MURDOCH UNIVERSITY

Professional Wrestling
The Imprint of it on kids
Jason Tan 31659154 8/30/2011

Person requesting report: Mark Regan

Contents
1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 4 2.0 Discussion.......................................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Wrestling showing kids the right image? ...................................................................................... 5 2.2 Kids mimicking wrestling moves ................................................................................................... 6 2.3 Kids on Wrestling Merchandise or related products .................................................................... 6 2.4 Kids learning any moral values? .................................................................................................... 7 3.0 Conclusion: ........................................................................................................................................ 8 4.0 Recommendations: ........................................................................................................................... 8 5.0 References ........................................................................................................................................ 9

Executive Summary Professional Wrestling as we all know it is one of the most talked about sports when it comes to its ups and downs. This report will give u an insight on wrestling as it lets u different aspects and perspectives. Its always a parents nightmare when their kids go around dressing like a wrestler and start spewing out catchphrases, heck even mimicking their every move. Its is believed that wrestling should not be PG but instead back to the way it was and that is TV-MA which also means mature and only for adults. Wrestling has generated heaps of amounts of heat from every well-known community or organizations after incidents revolving around the deaths of kids below the age of 10 who were into wrestling. Wrestling can stay PG as long as they find a right way to present wrestling as an art form to kids not violence or a form of bullying .Its pretty clear that kids at below the age of 13 should be kept away from wrestling .Wrestling promotions should air two different programmes, one entirely for the viewing of kids while the other for adults and kids age 13 and above, so they can keep it fresh and be able to control their content easily.

Limitations My resources to this report has been very limited as I couldnt gain access to journal articles and also not being able to travel to the United States to interview wrestlers and wrestling promotions has given my report a major setback.

Sources of Data I have used most of my general knowledge and experiences on wrestling to write this report I also got help from two books that I borrowed from Murdoch Library .I have also used the internet to improve my report .

1.0 Introduction
Professional Wresting is it sport or is it entertainment? This debate has been going on for the past 100 years. To those who believe in the beauty of professional wrestling, nothing needs to be said. For those who dont appreciate wrestling, nothing could be said to change their minds. Vincent K.Mcmahon Jr., owner of World Wrestling Entertainment. (Pope and Whebbe Jr 2003,11) Wrestling can be traced back to prehistoric time in civilizations such as The Chinese, The Indians, The Mediterraneans, The Japanese, The Greeks, The Romans and etc.etc. (Kent 1968 , 11)Its roots are both regional and global; furthermore its history is subject to different viewpoints as fans growing up in different places have different beliefs and preferences. Theres no doubt wrestling fans have been touched by the sport in many different ways, its undeniable wrestlings amazing display of athleticism and entertainment has caught the eyes of many fans for example watching Evan Bourne going airborne while performing the extremely dangerous shooting star press and seeing Kurt Angle laying out suplexes again and again on his opponents .From heroes to villains to winners to losers, Professional Wrestling has it all. Its the mad gimmicks and absurd storylines that keep fans coming back for more.

2.0 Discussion
Professional wrestling has always been one of the most polarizing sport and topic in society. Its no secret that professional wrestling has always been unpopular with half of the society as some deem it to be too violent and a bad influence to children. But however it cant be denied that professional wrestling has been part of the American culture for decades with the rise of many wrestling organizations such as WCW , ECW , NWA and the most popular of them all ,WWF whose name has been change to WWE the past recent years due to conflicts of their name rights with World Wildlife Federation. Wrestling promotions were under fire by the church and parents organizations back in the 90s when wrestling was at a time of violence, profanity, swearing and sex. It was known as the Attitude Era, where Stove Cold Steve Austin would always point the middle finger to the crowd and on TV, furthermore his antics also revolve around drinking beer and swearing continuously. There was also the likes of Dwayne Johnson who was known as The Rock back then who would always run his mouth by trash talking other wrestlers with a lot of vulgar words and slang. This is why parents have never taken any liking on their children being glued to wrestling as it makes children idolizing them and mimicking their every move and mannerism.

