5 WWE Superstars who had merchandise removed (and the reasons why)

#3 WWE removed a John Cena shirt

A message to @JohnCena & the @WWE: We have a chokehold called the Cease & Desist. Pretty sure we see you🖕 pic.twitter.com/AKWjUEXiUj

— Pabst Blue Ribbon (@PabstBlueRibbon) May 27, 2016

As CM Punk said in 2014, hardly anybody surpassed John Cena in merchandise sales during the 16-time WWE World Champion’s 10+ years as the company’s top guy.

In May 2016, WWE released a black Cena shirt which contained his “Hustle, Loyalty, Respect” slogan, as well as a picture of the man himself posing inside a blue circle.

Unfortunately, the new merchandise did not go down well with beer company Pabst Blue Ribbon, who threatened WWE with a cease and desist because they felt that the new design was too similar to their logo.

WWE confirmed in a statement to Pro Wrestling Sheet that the shirt had been removed from WWE Shop, even though they did not believe they had done anything wrong.

“As a content creator, WWE respects trademarks and intellectual property, and therefore will not proceed selling the merchandise, despite it being an original design clearly within fair use.”

One month later, the shirt reappeared on WWE Shop and Pabst Blue Ribbon jokingly tweeted that “Cena always kicks out at 2”.

Cena always kicks out at 2... https://t.co/8pnhLp2T3K

— Pabst Blue Ribbon (@PabstBlueRibbon) June 19, 2016

Cena said in a January 2017 interview with ESPN that it was “pretty much social media suicide” for Pabst Blue Ribbon to post the cease and desist tweet.

He also revealed that the brewery realized WWE’s power and reached out to Vince McMahon’s company to establish a relationship, which is what ultimately led to the shirt being added back to WWE Shop.