WWE Removing Attitude Era Content After Linda McMahon's Campaign Is Attacked

[The Jeff]

WWE Removing Attitude Era Content After Linda Mcmahon's Campaign Is Attacked
Posted by: Lee Of WrestlingNewsSource.com on Sep 14 2012
Source: LordOfPain

WWE last night said that it was removing "dated and edgier" footage from itswebsite and other platforms such as YouTube, after co-founder Linda McMahon's political opponent used clips in an commercial attacking Mrs Mcmahon's campaign/image. "To better reflect our current family-friendly brand of entertainment, WWE is removing some dated and edgier footage from digital platforms," said Brian Flinn, WWE's SVP in Marketing and Communications, in a statement. "Some of this footage has been misused in political environments without any context or explanation as to when it was produced. This damages the corporate reputation of our company. WWE is well within its rights to protect its intellectual property for fair use." Flinn did say that the footage removal is not related to the commercial released Wednesday by Rep. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat running for Senate against McMahon, which featured WWE footage while slamming her for allegedly off-shoring profits to avoid taxes and failing to provide health coverage for their performers.

Can you believe this shit? WWE is one of the worst entertainment companies ever

 

[klunderbunker]

No, they aren't.

WWE owns the footage and if they want to remove it for Linda's campaign that's their decision. I don't like that they did it either and it makes me roll my eyes, but it's completely understandable. Some of the Attitude Era stuff makes me embarrassed to call myself a wrestling fan. We had forced weddings, human sacrifices to a pagan god, transvestites, implied rape, drug pushers, people being shoved off the top of the TitanTron and a 70+ year old woman giving birth to a hand. I'd want that nonsense pulled off the air too if I was running a campaign or not. WWE isn't one of the worst entertainment companies ever. You're complaining because content is being removed from a site. They have so much content that they could easily replace it with family friendlier stuff and I wish they would. I'd rather watch Bret and Shawn from 1992 than Mae Young in bed with Mark Henry every day of my life.

 

[The Jeff]

stop being a damn apologist. It's fucking stupid. You can't erase history. No other company does this shit,

 

[klunderbunker]

stop being a damn apologist. It's fucking stupid. You can't erase history. No other company does this shit,

I'm not an apologist. I'm being sensible and realistic.

CBS erased a whole season of Dallas by having it all be a dream. Newhart wound up all being a dream. Why do you think TNA doesn't talk about the very first few years of the company? Those shows were AWFUL and I'd be embarrassed to display them. I'm about to redo my original reviews because I don't like the quality of them. This is a common practice and while it may be annoying, they're well within their rights to do this.

At the end of the day it's legal, it's not costing you any money, and I have no idea why it would bother your current viewing of the product they're putting on today.

 

[JaylisJayP]

Is Linda leading in the polls? First of all, who would be dumb enough to vote for her anyway? Second, I just hope she loses so things can relax a LITTLE BIT in WWE. Because they're sure not putting any focus into storylines and character development, the least they can do is bring a tiny bit of that edge back.

Just wait...soon enough there won't be any wrestling. It'll just be John Cena talking to the camera at the top of the ramp for an hour, social media for an hour, and recaps of John Cena talking to the camera from last week for an hour.

 

[King of the Words]

It seems that the WWE are willing to do pretty much anything to it's company to help Linda win her Senate campaign. The product is already as boring as hell, what's the next step, going g rated?

If WWE want to keep their older fans entertained they are going to have to give us something worth watching or most of us aren't going to watch. I have already gave up on Raw since it became 3 hours. It's watered down, lame, and if it is for kids then why does it come on past kids bedtime? The WWE are trying to have their cake and eat it too. They want to make the product family friendly, yet they want the attitude fans to stick around as well, but give us little to nothing to care about.

We had the Punk speech last summer, The Rock comeback, Brock return and a few other things but nothing really substaintal that will keep older fans tuned in. Brock and rock will come and go, but then what? With a lame edgless product, with no real sign of it getting anymore interesting(IMO) why should people like myself, who helped make Vince rich and helped WWE win the monday night wars keep tuning in for.

The ppv`s besides Mania, aren`t much better then raw and SD. Even if they stay pg for a while their lame storylines and lack of star building is pathetic. Cena has been the face of the company for 7 years now, with little competition to his title. Only punk has become any bit of a challenge. But with weak storylines how can he get over to Cena`s level. Cena rose to fame back when the product still had some edge but now it`s just a shell of it`s former self. How can Punk or anyone get to that level without being able to do edgy material. All he has been able to do is that one pipe bomb, then had the belt through on him, but not allowed to main event a ppv. How will they ever have a top star besides Cena with this way of going about things.

