History FandomEnragingMisconception / ProfessionalWrestling

* Don't call pro wrestling "WWE", and especially not "[=WrestleMania=]", unless you are specifically talking about the promotion or PPV itself, especially if you're referring to a wrestler that has never worked for that promotion as a "WWE Wrestler". While it is [[SmallReferencePools the only mainstream wrestling company left]] (at least outside of Mexico and Japan), there are plenty of other wrestling promotions out there besides WWE. Including Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, formed in 2019 with a weekly TV show on TBS and two more on TNT.

* WCW fans really don't like fans repeating the same mistruths about the company that WWE has spread since they bought them out in 2001. Such things include the assertion that the company was only briefly popular in the late 90s and this was due to stealing the WWF's talent. In actual fact, most of these people left for creative reasons, and WWF took many WCW stars around this time too (not to mention that even during WWF's initial boom in the mid-80s, the stars from that era were almost entirely talents Vince had signed away from the territories, including Hulk Hogan). WCW had, for a time in the late 90s and early 2000s, a higher budget and better distribution than WWF - their programming being produced by Turner Broadcasting and their figures being produced by Toybiz (best known for Marvel), both of whom had wider reach than WWF at the time. The likes of Hollywood Hogan, Goldberg and Sting were as recognizable to non-wrestling fans as Stone Cold and The Rock. Its cruiserweight division set a modern standard for fast-paced lucha libre compared to the longer matches seen in Mexico. Poor gimmicks such as The Shockmaster and [=RoboCop=] were brought up, as was the presence of celebrities such as David Arquette, even though the WWF had numerous poor gimmicks in the 90s as well as using celebrities like Mike Tyson for ratings.[[note]]Comparing Arquette to Tyson (in a wrestling context) is like comparing apples to oranges, or more like dog turds to oranges. Tyson acted as special enforcer for a match and threw one punch (and hit [[Wrestling/ShawnMichaels a guy]] that's probably the furthest from a "shooter" as you can get), Arquette '''won the WCW world title'''. Of course the other major difference is Tyson actually ''did'' help draw ratings, HUGE ratings in fact, while the buyrate for the PPV that featured Arquette's (unsuccessful) title defense was down '''90%''' from the previous year. To his credit Arquette knew this was a very stupid idea and lobbied hard against it, and he donated the money he made during his brief wrestling career to the families of the late Wrestling/OwenHart and Wrestling/BrianPillman.[[/note]]. Even the way things ended was somewhat suspect. The official WWE line is that it ended because the declining quality had led to poor ratings, but fans generally believe that whilst late 1999/2000 was not a great time for the company, they were in the process of improving in 2001. Rather, what happened is that due to the [=AOLTimeWarner=] merger in which Turner Broadcasting was involved, the new owners decided they would not renew its TV deal. At the time, WCW's assets were available for purchase and owner Eric Bischoff was in the process of obtaining financing for them so that it could be relaunched on a new network. However, Wrestling/VinceMcMahon managed to buy them before he did, in circumstances that are more than suspicious. For years, barely any WCW material was released on WWE's [=DVDs=], but fortunately, most of it is now available on the WWE Network, leading to renewed popularity. Whilst it was customary for WWE-sanctioned books to have the wrestlers bash their time in WCW, recent interviews have them reminisce more fondly. Additionally, WWE has revived some of WCW's concepts over the years, most notably the [=WarGames=] matches that were a common feature in the early 90s.

* Fans of the Anthem-owned Wrestling/ImpactWrestling will kindly remind you not refer it to its former name of Total Nonstop Action to the point that TNA chants have been shouted down at post-Anthem events. While the fans will acknowledge the ties to its past such as Bound for Glory, Slammiversary, the X Division, Wrestling/{{Abyss}} and other talent that came before the Hogan era, the TNA initialism has become a deadname, with post-sale Impact treated as its successor.[[note]]Despite the Trope page being a redirect to its old name.[[/note]]

* WCW fans really don't like fans repeating the same mistruths about the company that WWE has spread since they bought them out in 2001. Such things include the assertion that the company was only briefly popular in the late 90s and this was due to stealing the WWF's talent. In actual fact, most of these people left for creative reasons, and WWF took many WCW stars around this time too (not to mention that even during WWF's initial boom in the mid-80s, the stars from that era were almost entirely talents Vince had signed away from the territories, including Hulk Hogan). WCW had, for a time in the late 90s and early 2000s, a higher budget and better distribution than WWF - their programming being produced by Turner Broadcasting and their figures being produced by Toybiz (best known for Marvel), both of whom had wider reach than WWF at the time. The likes of Hollywood Hogan, Goldberg and Sting were as recognizable to non-wrestling fans as Stone Cold and The Rock. Its cruiserweight division set a modern standard for fast-paced lucha libre compared to the longer matches seen in Mexico. Poor gimmicks such as The Shockmaster and [=RoboCop=] were brought up, as was the presence of celebrities such as David Arquette, even though the WWF had numerous poor gimmicks in the 90s as well as using celebrities like Mike Tyson for ratings.[[note]]Comparing Arquette to Tyson (in a wrestling context) is like comparing apples to oranges, or more like dog turds to oranges. Tyson acted as special enforcer for a match and threw one punch (and hit [[Wrestling/ShawnMichaels a guy]] that's probably the furthest from a "shooter" as you can get), Arquette '''won the WCW world title'''. Of course the other major difference is Tyson actually ''did'' help draw ratings, HUGE ratings in fact, while the buyrate for the PPV that featured Arquette's (unsuccessful) title defense was down '''90%''' from the previous year. To his credit Arquette knew this was a very stupid idea and lobbied hard against it, and he donated the money he made during his brief wrestling career to the families of the late Wrestling/OwenHart and Wrestling/BrianPillman.[[/note]. Even the way things ended was somewhat suspect. The official WWE line is that it ended because the declining quality had led to poor ratings, but fans generally believe that whilst late 1999/2000 was not a great time for the company, they were in the process of improving in 2001. Rather, what happened is that due to the [=AOLTimeWarner=] merger in which Turner Broadcasting was involved, the new owners decided they would not renew its TV deal. At the time, WCW's assets were available for purchase and owner Eric Bischoff was in the process of obtaining financing for them so that it could be relaunched on a new network. However, Wrestling/VinceMcMahon managed to buy them before he did, in circumstances that are more than suspicious. For years, barely any WCW material was released on WWE's [=DVDs=], but fortunately, most of it is now available on the WWE Network, leading to renewed popularity. Whilst it was customary for WWE-sanctioned books to have the wrestlers bash their time in WCW, recent interviews have them reminisce more fondly. Additionally, WWE has revived some of WCW's concepts over the years, most notably the WarGames matches that were a common feature in the early 90s.[[/note]]

