Every Wrestling Secret WWE Tries (And Fails) To Hide

9. The Banned List

The New Day Chris Jericho
Wrestlezone.com

More on how Vince McMahon's influence can be felt in every nook and cranny of his product later, but before examining what his commentators do say, it's worth remembering what they can't. And more specifically, how this prohibition exposes many of the industry's minute dark arts.

Wrestling - like everything - has a certain lexicon, but McMahon's effort to shift and adjust that over the years has resulted in some bizarre moments of promotional malpractice and wider public acceptance. "Sports Entertainment" was perhaps the flashpoint, devised as it was to avoid tax whilst also serving as a catch-all that pulled McMahon away from the wrestling he supposedly despised.

Pronouns are notable bugbears of the Chairman, and various standardised terms such as "house show", "belt" and "title shot" have been subject to similar disdain. A reliance on overblown synonyms ("live events", "championship titles" and "championship opportunity") resulted in the original terms becoming more conspicuous by their absence, drawing derision to WWE's attempts to brand absolutely everything.

It's why so much of the product feels faker than it's meant to. It's why fans aren't permitted to be concerned about wrestlers going to hospital, but members of the WWE Universe can worry about their favourite entertainer being admitted to a local medical facility. And because it's McMahon's kink specifically, it's why it'll only get dafter the older he gets.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett