| PG Era | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Promotion | World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE | ||
| Date | July 22, 2008 (2008-07-22) – disputed | ||
| WWF/WWE eras chronology | |||
| |||
ThePG Era, also known as theUniverse Era,[1] is an era ofprofessional wrestling withinWorld Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE), which began on July 22, 2008 after its programming was labeled as TV-PG rating under theTV Parental Guidelines.
WWE instituted a number of changes as they began marketing to a younger audience, such as heavily scripting on-screenpromos and toning down excessive violence, profanity and sexual content. The earlier parts of the era were defined by superhero-esquefan-favorites and one-dimensionalvillains. In many ways, the company returned to a familiar format it previously utilized in the pre-Attitude days of the mid-1990s and earlier.[2]
While WWE considers the era to have ended in either 2013[3] or 2014[4] in favor of a morereality-based era, some describe the PG Era as continuing longer since the 2008 changes remained in effect.[a][b] The PG Era has received much criticism from the core American and Canadian fanbase due to its watered-down violence andfamily-friendly program and characters, but it has also been praised as a good business decision as it made the promotion more appealing to a wider audience and corporatesponsors.
Upon the launch of the TV Parental Guidelines in 1997, WWF (WWE was known as the World Wrestling Federation until May 2002) programming was rated TV-PG. Beginning with the January 18, 1999 episode,Raw shifted to a TV-14 rating amidst direct competition withWorld Championship Wrestling's (WCW) flagship showNitro during theMonday Night War. It remained with that rating until early-June 2008.SmackDown has been rated TV-PG since its inception in 1999.[12]
WWE promoterVince McMahon states that theAttitude Era of the late 1990s and early 2000s was the result of competition from WCW and forced the company to "go for the jugular". Due to WCW's demise in 2001, McMahon says that they "don't have to" appeal to viewers in the same way and that during the "far more scripted" PG Era, WWE could "give the audience what they want in a far more sophisticated way".[13] WWE says that the move to PG cut the "excess" of the Attitude Era and "ushered in a new era of refined and compelling storytelling".[14]John Cena was face of the company during this time, despite receiving a mixed reception from the audience.[14]
While WWE had been slowly moving towards a more family-friendly format before it,Vice News writes that this was accelerated after theChris Benoitdouble murder and suicide in 2007.[15] Then-WWE CEOLinda McMahon described the transition away from TV-14 as a "cradle to the grave" approach to appeal to younger viewers and encouragebrand loyalty.[16]Bryan Alvarez andLance Storm ofWrestling Observer Newsletter attribute the move to TV-PG as a result of WWE appealing tosponsors,[17] which was confirmed by former WWE chief marketing officer Michelle Wilson.[18]
WWE officially announced the move to TV-PG on July 22, 2008.[19] The2008 SummerSlam pay-per-view (PPV) was the first WWE PPV to carry the TV-PG rating.[20] To appeal to younger fans, WWE released theWWE Kids magazine in 2008,[21] and debuted the kid-friendlySaturday Morning Slam television program in 2012.[22] As part of these efforts atbrand extension, the company stopped using its full name when referring to the wrestling promotion in April 2011, using only the abbreviation "WWE," which rendered it anorphaned initialism, though its legal name remained World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.[23] In 2013, WWE reported that their revenue had "nearly tripled" since the move to TV-PG, due to corporate partnerships from companies such asMattel andPost Cereals.[18] However, the PG Era occurred during a time of gradually decliningNielsen ratings, which had begun after the demise of WCW but accelerated afterRaw went to a three-hour format in 2012.[24]
The PG Era's duration has been the subject of debate because most WWE programming never stopped being PG, although the company became less focused on family-friendly content over time.[25][26] While WWE considers the PG Era to have ended in either 2013[3] or 2014,[4] in favor ofThe Reality Era, various sources describe the era lasting into the late 2010s and 2020s.[a][b]
