Updated List Of Banned Words In WWE

There are some words considered to be accepted by WWE management while others are banned. There is an updated list of words that WWE doesn’t want people to use on their shows.

The term “sports entertainment” is something that WWE’s Chairman Vince McMahon has spouted for decades now because he doesn’t want WWE to be considered just a professional wrestling company. We know that WWE doesn’t call their talent “wrestlers” because they are referred to as “superstars” at all times. Women used to be called divas from the late 1990s until about 2016, but that has changed now.

It has been reported by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Newsletter that WWE had a list of words that are banned. They were words given to talent and people that helped to promote WrestleMania in Tampa earlier this year. Meltzer wrote:

“On our podcast we talked about WWE banned words. The latest list, from 2020, reported on at that time that WWE gave to those in Tampa who were helping promote WrestleMania, were : blood, choke, belt, strap, diva (a word they for years used in place of women), head shot, trauma, kayfabe, Mofos, house show, DQ, The Anti-Diva, spinal injuries, victim, violence, violent, wrestling, wrestlers, WWF, wifebeater, curb stomp, phrases including the word ‘push’ and being ‘Over,’ babyface, heel, job, jobber, card, strangle, kill and murder.”

The fact that the match “wrestling” is in there raises some eyebrows because the company is called World Wrestling Entertainment. It’s right there in the name, but Vince and company don’t want WWE personnel to use it.

What’s interesting about the lack of “wrestling” in the company is that two former WWE Champions CM Punk and Bryan Danielson (former Daniel Bryan) mentioned the lack of professional wrestling in WWE when they debuted in AEW. Punk memorably stated on his August 20 debut that he left professional wrestling in 2005 when he left Ring of Honor and now that he’s part of AEW, he is back in the professional wrestling business.

Danielson noted that he believed he took wrestling with him wherever he went and Bryan often referred to himself as a wrestler even though he wasn’t supposed to do that. Upon debuting in AEW, Bryan made it clear that he was there to “Goddamn wrestle” so you know he’s excited to use the term “wrestling” again.