Straight Shooting - Issue #88
by Fritz Capp
For PWBTS.com
September 15, 2000
New Jersey to adopt new "extreme wrestling" regulations or Can I see your
drivers license please?
It is no secret by now that I was involved in an angle in CZW last weekend. It was one
month of setting it up on the message board, fighting and creating havoc with the fans on
the board, literally getting them to hate me with my outcries of how ECW was better, more
original and the reason that they were in existence at all. While the angle was supposed
to continue there is something that is happening that forces me to forego the angle as it
pertains to myself. I cannot in good conscience keep the angle going while on Monday
Governor Christie Todd Whitman will sign a bill that will forbid and ban
"extreme" style wrestling in the State of New Jersey. To not say anything and
keep the angle going just for the sake of my own fun and ego would do a great disservice
to the all the guys who wrestle this style in New Jersey, in fact all across the country.
There are a lot of guys who have trained and busted their a** and they deserve all the
backing they can get. It is no secret among my friends that I think CZW has something to
offer the fans that ECW abandoned in the Philadelphia area if only the old ECW fans would
just stop being so blind to the call letters of the promotion and just go to a show, but
that is a whole different column.
The bill which will be signed one year after The Jersey Journal first reported and exposed
the sport's dangers, empowers the state Athletic Control Board to annually license extreme
wrestlers and promoters; requires promoters to get prior local approval, a state board
permit, medical insurance coverage and two doctors at ringside before holding extreme
wrestling events; and limits access to such events to people 18 and older.
While some of these thing may in fact be a good thing I have to wonder if the age
restrictions can actually be followed. One has to realize that professional wrestling
show, especially on the level of the independents really do not have the knowledge to be
able to screen the different ways that are necessary to be able to tell if someone is
carrying valid identification.
The WWF and ECW and to some extent WCW use weapons, bleed (profusely sometimes) and use
foul language and sex to get their product over with the fans. There are no age
restrictions as to who can see the show. Especially in the WWF's case, they say that it is
up to the parent to decide what they allow or do not allow their children to watch. This
is in direct conflict with the message that the WWF is sending out by Vince McMahon
backing this bill. I now see Vince is actually saying that it is the parents right to
choose for their children, as long as it is his promotion they are watching.
Now what qualifies as a legitimate form of identification? A state issued drivers license?
These things can be changed at will by today's computer savvy teenagers as can any other
picture ID. In fact I cannot think of one document that cannot be faked or forged.
Are the promotions going to be required to have their staff take classes so they can spot
a forgery when presented and what happened to parental consent? Are the NJ State
legislators going to rate wrestling shows like they do movies with an "extreme"
show receiving an NC-17 rating or above? How about a "M" rating for
"Mature" like they do on television? How closely is this going to be enforced?
Will the state now have to hire people who will stand with the ticket taker and
"card" each person going to the show? What about a parent who orders their
tickets over the phone and bring their kids? Are the promotions expected to turn a family
away and give them their money back? Will wrestling promotions now fall under the same
type of scrutiny as tobacco, alcohol and firearms and pornography? And again I ask, what
about parental consent? What if someone "wants" to take their kids to a show.
Say they do not view it as the NJ legislators do? Does this mean that the government is
now going to tell people that they cannot take their kids to a show no matter what? Will
the state hire plants who are underage and try to see if they can by a ticket to an
"extreme" wrestling event? I mean, how far is this really going to or can it go?
Are the powers that be in NJ looking to regulate the television broadcasts that enter
their state? It is no stretch of the imagination to know that what children see on
television is far worse than what they see at one of these shows. All the kids have to do
is turn on HBO to see all the blood, sex and violence their little hearts desire. Is the
state of NJ looking to ban or regulate the many video game titles that are being sold in
the stores that litter the state that offer violence and blood? What about regulating the
news that is broadcast or published in the state. Here children under the age of 18 can
learn about violence, theft, rape, murder, greed, molestation and a hundred other horrors
that make up this world. On television children can see war and the effects of war,
starvation and many of the other ills of the world. Are there regulations being put on the
table to regulate all of these influences on the children of New Jersey? Why do I think
that there is a resounding "no" to these questions?
This bill is wrong and is precipitated and backed by the thought that like the PTC, the
New Jersey legislators feel they know better than the wrestling fan on what they should
and should not be able to watch. While these people hide behind the veil of morality, once
again there are deep underlying reasons for this happening.
I noticed when this bill was first announced that while this style of wrestling was being
vilified for independent promotions, but the WWF, WCW and even ECW were exempt from this
new law. ECW??? Wasn't it ECW who brought to the forefront the blood and gimmick matches
that we see today in this country? How did they get exempt from this legislation? And why
is it that the WWF and WCW along with ECW can have all kinds of pseudo violence in the
name of "sports entertainment" but not the smaller promotion?
If this bill would encompass "all" wrestling promotions, while I may not agree
with it, at least it would be fair. It would be telling the entire sport that the state of
New Jersey no longer wants the blood, violence and sexual innuendos that seem to make up a
majority of wrestling shows today in their state. Of course I believe that this is
something that should have been voted on by the people in the state and not just decided
by a small group of people, but what do I know. I think that there are way too many
lobbyists out to get their own way no matter what it costs. I also think that too many
things are being branded as "for the good of our children" when in fact they are
only using that line to further their own personal or political agendas. This bill is not
about fair though as it punishes one segment of an industry while allowing another segment
to run free without regulations. No wonder Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman back this bill.
If you live in another state do not think that this does not affect you because it does.
This bill, if allowed to stand as is, will set the precedent for all other states to adopt
similar regulations. What may be hundreds of miles away from you now could be knocking on
your backdoor within the next few upcoming months.
Even though in my mind this bill would surely lose in appeal, that will cost a lot of
money and time which is something that smaller independently run promotions do not have.
Smaller promotions are generally run on a shoestring budget hoping their next show will
put a few dollars in their pockets. Where are they supposed to come up with the money to
retain an attorney and fight a governmental body that is out to restrict what they do?
Money doesn't grow on trees and for the most part they either must comply with the order,
shut their doors, or spend every dime they have to fight this in appeals. To comply with
the order admits defeat and allows other states to adopt similar legislation. What happens
then? A lot of promotions slowly fold which starts to create a monopoly in the industry.
With less and less independent promotions running fans would be forced to either watch
what they are offered or to stop watching altogether. Most true wrestling fans would opt
for the first option. This tends to create larger demographics for the big 2 1/4
promotions along with a larger fansbase which translates into more revenue for the
promotions.
If you feel that this bill should not be put into legislation there is still a slim chance
that we could avoid the signing of the bill. Please contact Governor Whitman
http://www.state.nj.us/governor/contact.htm or you may call her office directly at
(609)292-6000. Let Governor Whitman know that we have a right to watch and support
whatever we want to without the interference of government regulations and that the bill
itself is inherently unconstitutional. Please be intelligent, polite and professional when
contacting the office. This is the office of an elected official and to do things any
other way would only hurt what is trying to be accomplished here.
And with that I am outta here. Remember wrestling is nothing more than it appears to be
but also remember a quote from James Billington, "Intellectual and cultural freedom
is the most important single precondition for the breakdown of the kinds of tyrannical and
totalitarian systems that periodically threaten us."
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