During the WrestleMania 41 post-match press conference, “Triple H” Paul Levesque rather ominously stated that the atmosphere in the locker room was very positive and Not from the Attitude Era Is the momentum already that strong?
To many, it was an obvious statement from a captain who was at his best during the late 1990s and early 2000s, the height of the Attitude Era.
Of course, why not say it’s time to relive your glory days again – especially now that big boss Vincent K. McMahon has “retired” for good?
WWE Attitude Era 1997-2003
However, many wrestling fans remember that the WWE Attitude Era (originally named and marketed by the company rather than fans) was notorious for being an adult-oriented show.
Which makes us wonder, when WWE is relaunched on Netflix in 2025 – Netflix famously never censors anything – will it be “R-rated”?
Will the era of “more attitude” turn on and scare off sensitive viewers?
Before we start mass panic, let’s recap.
What was the Attitude Era?
While the show doesn’t have the MPAA’s “R” rating, by all accounts it’s a show written for mature adults and considered by many to be unsuitable for children.
With its crude language, copious puns, sexual content, gore and (simulated) entrails, crotch grabbing and middle fingering, the show quickly earned a reputation in the 1990s as offensive to conservatives.
RELATED: Is Disney Leading a War on Conservatives?
The Attitude Era was created by Vince McMahon and head writer Vince Russo in response to the deafening counterculture of the 1990s.
By 1996, they saw the writing on the wall. The PG days of WWE programming for kids and baby boomer parents are over. Rival wrestling promotion WCW at the time was winning the ratings war.
In the 1990s, WWE took on a new look
If WWE wants to stay in business, the product must fundamentally change.
Audiences want angrier characters, more cinematic profanity, more ambiguous characters who are neither heroes nor villains – what could be more important than that?
They want controversy.
McMahon knew the dispute was settled. The 1990s saw the rise of counterculture icons such as Howard Stern, Jerry Springer and Quentin Tarantino, not to mention the Parks,” “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons” and other adult cartoons.
The 1990s were not just angry, but curious.
WWE management knew that teenagers wanted an edgier, angrier product.
One of the first “sacred cows” the new WWE decided to attack was the traditional white straight superhero trope, or “babyface.”
During the Attitude Era, they introduced LGBTQ characters. They introduced polyamory and sordid love triangle storylines.
RELATED: Is TV Failing the LGBTQ Community?
They have some bizarre plots involving drugs, miscarriage, necrophilia, weird May-December relationships (no, I mean really weird), and various things that actually preceded the rise of “reality TV.” Kind of shocking TV.
In other words, WWE introduced many Gen-Xers and Millennials to reality TV storylines that are now ubiquitous online.
So when wrestling fans sometimes ask me, “Will WWE go back to the Attitude Era?”
My answer is: “How is that possible?”
What will WWE Monday Night RAW look like on Netflix in 2025?
That era was a period of maturity for the zeitgeist, but that zeitgeist no longer exists.
Mistakes are made, but they are all part of the journey of transforming WWE’s old-world locker room culture, now under intense media scrutiny, into the more professional work environment of today.
What a lot of people don’t understand is that WWE is an interesting reflection of the real world, especially American values.
Therefore, I can’t imagine WWE trying as hard to offend the audience as they did during the Attitude Era.
RELATED: Has comedy gotten to the point where ‘Friends’ is now offensive?
Today, WWE reaches an all-encompassing audience, including millennials and millennials, and its product is deeply connected to social media.
WWE wants labels that support its storylines and characters, not labels that protest or cancel products.
Will WWE RAW have R-rated language?
The bigger question is, now that we know WWE will never be as “controversial” as it once was, will management be more lenient with the language?
After all, wrestlers cursed all the time – even in the 1970s and ’80s, when the only thing they could get away with was an “oops” or a “dadgummit.”
RELATED: Some of TV’s darkest and heaviest moments come from comedies
It’s worth noting that swearing is nothing new to modern WWE programming. Even in the late 1990s, since Monday Night RAW was always shot live, the company would occasionally make a sound or let something pass censorship.
The language and NSFW skits on the pay-per-view were also a bit frustrating since parents had to order the event and provide age verification. Yes, wrestling did get dark and heavy during the years of the late 1990s.
In modern times, slang or offensive language is everywhere on social media, often used by teenagers and children who know where to find offensive memes.
If we look at the numbers, even PG-rated movies like Beetlejuice, Babysitter, and Titanic have four-letter words.
Rival wrestling league AEW (which has many former WWE talents on its roster) has also been experimenting with adult language in recent years.
The audience is younger and they are not offended by the language, just by the outdated and dangerous ideas, attitudes and behaviors.
But if you’re still an old-school hooligan, or your inner kid still supports safe white rapper John Cena, don’t worry too much.
WWE Monday Night RAW on Netflix isn’t going to turn into a Tarantino movie, or even come close to an average South Park episode on a level of obscenity.
It just goes back to the roots of edgy, confrontational reality TV…
But minus the “attitude.”
