Dinner With the King Recap – Starrcast Experience, Hatred of State Athletic Commissions, Roasting Bruce Prichard, More!

Lawler informs that he hates everyone associated with athletic commissions across the country, but he’s particularly critical of the athletic commission in Kentucky who’ve given him trouble for years. He points out that the commission had representatives present at every one of his Memphis shows from 1977-1997 and they’d take 5% of his ticket sales. They would also make all the wrestlers buy a “wrestling license”.
Lawler would often ask them why baseball or other sports didn’t fall under the athletic commission’s watchful eye. They’d say, “No, we just regulate wrestling”. Lawler met the athletic commissioner at the event this past week and publicly called him out for the way they rob money from the wrestlers and the promoters of these indie shows. He said he has no respect for anyone in the Kentucky Athletic Commission, and sent the commissioner on his way.

Lawler points out that he’s been challenging these State Commissions for years. Many states no longer have commissions because promoters from various promotions over the years have publicly challenged the commissions’ purpose and goal. Vince McMahon famously announced the scripted nature of professional wrestling in the 1990s in an attempt to protest the athletic commissions’ ability to tax his events.
Lawler notes that these state commissions would definitely play a factor in Vince McMahon’s decision making in terms of where he’d run WWE PPVs. He would be taxed 5% of his ticket sales if he ran a show in a state with an athletic commission, so it was always in his best interest to run his shows in a state where there was no commission.