No, they aren't staging a production of The Book of Mormon.
L-R: Val Venis, The Goodfather, Ivory, Bull Buchanan, and Steven Richards.
L-R: Val Venis, The Goodfather, Ivory, Bull Buchanan, and Steven Richards.
Right to Censor was a professional wrestling Power Stable in the WWF from mid-2000 to early 2001.
The group was formed when wrestler Stevie Richards (now insisting on refering to himself as "Steven Richards") began to randomly appear on WWF programming, doing things such as cover up the bodies of scantily clad women or remove weapons from hardcore matches, apparently taking offense from them. He was eventually joined by Bull Buchanan, The Goodfather (formerly The Godfather), Val Venis, and Ivory. The group temporarily forced The Kat into its fold, after reclaiming her "right to nudity", but The Kat and the WWF parted ways before that storyline could completely play itself out.
The Right to Censor came out victorious in at least one match of every pay-per-view they participated in from mid-2000 to early 2001, from SummerSlam 2000 to No Way Out 2001. The group had a moderate level of success, with Buchanan and The Goodfather holding the WWF Tag Team Championship and Ivory capturing the WWF Women's Championship.
WrestleMania X-Seven was the symbolic end of the Right to Censor, as the stable lost all of the matches they were scheduled to participate in; Buchanan, Venis, and The Goodfather lost a six-man tag match against the APA and Tazz while Ivory lost her title to Chyna. The group was disbanded between April-May 2001 after feuding with The Undertaker.
Tropes:
- 10-Minute Retirement: For The Godfather, joining the stable meant he had to give up pimping (and become The Goodfather), but would return to his role sometime after the stable folded.
- Aborted Arc: The Kat was forced into the stable just shortly before she was released from the company, and before that storyline could fully play out.
- Arch-Enemy: Pretty much the entire WWF roster.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: All of the members wore a dress shirt and tie, even when wrestling.
- Became Their Own Antithesis: An element of the stable is that their Moral Guardians mindset meant a complete 180 from what their members stood for beforehand, with maybe the exception of Bull Buchanan, who didn't exactly have a defined long-term persona, before or after the group.note Steven Richards was famous for his days in ECW (as Stevie Richards); The Godfather was a wrestling pimp, and Val Venis was a wrestling pornstar. Ivory sort of zig-zagged it; as a member of the women's division in the Attitude Era she was a Ms. Fanservice by default, and was in fact introduced as one of the Godfather's Hos, "gifted" by him to Mark Henry (hence her name, as in ebony and ivory), but previously had also a Proper Lady gimmick in which she protested T&A in the women's division in early 2000, notably only participating in the Miss Rumble swimsuit contest at Royal Rumble 2000 reluctantly, which made her the most fitting addition to the group in hindsight.
- Braids of Action: Ivory was never seen with her hair down during her time in RTC.
- The Bus Came Back: Ivory in her RTC gimmick made a return at the 2022 Royal Rumble to verbally criticize the women’s roster for not being clothed enough. She was promptly eliminated by Rhea Ripley in mid-promo.
- Cardboard Pal: During her feud with Chyna as part of the stable, Ivory would carry around a cardboard Chyna.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: While in the RTC, Ivory was booked into a Bra and Panties match against Trish Stratus. Chyna interfered and stripped Ivory down to her underwear.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Inverted in regards to the group’s standing with the rest of the roster where nobody liked them to include the resident heel-friendly commentator Jerry Lawler.
- Evil Costume Switch: Anyone who joined the stable adopted their uniform of a white shirt, black tie and black pants. (Ivory initally wore a long black skirt, but it was later switched to slacks for more freedom of movement.)
- For Your Own Good: Their Catchphrase was "It's for your own good." "Because you do not know what is good for you!" was another.
- Foreshadowing: Ivory had protested some T&A in the women's division in early 2000, notably only participating in the Miss Rumble swimsuit contest at Royal Rumble 2000 reluctantly. Thus it wasn't too surprising when she joined the Right to Censor a few months later.
- Inconsistent Spelling: After joining the group, The Godfather insisted on being called The Goodfather.
- Leitmotif: "Censorship"
, featuring a shrill alarm siren. - Light Is Not Good: Everyone wore white shirts despite being heels. Val Venis even moreso, as beside the white shirt he would also wear white pants (as opposed to the others wearing black pants) for an all-white ensemble.
- Minor Insult Meltdown: Ivory and Steven Richards were guest hosts of the January 7, 2001 Sunday Night Heat. Richards asked host Michael Cole why they hadn't received the opportunities other WWE Superstars had. Cole said, "Maybe it's because nobody likes you," and Ivory sold it, putting her hands on her hips and acting offended.
- Moral Guardian: They were a group focused on combating what they saw as "gratuitous violence" and "unnecessary sexual displays" (such as Rikishi's stink face or Mr. Ass's mooning of the crowd). For a more specific example, while part of the group, Ivory was put in a Bra and Panties Match against Trish on the March 29, 2001 SmackDown!. Ivory got Trish's shirt off, meaning she was halfway to victory, and tried giving Trish back her shirt. Then Chyna came down to the ring and stripped Ivory, showing that she was wearing a white bra and white cotton panties. Ivory ran to the back. It's probably one of the few times someone was on the verge of winning a match that she clearly did not want to win.
- Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: Inverted, they were heel Moral Guardians who wore suits.
- Shout-Out: At Survivor Series 2000, Jim Ross compared Ivory's "repressed" persona while in the group to Lillith from Cheers.
- The Smurfette Principle: Ivory was the only woman in the stable for the most part. The Kat was briefly forced into the stable but she was released from the company before that storyline could fully play out.
- Take That!: The group was a parody of the Parents Television Council, which was protesting the level of violence and sexual content in WWF programming, and threatening to boycott several of their sponsors. This was more obvious in their abbreviation (PTC) resembling Right to Censor's (RTC).
- Too Dumb to Live: Steven Richards offered THE UNDERTAKER membership in RTC. Taker gave him the Last Ride for his efforts.
- Victorious Loser: An unintentional example, but while the stable may have been viciously hated and humiliated throughout their run but in the long run, with WWE eventually turning PG and removing the more extreme violence, blood, sexual content, and other mature elements, RTC can be considered to have truly won the censorship war in the long run, even long after they ceased to exist as a stable.
- Would Hit a Girl: Val Venis helped Ivory to give Chyna a spike piledriver.
