting wrestler. I know Veny has wrestled in America under VENY, not Asuka. Extremely likely WWE has Asuka trademarked for wrestling, but VENY would have prior use, and that’s not even getting into how it would apply in Japanese law, which I have no clue.
Can’t remember where I was looking (and I don’t keep my browsing history), but Naraka/Naraku were simply alternate word forms, akin to words slightly changing in adjective and noun form. I’m not enough of a Buddhist nor linguist to confirm or verify. And that’s probably why the Inuyasha character also used that word form (just a supposition on my part). But trademark (not copyright) is narrow, and if the manga did trademark the name, it would only be for a certain usage. So as long as he doesn’t copy the look and feel of the character from the manga and anime, the name is up for grabs. Just like I could write a book called “The Lord of the Rings”, as long as it was about someone who was a master at designing and building wrestling and boxing rings or a serial killer who collects ring fingers. Sure, the Tolkien estate would still try to sue, but as long as it’s sufficiently different (and no one is ever described as wearing any kind of ring at all), technically I’d be in the clear. Copyright would be a problem if a storyline came too close to a storyline in the manga, plus it would open up a possible trademark violation.
Meanwhile in CMLL, Hechicero’s world title defense against Blue Panther was interrupted by (checks notes) a stray cat running into the ring.
Obviously, Blue Panther should have been disqualified for outside interference.
At Backlash, John Cena’s big announcement was the creation of the John Cena Classic, in which wrestlers from all WWE brands would battle for the right to be champion of the John Cena Classic.
And they needn’t actually win their match to win the Classic - the winner will be decided on by the WWE fans.
This sounds very, very stupid.
TKO’s president recently said that they have veto power over Triple H when it comes to booking decisions, and also that they’ve been using ChatGPT to develop storylines.
It shows.
Speaking of TKO using AI, they’ve put out a shirt commemorating the 2001 Royal Rumble - with Titus O’Neill as Test.
There is so much wrong with that shirt. Kurt Angle and Triple H were in a WWF Championship match at the Rumble, not in the Rumble themselves. Chyna was in a WWF Women’s Championship match. And Trish Stratus didn’t wrestle at all; she accompanied Kurt Angle to the ring.
There is so much wrong with TKO’s WWE. That shirt is just a microcosm of what is wrong. Still debating going to AEW DoN as it is in my backyard, but right now I’m sticking to local indies. I still like wrestling, but I can’t recognize the current WWE versus the (W)WWF I grew up loving.
WELP look who’s back to take Oba Femi to Suplex City.
Mick Foley is All Elite!
I wonder if he’ll take any subtle digs at his former employers in his promos? I kind of doubt he’ll say anything overtly bad enough to get sued, but he’s clever. He divorced himself from WWE when they got too MAGA friendly.
PROGRAMMING ALERT!
Cody Rhodes will face Sami Zayn tonight on SmackDown!
Once again, Jessica Carr refereeing a Becky Lynch match.