More rule changes

[Showtime]

As we reported earlier punches are now legal in WWE, which was a good change.

But it is getting tougher to be a heel in WWE given some other rule changes that are automatic DQs if seen by the ref.

There has already been at least one DQ finish for a heel using a handful of tights and being caught by the ref.

Choking with the hands or using the ropes to choke will be a DQ instead of a 5 count, if seen by the ref, and just added to the growing list are eye poke or rakes and throwing someone into the ringposts outside the ring. Both now will lead to a DQ too.

So WWE heels will need to get very sneaky now, or refs need to be easily distracted or both.

Posted on WZ. Firstly, are these related to WWE announcing that there going to be calling wrestlers 'entertainers', from now on. Second point I'd like to mention, it's going to be reall hard for Flair to make a comeback ever in the WWE, what with eye pokes and rakes now being DQ's. It'll be like when Sabu came to WWE ECW and his match ended in DQ and we were 'what the F?'

Now on to the issue the article pointed out, it's going to be harder to be a heel. I don't see it being too much of a big deal for them yet, but we'll see if the list grows. Roll up with the tights I always thought was a DQ if caught, and that's how it's gonna stay. Wrestlers always pull the tights and the refs never see it. So little will change there. Chocking with the ropes I'm gonna miss, chocking with hands, that's just uncreative, there are so many different holds you can use. Eye pokes are also going to suck not seeing, but most people don't even use eye pokes or rakes so it won't be much different. Throwing people into steel poles I'm saddened to see go as I've always found it to be a creative weapon, but at least we still have steel stairs.

Now will heels have a more difficult job, not really yet. In most cases it'll force them to be more creative and unique. To choke someone on the ropes, they'll have to do more 'ref distraction/manager/partner chokes them a bit' things more which generally draw good heat well. So I don't think it's going to be too much more difficult for heels to be heels yet, but it does suck to see some of these changes. Except allowing fistycuffs that's awesome, opinions?

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

What I dislike is that it just isn't necessary. Now, like you said, they're going to have to do more "distract the ref" stuff, which has ALWAYS come off as looking ridiculous. Choking is a DQ, so how can they do a Chokeslam or a Chokebomb anymore? Lol. I think it made more sense with the 5 count because it was something that the ref could see but still DQ after the few seconds. And why not the ring post? You can do the stairs, but not the post?

I just don't see what the point is for it. Shouldn't they be sort of allowing MORE stuff, rather than less, so they have more to work with? Now we're just going to see prolonged "hey ref, I'm in the ring, so don't look at what my partner is doing" nonsense. Are we really supposed to believe that these refs haven't learned their lesson by now that every time this happens, something is going on behind their back? It just ruins the believability of it. Sure, its fun when it works, but 90% of the time its just the most generic and basic crap like how nobody ever, ever lets the third hand fall, the fans automatically can narrow a Royal Rumble down to 5 people that could win it as opposed to the full 30, and we know that any time a jobber doesn't have his own entrance, that he's going to lose in a squash.

 

[My$terio_Fan]

Well I guess these new changes must mean that Vince and creative realize that the product needs to be changed but I doubt this will help any. With the whole "entertainer" thing may mean that Vince is gonna add alot more entertainment into the show and less of the actual wrestling. It may be a way of promoting wrestling in a different manner to attract more people.

With the DQ rules, this is weird that their going to disqualify heels so easily. Maybe they want wrestlers to do different tatiques and to be more creative when cheating to make things less obvious and repetitive.

 

[Checkmate]

Ok, so this means a ton more ref bumps in the future?

Either that or NO DQ matches are going to be really necessary.

Regardless of what happens, I can't see too many good things coming from this. Heels will have to play it clean, or get DQ'd, which means that they are basically just tweeners.

The only thing differing faces and heels is mic time. Heels will try to draw heat, and will be a face or fired if that doesn't work. Blatent cheating will be gone, or refs will be even more brain dead than they were before.

When the refs started DQ'ing people before anything actually happened (just the intent to cheat) I lost interest. It used to be that actual 'Cheating' had to occur for a DQ, but now apparently nothing will be tolerated.

