The Young Bucks are one of the most popular tag teams in all of wrestling right now, and they’ve managed to build up a big fanbase without the help of the WWE machine. The Bucks haven’t been shy about letting the world know they’ve been influenced by some of the top names in the industry, and they’ve freely told people to “suck it” and they’ve also used the “too sweet” hand gesture.
Related: The Young Bucks Say WWE Superstars Have Been Asking Them About Life Outside Of WWE
Unfortunately for The Young Bucks, WWE officials haven’t been too happy about them using these familiar gestures and phrases which has led to the company sending the team cease and desist letters. This week The Bullet Club did a parody of the DX invasion of WCW Nitro and they filmed footage of the invasion for their YouTube show Being The Elite.
Apparently the invasion didn’t go over very well with WWE officials, and when a fan asked if WWE is trying to prevent the team from using the “too sweet” hand gesture, The Young Bucks confirmed during a Reddit AMA that they received a legal threat the day after the invasion.
“24 hrs after the #BCInvasion, we (Nick & I) received a certain type of letter. Yes. They are trying to do just that.”
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that after the cease and desist letter was sent out, The Young Bucks removed all references to “too sweet” from t-shirts they were selling on YoungBucksMerch.com and ProWrestlingTees.com.
WWE is claiming ownership of the gesture due to the fact that they purchased WCW and all of the intellectual property attached to the brand.
The Observer notes that WWE didn’t register ownership of the hand gesture until 2015 and The Young Bucks started marketing the gesture in 2013 when it became a major part of NJPW when The Bullet Club started. However, it was noted that getting into a legal battle with WWE over the gesture would be costly for The Young Bucks.
They can claim “ownership” but who trademarked it?
It doesn’t matter when somebody started doing it, it matters when the documents were filed. So if WWE filed in 2015 and Bucks were doing it in 2013, legally, the document file date will supersede everything. That’s how the law works with trademarks.