WWE getting a PG rating

[Darkshot77]

Nice to see you took the time to read that post. Where in it do I tell anyone how they should live their lives? I mearly stated the obvious fact that people more often that not will do what their hearts and minds tell them to, no matter how many rules or guidlines are forced upon them.

You say some people are too stupid to decide for themselves, well that's a very productive opinion. I guess we should have the entire human race tested, then exile all the ones who don't measure up to your criteria to an island somewhere where their abject incompetance doesn't screw up society.

Mabey that just might work, but the bottom line is those too ignorant to know what a correct dicision is need to get their head fixed

At the very least I apologized for reducing this wrestling thread to an argument about society, so unless you want to get back to the matter at hand, I suggest you get off your soap box and get out of this forum

Now that thats out of my system:
I've been thinking, mabey a PG rating isn't as bad as previously thought, mabey it's worse. In movies I've been suprised at what they can fit in into "PG" while I've been confused why something was "PG-13". The term can be misconstrued at will. My defanition of PG may not be the same as the guy down the street. Now remember Smackdown! obtains a PG rating and, yea, it could be better but, SD! gets edited before it airs, with RAW and ECW live this could create an issue. I am still against the move, it may do more harm than good.

"Eagles may soar, but weasels dont get sucked into jet engines"

 

[btb1222]

This will help boost or help the kids coming on over to watch wwe. The parents will approve which means more ratings, more merchindise sold, etc

That means we will most likely have to sit through more crap involving characters such as Hornswoggle.

Yes I think they [kiddie wrestler] will come more common. Boogeyman is a future kiddie wrestler!

They recently launched a magazine just for children, they give plenty of air time to wrestlers that the kids like to watch and now they are rating their shows PG.

hardys,cena, those are the kiddie favorites o and mysterio. They [WWE] knows that they are losing the core audience [16+] and the kids will have to replace it.

 

[mcflyboy]

I see good points on both sides of the debate; however, I see two things that people haven't touched on yet (and if they did, I apologize for missing it):

1. TV-PG and catering to kids are NOT the same thing. It might mean matches that are less bloody, but so what? Who watches the programs for blood anyway?

2. Smackdown has been TV-PG for a while now, and people still seem to watch it and don't have any major complaints. You don't have the divas wearing turtlenecks and trenchcoats. You still see good storylines and matches. Is there really a great number of folks who don't watch smackdown because it's pg?

I think people here are flipping out unnecessarily. And those who claim that people will quit watching without (or only started watching because of) "edginess, sex, or violence", speak for yourself. that may be true for you but hardly can be generalized to the entire wrestling fanbase. Again, I point out that smackdown is pg and i don't see anything wrong with that show. PG and catering to kids is not the same thing.

 

[Davi323]

If you only watch wresting because of edginess, sex and violence, you aren't a wrestling fan at all. Smackdown is PG, and by a lot of wrestling fans, considered better than RAW. Why? Because without the over the top edgy stuff, they focus on putting on great wrestling matches. Heaven forbid we get less insane stunts, and get back to actual wrestling in wrestling matches. Maybe you younger fans are jaded, because the sex and violence is all you know. For us older fans, we remember when you maybe saw blood in a match once or twice a year. We remember when a DDT was a finishing maneuver, we remember matches that routinely went 20 minutes, and not 5 minutes, so they can hurry up and get to the next segment where someone is getting brutally attacked backstage. Wrestlemania III occurred during a time when the WWF had no divas, nobody bladed, nobody jumped off of titantrons, nobody rammed into anyone else with their limo that didn't get blown up, instead, it had great wrestling matches by wrestlers, not brawlers. Not thugs. It also still holds the indoor attendance record, despite the lack of edginess, sex and violence.

When Vince McMahon was creating the WWF Empire out of a local territorial wrestling company, the shows were certainly PG level, if not at times, a G level. It was very kid friendly, and very popular at the same time. We didn't need first blood matches to be entertained. We didn't need Big John Studd attempting vehicular homicide in order to believe him and Andre the Giant didn't get along, as we saw with JBL and Cena. We were capable of believing Hercules Hernandez and Billy Jack Haynes could feud over who had the strongest Full Nelson. We were capable of accepting that Brutus the Barber Beefcake and the Honky Tonk Man were rivals, without either one of them needing to fall off of a Hell in the Cell, ala Mankind. Sometimes, they even feuded because they both wanted the same #1 contender position, and that was all you needed to make it work.

