Editing Right to Censor

{{Short description|Professional wrestling stable}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2011}}
{{Infobox Wrestling team
|article_name= Right to Censor
|type= S
|image=Right_to_Censor_logo.png
|caption= 
|members={{Plainlist|
* [[Stevie Richards|Steven Richards]] (leader)
* [[Bull Buchanan]]
* [[The Godfather (wrestler)|The Goodfather]]
* [[Val Venis]]
* [[Ivory (wrestler)|Ivory]]
* [[The Kat]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://onlineworldofwrestling.com/bios/r/right-to-censor/|title=Right To Censor|work=Online World of Wrestling|access-date=2018-09-13|archive-date=2018-09-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913223442/http://onlineworldofwrestling.com/bios/r/right-to-censor/|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}
|names=
|former_members=
|debut= {{Start date|2000|07|17}}
|disbanded=June 14, 2001 
|years_active=2000–2001
|retired=
}}
'''The Right to Censor''' (frequently referred to as '''RTC''') was a [[Heel (professional wrestling)|villainous]] [[professional wrestling]] [[Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Stable|stable]] in the [[WWE|World Wrestling Federation]] (WWF, now known as WWE) from mid-2000 to mid 2001. The group was a [[parody]] of the [[Parents Television Council]] (PTC),<ref name="btr167">{{cite book|title=Between the Ropes: Wrestling's Greatest Triumphs and Failures|last1=Fritz|first1=Brian|last2=Murray|first2=Christopher|page=167|publisher=[[ECW Press]]|year=2006|isbn=978-1-55022-726-0}}</ref><ref name="steelchair148">{{cite book|title=Steel Chair to the Head|last=Sammond|first=Nicholas|page=148|publisher=[[Duke University Press]]|year=2005|isbn=978-0-8223-3438-5}}</ref> which was protesting the level of violence and sexual content in WWF programming, and threatening to boycott several of their sponsors.

Throughout the stable's existence, the team had held the [[World Tag Team Championship (WWE, 1971–2010)|WWF Tag Team Championship]] (Buchanan and Goodfather) and the [[WWE Women's Championship (1956–2010)|WWF Women's Championship]] (Ivory). The group feuded with several WWF wrestlers such as [[The Undertaker]] and [[Dwayne Johnson|The Rock]]. Right to Censor was ultimately dismantled by The Undertaker in April 2001, two months before its final dissolution.

==Characters==
The Right to Censor gimmick was a parody of the [[Parents Television Council]] (PTC) which actively campaigned against the company’s product in 1999. Its uniform was a white button up shirt and black tie, with black slacks for the men (although [[Val Venis]] wore white slacks on occasion) and a long black skirt for the women. Eventually Ivory, the only woman officially recruited to the group, was forced to adopt the black slacks out of necessity, due to the skirt limiting her in-ring abilities.

Entrances of RTC members were accompanied not by the standard musical theme but by the sound of shrill alarms and buzzers, with an underlying swing jazz beat, along with a monotone voice repeating the word "warning" over and over again.

==History==

===Formation and feuds===
The group was formed in July 2000 when wrestler [[Stevie Richards|Steven Richards]] began to randomly appear on WWF programming to cover up the bodies of scantily clad women or remove "[[Hardcore wrestling|hardcore]]" weapons such as tables from matches. He apparently took offense to the [[Acolytes Protection Agency|Acolytes]]' rowdy reputation and disapproved of the [[The Dudley Boyz|Dudleys]]' use of tables. He was eventually joined by [[Barry Buchanan|Bull Buchanan]], [[The Godfather (wrestler)|The Goodfather]] (formerly the Godfather), [[Val Venis]], and [[Ivory (wrestler)|Ivory]]. The group temporarily forced [[Stacy Carter|The Kat]] into its fold, but The Kat and the WWF parted ways before that [[Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Angle|storyline]] could completely play itself out. Before being forced into the group, The Kat was starting a group called Right to Nudity, which was to play on The Kat's [[Armageddon (1999)|infamous pay-per-view stunt]] where she appeared completely topless. Her group was what brought her to Right to Censor's attention.

