– As a follow up to all of the stories going around about WWE taking legal action (or threatening it) with regards to intellectual property and trademarks of former ECW/WCW/WWE wrestlers, the Hardcore Homecoming tour has cancelled this Sunday’s Buffalo show. Friday in Cleveland and Saturday in Pittsburgh still will run. On the Hardcore Homecoming Web site, the group says that they have been dealing with malicious calls to venues to attempts at blocking their DVD release set for this week, and that “We have been fighting an uphill battle against people who simply do not want to see these shows happen, even with the involvement of the American Red Cross. Our legal team has advised us to immediately cancel the buffalo show scheduled for Sunday as it would put us at an incredible, yet unrealistic risk. We will work to reschedule this event and run a Hardcore Homecoming show in the state of New York when our attorneys can give us the green light to move forward. While we feel like the victims of legal sabotage, the true victims are the fans of the very legacy we have fought to preserve.”
– To update the Dudley Boyz’ situation, they have told TNA management that they have come up with a new gimmick that doesn’t potentially infringe upon the names, attire and catch-phrases that WWE’s legal department is claiming the Dudleyz don’t have permission to use. Devon Hughes (D-Von) and Mark LoMonico (Buh Buh) have reportedly run the idea by Joey Styles, who says it’s better than the Dudley gimmick, originally created by Raven in ECW as a spoof of the Slapshot Hansen Brothers characters. They plan to trademark it before bringing it to TNA.
– Upon leaving ECW in 1999 the Dudz were under the impression from Paul Heyman that they could keep the gimmick/names. In fact, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is also reporting that one reason they left ECW was pressure from iN DEMAND (who brings PPVs to cable) following a profane tirade on-air from Buh Buh.
– Among the legal wranglings, LoMonico was told by WWE to take photos of himself in the Dudley gimmick off of his personal Web site. They have talked about fighting it legally, but so far nothing has been filed.
Credit: WrestlingObserver.com, The Wrestling Observer newsletter (click here for subscription information)
