Many consider this period between 1997 and July 2008 as the golden years of wrestling entertainment and several viewers still have fond memories of it. So, you can only imagine the joy on the faces of many fans when news broke out that WWE Raw “might” be switching back to TV-14 starting on July 18.
In a since-deleted tweet, Andrew Zarian of The Mat Men Podcast just revealed that Monday Night Raw will have a TV-14 rating moving forward. Zarian’s then followed it up by saying that “The PG Era is over.” It’s not clear yet if the shift to a TV-14 rating will include SmackDown. But, if both Raw and SmackDown do make the move, it will be the first for the latter. SmackDown has been rated TV-PG since 1999. WWE has been on a steady decline in recent years and it might have something to do with its biggest competition yet, AEW. All-Elite Wrestling currently hosts several former WWE superstars like former WWE Champion, CM Punk. Interestingly enough, the rumor comes just months after WWE openly criticized the AEW for what the company described as “gory self-mutilation” during a women’s tag match last December. If WWE does go with a TV-14 rating, we’ll be curious to find out if it will bring the reaction that the wrestling promotion is expecting. As mentioned earlier, “The Attitude Era” of the late 90s and early 2000s is widely heralded as the best years of the WWE. But, that was a different time. The AEW is a legitimate contender that could make this rumored plan backfire. Hopefully, the WWE has enough compelling storylines in the pipeline in case the shift to a TV-14 rating pulls through. Speaking of the WWE, rumor has it that a WWE RPG game is in development.
