Dijak provides update on his ring name outside of WWE
Dijak recently confirmed his departure from WWE after his contract with the company expired. In a live stream shortly after the announcement, the 37-year-old revealed he is no longer allowed to wrestle under the name Dijak.
While some wrestlers continue using their names after leaving the company, others are prevented from doing so due to the terms of their deal. In Dijak's case, he agreed to let his former employers own the rights to his name.
The free agent explained the situation regarding his name during an appearance on Mace and Mansoor's insideMxM Twitch channel, stating that WWE owned the intellectual property rights to the ring name, 'Dijak.'
"I'm also not just Dijak anymore, and I can't be just Dijak. I signed over the concept of, I don't know how this will stand up in court, I signed a document when I went to NXT that said that WWE, in terms of a professional wrestling space, owns the intellectual property of just Dijak," he said. [4:47:42 – 4:48:13]
Dijak previously wrestled as Christopher Dijak and Dominik Dijakovic in NXT. He also worked as T-BAR on the main roster and as Dominik Dijak before joining the company in 2017.
Dijak explains why WWE owns his name
Moving forward, Dijak can still use his ring name as a surname if he wrestles on the independent scene or signs for another promotion. However, he cannot be known as just 'Dijak,' if he does not use a first name.
Dijak added that WWE likely wanted to own his name for marketing purposes.
"If I wanna be Bill Dijak or Fred Dijak, I can be that, but I can't be just Dijak, and I think the only way that they can properly enforce that is for like graphics and T-shirts and stuff like that where it's tangibly just a word," he said. [4:48:13 – 4:48:34]
Dijak does not have a 90-day non-compete clause, meaning he is free to wrestle for other promotions after his contract expires on June 28.
What do you think Dijak should call himself? Hit the Discuss button and let us know.
Please credit insideMxM and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.