WWE is familiar with having to blur out images on their programming due to trademarking issues. Evidently, those rose to the surface yet again this week.
Viewers had noted during Monday night’s episode of ‘Raw‘ that there was something interesting about a reel on budding superstar Jey Uso. The popular former lifetime tag team wrestler has gotten incredibly in favor with the fans over the past few months. His rivalry with Roman Reigns saw his popularity surge to new heights. Lately, he’s also brought a new catchphrase into his lexicon: “Yeet.”
Unfortunately for viewers and fans alike who’ve become big fans of that phrase, it looks like the fun might be over. Several watchers on Monday night noticed that the company, in post-production, blurred out Jey’s “YEET’ T-shirt. Specifically, the text on the T-shirt.
Why did they blur out YEET?? #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/oweTcTLmV4
— Fins X Vida (@tavoprezz) December 5, 2023
Why might this have happened? It seems a trademark was filed for the word a few years ago. Fightful noted that independent pro wrestler Kassey Huffman had previously filed trademarks for the word in 2021.
WWE never filed to trademark the term, and it turns out independent pro wrestler Kassey Huffman filed to trademark “Yeet” and “Yeet Movement” in 2021.
Both trademarks are filed under entertainment services pertaining to pro wrestling.
Whatever WWE had to do in this instance to cover their tracks? Well, it’s not like it’s unfamiliar territory. Longtime fans will tell you first-hand about it. Many of the company’s archival footage, especially from its peak popularity during the Attitude Era, is rife with blurred out images of the company’s old logo. They were originally known as the World Wrestling Federation. But when the company entered a legal battle with the World Wildlife Fund, it lost that battle, which led to the creation of the WWE name in Spring 2002.
The company designed an entire ad campaign around it (that probably wouldn’t fly nowadays). But you probably shouldn’t expect one already if WWE is already going to these lengths. Jey’s T-shirt is currently still listed on WWEShop.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022