Did the Benoit murders bring on the "PG" era?

[GUMBO2ndcoming]

It kinda seemed like the WWE might have been headed in the PG direction in the first place but I believe that the benoit deaths really made Vince decide to make this change to clean up the image of the company. They had lightened up since a little before then but even when they brought DX back they were doing some of the same antics they did during the 90's (without Shawn of course) but as soon as the Benoit deaths came it was immediately like a BAM we're for the kids! So my question is do you think this is true? And how much impact it had on the PG era? If not this then what brought on the PG era?

 

[Pritch]

No I believe they were headed there already even before that happened. They wanted to clean up because of Linda's senate run

 

[OHHuDIDNTno]

This may be somewhat true, Kinda in part Vince faked his own death days before the Benoit Fiasco and he felt like crap about it, Im sure it had a part in his decision. In another way though like you said they we're already headed to the PG era any way I'm sure it helped push it that way a little bit faster though. If you think about it though in one way the WWE has gone back to the late 80's early 90's when we were all kids and the new generation was coming up... When one day their may be another attitude era I think this was where vince wanted wrestling to stay on pace with. The people of the world pretty much forced an attitude era, Its what the people wanted at the time it was how our society was at the time and I dont think it was in vince's plan from the beginning for the attitude era to happen... In Vince's mind he saw his vision as starting from 97 and on he was going into the era we are in now not attitude stuck in the middle so until the people force another attitude era you can only hope vince comes out of fairy tale world one day...

 

[hoppydude]

The Benoit murders were one of the major factors for bringing on the current PG product, other factors would include Linda's senate campaign, the Mattel toy deal, and the amount of advertising revenue that would be achieved running a family friendly product.

Why the hell do people keep calling this current era the PG era, the WWE was always PG up until 1997, and WCW had always been PG, people forget that. The fact that you and other idiots who don't know the history of pro wrestling call this era the PG era isn't only stupid it is factually incorrect.

 

[KKKKwe]

Ideed the Benoit Murders brought upon Pg definitely. Think about it before PG we had Orton Punting Rvd Shawn Michaels and other legends in the head in the year of 07. We saw extreme Rule matches on various occasions. We even saw chair shots to the head and Blood. When Benoit died and the theories all came out about how Chair shots to the skull and being on the road 24/7 can damage ur Brain WWE had to make a decision on how to not let something like this ever happen again. So they thought lets go alittle easy on the superstars for their future sake. I'll agree it was a good idea and all for superstars but it has become lame watching on TV. And To the guy above me that said WWE was already headed to pg ur Wrong. Does storylines like Vince sleeping with many woman and trying to find his son sound PG Nope. Does Bra and Panties sound PG(We havent seen a Bra and Panties since 07). The last time we saw a match with extreme Blood gushing out a mans head was definitely in 07 just cant remeber a match. Well HBK vs Edge in a street fight in 07 had lots of Blood But other than that WWe was not headed PG. They only did it because of News trying to say Wrestling was bad. Now i feel that WWe is just trying to earn the trust of WWE parents and young fans.

 

[mster]

80's wrestling with the cartoons and the action figures was for the kids. That was the idea (Hogan talks about it in length in one of his DVD's) 90's had to go tough with ecw and wcw, competition is what it is. The years after the monday night war was great. However, I feel with the baseball steroid scandal, the spotlight went back to wrestling as it did with ever other sport. Couple that with Eddie's death and Beniot, I feel WWE just went back to what worked. Not for nothing, I have watched wrestling since WM2, I don't like the cena era, but it sells, so as hogan would say, whatch a gonna do? (brother)

 

[IAmDoogie]

They were destined to go back to being more family oriented. After the 'attitude' era and some of the things we as fans witnessed, there really wasn't much more shock value to add to the show without legitimately killing people in the ring. ECW brought us unprotected chair shots, broken tables, barbed wire and FIRE. After burning someone alive in the ring, there really isn't anything else they can do on that path. How do you top that? You can't, so the business goes in a different direction. The Benoit murders probably made that transition a 'do or die' situation for their product.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I think the PG era had more to do with the Senate run, but I certainly think the fact that Benoit's wrecked mental state had something to do with the head shots he took during his wrestling career certainly had affected the WWE's view on unneccesary weapon shots, and big bumps that can lead to concussions.

As much as I enjoy seeing someone get hit with a chair, it is a much safer environment for performers now, which is definitely a good thing.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

If you are going to name this era, the RE-PG era is more appropriate...

At heart I think Vince has always been more comfortable marketing a kids product rather than to the hardcore, HLA craving, net reading fans he was increasingly catering to... There is infinitely more money in the younger demographics and the possibility of the Mattel deal was too much to risk for a few Barbed Wire Katie Vick On a Pole matches or Sex Celebrations in the ring... Vince had always wanted a major toy deal, the FCC crackdown after Janet and Justin at the Superbowl and with the senate run I think it all fell into alignment.

