10 Things We Need To See Post-WWE Summerslam 2022

It seems all but official now: WWE’s PG Era is coming to an end. On the whole, that should be a good thing; performers can speak a little more like human beings instead of relying on bizarrely tame insults and sanitised language, and there’ll be less threat of matches coming to a halt because of a bust nose or similar.

The worry, though, is that WWE creative will immediately get carried away. Look, we all enjoyed the Attitude Era, but we remember it with our rose-tinted glasses firmly on. For every WrestleMania X-7, there’s something racist, misogynistic or just sophomoric and embarrassing.

The trick will be for WWE to use the greater freedom of a TV-14 rating without feeling they have to push the envelope as far as it can possibly go. Get that right, and the product can become something it hasn’t been since the days of Austin-Rock: zeitgeist-capturing, and even cool.

The lack of Vince McMahon, well known for his adolescent sense of humour, should make it easier to keep the company’s worst instincts in check, but only time can tell, and there’s every chance we’ll be giving birth to hands and chopping off penises with samurai swords before the ink is dry on the new TV contract.