It appears that WWE was trying to trademark the term ‘Vice City,’ before abandoning plans to do so.

According to a trademark filing, the initial application was made on August 8, before being deemed “dead’ just over a month later, on September 21.

No, it doesn’t appear that WWE was attempting to make its own Grand Theft Auto game, but it was more than likely an attempt to theme something around Lola Vice, a WWE wrestler who has recently been promoted to the main roster. It’s not just her in-ring name that suggests this was the case either, but also the fact that she is from Miami, Florida, the real-life location GTA’s Vice City is based on.

Even More GTA 6 Screenshots from Rockstar Games

While we don’t know the reasons as to why the trademark was abandoned by WWE, it’s fair to speculate that Rockstar Games wouldn’t have taken kindly to someone else trying to claim ownership over a name it has used for over two decades. Vice City is, of course, the setting of the PS2 classic GTA Vice City and the upcoming GTA 6. You’d have to imagine Triple H and co. knew this, but still tried their arm anyway.

The extent to which Rockstar is reminding people of this can be seen in real-life Miami now, with nearly $1 million spent on ‘Welcome to Vice City’ signage.

Incidentally, backyard wrestling looks set to be one of the many, many activities available for Jason and Lucia to engage with in GTA 6, with even a nod to John Cena’s Attitude Adjustment finisher spotted in the recent extended look at the game. You can check out that and 99 details we spotted in our first look at gameplay here.

GTA 6 is seemingly set to take over the world when it launches on November 19, and the world of sports and entertainment won’t be unaffected by it. So much so that NBA star Steven Adams has claimed that he expects the launch of Rockstar’s latest to lead to a “league-wide” drop in performance for basketball players and coaches.

It’s already been a busy week for the GTA and Red Dead Redemption studio, as we imagine every week will be from now until the release of GTA 6. The developer has taken down footage of scrapped GTA 5 DLC and an early version of a leaked GTA 6 map, and has outlined its new modding policy, as dreams of monetized GTA 6 RP servers appear to have been dashed.

Simon Cardy

Senior Editor

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.