Young Bucks receive cease and desist legal letter from WWE, all “too sweet” related merchandise pulled (w/Radican’s Analysis)

The Young Bucks have been served with a cease and desist letter according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer. PWTorch has independently confirmed Meltzer’s report. After filming an episode of “Being the Elite” this past Monday outside of Raw, The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) were sent a legal letter by WWE saying that they were infringing on their intellectual property.

The letter reportedly specifically mentioned the “too sweet” hand gesture, which the Young Bucks have used for marketing purposes on their merchandise. The Wrestling Observer reports the cease and desist letter specifically mentioned the Young Bucks “2 Sweet Journey” DVD, their “too Sweet” t-shirts, and any t-shirts with the “too sweet” hand gesture symbol. WWE said they would seek up to $150,000 dollars per item in the letter along with any profits made off those items and legal fees.

The Young Bucks have taken all “too sweet” related merchandise off of their Pro Wrestling Tees store and their own merchandise website youngbucksmerch.com. WWE has never registered a trademark for the “too sweet” hand gesture, but PWTorch has learned that the Young Bucks are not going to fight the cease and desist letter. Sources close to The Young Bucks feel that WWE’s letter doesn’t hold any merit.

The Young Bucks had built up a storyline going back several weeks with jokes written into the show about a WWE stooge and getting cease and desist letters. Anytime they would say “too sweet” or “f–k the revival,” it would be mysteriously beeped out. They were also running a gag where Hangman Page was kidnapped by WWE and Marty Scurll couldn’t use his umbrella because Jack Gallagher uses it on TV. Hangman Page showed up last week at ROH’s “Death Before Dishonor XV” PPV with his mouth and hands taped to defend the six man tag titles with The Young Bucks against Bully Ray & The Briscoes. None of this angle had been built on ROH TV, but ROH did their best to explain it on the PPV.

The Bullet Club of The Young Bucks, Cody, Marty Scurll, and Hangman Page held an impromptu meet and greet at a Hot Topic near where Raw was being held this past Monday. They then marched over to Raw with their fans outside of the venue. Everyone in the Bullet Club got on the megaphone in an effort to recreate the famous DX invasion of WCW’s Monday Nitro during the attitude era.

What started out as a light-hearted stunt has become personal between The Young Bucks and WWE. PWTorch sources have confirmed that some members of WWE management were upset with the mock invasion being staged outside of Raw by Bullet Club this past Monday.

PWTorch has also learned that WWE is looking at potentially pursuing further legal action against The Young Bucks, but nothing specific has been revealed yet as to what that could entail. Multiple sources PWTorch spoke to felt WWE doesn’t have anything else they could go after The Young Bucks for from a legal standpoint.

Radican’s Analysis: It’s going to be interesting to see what the fallout of this situation is in the coming days and weeks. I was surprised to hear that some members of WWE management were upset by the filming of “Being the Elite” outside of Raw. The Young Bucks seem to be at a disadvantage given that they aren’t in the position to fight WWE from a legal standpoint. The Young Bucks are going to have to eat the cost of the merchandise they can no longer sell, which is a shame. Hopefully, things smooth over going forward and WWE management gets distracted with something else.

In terms of not fighting the legal letter from WWE, it’s not surprising that Matt and Nick Jackson are just pulling the “too sweet” related merchandise from their stores on prowrestlingtees.com and youngbucksmerch.com. Getting into a court battle with WWE is costly and not something worth pursuing for The Young Bucks.