Steve Anderson on WWE-PG

[Shocky]

There’s a new Batman cartoon coming this fall to the Cartoon Network. Dubbed “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” it is a lighter approach to the darkest of Dark Knights. Bats teams up with a variety of super-heroes from the DC Universe. No brooding. No emotional trauma. No getting to the edge only to pull back. Nothing like the current mega-blockbuster appearing in theaters now.

While hella-geeks are freaking out over a lighter, happier Batman, there is a method to the madness. The creators are realizing that they need to build a foundation of Batman fans who are children. Children who shouldn’t be seeing the Dark Knight (and don’t get me started on the idiot parents who took their kids to that movie, only to gripe about the violence). Children who should be watching a hero, not an anti-hero. That will come as they get older.

No, I haven’t forgotten which site I write for. I am making an analogy…or just dovetailing two of my intense interests.

Welcome to WWE, rated PG (some scenes may be too violent for children or cause their heads to explode when Mike Adamle appears on the screen).

Don’t get me wrong. I find it to be a strange move. After all, the basic premise of wrestling is two people resolving their differences by fighting. That alone is a poor example to establish with the younger lot. No matter how family-friendly you make the product, it is two people using their fists, feet and other appendages.

For fans who think that the WWE is abandoning you, get over it. For the faithful who believe that this is the beginning of the end, take a deep breath. The company has to think of their future. They need to build a foundation of new fans. You cannot do it with the existing base. They get older and move on to other things. The “Attitude” era is over, never to return. It was a one-time sensation that you cannot replicate.

The way you keep your business chugging along is hooking younger fans. Get them to watch your shows. Get the parents to see that WWE isn’t so bad after all. Their sons and daughters can watch it after all. And buy the t-shirts, action figures and other assorted merchandise.

And so on…and on…

The sponsors see a lack of offensive or extreme material and they follow suit with advertising and cross-promotion. Next thing you know, wrestling is enjoying another renaissance…a surge…the “anti-Attitude Era.”

WWE-PG is not a permanent move. Marketing is fluid. It changes constantly. WWE is merely responding to a need that exists at this moment in time. Get the kids into wrestling. Advertisers flock. Kids get older and still remain wrestling fans. Then, you slowly amp up the material to a PG-13 level…without any fanfare, of course. You change the approach of one brand. Say Raw, since it is on cable, suddenly starts pushing the proverbial envelope again. Smackdown could remain PG, but Raw is, well, raw.

This is not the XFL, WBF, IcoPro or the WCW/ECW Invasion. Yes, those were debacles, but this is a proactive, long-term plan that is merely in its infancy. Comparing WWE-PG to those missteps is comparing apples to staplers.

Or Batman.

Awesome, just an awesome column that pretty much hits home on topics that I have discussed for a year or so on here now. His comment on the Attitude Era being done is something people have been trying to pound into other's heads for a while now.

As I've said too, the violence is still going to be there, but maybe now we won't see stupid sketches with people getting hit by cars or just non-believable crap like that (Austin gets hit by a car and is out for a year, Triple H gets dropped from a car while still inside, and is back in three weeks??? consitency people.)

I honestly don't see how someone can call themselves a fan of the business with being upset that the WWE is cutting back on the language, which is just not needed, and the sex. There are still going to be women running around in tights, but the days of Bikini contest and Night Gowns and crap is hopefully over for now.

 

[FromTheSouth]

Same thing I've been saying. Parents take their kids to Batman, let the TV babysit them, and yet, somehow WWE is to blame, or at least the line. These are the same kids that watch an episode of South Park that has nothing but Girl Gone Wild commercials, and wrestling is the problem. Great article.

Also, I agree 100% with the idea that if you trap 8 year-olds now, you can ramp up the tits and ass as they age.