Triple H has given more insight into his mindset to keep WWE TV a PG product moving forward.
WWE’s shows have been rated PG for more than 25 years. While many fans accepted this would not be changing due to restrictions put in place by TV networks, there was some hope that things would change when Raw moves to Netflix in early 2025 given the streaming platform having no issues with creating and streaming more adult-themed content on its service.
However, many fans saw their hopes dashed at a media conference when Triple H confirmed that Raw would remain family-friendly following the move to Netflix.
While appearing on The Roommates podcast, Triple H first looked back on his own experiences pushing the envelope in The Attitude Era and how times have changed:
“We were cutting edge. Then shows like that started doing it, you know, the Maury Povich shows and Jerry Springer, everything was getting to a place. It was still the whole is this the baby’s dad kind of thing where it was scandalous, it was all shock TV. It was Howard Stern but on TV, it was shock jock television. So it was there. The world is different now, the rules are pretty straightforward. This is what you can do, this is what you can’t do. You know what you can do. You know what you can’t do.”
Continuing, the Chief Content Officer spoke about how it was a necessity for WWE to push the boundaries at that time as they were in a war with WCW, which is no longer the case:
“So I think we’re past it in the sense of the brand is hot enough that we don’t need to do that stuff anymore. At that time, we needed it. We were in a war with Ted Turner. Business had not been great and this was sort of the upswing, we needed to do those things to get attention on us and all that. Now the product is [hot], there’s enough people that WWE is mainstream. I don’t feel like there’s any stigma if you’re a kid and you say, ‘I’m a huge WWE fan’ and your friends are like really? I think 30 years ago, that was maybe the case.”
Concluding, Triple H also spoke about the number of sports stars who pay homage to WWE stars with their celebrations and how it is the characters that make the business as opposed to the edgier content:
“So I think sometimes it’s sports stars sort of living vicariously through the things that they wish they had the freedom to do that we can do and be larger than life. Because at the end of the day, that’s all our business is a bunch of what we try to make is larger than life characters and then put them in cool situations and let them fight it out on TV. But it’s the characters and the personalities that drive the business.”
During the same interview, Triple H named WWE stars he considers real-life superheroes.
Triple H Says Big Names Could Be At WrestleMania
With WWE being hotter than ever before, many stars from the music, movie and sports worlds have made their presence felt at events with guest appearances. Looking to continue the tradition, Triple H also stated in the interview that there will be a huge celebrity involvement at WrestleMania 41.
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