Athletic commission sanctioning in wrestling

[infrared]

Having only been watching wrestling regurlarly for 3 years, I am not sure about the old school days when wrestling was sanctioned by athletic commissions. What effect did athletic commission sanctioning have on the wrestling business and how was it different to wrestling now?

Did they have drug testing back then or was it all about wrestlers needing licenses to wrestle, the banning of the piledriver and whether mats on the outside of the ring were required?

[Mozenrath]

I think most of it was just to get licensing fees. Saftey measures may of been taken, but I seriously doubt drug testing was ever something they bothered with.

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kiddobradley said:

I think most of it was just to get licensing fees. Saftey measures may of been taken, but I seriously doubt drug testing was ever something they bothered with.

That's true actually. There is a laundry list of wrestlers from the 1980's that have reputations for drug and alcohol abuse.

[kswolf]

Athletic commission regulations varied wildly from state to state. Virtually all states required a wrestler to obtain a license to wrestle, and the standards for getting that license were all over the place. Some states required the wrestler to pass regular physicals and drug tests, and even required the wrestler to prove that he had formal training. Other states would just hand them out to pretty much anyone who could pay the fee.

The more stringent states also regulated the matches themselves -- requiring doctors at ringside, forcing matches to be stopped for blood, banning certain maneuvers, disallowing brawling in the crowd, etc... Other states just took an anything goes attitude, and let the wrestlers and promoters do virtually anything they wanted.

It must've been a pretty bizarre situation to be involved in. The fact that pro wrestling was fixed has been widely known since at least the 1930's, and yet most states continued to regulate it anyway. Athletic commissions apparently made a lot of money from the taxes and fees they levied on the business, so they just winked and nodded, pretended that it was all legit, and continued cashing their checks from promoters.

[Sajoa Moe]

I seem to remember that WWE required a sanction from the Illinois Athletic Commission to do the flaming table spot for WM22.

[longdogga]

kswolf said:

Athletic commission regulations varied wildly from state to state. Virtually all states required a wrestler to obtain a license to wrestle, and the standards for getting that license were all over the place. Some states required the wrestler to pass regular physicals and drug tests, and even required the wrestler to prove that he had formal training. Other states would just hand them out to pretty much anyone who could pay the fee.

The more stringent states also regulated the matches themselves -- requiring doctors at ringside, forcing matches to be stopped for blood, banning certain maneuvers, disallowing brawling in the crowd, etc... Other states just took an anything goes attitude, and let the wrestlers and promoters do virtually anything they wanted.

It must've been a pretty bizarre situation to be involved in. The fact that pro wrestling was fixed has been widely known since at least the 1930's, and yet most states continued to regulate it anyway. Athletic commissions apparently made a lot of money from the taxes and fees they levied on the business, so they just winked and nodded, pretended that it was all legit, and continued cashing their checks from promoters.

and which states do you reckon were the ones that survived easier?

also in the same vain of question,

was memphis one of them?

[destrucity]

In Pennsylvania, the wrestlers would buy their drugs from the medical representative of the athletic commission, Dr. Zahorian ;D