As a person who has been occasionally licensed as a wrestler/promoter since 2003, I can attest to the burden Virginia's regulation of "professional wrestling" poses to those who attempt to pursue the hobby. I say 'hobby' because, unlike the other activities the DPOR oversees, "professional" wrestling is usually anything but professional. The average attendance for events ranges from around 30-100 spectators, each paying between $5-$15 for admission, and costs for producing the events routinely outstrip revenues, even before the DPOR collects its fees. It is very rare that participants in these events are in any sense "professionals," earning less than $30 for their participation and holding full-time, unrelated jobs outside of the ring. 

The costs and restrictions imposed by regulation are prohibitive. I have been kept out of producing wrestling in Virginia because of these burdens, and I am not alone. If this were for any legitimate public safety concern I wouldn't mind, but I strain to find even a single legitimate end for the regulation of theatrical wrestling events. That admission is charged and pay-outs are (sometimes) made is not, in itself, enough of a justification. Producing wrestling is expensive--producers must be able to recoup their costs.

Despite its name, so-called professional wrestling is theater. That wrestling is regulated by the DPOR while other forms of theater are not is nonsensical. The simulated violence of wrestling is not substantively different than that which occurs in other plays and performances, and is decidedly less dangerous than are many of the sporting events that occur, without special licensing, on a daily basis. Though wrestling can be dangerous and may seem violent, any research would clearly suggest that it is far less dangerous than football and less violent than any number of unregulated media options available on the market. 

Unlike boxing and mixed martial arts, activities which would be illegal outside of the context of sanctioned competition and which have a history of criminal involvement which tends easily towards unsafe conditions, the activities in professional wrestling are not illegal anywhere except in the ring and have no such history. For this reason, many jurisdictions have removed their regulations on professional wrestling without incident. I believe that doing so in Virginia poses no public safety threat and frees citizens to persue their artistic and creative interests. I believe that even where there is a business element to wrestling events, DPOR regulation still fails to meet the State's own criteria that regulation be "necessary to protect public health, safety, and welfare." An unlicensed tattoo artist or architect might, quite feasibly, create a public health crisis, but it is very difficult to imagine how an unlicensed wrestler could cause the same kind of problems.

I believe theatrical professional wrestling should be fully deregulated in Virginia.