10 Times WWE's PG Era Went Too Far
Blood and guts. Oh, and t*ts.
A rating classification does not dictate the quality of a television programme.
If anything, the opposite is true. A universally-beloved PG-rated show is a true achievement because crafting a wholesome joke comprehensible to every demographic is fiendishly difficult. There's a reason why private jokes are invariably disgusting.
Some are all too quick to conflate WWE's lack of quality with the classification, and it's a very superficial take that might now be consigned to the troll-sphere. It's not as if a Nia Jax match is going to get any better if somebody gigs their forehead in it; in fact, with Nia Jax, who even needs a blade!
Moreover, they don't really adhere to it. It's far more PR drive than code of conduct.
Paul Heyman is married with children, but surely bears scars from a presumed high school incel phase, given how much he loves the word "bitch". Vince McMahon is a "quite frankly" guy, Tony Schiavone fond of "that time". Heyman's verbal tic is "Bitch!".
We aren't in the body slam for the win era anymore, either. Just the other month, in just one display of reckless violence that parents might frown at, were their six year-old watching, Braun Strowman sandwiched - and nearly imploded - Shinsuke Nakamura's bleeding head between his body and a non-gimmicked grand piano.
WWE isn't that PG - especially when...
10. Member Of Controversial Sporting Dynasty Drops N Bomb On RAW
A total worker, LaVar Ball married his tall wife with the express purpose of creating a stable of insanely wealthy basketball superstars.
And, by God, he did, by push-parenting them into the gym and pushing them to America with his incredibly outlandish carny behaviour. Big Baller Brand reached peak notoriety in 2017, when the patriarch talked utter b*llocks to draw attention to his dynasty - the former mid NFL player claimed he was a better baller than Michael Jordan - and naturally, WWE made the comparison to itself and invited the family into RAW.
Both entities - WWE and Big Baller Brand - operate on an entirely different plane of reality. And so, when they collided, it was with the destructive force of an evangelion charging into an angel. The devastation thankfully resulted in a mild PR gaffe that likely only led to a light b*llocking from USA.
During a torturous Miz TV segment, in which LaVar somehow conspired to outdo the Great Antonio with his excruciating mugging - God, imagine if it were Antonio Inoki in there, and not The Miz - the youngest child, LaMelo, implored his father to beat The Miz's ass, dropping the n-word to do it.
Somewhere in gorilla, Jon Moxley shed a tear; a rich brat basketball prodigy had cut an unscripted promo before he did.