JBL Reveals Why Vince McMahon Hates The Word 'That'

The list of idiosyncrasies associated with Vince McMahon is a long and not-exhausted one, with the former WWE owner infamously taking issue with certain words, phrases, or actions, no matter how minor or insignificant.

WWE Hall of Famer JBL has revealed another odd pet peeve of the ostracised former Chairman, noting how McMahon hated the word ‘that’, as JBL noted when detailing his experiences in WWE’s commentary team during an episode of the Something to Wrestle With podcast:

"Vince didn’t like a lot of things like ‘very’. You’re ‘very happy.’ Learn english. Say ‘ecstatic.’ Vince didn’t like 'that.' He thought it sounded redneck-ish or stupid. He wanted better words. He wanted a more sophisticated commentary than that. He hated the word ‘that’. ‘That arm.’ That is no no. ‘The arm’ or ‘right arm.’ Vince hated the term ‘that’ and ‘the.’

"We were coming off air and we did the old Von Erich cage door finish where he slams the door on the guy’s head. Something like that. Michael (Cole) had the best notes and he would read those notes. He was so good and so professional. Michael is going over the finish, promoting Raw or something coming up. Michael is about seven seconds from being off air. He said, ‘Everything was going fine until he hit him with that door.’ You hear this baritone billionaire freaking erupt. I mean, erupt. We’re seven seconds from going off air. Vince had this wonderful pay-per-view and he’s so happy until Michael says ‘that door.’ Vince goes, ‘Michael, did you go to Syracuse, you illiterate son of a b****. It’s f****** 'the' door! Not 'that' door!’ Michael is trying to go off air and Vince is yelling at him about ‘that door’ and ‘the door.’ It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Michael read the whole thing like Vince wasn’t even there. It was tremendous,” said JBL.

McMahon famously doesn’t like terms such as ‘belt’ when referring to a championship, whilst WWE speak for many years was littered with terms such as ‘local medical facility’, and ‘sports entertainment’. WWE commentary has certainly changed since McMahon was ousted from the company.

H/T: Fightful

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