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. At [[SummerSlam (2000)|SummerSlam]] on August 27, Richards, Buchanan, and The Goodfather won a 6-man tag match against [[Too Cool]] ([[Brian Christopher|Grandmaster Sexay]] and [[Scott Garland (wrestler)|Scotty 2 Hotty]]) and [[Solofa Fatu|Rikishi]]. At the next pay-per-view, [[Unforgiven (2000)|Unforgiven]] on September 24, the RTC (now with Val Venis) won an 8-man tag match against the [[The Acolytes Protection Agency|APA]] and the Dudley Boyz. Even though The Goodfather and Bull Buchanan lost the Dudley Invitational at [[No Mercy (2000)|No Mercy]] on October 22, Venis and Richards managed to defeat [[Chyna]] and [[Billy Gunn|Mr. Ass]] in a tag match. When [[WWE Women's Championship (1956–2010)|WWF Women's Champion]] Ivory joined the group, she won 3 pay-per-view matches in a row for the group. She defeated Lita in a title match at [[Survivor Series (2000)|Survivor Series]] on November 19 while The Goodfather and Buchanan lost a Survivor Series Elimination Match. The next month, at [[Armageddon (2000)|Armageddon]] on December 10, Ivory came out victorious once again in a triple-threat title match against [[Molly Holly]] and [[Trish Stratus]], and Val Venis also was victorious over Chyna. Meanwhile, Buchanan and The Goodfather continued the losing streak when they lost the [[World Tag Team Championship (WWE, 1971–2010)|WWF Tag Team Championship]] to [[Adam Copeland|Edge]] and [[Christian Cage|Christian]] in a Fatal Four-Way tag match. At the [[Royal Rumble (2001)|Royal Rumble]] on January 21, 2001, Ivory once again retained her title by defeating Chyna; on the other hand, Buchanan, The Goodfather, and Venis all failed in their attempt to win the Royal Rumble Match. The followed month at [[No Way Out (2001)|No Way Out]] on February 25, it marked the last time the RTC won a match at a pay-per-view when Steven Richards defeated [[Jerry Lawler]].

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 before entering into a high-profile [[Feud (professional wrestling)|feud]] with [[Chyna]].

===Split and future===
[[WrestleMania X-Seven]] on April 1 was the symbolic end of the Right to Censor, as the stable lost all of the matches they were scheduled to participate in,<ref name=Encyclopedia>{{cite book|title=[[WWE Encyclopedia]]|last1=Shields|first1=Brian|last2=Sullivan|first2=Kevin|page=[https://archive.org/details/wweencyclopediad0000shie/page/251 251]|publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley]]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-7566-4190-0}}</ref> Buchanan, Venis, and The Goodfather lost a 6-man tag match against the APA and [[Tazz]] while Ivory lost her title to Chyna.

On the April 26 episode of ''[[WWE SmackDown|WWF SmackDown!]]'', Richards, Buchanan, Val Venis, and The Goodfather faced [[The Undertaker]] in a 4-on-1 handicap match. The group was finally disbanded when Steven Richards was hit with the [[Powerbomb#Elevated Powerbomb|Last Ride]] by The Undertaker.<ref name=Encyclopedia/> The Goodfather, Buchanan and Val Venis all walked out and left him lying in the ring. The group's last match was contested on the May 24 episode of ''SmackDown!'', when Buchanan, The Goodfather and Ivory lost to [[Steve Blackman]], [[Grand Master Sexay]] and [[Trish Stratus]] in a tag match. Then Ivory and Richards made an appearance for [[Memphis Championship Wrestling]] losing to [[Rodney (wrestler)|Rodrageous]] and [[Lisa Marie Varon|Victoria]] on June 14, 2001. Following this match, RTC was officially disbanded, with Ivory appearing for the last time under the Right to Censor gimmick on the June 16 episode of ''Metal''. 