* WCW fans really don't like fans repeating the same mistruths about the company that WWE has spread since they bought them out in 2001. Such things include the assertion that the company was only briefly popular in the late 90s and this was due to stealing the WWF's talent. In actual fact, most of these people left for creative reasons, and WWF took many WCW stars around this time too (not to mention that even during WWF's initial boom in the mid-80s, the stars from that era were almost entirely talents Vince had signed away from the territories, including Hulk Hogan). WCW had, for a time in the late 90s and early 2000s, a higher budget and better distribution than WWF - their programming being produced by Turner Broadcasting and their figures being produced by Toybiz (best known for Marvel), both of whom had wider reach than WWF at the time. The likes of Hollywood Hogan, Goldberg and Sting were as recognizable to non-wrestling fans as Stone Cold and The Rock. Its cruiserweight division set a modern standard for fast-paced lucha libre compared to the longer matches seen in Mexico. Poor gimmicks such as The Shockmaster and Robocop were brought up, as was the presence of celebrities such as David Arquette, even though the WWF had numerous poor gimmicks in the 90s as well as using celebrities like Mike Tyson for ratings.[[note]]Comparing Arquette to Tyson (in a wrestling context) is like comparing apples to oranges, or more like dog turds to oranges. Tyson acted as special enforcer for a match and threw one punch (and hit [[Wrestling/ShawnMichaels a guy]] that's probably the furthest from a "shooter" as you can get), Arquette '''won the WCW world title'''. Of course the other major difference is Tyson actually ''did'' help draw ratings, HUGE ratings in fact, while the buyrate for the PPV that featured Arquette's (unsuccessful) title defense was down '''90%''' from the previous year. To his credit Arquette knew this was a very stupid idea and lobbied hard against it, and he donated the money he made during his brief wrestling career to the families of the late Wrestling/OwenHart and Wrestling/BrianPillman.[[/note]. Even the way things ended was somewhat suspect. The official WWE line is that it ended because the declining quality had led to poor ratings, but fans generally believe that whilst late 1999/2000 was not a great time for the company, they were in the process of improving in 2001. Rather, what happened is that due to the [=AOLTimeWarner=] merger in which Turner Broadcasting was involved, the new owners decided they would not renew its TV deal. At the time, WCW's assets were available for purchase and owner Eric Bischoff was in the process of obtaining financing for them so that it could be relaunched on a new network. However, Wrestling/VinceMcMahon managed to buy them before he did, in circumstances that are more than suspicious. For years, barely any WCW material was released on WWE's [=DVDs=], but fortunately, most of it is now available on the WWE Network, leading to renewed popularity. Whilst it was customary for WWE-sanctioned books to have the wrestlers bash their time in WCW, recent interviews have them reminisce more fondly. Additionally, WWE has revived some of WCW's concepts over the years, most notably the WarGames matches that were a common feature in the early 90s.

* Don't call pro wrestling "WWE", and especially not "Wrestlemania", unless you are specifically talking about the promotion or PPV itself, especially if you're referring to a wrestler that has never worked for that promotion as a "WWE Wrestler". While it is [[SmallReferencePools the only mainstream wrestling company left]] (at least outside of Mexico and Japan), there are plenty of other wrestling promotions out there besides WWE. Including Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, formed in 2019 with a weekly TV show on TBS and two more on TNT.
** Most major news outlets are notorious for this. Any time a wrestler does anything newsworthy good or bad you can be pretty sure he/she will be referred to as a "WWE wrestler" (or even a "WWF wrestler" if they're ''really'' not trying). Doesn't matter if they left WWE 10 years ago or never worked there at all, every wrestler in the world seemingly works for WWE.[[note]]Though Wrestling/VinceMcMahon brought this on himself, when you spend 40 years claiming you're the only wrestling promotion that matters you're going to get blamed for everything[[/note]]

