Is Donald Trump To Blame!!??

[CyDeez]

Hear me out on this...

I know Trump has no say so in anything involving WWE. So me questioning him to be blamed for The PG Era is just the impact of a couple story lines he was involved in.

There are a lot of threads or discussions, involving people's thoughts, and/or opinions on The PG Era. Why it started? Who's idea was it? The chain of events leading to it.

I was thinking about this earlier and if you really think about it, Celebrity Guest Hosts and Wrestlemania outside star involvement plays a role in this as well. Wrestlemania is WWE's biggest show and in order to bring as much main stream interest in. They bring as many Main Stream stars in to participate as they can! They gave Floyd Mayweather a reported 20 million dollars to compete at Wrestlemania.

The whole idea of WWE being rated PG besides Linda McMahon's political career, is to reach out to a wider audience. Trying to grab families and small children. Sure an angle on this is John Cena's appeal to little kids.

Thinking back, this whole PG feel sort of started with The Hair Vs. Hair Match with Bobby Lashley taking on Umaga. Vince backing Umaga and Donald Trump backing Lashley. Vince and Donald's hair was on the line. This reached out main stream BIG.

Many of times I have seen wrestlers appear on a Network Talk Show or on some other sort of show. Plus we have seen numerous wrestlers appear and star in movies... Or maybe WWE grabbed a small segment for some random reason on ESPN or something. So it's not like they haven't appeared outside of their "realm"...

But with Trump being involved and an even bigger part of the storyline, his HAIR was involved. This reached a different kind of audience. This story was everywhere!

Later on, Trump would "buy" Raw and sell it back to Vince for more money (Kayfabe Of Course). This basically lit fire under the idea of Celebrity Guest Host. Which was another attempt by WWE to reach out, trying to pull a wider audience in.

So what do you guys think!? Am I way off, or do you think what I stated above, plays a small part in WWE's PG Rating? Or was Trump's involvement, going so Main Stream with the storyline, a MAIN reason behind WWE going PG?

 

[red ass skull muhfukkah]

I wouldn't say he's to blame. None of the things happening were his idea, they were all Vince's and the writer's. He just happened to be apart of a few events that set the course for what WWE was going to be like, which is a more Mainstream product. It is an interesting thought and something I hadn't noticed though.

 

[Stormlor]

Trump had nothing to do with the PG era. The reason why we have it is because of money. There have been a lot of posts here and on other forums about why the PG era etc. Its all about money. If WWE can get a wider audience like you said then they make more money on Cena crap.

I wouldn't doubt that Linda's political career was one underlying issue that caused the PG era. Trump had nothing to do with it.

 

[Dhays9]

There are two reasons for the PG era. Money and Linda McMahon.

First off listen to Shane McMahons theme. The WWE has betten chance to make more with kids as if they want to go somewhere or buy something they have to have there parents. Then there parents will have to pay for stuff also or hopefully become fans of the product and buy more stuff for them. Also, this is a new era were everything is political correct. So, if WWE decided to stay where they were at then they would either a: get a law suit over a major issue or b: lose viewers who support or care about a subject.

Next, is Linda McMahon. I use Linda McMahon because of the fact she is running for public office and people have brought up her time in WWE before. So don't you think it would be the best move if the company she helped run and the company owned by her husband to not help her out anyway possible.

 

[CobraVenom]

So, if WWE decided to stay where they were at then they would either a: get a law suit over a major issue or b: lose viewers who support or care about a subject.

A. Vince is no stranger to lawsuits. Vince did not go PG to avoid lawsuits. Try again.

B. You mean Vince decided to alienate the fan base that was already there in order to go a different route and try to get a new fan base? The only part of this that would make sense was to get a new crop of kids. But, you obviously don't remember that kids were already becoming fans during the era before PG. Try again.


Look people. I have been saying for years that pro wrestling goes in cycles. Things change. This era is just the Hogan era of the 80s all over again. In time, we will have the Austin era again. Relax. Nobody alone is to blame. Things change. Deal with it. Linda's campaign might play a role in it, but it isn't big enough to blame her.

 

[Syborgg]

Actually there are many factors.

The first and most obvious is money. Look at it this way, back in the Attitude era(say 1998) a 20 year old guy starts watching wrestling because the "adult" storylines caught his attention. Now 12 years later he's 32, quite possibly married with children. But instead of not watching anymore because of his family, he can now take his family with him and buy his kid a Mysterio mask and a Cena t-shirt. That scenario right there puts $$$ signs in Vince's eyes and that's just one example.

Another strong factor is the overall health of the talent. I realize for years WWE abused it's talent and then when they were deemed useless, they put them out to pasture so to speak. Lately though, with all the deaths over the years(the Eddie death seemed to be an eye-opener), it seems that WWE brass is finally getting it. Whether it's to protect their own image or not, they seem to look after the talent a little better. While we at the IWC complain about no blood or no chairshots to the head, WWE is hoping that such measures will lead to less fingers being pointed at them when a former talent dies too soon(i.e. Lance Cade).

Linda's political career is a self-explanatory factor.

