WWE didn’t have rights to phrase “Great Balls of Fire” originally

During the latest edition of his podcast Jerry “The King” Lawler talked about the upcoming WWE event “Great Balls of Fire”. He tells the story of how they got permission to use the name. The phrase is owned by early Rock and roller Jerry Lee Lewis. As it turns out, the WWE were using the phrase before they got permission to and were nearly sued. Lawler, a Memphis icon, and a resident had a connection to how the deal went down.
“My personal attorney here in Memphis is Joe Barton. Good friend of mine and my attorney. I got a phone call from Joe a few weeks ago, and Joe also represents Jerry Lee Lewis. And Joe said, ‘Hey Jerry, do you happen to know who I would contact at the WWE about copyright infringement?’ I go, “What? What are you talking about?” He goes, “Well, we understand they are doing a pay-per-view called Great Balls of Fire and Jerry Lee has that phrase trademarked. He has ever since they recorded the song.” So, I put him in touch with the WWE people, gave him a name. Apparently, he called them and got everything worked out. Not only are they using the name, they are using Jerry Lee’s song, which is awesome.”
The name hasn’t exactly gotten over well with their fanbase. A 1950’s themed wrestling event in 2017 by a company that primarily markets towards children seems a bit out of touch and not making sense.  The idea that the WWE didn’t get permission to use the phrase until after they started using it doesn’t paint the idea in a positive light either.

The podcast can be found here: http://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/5423313/height/90/width/640/theme/custom/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/yes/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/backward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/2179bd/