The WWE can push the envelope a lot further without losing any of its audience. I used to watch in the Attitude Era with adults, and I was about 9. The basic tenet they should stick to is "do they let the soap operas do it?" If the answer is yes, then do it. At the end of the day, wrestling is essentially a soap opera for men and the content could easily reflect that without falling foul of the censors.
Of the list you've given, pretty much all of it would be within bounds with the possible exception of excessive foul language and nudity, neither of which would ever be the focus of a storyline anyway, and both of which can be implied via the use of bleeps and strategic object placement, but for posterity, I'll analyse the whole list, giving my views and who I would run these programmes with.
Excessive Violence
Excessive violence should be used at the end of an intense feud. For example, it would have been an excellent pay off to the Orton vs Cena or Orton vs HHH feuds this year if it was an absolutely brutal affair, with perhaps one of them falling foul of a vicious object attack a la Stone Cold getting hit with a shovel.
Foul Language
Unecessary. Its easy to convey anger without resorting to it and it often feels very forced in acting. If it is used, it should be contextual and rare. Like I said, perhaps you could censor it out and have the same effect, we've all seen Jerry Springer, and there's no way you can say that you don't feel that those people are f*****g p****d off.
Blood
Blood can help, but it needs to be contextualised again. Ric Flair bled in just about every single match and it completely numbs the effect of it. Personally, I don't think blood adds anything to matches, but if they did use it, then they should probably use it only once a show in some sort of weapons related match.
Drug References / Use
I'm pretty sure that hard drug use is banned across all television, so it can only be implied. That being said, it could be a great rags to riches kind of storyline. You debut someone strongly, such as say Eric Escobar. Let him win a couple of matches, then make him lose and lose badly. Eventually announce he has drug problems. Pair him with a diva who encourages him to break the rut and show him in vignettes every week, then he's clean, he returns and he wins. Simple but effective redemption storyline.
Violence against Women (can include Rape)
Violence against women - fine as long as they get their commupance. Whoever does it, not the women. Rape is a sticky minefield. On a drama, a rapist eventually gets caught or gets killed. Either way, they are written out of the show. If a wrestler rapes someone then loses a feud, that's a less than fitting punishment. It's something that I'm not a priori opposed to, but it's hard to see how you could implement it on a wrestling show without trivialising it. Basically, if the wrestler who does it gets released at the end of it all, because they are "in gaol", it's the only way it would work.
Discrimination against Women- Misogyny
Fine, so long as they look like a fool. They pretty much do this already with Santino, and again it should be a comedy heel. Heel because it's wrong, comedy because they are going to end up being beaten by a woman. If you look closely, you'll see some irony in the previous sentence.
Sexuality- Implied Sex
Should wrestling be porno? No. Should relationships include implied sex? Absolutely. It is easier to build a relationship if it centres on sex. Take this week's SmackDown. Escobar's tirade against Vickie would have been far better if he said "after I had sex with you I..." rather than "kissed", as he actually said, and would have helped intensify the situation. Definitely one that there could be more of.
Nudity
Totally unecessary. Anything gained from nudity can be acheived with implied nudity (e.g. under some bed covers), and I really don't see the point. Again, I'm not morally opposed to it, but I think that it would be a bit farcical.
Pregnancy
Great. Lots of great storylines in soap operas centre on this, and there is an angle in there somewhere always. We saw it with Lita and Kane, so lets see something a bit different next time. Lets a diva who is in a relationship with a wrestler, the only one I can think of is Rosa Mendes, but it needn't be her, gets pregnant, but the father isn't her boyfriend. He then goes a bit mental, trying to figure out who it is, accusing everyone. The problem, of course, is what to do with the baby. Three options. 1) Release the diva at the end. 2) Abortion, more on that later 3) She was lying for attention. I'd go with 3).
Abortion
Seemed to follow from the last so I did it. I think its a great storyline for tension between a couple, but I don't think it would really work as a wrestling feud. Also, I think its far too big a can of worms to open in terms of fan reaction. Rightly or wrongly people's opinions on this topic are highly polarised and no matter what the outcome, people will turn on the wrestlers and the organisation.
Racial Violence / Discrimination issues
Great. Make Dolph Ziggler a white supremacist, but also an idiot. Then let R-Truth beat him, eventually make him see the errors of his ways. This would work well. You could do the reverse, but I think encouraging people to hate people speaking up for minorities is probably a political landmine.
