This has been quite unpopular with most workers but now its being reported that John Cena and the Undertaker don't have to follow it. Cena because it would conflict with his character and Undertaker just because he's the Undertaker.
I strongly believe that professional attire must worn in professional settings, however, I fail to see how this is needed in the business of professional wrestling. Cena doesn't have to follow it because it doesn't fit with his character, but can't this be applied to most workers? Nobody expects a wrestler to be well dressed unless that goes accordingly with their gimmick ie - Evolution, Rock, Million Dollar Man.
I guess this is Johnny Ace's idea since they were doing it in WCW. Another wonderful idea brought to you from the guy that didn't want to push Mattitude. I think its ridiculous, these guys deserve a personal life. I want to see Jericho and HHH in shirts and jeans, because it makes them more human to me. I just think this is another hit to the moral to a locker room that has taken one too many hits lately. I say let them dress how they want.
Suitwise, that'd be HHH, Flair, Batista, JBL, Jordan
It wouldn't fit RVD, Jericho, or Christian to wear a suit.
World Champions should wear a suit. There are an infinite number of options. Some of my suits are more comfortable than my street clothes.
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Professional Attire for a group of guys that are jacked up, have green hair, half shaved heads, tribal tattoos, and funky facial hair just makes for a strange combination.
First, it should be clarified what the dress code is. And that's slacks and a dress shirt. Ties and jackets/blazers are optional - repeat, they are not mandatory. Even then, the men are allowed to leave the top button undone on their shirts. Oh, and polo shirts are not allowed to substitute for the dress shirt. The local WWE rep, where I live, covered this on a radio call-in show last weekend.
1. It's not much to ask your employees to wear slacks and a shirt.
2. Nobody's asking them to go buy a $500 suit.
If these vague internet reports are even true, it sounds more like a case of people not wanting to do something only because they're being ordered to do it. This is being made out to be a bigger issue than it actually is. Why does this issue only pop up on slow news days?...
I have two friends that are pro athletes and no one tells them what to wear. Being one is a football player and one is a golfer they dress comfortable until it is game time. At game time, pads go on or sponsor shirts are worn, not before. Asking pro wrestlers to dress as stock brokers at all times is just as silly as telling them to dress as their characters at all time.
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Originally posted by TopTenProI think the dress code is crap!
I have two friends that are pro athletes and no one tells them what to wear. Being one is a football player and one is a golfer they dress comfortable until it is game time. At game time, pads go on or sponsor shirts are worn, not before. Asking pro wrestlers to dress as stock brokers at all times is just as silly as telling them to dress as their characters at all time.
Of course, Golfers are independent contractors, so that's between them and their sponsors and other handlers.
I believe I can speak to football though. I played college ball and knew many guys in the pros. We wore suits at all times while traveling, both at college and at my other team. required. The boosters supplied our suits at school, at least for those of us who were struggling along. (I was NOT scholarship until my Junior year). My friend Keena played a bunch of years for the 49ers and he always wore a suit traveling with the team.
It's just image. I suspect a lot of that has changed today and those rules no longer apply.
Now, is it ok for me yell THEATRE! in a crowded fire?
All wrestlers are viewed as Independent Contractors by the Federal Goverment and thats what they check off come tax time.
I was talking to my father about the dress code thing and he said legally the WWE has no right to impose a code or fine them since they are not employee's if under the eyes of the law they are Independent Contractors.
I have it on good authority that the only people in the company who take the dress code seriously are Vince and Triple H. Other then them no one takes it seriously.
Basically when it comes down to it, it's another McMahon pet project for himself and a select few to gloat over.
When I heard about that dress code, I just rolled my eyes. It does sound like it's all HHH and Vince's idea--they always dress like that anyway. Any bets on how long this policy stays in place? Man, it's hard even to picture some WWE employees in anything with a collar and buttons.
This style of management reminds me a little of the VP of operations at a company I worked at ten or twelve years ago. Every three to six months he'd read a new business book, and the whole hierarchy would get rearranged, everyone's titles would shift to something else, and he'd institute something just about as silly as a dress code for grownups. Grownups with green hair and tats, natch. This company was in the sort of business where people with nose rings felt right at home. But as I say, each questionable idea only lasted so long before the next one came along.
Originally posted by TopTenProI think the dress code is crap!I have two friends that are pro athletes and no one tells them what to wear. Being one is a football player and one is a golfer they dress comfortable until it is game time. .
John Daly is an athlete? Sorry cheap shot I know.That been said golf is an individual pursuit and individuals may choose to dress as they wish.
Here in Australia we have 2 major team sports..Australian Rules Football and Cricket. It is a requirement of all cricketers to be seen arriving and leaving airports in dress pants shirt tie and blazer/team jacket. On most other occasions they have tv appearances it is expected they wear the official team tracksuit.
In the Aussie Rules context for tv appearances sponsored polo shirts are the order of the day and for airport appearances once again team dress is required..this can range from tracksuits to suit and club ties.
It is far better seeing an athlete and a REPRESENTATIVE of your country or state in neat proffessional attire. It sends a message of strength confidence and respect for what you are trying to achieve.
That been said I do agree some wrestlers will not look good and it would cross the line between character and person. Can you imagine the Missing LInk In a suit?
There's an unwritten rule in the NHL that when players are arriving at the arena (or leaving after the game), they are to be wearing suits or at least dressy clothes. The NHL wants to be seen as a fancy league, so they encourage the players to do things like this.
