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Is WWE shifting away from its PG Era? Join us as we explore the latest developments on what this could mean for the future of WWE programming. From edgier storylines to more intense matches, we'll discuss the potential return to a more adult-oriented product. Don't miss out on the insider scoop and fan reactions!
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Play now to find out - https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe/brainbuster-wwe-player-guessing-game
Is WWE shifting away from its PG Era? Join us as we explore the latest developments on what this could mean for the future of WWE programming. From edgier storylines to more intense matches, we'll discuss the potential return to a more adult-oriented product. Don't miss out on the insider scoop and fan reactions!
You can also visit our site: https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe
#tripleh #therock #codyrhodes #livmorgan #dominikmysterio #romanreigns #wwe #wrestling #sportskeedawrestling
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SportsTranscript
00:00The WWE PG era in the eyes of some began in the summer of 2008, making a massive shift
00:07in the type of content being presented and who it would be more accepting to and more
00:12welcoming to.
00:14Timed along with the rise of superhero John Cena as the face of the company, Vince McMahon
00:20and WWE officials shifted the desire of their marketing abilities of the wrestling behemoth
00:26to a more family-friendly approach that kids could watch and products could be marketed
00:31to children on that content.
00:34The reason for this likely had to do with the change in times and more importantly a
00:38change in business strategy.
00:40It was simply more effective for WWE long-term to go PG.
00:44A PG TV rating meant WWE could attract more sponsors, different sponsors, increase its
00:50revenue and through broadcast deals balloon in a next few couple of years and perhaps
00:56even re-enter mainstream pop culture.
00:59Um, excuse me, was it ever out of mainstream pop culture?
01:02That's another debated topic.
01:04I'm Kevin Kellum, this is Sports Edo Wrestling, let us know what you think of WWE making content
01:10changes heading into 2025 in the comments below.
01:13The result of this seismic shift meant heavily scripted promos, characters that were at least
01:19a little bit more clear and had less dimension to them, and segments marketed towards children
01:25with tie-ins to products that were a little bit more broad than what we were seeing in
01:28the Attitude Era.
01:29A complete ban on chair shots to the head, less bleeding, no adult-oriented content featuring
01:37the Divas.
01:38Yeah, things were different than they were in the days of Attitude and the Ruthless Aggression.
01:43There's been a lot of debate about the years of PG Era because some fans, dudes between
01:48the ages of 18-34 and above, clearly had an issue with this time between 2008 and 2014,
01:56after which there were two years known as the Reality Era.
01:59Who is giving these terms?
02:01Who is the person that determines the eras, by the way?
02:052016, especially post-WrestleMania 32, was heavily marketed for a while as a New Era,
02:11and now some people are calling this current period a Renaissance Era.
02:15You guys are really about eras.
02:17Honestly, some of you guys need to calm down with the whole eras thing.
02:20It's getting a little bit too much Taylor Swift-y for me.
02:23Stand back!
02:24There's a new wrestling quiz coming through.
02:26Check out Brain Buster, the daily quiz that tests your WWE knowledge with winning strengths,
02:33stats and more.
02:34It's time to see if you're up for the challenge.
02:37For the sake of simplification, we're going to put those other things of the Reality Era,
02:42the New Era, under the umbrella of the PG Era.
02:46The reason for this is WWE is still technically TV-PG in North America, and that's why you
02:52see those annoying black screens recently pop up on network television on SmackDown
02:58when fans in New York started to chant The Pacers, and a black screen after a kid behind
03:05Nia Jax flipped her off on television.
03:08That kid's going to get in trouble once his mom sees that, right?
03:11The reason behind why that happened with Fox Network Television maybe changing the
03:15broadcast reception and editing and censoring things, is that just a sign of them getting
03:21out of the WWE business like they officially will in October of 2024 when SmackDown moves
03:26over to USA Network on cable TV?
03:28We don't know, or is it a sign of maybe WWE pushing the limits of TV-PG?
03:34But we gotta ask the big question that this video will ask, and we're not sure if we
03:38even have an answer to it just yet, is WWE moving away from PG?
03:44We're not exactly sure, but it appears like WWE could be making a move away from PG-rated
03:51content, and there are a lot of signs to prove that this is happening, and a lot of reasons
03:56for why it's happening now.
03:58We'll get into it, but let's look into the past, for for one, we're in a completely
04:02different world than we were in 2008, especially in the way that we consume content.
04:07Back then, there was also a massive financial crisis which may have motivated WWE's decision
04:12that was a worldwide recession.
04:14The habits of consumers who took in content and subscribed to cable TV services and bought
04:19tickets to shows for WWE, those all changed as well.
