PG Era

John Cena (seen here with child fans) was the face of the company in 2008, despite being unpopular with some fans

WWE promoter Vince McMahon states that the Attitude Era of the 1990s and early 2000s was the result of competition from World Championship Wrestling (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".[1] 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".[2] John Cena was face of the company during this time, despite receiving a mixed reception from the audience.[2]

While WWE had been slowly moving towards a more family-friendly format before it, Vice News writes that this was accelerated after the Chris Benoit double murder and suicide in 2007.[3] Bryan Alvarez and Lance Storm of Wrestling Observer Newsletter attribute the move to TV-PG as a result of WWE appealing to sponsors.[4] Then-WWE CEO Linda McMahon described the transition away from TV-14 as a "cradle to the grave" approach to appeal to younger viewers and encourage brand loyalty.[5]

WWE officially announced the move to TV-PG on July 22, 2008.[6] The 2008 SummerSlam pay-per-view (PPV) was the first WWE PPV to carry the TV-PG rating.[7] To appeal to younger fans, WWE released the WWE Kids magazine in 2008,[8] and debuted the kid-friendly Saturday Morning Slam television program in 2012.[9]

Chair shots to the head were banned in the PG Era

As WWE adapted a more family-friendly style, previous staples in their programming were altered or dropped. Use of profanity was toned down.[8] An example of this was when John Cena renamed his finishing maneuver from "FU" to "Attitude Adjustment" or the PPV event WWE One Night Stand changing the name to WWE Extreme Rules to avoid the sexual connotations.[10][11] Female wrestlers had previously performed in Bra and panties matches and several of them had posed nude in Playboy but these were dropped in 2008.[12] Excessive violence was also toned down. Chair shots to the head became increasingly rare after Benoit's death,[3] and were completely banned in 2010.[13] In 2011 following their match at WrestleMania 27, wrestlers The Undertaker and Triple H were fined for chair shots to the head, despite the match being well received by the fans.[14]

Amid declining ratings and the launch of rival promotion All Elite Wrestling in 2019, it was reported that WWE wanted to move on from the PG Era.[15] Vince McMahon acknowledged that the promotion would be "a bit edgier, but remain in the PG environment". He said the promotion had "graduated from ... gory crap" and was a "a more sophisticated product".[16]

WWE considers the PG Era to have ended in 2013, in favor of The Reality Era,[17] although the exact duration of the era is disputed.[18][19] Many sources continue to describe WWE as still being in the PG Era because most of their content is still rated TV-PG.[20][15] For the purposes of this article, only events between 2008–2013 will be covered in the section. The Reality Era covers 2013–2016 and The New Era covers 2016–present.

John Cena (left) and The Rock (right) on the April 4, 2011 episode of Raw. They had an on and off cross-generational feud between 2011–2013 and main evented WWE's flagship events WrestleMania 28 and WrestleMania 29 consecutively.

Bleacher Report states that "Perhaps the most distinguishable characteristic of WWE's PG Era was its reliance on superhero-esque babyfaces."[21] While John Cena was the biggest star in the company at that time, while other major stars during that period included Randy Orton,[22] Rey Mysterio,[8] Batista and Edge.[22] The heroic characters were often placed against villains such as Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, Big Show,[21] and The Miz.[23] Attitude Era alumni like The Undertaker, Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho continued to have prominent matches throughout this time,[18] and The Rock and Brock Lesnar returned to face Cena.[18] This era saw Batista's first departure in 2010,[24] and Shawn Michaels and Edge retired in 2010 and 2011 respectively.[22]

Paige and AJ Lee were two of the most prominent women in the later part of the PG Era

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 80s. However, AJ Lee, Paige and Nikki Bella were given greater prominence as time went on and paved the way for the "Divas Revolution" of 2015.[21]

CM Punk became one of the most popular stars of the era, despite his character being edgier than most seen during this time

