WWE Abandons "Gunther Stark" Trademark Filing

WWE has abandoned their trademark filing for the "Gunther Stark" name.

As noted, WWE filed to trademark "Gunther Stark" last week, and it was revealed this week that WALTER's ring name has been changed to just Gunther.

In an update, USPTO (United States Patent & Trademark Office) filings show that WWE abandoned the "Gunther Stark" trademark filing just yesterday, January 19.

We've noted how WWE received immediate backlash over the name change, for obvious reasons, and for the fact that "Günther Stark" was also the name of a U-Boat Commander who served in World War II in the Kriegsmarine, the navy of Nazi Germany. Kapitänleutnant Stark died at the age of 27 on June 8, 1944, while at war in the English Channel.

It appears that due to the controversy, WWE is moving forward without the "Stark" last name for the Imperium leader. It should be noted that the last name never appeared on any official WWE pages. The Gunther name change was confirmed on Wednesday afternoon, but the last name was never used.

Gunther's Twitter account has been updated some time in the last 18 hours or so. The @WalterAUT page has been changed, and The Ring General can now be found at @Gunther_AUT. His Instagram account can still be found at @walter_aut, at least as of this writing.

It was reported earlier at this link how there appears to be some sort of backstory to the Gunther name as Kyle O'Reilly once referred to WALTER by that name in a December 2019 tweet while Imperium was feuding with The Undisputed Era in NXT. For those who missed it, you can also click here for what Keith Lee and Lance Storm had to say about the name change.

This week's WWE NXT episode ended with Imperium (Gunther, NXT Tag Team Champions Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner) brawling with The Diamond Mine (Strong, The Creed Brothers), so it looks like that will be one of the top NXT feuds moving forward.

Gunther has not commented on the name change as of this writing.

Stay tuned for more.