TV WRESTLING WINS SLEAZE CHAMPIONSHIPS.

Byline: Ted Rueter

THE shootings at schools in Colorado, Georgia and Oklahoma have re- energized the debate over juvenile crime. Pundits and politicians have pointed to guns, R-rated movies, violent video games, Marilyn Manson concerts and family breakdown as causes of America's culture of violence.

I have another pernicious force to suggest: professional wrestling. The epitome of violence, sadomasochism and sleaze, professional wrestling is trash television for ugly Americans.

Wrestling is big business. Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling is on TBS and TNT. Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation is on the USA Network. The WCW reaches an average of 300,000 viewers for its pay-per-view events. The WWF is building a 1,000-room casino hotelin Las Vegas. Both groups sell action figures, neckties and greeting cards.

Two WWF wrestlers, who call themselves Mankind and The Rock, have autobiographies on best-seller lists.

Last August, Jesse Ventura, the governor of Minnesota, stepped back into the ring as a guest referee for the WWF's ``Summerslam'' shows. He made $1 million to $2 million on video sales and the use of his name.

Wrestlers pumped up on steroids use all sorts of great moves - eye gouges, chair smashing, low blows, choke holds, body slams, crude gestures and crass banter - to the background of fireworks and dazzling lights. In a recent broadcast, a wrestler was hung on a cross. ``Stone Cold'' Steve Austin, the top attraction of the WWF, is best known for extending his middle finger during matches and interviews.

Walter Gantz, a professor of telecommunication studies at Indiana University, analyzed 50 episodes of ``WWF Raw'' between Jan. 12, 1998, and Feb. 1, 1999. He found hundreds of instances of crude remarks, vulgar gestures, Satanic activity and simulated drug use and sexual activity.

Wrestling is overtly misogynist. Between matches, scantily-clad women parade around the ring. Women grapplers are subject to after-hours wrestling - a version of the Hollywood casting couch. Sable, wrestling's biggest female star, recently settled a lawsuit against the WWF in which she alleged that the business has become so obscene and so vulgar that she no longer wishes to be a part of it.

Another obscenity is the danger faced by wrestlers. At least 20 professional wrestlers have died in the last five years from wrestling injuries. On May 23, 1999, before 16,000 screaming fans, Owen Hart fell 90 feet to his death from a rafter in a Kansas City arena. After Hart's body was moved from the ring, the promoter decided that the show must go on.

Martha Hart, Owen's widow, has initiated a 46-count lawsuit against the WWF, contending that ``professional wrestling has become a showy displayof graphic violence, sexual themes and dangerous stunts.''

Unfortunately, many adolescent boys are imitating such behavior. Nationwide, teens are staging wrestling matches in their back yards, complete with the pile drivers and sexual innuendo they see on television.

There are backyard wrestling groups in 30 states. The Backyard Wrestling Federation broadcast teen matches through its Web site until it was closed down in July because of liability concerns.

The behavior of teen wrestling fans is not surprising. There have been 1,000 published reports on the impact of TV violence. Researchers for the National Institute of Mental Health say there is overwhelming evidence that violent entertainment causes violent behavior. For example, homicide rates doubled within 15 years after television was introduced into specific areas of the United States and Canada.

Professional wrestling is a destructive influence on adolescent boys who already face trouble. Harvard Medical School professor William Pollack, author of ``Real Boys,'' argues that today's young males are prone to depression, isolation, despair and aggression. According to Pollack, today's young males suffer increasing rates of attention-deficit disorder, school absenteeism, psychiatric disorders and suicide.

Corporate America is in bed with professional wrestling. Burger King, Western Union, Gatorade and Universal Studios all advertise on the Monday night WWF show. There were sex-saturated ads for wrestling during lastyear's Super Bowl. Little Caesar's latest ads have a wrestling theme.Ted Turner, the man who gave a billion dollars to the United Nations and shows ``Andy Griffith'' reruns, has sold his soul for wrestling cash. Commendably, Coca-Cola recently severed its relationship with the WWF.

As a child growing up in Minnesota, I was a big fan of the local wrestling show. Every Saturday evening at 6:30, I watched WTCN's matchesfrom the Calhoun Beach Club. I remember Verne Gagne, Dr. X, the Crusher and the Bruiser competing for the ``world championship'' of the metropolitan mosquito control district. The studio was the size of a garage. Therewere no crazed crowds. There were no wild stunts. There were no nearly naked women.

I recently saw another wrestling old-timer, Mad Dog Vachon, at a fair. The veteran of 13,000 matches, Mad Dog was charming and amusing. He also commented that contemporary wrestling is a ``complete disgrace.''

A few months ago, the v-chip was introduced into all new televisionsets in America, designed to block out violent programming. What we neednow is the ``W-chip.''