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AEW recently abandoned its attempt to trademark the name “AEW: Shockwave” after the NWA challenged it more than a year ago. AEW filed to give up the name on Nov. 13, according to records filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that were reviewed by Wrestlenomics.
AEW’s trademark application was originally filed more than 14 months ago on Sept. 6, 2024, leading to a dispute with the NWA, which had previously used the “Shockwave” name for its events. The two companies had been litigating the matter over the summer.
AEW filed for abandonment a week-and-a-half ago. Because AEW withdrew the application without the NWA’s direct written consent, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board entered judgment, which is standard procedure. The board entered a judgment on Nov. 17 “with prejudice,” meaning AEW can’t pursue the trademark again in the future, effectively closing the case.
The timing coincides with Khan’s recent comments, saying he “had a really nice talk” with Billy Corgan, the Smashing Pumpkins band leader behind the NWA.
“I’m probably not going to [use] it,” Khan said of the “Shockwave” name in an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour last Tuesday, Nov. 18, one day after the judgment on the trademark was entered. Khan didn’t mention the application had just been withdrawn and closed.
Khan said he didn’t know when he filed for the trademark that the name had been used before by the NWA. He said he told Corgan: “If that’s something you want to do [use the ‘Shockwave’ name] and you did it first, then you can do that.”
The resolution of the dispute also follows AEW’s introduction of its new National Title earlier this month, which publicly raised the ire of some NWA wrestlers. AEW’s rollout of the title seemed to assume the title lineage that’s connected with the NWA’s version of the National Title, which is active and held by NWA wrestler Mike Mondo. One NWA wrestler suggested AEW’s rollout of its own National Title was retaliatory over the Shockwave dispute.
In the Helwani interview, Khan said he also spoke with Corgan about the National Title. “I had a great talk with him about that,” he said, without getting into details.
Neither AEW nor the NWA responded to our inquiries, which included questions about whether there were any settlement discussions that led to AEW abandoning the trademark.
The attempt to trademark “AEW: Shockwave” was registered under what’s called a “1(b)” or “intent to use” basis, meaning AEW was not yet using the name publicly but wanted to secure rights to it in advance, a common practice. AEW applied to use the name for purposes including “professional wrestling television programs,” hinting that “Shockwave” might be the name of a new TV program. Video surfaced of Swerve Strickland discussing the possibility of a new show coming to Fox. If there were any significant talks between AEW and Fox, it seems unlikely that any new show on the broadcast network will materialize soon.
The NWA took notice of AEW’s trademark application and subsequently filed its own application to register “NWA Shockwave.” However, unlike AEW’s filing, the NWA filed the application under a “1(a)” or “use in commerce” basis. That means they claimed they were already using the name in a business, specifically since Dec. 1, 2020, when they debuted a series of events streamed on YouTube that used that branding.
On June 5, Corgan’s company, Lightning One, Inc., filed a formal opposition to AEW’s application. The NWA claimed it had been using the “NWA Shockwave” name “continuously… since at least as early as December 1, 2020.” The filing also stated that the NWA’s predecessors “used the NWA SHOCKWAVE mark for many years prior to Lightning One’s acquisition of the NWA wrestling business and associated intellectual property rights.”
The NWA branded another series of shows “Shockwave” in January this year while their application was pending, after seemingly not using the name for several years. The NWA obtained registration of their “NWA Shockwave” application on June 24.
Corgan’s company has a separate “NWA Shockwave” application for use in apparel that was published for opposition in May and is still pending.
Attorneys for the NWA wrote in their opposition filing in June that the company sent AEW a legal letter on Sept. 26, 2024 — a few weeks after AEW applied to trademark “AEW: Shockwave” — demanding that AEW abandon the application and agree in writing that Khan’s company would not use the name or any variations that could cause confusion in the marketplace.
AEW filed its formal answer to the NWA’s opposition on July 15, denying the NWA’s claims and arguing that AEW’s application should still proceed. AEW’s attorneys argued that the NWA hadn’t used “Shockwave” since 2020, and claimed the trademarks weren’t confusing, despite both using the “Shockwave” term and both possibly being applied to wrestling programming.
With AEW’s withdrawal and the board’s ruling, the “Shockwave” name now belongs solely to the NWA for use in wrestling event branding.