**MERGED** Linda McMahon loses the election: how will it affect WWE?

[Honkey_Kong]

The WWE did decide to "clean up" it's image around when Linda decided to bid for senate. So Rayne's argument isn't accurate.

But the WWE's problem is well beyond being PG or not. The majority of the WWE talent is the product of the WWE farm system and has not spent time on the indy circuit learning their craft. The best matches they can wrestle are their cookie-cutter 5 moves of doom matches.

More importantly than that, with out a writer putting every single word in their mouth, they're completely lost on the mic. Think The Miz can adlib an entire promo? They basically do this first and foremost because it makes live television easier to produce. You already know how long each segment is going to last because you have it scripted.

So creative is entirely in the hands of the writers that don't even like/understand wrestling and Vince (who thinks the fans identify with and like gimmicks like The Goon, The African Dream Akeem, The Red Rooster, Duke The Dumpster Droese, etc). Even when they turn up the raunchy factor, you don't have anything good. Look at the Ruthless Aggression era. It was a terrible product, just like it is now (minus the raunchiness).

The other thing too is that sponsors might have pressured WWE to switch to a PG content more. But advertising revenue is directly proportional to the ratings their programming receives. Sure, it might be easier to sell a "kid friendly" program to advertisers, but you're not going to generate the revenue a highly rated (in key demographics) show will draw.

Linda's campaign might have made some influence in the switch to PG, but their problems are far deeper than just content. If WWE switched to a graphically violent and sexually driven product, it might draw some viewers, but once they get used to the added sleaze, they're going to be at the same problem they're at right now. A stale boring show.

Vince definitely could've used the millions he dumped on his wife's campaign better if he invested it in his product though. I mean, he could've bought ROH for that price.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As a few people have pointed out, Linda McMahon's political aspirations have had zero impact on the direction of WWE. Going PG was something that some consider to be risky, even though most wrestling content in the vast majority of pro wrestling history is overall well within PG guidelines. If Vince didn't believe it was the right call for the company from a financial perspective, he wouldn't have done it. His ego might be huge, but he's not going to flush a company that makes half a billion dollars a year down the toilet just so his wife can be a senator.

A huge reason why WWE went PG as well was because the company was continuously lambasted by critics left & right because of content. Women's groups were all over WWE for how the Divas were generally portrayed, parents' groups frequently targeted WWE for it's, at times, pretty graphic sexual overtones that you didn't see on television all that often, politicians were targeting the WWE, the FCC was doling out fines like a grandmother hands out chocolate chip cookies to her grandkids.

Also, look at the Chris Benoit incident. The WWE was being crucified by the media and by the United States Congress itself for how it conducted itself both on screen and for its practices behind the scenes when it came to the well being in the wrestlers. Congress was actually considering launching a full scale investigation into WWE and possibly even stepping in and regulating the company themselves at one point.

Since then, it seems that people have only become even more politically correct or downright overly sensitive. During R-Truth's feud with John Morrison last year, Truth lit up a cigarette and blew smoke in Morrison's face. Parent's groups and anti-tobacco organizations were all over WWE like a cheap suit. Remember the whole "Fruity Pebbles" thing with Cena & Rock? That comment upset a lot of people in the gay community as they saw it as some sort of jab at them.

 

[damo1]

i dont understand you yanks why on earth do you spend sooooooo much money trying to be a politician is it right that linda spent over $50m? do you realise that can make a afican counry come out of poverty and help feed millions of children?,

rank over lets hope that wwe goes back to the good old days of bullying and blood shed...the real wrestling we all love

 

[zephyrs]

Linda's loss won't change anything immediately as far as the shows' parental rating, at least not immediately. If there were to be any change, it would be incrementally slow.

Besides the shows can be rated PG, TV-14 MA, Q-36, or M-74.. It doesn't matter if the writing is still bad.

WWE's storylines lack common sense. That's not going to be found by dialing up the profanity, and tits and ass.

 

[vampirek]

I'm going to say this now, Vince needs Linda back in the company. Forget that stupid argument of Linda will now make it non-PG (biggest pile of rubbish going) she did lead the WWF/E out off trouble on many occasions. Something none of us can deny. Whether she wants to come back is one question but you can not deny the time she was CEO of the company, it enjoyed it most successful time coming from a period where the company almost died.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I'm happy the damn election is over so I don't have to see Linda's face in TV commercials every time I turn on the set; you had to live in Connecticut to get the true impact. It was unbelievably obnoxious seeing the result of all that money she spent. I proudly cast my vote against her yesterday.