* Claiming that wrestlers safely "just know how to fall" or otherwise don't get injured. Fans are aware of the concept of [[TheatricsOfPain selling]]. However, "Knowing how to fall" doesn't mean falling stops hurting and they can probably tell you about a number of real injuries that have occurred.[[note]]That said, learning how to fall definitely ''is'' important and many older wrestlers will tell stories about how they spent their first couple months of training doing nothing but running the ropes (which is actually more difficult to do than it looks) and practicing the "flat back bump" - landing flat on the back with arms and legs out and the chin tucked in, which spreads the impact over a wide area and protects the head and neck[[/note]]

* The term "puroresu", as distinct from "pro wrestling", came into use because 1980s WWF and Wrestling/{{GLOW}} were considered [[SeriousBusiness offensive enough]] to pro wrestling fans among the Japanese diaspora that they didn't want to associate the shows they had grown up watching with them. The feelings leading to "berserk" responses have largely been lost through the generations but the term "puroresu" as short hand for "Japanese pro wrestling" [[UndeadhorseTrope has stuck]], no longer being overlooked as mere {{Engrish}}. In in fact stuck to the point wrestlers in Japan, such as Wrestling/SatoshiKojima, have used it in a distinguishing context.

* Fans of the Anthem-owned Wrestling/ImpactWrestling will kindly remind you not refer it to its former name of Total Nonstop Action to the point that TNA chants have been shouted down at post Anthem events. While the fans will acknowledge the ties to its past such as Bound for Glory, Slammiversary, the X-Division, Wrestling/{{Abyss}} and other talent that came before the Hogan era, the TNA initialism has become a deadname, with post-sale Impact treated as its successor.[[note]]Despite the Trope page being a redirect to its old name.[[/note]]
* WCW fans really don't like fans repeating the same mistruths about the company that WWE has spread since they bought them out in 2001. Such things include the assertion that the company was only briefly popular in the late 90s and this was due to stealing the WWF's talent. In actual fact, most of these people left for creative reasons, and WWF took many WCW stars around this time too (Not to mention that even during WWF's initial boom in the mid-80s, the stars from that era were almost entirely talents Vince had signed away from the territories, including Hulk Hogan). WCW had, for a time in the late 90s and early 2000s, a higher budget and better distribution than WWF - their programming being produced by Turner Broadcasting and their figures being produced by Toybiz (best known for Marvel), both of whom had wider reach than WWF at the time. The likes of Hollywood Hogan, Goldberg and Sting were as recognisable to non-wrestling fans as Stone Cold and The Rock. Its cruiserweight division set a modern standard for fast-paced lucha libre compared to the longer matches seen in Mexico. Poor gimmicks such as The Shockmaster and Robocop were brought up, as was the presence of celebrities such as David Arquette, even though the WWF had numerous poor gimmicks in the 90s as well as using celebrities like Mike Tyson for ratings[[note]]Comparing Arquette to Tyson (in a wrestling context) is like comparing apples to oranges, or more like dog turds to oranges. Tyson acted as special enforcer for a match and threw one punch (and hit [[Wrestling/ShawnMichaels a guy]] that's probably the furthest from a "shooter" as you can get), Arquette '''won the WCW world title'''. Of course the other major difference is Tyson actually ''did'' help draw ratings, HUGE ratings in fact, while the buyrate for the PPV that featured Arquette's (unsuccessful) title defense was down '''90%''' from the previous year. To his credit Arquette knew this was a very stupid idea and lobbied hard against it, and he donated the money he made during his brief wrestling career to the families of the late Wrestling/OwenHart and Wrestling/BrianPillman[[/note]]. Even the way things ended was somewhat suspect. The official WWE line is that it ended because the declining quality had led to poor ratings, but fans generally believe that whilst late 1999/2000 was not a great time for the company, they were in the process of improving in 2001. Rather, what happened is that due to the [=AOLTimeWarner=] merger in which Turner Broadcasting was involved, the new owners decided they would not renew its TV deal. At the time, WCW's assets were available for purchase and owner Eric Bischoff was in the process of obtaining financing for them so that it could be relaunched on a new network. However, Wrestling/VinceMcMahon managed to buy them before he did, in circumstances that are more than suspicious. For years, barely any WCW material was released on WWE's [=DVDs=], but fortunately, most of it is now available on the WWE Network, leading to renewed popularity. Whilst it was customary for WWE-sanctioned books to have the wrestlers bash their time in WCW, recent interviews have them reminisce more fondly. Additionally, WWE has revived some of WCW's concepts over the years, most notably the WarGames matches that were a common feature in the early 90s.

* Claiming that wrestlers safely "just know how to fall" or otherwise don't get injured. Fans are aware of the concept of [[TheatricsOfPain selling]]. However, "Knowing how to fall" doesn't mean falling stops hurting and they can probably tell you about a number of real injuries that have occurred.

* Don't call pro wrestling "WWE", and especially not "Wrestlemania", unless you are specifically talking about the promotion or PPV itself, especially if you're referring to a wrestler that has never worked for that promotion as a "WWE Wrestler". While it is [[SmallReferencePools the only mainstream wrestling company left]] (at least outside of Mexico and Japan), there are plenty of other wrestling promotions out there besides WWE. Including Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, formed in 2019 with 2 weekly TV shows on TBS.
** Most major news outlets are notorious for this. Any time a wrestler does anything newsworthy good or bad you can be pretty sure he/she will be referred to as a "WWE wrestler" (or even a "WWF wrestler" if they're ''really'' not trying). Doesn't matter if they left WWE 10 years ago or never worked there at all, every wrestler in the world seemingly works for WWE.

