WWE pulling TNA footage...can they do that?

[Jimmbo420]

Thanks to Derrick Rose for sending this in: Apparently, WWE is pulling footage of TNA broadcasts that feature current and ex-WWE wrestlers from YouTube. In one instance, WWE has pulled YouTube footage of Christian at TNA's Victory Road PPV from last year now that Christian has re-signed with WWE.

I don't understand how this is possible. Christian was a part of TNA when that footage was recorded, and was in no way affiliated with WWE at that time. So how can WWE get this footage pulled off of youtube?? They don't own the footage or anything that is in it what so ever. Can anyone explain this to me?

It's like TNA getting WWE footage pulled because it has CM Punk is in it, because CM Punk was in TNA first.


Also does this mean that WWE is starting to take notice of TNA?

 

[Saritafan]

WWE doesn't own the footage but they do own christian so there allowed to do it

christian is not part of TNA anymore,matter of fact,TNA cannot even mention christian again

your CM punk example doesn't work because punk is in the WWE,if punk was in TNA right now,then TNA could remove WWE footage of him

 

[JoeDubb]

Unless the video had him listed as Christian (his WWE name) instead of Christian Cage, I really don't understand how they could. Unless the folks at Youtube just doesn't know what is going on.

 

[JoeDubb]

WWE doesn't own the footage but they do own christian so there allowed to do it

christian is not part of TNA anymore,matter of fact,TNA cannot even mention christian again

your CM punk example doesn't work because punk is in the WWE,if punk was in TNA right now,then TNA could remove WWE footage of him


I don't think that is correct, because if you can just use other companies footage because the wrestler is no longer with the company, then why doesnt TNA use WWE footage for the packages of ALL of their former WWE workers they have on staff?

 

[The Con Volt]

As far as I know, WWE has absolutely no right to do this. It doesn't matter where Christian is now, that is TNA footage. Plain and simple. WWE owns the rights to the christian "character", which was never portrayed in TNA. If they can pull the footage off youtube, thats the same thing as airing that footage on RAW. And we all know thats illegal. So how can they do this? who knows.

 

[miroa12004]

It is like TNA preventing WWE from airing a match featuring Angle or Booker or Nash or Steiner, this can't happen and TNA would sue WWE if that happened, WWE can't do that, infact TNA can still say Christian's name or Punk's name if they are viewing archived footage, this was something normal during the Monday Night Wars, WWE used to mention Hogan or Savage and even Nash and Hall while they at the same time appeared on Nitro, this(if happened) may put the WWE in serious situation they don't need, and they'll have none other than themselves to blame really.

 

[Genius_Deadman]

they shouldn't be able to do that. if the case is "WWE owns Christians and Christian re-signed with TNA" then what about Sting? Sting is in TNA and WWE is putting him in DVD's and their WWE Classics series. TNA should be looking into this legally

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I'm not really sure how the WWE is able to do this, but then again I certainly don't know all the various loopholes and technicalities that comes along with using someone's image.

While Christian does currently work for the WWE, I don't understand how that gives them the right to pull footage featuring Christian while he was working for another wrestling company that is outside of WWE ownership. If TNA willingly allows footage of its events to be posted on YouTube, then I just can't see how the WWE can force the site to remove said footage. I doubt TNA would do that, however, since that does give the company a means of more exposure and that's something that the company definitely needs.

As for the WWE noticing TNA, the WWE is, of course, aware of TNA's existence but I don't see this as a way of acknowledging the company. The only way in which the WWE will acknowledge notice of the company is if TNA starts to become a legitimate threat in terms of ticket sales, tv ratings, ppv buys, etc. A lot of stories such as this one aren't read by a considerable majority of wrestling fans and the only way TNA would benefit from any WWE acknowledgement is if WWE mentioned them on television, even if it's a vague reference. The WWE doesn't acknowledge TNA at all on any of its programs because there's no reason for them to. All that does is give TNA publicity and promotion using the WWE's time and dime. The fact that Spike promotes the UFC or shows like 1000 Ways to Die or some action flick more than TNA is an issue that TNA itself should resolve. There's absolutely nothing in it for the WWE to do Spike's job, so the smart thing to do is exactly what the WWE's been doing.

 

[rk-owned2009]

People... the WWE is the NFL of sports entertainment and TNA is the UFL. Although TNA is growing and has a good product they still can't compare. I know WWE seems like its getting stale and Raw is all the same shit... yada yada... But anyways I'm sure if it pissed TNA the WWE doesn't give a shit. WWE is a 500+ million dollar company and TNA is not even in their league. WWE probably taking off videos featuring former WWE stars as TNA star that aren't COPYRIGHTED! I'm pretty sure they aren't taking down videos from TNAs youtube profile so people don't get so pissy. It doesn't even effect your life!