Racial Stereotypes
This one already exists to an acceptable level. Just ask Finlay, Sheamus, Hornswoggle, R-Truth, Cryme Tyme, MVP, Yoshi Tatsu, Kofi Kingston, Chavo Guerrero, Santino etc. That looks like I'm just naming minorities, but seriously, which one of them isn't a stereotype. Mark "less of a [racial slur deleted] than Michael Hayes" Henry is pretty much the only non white/non north american that isn't one. At the moment it's ok, but any more would verge on the ridiculous.
LGBT characters / Relationships / Stereotypes
Absolutely fine with this, but for godsake don't make them a raging borderline rapist cock hungry heel. I think this would be better for both company image and humanity if the gay people were faces and the homophobe was the heel. I don't mind a bit of campness, as long as it isn't irritating.
Murder
Much the same as rape really. I understand the possibility "You killed my brother..." etc, but it's tough to think of it in a wrestling context with the payoff not resulting in someonebeing put "in gaol" and released without the issue being trivialised.
Suicide or Self-Harm
Another possibility for a redemption angle. Someone sinks into depression as a result of losing all the time, having his valet stolen, losing a tag team partner etc. then gets energised by something and comes back vitalised.
Religion
Great, as long as it isn't offensive. That means that Muslims being terrorists is probably a non starter. Again, make the bigot a heel, or if you must make a radical fundamentalist, also have someone of the same faith that is tolerant and normal who feuds with them.
Politics (ie: character preaching Ultra-Conservative or Liberal Views)
Probably too high brow for the average wrestling fan, but it'd be a good feud around election time. This could have been a neat addition to the CM Punk vs JBL title change which I think wasn't too long after Obama's inaugeration, as I recall.
Incestual Relationships
I think that Paul Burchill shagging his sister is TV gold. What would be even better though is if you just have him fancying her and being overprotective. Then, if you want to disgust, follow it through, if you want it to be a storyline, have her fall for someone else and have Burchill go apeshit. I prefer the second option.
Crime- Stealing
A much better idea than murder or rape, because it is essentially a trivial crime. Have a theif in the locker room, everyone is blaming everyone, you could get real mileage out of it. The culprit is eventually uncovered, put in a lumberjack match and forced to leave the brand.
Of the list you've given, pretty much all of it would be within bounds with the possible exception of excessive foul language and nudity, neither of which would ever be the focus of a storyline anyway, and both of which can be implied via the use of bleeps and strategic object placement, but for posterity, I'll analyse the whole list, giving my views and who I would run these programmes with.
Excessive Violence
Excessive violence should be used at the end of an intense feud. For example, it would have been an excellent pay off to the Orton vs Cena or Orton vs HHH feuds this year if it was an absolutely brutal affair, with perhaps one of them falling foul of a vicious object attack a la Stone Cold getting hit with a shovel.
Foul Language
Unecessary. Its easy to convey anger without resorting to it and it often feels very forced in acting. If it is used, it should be contextual and rare. Like I said, perhaps you could censor it out and have the same effect, we've all seen Jerry Springer, and there's no way you can say that you don't feel that those people are f*****g p****d off.
Blood
Blood can help, but it needs to be contextualised again. Ric Flair bled in just about every single match and it completely numbs the effect of it. Personally, I don't think blood adds anything to matches, but if they did use it, then they should probably use it only once a show in some sort of weapons related match.
Drug References / Use
I'm pretty sure that hard drug use is banned across all television, so it can only be implied. That being said, it could be a great rags to riches kind of storyline. You debut someone strongly, such as say Eric Escobar. Let him win a couple of matches, then make him lose and lose badly. Eventually announce he has drug problems. Pair him with a diva who encourages him to break the rut and show him in vignettes every week, then he's clean, he returns and he wins. Simple but effective redemption storyline.
Violence against Women (can include Rape)
Violence against women - fine as long as they get their commupance. Whoever does it, not the women. Rape is a sticky minefield. On a drama, a rapist eventually gets caught or gets killed. Either way, they are written out of the show. If a wrestler rapes someone then loses a feud, that's a less than fitting punishment. It's something that I'm not a priori opposed to, but it's hard to see how you could implement it on a wrestling show without trivialising it. Basically, if the wrestler who does it gets released at the end of it all, because they are "in gaol", it's the only way it would work.
