10 Worst Ways WWE Butchers The English Language

WWE, despite how it sometimes looks, is a well-oiled machine. Next to nothing happens without a script, and the list of wrestlers who are allowed to just go out and wing it are few and far between.

However, in recent years this machine has been tightened up even more, especially with the prevalence of social media and online sources that are watching every step WWE makes. WWE has an ongoing list of banned terms and words that neither "talent" (or ''WWE Superstars'' to Vince McMahon) nor announcers can say, for fear of alienating or confusing "fans" (the ''WWE Universe'') trying to figure out what's going on "backstage" (''in the locker room area'')

See how annoying that is? Now imagine having to do it every week for two-to-four-to-six hours as an announcer, Vince screaming in your ear all the while.

It's very possible the man is out of his mind, especially since some of these supposedly banned terms occasionally are used by the very hottest acts to move merchandise or really amp up an event. The only certain thing in the WWE is that Vince may or may not change his mind, maybe, depending on how he feels when he gets to the arena. It's a wonder most of the WWE staffers aren't on permanent stress leave.

Let's take a look at ten of the worst examples of how WWE complicates perfectly simple English...

They're wrestlers, pal.

This one must be among the most irksome for the talent. Wrestling has a long lineage that stretches back into ancient civilizations as both sport and form of combat. Wrestling was one of the first breakout phenomena of early TV and has been a mainstay ever since. Dozens of professional wrestlers started out as amateur wrestlers for their university or their country.

In Vince's world, though, ''wrestler'' is a word that denotes dusty carnivals or half-empty bingo halls. The small-time, the junior leagues. Even though people like AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan and Becky Lynch and Keith Lee started there not so long ago. No, in Vince's brain, these men and women were nothing until they got into the WWE fold.

New Japan called, and they would beg to differ.

Once you make it to the WWE, you're now an entertainer, and expected to cooperate with whatever skit or gag makes Vince and the writers laugh. That's what ''Superstars'' do - what's best for WWE, because by God they should be grateful that they're not in some other bush-league promotion.

Paul Heyman seems to have made some headway with this: witness the "Greatest Wrestling Match Ever" at Backlash 2020.