I don't think the direction of WWE will be altered because she lost, but at least some of it might depend on whether she's finished trying to be a U.S. Senator or whether she intends to spend another $50 million in the next election.

Personally, I hope she's done trying. If the company has been softening the edginess we used to enjoy just because Vince's wife wants power, having her "retire" from politics might restore some of it. They don't have to go all the way back to the Attitude Era, but at least don't damage the whole product because of one person's political aspirations.

 

[scomvp316]

I think it will change a little maybe to PG-13. The product can't change drastically because of the sponsor deal with Mattel that WWE gets $150 mill per year. I do think we will get less kiddie storylines and more real-life storylines. What I would like to see is keep PG for the weekly shows and then the PPV's go to TV-14. With the recent USA Network frusration over the ratings part of WWE's problems are the networks that they are on. The funny thing with USA is they want WWE PG but almost all of their other programming is TV-14. I understand WWE's reasoning of merchandise sales being marketed to kids when the ratings are below 5. I also believe for WWE apparel to improve their logo should not be on the apparel and have a deal with eith Nike or Adidas which would make WWE even more mainstream!

 

[Honkey_Kong]

I think it will change a little maybe to PG-13. The product can't change drastically because of the sponsor deal with Mattel that WWE gets $150 mill per year. I do think we will get less kiddie storylines and more real-life storylines. What I would like to see is keep PG for the weekly shows and then the PPV's go to TV-14. With the recent USA Network frusration over the ratings part of WWE's problems are the networks that they are on. The funny thing with USA is they want WWE PG but almost all of their other programming is TV-14. I understand WWE's reasoning of merchandise sales being marketed to kids when the ratings are below 5. I also believe for WWE apparel to improve their logo should not be on the apparel and have a deal with eith Nike or Adidas which would make WWE even more mainstream!

You know WWE had no problem selling toys to kids back when Austin was champ. WWE's big problem is they're pushing a PG show at a time where kid who they're gearing their show for are in bed sleeping. What they should be doing is gearing specific shows with different wrestlers directly towards children at times where children are watching TV and then cater raw and smackdown for older audiences with a different roster.

They wouldn't even have to call the child shows or the adult shows part of the WWE Universe. In fact, I think that whole term is just lame anyways. Why not just call them fans? But their euphemisms could be kind of funny. Call the females on the child shows, Divas or Hoeskis. And on the adult shows call them Broads.

 

[thebowtiekiller]

i hope the wwe ups the grittiness the wwe is pg for many reasons other then lindas senate race the attitude era won the monday night war for them but smashed the companys reputation aswell making it hard to get a new generation of fans hooked on wwe as parents would be dubious about letting there children watch so wwe quite publically went pg and they have sucseeded but at the cost of alienating its older fanbase we all still watch but from what ive heard and read the majority seem to think it could be a lot better there is nothing wrong with a more mature product it adds a certain realness and unpredicabillity that i think wwe has been missing for a while i like a good wrestling match but im a 23 year old man and im not ashamed to say i also like rude jokes half naked ladies and ott violence added to the mix aswell lol i dont think linda losing will affect it too much tho sadly

 

[RD_21]

i hope the wwe ups the grittiness the wwe is pg for many reasons other then lindas senate race the attitude era won the monday night war for them but smashed the companys reputation aswell making it hard to get a new generation of fans hooked on wwe as parents would be dubious about letting there children watch so wwe quite publically went pg and they have sucseeded but at the cost of alienating its older fanbase we all still watch but from what ive heard and read the majority seem to think it could be a lot better there is nothing wrong with a more mature product it adds a certain realness and unpredicabillity that i think wwe has been missing for a while i like a good wrestling match but im a 23 year old man and im not ashamed to say i also like rude jokes half naked ladies and ott violence added to the mix aswell lol i dont think linda losing will affect it too much tho sadly

The thing is, PG is clearly not working either to draw new fans. Sure it is drawing some, but look at their ratings, it's abyssmal. I know that most of my friends who used to watch wrestling all give up. Some because of Cena, some because they outgrew the product or just didn't have the time in their life anyway.