2.1 Wrestling showing kids the right image?

Wrestling has never shown kids the right image. When matches like hell in cell or Elimination chamber matches occur, there would wound up to be blood, its a sickening and gut wrenching to know that there are kids in arenas or stadiums who would be experiencing this kind of image with wrestlers hitting each other with chair shots, putting each other through a table heck even jumping off ladders. Its graphical violence that kids should not witness at a tender age .Having said that promotions like WWE have been trying to prevent this kind of images but yet still with them needing to attract the adult audiences, matches that involves this magnitude of violence is still shown at special occasions. Moreover kids always get to witness woman wrestlers dress in very sexily, its very disturbing to know that kids back then get to witness striptease and sexually oriented performances in stadiums and arenas by Woman wrestlers which infuriates parents as it gets aired live. For instance there was a storyline a few years back which involve an on screen wrestling couple performing foreplay live on telly which caught the thunder of TV associations and the parental community, amazingly they scored 7.2 million viewers jus for that segment. Its disgusting to know that wrestling promotions would sink so low to get higher ratings without thinking about the kids by showing sex but at the end of the day even in the marketing world theres a phrase that everybody knows and that is sex does sell.

2.2 Kids mimicking wrestling moves

Kids at a young and adolescent age would never realize the trickery and illusion of wrestling and that wrestling in some sort of way is rigged in wrestling terms means booked .That means winner of the match has already been decided and wrestlers dont really compete against each other, they are just putting on a show. Kids dont realize that wrestlers are always helping each other in the ring when they are performing their moves .In a kids mind, every wrestlers move set and finisher is like a characters special battle moves or finishing move from a video game like Streets fighter or Mortal Combat. Wrestling dirtiest little secret is that the moves they perform are entirely fake, as long as the fellow wrestler takes a bump properly and the wrestler who knows how to perform the move safely, both of them would not get injured. To a kid wrestling has always been about both wrestlers inflicting pain at each other, they never understand the true art of it because wrestling promotions would never want a kid finding out that their idols are just putting on a show to entertain fans. Videos of kids trying to mimic wrestling moves can be found on YouTube, its a bad sign after all wrestling promotions have always aired ads about not trying the moves at home but still there are kids who do it .There has also been news circulating around about the kids who wound up dead after trying to perform a wrestling move. A 9 year old Indonesian boy named Reza was found dead after agreeing to allow his friends perform wrestling moves on him. There was also a two year old boy who died after his brother choked him to death while pretending to be a wrestler. There have also been complaints by parent around the globe about their own kids getting injured after trying to mimic wrestling moves. At the end of the day, its very disturbing to know that wrestling leaves a very negative imprint on kids.

2.3 Kids on Wrestling Merchandise or related products

Whenever a young kid who has been following wrestling sees WWE merchandise, he or she would wound up going "Mommy, mommy I want that new John Cena action figure. I want to see the Royal Rumble, daddy. Can you get me that Rey Mysterio mask grandpa?" With WWEs latest catering towards kids, the revenue stream from wrestling merchandise and video games have increase. For example WWE worked very hard with toy company Mattel to ensure that they would put up wrestling superstars action figures on every toy stores shelf. It has been said that the only reason why the deal push through was because of the PG rating that WWE decided to changed a few years back when they were still TV-MA. With the PG rating allowing more kids to watch, the heaps of amount of cash the company will generate through their own products will be huge because of the kids. But yet still wrestling is still has a very negative influence on kids .A video game of the WWE caused the death of a 9-year-old boy Damori Miles and again the cause of death was trying to mimic a wrestling move .He wore a homemade parachute and jumped off his Brooklyn Apartment roof imitating Jeff Hardys Swanton dive. WWE trying to cater more towards the kids is more of a money ripping scheme and joke after all by going PG they have also attracted a lot of advertisers which back in the 90s wasnt a really required because ratings were off the roof since the product back then was edgy and creative.