What's next? Will tag teams be DQ'd if they don't switch out of the ring immediately? Will count outs be enforced more? Will MVP finally get a clean win?

Find out next time on a WWE TV near you!!!

(...or not)

 

[obsidiana]

WWE Orders All Wrestlers to be Referred to as "Entertainers"
10/22/2008 by Nick Paglino

PWInsider.com is reporting that talent, more specifically announcers, have been told to begin referring to workers as "entertainers" as opposed to superstars or wrestlers. The idea behind the request is that WWE is working hard to have the company billed as an entertainment touring organization as opposed to a sporting event. This would allow them to bypass the Athletic Commissions in most states and avoid paying certain taxes as well as abide by rules established by the commissions.

"Sports Entertainment" Added to the Banned List in WWE
10/23/2008 by Nick Paglino

source: the wrestling observer

It is now being reported that in addition to the wrestlers in WWE now being referred to as "entertainers," Vince McMahon has issued a mandate stating that the phrase "sports entertainment" will no longer be used and from now on the product will be referred to as simply "entertainment."



For as much money as Vince is supposed to have he sure is a cheap bastard. Why don't we just start calling it McMahon's three ring circus and call the wrestlers in WWE carney's instead of entertainers. I think Vince should probably either take a real long vacation or go see a therapist because he is definantly losing his mind........

 

[Rusty]

I think these new rules are total bullshit. We know wrestling is fake, so why the hell is Vince trying to make matches look more real which seems ridiculous to me. We love the chokes, the ramming into ring posts and all the other cool stuff that the heels do. It's what makes the matches entertaining. Now if the ref sees a pulling of the tights, he has to disqualify the "entertainer" for doing it. That totally ruins a match in my opinion. It's like what happened during a tag match on ECW a few months ago. Morrison was being pinned and just kicked out at the 3 count as the Miz was too slow to rescue him. But the referee counted 3 despite the match wasn't supposed to finish like that and it came off as being really dodgy to me.

It's great that closed fist punches are now legal in the WWE, but they were almost forced to do that as The Big Show uses punches quite frequently now, and he isn't the only one. Another thing that gets me fired up is the fact that WWE Superstars are now called "entertainers" and the WWE is no longer know as "sports entertainment" but will be known as just "entertainment". It sounds ridiculous to me. If anything the WWE should be increasing the number of moves in which heels can do without being disqualified. Banning moves is almost always a bad thing, especially when most of these banned moves are harmless to the victim.

The fact that the WWE are strictly referring themselves as entertainment and nothing more just so they can get out of paying a tax fee or something, is absolutely ridiculous. The WWE has money, hell Vince has money and lot of it too. The guy gave away 3 million dollars of his own cash to the fans just to gain ratings even though it failed miserably, but yet doesn't want to pay a fee which I'd imagine wouldn't be near 3 million. These rule changes should be scrapped as soon as possible. Making matches look more realistic can make a match look ridiculous. We know the WWE is fake, so why can't the WWE accept the fact that it's fans aren't idiots and make the matches seem real without the banning of certain moves that add to the quality of matches.

 

[RatedRSE]

I completely agree with you.

It was annoying to me that they were even referred to as "Sports Entertainers" in the first place. Why is the term "Wrestler" such a dirty word?

I have never, not ONCE referred to one of the WWE Superstars as "Sports Entertainers" and I don't know anyone who does.

It's wrestling. That's what put the WWE on the map, why do they try so hard to be something that they aren't. It just comes off as sounding ridiculous, and this new change of direction to being simply an Entertainment company or calling the wrestlers Entertainers is just taking the silliness a step further.

 

[Dysturbed]

I want to stress that I'm not about to justify the name changes rather I'm going to justify why Vince would want to save money.

For as much money as Vince is supposed to have he sure is a cheap bastard.

While I fully agree that the terms that are being used are stupid I disagree that Vince is a "cheap bastard." I don't fault him for the actual concept of wanting to save some money but would prefer that he did so using other avenues (I'm not sure what) than changing certain terminology that has always existed

The guy may be loaded but he spends a lot of money to rent out arenas, pay wrestler's salaries, pay the production crew's salaries, pay for pyro, pay for equipment, travel, advertising, music, drug testing, etc. He makes a lot but also spends a lot and rich people who spend even less than Vince does, do have their limits as well.

