10 Times WWE Caved To Public Pressure

2. A Change In Attitude

Fabulous Moolah
WWE.com

Vince McMahon's first response to a censorship campaign from the aggressive (and admittedly hypocritical) Parents Television Council campaign in 2000 was to rip the p*ss out of them. The Right To Censor's modus operandi was to crack down on the sex and violence of the Attitude Era, dressing midcarders The Godfather, Val Venis, Bull Buchanan and leader Steven Richards up like Morman missionaries (another McMahon swipe) and positioning them as irritating heels.

The RTC/PTC gag presumably had McMahon chuckling for months, but the real-life group's dedicated campaign did result in major sponsors getting itchy feet with WWE's near-the-knuckle product. The back end of the protests came right as the company subtly slipped from its mainstream pedestal too. An unending quest to reverse a ratings slide actually resulted in the organisation toning down the quotients most associated with growing public concern, with television numbers doing as much to scare advertisers as any protest group.

Little of the PTC's attempted takedown of WWE could be considered a success, but forcing Vince at his most bombastic to at least exhibit caution put them in front of the thousands of shareholders and board members screaming in his face about the eventual and costly failure of the XFL.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett