John Cena and WWE Run Into Hot Water With Pabst Blue Ribbon Over T-Shirt Design

Tomorrow night on the Memorial Day edition of Monday Night Raw, John Cena will return from shoulder surgery a few months early.

It’s only natural that WWE would want to mark the occasion and drop some new John Cena merchandise for his next run, but it’s landed the company into some hot water with Pabst Blue Ribbon of all companies.

According to a report from ProWrestlingSheet.com, WWE was set to launch new merchandise for Cena that bore a striking resemblance to the design of PBR’s brand.

Pabst Blue Ribbon almost immediately caught win of WWE releasing the merchandise and posted on Twitter about a “cease and desist” letter.

The following tweet reveals what PBR had to say, and the design of the merchandise WWE was going to release:

httpss://twitter.com/PabstBlueRibbon/status/736305632815554561

It wasn’t clear if it was a legitimate threat or the two companies have some fun, but WWE has since removed the merchandise, and a WWE rep released the following statement:

“As a content creator, WWE respects trademarks and intellectual property, and therefore will not proceed selling the merchandise, despite it being an original design clearly within fair use.”

WWE has designed new merchandise for John Cena’s return, and you can “see” and buy it on WWEShop.com right here. 

Do you think Pabst Blue Ribbon made a big deal out of nothing?