In the last few years the prices on almost everything has gone up. Even ordering a pizza costs more these days because it costs more for the food to be delivered to the consumer because of gas and more for the ingredients to be delivered to the restaurant for the same reason. That's something that's a lot cheaper than what Vince pays for. Imagine how the costs have gone up for a lot of the things that Vince pays for. Even the rich need to budget themselves.

I assume that when watching the shows you want to see the wrestlers (entertainers lol). I assume that you want them to have a place to compete in. I assume that aside form a building you want there to be a ring that someone set up, and interesting atmosphere (the tron, pyrotechnics, music), etc. We take for granted how much money and effort is put into even the shittiest of episodes of each show.

It's how I felt during the alliance angle as well when I'd have certainly preferred for him to have bought out the contracts of certain wrestlers that we had to wait to see (it would have changed so many things) but knowing how much he was spending on the mentioned things already, knowing how much more he was then spending with more wrestlers, knowing how much he spent to aqcuire WCW in the first place, and knowing how much he had just spent at that point on the failed XFL, I couldn't exactly fault him and call him cheap when I wasn't the one spending millions rather the one sitting on my butt at home watching.

That's my take at least. It sucks but it is what it is.

. The WWE has money, hell Vince has money and lot of it too. The guy gave away 3 million dollars of his own cash to the fans just to gain ratings even though it failed miserably, but yet doesn't want to pay a fee which I'd imagine wouldn't be near 3 million.

Sure he did the money giveaway recently which on the surface contradicts not wanting to spend money but that was a brief thing whereas spending money to pay the taxes would be a lifelong thing that would eventually get above 3 million assuming that WWE continues to exist for years and years.


If he wants to be promoted as an entertainment company though to avoid taxes I'm not sure why he can't be promoted as such but still call the "entertainers" wrestlers on the actual televised program. After all the use of the term for years hasn't often meant "wrestling" in it's actual context (even anyway rather it's been "wrestling" as defined by "entertainment" standards.

 

[donutman]

Wow, I am shocked that they are getting rid of "Superstars" and "Sports Entertainment". Growing up watching WWE, those were probably the words you heard the most. Ok fine, call it entertainment. But then they want to go and DQ guys for pulling tights, choking, using the ropes or whatever. That is leaning towards more a legitimate look than entertainment. Trust me, seeing a match end in a DQ that usually wouldn't be a DQ, is NOT entertaining. My goodness, this is pro wrestling!

I don't understand what they are trying to do. They are entertainers that entertain but then book matches that end in knockouts, just like a real sport does.

 

[Dysturbed]

I was just thinking that if they are not to be considered "wrestlers" does that mean that they can't be in the pro wrestling hall of fame or be listed on the pwi yearly list? I know that they still can be but it's a bit of a contradiction to be referred to as wrestlers outside of their own company but not within it. Like i said earlier I understand the money thing just not why he can't find other ways to cut back, though as a fan and not a business owner I don't know which things that would be.

 

[Checkmate]

Well, this seems to be another play at 'god' by Vince.

He has dumbed down the product where he previously made it more explicit. This is effecting the ratings, while he seems to remain oblivious. I'm not fully understanding the changes being made, except he's turning more toward the ROH style than anything in the past.

My question now is, what happens to the product?

Will Edge return as the Rated-PG superstar? I mean, how can you try to make the product seem genuine if everything is so toned down.

Not to mention, how can you effectivly censor the entire WWE universe?

I want to attend an event and proudly hold up my sign of , "THEY'RE STILL 'WRESTLERS' TO ME, DAMN IT!"

Who knows, maybe I'll start a trend, or maybe they'll confiscate my sign. Read the bill of rights Vince, and learn something.

 

[AFC1986]

I hate the new ways for a match to end in a DQ. The best way for a heel to draw heat is to win by cheating. If they can't do that, then how will a heel draw heat during a match.

The banning of the term sport-entertainers doesn't really bother me that much, but to have the wrestlers labled as entertainers does annoy me. At the end of the day, they are wrestlers. The clue is in the name of the company - World Wrestling Entertainment.

I think many fans are starting to watch less and less WWE television because the WWE constantly changing their minds about how they want to be a PG company even though they people using weapons and swearing. The sooner the WWE decides how they want to be perceived the better

 

[Crush1]

I think these changes are ridiculous and dissrespectfull. First of all the term ''Sports Entertainement'' runs in the blood of every wrestling fan, and wrestler. Because wrestling is a sport and an artform, the wrestlers bust their bodies every week to entertain the crowd, and just because Vince wants to ban this term to avoid paying more tax is selfish. The man is a billionare. And referring the wrestlers as ''Entertainers'' wont work. The fans wont acknowledge it and it just wont sound right. Vince needs to understand that he's not the king of the industry anymore, and that his promotion is a wrestling orginazation. I just hope these changes will blow away soon and that everyone forgets about it.

 

[Slyfox696]

Not to mention, how can you effectivly censor the entire WWE universe?

The WWE Universe is a term McMahon created...and you use.

Read the bill of rights Vince, and learn something.

The Bill of Rights? What does that have to do with the WWE and Vince McMahon?

The clue is in the name of the company - World Wrestling Entertainment.

No the clue is World Wrestling Entertainment. It's not wrestling, it's wrestling entertainment. There is a difference. One indicates legitimate sport, the other indicates pretend sport.

I think these changes are ridiculous and dissrespectfull. First of all the term ''Sports Entertainement'' runs in the blood of every wrestling fan, and wrestler.

LOL

Only because Vince McMahon created the term 20 years ago. For this very purpose.

Because wrestling is a sport

No it's not. A sport involves legitimate competition, of which the WWE has none.

the wrestlers bust their bodies every week to entertain the crowd, and just because Vince wants to ban this term to avoid paying more tax is selfish.

It's selfish of him to ban the use of a term that he created twenty years ago, in the name of achieving the same end for which he created the term?

Sports Entertainment was a term that was created TO AVOID BEING SANCTIONED BY THE BOXING COMMISSIONS!!! The whole purpose of Sports Entertainment is the SAME purpose he's now getting rid of the "sport" part.

Jesus Christ, why all the bitching about a term that Vince created for this very purpose?

And referring the wreslters as ''Entertainers'' wont work. The fans wont acknowledge it and it just wont sound right.

That's what they said when he quit calling them wrestlers, and just Superstars and Sports Entertainers.

And look what's happened.

Vince needs to understand that he's not the king of the industry anymore

He's not?

This is news to me. Since when has there been another wrestling company come close to challenging his position?

 

[Dead Kennedy]

Jeez, Vince McMahon's got frostbite of the brain? That doesn't make much sense, and only further compliments the fact that pro wrestling is not a sport. I thought they wanted to maintain the illusion? They've never been fans of using the word "wrestler" to describe the talent anyway, but why take away "superstar"? I don't like that term a lot, but I've gotten used to it.

I guess this will allow them to bypass state sports regulation laws and such, but those laws are actually there to maintain a safe and not to mention legitimately legal environment for the workers, if somewhat limiting WWE's decisions at times. Seems like more of a move towards making the state regulation committees less nosy so that WWE can get away with more cases of substance abuse to me...but what do I know? It's no secret that the Wellness Policy is not something WWE wanted to incorporate on their own accord, but more due to pressure from the outside. I think it sounds risky, personally.

 

[Checkmate]

My purpose of posting was to ask: Why bother to try and censor the viewing public as well as the workers?

I can understand if the actual WRESTLING community had a problem with the WWE labeling themself as pure Wrestling. However, this is not the case. The term 'sports entertainment' has been used and widely accepted over the past years and makes perfect sense. This form of Wrestling is scripted and has no competion, and thus is not a sport. It is entertainment though, and is a wrestling form of entertainment. Scripts do not take away from action, as each guy still gets into the ring and performs.

Magic acts still draw people even though it is commonly accepted that 'magic' does not exist and the act is merely comprised of tricks and illusions. However, no one complains that magic is still billed as magic, as it would take away from the show if called otherwise.

The WWE calling the competitors entertainers isn't what bugs me. What really gets to me is why they make such a big deal over it. If every announcer just started using 'entertainers' instead of 'sports entertainers' it would eventually just catch on with the public anyway.

