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Deregulation of Professional Wrestling in New Jersey took place in 1996 following the passage of Assembly Bill No. 2213 (1R) in the New Jersey Legislature which removed professional wrestling from the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board and exempted them from the State's sports tax. The change came about as a result of lobbying from the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) who had boycotted New Jersey since 1990 because of the tax.

History

Professional wrestling in New Jersey was regulated by the SACB as a legitimate sport. As a result, professional wrestling events in New Jersey could only take place if all wrestlers, referees and timekeepers were licenced by the SACB with doctors at ringside and taxes were paid on all ticket sales. The WWF had been calling wrestling "sports entertainment" for a number of years prior to 1989 however kayfabe was kept and it was still treated as a legitamate sport in the eyes of the SACB.

On 10 February 1989, WWF Chairman Vince McMahon testified in front of the New Jersey Senate at a hearing discussing whether professional wrestling should be deregulated. During the hearing, McMahon openly stated that professional wrestling was predetermined and not a legitimate sport stating it was "an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators rather than conducting a bona fide athletic contest." The motion passed in the Senate 37-1.

There was widespread anger from rival professional wrestling promotions at this break of kayfabe, who were quick to deny the statement. Memphis Wrestling champion Jerry "The King" Lawler stated "See, I told you that sort of stuff Vince McMahon's been doing up in New York wasn't wrestling". The National Wrestling Alliance's broadcasts on TBS then started to be show with the tagline "NWA - We Wrestle!", intended to infer that while the WWF was fixed, the NWA was real. The American Wrestling Association's Michael P.S. Hayes stated "These are real 'rasslers, they are under a commission". However the statement was inaccurate as the State of Georgia where the AWA was based did not have an athletic commission despite lobbying for one.

Deregulation

Despite the Senate vote, professional wrestling remained regulated in New Jersey. As a result the WWF boycotted the state because of the taxes that they would have had to have paid in order to put on a show in the state. The bill was delivered to the Governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman by The Undertaker, who watched over her shoulder as she signed it. However in 2000, the state brought in a law to regulate what they called "extreme wrestling". However this law did not apply to the WWF, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) or Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW).