AEW And NWA In Dispute Over ‘Shockwave’ Trademark

AEW introducing the National Title on Wednesday’s Dynamite sparked some controversy, as NWA wrestlers pointed out that the NWA National Title already exists and has the lineage that Tony Khan spoke about in his AEW National Title introduction.

While the two sides might be battling online over the National Title name, they are battling legally over the trademark of “Shockwave.”

Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics first reported the full details, saying that on September 6, 2024, AEW filed to trademark “AEW Shockwave” under “intent to use.” It was rumored that AEW would be launching a show called Shockwave, but as of now, that plan has not come to fruition.

On September 23, 2024, the NWA filed its own application to register “NWA Shockwave” under “use in commerce.” NWA ran a series of YouTube shows titled “NWA Shockwave,” which debuted in December 2020. The series was short-lived, but NWA revived the “Shockwave” name for a series of events in January 2025.

On June 5, Corgan’s company filed a formal opposition to the AEW application. In it, the NWA claimed it has been using the “NWA Shockwave” name “continuously… since at least as early as December 1, 2020.”

The NWA also claimed that NWA’s predecessors “used the NWA SHOCKWAVE mark for many years prior to [Lightning One’s] acquisition of the NWA wrestling business and associated intellectual property rights.”

Thurston wrote, “Attorneys for the NWA wrote in the opposition filing that the company sent AEW a legal letter on September 26, 2024, demanding that AEW abandon its “AEW Shockwave” application and agree in writing that AEW will not use the name or any variations that could cause confusion in the marketplace.”

NWA obtained the registration of “NWA Shockwave” in June 2025, but AEW’s filing remained active.

“AEW filed its formal answer to the NWA’s opposition the next month, on July 15, denying the NWA’s claims and arguing that AEW’s application should still proceed. AEW’s attorneys argued that the NWA hadn’t used “Shockwave” continuously since 2020. They also claimed the trademarks aren’t confusingly similar, despite both using the “Shockwave” term and both possibly being applied to wrestling programming. AEW also denied that the NWA would be damaged by AEW’s use of the name,” wrote Thurston.

The dispute is still ongoing.