Tell me! The International Brotherhood of Grapplers, Luchadors and Midgets (IBGLM)

[thebitterguy]

viktor_haag was wondering, after listening to Bret Hart yesterday, why wrestlers have never formed any kind of union.

I'm also wondering. I know a bunch of you have more knowledge about both the history of wrestling and unions, so does anyone have any insight/thoughts?

Comments

[nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com]

They get blackballed when they try. The biggest guys, who are the hardest to blackball, are well-fed enough not to put their asses on the line for the undercard, especially when they also get management (ie. booking) responsibilities and can thus take care of themselves.

The brass is very canny; wrestlers are often meatheads. They get played against one another, shifted around, blackballed, and are mostl y easily replaced. There won't be a union until either SAG makes a move to unionize them for being on TV or until there is enough locker room solidarity that the lights go up on a live TV show or PPV and nobody comes out of the prep area until demands are met.

[indefatigable42.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, the question this brought to mind is whether there are unions for adult film actors.

I can't google this while I'm at work. ;)

[thebitterguy]

Probably not, and probably for the same reasons as in pro wrestling.

[adamjury.livejournal.com]

There isn't; but better safety standards are in place through self-regulation and adherence to local law [in the USA, mostly California.]

[thebitterguy]

I wonder what the list of adult film actors who died prematurely looks like compared to professional wrestlers.

[adamjury.livejournal.com]

http://rame.net/faq/deadporn/

[tfbretz.livejournal.com]

It would probably end up the same way as when a few drivers in NASCAR tried to unionize back in the sixties. They were told if they moved ahead, they'd never drive in the series again and that was pretty much the end of it.

[thebitterguy]

I'd never heard that. It sounds like it, from what Nik said.

[brand-of-amber.livejournal.com]

I heard a story, once upon a time, about Jesse Ventura talking about setting up a union when he was in the WWF. Hogan, apparently, ratted him out, and the whole thing was quickly quashed.

It can be hard to set up a union in a field where you've got folks who crave fame and money, an elite few who get it, and a whole mass willing to sell their soul for a break. Add to that a divided history followed by a period of centralized domination by manipulative bosses, and you've got a situation where mass action is highly unlikely.

(I'm always pretty impressed that screen actors got a guild together, btw, as they fit a lot of those categories. Of course, the studios overplayed their hands, and the 30s had a history of mass movements lacking ever sense, and so far the wrestlers haven't gotten either of those breaks.)