10 Times WWE Tried To Be Edgy (And Failed Miserably)
When Rated-R Superstars make us reach for our starts with an R-Remote Control.
WWE and good taste don't exactly go hand in hand. This much we know.
Almost from WWE's inception, Vince McMahon's sports entertainment juggernaut has relied on varying degrees of raunchy humour and shock value to pop ratings. During the Attitude Era, these tactics worked like a charm, luring horny teenagers like moths to a flame - a flame lit with "puppies" and beer baths, but a flame nonetheless.
Ratings surged, and WWE regained control of the Monday Night Wars from upstart WCW. Edginess had helped win the day - or so we thought. Life can't be all Stone Cold Stunners and Steveweisers, though. For every D-Generation X invading WCW, there was Mae Young birthing a hand.
Despite shifting towards a more family-friendly product in the years since the Attitude Era, WWE still relies on raw storytelling to further the occasional angle. It's in the name of their flagship show, after all. Sometimes it works; sometimes it shoots all over your patience. More often than not, WWE's attempts at edginess feel contrived and devoid of any genuine heat.
Whether they shamelessly exploited real-life personal problems or simply nauseated the audience, these moments set a course for edgier waters and got lost faster than Shawn Michaels' smile.
10. Raw Underground
Raw Underground, we hardly knew ye.
Unleashed on unsuspecting audiences in August, Raw Underground took viewers from the plush corridors of the Performance Center to a dank basement warehouse where the fighting was more real, more visceral, more, er, um, raw. It had potential, we'll give it that.
With Shane McMahon at the helm, the whole affair felt more akin to your UFC-loving dad's midlife crisis than an injection of reality into a bloated sports entertainment spectacle. Part Fight Club knockoff, part bizarre cult gathering, Raw Underground never really clicked. Nobody could buy that its bouts were anything but predetermined, and without the fun of sports entertainment, it was honestly just boring. Besides, does anybody care that much about fighting? Oh, right, your dad. Keep on truckin', pal.
On the bright side, Raw Underground was a unique way of showcasing new talent, particularly those normally lost in the doldrums of WWE's Performance Center. The monstrous Dabba-Kato was easily Raw Underground's brightest star, riding roughshod over the show's basement dwellers until getting Braun Strowman's hands. Shame about that. Someone really should've warned him about those things.
With Raw Underground's recent cancellation, we can only assume its dilapidated digs will transform from secret pit fighting compound to Shane McMahon's new man cave. Rule number one: don't touch the remote!