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WWE Abandons Trademark for Nazi Commander’s Name

The company planned to use the name for an up-and-coming Austrian wrestler.
Dan Lyons|
WWE Abandons Trademark for Nazi Commander’s Name
WWE Abandons Trademark for Nazi Commander’s Name

Walter, an Austrian wrestler who took off with WWE’s NXT UK brand, made his way stateside. Unfortunately, the company’s attempt at rebranding him for his U.S. debut went extremely poorly.

A week ago, WWE filed a trademark application for the name “Gunther Stark.” One major issue: that was the name of a Nazi U-boat commander, who was sunk in the English Channel in 1944.

PWInsider.com reports that WWE has abandoned the trademark filing for Gunther Stark, and for obvious reasons.

Walter won his NXT debut on Tuesday, after which he announced he’ll be going by “Gunther,” without mentioning the last name. 

His official WWE bio also lists him as simply “Gunther.”

It certainly appears the WWE thought better of things after missing that giant red flag with the “Gunther Stark” ring name at the outset.

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Dan Lyons
DAN LYONS

Dan Lyons is a staff writer and editor at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI for his second stint in November 2024 after a season as senior college football writer at Athlon Sports and previous three-year run at SI as a writer and editor for the Breaking and Trending News team. When he’s not watching a game, you can find Dan at an indie concert venue or movie theater. Dan has a bachelor’s degree in writing and rhetoric from Syracuse.

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