It's been a pretty common thing to hear fans and veteran wrestlers alike complaining about the PG era of the WWE. Whether or not it is a gift or curse remains to be seen. With it being PG, all ages can look wrestling and enjoy it without having to worry about seeing something too gruesome or disturbing. But, the PG rating has caused a lot of former fans and veteran wrestlers to lose interest in the product being put out.
Brutal matches:
While some of you readers may be thinking, "There doesn't have to be blood in matches", you are correct. But like a picture or poster on your living room wall, it adds a little more. The first thing that came to mind when thinking about what would have never been as good were the Mick Foley feuds. Mick Foley will be the first to tell anyone that he never looked like any kind of body builder. Because of that, he had to rely on his personality and his toughness. Mick Foley would take a "bump" off the Hell in a Cell and get back up, get choke slammed through the cage, and then take a chair shot and get busted open just because it made the fans cheer "Foley is go(o)d" over and over. His match with Triple H is still one of the best matches in the last ten plus years and while it didn't necessarily need Triple H getting busted open it added so much more to the match. The ending of the pedegree on the thumbtacks would also never happen in the PG age. Thankfully Mick Foley got to be him before things got watered down.
Another time was during an ECW title match that pit Christian vs. Shelton Benjamin. Not only was it an "Extreme Championship" match, but also it was a Tables Ladders and Chairs match. It was by far the most annoying thing looking Shelton Benjamin fight Christian in a match and have the match stopped abruptly because Christian started bleeding. It wasn't like he was gushing blood; it was a gash on his forehead and the match was stopped. The crowd was more than pissed and even Christian who was bleeding was visibly upset that the match had to be stopped. The match eventually continued and it was a good match, but if not for the long pause that stopped the match, it could have been a great match.
Two current WWE stars that are hurt the most by this are Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. The two of them are the type of guys who would bleed, all off cages, and have barbed wire matches if they could. Neither of them would be opposed to giving up their bodies for the sake of the match. Seth is like a Jeff Hardy that can actually wrestle and Dean Ambrose is like the love child of Stone Cold and CM Punk. The two of them are destined to have a rivalry that will go down as one of the best ever, but it could actually be so much more if they were allowed to go all out.
*Side note* There never would have been a Hardcore Title. Also, Ric Flair would never be allowed in the ring. He starts bleeding when he walks down the ring.
Cursing and Innuendos:
The Rock might be the Rock if he had to be stifled when cutting a promo. Granted, Dwayne Johnson is talented enough to work any genre. It's proven every time he comes back and cuts a promo. But we wouldn't have classic moments like The Rock saying poontang pie or turning something sideways and shoving it right up someone's candy a**. First off, it's doubtful he'd b able to say a** let alone candy a**. And there's no way he'd be allowed to say he was going to shove it up there.
Besides The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin would have been hurt the most by a PG rating. After beating Jake the Snake in the King of the ring tournament, Stone Cold came into his own with his "Stone Cold 3:16 says I just whooped your a**". Couple of things; there goes the word a** again, but that wouldn't be the problem. It's a Pay Per View event, so it's possible that it would have been ok to say it. It would have been the reference to the bible that would have had Vince McMahon going crazy. The amount of letters (For you young kids, it was the original email) that would have been sent would have been enough to fill an arena. It was a great and classic moment and one of Stone Cold's defining moments in WWE history.
The feud between him and Vince McMahon and Austin would have been entertaining, but possibly not the top ten classic feuds that we actually got. The bar was pushed to the max with those two. Not just the blood, but also the blatant cursing and the risky situations him and Vince were put in. The Beer bath, the beat down in the hospital, the gun pointed to Vince’s head, and the trademark middle fingers would have never been used. Image Stone Cold having never flipped Vince the bird. Exactly. It added so much. He was doing the one thing that we have always wished we could do at one point or another. Flip off our boss. We all loved it because Stone Cold was all of us when he fought Vince. In a PG world, it would have been just another feud.
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Degeneration X:
They fit both categories that have always been talked about. They are the anti PG rating. They literally told everyone they hated to suck it. And if for some reason you didn't know what they meant, they would make a bullseye with their arms and hands directed toward their crotch. It was hilarious. How couldn't we eat it up (Maybe a bad choice of words there). DX was crude, rude, unruly, racist, sexist, and vulgar, they did whatever they wanted, and we loved it because it was all good natured fun. There was a member of DX who's name was Mr. A$$ (Or Bad A$$ Billy Gunn), he had lips on his trunks a giant one on the back of trunks, his finisher was called the Fame-A$$-er, and his theme music was called "A$$ Man". Shawn Michaels was making...oral gestures in the middle of the ring and used to show his butt on TV all the time. Those are only a few examples of things they used to do that would never been allowed to do now.
The Bastardization of ECW:
When The WWE announced that ECW was coming back to television, a lot of fans were excited and more of us were skeptical. An ECW without Paul Heyman or the original crew was all but destined to fail. In the beginning, it was great. Hardcore Holly was wrestling and keeping the ECW spirit alive. If anyone in the WWE could keep the spirit alive, it was him. Ric Flair and the Big show were also around having great matches. But as expected, it slowly turned into Smackdown Jr. A show for developmental talent and completely abandoned the "Extreme" part of ECW. That's not to say there weren't any goo feuds or matches. Christian was great champ and had a ton of great matches including some with William Regal and Shelton Benjamin. What they did to ECW can not and should not be forgiven. At least you can go on the WWE Network (for only $9.99) and see some of the great matches from ECW. Well, not all of them.