This leads me to my point of why Vince wants this to happen. It doesn't seem to be for any other reason then 'Vince wants this to happen, so it happens'.

Thus my arguement of the bill of rights. Each person has the right to call each worker what they want. I can call myself a custodial engineer if I'm a janitor, yet both terms apply. Being a sports entertainer and an entertainer are two ways of saying the same thing. Without the 'sports' you can imply a wider field of what the workers do, but can possibly mislabel the product. The sports entertainment label fit more, as these guys aren't magicians or work at the circus, they are also athletes. Athletes fit the sport genre, and thus the sports entertainment label.

So, I'm essentially saying that I don't agree with the need to make a big deal over this, even though I just did by posting. It is a meaningless transition of one phrase to another, spurred on because of someone's ego.

 

[2012isbs]

Does this this mean World Wrestling Entertainment is now World Entertainment.

Anyway I mean come on the only people that think wrestling is real are either 4 years old or wear a helmet and drool.

I think Vince might just force me to actually consider TNA equal to WWE and that is jus t plain wrong

 

[klunderbunker]

So, after reading all the arguments I come up with one simple conclusion: What damn difference does it make? This is the same as when it was changed from WWF to WWE. The show will still be boring, yet we'll still watch it. Seriously, we've known its entertainment for the majority of our lives. Do you really need VInce to tell you what it is you're watching? This is far from a stunning turn of events. Its a name. That's it.

 

[obsidiana]

I want to stress that I'm not about to justify the name changes rather I'm going to justify why Vince would want to save money.




While I fully agree that the terms that are being used are stupid I disagree that Vince is a "cheap bastard." I don't fault him for the actual concept of wanting to save some money but would prefer that he did so using other avenues (I'm not sure what) than changing certain terminology that has always existed

The guy may be loaded but he spends a lot of money to rent out arenas, pay wrestler's salaries, pay the production crew's salaries, pay for pyro, pay for equipment, travel, advertising, music, drug testing, etc. He makes a lot but also spends a lot and rich people who spend even less than Vince does, do have their limits as well.

In the last few years the prices on almost everything has gone up. Even ordering a pizza costs more these days because it costs more for the food to be delivered to the consumer because of gas and more for the ingredients to be delivered to the restaurant for the same reason. That's something that's a lot cheaper than what Vince pays for. Imagine how the costs have gone up for a lot of the things that Vince pays for. Even the rich need to budget themselves.

I assume that when watching the shows you want to see the wrestlers (entertainers lol). I assume that you want them to have a place to compete in. I assume that aside form a building you want there to be a ring that someone set up, and interesting atmosphere (the tron, pyrotechnics, music), etc. We take for granted how much money and effort is put into even the shittiest of episodes of each show.

It's how I felt during the alliance angle as well when I'd have certainly preferred for him to have bought out the contracts of certain wrestlers that we had to wait to see (it would have changed so many things) but knowing how much he was spending on the mentioned things already, knowing how much more he was then spending with more wrestlers, knowing how much he spent to aqcuire WCW in the first place, and knowing how much he had just spent at that point on the failed XFL, I couldn't exactly fault him and call him cheap when I wasn't the one spending millions rather the one sitting on my butt at home watching.

That's my take at least. It sucks but it is what it is.



Sure he did the money giveaway recently which on the surface contradicts not wanting to spend money but that was a brief thing whereas spending money to pay the taxes would be a lifelong thing that would eventually get above 3 million assuming that WWE continues to exist for years and years.


If he wants to be promoted as an entertainment company though to avoid taxes I'm not sure why he can't be promoted as such but still call the "entertainers" wrestlers on the actual televised program. After all the use of the term for years hasn't often meant "wrestling" in it's actual context (even anyway rather it's been "wrestling" as defined by "entertainment" standards.

I can see your point. I am kind of wondering if would have made more sense for him to run the brands out of the same venues instead of going to a different one each week? I suppose people would get bored with the same thing every week but it would be cheaper. Then just run your house shows in different places. I believe CMLL does that down in Mexico and they are always packed from what I can see. But this isn't Mexico I know and the fans here get very bored very quick. Just a thought.................