What's the story?
This week's episode of WWE Raw opened with a literal bang, as Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley punished each other in a Falls Count Anywhere match, which ended when The Monster Among Men put The All Mighty through the entrance screen setting off a giant explosion.
Following the major angle on Raw, it was noted by the announce team that both Strowman and Lashley had been taken to the hospital, which is an unusual departure from the vernacular commonly used on WWE TV.
Traditionally, members of the WWE announce team often refer to hospitals as "medical facilities", and the reason is that the term 'hospital' has actually been banned in WWE by Vince McMahon.
In case you didn't know...
It is not uncommon for angles on WWE TV to end with one or more Superstars being loaded onto a stretcher and taken to a "local medical facility" for evaluation, and this week's episode of WWE Raw saw both Strowman and Lashley involved in the common angle.
Furthermore, it is being speculated that WWE might have done the angle in part to write Strowman off TV for a while as he deals with nagging injuries. It has also been suggested that WWE might have run the Raw angle because the company is in the process of designing a new set for Raw, and this week's big TV angle might have been done to bid adieu to the old entrance set.
The heart of the matter
According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio, the reason why the announce teams in WWE do not use the word "hospital" is because it has been banned by Vince McMahon.
Meltzer noted, via StillRealToUs.com, that McMahon does not like the word being used on TV because he does not want the word possibly encouraging fans to call local hospitals enquiring about the condition of a Superstar who was said to be "injured" during a WWE TV broadcast.
It was further noted that the word "hospital" was used on Raw twice this week by the announce team in order to help make the opening angle appear more legitimate, and sell the nature of the storyline "injuries" sustained by Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley.
What's next?
The use of the word "hospital" was not the only surprising word uttered on WWE Raw this week, as announcer Corey Graves used a curse word when describing the opening explosion on Raw, which was reportedly written into the script as yet another way of attempting to sell the reality of the angle.
What did you think of the explosion angle on WWE Raw this week? Was it a step in the right direction towards helping WWE rebound from declining TV ratings?
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