WWE Abandons Trademark For 'Gunther Stark'

WWE won't be using the name 'Gunther Stark' moving forward.

The company filed paperwork with the United States Patent & Trademark Office on Wednesday, January 19 to abandon their trademark for the term. 

WWE only filed to trademark 'Gunther Stark' on January 13 but it emerged shortly after that the real Gunther Stark was actually an officer who served in the navy of Nazi Germany during World War 2 and operated a U-boat in the English Channel until his passing in 1944. 

The trademark was seemingly intended for WALTER as Der Ring General announced on Tuesday's edition of NXT that his new in-ring name was Gunther, without the Stark surname. 

This prompted a furious reaction from fans and received mainstream attention in Germany, but WWE have pushed ahead with the name change and WALTER's profile on WWE.com was officially updated to Gunther on Wednesday. 

One WWE Superstar in Grayson Waller did make light of the situation, though, joking that WALTER was too close to Waller and 'The Arrogant Aussie', therefore, got his lawyers involved to get Der Ring General's name amended.