* If you're chatting with fans of the "territory days" (60's, 70's, & early 80's), you'll get heated but largely respectful arguments over the merits of Wrestling/LouThesz, Wrestling/BuddyRogers, Wrestling/RicFlair, Wrestling/HarleyRace, Verne Gagne, Nick Bockwinkel, Wrestling/BrunoSammartino and Wrestling/BobBacklund. If you value your life, do not include Wrestling/HulkHogan in the aforementioned group.

* WCW fans really don't like fans repeating the same mistruths about the company that WWE has spread since they bought them out in 2001. Such things include the assertion that the company was only briefly popular in the late 90s and this was due to stealing the WWF's talent. In actual fact, most of these people left for creative reasons, and WWF took many WCW stars around this time too (Not to mention that even during WWF's initial boom in the mid-80s, the stars from that era were almost entirely talents Vince had signed away from the territories, including Hulk Hogan). WCW had, for a time in the late 90s and early 2000s, a higher budget and better distribution than WWF - their programming being produced by Turner Broadcasting and their figures being produced by Toybiz (best known for Marvel), both of whom had wider reach than WWF at the time. The likes of Hollywood Hogan, Goldberg and Sting were as recognisable to non-wrestling fans as Stone Cold and The Rock. Its cruiserweight division set a modern standard for fast-paced lucha libre compared to the longer matches seen in Mexico. Poor gimmicks such as The Shockmaster and Robocop were brought up, as was the presence of celebrities such as David Arquette, even though the WWF had numerous poor gimmicks in the 90s as well as using celebrities like Mike Tyson for ratings. Even the way things ended was somewhat suspect. The official WWE line is that it ended because the declining quality had led to poor ratings, but fans generally believe that whilst late 1999/2000 was not a great time for the company, they were in the process of improving in 2001. Rather, what happened is that due to the [=AOLTimeWarner=] merger in which Turner Broadcasting was involved, the new owners decided they would not renew its TV deal. At the time, WCW's assets were available for purchase and owner Eric Bischoff was in the process of obtaining financing for them so that it could be relaunched on a new network. However, Wrestling/VinceMcMahon managed to buy them before he did, in circumstances that are more than suspicious. For years, barely any WCW material was released on WWE's [=DVDs=], but fortunately, most of it is now available on the WWE Network, leading to renewed popularity. Whilst it was customary for WWE-sanctioned books to have the wrestlers bash their time in WCW, recent interviews have them reminisce more fondly. Additionally, WWE has revived some of WCW's concepts over the years, most notably the WarGames matches that were a common feature in the early 90s.

* WCW fans really don't like fans repeating the same mistruths about the company that WWE has spread since they bought them out in 2001. Such things include the assertion that the company was only briefly popular in the late 90s and this was due to stealing the WWF's talent. In actual fact, most of these people left for creative reasons, and WWF took many WCW stars around this time too. WCW had, for a time in the late 90s and early 2000s, a higher budget and better distribution than WWF - their programming being produced by Turner Broadcasting and their figures being produced by Toybiz (best known for Marvel), both of whom had wider reach than WWF at the time. The likes of Hollywood Hogan, Goldberg and Sting were as recognisable to non-wrestling fans as Stone Cold and The Rock. Its cruiserweight division set a modern standard for fast-paced lucha libre compared to the longer matches seen in Mexico. Poor gimmicks such as The Shockmaster and Robocop were brought up, as was the presence of celebrities such as David Arquette, even though the WWF had numerous poor gimmicks in the 90s as well as using celebrities like Mike Tyson for ratings. Even the way things ended was somewhat suspect. The official WWE line is that it ended because the declining quality had led to poor ratings, but fans generally believe that whilst late 1999/2000 was not a great time for the company, they were in the process of improving in 2001. Rather, what happened is that due to the [=AOLTimeWarner=] merger in which Turner Broadcasting was involved, the new owners decided they would not renew its TV deal. At the time, WCW's assets were available for purchase and owner Eric Bischoff was in the process of obtaining financing for them so that it could be relaunched on a new network. However, Wrestling/VinceMcMahon managed to buy them before he did, in circumstances that are more than suspicious. For years, barely any WCW material was released on WWE's [=DVDs=], but fortunately, most of it is now available on the WWE Network, leading to renewed popularity. Whilst it was customary for WWE-sanctioned books to have the wrestlers bash their time in WCW, recent interviews have them reminisce more fondly. Additionally, WWE has revived some of WCW's concepts over the years, most notably the WarGames matches that were a common feature in the early 90s.

