10 Reasons The PG Era Isn't So Bad

If you were to take away just one thing from the deluge of opinions on wrestling forums, it would probably be the fact that the PG Era of wrestling is the worst thing to happen to the product since The Gobbledy Gooker. 

To a whole lot of WWE fans, toning down the graphic violence, gratuitous nudity, and sophomoric humour in wrestling is the equivalent of removing the guitar, drums, and bass from Led Zeppelin.

And although it would seem that nothing WWE does these days will ever be able to live up to the halcyon days of the much vaunted Attitude Era - at least not in the eye of a large segment of the population - the PG Era gets a little too much hate.

Yes, there was a definite change in the scope of stories and the sex, drugs, & rock and roll vibes have decreased dramatically, but it's not without its finer qualities. This was a major overhaul that required major changes, but change doesn't always have to be so bad. 

If more people could pick up those rose-tinted glasses they always seem to have around when discussions of "the good old days" come up, they'd be able to see that this much-maligned period in the WWE has some real merit.

So, as the PG Era seems to be unofficially wrapped up (for now), rather than focus on its negative aspects, let's take out our combs and find the gems hidden in the sand...

This isn't to say that the PG Era was in fact the funniest the product has ever been, but it definitely had the capacity to be as funny or funnier than most of the poor excuses that passed for comedy in the 90s.

Looking back on the hallowed grounds of the Attitude days, one thing that should strike anyone who hasn't been living in a bubble for the last decade and a half is just how decidedly one-note most of the humour was in those days. 

Let's use DX as the example, since they're generally considered the top tier in Attitude's humour. 

All of their "classic" bits were rife with gay panic jokes, casual racism, and the least subtle sexual innuendos in the history of sexual innuendoes. It's not that those things can't be funny, but that was quite literally all DX did for a very long period of time and it got tiresome.

Now contrast that with DX's modern equivalent, The New Day. 

These three guys are more clever than Shawn Michaels and Triple H were back in the day, even if they aren't as over-the-top. They don't need censor-baiting to be funny, they just go out and do their thing within the confines of the PG limitations, and still manage to get huge laughs.

It's sort of like how, at one point in time, pre-teens thought there was nothing funnier in the world than Jason Biggs having sex with a warm piece of pastry in American Pie. 

Now, however, all of us should be able to agree that, at best, it's the second funniest thing in the world.