2.4 Kids learning any moral values?

WWE going PG at times seems laughable yet at times applauds able .There is one wrestler that is the epitome of the WWEs PG product and that is John Cena. His motto of hustle, loyalty and respect has attracted many of kids as fans and also hes WWE most marketable wrestler at the moment .WWE hit the jackpot with John Cena, they created a wrestler who in the eyes of children is Superman but just without the cape and furthermore his never give up attitude has garner a lot of parents love for showing the kids how to be a role model and fighter when it comes to situations in life. There is also CM Punk a wrestler who lives a straight edge lifestyle, even though he is not popular with the kids but popular with the adults, kids can still learn a lot from his no drinking, no smoking and no drugs. The reason why hes not popular with the kids at the moment is because of his previous heel persona even though hes currently portraying as an antihero, he has yet still unable to win over the children demographics. WWE over the past few years have taken serious action on wrestlers who are in possession of drugs and steroids fearing kids might follow in their footsteps .For instance Jeff Hardy who was very popular with the kid was arrested on charges of trafficking in controlled prescription pills and possession of anabolic steroids, after a search of his house yielded 262 Vicodin prescription pills, 180 soma prescription pills, 555 millilitres of anabolic steroids, a residual amount of powder cocaine, and drug paraphernalia. His reputation as a wrestler was tarnished as WWE quickly pull the plug off him by stripping him off the championship belt and giving him the sack as WWE was smart to realize that even with the rumours of him using illegal substances surrounding he was still cheered on by the millions and millions of kids. It shows that kids do not perceive whats right and wrong with someone. There are often storylines in the WWE that makes no sense at all and are sending a wrong message to kids, for instance both woman tag team wrestlers Layla and Michelle McCool were put in a feud with divas champion Mickie James that involved Laycool mocking and making fun of Mickies weight but the most miraculous part of it all was Mickie wasnt fat at all, but yet still she was picked for being fat. Its sends kids the wrong message on bullying.

3.0 Conclusion:
Its sad but true that wrestling will always have its ups and downs .To the eyes of parents its just a bunch of guys fighting at each other violently in tights while to the eyes of kids ,its their superhero fighting off the bad guy and saving the day . Wrestling will always be a sport or entertainment that is hard to please the mass public after all what kind of parents will allowed their kids to witness two woman wrestlers going at each other only wearing a bra and short pants. Wrestling has change a lot from the 90s ,with WWE now promoting their anti bullying campaign so heavily ,there might be a slight change in the air that they will try to appease to the parents more so that kids do not get expose to profanity,adultry, violence and swearing that much. It has come to my conclusion children below the age of 13 should not be exposed to wrestling as all the deaths that occur happened to only 9 years old and below so that shows a trend that children at the age of 13 can think clearly. On the other hand, wrestling merchandise will is good for both wrestling promotions and kids as it keeps both sides in touch with each other so that the wrestling culture doesnt fade away from the next generation of kids. With a few tweaks on the gimmicks of wrestlers and storylines in WWE, they can ensure that children will get PG content that will improve ones mannerism in society. Lastly kids can benefit from understanding wrestlings dirty little secret so that accidents would not occur.

4.0 Recommendations:
According to the facts presented within this report, the following recommendations should be instigated to ensure that kids do not get expose to the downsides of wrestling. Create a separate wrestling brand , one to cater the adults , the other one to cater the kids Have wrestling clinics to ensure the kids understand the dangers of wrestling Keep in touch with parental communities to come up with new ideas to keep wrestling fresh for kids Set up wrestling schools all over the world Make sure wrestlers are a good role model not just inside the ring but also on the outside Stop calling it Entertainment but rather have kids accept it as wrestling

5.0 References
Pope,Kristian and Whebbe Jr. Ray . 2003 . The Encyclopedia of Professional Wreslting 2nd Edition . Wisconsin:Krause Publications. Kent Graeme .1968.A Pictorial History of Wrestling.London: The Hamlyn Publishing Group LTD. Waring, Jacob.2010. WWE's PG Era: Positives and Negative .http://bleacherreport.com/articles/398720-the-positives-and-negatives-of-the-pg-era .( accessed September 1 ,2011) . R.Chuck.2009. WWE For Kids: Good Business Decision?. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/164586wwe-for-kids-good-business-decision .(accessed September 1,2011).