Discrimination against Women- Misogyny
Fine, so long as they look like a fool. They pretty much do this already with Santino, and again it should be a comedy heel. Heel because it's wrong, comedy because they are going to end up being beaten by a woman. If you look closely, you'll see some irony in the previous sentence.
Sexuality- Implied Sex
Should wrestling be porno? No. Should relationships include implied sex? Absolutely. It is easier to build a relationship if it centres on sex. Take this week's SmackDown. Escobar's tirade against Vickie would have been far better if he said "after I had sex with you I..." rather than "kissed", as he actually said, and would have helped intensify the situation. Definitely one that there could be more of.
Nudity
Totally unecessary. Anything gained from nudity can be acheived with implied nudity (e.g. under some bed covers), and I really don't see the point. Again, I'm not morally opposed to it, but I think that it would be a bit farcical.
Pregnancy
Great. Lots of great storylines in soap operas centre on this, and there is an angle in there somewhere always. We saw it with Lita and Kane, so lets see something a bit different next time. Lets a diva who is in a relationship with a wrestler, the only one I can think of is Rosa Mendes, but it needn't be her, gets pregnant, but the father isn't her boyfriend. He then goes a bit mental, trying to figure out who it is, accusing everyone. The problem, of course, is what to do with the baby. Three options. 1) Release the diva at the end. 2) Abortion, more on that later 3) She was lying for attention. I'd go with 3).
Abortion
Seemed to follow from the last so I did it. I think its a great storyline for tension between a couple, but I don't think it would really work as a wrestling feud. Also, I think its far too big a can of worms to open in terms of fan reaction. Rightly or wrongly people's opinions on this topic are highly polarised and no matter what the outcome, people will turn on the wrestlers and the organisation.
Racial Violence / Discrimination issues
Great. Make Dolph Ziggler a white supremacist, but also an idiot. Then let R-Truth beat him, eventually make him see the errors of his ways. This would work well. You could do the reverse, but I think encouraging people to hate people speaking up for minorities is probably a political landmine.
Racial Stereotypes
This one already exists to an acceptable level. Just ask Finlay, Sheamus, Hornswoggle, R-Truth, Cryme Tyme, MVP, Yoshi Tatsu, Kofi Kingston, Chavo Guerrero, Santino etc. That looks like I'm just naming minorities, but seriously, which one of them isn't a stereotype. Mark "less of a [racial slur deleted] than Michael Hayes" Henry is pretty much the only non white/non north american that isn't one. At the moment it's ok, but any more would verge on the ridiculous.
LGBT characters / Relationships / Stereotypes
Absolutely fine with this, but for godsake don't make them a raging borderline rapist cock hungry heel. I think this would be better for both company image and humanity if the gay people were faces and the homophobe was the heel. I don't mind a bit of campness, as long as it isn't irritating.
Murder
Much the same as rape really. I understand the possibility "You killed my brother..." etc, but it's tough to think of it in a wrestling context with the payoff not resulting in someonebeing put "in gaol" and released without the issue being trivialised.
Suicide or Self-Harm
Another possibility for a redemption angle. Someone sinks into depression as a result of losing all the time, having his valet stolen, losing a tag team partner etc. then gets energised by something and comes back vitalised.
Religion
Great, as long as it isn't offensive. That means that Muslims being terrorists is probably a non starter. Again, make the bigot a heel, or if you must make a radical fundamentalist, also have someone of the same faith that is tolerant and normal who feuds with them.
Politics (ie: character preaching Ultra-Conservative or Liberal Views)
Probably too high brow for the average wrestling fan, but it'd be a good feud around election time. This could have been a neat addition to the CM Punk vs JBL title change which I think wasn't too long after Obama's inaugeration, as I recall.
Incestual Relationships
I think that Paul Burchill shagging his sister is TV gold. What would be even better though is if you just have him fancying her and being overprotective. Then, if you want to disgust, follow it through, if you want it to be a storyline, have her fall for someone else and have Burchill go apeshit. I prefer the second option.
Crime- Stealing
A much better idea than murder or rape, because it is essentially a trivial crime. Have a theif in the locker room, everyone is blaming everyone, you could get real mileage out of it. The culprit is eventually uncovered, put in a lumberjack match and forced to leave the brand.