Its time to drop the PG.
WWE’s highest ratings, and you were there for it Hunter, was during the Attitude era. Now, I’m not saying we need to go back that far. Watching one senior citizen give birth to a hand is enough for a lifetime. But maybe a compromise. A PG-13 version of WWE. A little sex, a little language, and plenty of blood.
Sure I get it, your wife runs for Congress and in that enclosed world of only upstanding citizens, she wanted to distance herself from things like implied necrophilia. I get it. However, its not like WWE had an older Asian man parading around in tiger outfits and touching 18 year olds. No! One has to go to Oregon to find that. Triple H though, is not married to a woman who is trying to start a political career. If he is now in charge (story wise or legit), then there is enough of a separation between ring and state to allow Hunter to change WWE’s television ratings.
One of the worst things to come out of the WWE PG era (no not John Cena’s merchandise) is the ban on blood. There is nothing worse than having a match begin to find its flow, get to be really good, and then grind to a halt because someone got busted open hard way. It becomes especially glaring when a wrestler has the audacity to bleed in things like a ladder match! Why on earth would you have a no blood policy and then have hardcore matches? Blood, when used correctly, can take a good match and make it great. Look at the iconic image of half of Eddie Guerrero’s blood covering the mat and yet he still summons the energy to stare at JBL asking, is that all you got? Fuck that is a moment!
Take these relaxed rules and apply them to the language as well. Don’t drop F bombs (like I just did) but there are few things that take all the punch out of a good promo like the words “I’m going to kick your butt.” While many kids watch wrestling, these are still grown men talking about fighting and anger. And in such a situation they would not say butt! They would probably say something like, I’ll kick your fucking ass. Lets split the difference, drop the fuck, but keep the ass. If you’re going to cut a promo lets have some oomph to it. Some chutzpah!
Finally, there is the need to make things a little dirty. Not X rated dirty, but to bring back some taboo to WWE. Sure there are things like trampy ring outfits for the Divas and naughty camera angles. Because, lets admit it, Melina has been no where near the same level of popularity she had when she could do her full split in a skirt. However there is more to the “adult themes” than just having some smaller outfits. Remember the glory days of Raw magazine?! There were shocking interviews, as close as WWE has ever come to doing shoot videos. Bridges were burned, wounds were opened and it was riveting! I still have those back issues and it was some of the most fascinating wrestling writing I’ve ever seen. I had the opportunity to personally thank Vic Venom for his work (half of you will get this and are lauging right now).
Taking the product away from PG constraints can bring the show more realism and expand the fan base. While the kids love super Cena your 18 and up demographic turns away. Yet when something “real” happens the fans return. They’re curious and they’re willing to watch all two plus hours of the show to see if something crazy happens. Look at the recent actions of CM Punk. Lapsed wrestling fans returned to watch and over loaded sites all to ask in so many words “is this real?” Well, the real world isn’t PG. If WWE wants to go back to the glory days of Attitude Era then shit needs to get real. CM Punk started it. Now its up to Triple H to continue this momentum.
HELLIONS TEAM 