* WCW fans really don't like fans repeating the same mistruths about the company that WWE has spread since they bought them out in 2001. Such things include the assertion that the company was only briefly popular in the late 90s and this was due to stealing the WWF's talent. In actual fact, most of these people left for creative reasons, and WWF took many WCW stars around this time too. WCW had, for a time in the late 90s and early 2000s, a higher budget and better distribution than WWF - their programming being produced by Turner Broadcasting and their figures being produced by Toybiz (best known for Marvel), both of whom had wider reach than WWF at the time. The likes of Hollywood Hogan, Goldberg and Sting were as recognisable to non-wrestling fans as Stone Cold and The Rock. Its cruiserweight division set a modern standard for fast-paced lucha libre compared to the longer matches seen in Mexico. Poor gimmicks such as The Shockmaster and Robocop were brought up, as was the presence of celebrities such as David Arquette, even though the WWF had numerous poor gimmicks in the 90s as well as using celebrities like Mike Tyson for ratings[[note]]Not even close to the same thing. Tyson is a former heavyweight world champ in boxing and one of the most recognizable people on Earth, Arquette is a C-list actor (and even that's probably being generous) who's smaller than most of WWE's current ''women's'' roster. The other big difference is that Tyson didn't actually wrestle, meanwhile Arquette was WCW world champion. WCW does get unfairly shit on for a lot of things, but they deserve all the mockery they got/get for this one.[[/note]] Even the way things ended was somewhat suspect. The official WWE line is that it ended because the declining quality had led to poor ratings, but fans generally believe that whilst late 1999/2000 was not a great time for the company, they were in the process of improving in 2001. Rather, what happened is that due to the [=AOLTimeWarner=] merger in which Turner Broadcasting was involved, the new owners decided they would not renew its TV deal. At the time, WCW's assets were available for purchase and owner Eric Bischoff was in the process of obtaining financing for them so that it could be relaunched on a new network. However, Wrestling/VinceMcMahon managed to buy them before he did, in circumstances that are more than suspicious[[note]]Not suspicious at all, part of the settlement in the whole "Hall and Nash are still doing the Razor and Diesel characters" lawsuit was Vince being given the right to be the first to bid on the company if it ever went up for sale, and the right to match any other offer. Bischoff tried to make an offer, but when his investment group actually got a look at the books and found that WCW had lost ''$120 million'' over the previous 18 months or so they bailed. Another misconception that needs to be cleared up: Vince didn't buy WCW. He bought the video library, intellectual properties (including the rights to the WCW name and all of their PPV names), and about 30 wrestler contracts. WCW as company (now named Universal Wrestling Corporation) existed as a legal entity under the Time Warner banner until 2017.[[/note]] For years, barely any WCW material was released on WWE's [=DVDs=], but fortunately, most of it is now available on the WWE Network, leading to renewed popularity. Whilst it was customary for WWE-sanctioned books to have the wrestlers bash their time in WCW, recent interviews have them reminisce more fondly. Additionally, WWE has revived some of WCW's concepts over the years, most notably the WarGames matches that were a common feature in the early 90s.

* WCW fans really don't like fans repeating the same mistruths about the company that WWE has spread since they bought them out in 2001. Such things include the assertion that the company was only briefly popular in the late 90s and this was due to stealing the WWF's talent. In actual fact, most of these people left for creative reasons, and WWF took many WCW stars around this time too. WCW had, for a time in the late 90s and early 2000s, a higher budget and better distribution than WWF - their programming being produced by Turner Broadcasting and their figures being produced by Toybiz (best known for Marvel), both of whom had wider reach than WWF at the time. The likes of Hollywood Hogan, Goldberg and Sting were as recognisable to non-wrestling fans as Stone Cold and The Rock. Its cruiserweight division set a modern standard for fast-paced lucha libre compared to the longer matches seen in Mexico. Poor gimmicks such as The Shockmaster and Robocop were brought up, as was the presence of celebrities such as David Arquette, even though the WWF had numerous poor gimmicks in the 90s as well as using celebrities like Mike Tyson for ratings[[note]]Not even close to the same thing. Tyson is a former heavyweight world champ in boxing, Arquette is a C-list actor (and even that's probably being generous) who's smaller than most of WWE's current ''women's'' roster. The other big difference is that Tyson didn't actually wrestle, meanwhile Arquette was WCW world champion. WCW does get unfairly shit on for a lot of things, but they deserve all the mockery they got/get for this one.[[/note]] Even the way things ended was somewhat suspect. The official WWE line is that it ended because the declining quality had led to poor ratings, but fans generally believe that whilst late 1999/2000 was not a great time for the company, they were in the process of improving in 2001. Rather, what happened is that due to the [=AOLTimeWarner=] merger in which Turner Broadcasting was involved, the new owners decided they would not renew its TV deal. At the time, WCW's assets were available for purchase and owner Eric Bischoff was in the process of obtaining financing for them so that it could be relaunched on a new network. However, Wrestling/VinceMcMahon managed to buy them before he did, in circumstances that are more than suspicious[[note]]Not suspicious at all, part of the settlement in the whole "Hall and Nash are still doing the Razor and Diesel characters" lawsuit was Vince being given the right to be the first to bid on the company if it ever went up for sale, and the right to match any other offer. Bischoff tried to make an offer, but when his investment group actually got a look at the books and found that WCW had lost ''$120 million'' over the previous 18 months or so they bailed. Another misconception that needs to be cleared up: Vince didn't buy WCW. He bought the video library, intellectual properties (including the rights to the WCW name and all of their PPV names), and about 30 wrestler contracts. WCW as company (now named Universal Wrestling Corporation) existed as a legal entity under the Time Warner banner until 2017.[[/note]] For years, barely any WCW material was released on WWE's [=DVDs=], but fortunately, most of it is now available on the WWE Network, leading to renewed popularity. Whilst it was customary for WWE-sanctioned books to have the wrestlers bash their time in WCW, recent interviews have them reminisce more fondly. Additionally, WWE has revived some of WCW's concepts over the years, most notably the WarGames matches that were a common feature in the early 90s.

