I've got a challenge for you, wrestling fans. Take up the challenge and I'll tell the internets about your generosity next time around. Read on for more details.

I've always been a donor to worthy causes. I'm happy to part with some cash for those "less fortunate than me."

A couple of Christmases back, I set my wife, Sasha, up as a child sponsor with World Vision. It's great to get letters from Sugey in Nicaragua and find out what a difference World Vision is making to her and her village.

More recently, our donation money goes to Starship Children's Health, Heart Children, Ronald McDonald House Charities  and the Northland Electricity Helicopter. After our daughter Taimania's heart complications at birth, those four will forever be on our list.

I remember the first organisation I backed with my hard earned cash. When I was 13 or so, I got my first job, working at a gas station. I worked after hours and on weekends for years and looking back, I really enjoyed it. I worked with some great people and had a lot of fun. I worked a lot of hours, and had a bit of cash to show for it which I saved like a miser.

But I've always believed in the adage "you get back what you give out", so I started donating soon after.

And my first charity of choice? The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Ironically, I started donating to the WWF about the same time I started watching the WWF. You know, the wrestling. The World Wrestling Federation, that is. It seems quite incredible that it has been six years since the WWF became WWE. A large proportion of fans won't understand how much cooler "I am the World Wrestling Federation Champion" sounds than "I am the WWE Champion".

Some of you know what I'm talking about.

So what happened?

Well, the WWF and the WWF (keeping up?) had shared the same initials since 1979. In 1994, the two organisations signed an agreement that would allow WWF (the wrestling organisation) to keep using the phrase "WWF" - under certain strict conditions.

Long story short, the explosion of WWF's popularity through the Internet and satellite television (read: greater global reach) was the catalyst for WWF (the wrestling organisation) to be in breach of the agreement, and the WWF (the environmental organisation) sued the WWF (wrestling) for unfair trading practices in 2000 claiming the Fund and the Federation were being confused.

The Fund won the initial legal case in 2001 and the appeal in 2002 and the Federation was forced to change their name and logo to what we know today.

What's more, the Fund sued the E in 2002 claiming $360 million in damages - but this time, the E won the case.

That is all good and well, and when you look at both arguments, probably quite warranted. The Fund pre-dated the Federation, Vince & Co. got sloppy or arrogant - or both - and the rest is history.

Fast forward to 2008 and the plethora of great WWE DVD titles we now have available. You know the ones - showcasing the career of your favourite Superstar.

Part of the 2001 ruling meant that the "Attitude era" logo would need to be blurred and the phrase WWF would need to be bleeped out. And this, my friends, is why it sucks to watch a match from 2001 on a newly released DVD.

No matter how they try, it is very off-putting watching The Rock battle Steve Austin at WrestleMania X-Seven with JR proclaiming it's for the "WW- Championship!" Or Austin saying "I will become the WW- Champion!"

What I'd like to do, in the privacy of my own home, is put on a compilation of matches and enjoy them as I remember them - in all of their WWF glory. But sadly, that is not to be.

It's a real shame that the F and the E (and more importantly, the judge) weren't able to say "You know what? The E screwed up. You can't be the WWF any longer, but we're happy for you to use the offending logo and phrase in existing video libraries for future home video releases."

Okay. So that's "perfect world" stuff and would go against the entire point of the case. But one can dream.

As stupid as my wife thinks it is, I'll never donate a cent to the WWF (Fund), again.

But it's not just the WWF vs. WWF saga that is ruining my wrestling memories, fans.

Second on my list of bugbears is music licensing. Anyone who has purchased any of the "Anthology" series (all WrestleMania, Royal Rumble or Summerslam events in one pack) will have the sour taste in their mouth of hearing new, generic WWE-produced music slapped over the top of some wrestlers classic entrances. What makes them worse, is the absolute muppet that produced this part of the DVDs. The voice-over ring introduction made by Howard Finkel is amateur at best.

Now, I don't blame the Fink for this. I mean, being in a sound booth can hardly get you as worked up as being in front of 50,000 fans, but if the muppet (yes, I'm calling you a muppet again) that was in charge of this segment had half a brain, or any idea of how a live event sounds, they would've spent a little extra time to make it just that bit more authentic.

It just reeks of "get it patched and get it out the door." It wouldn't have been rocket science to make it a little more seamless.

The Summerslam Anthology has done a (slightly) better job. But it's still very obvious that music has been post-produced. It's enough to stop me from being in the moment and remembering how great event X was.

But we can't blame the hippies (the Fund) for this one. No, this is all to do with music licensing. The E doesn't hold the rights to certain songs any longer, so many are over-dubbed with generic crowd noise and music to cover the fact. I often wonder how much the E would need to spend to keep these events as pristine as possible. Just like they were when they were released. Surely it wouldn't break the bank and would provide a greater fan experience.

