WWE Being PG Rated Because They Have Shareholders

[Blackjack]

It seems anytime someone asks why the current product is so tame and watered down compared to the last time the business was hot (mid to late 90s) the answer given is always: "They weren't a public traded company then; they have shareholders now to whom they have to be accountable."

That is an absolutely ludicrous answer in my opinion and I graduated from college with a B.A. in Marketing. I've also been a stockbroker. Shareholders don't care whether someone's product has a PG rating or an R rating. The objective of investing in stock is to make money. So suppose you're a shareholder of WWE stock and you have a choice between two options: The first option is to choose to have the situation going on right now. The product is watered down and bland but the stock has risen some over the years. It hasn't risen dramatically, but it's making you a modest return on your investment.

The second option is they change to a more exciting, edgy product. You might possibly find some of their content to be in bad taste. However, the business is hot again and you're making twice the return on your investment that you had been making when they had gone to the PG rated "family friendly" product.

Would any shareholder prefer the first option over the second option? No. Shareholders want the best return on their investment they can get. They don't have to enjoy watching the product. Change the product to something less sanitized and more edgy and exciting than it is now and the shareholders will be perfectly happy as long as the stock starts making them more money than it has been.

 

[BEAST]

It’s true. Shareholders don’t have morals.

But sponsors do. Mattel made it strict that men and women cannot attack each other so we never see straight up intergender matches.

You wanna see another attitude era? Prepare to see a sponsorless company. The landscape of society is different now than it was before that’s why Stridex didn’t care about all that shut back in 1998. But I bet they would now.

 

[RollSonnenRoll]

It was all just a marketing gimmick to land Mattel as their toy manufacturer

 

[DC23]

Not read thread but money means PG. Bit off topic but, look at that silly gaming kid Ninja. Apparently he's stopped swearing and cleaned his act up. Why? Because he's the mainstream poster boy / streamer that the media are pushing.

 

[Blackjack]

You wanna see another attitude era? Prepare to see a sponsorless company. The landscape of society is different now than it was before that’s why Stridex didn’t care about all that shut back in 1998. But I bet they would now.

If you look at society it has traditionally progressed, it goes in one direction. In the 50s Elvis was controversial just for the way he moved his hips when he performed.. In the 60s that was no longer controversial. Society had progressed. What was controversial in the 70s was not in the 80s. In the 90s we saw things on TV that weren't allowed in the 80s. Progress moves forward. 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, - steady progression. Why is our society regressing now? It's unnatural. It's clearly the manifestation of a sickness in our society. We're moving into not just another Dark Age (we're already there) but a black hole. It's anti-rational and therefore anti-human. Historically when people have been forced into unnatural situations they've fought back or they've perished. Because this current trend is so unnatural I predict there is going to be a massive backlash against this regression we're experiencing and I can't wait to see it.

EDIT: This doesn't mean they have show men attacking women or a storyline about necrophilia (yes, they did that) but they're even scripting the promos now. Any legendary promo guy like Ric Flair or Jake Roberts never used a script. It gave it personality, character, and spontaneity. There is no spontaneity left in it. Wrestling has lost its grit. They're not Cirque Du Soleil and never will be. They shouldn't be! They need to get back to the mud, the blood and the beer or they might as well shut down because this stuff they're doing now is just unwatchable. It's so sanitized. I saw it last night. It looked more like a talk show than wrestling. At least talk shows aren't scripted though!

 

[BEAST]

EDIT: This doesn't mean they have show men attacking women or a storyline about necrophilia (yes, they did that) but they're even scripting the promos now. Any legendary promo guy like Ric Flair or Jake Roberts never used a script. It gave it personality, character, and spontaneity. There is no spontaneity left in it. Wrestling has lost its grit. They're not Cirque Du Soleil and never will be. They shouldn't be! They need to get back to the mud, the blood and the beer or they might as well shut down because this stuff they're doing now is just unwatchable. It's so sanitized. I saw it last night. It looked more like a talk show than wrestling. At least talk shows aren't scripted though!

Oh yea, that's totally a management problem. They want full control physically and verbally over the wrestlers. Hopefully it changes when Vince moves on.

 

[Thrawn33]

Oh yea, that's totally a management problem. They want full control physically and verbally over the wrestlers. Hopefully it changes when Vince moves on.

They want control because they don't want their sponsors bailing if there's some kind of piblic backlash if someone offends on an unscripted promo....

.....nevermind that durning the promo it's an actor playing a character in a fictional perfomance....SJWs don't get it

 

[Blackjack]

They want control because they don't want their sponsors bailing if there's some kind of piblic backlash if someone offends on an unscripted promo....

