Ahead of Monday Night Raw’s debut on Netflix (which was mostly good), there were a lot of conversations, arguments and questions amongst the fanbase about how adult the show was going to be. Throughout its history, the target audience WWE is catering to has yo-yo-ed, and when coupled with society’s evolving standards, it has meant the tone, subject matter, presentation and even TV rating have changed. Some fans were hoping the move to Netflix would mean we’d get more blood, more swearing and maybe even more sexually charged content. Others were hoping the same move wouldn’t affect the show, allowing it to continue to be a safe option for families. Well, the first episode is now in the books, and the results are complicated.
If you’re a fan looking to see WWE push the envelope, you had some reasons to be excited. The Rock dropped a “bullshit” during his segment that wasn’t bleeped out, and various crowd chants that involved swear words were aired without any censorship. Travis Scott, who accompanied Jey Uso to the ring, also smoked a blunt as he was walking through the crowd, and the camera didn’t exactly shy away from him taking hits. I can’t really imagine any of that happening on USA Network.
If you’re a fan looking to see WWE hold the line, however, you also had some reasons to be excited. The Rock appeared to drop an F-bomb during a quick exchange with Pat McAfee, and it was bleeped out. While we got a little bit of blood in the Seth Rollins/ CM Punk match, it appeared to be the hard way, and in general, it wasn’t exactly a gory affair. In fact, pretty much everything that happened on the show, apart from the few instances I outlined in the last paragraph, felt like they could have happened anytime over the past few years on WWE TV. I’d say, overall, the product was 95% the same as what we’ve been watching.
That’s what I expect to see moving forward, and it aligns with some of the comments WWE’s top guys said prior to the move. Chief Content Officer Triple H has been open about how frustrated he gets when the network mutes out crowd chants that have swearing in them. The crowd is a huge part of the show, and it's important to know how they're feeling and at least consider their opinion. As such, it’s no surprise that neither the chants, nor the booing for Hulk Hogan was muted. But he’s also been open about feeling like WWE doesn’t need hard swearing to be a good product and also feeling like if you withhold edgy things (like blood and swearing), then when you use them, they get a way bigger reaction.
You can look no further than Kevin Owens’ current plotline with the piledriver for an example of that. The move is done on a regular basis in AEW and doesn’t receive any reaction, but because it has been banned in WWE for a long time, when Owens hit one on Randy Orton and later on Cody Rhodes, it caused audible gasps in the shocked crowd. I suspect we’ll see the same thing with swearing and extreme violence moving forward, where it’ll occasionally come out in unexpected situations, and it’ll get a huge reaction.
This middle ground is unlikely to completely please either side. There is a very vocal set of wrestling fans who really want to see WWE get more edgy. They look back on The Attitude Era of the late 90s and early 2000s when the company really pushed the envelope with great fondness, and they want to see a more mature show targeted at adults. I get that. When adults get mad at each other, they often swear or insult each other in manners far more aggressive than what we hear in WWE programming. Many of them would also like to see matches that are more violent or more extreme. AEW utilizes blood and significantly more dangerous moves on a very regular basis, and some people are really drawn to that style of wrestling. I don’t really think they’re gonna get that consistently here, even with the move to Netflix.
There’s another vocal set of fans, however, who want to watch the show with their kids or want the show to be a safe space for their kids. They look at wrestling as programming the entire family can watch, and they don’t want their 7 year old subjected to random F-bombs or people getting hit in the face with barbed wire and bleeding profusely. If they don’t feel what they’re seeing is appropriate, they’ll stop watching and divert their kids' attentions elsewhere, which makes it more complicated to build the next generation of fans. I think they’ll mostly be happy with WWE programming moving forward, but occasionally, there are going to be some more mature things that get through.
For me, that’s the balance I want to see, and the one I think is the healthiest for the company. I started watching wrestling when I was five years old, and I don’t think you need edginess or strong language to make storylines compelling. I want WWE to be a big tent filled with a lot of different styles that everyone can enjoy, but now and again, I also want the company to go a little further unexpectedly. I want to occasionally see someone get bloodied badly in a match. I want to occasionally hear someone get really worked up and use language that’s not normally heard on WWE TV. That gives those moments extra meaning, and if you do them occasionally and in small doses, it won’t turn most parents off, at least to the point where they wouldn’t let their kids watch.
This hybrid approach isn’t going to be perfect for everyone. Most fans aren’t going to get exactly what they want, but I think enough fans will be happy enough with the middle ground that it’s the right path forward.