04:23And eventually this would apply to how WWE would approach things creatively with the
04:27on-screen product.
04:28So far, under the new ownership of WWE, TKO's Ari Emanuel has lived up to his word when
04:35he said he wouldn't intervene in the creative process and trust the guys who've been doing
04:39it for decades.
04:41WWE seems to want to target Gen Z fans, younger audiences to make them lifelong fans, but
04:47a lot of you Gen Zers are either in your late teens or mid-20s.
04:52You know what that means.
04:53Gen Z is already into the lucrative demographic of people with the most purchasing power,
04:59the most influential purchasing power, at least the ones that are going to buy a lot
05:03more stuff.
05:04WWE isn't going to get Gen Z audiences by having the same type of promos that were clean
05:09cut good guys like Super Cena could get years ago.
05:13That audience grew up with them, but now the content has to grow with them.
05:17More than anything, there's a realization that there isn't much of a desire from fans
05:22for a cookie cutter good guy anyway.
05:24They need more dimensions, more depth.
05:27The closest that WWE has to this is Cody Rhodes, who we can understand contradicts this anyway
05:33because he's a version of that, but not exactly that cookie cutter good guy.
05:39We're almost 100% certain that Cody isn't going to maintain or keep the same type of
05:44character in the years to come, especially now that he's in a different chapter of his
05:48career.
05:49If anything, Cody Rhodes could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of WWE moving away from
05:54the PG era because it can help him have a different edge and add those dimensions.
05:59Dimensions, that's a word we're playing out, but yeah, it's important.
06:02They're going to add dimensions to his character to keep him relevant for years to come as
06:07one of the top players in the company.
06:09And he's not the only one, obviously.
06:11We talk a lot about the changes we've seen on WWE TV since Triple H took over and all
06:16of the things he's done creatively that certainly connect the dots and have bigger, longer payoffs.
06:22A longer storyline is something that tends to have more of an adult audience because
06:27they're more patient with it.
06:29But have you noticed how there's an increasing dip into non-PG content and risque moments?
06:35You guys have seen people like The Rock, who can just come in and do whatever he wants
06:38and certainly not have any regulators or governors over him, use every non-PG word on live television
06:44and face zero repercussions.
06:46Yes, The Rock, the same Rock who in just weeks before WrestleMania's big payoff, beat down
06:52and bloodied Cody Rhodes while yelling, you don't f*** with the final boss.
06:57Yeah, we had to bleep ourselves again there.
06:59Now this isn't to say that everyone on television is going out there and saying exactly these
07:03type of things.
07:04Maybe it's more selective, but WWE seems to have noticed that cussing, using those
07:08dirty words, when done right, makes for a more authentic sense of television between
07:14two people fighting for a prize.
07:16We're not saying that every superstar needs to come out there and start saying words that
07:20we just bleeped ourselves in every single promo, but the use of adult language is something
07:24we're likely going to see maybe more of in the future.
07:27On the other hand, there's Liv Morgan and Dominic Mysterio, and their story has a very
07:31casually flirty sense to it, the idea of it being non-PG while not fully crossing the
07:36line.
07:37Yes, a romantic story in wrestling?
07:39Yeah, we haven't seen one of those in a while.
07:41It's really the finer details with the implication of things quickly turning non-PG.
07:47The implied sense of what is happening, not exactly what is happening.
07:53This isn't the first time we've seen a romantic story in WWE, and it won't be the last, but
07:57apart from the disastrous Lashley-Lana romance of 2019 and 2020 where they really tried to
08:03push the envelope but it didn't work, not too many recent romantic stories in WWE have
08:08crossed the lines of being PG.
08:11There seems to be a big echo in the sentiment that it's a good thing that SmackDown on Fox
08:15Network Television may be coming to an end as they shift over to cable TV.
08:20FIFO reported that an unnamed long time down in WWE was frustrated with the censorship
08:27from the Fox Network, when it seems like WWE is doing the censoring when in reality it
08:32is the broadcast network that is carrying the show, Fox, that does it.
08:36We're not certain on that, but it appears that way.
08:39Now SmackDown making the leap back over to the USA Network owned by NBCUniversal on cable
08:45TV may not fully give WWE the privilege of being non-PG, but they are far likelier to
08:52be lenient towards WWE dipping their toes into the edgier side of content because WWE
08:59is one of the most bankable things on the USA Network and has been for years.
09:03Now obviously Raw though is a different story.
09:06While WWE will maintain its relationship with NBCUniversal through SmackDown, they're gonna
09:12enter into one of the most lucrative and game-changing deals with Netflix.