As WWE reverted to a more family-friendly style, previous staples in their programming were altered or dropped. Use ofprofanity was scaled back.[21] An example of this was when John Cena renamed his finishing maneuver from "FU" to "Attitude Adjustment" or the PPV eventOne Night Stand changing the name toExtreme Rules to avoid thesexual connotations.[32][33] Sexual content involvingfemale wrestlers was heavily toned down, withbra and panties matches being discontinued in 2008.[34] Excessive violence was also curtailed;chair shots to the head became increasingly rare after Chris Benoit's double murder suicide,[15] and were completely banned in 2010.[35] In 2011, following their match atWrestleMania XXVII, The Undertaker and Triple H were both fined for chair shots to the head, despite the match being well received by the fans.[36]
From 2008 to the mid-2010s, former WWE head writer Brian Gewirtz stated that the restrictions placed on the writers made it feel as if it was "G Era" rather than the PG Era.[26] Over time, these restrictions were eased as less emphasis was placed on making programming family-friendly.[25] There were occasional reports that WWE was moving away from the TV-PG rating altogether;[b][29] Vince McMahon denied one such report in 2019, stating that the promotion would be "a bit edgier, but remain in the PG environment."[37] However,Dave Meltzer ofWrestling Observer Newsletter reported that WWE marked an "official end" to the PG Era in April 2024, as the company had started presenting a more adult-oriented product, which included more mature promos.[38]
Bleacher Report states that "Perhaps the most distinguishable characteristic of WWE's PG Era was its reliance on superhero-esquebabyfaces."[39] While John Cena was the biggest star in the company at that time, other major stars during that period included established holdovers (or returning performers) from prior WWE eras, includingChris Jericho,Randy Orton,[40]Rey Mysterio,[21]Batista,Edge,[40]Christian, andJeff Hardy. The heroic characters were often placed againstvillains such asDolph Ziggler,Jack Swagger,Mark Henry,Big Show,[39] andThe Miz.[41] Older Attitude Era alumni likeThe Undertaker,Triple H, andShawn Michaels continued to have prominent matches throughout this time,[42] andThe Rock andBrock Lesnar returned to face Cena.[42] This era saw Batista's first departure in 2010,[43] and Shawn Michaels and Edge retired in 2010 and 2011 respectively.[40]
Women were not an integral part of the show and were treated as a sideshow during the early parts of the era, similar to how they were presented in the 1970s and 1980s. However,AJ Lee andPaige were given greater prominence as time went on and paved the way for the "Divas Revolution" of 2015.[39]
During the PG Era, Jeff Hardy won theWWE Championship for the first time atArmageddon 2008.[42] His subsequent 2009 feud withCM Punk was described as "shockingly real" given the PG Era, as Punk referenced Hardy's real-life drug addiction. Their rivalry culminated in aTLC match atSummerSlam, which Punk won, and Hardy subsequently left the company.[44] CM Punk became a "megastar" in the summer of 2011 during his feud with John Cena,[44] the pinnacle of which saw him defeat Cena for the WWE Championship atMoney in the Bank andSummerSlam respectively in two well-received matches.[42][45] During his 2011 storyline with Cena, Punk delivered aworked shoot promo (known as "The Pipebomb"), with a style and tone far away from the typical PG content.[46][47][48] Bleacher Report writes: "Punk turned the company on its head for a few short years and gave fans a taste of what an alternative to the advertiser-obsessed promotion could look like."[39]
Future stars such asAlberto Del Rio,Daniel Bryan,Sheamus,Drew McIntyre,The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt,Luke Harper andErick Rowan) andThe Shield (Roman Reigns,Dean Ambrose,Seth Rollins) all made their debuts during this time.[42] TheECW brand was discontinued in 2010 and replaced withNXT, which serves as a developmental brand for the company.[42] TheNexus (a stable initially started out by 7 original members of NXT) storyline was heavily featured between 2010–2011, with the decision for John Cena to dominate the entire stable throughout its existence being heavily panned by critics.[49][50]
