Official RAW Thread for 09/27/10 - CENNNNNA

[Xero]

Thing is, Orton, Edge, etc ARE playing PG characters. You can have plenty of characters with their attitude and still be a PG show.

The problem is that they are focusing on the younger audience and for a while wasn't giving much to the older audience. They're starting to do that now a little more versus a year or two ago, but they could ditch a good portion of the kid-friendly stuff and still be successful on a PG rating.

Would TV-14 help? No. It wouldn't, honestly. It's about the writing. Turning the product TV-14 right this minute isn't going to fix anything, because you'll still have the same writers who don't pay attention to history, are highly inconsistent and highly ADD. Turning to a TV-14 rating would mean a complete overhaul of creative.

And at that point, they may as well keep it PG with better writers and reap the benefits of PG which, from a business standpoint, are huge.

[Fox]

Originally Posted by Xero Thing is, Orton, Edge, etc ARE playing PG characters. You can have plenty of characters with their attitude and still be a PG show. The problem is that they are focusing on the younger audience and for a while wasn't giving much to the older audience. They're starting to do that now a little more versus a year or two ago, but they could ditch a good portion of the kid-friendly stuff and still be successful on a PG rating. Would TV-14 help? No. It wouldn't, honestly. It's about the writing. Turning the product TV-14 right this minute isn't going to fix anything, because you'll still have the same writers who don't pay attention to history, are highly inconsistent and highly ADD. Turning to a TV-14 rating would mean a complete overhaul of creative. And at that point, they may as well keep it PG with better writers and reap the benefits of PG which, from a business standpoint, are huge.

I disagree. They need to be TV-14 to get to the level of violence and intensity and even vulgarity that they need to attract a certain audience. There is a huge demographic between the ages of 15-21 who stay completely away from the WWE because it's kiddy garbage these days. These are the same people who are watching Jersey Shore for its over the top characters, language, profanity, and sex. The same people who watch Eastbound and Down for the same reasons. WWE is missing out on this demographic for the sake of pandering to the parents of pre-teens.

Take a look at the Nexus angle. The entire thing was hotter than hell - right up until the point where Daniel Bryan choked out Justin Roberts with his tie. In the past, this kind of thing would not have been a problem. Austin and Rock have probably choked each other a hundred times with camera cables, ring ropes, etc. But in the new PG Era of the WWE, Daniel Bryan choking a dude with a tie is a PROBLEM. So they get rid of him for awhile to assuage the problem, and they tone back the violence of the Nexus storyline. Now, the group seems to have lost all of its edge.

TV PG is part of the problem, but I agree that it's not the whole problem. The problem goes back to the writing, the portrayal and lack of development of the WWE's top stars, and honestly, a lack of true, honest to God competitive spirit on the show.