The Benoit deaths (I still hate to definitively say murders, as it can never be 100% proven what occured) changed more backstage in WWE than what you see on screen... The main difference onscreen is moves being banned like chair shots to heads... but backstage WWE now has psychiatrists, wellness screening for head as well as body and a much more tolerant attitude to injury and fatiuge in wrestlers. As insane a schedule as guys like Matt Hardy claim it is, it is far better than any other time in history...

PG is what it is, what WWF was in the 80's and 90's before Bischoff forced the envelope... It worked then and it works now, in fact it seems to be becoming a global craze again in many ways... it only needs that one superman wrestler to put it over the top again...

 

[Captain Jive]

After the 'attitude' era and some of the things we as fans witnessed, there really wasn't much more shock value to add to the show without legitimately killing people in the ring. ECW brought us unprotected chair shots, broken tables, barbed wire and FIRE. After burning someone alive in the ring, there really isn't anything else they can do on that path. How do you top that? You can't, so the business goes in a different direction. The Benoit murders probably made that transition a 'do or die' situation for their product.

I agree with this. After the Attitude Era and all the events that happened in WWF, ECW, and WCW there wasn't much more they could do without being banned from TV. Sure they could've done some CZW type garbage, but I think their fanbase consists of 15 meth fueled hillbillies.

As for the OP's idea, I'm sure the Benoit situation had something to do with it. In addition, there was the Senate campaign and the wrestlers named in the steroid scandal, and MONEY

 

[The Suplexer Perfecter]

PG started in mid to late 08. You still had blood before that after the Benoit murder thing.

Because of Benoit they stopped the chair shots to the head though.

I still hate to definitively say murders, as it can never be 100% proven what occured

People need to just accept that he did it.

 

[vampirek]

If anything it comes down to two things:

1. Public image of the company, for example the use of women was heavily criticised by groups, over the top violence and so on. The Benoit thing was merely a small thing in a long list used against the company, all that did was highlight the danger of overdoing crazy amount of blows to the head. A lot of things that the WWE did whilst not PG rated were not needed (the sex references, Mae Young, the over use of swearing etc) Take those away and really chances are it would have been rated PG.

2. The most important one and the one the Attitude Era fans can't accept, the audience changed. 40% of the WWE audience is now women and children, sure you can point out the 60% but who spends the money? Women and children buy the shirts, buy the PPVs, attend the shows the small percentage of that 60% don't buy the shirts, watch PPVs for free and criticise the show for everything. The product now is more catered for the balance of the entire audience, I see no difference than how it was done in the 80's and much of the 90s. The WWE is building for the future now, it can't be stuck in the past and its 'glory days', it needs to move on and appeal to the current audience. Its how it has survived and whilst it took its time in the 90's to evolve when it did catch it, it played a part in the death of WCW (although most of it was WCW killing itself)

At the end of the day, ask yourself this? Since Raw turning PG (seeing Smackdown has always been PG) what has actually changed in the product?.... Lack of swearing? big deal, Sex references? I think you are watching the wrong show for this, Comic characters?.... Hang on there as there has always been comic characters. Point being PG has done very little to the actual program, don't confuse bad writing/booking with what the show is rated.

As said before, Benoit's death and the incident leading to it changed very little in terms of the product. Benoit's death led to a ban in chair shots to the head (after the investigation showed the link), which I believe even Dixie Carter agrees with, the improvement of the wellness program and exposing a few home truths. Things like stopping the match for blood comes down from many factors not related to Benoit, just look at Undertaker/Orton Snr and what could have happened there is just one example.

 

[eljay7i]

The Benoit murders were one of the major factors for bringing on the current PG product, other factors would include Linda's senate campaign, the Mattel toy deal, and the amount of advertising revenue that would be achieved running a family friendly product.

Why the hell do people keep calling this current era the PG era, the WWE was always PG up until 1997, and WCW had always been PG, people forget that. The fact that you and other idiots who don't know the history of pro wrestling call this era the PG era isn't only stupid it is factually incorrect.

I totally agree with that strong statement. The correct thing to say would be WWE went back to being PG. And to answer the question, I don't think Benoits murder was the main reason, but one of them. Li nda's senate run is actually the main reason and someone stated the Mattel toy deal.

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

Why the hell do people keep calling this current era the PG era, the WWE was always PG up until 1997, and WCW had always been PG, people forget that. The fact that you and other idiots who don't know the history of pro wrestling call this era the PG era isn't only stupid it is factually incorrect.

Well it is "technically" correct to call this the PG era, because the United States TV ratings system didn't come in to effect until 1997

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_Parental_Guidelines

So, even though the WWE product may have been family friendly prior to 1997, it was just an assumed thing that it was safe for kids to watch, it wasn't explicitly imposed like it is now.


