The 8-Ball 02.09.12: Top 8 Reasons WWE Should Stay PG

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the 8-Ball. My name is Ryan Byers, and I would like to thank everybody for the feedback that flooded in after my debut with this column just seven short days ago. I’m looking forward to a long run with this format, though I have to admit that this particular week has been a busy one for me outside of the world of writing about professional wrestling on the internet, so I haven’t quite gone as in-depth with this topic as I would normally hope to. However, I believe that it still contains some valid points that need to be made, so, here goes . . .

Top 8 Reasons WWE Should Stay PG

That’s right. Just about anywhere you go on the internet these days, there are people making the complaint that WWE’s status as a TV-PG rated set of shows is killing professional wrestling. Some people claim that it’s killing professional wrestling from an entertainment value standpoint. Others claim that it’s killing professional wrestling from a business standpoint. Some people combine the two arguments. Personally, I think that all of the above is a load of hooey. (Note the PG terminology.) There is absolutely no problem with WWE continuing to promote a PG product, and, in fact, I am of the opinion that it is more beneficial than not for the rating to remain as is. Here are the top eight reasons why.

8. Attitude Fans are Aging

It’s hard to believe, but 1998, which was the height of the WWE Attitude Era, was fourteen years ago. The viewers who were the bread and butter of the Attitude days were people in their teens and early twenties. Somebody who was 16 in 1998 (as I was, actually) is now closing in on 30. Somebody who was 25 in 1998 is now closing in on 39. The Attitude Era teens are now all at ages where they are highly likely to have young children, and, when you become a parent, your kids begin to take up a LOT of your time and can often dictate the television and movies that you watch. Thus, if you want to keep the young adults of the Attitude Era watching, it helps a good deal to put out a product that they can watch with their children as opposed to a product that they have to hide from their children, particularly when it is a product that you’re asking your audience to watch several times a week for a minimum of two hours per viewing. Plus, parents naturally get excited when their kids take an interest in something that the parent him or herself was interested in years ago, so parent/child sharing of WWE viewing can even reinvigorate the fandom of some parents who otherwise might have given up wrestling.

7. Hooking Them Young

As noted above, people in their teens and early twenties were the people who formed the foundation of wrestling’s uber-popularity in the late 1990s. However, it is not as though these people were all brand new wrestling fans who had never gotten into the product before. To the contrary, many of them were former professional wrestling fans who were coming back to the “sport” after a several year absence. Many of the high school students who hung on the every movement of Steve Austin were the same elementary school students who hung on the every movement of Hulk Hogan ten or fifteen years earlier, though they did, for the most part, take an early 1990s hiatus. By creating a kid-friendly WWE now, the promotion can potentially set up a similar pattern ten years from now by introducing a product that connects with these same fans once more when they are just a tiny bit older. The people who were attracted to John Cena as kids could be attracted to another, more mature character ten years down the line, just as the Hogan-to-Austin transition occurred. For WWE’s sake, though, hopefully the Cena-to-whoever transition would not require the promotion’s polarity dipping in between the two stars as much as what occurred between 1993 and 1996.

6. Merchandising

The primary revenue stream of any professional wrestling organization used to be live event tickets. When closed circuit television and later pay per view came on to the scene, PPV supplanted ticket sales as the main cash cow. Nowadays, many people are arguing that pay per view is a dying business. Some people claim that it’s because folks simply aren’t willing to fork out the money for shows anymore when pirated versions are readily available on the internet. Other people claim that it’s because the folks who are booking professional wrestling companies these days have completely lost sight of how to promote a big event. I’m more in the latter camp than I am in the former, but the numbers don’t lie, and PPV really is hitting the skids. Thus, other revenue streams become all the more important to WWE, and one of the big revenue streams these days is merchandise, whether we’re talking about products produced in-house or licensed goodies. Here’s the thing about professional wrestling merchandise, though: Adults are a hell of a lot less likely to buy it than youngsters. I’m sorry, Vince, but I’m a professional and I’m not going to be seen walking down the streets of my hometown in a Zack Ryder t-shirt, even when I’m off the clock. Kids, however, are the very reason that you can sell things like WWE dolls, WWE plastic jewelry, wrestler dress-up sets, and, yes, even John Cena garden gnomes. The more the WWE product appeals to kids, the more crap can be sold to them, which is money in the bank.

5. Sponsor Money

Speaking of money, WWE has had a lot of involvement of corporate sponsors over the past twenty-five years. However, the profile of their sponsors has definitely gone up and down over those years. Watching some WWE Classics on Demand recently, I was reminded that WWE (or the WWF at the time) used to be sponsored by companies such as Sony, Blistex, Chef Boyardee, and many more major players. However, as time went on and the product got more risqué, many of those high-profile sponsors started to step away. When the promotion toned down the content of its shows, many big companies lined up to provide financial backing to WWE once more. K-Mart carries an unprecedented amount of the company’s merchandise these days. Mattel is now the official licensee of the rights to make dolls based on the promotion. WWE cups and other promotions are in 7-11 stores. Jared the Subway guy is in the front row at Raw, overseeing Santino stealing Jerry “Stupid” Lawler’s delicious sandwich. Though not a guarantee, chances are good that many of these companies would not want to be associated with a more controversial product, as was evidenced by rumors that Bryan Danielson’s release from his original WWE contract was a result of his tie-choking violating content guidelines dictated by Mattel and further evidenced by Fit Finlay’s termination after the Army National Guard was not thrilled with a segment he booked on a house show of all things. A PG show keeps those sponsor dollars rolling in, which, again, is very important when traditional revenue streams like pay per view are going downhill.

