As PWMania.com previously reported, WWE President Nick Khan addressed rumors about future Raw content adjustments at yesterday’s Netflix-WWE media event. Despite the show’s TV-14 rating on the streaming service, Khan stated that WWE content will remain “family-friendly, multi-generational, advertiser-friendly.”
This statement follows concerns about a probable return to the edgier programming of the “Attitude Era,” triggered by the TV-14 rating posted on Raw’s Netflix page. Khan categorically denied the reports, saying, “We’re not changing the rating of our programming. There’s some online chatter about, oh, it’s gonna be R-rated, or for us old folks, like X-rated. That’s definitely not happening.”
However, Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Live provided insight into a tiny but potentially major difference that fans may notice. While Alvarez feels the basic content of Raw will stay essentially unchanged, he expects a more permissive approach to controlling crowd chants.
“I don’t this 100 percent but I’m probably about 99 percent sure the one thing you will see different when they go to Netflix is less bleeping out of crowd chants, “Alvarez stated. He explained that previous discussions about a potential TV-14 rating were primarily motivated by WWE’s frustration with having to heavily censor audience reactions.
Alvarez added, “There was a deal a while ago where there had been some discussion about Raw maybe going to TV-14 or something like that. Of course, it didn’t happen but people were all excited. I was told literally the reason they wanted to explore that had nothing to do with any of the content of the show but they hate having to completely bleep and silence the crowd when they chant profanities. I think on Netflix that will end but as far as the rest of it, it’s gonna be just like it is right now. There’s not gonna be any naked women or whatever you saw back in the 90’s.”
The first WWE Raw on Netflix will run on January 6, and it is expected to be a packed show presented as a PLE.