* Don't call pro wrestling "WWE", and especially not "Wrestlemania", unless you are specifically talking about the promotion or PPV itself, especially if you're referring to a wrestler that has never worked for that promotion as a "WWE Wrestler". While it is [[SmallReferencePools the only mainstream wrestling company left]] (at least outside of Mexico and Japan), there are plenty of other wrestling promotions out there besides WWE.

* WCW fans really don't like fans repeating the same mistruths about the company that WWE has spread since they bought them out in 2001. Such things include the assertion that the company was only briefly popular in the late 90s and this was due to stealing the WWF's talent. In actual fact, most of these people left for creative reasons, and WWF took many WCW stars around this time too. WCW had, for a time in the late 90s and early 2000s, a higher budget and better distribution than WWF - their programming being produced by Turner Broadcasting and their figures being produced by Toybiz (best known for Marvel), both of whom had wider reach than WWF at the time. The likes of Hollywood Hogan, Goldberg and Sting were as recognisable to non-wrestling fans as Stone Cold and The Rock. Its cruiserweight division set a modern standard for fast-paced lucha libre compared to the longer matches seen in Mexico. Poor gimmicks such as The Shockmaster and Robocop were brought up, as was the presence of celebrities such as David Arquette, even though the WWF had numerous poor gimmicks in the 90s as well as using celebrities like Mike Tyson for ratings[[note]]Not even close to the same thing. Tyson is a former heavyweight world champ in boxing, Arquette is a C-list actor (and even that's probably being generous) who's smaller than most of WWE's current ''women's'' roster. The other big difference is that Tyson didn't actually wrestle, meanwhile Arquette was WCW world champion. WCW does get unfairly shit on for a lot of things, but they deserve all the mockery they got/get for this one.[[/note]] Even the way things ended was somewhat suspect. The official WWE line is that it ended because the declining quality had led to poor ratings, but fans generally believe that whilst late 1999/2000 was not a great time for the company, they were in the process of improving in 2001. Rather, what happened is that due to the [=AOLTimeWarner=] merger in which Turner Broadcasting was involved, the new owners decided they would not renew its TV deal. At the time, WCW's assets were available for purchase and owner Eric Bischoff was in the process of obtaining financing for them so that it could be relaunched on a new network. However, Wrestling/VinceMcMahon managed to buy them before he did, in circumstances that are more than suspicious[[note]]Not suspicious at all, part of the settlement in the whole "Hall and Nash are still doing the Razor and Diesel characters" lawsuit was Vince being the right to be the first to bid on the company if it ever went up for sale, and the right to match any other offer. Bischoff tried to make an offer, but when his investment group actually got a look at the books and found that WCW had lost ''$120 million'' over the previous 18 months or so they bailed. Another misconception that needs to be cleared up: Vince didn't buy WCW. He bought the video library, intellectual properties (including the rights to the WCW name and all of their PPV names), and about 30 wrestler contracts. WCW as company (now named Universal Wrestling Corporation) existed as a legal entity under the Time Warner banner until 2017.[[/note]] For years, barely any WCW material was released on WWE's [=DVDs=], but fortunately, most of it is now available on the WWE Network, leading to renewed popularity. Whilst it was customary for WWE-sanctioned books to have the wrestlers bash their time in WCW, recent interviews have them reminisce more fondly. Additionally, WWE has revived some of WCW's concepts over the years, most notably the WarGames matches that were a common feature in the early 90s.

* WCW fans really don't like fans repeating the same mistruths about the company that WWE has spread since they bought them out in 2001. Such things include the assertion that the company was only briefly popular in the late 90s and this was due to stealing the WWF's talent. In actual fact, most of these people left for creative reasons, and WWF took many WCW stars around this time too. WCW had, for a time in the late 90s and early 2000s, a higher budget and better distribution than WWF - their programming being produced by Turner Broadcasting and their figures being produced by Toybiz (best known for Marvel), both of whom had wider reach than WWF at the time. The likes of Hollywood Hogan, Goldberg and Sting were as recognisable to non-wrestling fans as Stone Cold and The Rock. Its cruiserweight division set a modern standard for fast-paced lucha libre compared to the longer matches seen in Mexico. Poor gimmicks such as The Shockmaster and Robocop were brought up, as was the presence of celebrities such as David Arquette, even though the WWF had numerous poor gimmicks in the 90s as well as using celebrities like Mike Tyson for ratings[[note]]Not even close to the same thing. Tyson is a former heavyweight world champ in boxing, Arquette is a C-list actor (and even that's probably being generous) who's smaller than most of WWE's current ''women's'' roster. The other big difference is that Tyson didn't actually wrestle, meanwhile Arquette was WCW world champion. WCW does get unfairly shit on for a lot of things, but they deserve all the mockery they got/get for this one.[[/note]] Even the way things ended was somewhat suspect. The official WWE line is that it ended because the declining quality had led to poor ratings, but fans generally believe that whilst late 1999/2000 was not a great time for the company, they were in the process of improving in 2001. Rather, what happened is that due to the [=AOLTimeWarner=] merger in which Turner Broadcasting was involved, the new owners decided they would not renew its TV deal. At the time, WCW's assets were available for purchase and owner Eric Bischoff was in the process of obtaining financing for them so that it could be relaunched on a new network. However, Wrestling/VinceMcMahon managed to buy them before he did, in circumstances that are more than suspicious. For years, barely any WCW material was released on WWE's [=DVDs=], but fortunately, most of it is now available on the WWE Network, leading to renewed popularity. Whilst it was customary for WWE-sanctioned books to have the wrestlers bash their time in WCW, recent interviews have them reminisce more fondly. Additionally, WWE has revived some of WCW's concepts over the years, most notably the WarGames matches that were a common feature in the early 90s.