When did that ever happen? That's so incredibly unlikely it's absurd. I'm not suggesting they go back to Katey Vick storylines, but they've gotta have some grit; otherwise it's pointless. Yet even when they did the Katey Vick storyline, no sponsor pulled out. There was no "backlash." If necrophilia doesn't create a backlash, what are they worried about? Mainstream doesn't care enough about pro wrestling to be offended by it. Pro wrestling simply doesn't matter to most people, especially now - since less people watch pro wrestling now than at any time since TV was invented. Technically there are less people to offend than at any time in history because less people watch it than at any time in history. RAW got ratings of 6s and even 7s in the late 90s and even then enough people weren't offended enough for it to actually cause a backlash.

They better not keep scripting promos or they'll never have another Steve Austin. At his peak he sold them one million t-shirts a month! They'd like to have someone capable of doing that now wouldn't they? Austin was incredibly hostile - he even gave Mike Tyson the double bird. There was no backlash. Pro wrestling fans, unlike SJWs, aren't squeamish enough to get offended over that. If they were that squeamish, they wouldn't be watching in the first place would they?

 

[BEAST]

When did that ever happen? That's so incredibly unlikely it's absurd. I'm not suggesting they go back to Katey Vick storylines, but they've gotta have some grit; otherwise it's pointless. Yet even when they did the Katey Vick storyline, no sponsor pulled out. There was no "backlash." If necrophilia doesn't create a backlash, what are they worried about? Mainstream doesn't care enough about pro wrestling to be offended by it. Pro wrestling simply doesn't matter to most people, especially now - since less people watch pro wrestling now than at any time since TV was invented. Technically there are less people to offend than at any time in history because less people watch it than at any time in history. RAW got ratings of 6s and even 7s in the late 90s and even then enough people weren't offended enough for it to actually cause a backlash.

They better not keep scripting promos or they'll never have another Steve Austin. At his peak he sold them one million t-shirts a month! They'd like to have someone capable of doing that now wouldn't they? Austin was incredibly hostile - he even gave Mike Tyson the double bird. There was no backlash. Pro wrestling fans, unlike SJWs, aren't squeamish enough to get offended over that. If they were that squeamish, they wouldn't be watching in the first place would they?

You think SJWs only get affected by things they carry a vested interest in?

lol Sorry to say dude.... SJWs scour the internet looking for things to bring into the public eye so people can be outraged with them. Especially a giant company like WWE.

 

[My Spot]

They went public in Oct 99 and had arguably their best year ever in 2000 both in terms of profit and quality.
Going PG was mostly because of Mattel and a little of Linda running for the US Senate.
PG doesn't have to suck either. Nitro was PG when they were dominating Raw.

 

[Thrawn33]

Attitude Era wouldn't survive in today's PC culture.

Edit: I take that back, it would survive, but would make less money with less yearly growth as it does now. And noboy wants to lose money they could be making

 

[HereticBD]

I'm done wondering how the WWE thrives today. Empty arenas, low ratings, low PPV numbers...

One day we're going to find out that this is all one bizarre Ponzi scheme.

 

[Blackjack]

They went public in Oct 99 and had arguably their best year ever in 2000 both in terms of profit and quality.
Going PG was mostly because of Mattel and a little of Linda running for the US Senate.
PG doesn't have to suck either. Nitro was PG when they were dominating Raw.

You're right! PG doesn't have to be lame. As you pointed out, Turner's promotion in the mid 90s was PG. My personal favorite wrestling - Jim Crockett's promotion with Dusty Rhodes, The Road Warriors and The Four Horsemen was PG. It was PG but it was a much grittier PG than WWE's very sanitized, very scripted and suffers from a severe phobia of wrestlers donning "the crimson mask."

Blood isn't R-rated. I don't need a gorefest like New Jack's matches and Mick Foley's Japanese matches, but the amount of blood in mid 80s Crockett was enough to make it look realistic (how can guys fight and never bleed) so you could temporarily suspend your disbelief and yet it wasn't so gory that people would get grossed out.

 

[Blackjack]

I'm done wondering how the WWE thrives today. Empty arenas, low ratings, low PPV numbers...

One day we're going to find out that this is all one bizarre Ponzi scheme.

I know a guy who gets Meltzer's newsletter and according to Meltzer, WWE thrives on volume of business. They have a low profit margin. They spend $9 to make $10. For perspective, The UFC probably spends $7 to make $10. But WWE thrives on volume as in - they spend $900 million a year to make $1 Billion a year so the net income is a tenth of their revenue . That means their net income is around $100 million a year.

I believe if they don't make things more spontaneous and get rid of that ridiculous obsession over controlling every word spoken and every wrestling maneuver performed, they will get to where they're spending $9.95 to make $10 and that just doesn't make it worthwhile. I hope they either change or start losing money which would force them to change. The last time they were literally forced to change was when WCW was whipping them in the ratings. We saw how much better WWF became once Turner started whipping them weekly.