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Here's what Lance Storm had to say about the dress code, when someone asked him about it during a Q and A session:
I can see both sides to this. I’m not a big fan of blanket policies, but some people needed to professional up a bit. Looking good is an asset, but it does cost us our individuality, which is very important in wrestling. We must relate to our fans and have them relate to us. Austin is a prime example. He wore jean shorts and T-shirts, and was a Texas Red Neck. People saw that that was real and related to it. I also think that if we all dress up, HHH and Evolution lose part of their uniqueness. I think there is a happy medium that might better serve everyone, but guys showing up at airports in tank tops and ripped sweats had to stop.
I think this dress code has more to do with that last part than with Vince & HHH wanting to boss people around.
Furthermore, I see no problem with this dress code & I dont think it's too much to ask to have your performers to look respectable when in public. These guys are supposed to be "SuperStars", nothing wrong with asking them to dress that way.
I wonder what wrestlers are showing up in "tank tops and ripped sweats" at airports. That ripped sweats thing is kind of scuzzy...it brings to mind Daryl from Tough Enough 1.
If the object of the dress code is to make wrestlers seem classy and professional, there are a ton of things they should be doing before "dress code" even makes a top 10 list. Having wrestlers show up in a suit, then going out there and having women call each other cum-guzzling whores and having Jerry Springer-level storylines is kind of working backwards.
This is no different than asking people to come to your wedding dressed nicely. In fact, it's less than that, because at a wedding, you'd almost expect a tie and jacket to be worn. The WWE's dress code is only slacks and shirt. Nobody's being told to wear a blazer and tie here. This is a matter of class and some people being babies. (big roll of the eyes if some wrestlers are actually complaining about slacks and a shirt)
Possibly my disdain for dress codes stems from the fact that I usually dress in the top ten percent at any job I have. I want to stand out from the hoi polloi. Let people find their own level. OK, I admit ripped sweats are out of the question for anything other than digging ditches--but what's wrong with jeans and a polo shirt on a wrestler, for heaven's sake? WWE needs a sense of proportion.
So the attire that wrestlers wear should be more "professional" than their street clothes?
John Cena, rightfully so, is allowed to dress in a manner that is consistent with his character. So then would Stone Cold. But what of Euegene, who would look out of place in a suit, but shouldn't be expected to be "in character" at al times either.
And I'm sorry, but analogies to pro athletes are not apt. They aren't in a professional LEAGUE, nor are they representatives of a professional TEAM. They are independent contractors; that they lack union representation and collective bargaining is well-documented. This means that while something like a dress code can be instituted in a company, asking wrestlers to include that their travel time and public appearance time be part of their period of employment is unfair. These men are ENTERTAINERS, with tattoos and ripped physiques and distinctive hairdos. Individuality is what drives their marketability. We as fans are not being asked to think of wrestlers as worker bees in a corporate entity; we are being expected to stomach Chris Jericho as a rock star, Rodney Mack as a gangsta, and Rhyno as a bloodthirsty man-beast.
And what planet does WWE management live on? No jeans? Collared dress shirts are okay, while polo shirts are not? Wrestlers have more in common with rap artists and rock stars than they do you or me While I can certainly understand that wrestlers should look "presentable," there is a such thing as going too far.
Originally posted by chillThis is no different than asking people to come to your wedding dressed nicely. In fact, it's less than that, because at a wedding, you'd almost expect a tie and jacket to be worn. The WWE's dress code is only slacks and shirt. Nobody's being told to wear a blazer and tie here. This is a matter of class and some people being babies. (big roll of the eyes if some wrestlers are actually complaining about slacks and a shirt)
Do you REALLY want me to outline the various ways that the WWE is MUCH different from your wedding?
Look, I get that WE have to conform to certain standards as a condition of employment, but one reason why people become wrestlers is that they are unable or unwilling to conform to the social norms of "professional behavior." Do the fratboy antics of your average wrestler sound like what happens at your job? Does the rampant nepotism, sexual objectification of women, grudgeholding, and scrutiny into personal lives happen in your company? It's a DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT, and I doubt very much that the average fan thinks less of Rey Mysterio if he sees him at the airport wearing a denim suit, boots, and a Rey Mysterio T-shirt. I might think less of Kurt Angle if I see him in an ill-fitting slacks and blazer combo. They must've forgotten that they did their best business when the wrestlers were COOL. If I had seen DX in suits where it wasn't a special occasion, I'd want to vomit. If had seen the Ultimate Warrior or the Road Warriors in a suit back in the day, I'd have stopped being a mark, and WWF would've lost out on thousands of dollars.
The fact that they are independent contractor's is a non-point. It would seem that they are contracted solely to the WWE and this contract could include dress codes for any traveling related to the WWE.
Originally posted by xwesleyxThe fact that they are independent contractor's [sic] is a non-point. It would seem that they are contracted solely to the WWE and this contract could include dress codes for any traveling related to the WWE.
That would be a subsequent modification to an existing contract, unenforceable for lack of consideration. Employment contracts usually have some sort of catchall provision, but the crucial element behind INDEPENDENT contracting, is that they are contracted for the work they do, but they are otherwise unsupervised and independent. Supervision and control are the two hallmarks. But I'm not really debating the legality, because WWE can do what they can do, leaving it to the wrestlers to ask for their release if they see fit. I am arguing fairness, and I can't in good conscience say that I agree that when you consider the myriad sacrifices these men and women make, that it is fair to impose that additional requirement on them with no compensation.
WHY? WHY? WHY weren't Carlito and R-Truth there? WHY did everybody contribute to the "pros talk about folks" vignettes except Carlito? WHY? That drives me nuts.