 

[rk-owned2009]

Oh and if they referred to Christian Cage as just Christian in TNA programming it is copyright infringement which means WWE does have the right to pull videos. The WWE owns the name of "Christian" for Jason Reso not TNA so that's probably how they will get around it. Simple as that.

 

[Vanillajoke]

I'm sure there will be legal ramifications from TNA to the WWE about this. It is a copyright issue and WWE has no right to remove TNA footage.

 

[theawsomes1]

i think it is perfectly fine the tna wont care about 2 seconds of footage that had christian in it when he was in tna. the tna refures to wwe wrestlers all the time to describe their wrestlers most of the tna wrestlers were wwe wrestlers and i have seen several footages on tns with tna wrestlers while they were in wwe. i think both tna and wwe should just forget about the whole issue and just make sure that niether brand uses each others footage and that is settled. and wwe might not have stolen the footage from tna they might have asked for permision first. we will never know and i dont get why we should even care

 

[Genius_Deadman]

Oh and if they referred to Christian Cage as just Christian in TNA programming it is copyright infringement which means WWE does have the right to pull videos. The WWE owns the name of "Christian" for Jason Reso not TNA so that's probably how they will get around it. Simple as that.

if that's the case, why didn't they do something about it when he was actually wrestling for TNA? (like they did with Hall/Nash in WCW) TNA should look into that for sure. WWE has no right to do that.

 

[Neil]

WWE has no right to do this. The only reason footage is being pulled is due to YouTube's inability to question huge companies and their demands to remove so-called copyrighted material.

YouTube won't argue or contest, why would they? They've been in enough trouble as it is. And with a multi-billion dollar company like WWE asking them to do something, chances are, they're going to do it.

 

[drondog]

that doesn't make much sense, as lately I've seen some of WWE past DVD adds and I've seen angle, booker, and they just did the WCW video with nash, steiner so if WWE has Christian and TNA can't show vids of when christian was there because WWE has him now, then how can WWE show video's with current wwe peopl on their roster?

 

[waylonmercy]

If WWE owns Christian and stuff does that mean that TNA can block stars like Nash from being mentioned, shown on tv or on dvds?

I don't think WWE can pull footage of Christian off youtube that they don't own.

 

[FiveTymeWCWChamp]

Oh and if they referred to Christian Cage as just Christian in TNA programming it is copyright infringement which means WWE does have the right to pull videos. The WWE owns the name of "Christian" for Jason Reso not TNA so that's probably how they will get around it. Simple as that.

Well, Christian Cage would be considered his "full name." It would be ******ed to have to say Christian Cage every time they talk about him. It is not far beyond belief to just call him Christian and not say his last name. By your logic, you would always have to say AJ Styles at all times instead of just saying AJ.

 

[finoj05]

It was always my understanding that a company has free use of ANY footage that they have filmed as long as none of the performers are contracted to another wrestling company at the time of the performance or filming.

Thus why TNA can't stop WWE from using footage of Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash, Jeff Jarrett, Booker T, Mick Foley, Sting or Scott Steiner.

Or Why WWE or anyone else cannot stop TNA from using footage of Christian Cage, Jeff Hardy, Hulk Hogan or anybody else.

That is why film libraries are so important. Who ever owns them has free use of all that footage. TNA for instance, just in the last 7 years, has created hundreds and hundreds of hours of original content, including Weekly PPVs, Monthly PPVs, Weekly TNA iMPACT!/Xplosion, TNA Today, Global iMPACT! and Spin Cycle. They own all of that, no matter who is on them and who participated. Only example of one they don't own is when they taped WWE stars while they were under contract during the early days of iMPACT!

 

[Ryan420]

This is stupid anyways....im watching videos on youtube of christian as i type this. just proves how stupid ppl are by reading one story and thinking its true without actually looking for yourself

 

[ckoneagain]

What's to say (and i know i'll get stick for this) that vince isn't funding TNA like he did ECW back in the day. He needs competition and it's not like TNA are taking away a huge chunk of his aurdience. IF Vince were funding TNA then wouldn't he want the wrestlers who moved to his official brand to become his sole property? I dunno, call me carzy, but i see some similarities. I mean think about it, if a wrestler ends up exhausted by the job or has wellness problems or something that means they just can't be in WWE then where do they go? TNA, and if a wrestler does well in TNA then most of the time (household names excepted) they end up going back to or just up to WWE. Jeff Hardy for example had major drug issues back in WWE originally and then he left and went to TNA around the same time they 'up'ed' their wellness stipulations...couple of years later, back he comes suposedly clean as a whistle, I wouldn't be surprised if he turns up in TNA again if he doesn't get shoved in prison of course. Anyway, my point is that there's no reason Vinny Mac wouldn't want competition from TNA and so funding them would be a smart business move as he could pull the plug if they ever did to well