But it can all be boiled down by lack of interest. Would an Attitude Era fix everything? No, but they need to change something, that's for sure.

 

[KNPKH2ster]

I don't think Linda's loss affected the WWE. Back in 2010, WWE storylines were below average to terrible and was too much PG. Then 2011 came and PG was scaled back and I knew its just PG by name. This year has gotten better compared to 2010, but what I would like to see a balanced product. Attract kids and adults with entertaining storylines.

 

[Imbtr10u]

What about that money, now that is not being dumped in the election, throw some of it at the Rock for a few more appearances or stone cold, Lesnar, Goldberg, Gillberg, hell buy tna or throw some of it at some big time celebs. Some over the top stunts. I know wwe isn't hurting for money but it can't hurt to have deeper pockets.

 

[thebowtiekiller]

The thing is, PG is clearly not working either to draw new fans. Sure it is drawing some, but look at their ratings, it's abyssmal. I know that most of my friends who used to watch wrestling all give up. Some because of Cena, some because they outgrew the product or just didn't have the time in their life anyway.

But it can all be boiled down by lack of interest. Would an Attitude Era fix everything? No, but they need to change something, that's for sure.

your right an attitude era wouldnt fix everything but i disagree with you on the pg thing it has worked already they have made an entirley new generation of fans through it

the problem i had was that they aimed it directely at kids not the rating itself wwe have just gone all out to make themselves look saint like they where pg before but never needed to over emphasize it to the point they where doing it just needs to stop restricting itself so much in my opinion it must be hard for creative to come up with storylines for a violent wrestling show with these restrictions in place i guess

 

[Headman]

What exactly is it that you guys are asking for? When you say things like "New attitude era" what do you mean? Do you want x-rated jokes? Do you want storylines about rape and necrophilia? You're not getting the attitude era superstars back so you guys must be saying you'd be happy if Cena would start making dick jokes. If Linda Mcmahon running for office is the reason we don't have tag teams called "The Dicks" anymore, then I hope she runs every chance she gets. Stone Cold Steve Austin was not a product of the attitude era. He would have been successful with or without the raunchy garbage that went on around him. Same goes for the Rock (Even though he's obsession with people's asses is a little risue'.).

Another question I have is what exactly is so childish about the WWE's product to begin with? Vickie is accusing Cena and AJ of having a sexual relationship. That sounds like Attitude era garbage to me. Please help me figure out what it is that some of you have been complaining about for the last few years.

 

[TripleCrown]

I guess I kind of never understood the idea of PG to begin with. I mean, unless they make the product so ridiculous-looking, i.e., feather soft blows that dont' even land and reactions to blows that a 1-year-old could tell were fake, the premise is still 2 or more people beating the holy h___ out of each other and tame it is not, or rather is not suppsoed to be. The idea of no blood is an "either/or" kind of question because even though fans know it's scripted, the idea is to make is seem real and no one could get smacked around like this and not have a drop of red anywhere.

It seems like the product is like the pendulum on a clock. It swung too far in one direction - the katie vick thing was inappropriate for anyone, anywhere, even WWE - and now it's swinging too far in the other direction, i.e. PG-tame. There really should be a way for the pendulum to settle in the middle.

 

[dudedudedude]

guys, I say this every time there is a 'will it go back to pg13 rating?' thread.

No. Linda running for the senate had one effect on the WWE, and that was there were no massive lay offs like we have seen in the past. Think about the last 12-18 months, has there been a day where more than 2 or 3 superstars were let go a once? Remember how there used to be the post wrestlemania culls where close to 10 were let go. That has not happened recently, because it would have been used as press against her.

The PG stuff has more to do with their sponsers, especially the toy deal with Matel, which is said to be one of their biggest in history. PG rating makes the company money. Yes, it may effect the enjoyment for some, but, in the end, while the PG thing makes them money, and if you look at their quarterly figures, they continue to do so. So, long story short, untill they start losing money from their PG content, dont expect a change there.

 

[Eyrothath]

I think this is what people want back.. [YOUTUBE]VZjpJFCxV-s[/YOUTUBE]

It's not that people want to see anything obscene, they want the feel and look of the attitude era back, they wanna see a new championship belt, rather than the crappy spinner belt, they want better themes like before and more grittiness involved rather than bright neon lights everywhere and a crowed that isn't always dead..

