The 5 important eras in WWE history

#4 PG Era (2007 - 2011)

The least favourite era that the WWE has had the ignominy of putting forth is undoubtedly the PG era. Coming on the back of Chris Benoit’s controversial murder-suicide, the WWE felt the need to maintain a slightly lower profile, so as to not attract unwelcome attention. Added to that, Linda McMahon’s political aspirations also forced the hand of the WWE.

The product was watered down and the expletives, sauciness, scandal, gore and excessive violence were cut out. In some senses, the WWE reverted back to the programming that the Hogan Era had. Except, the polarizing John Cena had replaced Hulk Hogan as the face of the company.

His gimmick though had and still has the same cartoonish feel to it. Other stars of the PG era were Randy Orton, Batista, Edge and Jeff Hardy. One can only imagine how the character that is Randy Orton would have thrived and survived in the Attitude Era. It was perhaps a tad unfortunate that his peak coincided with the PG era.

The PG era was a strong message to wrestling fans worldwide that the WWE was subject to one man's compulsions and whims, as the WWE kept pushing the product down our throats though fans were vocal about their displeasure. It came as a relief when the PG era met its demise at the hands of CM Punk, who went on to headline the next era.