WWE Network Issues During Starrcade, Vince McMahon Lifts Word Ban

WWE Network Experienced Major Issues During Starrcade Last Night

In case you forgot, WWE Network had a special last night, airing a house show under the Starrcade banner. This is something WWE has done for the last few years, though plenty of fans likely wish WWE would give it a bit more respect and treat it as a proper PPV.

And that was before this most recent event, and the debacle that ensued.

Many fans reported experiencing issues with streaming Starrcade. In most cases, the streaming issues only began at the start of the event, and lasted for many through most of it. Streaming prior to the event itself seemed to be a non-issue, which may indicate there was an issue at the venue.

Vince McMahon Apparently Lifts Ban On Word

There are plenty of stories about how meticulously controlling Vince McMahon can be.

He doesn’t want certain things said, or wants other things said in only a certain fashion. He is known to dislike certain things inferring to the backstage area or the business aspect of his…well…business.

He’s also known to basically tell anyone performing in front of the cameras that certain words are off limits. And this list of his? It doesn’t just cover the obvious Seven Dirty Words of George Carlin infamy.

No, one of those banned words was “wrestler”.

The key word here is “was”, as apparently this most insane of bans has been relaxed or entirely lifted as of recently.

A fan recently asked Dave Metlzer of The Wrestling Observer this exact question on Twitter, which got a response, and not just from Meltzer:

In addition to Metlzer’s response, Dash Wilder chimed in, taking credit for the change.

While it’s possible Wilder did have something to do with it…I don’t think he has quite that amount of stroke.

Regardless, in a company that is or was known as World Wrestling Entertainment, even if you refer to your talent as Superstars, they are also still professional wrestlers to fans-the rest is just semantics. So whether this was driven by AEW, or someone finally getting through to McMahon as to how silly that ban was, we may never kn0w.