WWE Attempts to Prevent Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart From Selling His Own T-Shirts

It would seem that once you’ve sold merchandise with WWE, you are expected to sell with them for life.

WWE Legend Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart recently opened a store on the website ProWrestlingTees.com, which is a website in which current and former superstars design and sell their own merchandise. However, WWE has contacted the company and told them that by selling his merchandise, they are violating intellectual property rights, as Neidhart currently has a legends deal with WWE. Below is a statement from ProWrestlingTees.com:

Sorry, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart t-shirts are no longer available on ProWrestlingTees.com.

We received a notice from WWE saying that we were violating intellectual property rights by selling Jim Neidhart shirts on our website. First off, we don’t sell anything on our site, the wrestlers do. Our website is a portal for independent and retired pro wrestlers to sell their own merchandise to hundreds and thousands of fans worldwide. We then simply print for them and ship them to their customers.  Everything is contracted through the wrestlers. They sign contracts with us taking all claim to their property and the rights to their designs. 90% of the time they provide their own artwork or get final say in the designs they sell. Every aspect from the shirt color, to the title of the product is decided by the wrestler or their estate.

After doing more research we found that WWE didn’t own the trademark on the name Jim Neidhart nor Hart Foundation. After explaining this to their lawyer, we were then told that Jim has an “exclusive merchandise agreement” with WWE. Exclusive merchandise agreements are understandable, when you’re selling merchandise! Where is all the Jim the Anvil merchandise? We’ve never seen a Jim “The Anvil” t-shirt ever. Maybe one of him and Bret Hart together, but never solo.

WWE continuously blocks retired pro wrestlers from selling merchandise on the internet. Not only Pro Wrestling Tees, but other websites as well. These wrestlers have fans that want to show their appreciation for them but they aren’t allow to because WWE says they have the “merchandise rights” to them. If WWE has these rights then use them. It’s simple. There is no reason they shouldn’t allow Jim to have extra money in his pocket. There is no competition here, because they aren’t selling Anvil’s t-shirts. Being under a WWE legends contract is understandable, but why is Jim in an “exclusive merchandise contract” with no merchandise?  If they aren’t going to allow him to sell his own merchandise through our web portal then at least sell shirts for him through the WWE shop. 

OneHourTees.com, which is the parent company for PWT, posted the following tweet regarding the incident:  

WWE says Jim Neidhart cant sell his own shirts. They don’t own his name nor Hart Foundation, YET HE CANNOT SELL HIS OWN TEES? So Classy WWE

— OneHourTees (@OneHourTees) September 29, 2015

Editor’s Note: I’m not sure who to side with on this one. While I understand the deal that Neidhart signed with WWE must be upheld, I don’t see a lot of his merchandise available for sale on WWEShop.com. This one has the potential to get ugly; I hope all parties resolve this issue very soon.   Follow @Dericho06