Should PG go?

[DM]

The real question here is should the PG rating go for good? Now there have been noted stars such as Cena and Orton whom actually enjoy the PG rating while we, the fans, find it in bad taste and perhaps hurt the product.

While it grants them to actually 'wrestle' more and use less weapons and adult 'slurs' this of course kills the 'attitude' era generation, while the Federation Era appears to embrace it more.

Myself, I see plus and minus. The plus is it does force them to perhaps wrestle more and when something 'extreme' does occur the effect is more beneficial rather than seeing ten chair shots on RAW and being desensitized by the PPV when another chair shot occurs.

The minus of course the promos are goofier, the slang is gone, the gestures even are starting to leave and most importantly..no blood and believe me, it KILLS the match when they have to stop it to clean up the blood when in AWA, NWA, WcW and old WWF that NEVER happened.

Personally I see Wrestling going full circle, the pieces are in place honestly. Cena is the next 'hogan' while Orton is filling in as the next 'austin' many could say though I see him as the next 'roberts' over time. WWE right now is in a 'Federation' lock and until competition strikes there won't be another 'attitude' revolution. Ironically enough, you have one company falling on it's ass similar to WcW being TNA and one smaller company filling in for ECW being ROH. I feel, that now ROH finally got PPV deals and some TV Time, it will be ROH that lights the fire and starts the second revolution.

Since that is off topic we'll save that for later, either way, the PG Rating will be around even if we dispise it, though currently, amiss the 'hardcore' style and the banning of blood, PG is not the way to go, but from a marketing standpoint, since they're hitting kids which are more marketable rather an 18-35 demographic, hense why they're doing it.

From one Old School guy to you fans, no. I think the PG rating should stay for perhaps...another year, at least give the competition time to catch up then turn up the dial, that formula, worked last time and it will work again.

[Board Admin]

It's a double standard look at what it does to what it kills

1) When it is PG it's all about getting as many fans to watch or start watching the product, the more that watch the more revenue comes in and its like a cycle

However

1) Always bringing in news fans will alienate the fans that have been with your for X amount of years and may feel as if they are the back burner and start looking for other promotions in this case companies like ROH or more local companies based around where they live.

2) Agree with you DM, a PG rated show will give you alot more wrestling in a hour thirty show and thats what we pay to see at a wrestling event not a promo filled heavy show, the added wrestling always brings forward the idea of federation era like DM said

However

2) PG rating again drives away fans and whilst giving more storylines garned to kids with good guy facing bad guy with the overall good guy being triuphant in the end, the fact that the edge of wrestling promos are now gone away because such words cannot be used limits a wrestler to what they really can and cant do.

3) Again another agreed point with DM its a cycle notice how we went from federation to childs PG to Attitude to wrestling to federation to childs PG, so by logical standards you would expect us to be at a stage for a Attitude style kick in and that will happen eventually it is all apart of WWE's Master Plan (Thanks BM)

However

3) Repeating the same steps has not faired well with companies in the past look at TNA,ECW,WCW etc companies they have borrowed and tried to manipulate WWE ideas and have not been sucssessful so again the PG rating comes into question as to weather WWE are trying to ward of companies from taking there stuff

There is so much when it comes to this idea of PG vs Non PG but it really comes down to preferance a small child will like this current era more then us because they grow on this era hence why they see things in a different light compared to ones that started watching in the federation or attitude era of the 90's. It's all based on current culture of watching the shows so for me i dont think we can EVER truly answer this question of PG going or not!

[DM]

I'm not sure there could be an 'answer' that we are looking for, though the fact that James noted the Pros and Cons supports and destroys this concept at the same time which is a great comparison.

True the promos suffer as do the depth of character development though here are just some thoughts.

Attitude Era, Sex, Violence, Loose Lipped.
PG Era, Solid Wrestling, younger talent.

If you flip the coin, both sides win in the case that both sides will either win or lose depending upon the outcome. I think what would really help is to really compare the Wrestlemania's within the Era's if that were the case. Since 17 is the 'end' of the Era then that starts the 'entertainment' era where as 25 I believe Starts the PG Era.

Both sides have equal positive and negative and the real key is to try and please the crowd from both perspectives, with of course not shutting out the other. It's kind of what ECW did by giving the hardcore fans what they wanted while WcW/WWE adapted, it'll only be a matter of time for it to grow.

Granted a LOT of the people these days grew up in the Attitude Era I can see how it's hard to let go, where as I grew up in the Golden/Federation Era, transitioning into the New Generation Era, To The Attitude Era, to the Entertainment Era to...the full circle, PG Era.

If you ask my honest opinion, I think Wrestling has had a lot of black eyes over the years with wrestler deaths going back and forth and this, perhaps, is a way of 'cleaning' it up to regain the audience. Lets face it, even marks will agree, the crowds aren't as 'large' as they used to be since even they are smarter than we were. In my opinion, the PG Era is a great way to get newer audiences and perhaps set a new 'standard' for things to come.

Yes, the stale 'bread' of this whole deal is what we have to swallow, but do keep one thing in mind, Two wrestlers from the Federation Years gave us two GREAT matches back to back in the PG Era while there are little to few guys left from the Attitude Era whom we beg for a big main event match.

It will come full circle, granted it may take a while, though currently I feel that wrestling ( dare I say that word again ) is cleaning up it's act due to having so many black eyes in the past. It's a smoke screen yes but once in a while, you get some pretty racey angles (SES) that work into the mold, where as the fans that want the 'Attitude Era' are given TNA..and lets face it, that ain't working.

[Valdora]

Honestly I haven't seen it effect the product other than the blood. For me blood should be a special effect used to make you go "oh shit they are bleeding!", same with more mature storylines. Would I like it if WWE didn't treat me like a kid? Of course! But shows such as Batman TAS and such show that you don't have to be Adult to have good writting. You just need imagination.

[Board Admin]

This is why i chose the topic for Beyond The Mat Episode 110, because we can have a very good discussion, as i said in this thread earlier the pros and cons which i will read out on the show but yeah this is a very mixed dicussion point.

[DM]

should be a good topic