* WCW fans really don't like fans repeating the same mistruths about the company that WWE has spread since they bought them out in 2001. Such things include the assertion that the company was only briefly popular in the late 90s and this was due to stealing the WWF's talent. In actual fact, most of these people left for creative reasons, and WWF took many WCW stars around this time too. WCW had, for a time in the late 90s and early 2000s, a higher budget and better distribution than WWF - their programming being produced by Turner Broadcasting and their figures being produced by Toybiz (best known for Marvel), both of whom had wider reach than WWF at the time. The likes of Hollywood Hogan, Goldberg and Sting were as recognisable to non-wrestling fans as Stone Cold and The Rock. Its cruiserweight division set a modern standard for fast-paced lucha libre compared to the longer matches seen in Mexico. Poor gimmicks such as The Shockmaster and Robocop were brought up, as was the presence of celebrities such as David Arquette, even though the WWF had numerous poor gimmicks in the 90s as well as using celebrities like Mike Tyson for ratings. Even the way things ended was somewhat suspect. The official WWE line is that it ended because the declining quality had led to poor ratings, but fans generally believe that whilst late 1999/2000 was not a great time for the company, they were in the process of improving in 2001. Rather, what happened is that due to the [=AOLTimeWarner=] merger in which Turner Broadcasting was involved, the new owners decided they would not renew its TV deal. At the time, WCW's assets were available for purchase and owner Eric Bischoff was in the process of obtaining financing for them so that it could be relaunched on a new network. However, Wrestling/VinceMcMahon managed to buy them before he did, in circumstances that are more than suspicious. For years, barely any WCW material was released on WWE's [=DVDs=], but fortunately, most of it is now available on the WWE Network, leading to renewed popularity. Whilst it was customary for WWE-sanctioned books to have the wrestlers bash their time in WCW, recent interviews have them reminisce more fondly. Additionally, WWE has revived some of WCW's concepts over the years, most notably the WarGames matches that were a common feature in the early 90s.

* WCW fans really don't like fans repeating the same mistruths about the company that WWE has spread since they bought them out in 2001. Such things include the assertion that the company was only briefly popular in the late 90s and this was due to stealing the WWF's talent. In actual fact, most of these people left for creative reasons, and WWF took many WCW stars around this time too. WCW had, for a time in the late 90s and early 2000s, a higher budget and better distribution than WWF - their programming being produced by Turner Broadcasting and their figures being produced by Toybiz (best known for Marvel), both of whom had wider reach than WWF at the time. The likes of Hollywood Hogan, Goldberg and Sting were as recognisable to non-wrestling fans as Stone Cold and The Rock. Its cruiserweight division set a modern standard for fast-paced lucha libre compared to the longer matches seen in Mexico. Poor gimmicks such as The Shockmaster and Robocop were brought up, as was the presence of celebrities such as David Arquette, even though the WWF had numerous poor gimmicks in the 90s as well as using celebrities like Mike Tyson for ratings. Even the way things ended was somewhat suspect. The official WWE line is that it ended because the declining quality had led to poor ratings, but fans generally believe that whilst late 1999/2000 was not a great time for the company, they were in the process of improving in 2001. Rather, what happened is that due to the AOLTimeWarner merger in which Turner Broadcasting was involved, the new owners decided they would not renew its TV deal. At the time, WCW's assets were available for purchase and owner Eric Bischoff was in the process of obtaining financing for them so that it could be relaunched on a new network. However, Vince McMahon managed to buy them before he did, in circumstances that are more than suspicious. For years, barely any WCW material was released on WWE's [=DVDs=], but fortunately, most of it is now available on the WWE Network, leading to renewed popularity. Whilst it was customary for WWE-sanctioned books to have the wrestlers bash their time in WCW, recent interviews have them reminisce more fondly. Additionally, WWE has revived some of WCW's concepts over the years, most notably the WarGames matches that were a common feature in the early 90s.

* WCW fans really don't like fans repeating the same mistruths about the company that WWE has spread since they bought them out in 2001. Such things include the assertion that the company was only briefly popular in the late 90s and this was due to stealing the WWF's talent. In actual fact, most of these people left for creative reasons, and WWF took many WCW stars around this time too. WCW had, for a time in the late 90s and early 2000s, a higher budget and better distribution than WWF - their programming being produced by Turner Broadcasting and their figures being produced by Toybiz (best known for Marvel), both of whom had wider reach than WWF at the time. The likes of Hollywood Hogan, Goldberg and Sting were as recognisable to non-wrestling fans as Stone Cold and The Rock. Its cruiserweight division set a modern standard for fast-paced lucha libre compared to the longer matches seen in Mexico. Poor gimmicks such as The Shockmaster and Robocop were brought up, as was the presence of celebrities such as David Arquette, even though the WWF had numerous poor gimmicks in the 90s as well as using celebrities like Mike Tyson for ratings. Even the way things ended was somewhat suspect. The official WWE line is that it ended because the declining quality had led to poor ratings, but fans generally believe that whilst late 1999/2000 was not a great time for the company, they were in the process of improving in 2001. Rather, what happened is that due to the AOLTimeWarner merger in which Turner Broadcasting was involved, the new owners decided they would not renew its TV deal. At the time, WCW's assets were available for purchase and owner Eric Bischoff was in the process of obtaining financing for them so that it could be relaunched on a new network. However, Vince McMahon managed to buy them before he did, in circumstances that are more than suspicious. For years, barely any WCW material was released on WWE's DVDs, but fortunately, most of it is now available on the WWE Network, leading to renewed popularity. Whilst it was customary for WWE-sanctioned books to have the wrestlers bash their time in WCW, recent interviews have them reminisce more fondly. Additionally, WWE has revived some of WCW's concepts over the years, most notably the WarGames matches that were a common feature in the early 90s.

