John Bradshaw Layfield shares the story of the one word that Vince McMahon doesn't like.
Even though Vince McMahon is no longer in charge of WWE, there are many stories about his tendency to micromanage and the different do's and don'ts during his tenure. Bradshaw has recently revealed one word that McMahon was never a fan of.
Discussing his 2008 program with Shawn Michaels, JBL again reflected on receiving a talking-to from Vince for using a specific word. While he initially doesn't say the word outright, some clever framing from Conrad Thompson gets him to reveal that the word is "prick." Bradshaw laughs about what Vince McMahon told him after he said the word in a promo and expresses shock at where McMahon drew the line after everything done and said on WWE TV.
"This is where I called Shawn a name, and Vince got mad at me during the promo. I hate to even say it because somebody's going to take it out of context, but it's obviously working in the promo. It's the one word Vince hated. It's the one that Maddox used and got fired from. So I decided to say it in a promo. I was just rambling and said it. I thought it fit, and I came back, and Vince goes, 'You know, I've got sponsors here.' I didn't know that that one word was the one word that Vince hated. You can curse; you can do all kinds of things. Don't say that one word," he said. "I didn't realize that's the one word Vince hated. That's the best question of the week, Conrad. How is that the one word Vince hated? He blew himself up on TV, he's done all these crazy things, and that's the one word he hates, like, 'How dare you use that word?' That word?! That's where you're drawing the line? But that's where Vince drew the line... There has to be [a story there]. There has to be something there because that one word to Vince crosses the line. Like, that does?! Of all the things we do, that does?"
Learn more about Vince McMahon's disdain for the word here.
Over the years, different words have been banned from WWE TV and occasionally brought back. Belt is one such word. Learn more about that here.
Bradshaw also recently said that he believes the APA gimmick would have worked in 2025. Read his comments on that here.
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