 

[rk-owned2009]

Well, Christian Cage would be considered his "full name." It would be ******ed to have to say Christian Cage every time they talk about him. It is not far beyond belief to just call him Christian and not say his last name. By your logic, you would always have to say AJ Styles at all times instead of just saying AJ.

I understand where you are coming from im not a ****** lol. What I was saying is that technically the WWE can cite TNA for infringement. It's not my logic I think thats the only way it can be done i guess legally.

 

[yur_momma]

"Thanks to Derrick Rose for sending this in: Apparently, WWE is pulling footage of TNA broadcasts that feature current and ex-WWE wrestlers from YouTube. In one instance, WWE has pulled YouTube footage of Christian at TNA's Victory Road PPV from last year now that Christian has re-signed with WWE."

I don't understand how this is possible. Christian was a part of TNA when that footage was recorded, and was in no way affiliated with WWE at that time. So how can WWE get this footage pulled off of youtube?? They don't own the footage or anything that is in it what so ever. Can anyone explain this to me?

It's like TNA getting WWE footage pulled because it has CM Punk is in it, because CM Punk was in TNA first.


Also does this mean that WWE is starting to take notice of TNA?

first, who the hell is derrick rose and how does he know why the vids were removed? this is just more wrestlezone crap where they take any info from anyone and throw it out there as a story.
wwe cannot pull any tna footage off youtube, so the story is bullshit. also the article was put up by nick paglino, the freakin queen of posting gossipy BS as news...like when he reported Black Reign was wrestling in FCW while on shaky ground with TNA but it was another wrestler named black rain instead. change the name and it is a non story, a simple visit to the FCW site would have prevented the embarrassment. its called fact checking. or like a few days ago when he reported "ozzy's black label society" guitarist was playing at BFG in tna. hmm, why was that posted? because ozzy is hosting raw in a few weeks so why not stir up some shit? ozzy has nothing to do with BLS but Nick threw it out there anyway. never trust nick paglino. did he contact youtube? did he contact wwe or tna or christian? nope. just a little message from derrick rose who used alot of generalization but could only name one video taken down?? great reporting.

 

[benm1989]

thats ******ed wwe can not do that plus wwe showed footage of kevin nash on raw for the wcw dvd and tna did not sue.wwe has also used current tna stars on their vault on smackdown and taz is also on that should tna sue over that.wwe can not pull that footage as it is victory road and they have no mention of wweor his christian character I think vince is recognising tna as a big deal and youtube is the way alot of fans 1st get into tna.

 

[rk-owned2009]

thats ******ed wwe can not do that plus wwe showed footage of kevin nash on raw for the wcw dvd and tna did not sue.

That's different. Kevin Nash is his actual name. You can't trademark somebodies name. If he was going be Diesel or some shit. Booker T is an example. He owns his rights to his name. Its all about trademarking and copyright.

 

[CaptainZaltan]

This whole thing sounds stupid and very unlikely. If WWE want's to get in a pissing contest with TNA, TNA can easily fire back and start yanking WWE (and WCW/ECW for that matter) videos with Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash, 3D, Scott Steiner, Booker T, Sting, Rhino, Taz, Earl Hebner etc etc. If the problem is only with copyrighted names....well first of all TNA announcers generally did refer to Christian as 'Christian Cage' on commentary, and even if they missed a few times it would be easy enough to go back and redo some of the commentary (which I think they did previously with the 'Outlaw'?). So why go to the trouble to do this? Even if there is a loophole protecting WWE when using names like Kurt Angle and Kevin Nash (real names), they still use Scott Steiner and Sting (Scott Rechsteiner and Steve Borden) at least in there video library
and who knows what legal entanglements would be involved with guys like Rhino and Taz whose names are just spelled differently than when they were in the WWE? I assume that at least the two mentioned retain legal rights to there names and could cause shit for the WWE if TNA asked them to. Also, why would the WWE go after TNA now, and why only on Youtube? Wrestlers have referred to 'Brother Ray' as 'Bubba' like a million times now on tv and nothing has ever been done about it. Unless Vinnie-Mac has finally gone completely insane, or is looking to be a dick for laughs, I don't see any reason why this story would be true.