Pg-13 Idea

[Mr. Roman Empire]

Wouldnt it be interesting if WWE did a weekly show that was PG-13 and geared more towards adults that was only on the WWE Network with a parental advisory block? It could be about an hour long with minimal commercials that would have riskier and more vulgar storylines, foul language, more backstage drama/gags/ribs, more sex appeal from the divas, and violent matches and possible blading from the guys. Basically Attitude Era and ECW stuff. Hell, Stone Cold could even host it and be the GM. It could feature people on the main roster and NXT but they wouldn't have to be perminently on that brand, it could be more of a free for all so that way it would stay fresh.

Obviously it won't happen but I would find this interesting.

 

[C.M. Shaddix]

Eh idk, WWE is better off just turning the whole company to TV-14 if they did that, but it won't make a difference

 

[Majour]

No thanks. It'll be only encourage the writers to be more lazy.

PG can be done well, with a little effort on creatives part.

 

[The GOAT]

Eh, no.

I think the closest idea to this realistically would be if there was an 'uncensored' version of Raw and Smackdown available on the Network to counter-act the family-friendly PG version that you saw on television, where all the dirty words that were bleeped out on TV could now be heard in all their glory on the Network. A whole separate show featuring a radically different change in attitude and atmosphere would be very odd, especially when it came to replaying those moments on the other shows.

 

[Neptune]

There is no reason for that. PG is enough and can be more than enough if they put more effort in it. They already have PPV's that are technically PG 13 anyways.

 

[seabs]

Why would you cap a show targeted to adults without TV syndication as PG-13?

 

[Messiah1]

They can't do that, they're not aloud to change the rating of 1 specific show on the Network... It's a publicly traded company now, you guys have no idea how shit works.

 

[seabs]

They can't do that, they're not aloud to change the rating of 1 specific show on the Network... It's a publicly traded company now, you guys have no idea how shit works.

Does it being a publicly traded company affect their ability to market their various products on their own platform? It could be an issue with shareholders but there's no hard and fast reason is there?

For example HBO is a publicly traded company, is all the content they show rated the same?

 

[The GOAT]

They can't do that, they're not aloud to change the rating of 1 specific show on the Network... It's a publicly traded company now, you guys have no idea how shit works.

They can if they put the general warning of what kind of content a specific show had prior to you watching it. That's what they do with the PPV's, where sometimes it'll have a PG rating and other times it'll have a TV-14 one.

 

[Prince Bálor]

They can put out a good product without changing it to TV-14, all it takes is more effort from the artistic geniuses in WWE's Creative department.

 

[edge4ever]

I hate this "PG is fine" argument. Lol, it's such bs. Let me explain.

First off, let me say that I agree that everything always boils down to creativity. I concur and fully support that statement. However, and this is the key component, that doesn't mean being creative solves everything. There's more to it than that; creativity requires other elements to make things have that extra "edgy" feeling. For example, a writer can write a script for The Rock to come out and talk trash during his promo on Raw. The writer wants The Rock to really kick up the feud a notch and make it seem more deep and hate filled. Thus, he has him use words like "bitch, pussy, POS, etc." to make the hatred and seriousness of the situation seem more fervent and real. Now, in the PG era, that stuff doesn't fly as easy and superstars are restricted to saying "crap, dumbass, fart head, etc." With that all being said, take a good, creative story and add either TV-14 words or PG words....what is better? The TV-14 words, naturally. It's more compelling and seems more serious.

Secondly, here's where I'll take it a step further. Triple H wants to make this Roman Reigns feud beyond personal, right? What's the best way to build this feud and fuel the fire. Well, we have some good options with PG, of course, and you can get creative and build a good story. But, you're limited. PG allows Triple H to viciously attack Roman on Raw numerous times, attack Dean, and maybe, just maybe, get some blood on his hands. In a general sense, this is the extent of what can happen. Sure, Triple H can bring out some of Roman's family or something and threaten them, etc.....there's always ways to make it bigger. But, you still have that PG cap. On the other hand, with TV-14, Triple H can beat Roman to a bloody pulp as well as Dean Ambrose night in and night out...he can grab Roman's wife and pedigree her....grab the mic and say "well roman you failed your family....and your lousy wife..." He can look at romans kids and say "dont be a whiny, crying little bitch like your father is..." right before he bashes roman over the head with a sledgehammer and leaves their dad in a heap before their eyes. Do you see the point yet? In other words, TV-14 gives you that little extra push that you may need for a feud to go over the top. Creativity sells the feud, yes, but the feud is amplified and bigger with being handed more options. With TV-14 ratings, you have that. PG you put a very small cap on things. Plain and simple.

Lastly, creativity is always key and matters the most, yes. But, acting like allowing cussing and more extreme things to happen in wrestling won't help at all, is utter insanity. Regardless of what you feel or believe, putting a PG rating on something like wrestling is only limiting a few more needed things: swearing, more personal fights, more blood, and overall hardcore content. To me, it would be like giving the movie Deadpool a PG-13 cap...sure, it can work and still would've been a good movie, but it's much better with an R rating and suited it better. Same applies with wrestling if you ask me.

 

[seabs]

I hate this "PG is fine" argument. Lol, it's such bs. Let me explain.

First off, let me say that I agree that everything always boils down to creativity. I concur and fully support that statement. However, and this is the key component, that doesn't mean being creative solves everything. There's more to it than that; creativity requires other elements to make things have that extra "edgy" feeling. For example, a writer can write a script for The Rock to come out and talk trash during his promo on Raw. The writer wants The Rock to really kick up the feud a notch and make it seem more deep and hate filled. Thus, he has him use words like "bitch, pussy, POS, etc." to make the hatred and seriousness of the situation seem more fervent and real. Now, in the PG era, that stuff doesn't fly as easy and superstars are restricted to saying "crap, dumbass, fart head, etc." With that all being said, take a good, creative story and add either TV-14 words or PG words....what is better? The TV-14 words, naturally. It's more compelling and seems more serious.