* Fans of the Anthem-owned Wrestling/ImpactWrestling will kindly remind you not refer it to its former name of Total Nonstop Action to the point that TNA chants have been shouted down at post Anthem events. While the fans will acknowledge the ties to its past such as Bound for Glory, Slammiversary, the X-Division, Wrestling/{{Abyss}} and other talent that came before the Hogan era, the TNA initialism has become a deadname, with post-sale Impact treated as its successor.[[note]]Despite the Trope page being a redirect to its old name.[[/note]]

* Don't call pro wrestling "WWE", and especially not "Wrestlemania", unless you are specifically talking about the promotion or PPV itself, especially if you're referring to a wrestler that has never worked for that promotion as a "WWE Star". While it is [[SmallReferencePools the only mainstream wrestling company left]] (at least outside of Mexico and Japan), there are plenty of other wrestling promotions out there besides WWE.

* While on the subject of the Harts, don't say that "Wrestling/{{Sting}} stole Bret Hart's Sharpshooter." Sting began using the hold (originally called the Scorpion Deathlock) as his finishing move several years before Bret did (Bret was a tag team wrestler when Sting broke into the business). [[OlderThanTheyThinl And the hold was actually invented]] by Japanese wrestler Wrestling/RikiChoshu.

* While on the subject of the Harts, don't say that "Wrestling/{{Sting}} stole Bret Hart's Sharpshooter." Sting began using the hold (originally called the Scorpion Deathlock) as his finishing move several years before Bret did (Bret was a tag team wrestler when Sting broke into the business). And the hold was actually invented by Japanese wrestler Wrestling/RikiChoshu.

* If you're chatting with fans of the "territory days" (60's, 70's, & early 80's), you'll get heated but largely respectful arguments over the merits of Wrestling/LouThesz, Wrestling/BuddyRogers, Wrestling/RicFlair, Wrestling/HarleyRace, Verne Gagne, Nick Bockwinkel, Wrestling/BrunoSammartino and Wrestling/BobBacklund. If you value your life, do not include Hulk Hogan in the aforementioned group.

* Claiming that wrestlers safely "just know how to fall" or otherwise don't get injured. Fans are aware of the concept of [[TheatricsOfPain selling]]. However, "Knowing how to fall" doesn't mean falling stops hurting and they can probably tell you about a number of real injuries that have occured.

* A number of wrestling fans believe that Wrestling/NatalyaNeidhart is Wrestling/BretHart's daughter. If you try to make this claim on a message board or some other place filled with wrestling fans, you'll most likely get reminded that she's actually his niece (hence their different last names), and that her actual father is Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart.
* While on the subject of the Harts, don't say that "Wrestling/{{Sting}} stole Bret Hart's Sharpshooter." Sting began using the hold (originally called the Scorpion Deathlock) as his finishing move several years before Bret did (Bret was a tag team wrestler when Sting broke into the business). And the hold was actually invented by Japanese wrestler Riki Choshu.
* While beloved by fans of territorial era wrestling and Japanese strong style, [[Wrestling/TheGreatMuta Keiji Mutoh]] and his "Puroresu Love" project were a constant source of ire among fans of traditional professional wrestling during the 2000s, especially those of 1990s Wrestling/{{All Japan|ProWrestling}} as booked by Giant Baba. In the 2010s, Mutoh would be VindicatedByHistory in a way, as "Puroresu Love" was financially successful and though many fans still hate it, many more are now willing admit that some sort of change in course was needed to save All Japan and that Mutoh's successor was an even worse promoter. Puroresu Love in fact attracted a comparable amount of fans for Mutoh's then new Wrestle-1 breakaway as the [[Wrestling/ProWrestlingNOAH NOAH]] case that sparked Mutoh's changes in the first place, enough to ever so briefly surpass All Japan after Mutoh failed to reacquire his leadership position in an effort to save the company from said successor. That said, the Wrestle-1 promotion gained many detractors for many of the same reasons as Mutoh's All Japan stint and it started losing ground to All Japan once Jun Akiyama successfully initiated a more hostile takeover of All Japan and promised a return to Baba style booking.
* Fans of the Anthem-owned Wrestling/ImpactWrestling will kindly remind you not refer it to its former name of Total Nonstop Action to the point that TNA chants have been shouted down at current events. While the fans will acknowledge the ties to its past such as Bound for Glory, Slammiversary, the X-Division, Abyss and other talent that came before the Hogan era, the TNA initialism has become a deadname, with post-sale Impact treated as its successor.[[note]]Despite the Trope page being a redirect to its old name.[[/note]]