WWE had unexpectedly announced that starting this Monday, Raw would be changing their cable rating from TV-PG to TV-14. What does this mean? Before I get into that, let’s look at the initial knee jerk reactions.
“The rating doesn’t matter if the creative still sucks“ While this is right on the money, it is also the biggest “what if” in this whole situation.
Remember the ”edgy 3rd hour of Raw” years back? The only things to come from that were Sami Zayn mentioning AEW once and the horror that is the 24/7 Title. This shift can not be that at all. So if this is your talking point, as of now, you are 100% justified.
On the flip side of this, you have to look at what changes could be coming and how do they get introduced.
I would not expect a full on bloodbath during the first match on Monday. However, I could see the blood being used the way it should be, as a novelty or to really sell and angle that NEEDS it. Blood has been overused and has lost its ”gasp” value over the years by other companies. I don’t see WWE doing this.
As far as the language goes: cursing is cool when needed but it’s not going to sound cool in every promo and scripted. Again, use it when needed; not overuse it.
The other potential positive of this could be the (inevitable) lure to WWE of MJF.
For all the ”they will water him down” people out there, for now this potentially eliminated the concern for that issue. TV-14 Raw is a lot more attractive than PG Raw.
What will this all mean? No one despite what they claim, knows for sure yet. But I will be watching on Monday for sure to see how it starts out.
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