4. Ratings Are Steady

Most of us have come to realize that the comment sections of 411mania articles are not exactly full of brain surgeons. However, one of the things that I constantly see our commenters who complain about the TV-PG rating saying is that it is “killing business,” and they usually claim that this business death is reflected in lower television ratings. However, this is one myth that can easily be busted. A quick search of the WWE corporate website brought me to this press release, which notes that the PG rating for WWE’s content began in July 2008. This page lists all WWE television ratings for 2008. Take a look at those numbers. They’re mostly in the low 3.0 range with a few mid 3.0’s and high 2.9’s sprinkled in. What are the ratings for Raw like these days? They’re mostly in the low 3.0 range with a few mid 3.0’s and high 2.9’s sprinkled in. The change in the company’s ratings for Raw since the PG edict came down has been miniscule and, if I were to do formal statistical analysis, I suspect that it would most likely be statistically insignificant. So, if the more family friendly WWE is drawing in roughly the same number of viewers and has the potential to bring in more money (as outlined above), why do anything else?

(NOTE: The above focuses purely on Raw ratings and not those for Smackdown, as there are major variables other than the PG rating that would affect SD’s Nielsen numbers between 2008 and present day, specifically changes in network.)

3. Hulkamania

People who rally against the PG version of WWE often point to the fact that the Attitude Era was the most successful period of time in the company’s history. One thing that those same people neglect is that WWE was almost as big of a business success – and was arguably even better-accepted by the mainstream media – fifteen years earlier when Hulkamania was running wild. I don’t think that anybody would disagree that the promotion was “PG” when Hulk was their main attraction, and, based on the fact that they had a Saturday morning cartoon show around this time, you could even argue that the product was closer to what we would refer to today as a “TV-Y7” show. So, if that sort of product was successful once, there’s nothing saying that it couldn’t be successful for a second time. And, before you try to tell me that the WWF during the Hogan period captured lightning in a bottle and that a family friendly wrestling product could never work again, let me move you up one space on this list and remind you of . . .

2. The nWo

Because WWE won the Monday Night War and as a result writes a lot of our wrestling history books, we hear a lot of people claiming, at least implicitly, that the Attitude-oriented product was responsible for the professional wrestling boom of the late-1990s. That is not true, though. WWF Attitude did not cause the wrestling boom. WWF Attitude piled onto the wrestling boom after it had already started, and it was started by the nWo. The nWo made wrestling “cool” again, and the WWF just built upon their accomplishments. And do you know what? If you actually go back and watch the things that the nWo was doing when they were at the height of their popularity, there is virtually NOTHING that wouldn’t fit in a PG environment. Just take a look at the video above of Hulk Hogan’s legendary heel turn. There’s no blood. No cursing. No excessive violence. No half-naked women. Yet, it remains one of the most effective and best-remembered angles in all of professional wrestling history, and the same was true of everything else that the nWo did when they were the hottest act in the world over the course of the next two years and change. Yes, WCW did eventually go down a much bawdier road when they hired Vince Russo in late 1999, but what the company made its name on was perfectly family friendly professional wrestling. They didn’t need obscenity to literally become the top-grossing professional wrestling promotion in the history of the world up to that point in time, so WWE shouldn’t need it now.

1. The Toy Story Effect

Yeah, you heard me. Toy Story. The only movie I actually plunked down my hard-earned money to see in the theatre in 2010 was Toy Story 3. The only movie that I actually plunked down my hard-earned money to see in the theatre in 2011 was The Muppets. Do you know what I thought when I left those movies? It wasn’t, “God, that sucked. It would’ve been so much better if Buzz Lightyear was allowed to bleed and swear” or “That movie was OK, but I would’ve given it ***** if Miss Piggy show a little more cleavage.” No, I walked out of both of those movies, which were rated G and PG respectively, thinking, “That was a goddamn awesome movie, and I had a great time watching it.” If you’ve read any reviews of those films or talked to anybody with a soul, you know that I am far from the only person to hold that opinion. What’s my point as it relates to pro wrestling? My point is that there is no law anywhere which says that a product designed to be acceptable for children can’t be imminently entertaining for adults. If you don’t like WWE’s product right now, you shouldn’t misdirect your anger and claim that the company needs adult themes. If you don’t like WWE’s product right now, you should just demand that WWE tell captivating stories with compelling characters and solid beginnings, middles, and ends, regardless of whether they’re rated G, PG, R, or XXX. Demand good writing before you demand writing with a certain level of adult content. You’ll be happier in the long run and not chastising WWE for a decision that, as seen above, makes a fair deal of business sense for them.

And that that will do it for me this week. Have a good seven days, all, and I will see you again shortly.