25 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE Ruthless Aggression PPV
18. Taboo Tuesday Was Way Ahead Of Its Time
WWE debuted a brand new PPV in 2004. The concept was simple: Fans would vote online for match types and which wrestlers they wanted to see face one another. That was ingenious. No, the PPV didn’t take off and was gone by 2008 (having been redubbed Cyber Sunday in 2006), but it showed a willingness from Vince McMahon to try new things and push technological boundaries.
Nobody can blame the company for trying this. Putting control at the fingertips of fans tuning in gave these shows unique flavour. It was an interactive pay-per-view, almost like you had a copy of SmackDown vs. Raw's GM Mode. Of course, the brick thick PC they showed off on promotional materials has dated the show, but there's something charming about it too.
That harks back to the days of 56k dial up modems, criminally slow download speeds, and back to a time when the internet was a resource for information more than for streaming or social media. In '04, fans flocked around computers to decide whether Randy Orton vs. Ric Flair took place inside a steel cage, under submission rules or with 'Falls Count Anywhere' as the stipulation.
Driving customer engagement this way and kinda/sorta tricking people into thinking they were in charge was a brilliant call. That interactivity is something WWE would continue to push once social apps became the norm. Various polls and trending topics became part of the furniture on programming.
That wasn't the case back in October 2004. Taboo Tuesday was legitimately new and ahead of the curve.