WWE Should Remain PG: Senate, Steroids, and Storylines

To some wrestling fans, the headline of this article is blasphemy. Anyone who supports the makeup of the current product must be a 12-year-old John Cena fan, right?

Wrong.

The current product is good for business and probably a necessary for World Wrestling Entertainment's survival. I loved the Attitude Era. It got me watching as a kid. But it is a different time than it was 10 years ago. There are different wrestlers, and there is a different demographic to appeal to.

The Attitude Era was successful because it was revolutionary, edgy, and different. Gone were the days of Hulk Hogan telling young fans to say their prayers and eat their vitamins. In was Stone Cold Steve Austin flipping people off, and DX telling people to "Suck it." Undertaker sacrificing people, and The Rock threatening to shove his boot up people's asses.

What made these storylines great though, was not the fact that they were PG-13 or even M. It was the personality and charisma of the wrestlers. The matches were shorter and often ended in all-out brawls, and the performers truly understood ring psychology and how to interact with the fans.  It was more luck than anything that the World Wrestling Federation had so many talented people under contract at once.

Actually, I remember many fans complaining that the Attitude Era lacked real wrestling and wanted guys with technical skills to be pushed over guys with mic skills. The guys with mic skills, though, were clearly the ones who could draw people to the ring. Lance Storm would never sell nearly as many t-shirts as Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Any entertainment product must evolve over time, or it will eventually get stale. Companies need to reband their image and constantly look to appeal to new groups of people. Even guys like Rock and Austin would lose their appeal after a while. The World Wrestling Federation became World Wrestling Entertainment so it could expand overseas and show its programming internationally. You may think The Great Khali can't wrestle, but he sure can bring in up to one billion Indian fans.

There is also a misconception among some wrestling fans that the storylines have declined in quality because the product went PG. If you believe that—then in the words of DX—I got two words for ya: Katie Vick.

The Katie Vick storyline happened in 2002.  According to reports, Katie Vick had been dating Kane when she died in a fiery car crash. Triple H, who was fueding with Kane at the time, accused Kane of killing her and performing acts which will not be repeated here on the body. It was a terrible angle and created a lot of bad press for the WWE.

The storylines didn't get much better, but the press certainly got worse. When Eddie Guerrero died in 2005, the media immediately pointed to steroids as the culprit. WWE superstars were portrayed as a bunch of roided up musclemen by the press.

Things got worse in 2007 when Chris Benoit killed his entire family and committed suicide. Both steroids and shots to the head were fingered as the killers. Some in Congress even wanted to investigate Vince McMahon and the WWE. Something had to change.

So, the WWE made John Cena the face of the company. He was a great superstar to rebrand the product. Cleancut, kid-friendly, strong. Older fans criticized him for using the same five or six moves over and over again to win matches. There were also problems with his match psychology. The outcomes were predictable, and he frequently squashed his opponents. To this day, many fans still want him to turn heel.

But on the flip side, he sells tons of merchandise, brings whole families to the arenas, and is a positive role model for children. Randy Orton, who is much more popular among older fans, has become the foil for Cena. Though they have put on strong matches, many people feel that by late 2009 their fued had gotten old.

Something else significant happened in 2009. Linda McMahon, Vince's wife, announced that she would run for Chris Dodd's Senate seat. Chris Dodd is a Conneticut Senator who has become embroiled in the AIG bonus scandal. There is a good chance that his seat could be up for grabs, and a PG WWE is much more conducive to Linda's run. If Linda were in the Senate, it would help the WWE gain even more mainstream credibility.

Besides, would a PG-13 really do much for the WWE's ratings? Probably not. As much as people gripe about Hornswoggle and John Cena's prolonged title runs, they still watch the product. WWE is still way ahead of TNA in the ratings war. Suddenly, showing blood in the storylines would probably not cause Attitude Era fans to come back in droves. In fact it would probably cause many kids, the cash cows of the WWE, to leave.

Maybe in a few years, as the current generation of fans gets older, the WWE can become edgier again. But for now, PG WWE is what works and is good for business. Sorry Internet Wrestling Community and ECW faithful, but large families are probably more valuable consumers than you are.

Besides, what really matters is the quality of storylines, not the ratings. Personally I think the product has become better in recent weeks. But for now, The Attitude Era is gone, and the Attitude Adjustment Era is here to stay.

What do you think?