 

[dudedudedude]

I think this is what people want back.. [YOUTUBE]VZjpJFCxV-s[/YOUTUBE]

It's not that people want to see anything obscene, they want the feel and look of the attitude era back, they wanna see a new championship belt, rather than the crappy spinner belt, they want better themes like before and more grittiness involved rather than bright neon lights everywhere and a crowed that isn't always dead..

No, they don't want the look and the feel back. No one wants to see the production values drop back to shitty ROH/early TNA levels. The one thing the WWE does better than most sports and live events are their production values. That's not the problem here.

 

[Azane]

Nothing changed the last time Linda McMahon lost, nothing changes now.

She isn't the reason why the product has changed so much.

 

[MisterRob]

What if the WWE takes advantage of not only Linda McMahon's failed election bid, but also the influence its had on the WWE product? People complain about the "PG Era" and all the negative influences Linda's campaign were having on the WWE, so why not take those elements and incorporate them into the WWE product by making Linda McMahon a heel much like Vince McMahon did to himself after the Montreal Screw job, by turning real life elements into storyline.

Linda McMahon could once more become a character on WWE tv, now that she's no longer wrapped up in a political life as she's lost her campaign. I can't see her running AGAIN. She could then become a heel character in the WWE who tries to enforce this "PG Era" and control the WWE, while wrestlers, etc, begin to do what the WWE fans have wanted and rebel against that in a more edgier and adult tone. The angle, I think, has a ton of potential and possibility, and could really draw interest from an audience who is looking for more then the PG eraness they've been getting for years now, not to mention it's an angle that covers the entire WWE Universe and can really change that landscape again.

Thoughts on an angle like this?
Should the WWE try to use Linda's failed campaign for the betterment of WWE business?

 

[MikeyTheAwesome]

I'm happy the damn election is over so I don't have to see Linda's face in TV commercials every time I turn on the set; you had to live in Connecticut to get the true impact. It was unbelievably obnoxious seeing the result of all that money she spent. I proudly cast my vote against her yesterday.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Seeing Linda signs all over Fairfield including ads on WPLR and almost every channel drove me nuts. Glad she was smoked in this race.

OP: I'm pretty sure WWE will start to become a bit edgier, but you will have to give it some time. WWE has a lot of sponsors that are helping the company financially and socially and thats mostly because the product has become more family friendly. A mature product can hurt WWE's relationship with their sponsors like Be A Star, who caters to young children being bullied.

 

[theBec2101]

You would hope all this dumb shit would end. Maybe bring back wrestling with a little bit of an edge again. But then we hear she is going to run again, so does it really matter anymore. I just hope it doesnt get worse. But they could really be spending that type of money on better things.

 

[sorryaboutyourdamnluck]

My problem is that punk is somehow in this. So he loses a little mic time but i would rather hear john cena, james storm, and stone cold sing "i feel pretty". also 100million dollars lost on the election will do no to a little harm. There'll still be steel cage and hell in a cell matches and the WWE is going no where, so it'll be okay.

 

[Mustang Sally]

You would hope all this dumb shit would end. Maybe bring back wrestling with a little bit of an edge again. But then we hear she is going to run again....

Actually, I've been reading that she isn't. After the trick she pulled in the last weeks of her campaign (conjuring up a "Vote for Linda and Obama" movement), can you imagine what the Republican National Committee must think of that? Bet they wouldn't have her as their candidate again for all the tea in China. (or maybe tea in America.....the other way would be outsourcing)

But they could really be spending that type of money on better things.

For sure. The latest estimate of what she spent on the two Senate races is $97 million. Can you imagine the good she could have done by pumping that money into the Connecticut economy instead of indulging her desire for power with two political campaigns that gained her absolutely nothing?

In the end, while she might go back to working for the family business, I doubt she'll be an on-air personality anymore.....or at least until the stigma of being a 2-time loser wears off (see my signature).

 

[Mustang Sally]

Can I just point out, that in the scheme of things Linda McMahon spent NOTHING on her campaign. Barack Obama's campaign ran to over $1 BILLION!

Obama's campaign spending wasn't his own money: Linda's was taken totally from her own assets.

For her to spend $47 million on this campaign alone and claim she's isn't trying to buy her way into political office is both untrue and offensive.