I have always thought that a wrestling business should be a product for adults. It involves fighting, name calling, bullying, possible blood, and big angry men kicking each others butt. how is this product something for children. The Be a Star campaign having WWE involved is such a joke. The wrestling business is full of bullies and jerks and people willing to stomp on other peoples throats to get ahead. All, long time wrestling fans know this. I wish The mcmahon`s went back to doing what they do best, which is entertaining wrestling fans, with the edgy product that made WWE the best in the business. Seeing what the WWE has been reduced to in the past few years is depressing and dissapointing to say the least. I think the mcMahon`s might find out the hard way that being too power hungry and too greedy can destroy a family built business. And that will be a shame to all loyal WWE wrestling fans for sure.

 

[John Cena's Sweatbands]

Typical double standard WWE bullshit.

They are heavily pushing a video game, WWE 13, in which a major part of gameplay revolves around the content that they are removing. I'll bet anything that they won't change anything to do with that, it's too much of a money maker.

If it wasn't for the Attitude Era putting the WWF/E on the mainstream landscape, Linda wouldn't be known at all to even stand in an election.

 

[RendarSelin]

It's all politics. Although, can you really blame the WWE for pulling some of its questionable content when it's being used incorrectly in politics? With the thousands of questionable acts in WWE's history (not just the Attitude Era), just imagine the ads that her opponent can create just from WWE footage.

For example (not limited to Attitude Era):
Trish Stratus on her hands and knees barking like a dog.
Zack Gowen's leg pulled off on Smackdown.
Katie Vick.
Undertaker's kidnapping of Stephanie McMahon & attempted sacrifice.
Vince McMahon's multiple instances of teasing JR's Bell's Palsy.
Anything with Chris Benoit.

This is just a small list I can come up with in about 5 min from the top of my head. If I hired multiple campaign media assistants to comb through hours of WWE footage, they could probably find much more to use against Linda McMahon. Professional wrestling is still seen in a negative light by the mainstream public, largely as a form of redneck, uncivilized entertainment (which may be why Linda is running as a Republican...).

 

[thedon2001]

stop being a damn apologist. It's fucking stupid. You can't erase history. No other company does this shit,

was the stupid passed on during your families previous generations or did you become stupid over time?

The WWE has every God given right to do as they see fit with "THEIR" property. They aren't erasing history unless their getting in your brain an erasing the memories genius.

They are protecting the owners wife's interests. Guess what i don't blame them one bit, and i'd bet your life that you'd do exactly the same thing if it was your wife running for public office.

 

[WWEIsLife2]

No, they aren't.

WWE owns the footage and if they want to remove it for Linda's campaign that's their decision. I don't like that they did it either and it makes me roll my eyes, but it's completely understandable. Some of the Attitude Era stuff makes me embarrassed to call myself a wrestling fan. We had forced weddings, human sacrifices to a pagan god, transvestites, implied rape, drug pushers, people being shoved off the top of the TitanTron and a 70+ year old woman giving birth to a hand. I'd want that nonsense pulled off the air too if I was running a campaign or not. WWE isn't one of the worst entertainment companies ever. You're complaining because content is being removed from a site. They have so much content that they could easily replace it with family friendlier stuff and I wish they would. I'd rather watch Bret and Shawn from 1992 than Mae Young in bed with Mark Henry every day of my life.

This is why KB is probably the smartest guy on these Forums. Some of the Attitude Era stuff had nothing to do with Wrestling at all and was just over the top TV to get people watching. Forced Weddings,Kidnappings,Embalming someone,births of hands (though I did enjoy the skit at RAW 1000),Hawk of LOD getting pushed off the Titantron,implied Rape of a dead corpse,etc had nothing to do with the In-Ring Product.

Its not like they are really erasing anything,its just so that the polticians can't use it on here in the Election. Like KB said I will take Cena,Bret Hart,HBK,CM Punk etc putting on Great Matches than some of that stuff.

 

[Marv95]

was the stupid passed on during your families previous generations or did you become stupid over time?

The WWE has every God given right to do as they see fit with "THEIR" property. They aren't erasing history unless their getting in your brain an erasing the memories genius.

