WWE Hall of Famer Road Dogg has leapt to the defence of ex-WWE Chairman Vince McMahon for his practice of banning certain words from WWE television.
Over the years, many believed that wrestling had become a dirty word in WWE with sports entertainment the preferred nomenclature of Vince McMahon for his business. WWE Superstars became ubiquitous in the company as a synonym for wrestlers as McMahon took branding to the extreme.
Speaking on his Oh You Didn’t Know podcast, ex-WWE Superstar and backstage producer Road Dogg commented on these infamous “banned” words and says for him, he doesn’t disagree with what McMahon was trying to do in elevating his company over the rest of pro wrestling:
“People always made fun of Vince banning words. For me, and this is straight from my heart and straight from my brain, he taught me a ton of words, and he extended my vocabulary because he would not let you say certain things. So you had to find other ways to say it and I think he thought there was a negative connotation against wrestling, and the wrestling world, and wrestlers.”
“So he created World Wrestling Entertainment and has WWE Superstars, you know what I mean? There’s nothing wrong with that. I think if it’s your company, you can definitely call your people whatever you want. I think he thought it brought it up to a classier level. I don’t disagree with him.”
“I think it did exactly that. The John Cenas of the world, The Rocks of the world. These guys have been accepted outside of the wrestling business because WWE is kind of bigger than wrestling. It will go back to being a wrestling company now and we’ll see how that fares financially, whether it’s prosperous, or not, only time will tell that but, that’s up to the viewer.”
With Vince McMahon now retired from the company, a recent report suggested that previously banned words in his regime could be allowed once again.