Anyway, to stay on topic do I think the Benoit murders had anything to do with the PG rating? I would say it certainly helped the case for it, but I don't think it was directly responsible for it. More like one of many contributing factors, not the least of which is "where do we go from here?" Once you've pushed the envelope so far, there really isn't anywhere else to take it outside of gratuitous sex and violence.

By returning the WWE to a more toned down product for a few years, you lower fan expectations, and acquire a new group of children as fans. Once those kids have hit their teens and would generally grow to become disinterested in WWE, then you up the rating all of a sudden and the product grows with them, and you experience another boom period where everyone tunes in to see what crazy thing will happen next.

 

[123NewChamp]

I don't think the Benoit Tragedy or Linda's senate run had anything to do with WWE going PG. It was a move made by the main corporate office of WWE, due to the noticable attendance and viewers of kids tuning into their shows every week. Even when I was younger round 1995 especially going into the attitude era, they did some stuff that really didn't stamp my mom's approval of watching wrestling. Dangerous moves, Bikini's, Deadly stunts and maneuvers, drinking alcholic beverages, cussing and all that good stuff. WWE can't turn the kids away, so they had to basically find a way to appeal to the audience. (Notice the WWE Kids Magaines.) But the new objective was to
make WWE more of a family based show like a few folks done said up here, and at the same time, make more money, because every dollar do help. Yeah I see why they went PG, do I miss TV14, Yes I do, but ratings shouldn't affect the way a wrestler wrestle, either u can wrestle or u can't. Plain and Simple.

 

[Rampage Bentley]

I don't think (I'll call it the "Family Friendly" era) was brought on by either the Benoit murdersd or Linda's Senate run.

A business thrives by getting new customers and WWE had all the 18-35 year olds they were going to get... infact they were losing them by the droves. If WWE didn't start catering to children I think they'd be pretty close to closing the doors.

 

[RedBeardHair]

no stock holders did. you must try to make more money every year for them. so you get the kids to buy 100 buck rey mask 200 buck spinner belt 25 buck cenation shirt in every color money money yeah yeah.

 

[The Other Hardy Brother]

I kind of see why you would think that but I think no it didn't. Going PG was the proper business move as it widens the audience and I think regardless WWE would have gone in that direction. I do think however that WWE will take any measures to clean up the companys image since the incident including the PG programming but I think it would have been done regardless.

 

[SullivanSmith]

OK a couple of things. Or maybe three. We'll see when I'm done rambling.

First off, as someone who grew up in an area where you had wrestlers pretending to be prison guards, garbage men clowns and plumbers (wait, was there ever a "plumber" wrestler?) and billed themselves as "Family Entertainment" on their VHS tapes (oh geez, VHS tapes? How many times am I going to date myself in this post?), I can tell you that being kid and family friendly is nothing new to WWE.

What it comes down to, I believe, is 1) the number of deaths associated with wrestling. Not just high profile ones like Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit, which got a LOT of media attention, but guys like Brian Adams. For a while it seemed like wrestlers were just dropping like birds and fish over Arkansas. Wrestling was, again, getting a bad rap and it just made sense to clean up the image a little bit. Still, I think WWE has shown they can be kid-friendly without being childish.

2.) I also think it can be attributed to the rise of MMA. I knew a lot of guys in college back in the late 90s and early 2000s who got into wrestling around then because of the nWo and the Attitude area. Those guys have moved on to UFC and other MMA groups. That's totally understandable. It's also the sport that guys that age now flock too. Wrestling's fanbase seems to be made up now of either kids or folks like us who are my age who still enjoy the product, mostly because of our history with it.

So, I don't think Benoit's death was the tipping point, but it was a part of the whole overall reason.

 

[luxferre]

One of the main reason's they went PG was John Cena. He was supposed to be the guy who took the mantle that Austin and Rock carried so well, but Attendance dwindled, ppv's went down, but Vince sawhow much merchandise was selling, and with MMA taking the once core audience it was the most sensible route to go.

Linda's senate run was the final nail in the coffin, and the mattel deal mean's we get stuck with PG for a very long while.

 

[Davi323]

I am going take a much simpler view. Vince McMahon brought back the PG era because that is the natural state of WWE programming. It had nothing to do with Benoit, John Cena or Linda McMahon's Senate run. It was a gradual return to PG from the Attitude era. The Attitude era didn't come because Vince McMahon loved that kind of wrestling, it happened because the WWF was desperately trying to compete with WCW, who was killing them ratings wise at the time. Vince went edgy because he had no choice. As soon as be bought WCW, there was a steady decline in the edgy content. He didn't turn it off overnight, but it was gradually phasing back to PG anyway. Keep in mind, up until WCW started kicking his ass, the WWF had always been PG content. The Attitude era was an aberration, brought on by necessity. As soon as it stopped being necessary, it started to revert back. Basically, if Chris Benoit were alive, Linda never ran for Senate, the WWE hadn't been under pressure about steroids, and all the other reasons listed, right now, in 2011, the WWE would still be PG, because that is its natural state.