Secondly, here's where I'll take it a step further. Triple H wants to make this Roman Reigns feud beyond personal, right? What's the best way to build this feud and fuel the fire. Well, we have some good options with PG, of course, and you can get creative and build a good story. But, you're limited. PG allows Triple H to viciously attack Roman on Raw numerous times, attack Dean, and maybe, just maybe, get some blood on his hands. In a general sense, this is the extent of what can happen. Sure, Triple H can bring out some of Roman's family or something and threaten them, etc.....there's always ways to make it bigger. But, you still have that PG cap. On the other hand, with TV-14, Triple H can beat Roman to a bloody pulp as well as Dean Ambrose night in and night out...he can grab Roman's wife and pedigree her....grab the mic and say "well roman you failed your family....and your lousy wife..." He can look at romans kids and say "dont be a whiny, crying little bitch like your father is..." right before he bashes roman over the head with a sledgehammer and leaves their dad in a heap before their eyes. Do you see the point yet? In other words, TV-14 gives you that little extra push that you may need for a feud to go over the top. Creativity sells the feud, yes, but the feud is amplified and bigger with being handed more options. With TV-14 ratings, you have that. PG you put a very small cap on things. Plain and simple.

Lastly, creativity is always key and matters the most, yes. But, acting like allowing cussing and more extreme things to happen in wrestling won't help at all, is utter insanity. Regardless of what you feel or believe, putting a PG rating on something like wrestling is only limiting a few more needed things: swearing, more personal fights, more blood, and overall hardcore content. To me, it would be like giving the movie Deadpool a PG-13 cap...sure, it can work and still would've been a good movie, but it's much better with an R rating and suited it better. Same applies with wrestling if you ask me.

Cussing doesn't really help, I've never seen a great promo without it and thought it needed more f bombs wrestling doesn't need cussing at all. Extreme things can happen under PG also here are a few examples :
Orton trying to blow Cena up with pyro, Hardy's multiple bumps, Taker chokeslamming Edge through the ring, Cena going through a spotlight and countless others. Reigns also took a blood packet last week, PG doesn't really limit much. H attacking Roman's wife goes beyond PG or not, society as a whole frowns greatly on male on female violence.

 

[edge4ever]

Cussing doesn't really help, I've never seen a great promo without it and thought it needed more f bombs wrestling doesn't need cussing at all. Extreme things can happen under PG also here are a few examples :
Orton trying to blow Cena up with pyro, Hardy's multiple bumps, Taker chokeslamming Edge through the ring, Cena going through a spotlight and countless others. Reigns also took a blood packet last week, PG doesn't really limit much. H attacking Roman's wife goes beyond PG or not, society as a whole frowns greatly on male on female violence.

Cussing can help in certain scenarios and i gave you an example and can give more if you'd like. The fact that you now say you can't do it all only restricts. Imagine Stone cold not swearing or the rock....ever. It would dumb as hell....again, it's context and the superstar.

Extreme things can happen, yes. But, still a small cap on it. You have an extra edge with tv-14. That's the point of having a rating like that and, regardless, it can make things edgier. Rated R movies have success and do women on mend violence. Avengers does and it's PG-13. Super successful. Again, the more mature rating will only help, never hurt.

 

[Stopspot]

The "non PG is better" narrative is one of the most laughable in wrestling if you ask me.

Quality of product is not measured by the maturity rating placed upon, but by the quality of product. And unlike what the anti PG brigade spouts, there is no direct correlation between WWE going PG and the decrease in quality. The correlation is between if WWE has or does not have alternatives to its product. And often then, especially during the attitude era it wasn't even overall better. We remember the good angles and moments, but forget all the crap that was on at the same time. WWE back then hit more home runs because they just threw more shit at the fan to see what stuck. We remember Austin vs Rock going into mania 17. We do not (or at least do not like to) remember The Kat vs RTC feud that went on at the same time. Same applies today, WWE tries harder when there is competition, only nowadays it comes from the NFL and NHL, when those two are in off season, you tend to see a general decline in quality.

NXT holds a higher quality because 1, the show is shorter so there's less padding needed. And 2, because it has two direct competitive options, Lucha Underground and ROH, who both attract about the same fanbase as NXT. NXT is also in an expansion period which relies on its quality of product to succeed.

And the "cursing makes promos better" argument is downright stupid and lazy. If you want cursing in your wrestling, CZW has a subscription service for just $9.99.

Blood and hardcore is not a thing of the past in WWE because of the PG, that's a lie. It's a thing of the past because Vince McMahon does not like it. If WWE wants to show blood on TV all they need to do is put up a disclaimer, ROH does it all the time and their product is all PG.

 

[seabs]

Cussing can help in certain scenarios and i gave you an example and can give more if you'd like. The fact that you now say you can't do it all only restricts. Imagine Stone cold not swearing or the rock....ever. It would dumb as hell....again, it's context and the superstar.

Extreme things can happen, yes. But, still a small cap on it. You have an extra edge with tv-14. That's the point of having a rating like that and, regardless, it can make things edgier. Rated R movies have success and do women on mend violence. Avengers does and it's PG-13. Super successful. Again, the more mature rating will only help, never hurt.

It can actually hurt if it becomes the easy way out from a creative perspective (take CZW for example) Austin was a great mic worker as is, I'm sure he could have worked within the PG barrier, on Smackdown he did during the AE (I'm happy to be corrected on this, I may have been wrong.) The Avengers did however wrestling is treat differently vs movies to the majority of the general public.