They are protecting the owners wife's interests. Guess what i don't blame them one bit, and i'd bet your life that you'd do exactly the same thing if it was your wife running for public office.

Except there are 2 problems with that. 1st, unless I'm mistaken, a publicly traded company cannot compromise its own product, brand, history, etc. in favor of politics, which is what they are clearly doing. It's illegal and the company could be subject to a lawsuit from its shareholders or someone else. Second, an Attitude Era game is coming out which revolves around the content you speak of. This is pointless and a new low for Vince and company.

 

[shameronstar]

I'm surprised Linda's oppenent hasn't used the clips of Stephanie slapping Linda(happened on 2 separate occasions), Linda kicking Vince in the balls, Linda kicking JR in the balls firing him and then making fun of his misery with her family, Linda getting piledrived by Kane, Linda getting stunned by Stone Cold, Linda getting kicked in the gut by Sable, Vince beating and choking out their own daughter, Vince pie facing Linda, Linda being "heavily medicated" and being forced to watch her husband make out with Trish, and tons of other things which would make for funny anti-Linda commercials. Point is Linda doesn't really have a chance because there's too much crap that can be usd against her! Sorry Mrs. McMahon, YOU LOSE!

 

[Natural Selection]

This really pisses me off. Stupid politicians think this stuff is real. Its called acting and entertainment.

That's not it all. They are trying to use the outlandish clips to demonstrate her lack of character and decision making skills. She is running as a Republican on the premise that she has high character and good business making decisions. To be honest I'm surprised they didn't start hiding some of the crazy shit from the 'Attitude Era' before anyone was looking for it.

 

[The Heartfix Kid]

I agree its well within their right to do whatever they want with their business.

I only ask the question: How far does this go? There's DVD's of this stuff on store shelves. A crap load of Netflix documentaries regarding much of the era. Heck, what's stopping the opponent from going back Pre-Attitude stuff? I absolutely understand Vince wanting to help his wife anyway he can. But at some point, it seems like it becomes overkill

 

[PRMETFAN]

was the stupid passed on during your families previous generations or did you become stupid over time?

The WWE has every God given right to do as they see fit with "THEIR" property. They aren't erasing history unless their getting in your brain an erasing the memories genius.

They are protecting the owners wife's interests. Guess what i don't blame them one bit, and i'd bet your life that you'd do exactly the same thing if it was your wife running for public office.

They can erase history and that is exactly what they are doing here. By going aggressive against youtubers who place old Wwe footage online and by removing it from their own websites and own youtube channels.There will be no where that the old videos can be seen wwe can even censor it from their dvd's if they wanted to be drastic enough although i doubt they will since the election will be over soon anyway.With so many websites controlled by wwe schills including this one that just toe the company line older wrestling fans will be saying remember when wwe did this...... and with no video evidence and the schills saying it never happened it will just be like it never happened at all.

 

[GameOver]

so 6years of history can be edited out of existance? i think not.
if they edited all the attitude era content there would be nothing to watch during that period.

 

[GameOver]

This is why KB is probably the smartest guy on these Forums. Some of the Attitude Era stuff had nothing to do with Wrestling at all and was just over the top TV to get people watching. Forced Weddings,Kidnappings,Embalming someone,births of hands (though I did enjoy the skit at RAW 1000),Hawk of LOD getting pushed off the Titantron,implied Rape of a dead corpse,etc had nothing to do with the In-Ring Product.

Its not like they are really erasing anything,its just so that the polticians can't use it on here in the Election. Like KB said I will take Cena,Bret Hart,HBK,CM Punk etc putting on Great Matches than some of that stuff.

and 90% of the matches were extreme violence, language and the overall theme saw Sex Violence and Warfare, so where do they stop on editing it?

anyway it doesn't say anything about media beyond the internet.

They can't physically go out and take every single copy of media out there that would take decades. all they can do it try to minimize the most obvious references, and either way she's already heavily linked to WWE and what it has done, nothing any of them can do will change that fact, she needs to give up seriously, i'm not American but how would she stand a chance against the corruption that is politics.

oh and they better scrap the "slightly edgier" content they've been showing of late and eliminate any references to Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman aswell.

