Unions & Pro Wrestling
August 30, 1998

Labour unions in the sporting industry are very different from ones that exist in more traditional occupations. With sports professionals being hired via a contract system, collective bargaining and collective agreements must take on a different format and scope than the usual type of agreements that may be reached between management and employees in education, government, or other typical union settings. Therefore, the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) will be used as a model for this experiment.

According to the MLBPA, it "was founded to preserve and advance the interests of its members as skilled professionals." The first collective bargaining agreement in sports history ensured that "highly skilled athletes would have a fair say in determining basic employment rights -- such as where, when, for whom and at what level of compensation they would work -- the same as people in other professions had long taken for granted." This guaranteed that "base salaries, pension funds and other benefits were brought to new levels." Currently, the Major League Baseball owners and players exercise their roles in the bargaining process to ensure that current and future generations of baseball fans can enjoy the game without any chance of players being treated unfairly, thus not performing to their fullest potential.

Right now in the professional wrestling industry, there is nothing like this in place. Currently, if a wrestler's contract expires, they can play the federations against each other (usually the two largest federations, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW)) to get the most money they can, and the lightest workload. Usually, WCW wins this beidding war, since it is owned by billionaire media mogul Ted Turner, and their current roster is large enough to sustain long breaks for their wrestlers. Also, much of the time they lock a wrestler into performing only for the federation they signed with, instead of being allowed to perform at independent federation shows, or benefit shows, like the Brian Pillman Memorial show, where many wrestlers who appeared had to fight tooth and nail with their employer to be allowed to go.

Some recent events have also been occurring behind the scenes in the past year that would certainly have been avoided if there had been a union in place. The movement of international superstars such as Bret "Hitman" Hart, Sean Waltman (aka The 1-2-3 Kid, aka Syxx, aka X-Pac), Jeff Jarrett, and the contentment of some wrestlers in both the WWF and WCW may either not exist, or could be handled a little better than they are.

The most surprising and largest story in wrestling in the past year gives the best example. In November, 1997, Bret "Hitman" Hart, who had signed a contract one year before for several million dollars over twenty years with the WWF (following a bidding war), exercised an "escape clause" in his contract, allowing him to break the longest contract in wrestling history. He then negotiated a very lucrative contract with WCW, and has been performing with them ever since. At the time, he was the reigning WWF World Heavyweight Champion. In his farewell match with the WWF, Bret, his opponent "Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels, and WWF owner Vince McMahon agreed that the match would end in a disqualification.

Before the match began, at Survivor Series 1997, Vince McMahon assured Bret that everything would go as planned. However, about twenty minutes into the match, while Shawn Michaels had Bret in the Sharpshooter, which is a submission hold, and is Bret's own finishing manoeuver, Vince McMahon had the time keeper ring the bell, and end the match. Video review and eyewitness accounts both show that at no point from when Michaels locked the Sharpshooter into place and the match was called, did Bret submit. In fact, he reversed the hold, and looked to anticipate a move from his opponent, but only saw Vince McMahon with the WWF World Title, ready to give it to Shawn Michaels. This betrayal led to a locker room confrontation between Bret and McMahon, resulting in McMahon being on the receiving end of a punch from Hart, breaking Bret's hand, and Vince's jaw.

So how might a union affect this sport, since professsional wrestling isn't a pure sport, but sports entertainment? Continuing with the MLBPA as a model, and examining the setup of the federations involved with professional wrestling, the benefits for the management, the wrestlers, and the fans can be explored.

Management:
Currently, there are several independent federations worldwide, with two international federations, and a semi-international federation just recently becoming more popular. If the independant federations were combined under the three top federations (the three international federations mentioned above) and used as the "minor leagues" to help train and develop younger wrestlers and veterans who need tuning up, the federations responsible for those smaller independent federations could ensure a level of quality in their international and national television broadcasting and pay-per-views. Also, the top three federations could arrange their television times, thus eliminating the ratings war that lowers the entertainment of the pay-per- views, due to the need for practical "mini pay-per-views" every week, in order to receive higher ratings than the other federation. Luckily, the third largest federation, Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) is small enough that their television is unaffected by the war between WCW and the WWF.

