Origins of “Sports entertainment”
By Scott Keith on 24 August 2019
How's it going Scott? I always wanted to email you but I didn't want to waste your time with some troll question.
So I'm looking at Wrestlemania 6 and they're calling it pro wrestling and the competitors wrestlers. So when exactly did this sports entertainment and superstars nonsense begin? Thanks I appreciate it.
It began shortly after Vince's takeover of the WWF for tax reasons. A lot of it was Vince wanting to brand his stuff to distinguish from the other rasslin' promotions, but on a more practical level he wanted to avoid dealing with taxes on sporting events, and sports commissions in certain states. So to get around those he said "We're not sports, we're ENTERTAINMENT" and somehow managed to keep a straight face while dodging the taxation. It also allowed him to get around drug testing for a long time because, again, not sports.