The WWE going PG is not a bad thing. If it means no more "live sex shows" from Edge, I can live with it. If it means longer matches, with less high spots that could injure a wrestler for months, I am okay with that too. Spots like that should be rare occurrences, not something that happens every match. Too many wrestlers are suffering long term injuries because of the current style, that is shortening their careers. Personally, I salute the WWE for going this route, if only to make it safer for the wrestlers.

 

[FromTheSouth]

The point isn't that people are watching only for edginess, it's that losing that audience would be selling out. Kelly Kelly's gyrations don't equal ratings, but without them, people feel, the WWE would be abandoning the audience that has stuck with them through the end of the Attitude.

I think the WWE is trying to pick up ten year olds, so that when they turn 15, a new Attitude era can be born. Think of how Brett Hart was elevated at the end of the cartoon era and kids were behind him, and as they aged, Bret got edgier, and then boom, the Attitude era started and Bret was gone. CM Punk is being built as Bret was, a clean cut, kid's favorite, and the new HBK is waiting in the wings, getting ready to dirty it up again in a few years.

The problem lies in that the kids who watched Bret Hart grew up on Saved by the Bell, these kids are growing up on the OC and Miley Cyrus' risque escapades at 15, and nothing will shock them anymore.

 

[Code Red]

I am disappointed by this move. This is Vince McMahon resting on his laurels and getting comfortable and thinking that he has no "real" competition out there. This complacency has helped TNA gain momentum and hopefully ROH, CZW, or others will procure television deals in the wake of moves like this.

Face it, folks. The days of seeing hellraisers like Stone Cold Steve Austin and the "Attitude" era are long over. We could very well see a return to the halcyon days of the mid '90s, where we were treated to the likes of TL Hopper, Duke "The Dumpster" Droese, Henry O. Godwinn & Phineas I. Godwinn (HOG & PIG, huh huh), and other luminaries.

If this move was in fact VKM's doing, it's all the more reason why he should step down and relinquish his spot to someone else. And for anyone still waiting for "The Real ECW" to emerge, this is all the proof you need that it will never happen. Now we're going to see Raw become more bland and tame with this move. Hopefully someone will step in and present a wrestling product with an edge, something sorely missing these days (and that includes TNA, which, even though the actual wrestling is terrific, you can't even say words like "ass" or "bitch").

 

[Shocky]

I am disappointed by this move. This is Vince McMahon resting on his laurels and getting comfortable and thinking that he has no "real" competition out there. This complacency has helped TNA gain momentum and hopefully ROH, CZW, or others will procure television deals in the wake of moves like this.

It's because Vince McMahon has no real competition. All of those companies you mentioned would have been staring up not only at WWE and WCW, but ECW would have still sat comfortably as the number 3 promotion in the company. I'm still waiting for this momentum TNA is on to actually come true. Remaining complacent at 1.1 ratings isn't exactly mind shattering momentum. Ring Of Honor is niche programming at its best, and did you really say CZW. CZW is the pond scum of professional wrestling.

Face it, folks. The days of seeing hellraisers like Stone Cold Steve Austin and the "Attitude" era are long over. We could very well see a return to the halcyon days of the mid '90s, where we were treated to the likes of TL Hopper, Duke "The Dumpster" Droese, Henry O. Godwinn & Phineas I. Godwinn (HOG & PIG, huh huh), and other luminaries.

Thank God. The Attitude Era has been dead for five years, finally someone else realizes it. The Attitude Era is perhaps the most over rated Era in the history of the business. Nothing but Shock TV crap with no substance whatsoever. Sure there were some bad characters in the 90's, but I mean, its not like Naked Mideon, Sexual Chocolate, or Mae Young were running around during the AEra either...

If this move was in fact VKM's doing, it's all the more reason why he should step down and relinquish his spot to someone else. And for anyone still waiting for "The Real ECW" to emerge, this is all the proof you need that it will never happen. Now we're going to see Raw become more bland and tame with this move. Hopefully someone will step in and present a wrestling product with an edge, something sorely missing these days (and that includes TNA, which, even though the actual wrestling is terrific, you can't even say words like "ass" or "bitch").

Then I would say you need to question yourself as to why you are a wrestling fan, and everyone else for that matter. The biggest argument against this is people won't be able to say bad words anymore. Do you honestly need the words Ass or Bitch to enjoy wrestling? If you do, then you're not a fan of the business, plain and simple.

VKM is doing this because its money. VKM finally is realizing that MMA is a legit competition, and that the 18-35 year olds that were once watching his company, have turned to MMA for their violence. He can't beat MMA and he realizes it. So why not go young once again. After all, kids by the shirts, kids by the toys, kids are where the money is, it's brilliant. Raw has been more exciting and entertaining to watch the last four weeks then it was the four years before it.

