It goes without saying that these days in the United States our government - be it on the local, state, or federal level - likes to have its hands in whatever it is we, as citizens, are doing. Indeed, it seems as though there aren't many aspects of our lives that aren't in some way regulated by Uncle Sam or one of his subordinates. Even though that presents a set of issues in terms of "the land of the free" feeling more like "the land of big brother", the fact of the matter is that it's not all bad. I, for one, am happy with the fact that because I pay my taxes I'll be able to dial 911 on my telephone, should the need arise, and get assistance from someone who knows precisely what to do.
There are, however, a lot of things that government does that make me rub my furry chin and wonder "What the heck are they thinking?" And so it goes that, typically speaking, government regulations fall into one of two categories - useful or mostly pointless. It isn't often you find something that gets wedged in between the two but in my eyes that's where things stand right now in regard to a new batch of licensing requirements being imposed upon professional wrestlers, promoters, and other individuals seeking to participate in good, old fashioned rasslin' events here in the state of South Carolina.
The South Carolina Athletic Commission is a division of the state Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation. In a nutshell, the SCAC exists for the same reason as other governmental bodies having to do with providing protection for members of the workforce through a code of laws from employers who would potentially put their employees in at-risk conditions or environments. They're something of the enforcement branch when it comes to keeping things in line as far as regulations pertaining to professional sports like boxing, mixed martial arts, and pro wrestling are concerned (yes, you read that correctly - according to their logic pro wrestling is, in fact, a legitimate combat sport).
There are a couple of states that do not have an athletic commission, period, and yet there are also states with an athletic commission that does not include professional wrestling in its scope. North Carolina falls into the latter category and Georgia did as well up until around 2008 when that state enacted a sweeping set of changes that put it in line with South Carolina's operating policies in regard to pro wrestling. (Some believe their abrupt adoption of such regulations was a reaction to the murder-suicide involving Chris Benoit who happened to have been living in Georgia at the time he committed the heinous acts that have forever tarnished his legacy as a wrestler.) This would seem to be because of the fact that (*SPOILER ALERT*) professional wrestling isn't an actual sport but more akin to performance art such as theater or ballet. Yes, I just compared pro wrestling to ballet - because comparing it to clogging or the symphony would've been too silly, although now that I think about it clogging is an applicable analogy seeing as how both it and wrestling require specialized footwear.
The SCAC has been in the business of regulating such things as boxing and pro wrestling for as long as I have been following the independent professional wrestling scene in South Carolina, which I began doing back around 1999. (MMA wasn't big enough to have been worth the trouble back then, however the SCAC does now also oversee those events as well.) Wrestlers and promoters alike didn't seem to have much use for the SCAC fifteen years ago, and matters between the two sides have mostly only gotten worse.
So what does the SCAC require of boxers, MMA fighters, professional wrestlers, individuals promoting such events, and certain members of staff? Paperwork and money, naturally. What else would you expect from the government?
When it comes to professional wrestling, all wrestlers (which is kind of a blanket term for anyone who will be performing in the show as characters who are managers also fall into this category), announcers, referees, and promoters have to be individually licensed. "What good is the license?", you ask. That's an excellent question.
When we see the word "license", it more often than not is an implication that the person holding said license has qualified to act in whatever capacity the license permits. Medical technicians, truck drivers, and many other folks working in all kinds of specialized trades are licensed professionals. In each of these instances the license indicates that the holder of said document has been legally recognized as being able to perform whatever task (or tasks) to which the license applies because they have received training on how to do it and that they more than likely have passed some type of qualifications process. All a license from the SCAC insures is that the holder of the license got a physical, filled out some paperwork, and sent in a check to cover the cost of the salary of whoever it was that had to take the time to verify their information. There is no assurance that the individual has received proper training, just that they were willing to jump through a series of hoops to appease the powers that be.
Promoters must also go through the process of obtaining a license but for them it's more of a business license. In addition, promoters must submit permit applications on a per event basis to the SCAC. What this boils down to is the that the SCAC, as a regulatory body, is keeping tabs on who is running what shows, where, and when.
You might be wondering "Why is the SCAC so interested in this kind of data?" It goes back to what I said before about the SCAC being an offshoot of LLR and acting as an overseer for the sake of maintaining safe working conditions. A promoter is an employer and as such they are responsible for the safety of their employees - it just so happens that in this example an employer can justifiably ask one of their employees to jump off a 15 foot high steel cage.
Everything I've covered heretofore has been in place for quite some time. The paperwork, the physicals, all that stuff has been standard procedure for anyone who wants to legally run a show in the state of South Carolina for at least a decade (more on "legal" versus "illegal" events and how the SCAC has been used by competing companies to combat one another later). What's different now are the fees associated with these filings and as you might expect it's what's really gotten under the skin of quite a few people involved with indie pro wrestling here in South Carolina - but it's also being heralded as a long overdue move by others.
