Eric Bischoff Discusses WWE Raw’s Potential TV-14 Switch

Eric Bischoff has given his take on what a move away from the PG era could mean for the direction of WWE.

It was originally noted on 14th July that Monday Night Raw was set to switch back to a TV-14 rating, with initial reports claiming it could have been as early as the 18th July episode from the red brand. Although this date was then backtracked, it still seems highly likely that the move away from TV-PG is going to happen.

The change in rating would give the scope for bad language and blood, which hasn’t been seen on regular WWE programming since 2008.

In a recent edition of his Strictly Business podcast, former WCW President Eric Bischoff gave his opinion on what the change would mean. The WWE Hall Of Famer noted that whatever changes in the programming, it will cause extra interest for what might happen.

Some of [the implications] may be real and tangible and others subtle and possibly not so significant. I think it’s going to create a lot of anticipation, right? I think there’s going to be a lot of people who maybe have tuned out over the years because the product has gotten soft since 2008, meaning it needs to be palatable for children to keep the advertisers and the network happy.

The PG product has certainly brought in a family audience over the years that has helped the company in many ways, but Bischoff pointed out that it “limits your palette” in terms of what you can do on television. That is why he believes “there’s going to be a lot of people tuning in to see are we going back to the Attitude Era?

Eric Bischoff continued, noting that it’s the “non-wrestling segments” which could get the most benefit from the change.

You bore the sh*t out of me with your backstage promos and your stand-up mic segments. There’s just nothing happening in those segments. There’s no narrative most of the time in those segments that do anything other than disengage me,” he said. “That’s true in WWE, it’s true in AEW … Some of the people that are doing stand-up promos shouldn’t be doing them … I would use that. I’d make my non-wrestling segments — I’d find ways to make them more interesting.

In another positive take Eric Bischoff has called a recent WWE match “one of the best matches in the last 20 years“.

With thanks to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.