Could AEW Use Ready to Rumble Footage To Represent WCW?

[LiamMcDuggle]

Was talking with a friend about what footage AEW can use of Sting, since WWE owns most of the library. AEW has been selling merch with Sting's likeness from New Japan shows. The New Japan shows Sting was one never made it to the WWE Network, so New Japan might own that.

I believe the movie rights of Ready to Rumble are still owned by Turner, as the movie kept playing on TBS for years after WCW merged with WWE. I THINK they could technically show clips of the movie, but I have not gotten any assurance one way or another from anyone.

[Cyno]

It's probably a massive trademark headache to use the film. While the movie itself was distributed by Warner, everything related to WCW like logos, show names, etc would likely be owned by TKO/WWE. TV stations having rights to air the movie is quite a bit different from a rival wrestling promotion using the footage for its own purposes.

I wonder if Tony reached out to Nick Khan, Triple H, or Ari Emmanuel about it considering Sting's importance in wrestling history and how well-respected he is across the industry. There was a recent official montage art showing Sting's looks throughout his career which was pretty cool.

[stoptheclocks]

In these circumstances, I would be fairly sure that it's one thing to use clips from the movie in the correct context & to illustrate the movie (i.e using it as part of a segment talking about Sting being in Ready to Rumble). But to actually use parts of it in lieu of WCW footage would cause them issues.