WWE Reportedly Bans The Term ‘Coronavirus’

With WWE deep in its bubble, one where polarizing topics like “Donald Trump” are not to to be spoken about, the global pandemic of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has also been reportedly censored.

Monday night on WWE Raw, terms like “coronavirus” or “COVID-19” were conspicuous by their absences as any reference to the global pandemic was replaced with the corporate-approved term of “current circumstances.”

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has swept through the nation and the world as President [Redacted] called for a national state of emergency with the coronavirus outbreak degenerating into a pandemic.

WWE’s micromanaging of words is a chief complaint among some wrestling fans, particularly the ones with too much time on their hands (like, seriously, if you’re that bothered about a wrestling company refusing to say a word you like, maybe consider therapy), as WWE is known to refrain from certain terms.

In fact, a leaked 2015 memo to announcers revealed the following banned terms among a sea of many more naughty words:

List of Reportedly Banned Terms in WWE

• “Belt”
• “Strap”
• “The Business”
• “Our Industry”
• “Pro Wrestling/Pro Wrestler”
• “Hospital”
• “Faction”
• “The title is on the line”
• “Shot”
• “Feud”

Despite the impossible-to-ignore coronavirus taking its toll on the entire world—even directly impacting WWE’s biggest event as WrestleMania 36 was moved to the Performance Center on Monday—WWE is essentially living in a coronavirus-free zone where it has quarantined the disease out of its vocabulary.

WWE’s refusal to acknowledge the rapidly evolving pandemic on television mirrors what has been a bafflingly cavalier attitude toward the virus based on last-minute cancellations and WWE’s recent standoff with Tampa city officials to keep WrestleMania 36 alive.

As the coronavirus forces the worldwide leader into smaller venues, WWE is one COVID-19 case away from following just about every sporting league around the world and shuttering operations indefinitely.

Maybe WWE feels its best chance at beating this thing is to not mention its name at all.