Grantland columnist David Shoemaker writes that while the path towards the Reality Era began with CM Punk's "insurrection", Brock Lesnar brought "a new era of wrestling legitimacy" when he returned in 2012.[51] Lesnar's on-screen manager,Paul Heyman, referred to him as the "most non-PG ass kicker of the PG Era"[52] and the violence in his return match with Cena atExtreme Rules 2012 caused the PPV to receive a TV-14 rating oniTunes.[53] While WWE considers the Reality Era to have begun in 2014,[3][4] Shoemaker writes that the Reality Era reached its apex with the ascension of Daniel Bryan that year,[54] butComicBook.com considers the end of the PG Era to have happened when CM Punk left the company afterRoyal Rumble 2014, while Joe Nguyen ofThe Denver Post believes Seth Rollins' victory over Lesnar atWrestleMania 31 in 2015 ended the PG Era.[27][42] It was during 2015 that John Cena slowly began to transition to a part-time role and WWE began to establishRoman Reigns as the new face of the company, whichreceived polarizing reception from fans and critics.[55][56][57]
The move to TV-PG programming has been singled out as one of WWE's most controversial decisions amongst wrestling fans.[28] The PG Era has also received much criticism from fans due to its watered-down violence andfamily-friendly program and characters.[28] The transition to TV-PG caused some fans to support WWE's competitors,[58] withPro Wrestling Torch writer James Caldwell commenting that WWE's programming resembled children's shows such asBarney & Friends orBlue's Clues when compared to their nearest competitor's at the time,Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), which was promoting more adult-oriented content.[16] Former header writer Brian Gewirtz has stated that WWE's writers joked about "adding inmuppet characters" because they felt the scripts were "ridiculous",[26] while Batista attributed his 2010 departure to the PG Era, stating that WWE was "in a bad moment" during that time.[43] Bryan Alvarez has been highly critical of WWE storylines throughout the period, but does not blame the TV-PG rating. Alvarez points out that much of the raunchy Attitude Era programming had a TV-PG rating, while viewership declined sharply afterthe Invasion storyline, which occurred whileRaw had a TV-14 rating.[59]
Although noting that the move was unpopular with some fans, Chris Mueller of theBleacher Report opined that it was the right thing to do given changing times, writing: "The world is morepolitically correct, parents are more cautious about what their kids are watching, and advertisers are less willing to back controversial brands." Mueller praised the PG Era as a wise business decision because it made the promotion more appealing to corporatesponsors.[28] Shortly after the transition,Miami Herald writer Jim Varsallone said that the changes in programming were too subtle for casual fans to notice and that he did not get complaints from fans.[21] Gewirtz criticized the era as "jarring" due to there being not being a transition from the edgierRuthless Aggression era, but stated that WWE "[gained] respectability again with the advertisers and Hollywood in general. It made it 'safe' for moms and dads to watch with their kids."[26]
Edge compared the PG Era favorably to the Attitude Era, stating that his matches were given more airtime during the PG Era as the latter was more "about the hijinks backstage" than in-ring action.[60] The Miz said that the limitations of the PG Era made them more creative,[41] while Triple H also defended it by emphasizing the importance of storylines over "special effects".[61] Meanwhile,Kurt Angle praised the era as being "good for wrestling" due to non-television reasons such as the health of the wrestlers.[30] Although John Cena sympathized with those who miss the adult-oriented content, citing his personal "adult sense of humor", he defended the PG era, calling it "more digestible": "[operating under] a PG platform, ... has totally globally expanded the WWE and created more fans ... around the world, and allowed all of these performers including myself to go to new and wonderful places".[62]
The transition to TV-PG became a subject of controversy during Linda McMahon's2010 Senate campaign. US SenatorChris Dodd accused McMahon of trying to distance herself from professional wrestling,[34] whileSuperstar Billy Graham said that the move to kid-friendly programming was done so that she would be a more appealing candidate.[63] WWE denied these claims, stating that the 2008 transition to TV-PG occurred "long before McMahon announced her candidacy".[34]
I know the WWE has been really careful with what their wrestlers say during their still ongoing PG era ...