Zach's Been Banned!

It's no secret that I'm not a big fan of Zach Gowen. I don't enjoy watching him wrestle. I never have done, and I probably never will. In my opinion Vince McMahon only hired him to prove the old adage that he can beat a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest.

I admire the kid for living his dream, for showing a tremendous amount of heart to try and make a go in the business he's loved for most of his life, especially with all that's happened in his life, but it still doesn't stop me from thinking that as far as the WWE goes he's nothing more than a freak show with a very short shelf life.

However, after reading some interesting news on various web sites, I'm led to believe that as far as Zach Gowen goes, and as far as my home country of Britain goes, political correctness is going a little too far.

It's been announced that the Independent Television Commission, the body that regulates commercial television in Great Britain, has ordered Sky to edit out all segments that involve Zach Gowen in either a wrestling or other physical encounters, because, in their view, this promotes violence towards disabled people.

This is a joke, right?

For years now we've lived in this politically correct society, where attitudes and certain words are no longer considered good. I'm not saying that we should return to a time where certain comedy shows were filled with tons of racial and political stereotypes, but isn't the ITC going a little over the top with this ruling?

Those that control that we see and hear on television will never truly get what professional wrestling is about. They will watch the occasional show, and make snap judgements about it's bad for the youth of today and it's a bad influence on people. Am I the only person who is getting a little fed up of this attitude?

I can understand why such segments, such as Brock Lesnar's attack on Zach, throwing him down a flight of stairs, would be edited out of the Saturday morning showings on Sky One, but what about the late-evening showings on Sky Sports, which is normally broadcast around 10pm? Surely this is a different case entirely?

This coming Saturday, if you're watching Smackdown on a Saturday night in Britain, during one of the commercial breaks, check out a few of the other channels. You'll find a couple of channels where you can telephone or send a text message to half-naked women lying provocatively on beds. You'll find a comedy show where people make jokes about doing unmentionable things to their cats. You'll probably find a couple of films where people are killed in a wide variety of ways, or the odd show where people will tell you how to improve your sex lives. You'll also hear a wide variety of words that I possibly couldn't repeat here. And Michael Parkinson interviewing someone.

But show a one-legged man "fighting" with another man, and show that one-legged man getting his ass kicked before recovering and kicking the crap out of his opponent, and you're doing something very, very wrong. According to the ITC that is.

This sucks, and once again shows that British television is run by a bunch of idiots with a set of double standards. They just don't seem to get it that those of us who watch wrestling do it because it's a form of entertainment.

It makes you wonder if the ITC would have done anything had Danny Kelly not written a small piece about Zach Gowen in the last issue of the Radio Times (Britain's equivalent of America's TV Guide). While Kelly's piece was a little uninformed and a little off the mark, had the one-legged wrestler not been mentioned in Britain's biggest selling television magazine, would they have cared?

All I can say is where were the ITC when Triple H was screwing a fake corpse? Or when Mae Young was giving birth to a hand? And no mention was made when Shane O'Mac had his gonads wired up to a car battery, or when Kane was stuffed in a car which later smashed into a truck.

They just don't get it, do they?