WWE Reclaims AEW Champion Bryan Danielson’s “Yes Yes Yes” Catchphrase Trademark

Bryan Danielson’s AEW World Championship win at AEW ALL IN: London was déjà vu for wrestling fans. The American Dragon defeated then-titleholder Swerve Strickland with the LeBell Lock in front of a packed Wembley Stadium that showered him in “Yes!” chants, nearly a mirror reflection of his career-defining victory at WWE WrestleMania 30 ten years prior when he captured the WWE World Heavyweight Championship inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. While fans have been chanting “Yes!” for Danielson’s matches throughout his AEW run, it has only been since this past summer that he has actually encouraged his WWE catchphrase. 

Danielson had previously stated that he would “respect WWE’s intellectual property” in his AEW run and not indulge in the “Yes!” chants. That changed when the “Yes Yes Yes” trademark became available in July and Danielson applied for it himself.

WWE Reclaims Bryan Danielson’s “Yes!” Trademark

“Yes Yes Yes” has a new home, again.

WWE filed to trademark “Yes Yes Yes” on September 30th, ten days after Bryan Danielson abandoned the trademark himself. While Danielson’s reasoning for abandoning the trademark is not explicitly stated, it’s worth noting that WWE sent him a “legal letter” shortly after he secured the trademark. Danielson shared that this “legal letter” was “not necessarily a cease.”

“My manager texted me and said, ‘Hey, this thing is available. Do you want to get it?’ I was like, ‘How much does it cost?’ It wasn’t that much. ‘Okay, sure,’” Danielson recalled. “Soon after, I got an email from WWE quoting me, ‘This infringes on this or that or whatever.’ I am like, ‘Dude, I’m not trying to sell anybody anything.’ I just do my thing.”

During the two months that Danielson had the trademark, he did not make any “Yes!”-related merchandise or anything that could be purchasable. As he mentioned in September, his purpose behind filing the trademark was to be able to lead “Yes!” chants on AEW programming without feeling like he was using his previous employer’s “intellectual property.”

WWE’s full trademark filing can be read below…

Clothing, namely, tops, shirts, jackets, sweatshirts, hoodies; outerwear, namely, coats; bottoms, pants, shorts, underwear, dresses, pajamas, lingerie, clothing ties, scarves, gloves, swimwear; Halloween and masquerade costumes; footwear, namely, shoes, sneakers, slippers, flip flops, boots; headwear, namely, hats, caps; wrist bands; bandanas; championship trophy belts

Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibitions and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer rendered 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 information; fan club services, namely, organizing sporting events in the field of wrestling for wrestling fan club members; organizing social entertainment events for entertainment purposes for wrestling fan club members; providing online newsletters in the fields of sports entertainment; online journals, namely blogs, in the field of sports entertainment