WWE has filed to trademark “Spike Dudley,” days after the man who played the character dropped his own application for the name.
WWE filed the application on November 6. The filing covers wrestling services and online content. Its description reads:
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.
Hyson’s application
Matthew Hyson filed his own application for “SPIKE DUDLEY” on May 13, covering action figures. It was published for opposition on August 25, and WWE was granted a 90-day extension on September 25 to decide whether to oppose it, giving the company until December 23.
Hyson filed an express abandonment on November 1, and the application was marked abandoned on November 2, according to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office records. WWE filed its own application four days later. It is not clear why Hyson dropped his application.
It was not Hyson’s first attempt at the name. He applied to register “Spike Dudley” for wrestling services in November 2005, months after his WWE release. The USPTO refused it over WWE’s “Dudley Boyz” registration, and Hyson abandoned that application in January 2007.
Spike Dudley’s career
Hyson, 56, is retired from wrestling. He was with WWE from 2001 to 2005 as Spike Dudley, a name that began in ECW, whose assets WWE acquired in 2003. In WWE, he held the Cruiserweight Championship once, the European Championship once and the Hardcore Championship eight times, and won the WWF Tag Team Championship with Tazz. He has also worked as Brother Runt in TNA.
Hyson now works in financial services. His most recent wrestling appearance came in October 2025 at TNA Bound for Glory, where, as Brother Runt, he came to the ring before Team 3D’s “One Final Table” match against The Hardys. In February, D-Von Dudley called on Triple H to induct Hyson into the WWE Hall of Fame.
