The next era of WWE programming is still taking shape with Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan running the company and Paul “Triple H” Levesque heading up the creative team, but whatever their vision turns out to be, it won’t be like the Attitude Era in one significant way.
Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com reports that both Raw and SmackDown “will be remaining TV-PG for the forseeable future on both FOX and the USA Network.”
This marks a swift change in direction, as there were reports in July that Raw could go to TV-14 as soon as that month. The change in rating never happened, however, and now it looks like it’s been shelved.
Raw has held a TV-PG rating since the summer of 2008 after previously being rated TV-14. SmackDown has been rated TV-PG for the entirety of its existence, which dates back to 1999.
A TV-14 rating would allow WWE shows to use more frequent bad language, as well as whatever the difference is between “intense sexual content” and “brief sexual content.” The ratings guidelines also contain guidelines about violence: “intense” for TV-14 as opposed to “mild” for TV-PG.
While it’s possible Raw would not have changed ratings even if Vince McMahon had not retired under the duress of his much publicized scandal, it’s hard not to look at the timing and wonder if the new regime decided against it. Fan reaction to Raw and SmackDown has been largely enthusiastic since Levesque took the creative helm, so perhaps the brain trust looked at his formula — which has relied largely on re-emphasizing wrestling over sports entertainment and brought some well-liked NXT talent into the fold — didn’t need the kind of additional freedom a TV-14 rating would provide in certain areas.
That is to say, if the TV ratings people consider the likes of Ciampa, Johnny Gargano and Karrion Kross purveyors of “mild” violence, who are we to argue? Long live TV-PG.