UFC & TNA Wrestling Battle Over "War Machine" Name

Three-and-a-half years ago on April 3, 2005, Terri Gerin, better known to professional wrestling fans as "Rhino," was released from World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) after engaging in public argument with his wife at the hotel the company was staying at in Hollywood, Calif. for Wrestlemania 21, the company's biggest show of the year.

There was a report that stated Gerin (pictured below) smashed a flower pot in the hotel lobby and when other wrestlers attempted to restrain him, Gerin stated that he didn't care anymore and the WWE could get rid of him.

They did and after temporally going back to WWE for the original One Night Stand pay-per-view, Gerin headed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and was quickly billed as "The War Machine" as WWE had trademarked his other nickname, "The Man beast" and won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the Bound for Glory 2005 pay-per-view.



Photo courtesy of obsessedwithwrestling.com


Fast forward to Sept 19, 2007, which was the night the UFC premired the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter, titled, "Team Hughes vs. Team Serra." On that season, there was a fighter named John Koppenhaver, who fought on Team Serra and had replaced Roman Mitichyan after Mitichyan broke his elbow during evaluations and was sent home, and just happen to go by the nickname "The War Machine."

Koppenhaver lost his only fight on Ultimate Fighter in controversial fashion to Tommy Speer via judges decision. The controversy lied in the fact that during the fight, Koppenhaver had Speer in a Rear Naked Choke and it appeared that Speer had tapped out but the referee in charge of the bout did not stop the fight.

Koppenhaver (pictured below) would rebound though as he was victorious in his official UFC debut by defeating Jared Rollins in The Ultimate Fighter Finale Show via Technical Knockout (TKO) at 2:01 of the third round. Unfortunately for Koppenhaver, his momentum did not carry over to his last fight against Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 84, which he lost via submission in the first round but that wouldn't be the only thing Koppenhaver would lose.



Photo courtesy of UFC.com


During the fighter introductions, Koppenhaver was not referred to as "War Machine" by UFC Announcer Bruce Buffer as TNA had threatened legal action before the event and would sue if Koppenhaver was introduced as "War Machine" because TNA had trademarked the name for Gerin's use of the "Rhino" character.

In July 2008, Koppenhaver, following in the footsteps of professional wrestler Jim Hellwig, who wrestled as "The Ultimate Warrior" and legally changed his name to "Warrior," filed a change of name request and on Aug 28, 2008, had his day in court where he LEGALLY changed his name to War Machine.

That's right, John Koppenhaver is now legally known as War Machine and what's better is his reasoning for it. In his latest myspace blog, which was made available on mma-live.com, Koppenhaver stated that he has been called "War Machine" for six-years, has it tattooed on his body and that his fans chant "War Machine" during his fights, which is a total of SEVEN FIGHTS in a FOUR-YEAR PERIOD.

But he was not done there. No, the former Koppenhaver took it one step further by stating and I quote, "If you know my personality, then you know damn well I am not gonna let some F****t a**, FAKE wrestler steal my name."

I'm sure UFC President Dana White really appreciated these ignorant comments flying out of the former Koppenhaver's mouth, especially since he is one of White's contracted fighters and this comes on the heels of the Quinton "Rampage" Jackson fiasco that saw Jackson commit hit-and-run not once, but twice, before finally being detained by authorities.

Koppenhaver or War Machine, comes off sounding like the typical, angry Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter, a stereotype White has tried to change over the last several years, with this childish rant that sounds like a teenager playing a video game on Xbox live and getting beat soundly.

Since when did tattooing something on your chest all of a sudden qualify as a legal trademark? If Koppenhaver was so adamant about being referred to as "War Machine," why didn't he file the proper paper-work with the trademark agencies when he had his first fight in February 2004, a full year-and-a-half before Gerin showed up in TNA?

If Koppenhaver wants to get technical, the legendary music group KISS released "War Machine" on their Creatures of the Night album (pictured below) in 1982. Is Koppenhaver going to cry about it in the private confessional room of the house like most of the contestants on the Ultimate Fighter show do about every little thing?



Photo courtesy of amazon.com


Also, I find it amusing as both a wrestling fan and MMA fan that Koppenhaver had the audacity to call Gerin a F*****t A** FAKE wrestler when some people, including the former senior Vice President of the International Fight League (IFL), Joe Favorito, have said that MMA looks like gay porn with two men trading positions on top and bottom.

Also, Gerin is married and Gene Simmons, the lead singer for KISS, has the reputation of sleeping with hundreds of thousands of women and Koppenhaver, who shares a house and hot-tub with 15 other men while on the Ultimate Fighter, wants us to believe Gerin is the F*****t?

Keep telling yourself that Koppenhaver and while your at it, you better hope that Marvel Comics doesn't come knocking on your door with a lawsuit as "War Machine" is a fictional character (pictured below) created by Marvel Comics Universe that first appeared in Iron Man #118 in January 1979, a full TWO-years before you even existed!


Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com