What if WWE goes back to TV-14?

The Monday Night War saw WWE do what it never had before in eschewing sport and a sense of family entertainment in favor of The Attitude Era. Attitude was rooted in letting wrestlers show their real personalities more, cut loose, and focus on more true to life style storytelling, as opposed to the cartoonish standard established in the 1980s and 1990s.

The concept worked, developing acts like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and D-Generation X that put WWE on top of the wrestling world once and, seemingly, for all.

While WWE doesn’t have any true viable challengers at this point, there are nonetheless those fans who pine for the way the company once was. Since retreating to a more family friendly and kid oriented presentation, the company has lost some of the appeal it once had to a segment of fans.

But what if WWE were to move back toward the TV-14 standard it once operated at, with more mature content, vulgar language, over the top violence, and adult content? This article takes a look at five likely outcomes.

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5. Dean Ambrose on top

Dean Ambrose would be right at home in a TV-14 format.

It’s hard to imagine a lot of today’s top WWE stars operating in a period more like the Attitude Era. That’s not to say they couldn’t succeed in that kind of environment, but even veteran talents who have been stable presences on the main roster for a decade like Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, and The Miz have simply never had to present their characters in an edgier way, and we simply don’t know what that would look like.

Dean Ambrose is an outlier because, unlike most talents on the main roster today, he’s one of the few whose character has come off as noticeably neutered and not as compelling as it could be with some accents of Attitude.

He’s cast as a little crazed and as an agent of chaos. Imagine if, rather than working a comedic shtick he never seemed comfortable with as a face, he’d been able to truly cut loose in the kinds of violent attacks he had a history of pre-WWE.

Especially with his new heel turn, Ambrose could be WWE top star if the whole brand leaned TV-14.

4. A big push for Kevin Owens

Kevin Owens would benefit for his gift for gab and ability to thrive in violent situations.

Not unlike Dean Ambrose, Kevin Owens is a talent with a lot of experience wrestling in grittier environments than today’s WWE. Moreover, he is on the shortlist of WWE’s best talkers. Put this man in an atmosphere where he’s free to really cut loose on promos and not have to stay family friendly and he could be something really special on the mic.

Additionally, when we look back at Owens’s best moments under the WWE banner to date, they’re instances like the Festival of Friendship, assaulting Mr. McMahon, and his original NXT turn on Sami Zayn.

These are the kind of violent moments we don’t get much in the PG era that would feel much more at home, and play directly to Owens’s strengths, in a TV-14 product. Given these opportunities to shine, we could readily see Owens rise back up from the mid-card cluster to arrive as a more permanent main event fixture.

3. The Rock cuts loose

The Rock could be his best self under a TV-14 rating.

The Rock is one of the greatest promo men in WWE history for his unique delivery and gift for invention when it came time to step up to the stick. It has been a little awkward to see The Great One do his thing during his stints back with WWE in the PG era, though.

That’s based on a combination of him feeling like a square peg in a round hold for his instinct toward edgier, more adult content and because, even then, he still feels like he’s holding back and not being his truest self.

Were WWE to move back toward a TV-14 standard, we could get more of The Rock of old, making lewd jokes and using a degree of vulgarity to come across as a genuine tough guy and cool cat the way only The Brahma Bull can.

Until that time, we won’t necessarily be seeing the best of The Rock when he does come back to WWE.

2. A mature angle

Emma

Adult themed content has always sold well. The Attitude Era saw WWE take advantage of that principle as female stars like Sunny and Sable became break out stars rooted less in their wrestling ability than combining their attractiveness with salacious storytelling.

WWE didn’t necessarily shy away from some degree of mature content in the years to follow either, not least of all including Edge finding the foundation of his first main event push via a partnership with Lita that played off of an alleged real life affair.

If WWE moves back toward a TV-14 product, we could expect them to take advantage of that extra latitude by putting some of its male and female talent together for at least one adult-themed charged angle to test the waters and reignite that facet of WWE’s storytelling. The company seemed to be taking a step in that direction with the abandoned Emmalina character, and could really explore it more fully in a TV-14 environment.

1. The Women’s Revolution continues

Talents like Becky Lynch would still work at a high level.

Despite WWE likely moving in a more adult environment, complete with more mature themed angles if the were to move back toward a TV-14 rating, one element of today’s product that we shouldn’t expect to see abandoned would be the Women’s Revolution.

Whereas the Attitude Era had its cheesecake photo shoots and Sable dancing seductively, it also saw the rise of Trish Stratus, Lita, and other legitimate workers.

We shouldn’t expect talents like Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair , or Sasha Banks to step aside or abandon their serious approach to wrestling that has gotten over with the fans, and been a good look for WWE as an equal opportunity company.

If anything, we might see today’s female stars operate a bit more like their male counterparts had during the Attitude Era. Lynch already offered a glance at what that might look like in bloodily leading SmackDown’s chaotic attack on Raw leading up to Survivor Series.