[Emperor Smeat]

Apparently the on-going Jeff Jarrett vs. Anthem lawsuit over ownership of GFW somehow is also going to include an official ruling on wrestling being legally considered as a sport or as purely entertainment and none of that sports entertainment nonsense WWE's been spewing for decades.

Originally Posted by PWI Crenshaw also noted that whether the notion that professional wrestling is sport or entertainment for audiences has become the crux of one of Anthem’s claims for dismissal. One of the claims made against Anthem Wrestling by Jarrett and GFE is that the GFW Amped! Material being used violated The Tennessee Personal Rights Protection Act. Anthem has argued against this because sports broadcasts are exempt under Tennesee law. Stating this “may be the most interesting genuine issue of material fact”, Crenshaw reviewed a number of previous legal cases that led to some sports stating professional wrestling falls under sport while others have decided it falls under entertainment. As to where professional wrestling falls for this case, Crenshaw ruled: “For its part, the Court has no hesitation in concluding that Greco-Roman wrestling – as reintroduced in Athens, Greece at the first modern Olympics in 1896, and as practiced by high school and college athletes in gymnasiums and auditoriums across the country – is a “sport.” Professional wrestling is different, of that there can be little doubt. Some of its mystery over the years has been due to professional wrestling’s penchant for “kayfabe”: In the world of wrestling, the portrayal of staged events as real – the suspension of disbelief that is central to the proceedings – is known as kayfabe. For decades, maintaining kayfabe was de rigueur: “babyfaces” (or “faces”) [good guys] and heels [villians] didn’t ride together or associate in public, and reporters got slapped for suggesting that wrestling was fake. The line between kayfabe and reality began to blur during pro wrestling’s popularity boom during the late ’90s, and these days – thanks to the omnipresence of social media, the sunshine of the internet, and the WWE’s forays into reality TV – kayfabe is effectively dead. While “kayfabe” may now be dead, the staged performances and elaborate personas are not. In fact Plaintiffs proclaim that “professional wrestling involves a script, a predetermined outcome, and ‘out-of-arena’ content that involves storytelling and drama” that is “akin to live action theatre where the audiences does not know the outcome of the event, but the actors and actresses do.” Whether that is the case, or whether professional wrestlers are “athletes engaging in highly dangerous feats of athletic display” as Anthem Wrestling contends for the jury to decide.” So, the jury will decide, at least for the scope of the lawsuit, whether professional wrestling is sport or entertainment.