Punk rock musician Wesley Eisold filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Cody Runnels (Cody Rhodes), WWE, and WWE’s main merchandising partner, Fanatics. The complaint, filed in federal court in California, alleges trademark infringement, breach of contract, and intentional interference with contractual relations.
Eisold is the lead singer and co-founder of the band American Nightmare, which has been active on and off since 1998 and toured as recently as 2023. Eisold holds a trademark, registered in 2016 for “American Nightmare” for use in music, clothing, and entertainment services, according to a filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
In March 2019, Cody Rhodes applied to register the trademark “The American Nightmare” for wrestling-related activities. Eisold, who had registered a similar trademark earlier, opposed Rhodes’ applicant. The parties eventually agreed to a settlement in March 2021 to resolve the dispute, ultimately allowing Rhodes to register the trademark. At that time Rhodes was under contract to AEW. He later returned to WWE in 2022, where he continued to use the trademark.
Under the settlement terms, Rhodes was allowed to use “American Nightmare” on his merchandise under the condition that such items prominently used Rhodes’ name, likeness, or wrestling-related imagery in a size at least 75% larger than the “American Nightmare” text, according to the settlement agreement provided as an exhibit to Eisold’s complaint. In exchange, Rhodes agreed to a one-time payment to the musician of $30,000.
Eisold now claims that Rhodes, WWE, and Fanatics have violated that agreement by selling merchandise items that fail to meet those conditions.
According to Eisold’s lawsuit, many items WWE is selling through Fanatics prominently display the “American Nightmare” phrase with little or no reference to Rhodes or use of wrestling imagery, which, the band leader claims, is confusing both fans of his band and WWE fans.
Among other merchandise items that allegedly violated the settlement, Eisold specifically points to the “Crown” T-shirt design, which uses the “American Nightmare” text and doesn’t appear to contain a specific reference to Rhodes’ name or likeness, or wrestling-related images.
Eisold claims confusion in the marketplace is evident on social media.
“Fans of WWE and wrestling continue to frequently tag [social media accounts for the musical band] the American Nightmare in Facebook and social media posts,” Eisold’s complaint states. “To date, fans of both Runnels and American Nightmare purchase the Runnels clothes. Fans attending American Nightmare concerts and other events—including in California and specifically this judicial district—wear both the Runnels clothes and the Eisold clothes.”
The complaint indicates that Eisold’s legal representatives contacted Rhodes’ lawyer in 2022 about the infringing “Crown” T-shirt design but didn’t receive a response. More recently, in April and May 2024, respectively, the musician’s counsel sent separate cease and desist letters to Fanatics and Rhodes. Eisold’s complaint says on May 31, his attorney received a letter from WWE that indicated that Fanatics referred the dispute to the wrestling company. Other than that, the plaintiff says he’s received no other correspondence from the defendants.
In addition to recovering attorneys fees, Eisold is seeking damages of at least $150,000, as well as treble damages of up to $300,000 related to federal trademark infringement.
We contacted each of WWE, Fanatics, Rhodes, Rhodes’ trademark attorney, and Eisold’s attorney for this case to request comments for this report and will update this article if they respond.