I recently picked up the Summerslam Anthology from JB Hi-Fi in Australia and gave Summerslam 88, the first of those events, a quick run through. Just one of the entrance themes were overdubbed - that of Don Muraco. So, it would seem, less and less are being replaced which is nice. Although the overdubbed ring announcing is still very obvious.

Here's another bugbear...

I always enjoyed the commentary of Jesse "the Body" Ventura. And with those compilation DVDs I spoke of earlier, it's very frustrating to see Ventura commentating in the events... with all of his speech cut out. Instead, we're treated to Tony Schiavone or JR commentating by themselves with long gaps in between.

This one is down to the E not wanting to pay Ventura royalties (I believe) for his commentary work with WCW. I haven't looked into the finer points of this (I doubt the E pay Schiavone royalties for example, but maybe Ventura had some special arrangement with WCW which means the E don't own that portion of the recordings... I don't know...).

There are a few examples of selective post-production that come to mind where the video or DVD had a different version of reality to the live event:

• As mentioned in my last outing, Nick Patrick's "normal count" sped up to a "fast count" at WCW Starrcade 1997
  
  
• At WrestleMania 22, Mickie James rubbing Trish Stratus' crotch and then smelling her hand - okay, so most normal people may not care, but this was one of those "holy shit, can you believe she did that??" moments
  
  
• At Survivor Series 2002, during the six-man tag opening bout, Rico Constantino was straddling the top rope and did his best to appear like he was losing his balance, while waiting for Jeff Hardy, his opponent, to come and knock him down. After a ridiculous amount of time (we're talking a good 30 seconds of "balance regaining" here), Rico yelled "C'mon Jeff!!" Hardy soon followed to complete the spot

Those last three are just a bit of fun - but the logo blurring, WWF bleeping, dodgy music, poor ring announcing dubbing, non-Jesse Ventura commentating content that we're being delivered is a real shame. The E are doing a great job at getting all of this old footage to us - it's just a shame we can't relive them in all their glory.

But hey. What can you do? Nothing. We get what we're given and legal and financial decisions will dictate the way you can watch historical wrestling bouts. Unless you're able to hold on to your original recordings and upgrade them as technology moves ahead.

What about you? Does the blurring and bleeping frustrate you? Or don't you really mind? What match or event do you wish wasn't blurred so you can watch it in its former state? I'd love to hear what you think, so drop me a line at .

I got a good hunk of feedback from former-WCW fans with their memories of the Starrcade 1997 build up. It really was a great time to be a wrestling fan.

Some people were confused over my comment that Nick Patrick made Bret Hart look like a jackass, though. So let me explain...

Patrick was supposed to make a fast count, and Bret would come out and say "hey, I got screwed by a ref, I'm not going to let that happen to Sting!" Patrick's count was normal speed - for whatever reason - but Bret still had to tell his part of the story. "Hey, that was a fast count!!" No it wasn't, Bret.

I hope that clears it up.

The challenge

I said I had a challenge, right? Let's see how generous wrestling fans really are. Simply donate to one of your favourite charities, with the details (your name, the charity name and the amount you donated - if you can copy and paste a receipt for verification, that'd be great, if not, just be as honest as you are generous) and I'll publish your name (or keep you anonymous if you'd prefer) and your donation info in my next Editorial. Hey - even if only one or two people donate a few bucks, at least we're saving the world in our own little way, right?

Most charities accept donations online or via phone / text messaging, so hunt out your favourite charity and get to donating! Some of the charities I've mentioned in this Editorial, as well as a few others thrown in for good measure (of course, please hunt down your preferred charity) include:

• Amnesty International
• Canteen
• Greenpeace
• Heart Children
• Northland Electricity Helicopter
• Oxfam
• Ronald McDonald House Charities
• SPCA
• Starship Children's Health
• Women's Refuge
• World Vision
• World Wide Fund for Nature

Looking around the site, there's a bit going on as always.

David is doing a tremendous job at keeping us all up to date with the latest in WWE programming. If you miss the shows, David's reports will keep you in the know. We also had an update on WWE going widescreen in New Zealand.

Kirsty's Editorial last week was an interesting piece on the role of women in professional wrestling. I know she'd love to hear your side of the debate.

And don't forget, Unforgiven is coming up, so keep an eye out for our pay-per-view Roundtable. Look for Dayna to get the inside word on results from her Crystal Ball... again.

Oh and finally - did anyone else catch our Simon Sweetman as part of the Panel on the Good Morning show recently? The crew were talking about Michael Jackson and participated in a game of Charades. Simon's rendition of "Smooth Criminal" was just abysmal. I mean, honestly Simon - watch the footage, who would've gotten that??

As always, Si was a great sport during the segment!

Until next time - CU!

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