During the PG Era, Jeff Hardy won the WWE Championship for the first time at Armageddon 2008.[18] His subsequent 2009 feud with CM Punk was described as "shockingly real" given the PG Era, as Punk referenced Hardy's real-life drug addiction. Their rivalry culminated in a match at SummerSlam, which Punk won, and Hardy subsequently left the promotion.[25] CM Punk became a "megastar" in the summer of 2011 during his feud with Cena,[25] the pinnacle of which saw him defeat Cena for the WWE Championship at Money in the Bank and SummerSlam respectively in two well-received matches.[18][26] During his storyline with Cena, Punk performed a shoot promo (known as The Pipebomb), with a style far away from the PG content.[27][28][29] 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."[21]

Future stars such as Alberto Del Rio, Daniel Bryan, Drew McIntyre, The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan) and The Shield (Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins) made their debuts during this time.[18] The ECW brand was discontinued in 2010 and replaced with NXT, which serves as a developmental brand for the promotion.[18] The Nexus (a stable initially started out by 7 original members of NXT) storyline was heavily featured between 2010–2011, with the decision for Cena to dominate the entire stable throughout its existence being heavily panned by critics.[30][31]

Brock Lesnar's match with John Cena at Extreme Rules 2012 was unusually violent for the PG Era

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.[32] Lesnar's on-screen manager, Paul Heyman, referred to him as the "most non-PG ass kicker of the PG Era"[33] and the violence in his return match with Cena at Extreme Rules 2012 caused the PPV to receive a TV-14 rating on iTunes.[34] While WWE considers The Reality Era to have begun in 2014;[17] Shoemaker writes that the Reality Era reached its apex with ascension of Daniel Bryan that year,[35] but Comicbook.com considers the end of the PG Era to have happened when CM Punk left the company after Royal Rumble 2014 and Joe Nguyen of The Denver Post believes Seth Rollins victory over Lesnar at WrestleMania 31 ended the PG Era.[19][18] It was during 2015 that John Cena slowly began to transition to a part time role and WWE began attempting to establish Roman Reigns as the face of the company, which received polarizing reception from fans and critics.[36][37][38]

The transition to family-friendly programming was widely discussed during Linda McMahon's 2010 Senate campaign

The move to TV-PG programming has been singled out as WWE's most controversial decision amongst wrestling fans.[20] The transition to TV-PG caused some fans to support WWE's competitors,[39] with Pro Wrestling Torch writer James Caldwell commenting that WWE's programming looked like Barney & Friends or Blue's Clues when compared to their nearest competitor's at the time, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.[5] Batista attributed his 2010 departure to the PG Era, and said that wrestling was "in a bad moment" during that time.[24]

Storylines during the PG Era have also been criticized. Inside Pulse wrote that characters were written better during the Attitude Era and each show was presented as being more important.[40] Responding to Vince McMahon's claims that modern shows are more "sophisticated", Sentinel Daily writer Dale E. Aragon said that "Someone should tell that to the audience."[41] Former WWF writer Vince Russo questioned whether McMahon watches the shows and compared a segment from them to Sesame Street.[42]

Although noting that the move was unpopular with some fans, Bleacher Report opined that it was the right thing to do given changing times, writing: "The world is more politically correct, parents are more cautious about what their kids are watching and advertisers are less willing to back controversial brands."[20] Shortly after the transition, Miami Herald writer Jim Varsallone said that the changes in programming were too subtle for casual fans notice and that he did not get complaints from fans.[8] WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase supported the move to TV PG because he is a Christian Pastor and did not enjoy the raunchier programming.[43] Triple H also defended the PG-Era, stating that the story has to be good, no matter the rating.[44]

The transition to TV-PG became a subject of controversy during Linda McMahon's 2010 Senate campaign. US Senator Chris Dodd accused McMahon of trying to distance herself from professional wrestling,[12] while Superstar Billy Graham said that the move to kid-friendly programming was done so that she would be a more appealing candidate.[45] WWE denied these claims, stating that the 2008 transition to TV-PG occurred "long before McMahon announced her candidacy".[12]

• Official WWE website