As he reminded us in a post over the weekend, successful entrepreneur and hip-hop artist Westside Gunn has been promoting pro wrestling for most of his career… and usually the WWF/E. He’s referenced and sampled wrestling in his lyrics and on album covers, showed up in primo seats at tons of televised shows and major events, and even launched his own promotion, 4th Rope Wrestling.
Gunn hasn’t always had WWE’s blessing to use their intellectual property in his work, however. That‘s resulted in a few
legal letters being sent Westside’s way, and may have been a factor in his being removed from a Raw in his hometown of Buffalo, New York (likely WWE’s stop there this March; their previous Monday night in Buffalo was July 10, 2023 show):
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Gunn’s released a trio of Heels Have Eyes albums this year. The first in April had a picture of WWE Hall of Famer Ted “Million Dollar Man” DiBiase on it, and the August follow-up featured DiBiase’s bodyguard, Virgil. The third was to have both wrestling legends, but recent promotion for Heels Have Eyes 3 in New York City’s Times Square seems to have led to another takedown notice.
And it seems that’s the final straw for Westside’s lifelong relationship with WWE. He explained in a post on Saturday (Nov. 8) that also unveiled the new cover for Heels Have Eyes 3, 4th Rope Wrestling’s Joshua Bishop.
For YEAAAAAARS I mean NOBODY w/ 2 feet has spent the amount of $ I have supporting and pushing a brand I’ve loved since I could remember, I sat front row at EVERY BIG SHOW literally, all the good times it brought to my life to the point when I started making music i incorporated in everything like WU TANG did karate, I made ppl who hated the product watch it again I made it look kool, when at the time ppl thought it was nerdy, I’ve watched that same company sit countless of ppl next to me who’s not even fans fr and act like I didn’t exist.
I was threatened to take everything out of my music which I only did to pay homage or my whole catalog would be demolished and everybody knows how hard I worked coming from Buffalo for me to get that threat for just supporting and being a real fan hurted me but I stayed quiet and still like a krazy man sat front row bc I loved the culture, I even just went viral for spending 50k on suites.. on my soul I’ve only been respectful
I tried having conversations with 1 individual bc he’s causing all of these unnecessary cases and tbh he hates seeing a young black successful entrepreneur that could afford those seats and have to watch those chains dance across that screen to the point Monday night raw starts at 8pm I was kicked out by 803 after spending 5k for a seat plus travel, hotel etc…. in my own city for absolutely NOTHING!!!! No lie the kid in me heart broke that day… I put the billboard up that MILLION DOLLAR MAN billboard up which he loves and I wanted to push him in the culture bc he deserves it and to shOW VIRGIL love for the culture I get a letter saying ………:
so I said u know what I’m a show love only to the ppl that show love to me from now on… so u don’t have to worry about me pushing that product over there again, and it’s sad bc i still love them but I have my own company 4THROPE and yea we’re the underdogs but we love this shit, it’s not about money, we’re gonna keep pushing culture and I’m honored to have @joshbishop187 on the trilogy cover bc he deserves it for believing in me from day one as my first official wrestler…
In addition to Bishop, 4th Rope Wrestling is currently represented by titleholders Zilla Fatu, Real1 (fka Enzo Amore), and The Hardy Boyz.
