8 Weirdest word bans by Vince McMahon

#5 ‘Faction’

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‘Faction’ is a term used to describe a group of more than two persons working together for a common goal. For example, The Four Horsemen were a faction, as were Evolution, the D-X, the Ministry of Darkness, and even the Shield.

This word was useful to help distinguish between large groups of wrestlers working together from tag teams and other thrown-together pairings or groups, whose goals were not as unified.

WWE has not come up with a replacement term for this one. Instead, Vince commands his employees to simply refer to such factions either by their collective name or as ‘groups’. Because nothing says unity more than being grouped together.

The problem here is that the term ‘faction’ or ‘stable’ actually has a stronger meaning than the loosely-fitting term ‘group’, because this latter word has a very loose meaning. Being ‘grouped together’ implies multiple individuals being thrown together without much forethought, while ‘faction’ implies a degree of common goals and togetherness that strengthens the collective image of those individuals.

Simply put, Vince is being stubborn with his understanding of the English language on this one, and prefers a more vague and interpretable term like ‘group’ over a more proper word like ‘faction’.