Wrestlers:
Situations similar to what happened to Bret Hart would be a thing of the past if professional wrestlers were to unionize. Under a common banner, the union could meet with the owners of the federations and negotiate such common sports contract items as salary caps, minimum age for free agency, and injured player benefits. Also, families of wrestlers who die unexpectedly, such as Brian Pillman, in October 1997, and Louie Muciollo (aka Louie Spicolli, aka Rad Radford) in February 1998, could receive special benefits such as the remainder of their deceased relative's pay, etc., which they currently do not get. Special funds had to be initiated for both the Pillman family and Muciollo family to help with funeral costs and, in hte case of the Brian Pillman Memorial Fund, to help other wrestlers that may have the problem Brian had, with pain killers and a weak heart. Furthermore, as system could be prepared where wrestlers could be traded back and forth between the three top federations, much like players are traded in other organizations like Major League Baseball, the NHL and the NBA.

The Fans:
What can be said about the effect on the fans of professional wrestling? With a possibility of joint ventures such as combined pay-per-views and maybe an occasional benefit show, level of competition and entertainment in the industry would skyrocket. Many matchers that fans dream about could occur, as well as matches that may never have happened could also be given a chand to take place. Rosters of the federations could be evened out with the trading of wrestlers back and forth. Quality matches could be seen, due to the development of technique and gimmick in the minor league federations, instead of the odd great match, surrounded with gang-brawls, and squash jobs.

(Note: The following paragraph was included here, due to the fact that all of these things are affected by the fans ... H4L)

Also, many wrestlers may not have to job just to get a new wrestler over with the fans, as there will be an even enough field of play for all wrestlers who are beginning their time in the big leagues that the talent and skills that they developed in the smaller federations should be enough to entice some sort of feeling from the fans. Furthermore, the lack of ratings war would result in more talent being involved in television and pay-per-view events, allowing a greater field of wrestlers to be recognized and allowed to move into the upper echelon of wrestling talent. Lastly, wrestlers who have immense talent in and out of the ring and sizable fan bases, yet have not held a title, which they so richly deserve, will be able to move to another federation, where they will have a chance to be treated fairly.

Upon examination of the MLBPA and the professional wrestling industry, and speculation on what might happen if professional wrestlers were to organize into a union, one conclusion can be made. A union in this sport would benefit not only the wrestlers, but management and wrestling fans alike. Unfortunately, there may never be such a union in professional wrestling.

Major Points:
-No labour union exists in professional wrestling

-Many wrestlers are upset with their promotion at any given time

-Television Rating wars ruin the caliber of pay per view events, as well as most of the television shows themselves

-How things could change:

- Independent federations could be organized into a "minor-league" system

- The top federations could cooperate occasionally to provide the viewers (their chief source of income) what they want to see

- To ease workplace tension, free trading between federations could occur, also allowing for some of the viewers wants to be met

- Moving from one federation to another could be smoother, and allow for more even rosters, which also allows for more talent to be showcased on the television and pay per view events

- The chances of such a union existing are slim to none ... unfortunately ...

Thanks for taking the time to read this essay ... I can only hope that someone who can do something about this has read it and been inspired to unionize the great sport of professional wrestling ...

Harts 4 Life

Sources:
"MLBPA History" - http://www.bigleaguers.com/411/history.html

Dave the Rave's Run For Cover - http://web2.airmail.net/bobb/rave.html

WICN Newsboard - http://www.mdk.com/wicnnewsboard/index.html

HadesWrestling Newsboard - http://www.hadeswrestling.com/

Scoops - http://www.scoopscentral.com/

Iwrestling Newsboard - http://www.iwrestling.com/

Special thanks to: The Balrog's Lair http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Track/5869