Welcome to another eWrestlingNews Question of the Day!
Over the past few months, a huge part of the feud between CM Punk and Drew McIntyre has revolved around a bracelet given to Punk by a fan (@victoriaaze_) that included the names of Punk’s wife AJ Lee and dog Larry. It was stolen by McIntyre, before Punk eventually re-obtained it, only for McIntyre to break it apart ahead of their upcoming Hell in a Cell match at WWE Bad Blood.
Now that it is being sold on WWEShop, there has been a lot of debate over whether or not Victoria deserves any compensation for this—be it in monetary form or some other fashion.
My question for you today is “What do you think WWE should do for Victoria, if anything, to pay her back for this?”
Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.
As far as my answer…
Considering this is a generic enough item that is very easily made and extremely common, I don’t think WWE needs to be lawyering up with the legal department to make sure they aren’t sued over this or anything crazy like that. Not knowing Victoria at all, but seeing what she’s tweeted, that doesn’t seem to be something she’s suggesting at all anyway—not that she’d have a leg to stand on if she did.
But I do think WWE has a responsibility to give her something of an acknowledgement, considering how much of this story has been focused around this specific bracelet.
If it were a one-time thing on a single episode of Raw, then I wouldn’t think anything of it. But we’re talking weeks upon weeks of promos dealing with that bracelet as if it were the most prized possession in Punk’s life. At this point, I’m surprised they didn’t do a Bracelet on a Pole match or a ladder match with that hanging from the ceiling just to drive home its importance even more.
With that being said, she did mention that WWE reached out with a “thank you” from Punk and an invitation to a show next month. Her suggestion was mostly just a shout out in the description of the product on the shop page, which doesn’t mention anything regarding this being made by a fan of any sort.
Considering how easy it is to edit a page, how it wouldn’t harm WWE in the slightest bit, and it would be an honest thing to say, I’d back her up on this idea. A simple mentioning of “inspired by a fan who gifted this bracelet to CM Punk”, maybe with a link to her X account, would likely mean the world to her and cost absolutely nothing.
If WWE doesn’t want to put a link on there due to not wanting to be associated with her in the future if she were to say something controversial, that’s understandable, and it could be a legal issue to give her credit on the shop page by opening up the door for litigation to say they’re using her name to promote it, but would that really hold up in a court? Is anyone going to buy it because her name is attached to it, considering she’s just a fan and they’d be buying it for CM Punk?
I’m not a lawyer. Maybe that’s the case. If so, just don’t tag her, but keep the note about it being from a fan, with a tweaked design, now that it says CM Punk’s name instead of AJ Lee and Larry. That should clear up any of those issues and still be a nice shout out.
At the very least, maybe a tweet about it would suffice, or if she does get to go to a show soon, they should invite her backstage and give her some swag and the whole “meet and greet” scenario that they do with plenty other people.
If Angry Miz Girl and others can get a spotlight, I see no reason why Victoria shouldn’t have a little moment in the sun. Hell, if you want to make it an even bigger deal, have her gift Punk a new bracelet on the show, since the original is broken, and the commentary team can explain who she is quickly so viewers can nod their heads, think it is neat, and everyone’s happy.
What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!
