The WWE Is PG, and I Like It!

So this past Monday night, we had a three hour special calling in Raw “Old School,” which involved a few dozen of wrestling’s favorite characters including The Foreign Legion (sadly missing Freddie Blassie R.I.P.), a traditional Piper’s Pit starring Rowdy Roddy Piper, and smiled when I saw George “The Animal” Steele.  Mixing wrestlers from the past and present was never done so greatly, and I had a blast reliving my childhood and actually seeing some wrestlers that my parents had talked about seeing when they were kids.

I decide to start reading articles in the IWC—my observation is that everyone discussing how Mae Young using the words “b*tches” and “sl*ts” during her segment means that WWE may be getting away from TV-PG.  Let me put this so that the entire IWC can comprehend.  The WWE will NOT be moving away from TV-PG. 

It’s pretty easy to comprehend, and it all starts with children.  With a forever revolving door of new viewers, children will be the ones that grow up with wrestlers.  While I was growing up to Sean Michaels, Triple H, and Chris Jericho, these new fans are growing up with wrestlers like John Morrison, John Cena, and Jack Swagger. 

So as children grow up, some may grow out of wrestling, and may not continue to watch it anymore. But for each child that grows out of wrestling, one will fill his place, and there will still be children who grow up, like myself, and continue to watch it religiously. 

The WWE is set on cruise control right now, and is still making money even with its poor PPV buys in the past two years. The fact is that seven out of the 10 worst PPV buys have occurred in 2009 and 2010.  I don’t think it’ll ever reach the horrible buyrate of the 2006 December 2 Dismember, but this year alone, the Fatal 4 Way, Night of Champions, Money in the Bank, Extreme Rules and Over the Limit buys are in the bottom 10. 

The simple explanation is the over-saturation of PPV’s as well as the target market not being one to purchase multiple PPV’s a year.  Here's a fun fact—if you were to purchase every WWE and TNA PPV in a year, it would come to over $1,000.  Not every parent is willing to shell that out for "Little Jimmy" who wants to see Wade Barrett v. Randy Orton.

The TV-PG is known to work well, especially during a down economy where people are spending their money more wisely.  People, including contributor Leva Lies, is right and that the WWE will not be changing its PG Rating any time soon. 

 There is no competition for the WWE right now, but they are still doing a lot by scoping out indy talent around the nation, and bringing in the likes of Alex Koslov, Tyler Black, Bryan Danielson, and Low Ki to add to their already good roster including The Miz, John Cena, Kane, and Rey Mysterio. 

Why change something that works?