WWE chairman Vince McMahon has promised that his product is set to become "edgier," having spoken to company investors during a conference call this week.
McMahon was asked some tough questions but handled them as only Vince McMahon can. Quizzed over the appointments of Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff as executive directors, the WWE boss claimed that the hirings will leave him free to focus on the bigger issues he might have otherwise missed due to his heavy involvement in creative.
"It allows me to have a broader view of things and an escape from getting in the weeds," he explained.
As you may have already noticed, things are getting a little less PG on WWE programming as of late. Mcmahon says the shows will have more of an edge to what's put on display but they will remain in the PG category.
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"We're going to be edgier, but remain in the PG environment," he said.
The chairman was served some questions regarding new boys on the block All Elite Wrestling. And, while steering clear of referencing them by name, he suggested that "the competition" will continue with the "blood, guts and gory things" that he expects to turn TNT execs off.
There's been quite a lot of blood loss since NXT debuted with Double or Nothing back in May and the vicious chair shot Cody Rhodes suffered at Fyter Fest was simply not for the faint of heart. AEW president Tony Khan has indicated that things won't be as hardcore once the product reaches television, but Vince isn't buying that for some reason.
As for WWE being edgier, the signs are already there but it could be hard to balance edge and PG. It's quite clear that the company's investors, as well as the networks, don't want a revisit of the Attitude Era. We don't know if AEW has such restrictions just yet and we won't find out until October, but the more hardcore the better, right?