While there have been some reports that WWE is allowing released talents to keep their ring names after leaving the company, that is not the case.
The rumor stemmed from a conversation about Ethan Page’s name being trademarked, during which the notion spread that WWE was allowing talent to use their ring names after they exited the company. While it is said that some talent use their names after their departures, it’s a case where WWE simply does not have the ability to prevent them from doing so because they had ownership of the name. This goes for the likes of Chris Jericho, Adam Cole, Toni Storm, Mustafa Ali, Sting, CM Punk and others.
As you’d expect, WWE can’t prevent talent who use their real names from using them outside of the company. Some of you may recall that Ryback and The Ultimate Warrior both changed their legal names to their ring names in an attempt to use that loophole.
As far as a talent like Seth Rollins is concerned, he would not be able to use that name if he wound up leaving WWE. Additionally, Dolph Ziggler is now using his real name of Nic Nemeth. Raj Dhesi also cannot use the name Jinder Mahal and AJ Francis can’t use Top Dolla.
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