 

[Code Red]

One thing that has changed about WWE in recent years is that the amount of squash matches has gone up. On SmackDown! this week, I saw no fewer than 5 squash matches. Combine that with an overall tamer approach to programming - does this sound like the formula for a ratings bonanza?

I thought of a couple of things. We all know that WWE dedicates plenty of time to set up feuds through in-ring promos, backstage segments, etc. Now, I don't get personal gratification from hearing words like "ass" and "bitch", but how are these people going to speak to each other now ... "I'm gonna kick your butt, you dipstick!", or "You're in trouble now, doodyhead!"? If I'm going to continue watching WWE, I would like to have some semblance of reality in the product. The good thing about '80s WWE is that they focused on wrestling the majority of the time, whereas today it's 50/50 between wrestling and various promos, so corny dialogue didn't always enter the picture. My concern is that they will be heading down this road with the promos.

In addition, I also think about what new characters we're going to see. Are we going to see more characters in the vein of the aforementioned Hopper and Droese? Are we going to have more goofy Hornswoggle (whose irritating one-dimensional shtick is a slap in the face to any viewer over the age of 12) type characters running around? If WWE is thinking along these lines, soon they can kiss all of their high-school age (and older) viewers goodbye.

 

[Crush1]

We have to accept that sadly the wrestling industry is changing.It used to be an all american loudmouth beer-drinking football-loving and loud-chanting crowd,but the new generation only consists of children age 7-13 i think vince had no choice than to rate his show pg a shame indeed but without a choice.

 

[DeadmanInc.]

Ugh, as if it weren't already "uncool" to watch wrestling, they had to go and tune it down into a PG rating. What's next? The Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus making cameo appearances and getting involved in storylines?

If WWE is really afraid of MMA competition they should go back to their shock TV attitude era days. MMA's only selling point over WWE is the real violence. The reason the violence draws in viewers is because you can't see that in many places. People like drama and people like fights as you can see by all the fight videos on Youtube. The attitude era was dramatic, shocking, and violent. It may have been fake but it damn sure was entertaining. Where else could you see an employee soak their boss in beer with a hose?

It caught the attention of aged 14+ viewers because it was badass. Even younger kids watched wrestling in those days. I was 8 when I started watching and I remember everyone at school watched too. It was "cool" to watch wrestling. I don't see why Vince needs to tone it down for a younger audience when the Attitude era drew in a large audience, children and adults.

 

[Dead Kennedy]

Man, isn't it enough with one leprechaun actually getting titles that could be left for, hmm, I don't know, SOMEBODY WITH TALENT. This is gonna suck. I had this horrible vision of WWE bringing in NBB, so I'm just gonna leave now before I get depressed. This is the death blow to the post-Attitude Era.

 

[Razz]

I think since everything goes in cycles, they are going to go back to the mid 80's early 90's type of PG show. Now as far as it working I will give them the benefit of the doubt. They are trying to appeal to a larger audience I think who they have lost they feel. The ratings will show if its a success or not. Personally I think the attitude era stuff worked maybe better when there were 3 competitors trying to outdo each other. A lot of this also obviously has to do with Guerrero/Benoit deaths and the negative coverage of wrestling deaths has gotten in the last few years. Maybe they are trying to reach out to more sponsors and bigger positive television coverage. Having this autism charity cause as the backdrop on SNME seems to be one part of the new ideas for sure.

 

[Mr-excitement]

I keep saying it and no one wants to believe, the WWE is just in a reactionary mode right now, the idea is probably that kids can't come to the show alone, so they sell more tickets and kids will want the toys and merchandise.

I don't see it working. The TV show is on too late for them to capture that audience during the school season.

 

[Davi323]

But, if they toned it down to PG level, they will be able to get the big name sponsors again, who are hesitant to advertise with the WWE right now, because they are aren't sure what to make of it...make those advertisers feel comfortable again by delivering a family friendly TV show, perhaps the network tells them they can air at 8pm, getting the prime position. Do you think USA network wouldn't want Monday Night RAW at the 8pm slot, rather than reruns of Law and Order? 8pm is the money slot, and RAW doesn't have it, because they don't get the right advertisers, because they are afraid to be associated with the extreme elements of wrestling. Tone that down, the advertisers come back, RAW gets more popular with families that actually control what their children watch, and they get a renewable fanbase, in addition to bigger advertising names, and possibly better timeslots to air.

I get why the WWE is doing this. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY. It is a business first and foremost, and they are going to do what draws in the most revenue. They see this is a way to increase revenue.