Published: Feb 28, 2026 by Liam | Last Updated: Feb 28, 2026 by Liam
Liam has been reporting & analyzing wrestling news for over eight years, and is currently the Managing Editor at WrestleTalk.com. Immersed in wrestling for 18 years, he has over 11,000 published articles in addition to leading and overseeing WrestleTalk.com's coverage.
WWE
WWE has filed several trademarks for the ring names of new signings that have joined the company recently.
There has been an overhaul of the NXT roster since the start of 2026 with top stars like Oba Femi, Trick Williams, Je’Von Evans and Jordynne Grace moving to the main roster.
This has paved the way for new talent to come in from Evolve and the WWE ID system.
Five of those names are Sean Legacy, Eli Knight, Evolve Champion Jackson Drake, and new NXT Tag Team Champions Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes.
Today, WWE filed to trademark all five of those ring names, as well as The Vanity Project, which is the group name for Drake, Baylor and Smokes.
The filings were made with the following description:
Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibitions and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer rendered live and through broadcast media including television and radio, and via the internet or commercial online service; providing wrestling news and information via a global computer network; providing information in the fields of sports and entertainment via an online community portal; providing a website in the field of sports entertainment information; fan club services, namely, organizing sporting events in the field of wrestling for wrestling fan club members; organizing social entertainment events for entertainment purposes for wrestling fan club members; providing online newsletters in the fields of sports entertainment; online journals, namely blogs, in the field of sports entertainment
All five of those names were initially signed to the WWE ID program before appearing regularly on Evolve and now being signed to full-time NXT deals.
Notably, they have all kept their ring names from before they joined WWE, in comparison to other new signings who undergo name changes.
Recent examples of that include Aigle Blanc becoming Elio LeFleur, Mike D Vecchio becoming Dorian Van Dux, Zozaya becoming Romeo Moreno, and Nathan Angel becoming Tristan Angels.
This past Tuesday, Baylor and Smokes defeated DarkState’s Osiris Griffin and Saquon Shugars to win the NXT Tag Team Championship.
Baylor and Smokes as a duo were previously known as Swipe Right, but that appeared to have been dropped on TV in recent weeks, and its absence from these trademark filing looks to confirm that.
Drake was crowd the inaugural Evolve Champion on the June 4, 2025 episode of Evolve and has reigned as champion since.
WWE also filed a trademark related to Becky Lynch today.
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