WWE No way out 2009 - Age certificate question.

AckwelFoley

Hey.

Im not a pro wrestling fan at all so i need to ask the people that know.
My fiance's 8 year old kid is Wrestling Mad, loves it, watches the shows on sky sports the whole time and from what i see of it i dont have a particular problem with it, as ive noticed anytime a guy is about to take one to the head etc the camera cuts away.

However, he wants to get the WWE No way out DVD 2009 dvd, and i noticed its over 18 certificate.

My question, whats the difference between the show on daytime tv and the dvd that warrents the 18 cert?

Brolly

I don't know why the cert is 18 (maybe its because of the chamber matches), but the main difference between the DVD and for example Smackdown on a Saturday afternoon, is that the camera doesn't cut away when there is for example a chair shot.

Snakeblood

snyper wrote: »

Hey.

Im not a pro wrestling fan at all so i need to ask the people that know.
My fiance's 8 year old kid is Wrestling Mad, loves it, watches the shows on sky sports the whole time and from what i see of it i dont have a particular problem with it, as ive noticed anytime a guy is about to take one to the head etc the camera cuts away.

However, he wants to get the WWE No way out DVD 2009 dvd, and i noticed its over 18 certificate.

My question, whats the difference between the show on daytime tv and the dvd that warrents the 18 cert?

The show on daytime tv has cutaways from chairshots, and bleeps all but the mildest language, and blood isn't shown. THe matches in the PPVs might have blood (although they've gone PG lately so that PPV might not have any) and would tend to be more violent than the stuff in the tv shows.

This one, I think they're fighting in a metal structure and smashing each other's faces off it. None of that would be cut away from. THere's more explicit brutality, I'd say would be the big thing since the move away from sex and blood in the WWE.

D2D

Snakeblood wrote: »

The show on daytime tv has cutaways from chairshots, and bleeps all but the mildest language, and blood isn't shown. THe matches in the PPVs might have blood (although they've gone PG lately so that PPV might not have any) and would tend to be more violent than the stuff in the tv shows.

This one, I think they're fighting in a metal structure and smashing each other's faces off it. None of that would be cut away from. THere's more explicit brutality, I'd say would be the big thing since the move away from sex and blood in the WWE.

Brolly wrote: »

I don't know why the cert is 18 (maybe its because of the chamber matches), but the main difference between the DVD and for example Smackdown on a Saturday afternoon, is that the camera doesn't cut away when there is for example a chair shot.

Brolly and Snakeblood hit the nail on the head with their responses but Late-night Raw/SmackDown can show these chair shots as it's after the watershed. I think the 18 cert given to No Way Out is ridicoulos as its a 15 cert in the UK and TV-PG in America. From Royal Rumble 2008 to WrestleMania 25, 6 DVD's - Backlash 08 for some reason, 1 Night Stand aka Extreme Rules, SummerSlam, Unforgiven, No Way Out 09 and WrestleMania 25 are 18 cert. Mania 25 is 18's on DVD yet 15's on Blu-Ray, which dosen't make any sense??. I'm not too sure about Backlash 09, Judgmant Day 08 or Night of Champions 08 being 18's as I bought them over in the UK.

John 187

Also on No Way Out 2009 is the Shane McMahon Vs. Randy Orton match where Shane hit Randy with the T.V. monitor. That made Blood pour from Randy head. Might be a bit much for a eight year old but parental advisory and all that.

Brolly

Dare_2_defy wrote: »

Mania 25 is 18's on DVD yet 15's on Blu-Ray

Really? Where did you buy it? Mine has 15 on it (its the DVD, not Blu-Ray).

D2D

Brolly wrote: »

Really? Where did you buy it? Mine has 15 on it (its the DVD, not Blu-Ray).

The 1st weekend it came out, I checked in HMV and Golden Discs in Cork for it and they were both 18's. I bought it for my brother and I waited 2 more weeks for the Blu-ray

AckwelFoley

Thanks for the information guys.

Ive decided not to let him get it, and like all 8 year olds the tantrum is over and its long forgot about!

michael.etc...

snyper wrote: »

Thanks for the information guys.

Ive decided not to let him get it, and like all 8 year olds the tantrum is over and its long forgot about!

Probably sensible- the Randy Orton match is very violent, in addition to the Elimination chamber matches. I would recommend sticking with Wrestlemania with him for the moment- a show that strayed away from the red stuff this year. The most contentious match there is a hardy street-fight that's pretty short. And the more recent shows, even when they've featured gimmick matches, haven't included blood.

