The rumor mill already had her heading to SmackDown even before she lost in the main event of Tuesday’s NXT and said her goodbye to the WWE Performance Center faithful. I’d say this trademark filing confirms Lola Vice is about to get a main roster roll-out. But as The_B pointed out in The Feed, there’s another reason why the trademark WWE filed today (Aug. 6) is drawing attention.
While I defer to The_B on the Grand Theft Auto 6 launch details (as recently discussed in and under another Feed post,
my gaming days are so far gone they’re not even visible in my rearview at this point), I disagree on the likeliness of success for WWE’s trademark attempt.
Specifying it will use “Vice City” for pro wrestling and sports entertainment purposes may mean WWE won’t be competing with the GTA franchise, but there are other concepts in trademark law like “confusion” and “dilution” that likely do apply to WWE’s claim.
Rockstar Games parent company Take-Two Interactive holds all the trademarks related to the GTA franchise, and has a reputation for vigorously defending them. In fact, Take-Two just opposed a filing for “Vice City Subs” in February of this year arguing the sandwich shop would confuse customers and dilute the value of its trademark.
About the only way I see WWE’s filing succeeding is if it’s coordinated with Take-Two to involve Lola in GTA 6 in some way. That would be very cool and fit with the high hopes and big plans we’re been hearing about since WWE signed Vice, who was then known as pro MMA fighter Valerie Loureda.
Is that what’s going on here? Or did WWE just decide to shoot its shot, and grab some headlines about Lola Vice’s imminent promotion in the process?
Weigh in below.