09:17Raw is gonna move to Netflix in January of 2025, and Raw moving to Netflix means they're
09:23no longer under regulations that you see with broadcast commissions or the Federal Communication
09:29Commission or you know the type of partners that WWE's had with broadcasting their weekly
09:34front-run content in the past.
09:37Raw moving to Netflix means that WWE won't have to worry about much censorship at all,
09:42something that Triple H has confirmed on The Pat McAfee Show.
09:46Triple H gave insight in the entire creative circumstance and the changes that come with
09:50it by saying, The Rock comes in and you can't tell The Rock what to do.
09:54He does what he does.
09:56We won't have those issues with Netflix.
09:59The ability to be live globally and be seen everywhere is a game-changing moment.
10:05And the game even went so far as to say that other sports leagues will be eagerly watching
10:11what WWE is doing from January moving on with what they can be allowed to do and how
10:17it's going to be received by the audience.
10:19Considering that this is the biggest annual payout for WWE on a TV deal in their history,
10:25it marks the perfect time for them to make these type of changes, especially when you're
10:30on a subscription service where fans are gonna expect maybe something a little bit more.
10:36Gen Z audiences, the younger crowd, are more familiar with the world of streaming than
10:40they are with cable television.
10:42As far as they're concerned, cable TV is old news.
10:45It's the subscription service of the past.
10:48Pivoting to streaming on Netflix will allow WWE to be possibly changing the way their
10:53content is presented and maybe make it cooler, whatever cooler it is.
10:58Does that mean everyone has to start doing TikTok dances?
11:01I don't know.
11:02And we go back to that violent scene between The Rock and Cody Rhodes.
11:06That occurred on Monday Night Raw in the pouring rain outside of the Allstate Arena
11:10in Chicago with his forehead gushing blood and The Rock saying a bunch of things that
11:15you didn't think he could say.
11:18That was certainly WWE pushing the limits.
11:21Now on Netflix, are those limits even there?
11:24In this case, the violence and bloodshed were used in a way to further the biggest storyline
11:28in WWE.
11:29We're not even saying that this is going to be a complete reversal back to the Attitude
11:34Era or that it needs to be to be entertaining.
11:37As much of a golden, chaotic, incredible period the Attitude Era was, it wasn't without its
11:42own flaws.
11:43When we say flaws, we're referring to the sleazier side of things that made no sense
11:48and probably didn't age that well.
11:50Instead, we could see WWE taking inspiration from the Attitude Era and implementing the
11:56sharper side of it in a way that is more relevant to the times that we're in.
12:00Yeah, Mae Young giving birth to a hand maybe couldn't fly in today's world.
12:06But there's various creative ways that WWE can use tools like social media to further
12:11change and shift away from PG.
12:13And they've certainly done that with creative things like QR codes and on-screen augmentation
12:19of the different things they have off-screen on other digital platforms.
12:23Look at all this stuff with Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Family.
12:26It's worth noting that Netflix from many subscribers is still going to have some advertising
12:31on it, meaning that fans will still get exposed to ads, so what do the sponsors on those ads
12:37think of WWE making these potential hypothetical moves?
12:42That is an even bigger question that we simply don't have an exact answer to just yet.
12:47But based on how WWE has had a surge in success in the past few years while also carving out
12:52a massive diehard audience that will follow and subscribe to Netflix to keep up with Raw,
12:58maybe those sponsors are going to stick around as well.
13:00The challenges for WWE to sustain their audience on a streaming service, as they've done with
13:06P-Top and their own WWE Network in the past, are now expanded with the biggest streaming
13:11platform in the world in Netflix.
13:13But WWE has a large, dedicated, consistent, worldwide, diverse fanbase that they have
13:20cultivated for years, and few entities and entertainment have that while maintaining
13:25it through different times and different changes in the world.
13:29Also with Netflix, there's other challenges for WWE, because some viewers will get it
13:34with non-traditional advertising elements, maybe just one popping up here and there,
13:38or complete commercial breaks.
13:40Other subscribers could get no ads while watching Monday Night Raw and other major live events
13:45on there.
13:46But that varies tier-to-tier on Netflix.
13:49That creates a whole different level of challenges for how WWE will produce Monday Night Raw
13:55and other premium streaming events on the service heading into the future.
14:00Considering how hot WWE is right now, there seems to be a vision in place to take them
14:05to the next level in the new digital, on-demand, never-stopping media landscape.
14:11And the answer to that might not be the official end of PG, but simply moving away from it
14:17a little bit.
14:18Yeah, only time will tell.
14:21Oh wow, look at you, you watched the entire video?
14:24Alright big guy, big girl, let us know what you think in the comments below.
14:28What is the wildest thing you can see WWE doing when Monday Night Raw moves to Netflix
14:34in 2025?
14:35Let us know in the comments below.