It started with doing something very bold, very cutting edge for the time (even though today it would be less shocking because we've seen it). Remember what it was? It was what happnened when Austin 3:16 met Brian Pillman's 9mm gun! Damn that was a good episode! I fuckin' loved it! I had literally never seen anything like it on wrestling and Stone Cold just captivated my attention. I'd never seen anyone so intensely hostile and that believable as such an agitated, pissed off S.O.B. who was gonna take out seven years of frustration out in Bret Hart's ass! Austin said "When I beat you you can go back to Canada and take solace in the fact that you were beaten by a real man." WWE desperately needs something like that now.

 

[Frank23]

 

[HereticBD]

It started with doing something very bold, very cutting edge for the time (even though today it would be less shocking because we've seen it). Remember what it was? It was what happnened when Austin 3:16 met Brian Pillman's 9mm gun! Damn that was a good episode! I fuckin' loved it! I had literally never sen anything like it on wrestling and Stone Cold just captivated my attention. I'd never seen anyone so intensely hostile and that believable as such an agitated, pissed off S.O.B. who was gonna take out seven years of frustration out in Bret Hart's ass! Austin said "When I beat you you can go back to Canada and take solace in the fact that you were beaten by a real man." WWE desperately needs something like that now.

I hear ya, but it's a double edged sword, and not necessarily up to creative as far as how good a more "edgy" product can come across. As good as the AE was, it was followed by the RA era, which proved that pushing the envelope isn't necessarily the answer. They can go too far in that direction as well and get cringey all the same.

There is an argument to be made that the AE was a product of a collective of once in a lifetime talent, and not necessarily much that creative did. You need the right stars to pull it all off. Sure, Austin and Pillman can sell that angle, but could others? You could also argue that it was a product of it's time, and the exact same angle with the exact same stars wouldn't come off as good as it did back then.

I do agree in general though, that they need to give the stars more freedom in a lot of areas. Specifically promos. We'll never know who could possibly have the same charisma as stars of the past, because they aren't allowed to do their own thing. They're all just bad actors reading horrible scripts.

 

[Blackjack]

There is an argument to be made that the AE was a product of a collective of once in a lifetime talent, and not necessarily much that creative did. You need the right stars to pull it all off. Sure, Austin and Pillman can sell that angle, but could others? You could also argue that it was a product of it's time, and the exact same angle with the exact same stars wouldn't come off as good as it did back then.

I do agree in general though, that they need to give the stars more freedom in a lot of areas. Specifically promos. We'll never know who could possibly have the same charisma as stars of the past, because they aren't allowed to do their own thing. They're all just bad actors reading horrible scripts.

Nice post HereticBD!

I agree with every single part of your post. That's not something that happens to me very often here or elsewhere.

Austin and Pillman were best friends in real life. That may have contributed to the great chemistry they had working together. Could others have sold that angle as well? My answer is either "No" or "Possibly but only a handful of guys could." I could see maybe the caliber of a guy like Jake Roberts in his prime pulling off the Austin role, although in his own style of doing so - not so loud and more subtle. I always said "A pissed off Austin is an entertaining Austin." I could say the same about Arn Anderson. Imagine him playing the Pillman role and Roberts the Austin role. That might have worked. Notice I say "might." I can't say for sure. I can't imagine anyone selling that angle any better than Austin and Pillman did!

And yes, they're stifling the current poster's creativity and therefore their potential! We need to be able to see these guys do their own thing because they're damn sure not actors. As Shane Douglas said "I've seen a couple Hulk Hogan movies and he's no actor"! Piper was good in They Live but even he wrote in "In The Pit With Piper" that wrestling and acting are pretty much opposites. Piper wrote "Wrestling is explosion and acting is implosion." So Vince needs to stop treating his roster as if they were actors because they're not.

 

[My Spot]

You're right! PG doesn't have to be lame. As you pointed out, Turner's promotion in the mid 90s was PG. My personal favorite wrestling - Jim Crockett's promotion with Dusty Rhodes, The Road Warriors and The Four Horsemen was PG. It was PG but it was a much grittier PG than WWE's very sanitized, very scripted and suffers from a severe phobia of wrestlers donning "the crimson mask."

Blood isn't R-rated. I don't need a gorefest like New Jack's matches and Mick Foley's Japanese matches, but the amount of blood in mid 80s Crockett was enough to make it look realistic (how can guys fight and never bleed) so you could temporarily suspend your disbelief and yet it wasn't so gory that people would get grossed out.

What's funny is it wasn't blood that caused them to go TV14 in 98 but Undertaker "hanging" Austin on his symbol during a taped Raw.