More than two decades after Right to Censor debuted, it remains one of the most memorable groups in WWE history.
The stable, led by Steven Richards, was a fitting foil to the overall product at the time, as the company was in the thick of the Attitude Era.
In a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Richards explained how the group defied the odds by lasting as long as it did. He also reflected on how this portion of his career was beneficial, as it allowed him to tap into new aspects of his abilities as a performer.
“The interesting thing about the Right to Censor was, I don’t think it was supposed to be for the long term, and I don’t think it was supposed to turn into what it did,” said Richards. “It was obviously supposed to be a political statement against the Parent Television Council…. It was supposed to really be something of a middle finger and an “FU” to that.
“But also at the same time, it gave me the opportunity to really look at myself and have people look at me in a completely different light, that I can talk, and I can talk in this vein, not just the silly comedy.”
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Richards also explained how most characters or storyline elements that are based on politics tend to fizzle out in roughly a month, but Right to Censor was presented as more of a cult to prolong its longevity. He also argued that the group could have lasted longer, as it could have set up its members for success. Plus, Richards shared his idea that the stable could have explored getting The Godfather and Val Venis back to their uncensored gimmicks.
“There’s a lot of things I think that I’ve done that had more legs,” said Richards. “And I look at this in the vein of getting babyfaces over. I don’t look at it as a run of getting myself over. The heels are strictly there to really, in the end, get babyfaces over.
“We could have gotten a lot more babyfaces over. It felt a lot longer than a year because we were out there so much on everything. And it was really only about a year, maybe a year and a couple months. I think it could have had a really good two-year run where we could have figured out how to get Godfather back from the Good Father, how to get Val back to a porn star, if we could do it politically, obviously, with ads and stuff.
“I think we could have gone another year, just to springboard everybody into a different position.”
The full interview is available here:
