(Posted by Mitch Newton on June 21, 1999 at exactlly 18:11:10 Eastern)
Pro Wrestling News Central
Going to mat over violence, sleaze
By: Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY
The sport that calls itself a soap opera is seeing some of its nastier story lines become reality.
"Professional wrestling has become a showy display of graphic violence, sexual themes and dangerous stunts," Martha Hart, widow of strongman Owen Hart, said in announcing a 46-count lawsuit against the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and others last week. Her husband died during a stunt May 23.
Sable, one of wrestling's biggest female stars, also has filed a lawsuit against the WWF , alleging that the business "has become so obscene and so vulgar" that she no longer wants to be a part of it.
And a former Kuwaiti TV talk host, Bassam Al Othman, is filing suit against the WWF for showing what he says is a humiliating clip of him being yanked out of his chair by a wrestler named Vader during a 1997 interview on Good Morning Kuwait.
Professional wrestling, cable TV's top-rated attraction, has long been under fire from the outside; now it's feeling some heat from within.
"I think people do not realize that wrestling has no regulations. No state control. No federal control. No union," says Sable, whose real name is Rena Mero. "When I first signed three years ago, it was fun. But wrestling has changed tremendously over the years. It's become so obscene and violent."
While cynics might wonder whether this is just part of the script for the season, she says seriously that she's hoping her lawsuit, in which she's seeking $110 million and the right to her Sable name, will "open people's eyes so they can see where wrestling is today. There's so much more that goes on behind the scenes."
Sable says that "almost weekly I was asked to go on television and have my clothes ripped off in some way." When "they asked to have my dress ripped off and appear topless, that's where I felt I had to draw the line."
After she said no to baring her breasts, she lost her championship belt in the next show, she says, and "all (Sable) merchandise was pulled from the shelves. . . . Your pay is determined by your position in the company. I was told bimbos like me are a dime a dozen, and I can be replaced immediately."
Two shows later, Sable says, she came back to her dressing room "to find all my things smeared with human feces."
She has not spoken to Vince McMahon, head of the WWF, since then. But last Monday she was ringside at the competition, World Championship Wrestling's Monday Nitro, in Washington, D.C. Why? A slap at McMahon? "I wanted to see if the same level of obscenity was taking place. It was not."
McMahon will not talk about pending litigation.
But he says, "I think as far as show business goes, and that's the business we're in, the environment is a wonderful environment."
He poses this question about Sable: "Where was she prior to joining the World Wrestling Federation?"
Some fans and wrestlers say she's ungrateful for all that McMahon did for her.
McMahon says he can't address Sable's specific allegations but adds, "We will deal with every problem, and we will deal with it straightforwardly."
Dissension and legal proceedings haven't seemed to hit the WWF where it most counts: in the TV ratings. WCW, which was neck and neck in the ratings with the WWF, has been slipping.
On Monday, June 7, the WWF lured about 5 million viewers in each of its two hours on the air, while WCW had 2 million to 3 million in its two hours.
But the lawsuits have had an impact.
"In show business, whenever there's an unfortunate tragedy like Owen's, it takes its toll," McMahon says. "It takes its toll on those of us here who were Owen's friends. It takes its toll on the corporate side of things. It takes a toll as far as fans are concerned. At the same time, not surprisingly, there seems to be a pile-on type of technique that's being employed by opportunists -- the Sable lawsuit and this guy in Kuwait.
"I think the resolve of everyone in our organization is to get on with life."
He targets Ted Turner, owner of WCW. "I think that opportunists such as our competitor are really behind a lot of all of this negativity. They don't know how to compete with us, and in essence what they're trying to do is beat the drums of negativity, hoping that, in some way, that is going to hurt the organization or hurt our fans."
Consistently, the two big rival federations - the World Wrestling Federation, run for three generations by the McMahon family out of Connecticut, and World Championship Wrestling, started by Turner and operating out of Atlanta - have dominated cable ratings and turned themselves into ever-expanding profit machines.
And the UPN network has said it will add a show called WWF Smackdown! to Thursday nights in the fall.
"Wrestling has a much higher profile now. So the negative and the good are noticed more. It comes with the growth," WCW president Eric Bischoff says.
Even one of its own up-and-comers, a wrestler named Konnan , says he thinks WCW is "getting stale" and that "fresh faces are being held back." He says: "You have a lot of wrestlers that wield a lot of power. If you don't conform or be part of their clique, if you're not drinking or training with them, you get cut out. That's just bad business."
There was a time, Konnan says, that Bischoff "was intolerable. His condescending approach was not getting results. Now he's trying to rectify it." But, Konnan says, "I hate the politics and hypocrisy. I want to wrestle and have fun."
He and Rey Mysterio Jr., another Latino, were brought in with the hopes of attracting Latino viewers. They plan to team with a wrestling star-to-be, rap music's Master P, to broaden the audience even more.
But the Hart incident, along with the death of WCW's Ravishing Rick Rude, who was found dead at home of unknown causes, has gotten to Mysterio.
"The organization is treating me good. I don't get into politics that much. I kind of worry about myself only. What does affect me is the deaths. It shocks me. You know these people, and you follow them for a long time and they're there, and then, suddenly, they're gone."
He says he tries "to keep my balance and not get crazy."
But every night he tries to come up with a new hold or a new move, such as something called the Super Frankensteiner leap. His contract is to work 186 days a year. He's 24 and wants to be a millionaire by 28. "I want to make the most out of it."
So what is the immediate future for professional wrestling?
"I think the effect of all this on the industry will be very minimal," says Jason Chinsolo , a 20-year-old from Bluefield, W.Va., and Webmaster of www.wrestlerumors.simplenet.com. "Wrestling is more popular than ever. Why? It's really hard to explain, but the popularity just continues to grow."
And the show goes on, in a daily, high-stakes competition. This week, a WWF stunt story line continues with Stone Cold Steve Austin taking over as the CEO of the business, while it's hinted that Master P will get in the ring for WCW.
Bischoff says Master P approached WCW. The deal took only a week to seal.
"By merging music and hip-hop with wrestling, it's an opportunity for both of us to grow our respective audiences," Bischoff says.
For WCW, "it's that urban demographic we've been missing." For P, "it's a worldwide television audience," the rapper says.
Besides, he says, "I've always been a big rassling fan. This is a very serious sport. We take it serious."
Despite its seeming violence, what the wrestling industry calls "sports entertainment" has gone unscrutinized by Capitol Hill.
Master P, dressed in combat fatigues, is flanked by five large guys, "his soldiers," who also will be wrestling. "This is not about violence," he says. "This is more patriotic. We're soldiers. We are the good guys. We're here to show kids you can be all you can be."
WCW is heading in that direction, Bischoff says. "It's time for the good guys." Including Hollywood Hogan, who, after three years of playing the villain, seems positioned to make a comeback as a good guy.
Bischoff says that, contrary to popular belief, WCW has not said it will never do a ceiling-drop stunt like the one Hart was involved in when he fell to his death. Sting, one of the stars of WCW, does the stunt and will do it again. It's just been put off "out of respect," Bischoff says.
Overall, Bischoff says, the future is to stay "advertiser-friendly" and look into "long-term growth with other forms of entertainment," like the alliance with Master P.
Bischoff says a lot of the bad publicity lately has been aimed at the WWF. "We don't want to be thrown out with the bath water our competition has created."
McMahon says his mission is to stay "in tune with our audience. It's not business as usual, because this is an unusual business."
Bischoff says his league's goal is to "be creative without being offensive." He cites Jerry Springer, saying "shock television is not good television." And he doesn't think President Clinton should be investigating violence in entertainment.
"I'm 44, and when I was a kid growing up in Detroit, kids were pretending they could be Superman and jumping off steps. Television has always been blamed. I think the issue has more to do with parenting. It's an easy thing to blame third parties, but it's irresponsible."
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