A new fee structure was put in place this year for individuals seeking licensing from the SCAC regarding being able to promote or participate in pro wrestling events. The filing fee now stands at $75 per year for all wrestlers, referees, and announcers. You would hope that they'd be able to recoup that money fairly easily - one good night at the gimmick table for a wrestler could take care of it. (Referees and announcers aren't so lucky, I'm afraid.) Fees for promoters were increased as well. A promoters license will set you back $150 per year. On top of this, promoters are expected to pay $150 per event to receive a permit plus 2% of the gate (ie, profit from ticket sales) is supposed to go directly to the SCAC within 10 days of an event. That last one is important because on the eleventh day after an event the SCAC can levy a $250 fine against the promoter as well as an additional $250 fine every ten days until the gate fee is submitted.
Hitting someone in their wallet is one of the most effective ways of making them take notice of the situation at hand. This is why fines for traffic violations are what they are - because they make a lasting impression. People who perform at these events aren't being affected nearly as much as promoters are. When you consider the fact that they're looking at $300 in expenses before they even sell their first ticket and that they'll still have to cover things like the cost of flyers & promotional materials, building rental, payroll, and more, the prospect of being a wrestling promoter in South Carolina suddenly doesn't seem like a very rewarding occupation. And no, I don't think there are any promoters out there who do what they do because they think it's a worthwhile hobby. If they have that much money to burn, they should try contributing to society in more worthwhile methods.
[SIDE NOTE: I have noticed that World Wrestling Entertainment,
Total Non-stop Action/Impact Wrestling, Ring of Honor, and other
companies do not hold events in South Carolina with any sense of
frequency anymore. WWE, in the past, has run 4-6 shows in South Carolina
in a single year, some being televised and others being house shows.
I'm working off of memory here so I may be wrong but I recall only two
WWE events in South Carolina during 2014. The last WWE event I attended
was in November of 2013, that being a non-televised show at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, SC. Certainly there are other factors at play in
their decision making scheme but I sincerely believe that this trend is
at least in part due to the fact that these promotions would sooner tour
in other states than have to deal with the SCAC.]
The topic at hand now becomes how these changes may affect the state of indie professional wrestling in South Carolina. There are those in the wrestling community who have made it very clear via social media that they feel like this is the SCAC's way of milking promotions for all they're worth, leaving the SCAC to count their money and promoters to count their blessings. (For their input on the matter, search "SC Wrestlers Unite" on Facebook or click this link - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004846577863) Meanwhile there are others who take this in the opposite direction, that it will serve as something of a cleanse for indie pro wrestling in the state of South Carolina, the idea being that those who can't afford to be in business probably shouldn't be in business.
Personally, I can see things both ways.
On the one hand, there are quite a few dirt bag promoters operating in South Carolina giving our scene a bad name who could likely be shut down by this new batch of regulations. That sort of thing has happened in the past, though, as every so often a little bird would drop a message to the SCAC about a promotion running in a given town that didn't have proper approval for the event. Those "little birds" were more often than not sent out by other promoters who'd gotten wind of a rival moving in on their turf. The target of such attacks might have been an inexperienced promoter who
didn't know any better, or it might have been some lifetime carny who
just wanted to see how well he could do in a new part of the world. How better than to take out the competition than by having a government regulator close them down? Why expend the energy needed to beat them when you can send Johnny Law after them (so long as you yourself are up to snuff, obviously)?
Then on the other hand you have the fact that this turn of events will likely leave only the cream of the crop in terms of promoters and talent to operate in South Carolina. I don't have a problem with this because, as I have said in the past and as you can likely tell from the wrestling-related content I share via this blog and other means, I am most definitely what you would consider a wrestling snob. As a fan, I don't care to blindly "support indie wrestling" as some who exist in the community would encourage me to do. (That's like saying you should go to restaurants you know are mediocre because they're mediocre.) "Upward wrestling", if you will, where everyone gets a championship belt and everyone feels like they're on the same level as John Cena. Give me a break, for crying out loud!
The law of survival of the fittest applies in all aspects of life. Some people (wrestlers and promoters alike) need to have their egos squashed because they've been allowed to gluttonously sit at the fattening trough of absurdity for far too long. They've become accustomed to having their posterior kissed by others who believe, falsely and for whatever reason, that doing so will amount to their advancement.
The truth is that a cull, for lack of a better term, wouldn't be the worst thing to ever happen to professional wrestling in this state. Even so, my biggest problem with the status of things regarding how the state of South Carolina wants to be involved in the professional wrestling business now is the same as it has always been, that enforcement of these regulations doesn't seem to be even. Despite the fact that this is 2014 and that government likes to tout itself as being more transparent than it has ever been, in a lot of ways this is still very much a good ol' boy state. It has been my experience that some promotions would seemingly get shaken down every time they tried to have an event whereas others never seemed to ever get so much as a visit from an SCAC representative. Perhaps that's different now but it certainly wasn't in the past.
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