Red Sleeping Beauty

For what it's worth, I'd take the Irish age certificates with a grain of salt because I personally have no faith in the IFCO. They're a sham of an organisation.


The BBFC age limits are slightly more accurate (you'll notice the Irish ones are usually rated higher). There's this study/survey you might find worth reading - How do audiences perceive TV and video wrestling?. It's a few years old though...


There's a bizarre history of the censorship/certifying of wrestling videos by both the IFCO and the BBFC.

In 1997 the WWF released it's first video rated 18 by the BBFC. That was Wrestlemania 13. That event had this match here where Steve Austin is lacerated and bleeds quite a lot until passing out. There's also a "street fight" match where there's various weapons used in a big brawl style match. Up until that point, the age limits on WWF videos varied greatly. There's been videos with blood that have gotten only the PG (WrestleMania 8) and others have availed of the 12 (In Your House 13 - 1997). The BBFC bases their decisions on a variety of things, often down to minute details. Stuff like the number of gunshots in a film or a character's intent to cause harm to another character are scrutinised and they've employed various psycho-doctors to consult on a film with them. There's also something to do with the relationship between the viewer and the characters and whether or not an audience would emphathise or agree with a particularly violent or anti-social act. Some films have age limits that have swung on very specific acts in a film.

• Lethal Weapon 2 had a scene cut to get a 15 cinema cert - the scene had Gibson slam a bad guy's head in a car door which is a big no no for the BBFC.
• Menance II Society had to have a few seconds cut because there was a scene where someone broke into a car with a coat hanger - this has since been restored in subsequent releases.
• Star Wars II had a head butt removed in the UK (and as a result, Irish) release of the film because the distributors wanted a kiddie friendly cert and the BBFC wouldn't let them away with anything less than a 15 with a headbutt.

Anyways, oddly enough from around late 97/1998 for a good while, a lot of the videos had a "discretion" warning at the bottom of the label on the back. There were some videos edited to remove blood (No Way Out and Over the Edge '98) while others had full on profanity and were given the (E) cert * (Degeneration X, Austin 3:16 Uncensored).

Since the release of Royal Rumble 99, every major WWF/WWE home video release has had at least a (12) or (15) cert or (18) . Even shows that were previously rated as (E)* have now got restrictive age limits on them. It's not just the types of matches or whether or not there's blood or weapons in a match that's playing a part on their decisions . The types of moves and percieved violence or intent to harm is obviously now playing a factor on how a release is certified.

One reasoning the BBFC (and perhaps IFCO) apply when censoring video releases is that you can stop, pause and rewind the tape and "savour" the violence so to speak. (such was much of the reasoning behind establishing the video recordings acts anyway - allowing people control over how they watched a film like Straw Dogs was likely to deprave whereas watching it in a cinema was ok because your access was somewhat limited)



I'm rambling here so I'll finish up. I know the OP has made his choice so answering the question is a bit redundant but it's not just the content but also the "medium" that plays a part in how something is "certified". I'm assuming wrestling DVDs often get the 15 or 18 to restrict access of the product to younger children rather than allowing them free access. Young kids won't have the money to buy them DVDs so by proxy the censors are leaving it up to the parents - I saw a father ask his son did he want the John Cena box set there a while ago in HMV and that has an 18 despite Cena being a wrestler kinda marketed at kids.

I'm a fan of the "let parents/guardians decide" kinda thing and I've a feeling the censors are too becuase otherwise they'd outright ban stuff they didn't want children to see or put even more restrictions or warnings on them. Essentially they know there's people in your position when little Johnny asks for a wrestling DVD and it's up to you to decide. They put the age limits on them more to prevent 8yr old little Johnny getting that DVD and watching it unbeknownst to his parents rather than as a message to yourself that's it's not for kids. The BBFC age logos on the back sometimes include a short description of what's possibly on the tape. "Contains frequent violence, some bloody" and "Contains strong wrestling violence, some bloody" are two such "advisory" notes.




________
*(E) stands for "exempt for classification. This was usually given to things like fitness videos, sporting videos, some documentaries and other kinda factual or "non-fiction" releases. For a long long time wrestling vidoes fell into this category.

davrho

Spot on.
You migh notice folks that the dvd's you buy in Ireland that some have the Irish censors sticker stuck on the packaging over the top of the uk censors mark that is printed onto the cover.
I buy most my dvd's direct from silvervision so when I buy from the shops here it sticks out a mile. First dvd i pulled of the shelf there, Ric Flair & the Four Horsemen, has the blue stickers. Bought it in Gamestop.