Ivory and Richards returned as members of [[The Alliance (professional wrestling)|The Alliance]] during the [[The Invasion (professional wrestling)|Invasion]] angle while Venis and Goodfather returned at the [[Royal Rumble (2002)|2002 Royal Rumble]] under their old personas. Steven Richards adopted a [[Heel (professional wrestling)#Types|psychotic]] [[Gimmick (professional wrestling)|gimmick]] while Bull Buchanan was briefly rebranded as '''B<sup>2</sup>''' (B-Squared) in 2002 and made a bodyguard for [[John Cena]] before departing the WWE in January 2003. The rest of the group reverted to their previous [[Gimmick (professional wrestling)|personas]] before the advent of the faction. Godfather was released in 2002 (and later inducted into the [[WWE Hall of Fame]] in 2016), Ivory in 2005 (inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018), Richards in 2008 and Venis in 2009.

The Right to Censor gimmick returned for one night at the [[Royal Rumble (2022)|2022 Royal Rumble]], when Ivory made a guest appearance in the women's [[Royal Rumble match]]. Ivory's participation primarily consisted of her cutting a promo deriding the roster's unladylike behaviour; she lasted thirty seconds in the match before being eliminated by [[Rhea Ripley]]. Buchanan's son, [[Brooks Jensen|Benjamin]], who wrestles as Brooks Jensen, is now signed with the company and, as of {{currentyear}}, currently performs in its [[NXT (WWE brand)|NXT]] developmental brand.

The righttocensor.com domain remained active for 19 years even after the group's dissolution; until mid-2002, the address redirected to WWF's/WWE's Superstars website, before WWE lost the domain to [[domain squatting|squatters]]. For unknown reasons, an unknown individual acquired the former website's domain in July 2020 and redirects the righttocensor.com domain to rival [[All Elite Wrestling]] (AEW)'s website.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thesportster.com/news/right-censor-website-aew/|title=The Website For A Lapsed WWE IP Takes Fans Directly To AEW.com|first=Josh|last=Coulson|date=5 August 2020|website=TheSportster|accessdate=27 March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whois.domaintools.com/righttocensor.com|title=Whois Lookup Captcha|website=whois.domaintools.com|accessdate=27 March 2023}}</ref> As of May 2024, the domain returned to squatters and contains advertisements for various unrelated services.

==Members==
<timeline>
ImageSize = width:900 height:200
PlotArea = left:170 bottom:60 top:0 right:50
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat  = mm/dd/yyyy
Period = from:06/26/2000 till:06/12/2001
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy

Colors =
  id:Leader    value:red    legend:Leader
  id:Member    value:black    legend:Member

Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom

ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:2001
ScaleMinor = unit:month increment:1 start:06/26/2000

LineData =

  at:06/26/2000 color:black layer:back
  at:06/12/2001 color:black layer:back

BarData =
  bar:Stevie text:"Steven Richards"
  bar:Bull text:"Bull Buchanan"
  bar:Goodfather text:"The Goodfather"
  bar:Venis text:"Val Venis"
  bar:Ivory text:"Ivory"
  bar:Kat text:"The Kat"

PlotData=

  width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
  bar:Stevie from:06/26/2000 till:04/24/2001 color: Leader
  bar:Bull from:07/17/2000 till:06/12/2001 color: Member
  bar:Goodfather from:07/27/2000 till:06/12/2001 color: Member
  bar:Venis from:09/04/2000 till:04/24/2001 color: Member
  bar:Ivory from:10/23/2000 till:04/24/2001 color: Member
  bar:Ivory from:04/24/2001 till:06/12/2001 color: Leader
  bar:Kat from:02/19/2001 till:02/27/2001 color: Member

</timeline>

==Championships and accomplishments==
*'''[[World Wrestling Entertainment|World Wrestling Federation]]'''
**[[World Tag Team Championship (WWE, 1971–2010)|WWF Tag Team Championship]] ([[List of World Tag Team Champions (WWE)|1 time]]) – Buchanan and Goodfather<ref name=Encyclopedia/>
**[[WWE Women's Championship (1956–2010)|WWF Women's Championship]] ([[List of WWE Women's Champions|1 time]]) – Ivory<ref name=Encyclopedia/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Official website|http://www.righttocensor.com/}}

{{World Tag Team Championship (WWE)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Right To Censor}}
[[Category:Censorship]]
[[Category:Freedom of expression organizations]]
[[Category:Parodies]]
[[Category:WWE teams and stables]]
[[Category:Championship-winning tag teams (WWE)]]