Pro Wrestling Tees Statement On WWE Trying To Block Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart T-Shirt Sales
- As Daniel noted earlier, ProWrestlingTees.com revealed today that WWE has attempted to block new official Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart shirts from being sold on their website due to WWE's "exclusive merchandise contract" with Neidhart. The Neidhart store page was updated with a statement, which can be seen below:
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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 get final say in the designs they sell and the price they sell the shirts for.
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. Really? Then 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. 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.
Wrestlers profit sometimes over 10x more what they get in royalties through any merchandise deal with WWE. There is no reason they shouldn't allow Jim to have extra money is 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 website portal then at least sell shirts for him through the WWE shop.