Keep Your Shirt On

One of the WWE t-shirts I own

Voters in Connecticut will not have to remove their WWE shirts, hats, or hoodies when they go to the polls Tuesday to vote.  Why would that even be a concern you might ask?  Well, it seems the Secretary of the State there, Susan Bysiewciz was concerned that if people showed up to vote in WWE merchandise they'd be campaigning for Linda McMahon.

Mrs. McMahon of course is the former CEO of the WWE.  She's currently running for the U.S. Senate.  Wednesday afternoon, a judge ruled that wearing items like a CeNation t-shirt or a DX do-rag would not influence undecided voters at the polls.  Ms. Bysiewciz wanted such items kept 75 feet away from the polling places, which is in accordance with Connecticut state law.  Vince McMahon filed suit Tuesday over the issue.  A judge ruled in his favor.

Clearly, this move to block WWE items was a political stunt and would not have been an issue with Linda McMahon had the same letter in parenthese behind her name.  (D) in this case.  I mean come on, Linda McMahon's face, likeness, image, etc. is no where on any piece of WWE merchandise I've ever seen.   So kudos to the judge for her decision.

Now on to the Stand Up for WWE campaign.  It's a good concept, but I think it's really only a part of the political machine.  Would we be seeing this if Linda McMahon wasn't running?  Or if she wasn't down in the polls?  I don't know, we'll never know really.

But I do think there is bias in this campaign in terms of how wrestling (the WWE specifically) and its fans are portrayed.    If Linda McMahon had served as CEO of the New York Yankees, would there be this much criticism?  Wrestling in general seems to be under a microscope more often and its fans are often stereotyped.

So by the judge laying the smackdown on this recent WWE merchandise ban is a victory for wrestling fans everywhere, whether you like WWE or TNA or ROH.