WWE and Mitchell & Ness accused of stealing CM Punk artwork for merchandise
David Stenken, head graphic designer at Pro Wrestling Tees, is accusing WWE and Mitchell & Ness of copying his CM Punk merchandise design from 2021.
When CM Punk returned to professional wrestling at AEW Rampage in August 2021, a new T-shirt was released to commemorate his comeback. Stenken, who worked on the merchandise as part of his role at Pro Wrestling Tees, claims that a recently released CM Punk hoodie from WWE and Mitchell & Ness copied artwork from his original design.
Stenken made the allegation in a post on Instagram, sharing the designs and pointing out the similarities between the two pieces of merchandise…
“What a time to be alive lol. This @cmpunk design was one of my career highlights. It was the highest selling piece of AEW merch that year and one of their best selling of all time. I was there at the United Center when he came out. It was all over the building in lights. That seems like a whole lifetime ago in wrestling years – but what’s old is new again lol. @wwe and @mitchellandness have tag teamed against me and stole my art for their latest collab. Which sucks. Does anyone know a good lawyer?”
Stenken later updated his post…
“Mitchell and Ness took the apparel down. I’m assuming there is some sort of review happening and someone is getting in trouble. I will still leave this post up for posterity.”