ECL Policies

In place of the usual clinical, detached language of the rules documents, the ECL Policies subheader contains an open letter to the fighters from Commissioner Zhang. It reads:

Alright. I’m going to be frank with you. These are the real rules.

All those other things were there to keep the matches running smoothly. They make sure things don’t get too hectic, and that we—and the audience—know who’s winning and why. And that’s a valuable and important function. We’re entertainers first and foremost, and the rules help to keep things fun.

But ECL Policies fulfill a far more important function: they help to keep things safe.

Some of you are probably thinking you can ignore this letter and flaunt the Policies. After all, you’re a real maverick, or a heel, or just a crazy bastard, and you break rules all the time and get away with it, right?

Wrong.

The match rules are there to keep things fun both by existing and by the potential that comes from breaking them on occasion. That’s not true of the ECL Policies. If they’re ever broken, even once, it means that someone—be they a fighter, staff, or audience member—has come to serious physical or mental harm.

That is absolutely unacceptable.

Therefore, any fighter who is accused of violating a Policy, accidentally or deliberately, is subject to an immediate disciplinary review. And I don’t mean the fun, sexy kind of discipline—I mean the kind that decides whether or not you get to stay in this League. Because if I should discover that you have deliberately transgressed one of these boundaries, you will be permanently banned from the ECL and every event, venue, and organization associated with it, regardless of your previous status or record. If the Champion herself broke one of these protocols I would show her the door just as fast as a rookie fresh out of training.

And should the violation be severe enough, I am fully able and willing to press criminal charges.

So don’t fucking do it.

With that in mind, here are the Policies: