WWE Talents Are Now Allowed To Keep Ring Names Even After Departure From Company With New TKO Deal: Report

Under the new TKO deal, the current WWE Superstars are permitted to use their ring names even after exiting the company. Read the details here!

By Avik Das

Published on Jul 16, 2024 | 11:51 AM IST | 88.3K

Stephanie Vaquer (PC:Instagram)

WWE has seen some notable changes since the TKO takeover from Vince McMahon. The company is reportedly changing its policy of allowing wrestlers to keep their names. Unless WWE Superstars wrestled under real names or previously trademarked names, they were not allowed to use them outside WWE. However, they might be able to do it now.

According to Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Live, "I was told that these new TKO deals are such that when you go to WWE, they are going to trademark everything’.

Giving an example of Ethan Page, he said that WWE trademarked his name. After the departure from the company, WWE hands everything to the wrestlers nowadays.

Bryan added that All Elite Wrestling also follows a similar approach to what WWE is following now. Giving an example of new WWE signee Stephanie Vaquer, he stated that if she leaves the company in the future, she would be able to take her name.

ALSO READ: Who is Stephanie Vaquer? All You Need to Know about Potential Free Agent Joining WWE

Correspondingly, the reigning NXT Champion, Ethan Page, can depart WWE with the ring name. When a wrestler is signed, WWE has rightful ownership of numerous things due to the nature of professional wrestling.

Bryan thinks it is a significant shift in approach from the past, when WWE owned wrestlers into perpetuity. Stephanie Vequer was willing to keep the ring name, which she used in her pre-WWE career. The Stamford-based promotion has granted permission to keep the name. WWE will have trademarked rights to that name as long as Stephanie is signed to WWE.

Strict rules in the Vince McMahon era of WWE

In the Vince McMahon era, WWE loved micromanagement of everything, including every aspect of a WWE Superstar's career. For instance, wrestlers weren't even allowed to make profits from a third-party platform like Twitch, and using it was prohibited under Vince's supervision

In the TKO era, WWE has eased up on those rules. The company doesn't mind when the contracted wrestlers use the ring name outside, and from now on, WWE will be allowing their trademarked names to be used even when a wrestler leaves the company.

Many wrestlers use their real names

Wrestling under a real identity isn't unconventional in professional wrestling. Prominent names like John Cena and Brock Lesnar use their birth names in the squared circle.

However, John Cena recently revealed that he doesn't own the trademark for his name, even though it's his birth name. For using the name John Cena, WWE receives a percentage of his income.