The debate surrounding the terms “professional wrestling” and “sports entertainment” came to the forefront once again as “The Ring General” GUNTHER defeated John Cena at Saturday Night’s Main Event. In reacting to the match outcome, WWE commentator Michael Cole specifically suggested that there was a difference between the two when he remarked that “professional wrestling destroyed sports entertainment.” In the eyes of WWE Hall of Famer and AEW star Jeff Jarrett, however, they’re actually interchangeable.
“It’s definitely a fed line or an approved line, for sure,” Jarrett said on the “My World” podcast. “I don’t understand that because professional wrestling and sports entertainment are exactly the same. Vince [McMahon] coined that. No different than ‘They’re not WWF wrestlers, they’re WWF superstars.’ It did it for branding, marketing, and ‘sports entertainer’ feels better when you go to pitch meetings, when you’re in executives or when writing in a newspaper, all that kind of stuff. It’s exactly the same.”
In 2002, WWF rebranded into WWE, with the “E” putting further emphasis on the entertainment element, which includes storylines and in-ring characters, of the company’s programming. Nevertheless, Jarrett believes that the physical, wrestling action has also remained a part of WWE since then, just with the “E” being pushed to the forefront for marketing purposes. After hearing Cole present both as separate entities at SNME, though, Jarrett imagines many fans of the WWE product now being confused.
“So now ‘professional wrestling destroyed sports entertainment’? We’re not entertainment, but the name of our company is World Wrestling Entertainment?” Jarrett questioned. “I don’t know. That’s to be determined. I don’t get that.”
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “My World” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
