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Vince Russo has questioned whether the recent allegations against Vince McMahon may have prompted a change in WWE RAW’s content rating.
WWE’s flagship show is set to switch back to a TV-14 rating after 14 years as a PG-rated program. The news comes following reports that McMahon paid over $12 million in hush money to four women amid allegations of infidelity and sexual misconduct.
Russo, WWE’s former head writer, discussed the new rating on Sportskeeda Wrestling’s “Writing With Russo” show. Speaking to Dr. Chris Featherstone, he speculated that the timing of the TV-14 news may be linked to McMahon’s situation.
“If they’re bumping that rating from PG to TV-14, the phenomenal thing would be, Chris, they’re gonna make the Vince allegations part of the storyline,” Russo said. “That would be absolutely tremendous. I would stand up and applaud them because you would need that higher rating in order to get into some of this.” [0:41-1:07]
Russo wrote television for WWE when RAW regularly drew its highest television ratings in the late 1990s. Watch the video above to hear more from the one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion about the TV-14 decision.
Another possible reason for WWE RAW’s new rating
Barring exceptional circumstances, WWE has forbidden superstars from swearing and purposely drawing blood on its PG-rated content since 2008. AEW, by contrast, is rated TV-14 and allows wrestlers to swear and bleed on television.
Vince Russo believes AEW’s emergence over the last three years could also have played a part in WWE RAW receiving a TV-14 rating.
“My gut tells me because we’re just coming off AEW, the Blood and Guts pay-per-view, whatever it was, I tend to believe they’re gonna go back to blood in matches, which I don’t know who they think that’s gonna draw,” Russo said. “Honestly, that’s why I think they’re changing the rating. I think we’re gonna see more blood in order to compete.” [1:10-1:39]
Cody Rhodes returned to WWE in April after working as an AEW Executive Vice President for three years. Russo further speculated whether the 37-year-old’s tendency to bleed in matches may have caused the company to rethink its PG rating.
“He may have had that conversation with them, ‘Oh yeah, every time we did blood in a match, the numbers rose,’” the former writer continued. “Whatever that conversation may be. That’s why I think they changed it. But, my gosh, if they’re gonna cover Vince’s case it would be phenomenal.” [1:50-2:05]
Do you agree with Russo? Why do you think WWE RAW is returning to TV-14? Let us know in the comments!
Please credit Sportskeeda Wrestling’s “Writing With Russo” and embed the video if you use quotes from this article.
