Meanings
- The controversy surrounding the leaked final evolutions of the Unova starter Pokémon prior to the release of Pokémon Black and White, which sparked widespread fan backlash and disbelief that the designs were genuine.
Here's more context around the Pokémon Wottergate scandal. By far the biggest thing to ever happen to the Pokémon leak community.
2022 September 26, @CentroLeaks, Twitter (post), archived from the original on 09 May 20262 more examples
Were you around for the gen 5 leaks/Wottergate? That was probably the most controversial day in the 25 years pokemon has been around
2021 October 3, @GerardGuey, Twitter (post), archived from the original on 09 May 2026It started from day 1, Wottergate alone encapsulates how much the fans were against unova ¶ People hated samurott and serperior so much they arguably started the trend of huge pre-release starter evolution shitstorms
2025 May 8, @tihsehtmi, X (post), archived from the original on 09 May 2026
Origin
Likely from Wotter (“nickname for Oshawott”) + -gate, influenced by Watergate.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Wottergate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Wottergate
“Wottergate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Wottergate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Wottergate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Wottergate.
Source: Wottergate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.