For a long period of time there has been a debate among fans about the difference between professional wrestling and sports entertainment. WWE used to proudly call themselves sports entertainers. Nowadays that is changing. WWE Superstars are now finally calling themselves professional wrestlers. Recently, the AEW World Heavyweight Champion Samoa Joe shared his thoughts on the topic.
Ahead of AEW Big Business, Samoa Joe was interviewed by Joe Murray of 98.5 The Sports Hub. During the interview, the Samoan Submission Machine shared his thoughts on the difference between Sports Entertainment and Professional Wrestling. Joe appreciated both forms of wrestling. The AEW World Heavyweight Champion also claimed that the mainstream used to only be aware of the term Sports Entertainment but now they are more aware of what professional wrestling is and have accepted the art form.
“We call it pro wrestling. We are very proud of that label. The sports entertainment thing, it’s a very debated thing either or… I give credence to both. I think both are wonderful art forms. But when it comes to AEW we are pro wrestling. And we are pro wrestlers and we are proud to say that. We are not trying to morph it into something else that is maybe more palatable to the mainstream. I think the mainstream is totally fine with the label pro wrestling. At this point, it’s just silly semantics on both sides. To be honest with you. I think both sides are just kind of being dumb about it and I think the major reason why they are being dumb about it on the other side’s probably gone, so maybe they’ll switch up their tone,” Samoa Joe said.
Do you agree with Samoa Joe?