John Cena & WWE sued over Cena's theme song

Photo courtesy of ign.com


Shortly before his WWE Championship title match against John Bradshaw Layfield at Wrestlemania 21 in 2005, John Cena [pictured above] changed his entrance song from "Word Life" to "My Time is Now," a track which was featured on his debut album, "You Can't See Me."

Three-and-a-half years later, Cena, along with World Wrestling Entertainment [WWE] and Sony BMG Music, are finding themselves locked-up in a lawsuit with "The Royalty Network Inc" due to the intellectual property of Cena's entrance song.

RNI is claiming that WWE and Cena have been using the music under false pretenses due to the copyright being signed over to them by somebody who didn't have the power to do so and are requesting that all properties containing the music, such as videogames, DVD's and CD's, be destroyed and that WWE pay them damages of $150,000.00 and the cost of court fees.

Cena is listed in the lawsuit because he added lyrics to the music and according to RNI, is trying to pass it off as his own, which they claim the music never legally belonged to hi or the WWE.

Should RNI be successful in this lawsuit, Cena would obviously have to give up his entrance music and WWE would find themselves in familiar territory of having to literally edit out every piece of merchandise on retail that has Cena's entrance song, which is basically every released dvd since Wrestlemania 21, and re-release it with new music.

All I have to say about this is.......Give me a freaking break! People are in such a hurry nowadays to sue any and everyone for the dumbest little things in an attempt to get rich quick and this particular lawsuit is beyond ridiculous as Cena and WWE are basically being sued for something musicians do all the time with music.

If RNI was so upset about this, why did it take them three-and-a-half years to file this lawsuit and why are they only asking for $150,000? That amount is chump change to Vince McMahon who just gave away close to five-million dollars of his own money this past summer in his "McMahon Million Dollar Mania Sweepstakes."

The only good thing about this news is that when Cena returns in a few weeks, this may urge McMahon and WWE to change Cena's entrance song, which I admit has run its course, and give Cena a fresh start with a new tune. That or McMahon may just write RNI a nice fee to forget about all this, which is probably what they want.

If you would like to read more about this, you can access the full case files for $.08 per page on the New York Southern Distric Court's Electronic Court Filings [ECF] System by clicking the following link: https://ecf.nysd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/iqquerymenu.pl?333752