There's nothing wrong with him trading on his name to enter the pedal field. That said, I do think that by entering the field as if everyone else is suddenly second best, he is setting himself up to have a bulls-eye on his back.
When I was a chiropractor, one of the other guys in town changed his Yellow Pages ad to include that he was a "World Famous Chiropractor." Well, he might have been well regarded in town, but world famous was just outlandish, and frankly irritated a bit that he could get away with such statements. On the other hand, I suppose if even one person outside the country knew that he was a good chiropractor, he could make the claim.
In the end, a lot of advertising deals in supulatives and outlandish claims, so what Kirk Hammet is doing isn't really news, IMHO.