If you’re a fan of WWE then you probably know that Vince McMahon likes to do things his way, and there are certain words that he doesn’t like the athletes or the broadcasters to use on WWE programming. For instance, wrestling is referred to as “sports entertainment” and wrestlers are referred to as “superstars.”
There are plenty of other words on Vince McMahon’s banned list, and Sportskeeda recently got their hands on a memo from 2008 which details all of the banned words. The list reads as follows:
Belt
Strap
The Business
Our Industry
Pro Wrestling
Pro Wrestler
House Show
War
Performance
Performer
Sports Entertainment
DQ
U.S.
Hospital
Faction
The Title is on the Line
Talent
Interesting
Shot
Backstage
Feud
Fans
Title Changing Hands
As noted this list is from 2008, so some of the terms such as “sports entertainment” are no longer banned.
There are certain words that Vince doesn’t want the stars of the WWE to use, and if they use them, he makes sure they know not to use them again.
Former Raw General Manager Mick Foley revealed during a recent interview that Vince McMahon once chewed Braun Strowman out for using the words “title shot.”
“I was about to go out there a couple weeks ago, and I heard Braun Strowman say, I want a title shot. Mr. McMahon’s behind the curtain, at the board watching the monitor, and he goes, oh god, it’s not a title shot. I was thinking to myself, then what is it? That’s exactly what I would go to call it when I would go out there. You want a title shot? He’s like, it’s a title match. It’s a match! So if you ever wonder what it’s like to see a six-foot-eight, three hundred pound behemoth get chewed out, you should’ve been there.”
[…] WWE’s list of banned words has become infamous over the years, and the company has even gone as far as to hand out a memo to Tampa Bay local officials detailing which words they weren’t allowed to use at the WrestleMania 36 press conference earlier this year. […]