Fightful Select obtained social media guidelines from the company distributed to some promotional partners for WrestleMania 36.
There were social media guidelines that instructed associated accounts to not reply to fans in the comments, not to speculate on rumors or future storylines, and to always present WWE and talent in a positive light. The term "dirt sheets" was used, as "be sensitive of the language used and how it may be interpreted by dirt sheets," was mentioned.
It was specified that "Sports Entertainment" and "Superstars" were the preferred terms over "wrestling" and "wrestlers," which isn't much of a surprise. Exceptions were made when quoting superstars or executives.
"Do not use messaging that enables or encourages fans to speak negatively about the product," and "Always present WWE and talent in a positive light," were also instructed. Considering these were primarily distributed to promotional partners, these are common sense, but still something the company has to reiterate.
A list of banned terms is below.
- Blood
- Choke
- Belt
- Strap
- Diva
- Head shot
- Trauma
- Kayfabe
- Mofos
- House show
- DQ
- The Anti-Diva
- Spinal injuries
- Victim
- Violence/violent
- Wrestling/wrestlers
- WWF
- Wifebeater
- Curb Stomp
- Needs a push
- To be over
- Babyface
- Heel
- To job/jobber
- Card
- Strangle
- Kill
- Murder
Most of these terms are fairly obvious as to why WWE wouldn't want connected accounts to reference, and some others include elements of kayfabe. WWE were also particular about not encouraging violence among their audience.
There were other simple guidelines such as reducing use of hashtags on facebook, avoiding words that trigger spam labels from algorithms, and not using talent names that the brand didn't have endorsement rights to. "Pedigree, spear, smell-la-la, people's eyebrow," were among those.
