Chris Benoit wasn't solely responsible for the PG Era

[jminter2698]

If I could remember correctly, the Benoit murder suicide incident happened in 2007, the WWE didn't go PG until 2008. It did play a role in the way the company is now in terms of its wellness policy on drugs, alcohol and steroid abuse but a lot of those other things changed way before the Benoit stuff. The Attitude Era ended in 2001 after WCW and ECW went out of business, the WWE changed its name from the WWF in 2002 after the World Wildlife Fund sued them, the brand split for RAW and Smackdown had already taken place a few months earlier just a week after WrestleMania X8. Speaking of which that's when Brock Lesnar, Batista, Randy Orton and John Cena came in and The Rock, Stone Cold and a lot of The Attitude Era guys left the company too. So it was a lot of different things that led to the change in the programming to the way it is now. It wasn't just Benoit.

 

[Unbesiegbar]

Bro did you watch WWE in the Ruthless Aggression Era? I would argue some of what they did was worse and probably traumatized me as a kid. And I was 12. I mean Triple H beating up a handicap guy. Kane getting Lita pregnant while Snitsky's a baby killer. DX vs The McMahons. I will admit Edge was really funny and probably the best during that era. Especially when he was such a heel Cena actually got cheered

 

[jminter2698]

Bro did you watch WWE in the Ruthless Aggression Era? I would argue some of what they did was worse and probably traumatized me as a kid. And I was 12. I mean Triple H beating up a handicap guy. Kane getting Lita pregnant while Snitsky's a baby killer. DX vs The McMahons. I will admit Edge was really funny and probably the best during that era. Especially when he was such a heel Cena actually got cheered

I remember all of that, but it still wasn't The Attitude Era anymore.

 

[Unbesiegbar]

It wasn't but it wasn't pg either

 

[The Sheik]

He wasn't responsible at all.. The sponsors are a big issue, they have way more than they use to, they wanted a change in WWE's presentation to maximize their own profits.. When they went PG the audience becomes more varied with women and children.

 

[SWL]

nobody and nothing specifically is really responsible for the start of the PG era, it's something the company has been considering for a long time before actually going that route in 2008. In a way, it wasn't even unfamiliar territory for the E, given that the golden age with Hogan, Savage, Warrior, etc was all rated PG as well. So technically they went back to their roots by making it a safer and more family oriented product again.
It just comes down to straight up business. Having a family friendly product results in more money through merchandise sales, more sponsors and better TV deals, which leads to wrestlers getting to make more money yet also being in a safer work environment

 

[Jacob Fox]

It never entered my mind in any way that the two were related.

 

[Unbesiegbar]

People say that it's because of Benoit. Other people say it was their contract with Mattel. Which is sad because my Jakks Pacific was way better. Also Linda McMahon's campaign. Could be a combination of two or all three

 

[edge4ever]

It never entered my mind in any way that the two were related.

This
[doublepost=1528932533][/doublepost]In business, 9 times out of 10, it comes down to money. Vince knew more money could be made going PG, so he tried it and it worked out better for him.

 

[Solid Snake]

It likely has nothing to do with any individual wrestler or person in WWE at the time.

A lot of TV programming was shifting then and they saw a much bigger market being able to appeal to children while having parent's approval to actually watch the program. They would have made a lot less money without the children's sector of merchandise. I would even wager that Cena would not have been as big as a deal as he was/is had it not been for his child fan base.

 

[Redboy123@]

Certainly had some sort of impact

 

[Crash]

I think the Benoit tragedy forced WWE to change it's wellness policy and get rid and dangerous moves, such as chairshot to the head, more than anything. The "PG ERA" would've happen no matter what IMO. You gotta remember that the WWE...F at the time, was PG and had no blood policy way before the Attitude era... During the late 80s to mid 90s.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think the Benoit tragedy forced WWE to change it's wellness policy and get rid and dangerous moves, such as chairshot to the head, more than anything. The "PG ERA" would've happen no matter what IMO. You gotta remember that the WWE...F at the time, was PG and had no blood policy way before the Attitude era... During the late 80s to mid 90s.

I would also argue what made the AE era so great was the story teling and Austin/Rock most of the AE classic bits could be done with PG rating now.
Most of the great wrestling moments are actually PG anyway and a lot of the edgy bits of the AE I don't want to see anyway like Foley taking 10 or 11 chairshots to the head or having a crowd chant slut at a women. With hindsight even great matches like TLC at WM 17 should not be duplicated now, Edge had to take early retirement.

Yeah modern WWE is a bit shit but its not due to the PG rating, NXT is great, most of the great matches are PG, the best parts of the 80's and 90's alon with WCW when it was good are all PG.

They could push the edge a bit of PG and make it a bit risque but the Foley hyper violence matches can stay in the past, his health is wrecked. New Japan is mostly PG as well and has way better booking.

The failures of WWE are shit booking and the failure to develop a popular megastar post Rock.Austin that appeals to adults (vs say Cena). Skill wise they have dudes that could duplicate Taker or HBK but they don't give them pushes those guys had or let them do mic work like those guys could do where they could say anything they liked.

Consistently I think NXT is better than the AE and WCW when the NWO was good. It may not quite have the same peaks but the valleys are a lot shallower. I just watched King of the Ring 2000 last night, there is a lot of crap in that era. I would put the average NXT takeover event up against the best of the AE PPV they had a lot of stinkers though.

WWE is basically where they were at in 1995 at least creatively they are making plenty of money.

 

[Stopspot]

WWE was always going to slide back into a more kid friendly product eventually. That's the sort of stuff that Vince enjoys. Hulkamania is his ideal wrestling and he was always looking for ways to return to that once he had a strong grip of the American scene again. Things like Benoit just escalated the time table