From the WWE rumour mill: WWE bringing back an old PPV after 12 years? 

The first Taboo Tuesday event took place 13 years ago

What’s the story?

After the brand extension in 2016, WWE was reportedly looking to bring back some of their old pay-per-view events and eventually we saw the return of PPV's like BackLash and No Mercy. If this story from PWInsider is anything to go by, we might see another old PPV concept, Taboo Tuesday, being brought back.

In case you didn’t know…

WWE debuted Taboo Tuesday in October of 2004 and held it again the following year. After the first two Taboo Tuesday shows, WWE rechristened it as Cyber Sunday, with the first one taking place in 2006 and the last in 2008 in Phoenix, Arizona.

The peculiarity of Taboo Tuesday/Cyber Sunday was that it allowed fans to vote online to determine certain aspects that could affect the outcome of a match such as what stipulation should a match have or which opponent(s) a wrestler would face in the given match.

The heart of the matter

According to a report by the PWInsider, WWE has registered to trademark the phrase ‘Taboo Tuesday’ with the United States Patent and Trademark office on 24th July. The filing references the following,

“Entertainment services, namely, a show about professional wrestling; entertainment services, namely, the production and exhibition of professional wrestling events 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; fan club services, namely, organizing and staging events with wrestling fan club members; providing online newsletters in the field of sports entertainment; online journals, namely, blogs in the fields of sports entertainment.”

WWE allotted both RAW and Smackdown with their own brand-exclusive PPVs, to along with the ‘Big Four’, which are dual-branded. This has seen WWE revive some of their old PPV mainstays such as BackLash and the potential addition of Taboo Tuesday might continue this practice.

What’s next?

Whenever WWE registers for a trademark, it is for future use maybe that be a gimmick, name of a performer or name of a show. If this is the case, then the show could possibly take place on the date when Smackdown Live is scheduled to be held and then air on the WWE Network.

Author’s Take

While I get that the impact and influence of social media is stronger and more prevalent than ever before with WWE looking to leverage the same more and more, I was never a fan of the concept when it was first introduced in 2004. The execution did not help my impression of the show.

I generally do not like going into a PPV being uncertain about what matches will take place, what stipulations those matches will have and so on. Hopefully, this is only being brought back as a special, themed edition of Smackdown Live.