• Former World Champion Is In Legal Dispute With WWE
Former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal (Raj Dhesi) is engaged in a legal dispute with WWE over the rights to his longtime nickname, “The Maharaja.”
Public United States Patent And Trade Mark Office records show that Dhesi first attempted to trademark “The Maharaja” nickname back in April 2024. The request was rejected because the office believed it could be confused with WWE’s trademark for “The Maharajah,” which the company has owned since 2017.
Dhesi tried again, only to be denied a second time on June 4, 2025. Now, instead of continuing to file new applications, he’s going after WWE’s trademark directly.
Earlier this month, Dhesi submitted an official petition asking the USPTO to cancel WWE’s ownership of “The Maharajah” altogether. In the filing, he argues that he had already been using the moniker long before WWE staked its legal claim, dating his usage back to 2015.
The USPTO has given WWE until February 3, 2026, to respond to Dhesi’s challenge.
• ESPN Wanted The WWE Draft, Why It Fell Apart
At one point, the idea of the WWE Draft landing on ESPN was more than just wishful thinking. According to WrestleVotes on Fightful Select, the network showed legitimate interest in spotlighting the Draft in 2025 before the plan quietly faded away.
The problem wasn’t a lack of enthusiasm, but rather a mismatch in presentation. WWE’s current approach to programming reportedly didn’t align with how ESPN envisioned broadcasting the event.
The Draft doesn’t naturally fit into a premium live event environment and works best when spread across weekly television, specifically episodes of RAW and SmackDown.
That structural difference made execution difficult. From ESPN’s perspective, packaging the Draft into a single, polished PLE broadcast proved challenging, while WWE’s format didn’t translate cleanly into what the network typically delivers to its audience.
As discussions continued, it became increasingly clear that neither side could visualize a version of the Draft that satisfied both creative styles.
Beyond the broadcast hurdles, there may be a larger shift happening within WWE itself. The company’s evolving talent system could eventually make the Draft obsolete. With WWE now regularly elevating performers from NXT without rigid brand separations, the need for a formal Draft may no longer be as essential as it once was.
While ESPN’s interest shows the Draft still carries mainstream appeal, the combination of formatting issues and WWE’s changing philosophy ultimately kept the idea from moving forward.
For now, the Draft remains a WWE-centric concept, and its long-term future may be less certain than ever.
• AEW Star Slams Michael Cole’s “Fed Line” After John Cena Lost To GUNTHER
John Cena’s legendary career came to an end at Saturday Night’s Main Event when he tapped out to GUNTHER, bringing one of the most iconic runs in pro wrestling history to a close.
Following the match, Michael Cole made a surprising statement on commentary, saying that “professional wrestling destroyed sports entertainment”, a line that immediately caught the attention of viewers.
The remark didn’t sit well with AEW star Jeff Jarrett.
Speaking on his My World podcast, Jarrett suggested that the comment felt scripted or approved by the company and questioned the logic behind it. The WWE Hall of Famer argued that the long-standing distinction between professional wrestling and sports entertainment has always been about branding rather than reality.
“It’s definitely a fed line or an approved line, for sure. I don’t understand that because professional wrestling and sports entertainment are exactly the same. Vince coined that. No different than ‘They’re not WWF wrestlers, they’re WWF superstars.’ It did it for branding, marketing, and ‘sports entertainer’ feels better when you go to pitch meetings, when you’re in executives or when writing in a newspaper, all that kind of stuff. It’s exactly the same.”
Jarrett also highlighted the contradiction in the statement, especially given WWE’s identity.
“So now ‘professional wrestling destroyed sports entertainment’? We’re not entertainment, but the name of our company is World Wrestling Entertainment?”