If it's not all just bullshit someone reporting crap that is only a part truth. but no that would never be coming from a "wrestling spoiler" site. It has to be gospel
which btw there is within 1 link from the front page. Hell in a Cell movies, WWE's most evil moments, WWE forced weddings, and old ECW video's up on WWE.com atm, and not hard to find either, gee isn't that "attitude"?
pretty sure even if they couldn't instantly remove it they could take the pages down for "re-design"

 

[abarela067]

Linda McMahon's political aspirations and the WWE going public are killing the WWE product... Its past, present and future.. the WWE is a shadow of its former self.. is really sad to say the least.. She needs to lose this election and move on..

 

[Tequila Dave]

You wouldn't have even noticed if it wasn't for the report, so stop whining. You sound like a bitch. How often do you look up the Attitude Era on their site? And how does them removing decade old video footage from the site hinder your current viewing experience? Also, how old are you? I'm genuinely curious.

Their decision to remove the content is completely logical. Your conclusion that they're one of the worst entertainment companies ever is not. But if that's really how you feel, stop watching. Stop watching, get of these forums, and never procreate. Because you are a bitch.

 

[Marv95]

This is why KB is probably the smartest guy on these Forums. Some of the Attitude Era stuff had nothing to do with Wrestling at all and was just over the top TV to get people watching. Forced Weddings,Kidnappings,Embalming someone,births of hands (though I did enjoy the skit at RAW 1000),Hawk of LOD getting pushed off the Titantron,implied Rape of a dead corpse,etc had nothing to do with the In-Ring Product.

The same can be said for the current product and anything from 2007 onward. Hornswoggle, The Dating Game, Raw is Looney Tunes, 2009 DX, guest hosts, Muppets, dance-offs, hug-it-outs, anger managements, recent Santino crap, social media crap, announcers feuding and being covered in BBQ sauce, Little Jimmies, all of that cheesy, cringeworthy, over-the-top nonsense which had nothing to do with wrestling product. Betcha they won't have a conniption and get rid of those pieces of footage.

 

[Mikechase69]

Hell if I was running against Linda I would just point out the fact that the WWE is trying to make kids dumb and give them roid using superheros to look up too. I understand the WWE apologists will defend everything they do but this is taking it too far, Linda would be better off just embracing her past the more you run the more you try to hid it the more it comes up in the conversation instead of being up front about it she makes into "Why won't she talk about her past in the WWE"

 

[snakebite313]

Except there are 2 problems with that. 1st, unless I'm mistaken, a publicly traded company cannot compromise its own product, brand, history, etc. in favor of politics, which is what they are clearly doing. It's illegal and the company could be subject to a lawsuit from its shareholders or someone else. Second, an Attitude Era game is coming out which revolves around the content you speak of. This is pointless and a new low for Vince and company.

Removing a few "Attitude Era" content does not in any way compromise WWE's product, namely WRESTLING. For me, what made the Attitude Era what it was were the superstars, i.e Stone Cold, Rock, Y2J, DX, to name a few. So long as images of those mentioned above can still be found, then they're not really erasing anything. I think my point covers arguments about the game as well. Cheers

 

[Ellye]

The non-wrestling promos and segments from the Attitude Era are downright embarrassing.
Completely over-the-top, "look at me, male teenagers!"-style of television.

It surprises me that it took them this long to remove it, frankly.

 

[Darkseifer330]

You can't erase the past. It happened already, and taking down the attitude era stuff isn't going to help Linda McMahon get into senate. It feels like WWE is trying to run away from the past, which is only going to catch up to them like it is now with the footage being used against her. I'm going to say it, PG sucks and no one like my opinion, deal with it. WWE doesn't have to go back to what happened the Attitude era, but it needs to be a little less corny and needs some edge to it. TNA is doing fine the way it is, hell they are getting better and better every week. One thing WWE lacks is the ability to become believable. It's so predictable and highly unrealistic that it;s become just merely entertainment.

IMO Linda shouldn't have run for senate, as for it killed the overall quality of WWE. AND NO I am not saying WWE needs all the cursing, blood, and insane storyline from the attitude era, WWE had to move on to attract newer audiences, but needs to have the quality of the Ruthless Agression 2002-2006 era, which wasn't focused on blood and cursing, but something all ages would enjoy instead of catering to little kids and their parents which seems to be the main target. Seriously imagine WWE if Linda were senator...

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

As long as they didn't remove it from other people's YouTube accounts, it shouldn't matter to anyone.

Be more concerned with the direction of the current product if you want to get butturt about something. Linda's politics should not affect your enjoyment of the past whatsoever.