John Cena on WWE being PC

[audiencewatching]

www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/interviews/john-cena-interview-wwe-wwf-attitude-era-backlash-response-fan-reaction-ferdinand-a8116826.html

Go to around 6:40 seconds.

Very interesting take on how going PG has raised business and we shouldn't expect blood, head etcs etc returning

[Deleted]

I know I sound mean, but anybody who wants the violent aspect back of the Attitude Era is an idiot.

Look at TNA, which has been a glorified Attitude Era tribute act for 16 years, and see how that helped.

Besides, you can do more mature storytelling without going to the buckets of blood. Problem is, WWE is incapable of even elementary storytelling without resorting to fart jokes and casual racism.

[mcstoklasa]

Call me sick but I really like to see occasional blood in wrestling

Not unprotected chair shots to the skull though. They can sod off

[Deleted]

Dec 18, 2017 15:27:08 GMT -5 mcstoklasa said:

Call me sick but I really like to see occasional blood in wrestling

Not unprotected chair shots to the skull though. They can sod off

Yeah I wouldn't mind a little blood here and there. Nothing crazy like Eddie at Judgment Day 2004 or anything, but a little color can add to a match. The Usos and New Day showed you can have a brutal match (HIAC) without it though, so it's not a huge deal to me.

["Magic" Mark Hurr]

I've never minded the PG Era if they could tell better stories and produce consistently great angles. The adult content can come from the subtle content that isn't over the top stuff. That's the problem. Their definition of older content comes from them not being able to be smart enough to produce things that cater to the adult who takes there kid if it doesn't include curse words or extreme violence. It's just bad jokes.

[thegame415]

Good thing they didn't go MAC. Imagine Reigns having the iWin.

[freeze Austin]

Dec 18, 2017 14:58:19 GMT -5 audiencewatching said:

www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/interviews/john-cena-interview-wwe-wwf-attitude-era-backlash-response-fan-reaction-ferdinand-a8116826.html

Go to around 6:40 seconds.

Very interesting take on how going PG has raised business and we shouldn't expect blood, head etcs etc returning

Blood is one thing, but why is it wrong to expect Head?





By that, of course I'm talking about Al Snow's mannequin companion, Head. Ratings would soar if at least one talent was allowed to have Head for each show. I remember how I always looked forward to Head every Monday night during the Attitude Era. Al knew what we wanted. What we wanted was Head. The best was when Chyna used Head to put Al Snow flat on his back and down for the count, in what had to be one of the most hardcore scenes ever witnessed in WWE history. Have we gotten so PC that a man can't ask for just a little Head every now and then without being ridiculed?

[thecrusherwi]

I feel like this debate always misses the point that there is a vast middle ground between the Attitude Era raunch and violence and the completely sterilized company of post 2009. The WWF of 1987-1997 had the perfect amount of rare blood and violence to really drive home a storyline, but those moments were few and far between. Like one blade job every couple of years on TV. But the biggest difference is that the storylines had edge to them, particularly in the main events. The heels did evil things and the faces went to the edge to right wrongs. More aggressive characters and actions can be incorporated to make the show seem more violent without having to spill gallons of blood.

[angelofapocalypse]

Attitude era relied too much on flash in the pan with a little to no substance. Like the saying goes..."less is more." And anyone who says the in ring wrestling was good during the time frame is wrong. The wrestling took a back seat for the blood, gore and phony bullshit.

[segaz]

He's right.
Gimmicks like Saba Simba and Slicks fried chicken just wouldn't fly in today's WWE.

[Raw is Doodie101]

Don’t we see blood in WWE every other year at this point?

[Super Duper Dragunov]

"It made me a lot of money by bringing in a target audience I could specifically cater to, call JBL poopy, and make 150 of the same shirt in different colors, oh I mean there's no blood anymore..."

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

Dec 18, 2017 15:21:07 GMT -5 @jdogindy said:

I know I sound mean, but anybody who wants the violent aspect back of the Attitude Era is an idiot.

Look at TNA, which has been a glorified Attitude Era tribute act for 16 years, and see how that helped.

Besides, you can do more mature storytelling without going to the buckets of blood. Problem is, WWE is incapable of even elementary storytelling without resorting to fart jokes and casual racism.

As I frequently point out to anybody in the anti-PG brigade, it doesn't matter if it's PG or TV-14, bad writing is still bad writing.

[4TheGlory]

Current WWE pg is much more tolerable than when they first made the switch and were enforcing it as if it was rated G instead

[Urethra Franklin]

Nobody would be clamouring for the return of the Attitude Era if today’s writing and booking were better.

“Edginess” has nothing to do with the quality of product.

And let’s not forget what actual competition meant for the wrestling industry. The WWF/E and WCW were constantly trying to one-up the other. That impetus doesn’t exist for the WWE today.

[Mochi Lone Wolf]

The best example I've heard is the difference between Batman:The Animated and the Spawn cartoon. One is more "PG" than the other, but which one was the better show? Most people would say BTAS. Myself included. It's not about the rating. It's NEVER been about the rating to anyone who truly understands how these things work. It's about writing decent stories. Some of the best stories WWF/E have had in their history have happened at times when they weren't "TV-14."

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

On one hand, the unprotected chairshots will never return and I'm ok with that also Vince Russo's bullshit have no place in wrestling anymore.

That being said the PC era will never draw the same business and excitement Austin drew in his peak. I miss the edginess of a true badass talking shit and backing it up, not the bad hokey comedy that raw sometimes is.

Terry Funk once said that wrestling to draw money, it must look like a fight of good against evil. I just don't feel that way anymore. I think I just watch wrestling out of force of habit.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Dec 18, 2017 21:39:44 GMT -5 Mochi Lone Wolf said:

The best example I've heard is the difference between Batman:The Animated and the Spawn cartoon. One is more "PG" than the other, but which one was the better show? Most people would say BTAS. Myself included. It's not about the rating. It's NEVER been about the rating to anyone who truly understands how these things work. It's about writing decent stories. Some of the best stories WWF/E have had in their history have happened at times when they weren't "TV-14."

Well also comparing Paul Dini to Todd McFarlane as writers would be like comparing ice cream to cow manure.

[Toilet Paper Roll]

Theres some aspects of the Attitude Era that would serve the WWE well today. I'd like at the very least to hear wrestlers talk like adults, act like they're not slow and incapable of non scripted mic spots and try to "look cool". THe product tries to appeal to both kids and adults by being kid and family friendly, but they can make it more appealing to kids by bordering on being edgy.

[eJm]

Here’s something people forget about the Attitude Era and the Monday Night Wars in general.

The MNWs lasted just under 6 years. The Attitude Era only lasted 4 years. Austin’s ME run lasted around 3 years.

None of what was going on in that Era was sustainable for a long time. That kind of car crash TV was designed to get the most amount of money in for the shortest amount of time using methods that got a wider audience by capitalising off a zeitgeist.

You can’t have that be the product because things and trends change too rapidly for that to work. You just have to learn to evolve and change and craft something that can work long term and give talent an opprtunity to get over with the skills they have combined by telling good stories leading to entertaining at best matches.