Vince McMahon has long advocated that WWE is not a wrestling company, they are an ENTERTAINMENT company. By catering to the widest audience possible, their goal is to strengthen their bottom line. Through merchandise and a wider variety of sponsors, 2 major benefits of the PG rating and family friendly content that invites a much broader audience than just males aged 16-30ish that the Attitude era catered to.

 

[boybrushedred]

does anyone really care if wwe is pg? is anyone to "blame"? i do hate cena and will say he is the only bad part of the pg era(changing colors so kids will buy more product and never having him lose a match cleanly is pissing me off). however, the matches have been fine, storylines are getting better(look at nexus). so as long as the programing is still good who cares what rating wwe is?

 

[bongorider]

I only care about the rating because having a PG rating restricts what they can say and do. I am an adult so watching something which is geared towards pre-teens can be quite dull at times. Having a higher rating would be like letting the cuffs off. There would be far more creative freedom. I understand why they have gone PG, but understanding it and liking it are 2 different things.

Also, more specifically, stopping matches because of bleeding is completely absurd.

 

[EliteDiva]

I also thought Linda played a small part to alter WWE to PG, but the WWE had been planning it way before! If you noticed SD! was PG LV in 2007 and the ppv's and RAW were TV14. Then shortly afterwards WWE went PG. I know the WWE heavily toned down WWE to PG due to something I can't recall right now.

All the blood and the ban to chair shots to the head were for safety.

 

[ForThePeeps]

I'm going to try and keep this small and simple. I do not see him having much to do with the PG rating. Why? because he has only appeared on WWE a few times it was at least a year or two ago, and during that time there was plenty of awesomeness going on.

 

[theiceman]

This is just one guy's opinion but I don't believe that the success of the Donald Trump angle or Linda McMahon's political aspirations had anything to do with the WWE going PG. The company was already taking small steps towards PG programming long before the Trump angle or Linda McMahon started to seriously consider leaving her job at WWE.

The fact is that when business started to boom for the WWF in the mid 80's, professional wrestling was a FAMILY show. That's why a company like that is able to succeed the way it did and that's the reason why a company like ECW never got out of the bingo hall. An edgy product that pushes the envelope drives the big time sponsors away.

Professional wrestling/sports entertainment is an industry that already garners negative press for being what it is. If the WWE was the same product that it was in the attitude era then it would make things ten times worse.

The fact is that when Chris Benoit killed himself, his wife and his son, the media was ready to rip the WWE and Vince McMahon a new asshole. That tragedy was a main driving force behind the change because at that point in time, the WWE was under a microscope and if they didn't change their product, the company would fall so hard that it probably would've never recovered.

The switch to PG ultimately makes sense, the WWE wants parents to be able to bring their children to a show. They know that parents are most likely to buy merchandise for their children than poor high school/college students are likely to buy merchandise for themselves.

The switch to PG programming makes the WWE that show for the whole family that it used to be. It's also safer for the workers and it makes it possible for major companies like mattel(who is now putting out a line of WWE action figures) and burger king(who is now putting out WWE plush toys in their kids meals) to want to partner with the WWE.

It just makes a lot of business sense. If there's nobody bleeding, nobody cursing, no sex, no shots to the head, and a wellness program then what else could the WWE possibly be attacked for? That also ensures the safety of the workers and makes it more likely for WWE to be accepted into the main stream.

 

[Stormlor]

I only care about the rating because having a PG rating restricts what they can say and do. I am an adult so watching something which is geared towards pre-teens can be quite dull at times. Having a higher rating would be like letting the cuffs off. There would be far more creative freedom. I understand why they have gone PG, but understanding it and liking it are 2 different things.

Also, more specifically, stopping matches because of bleeding is completely absurd.

Its not just the bleeding, the PG era has a lot of restrictions that wrestlers do not like. Chair shots to head is one (though I do agree with it too), but some are stupid like Ric Flair's chops.

Its not about being an adult, I'm 28 and I still watch wrestling as I have since I was 5. Vince doesn't care if your 2 or 90, his role is merchandise. He cares nothing about the fans, but he does care on who he employees and what restrictions he needs to put in to sell the product better.

This is standard corporate ways of a company.

 

[ForThePeeps]

Yeah, even though there are great points in blaming the PG look on Linda and all that sounds possible. I personally say the main reason is the more PG it gets the easier it is for Vince to sell Cena stuff and other popular faces. You gotta remember Vince is a business man.

 

[CobraVenom]

Its not just the bleeding, the PG era has a lot of restrictions that wrestlers do not like. Chair shots to head is one (though I do agree with it too), but some are stupid like Ric Flair's chops.

The restrictions on Flair chops has absolutely nothing to do with being PG.

this is a stupid topic in general. why wasnt it removed?

Why wasn't it removed? Because it isn't a stupid topic. It's a legitimate thread that has spawned legitimate responses, outside of yours. I think we should be asking why you haven't been removed yet.

 

[Ferbian]

WWE was PG even before Donald Trump was introduced, so obviously he's not to blame. And even if it wasn't PG before Donald Trump, he still wouldn't be to blame, because like you said yourself, he has no say in what goes on within the WWE. WWE has made the decision themselves to turn PG, and obviously it's not due to Donald Trump, or anybody else, I seriously doubt it's because of Linda as well.