Vince McMahon, 64, is hawking a kinder, gentler, wrestling show, and that new approach was on display this past weekend when WWE took over L.A. Live as part of a massive promotional push. The effort culminated with SummerSlam, a sold-out pay-per-view telecast at Staples Center on Sunday night, which was also expected to generate roughly 500,000 purchases across the country.
With mixed martial arts and ultimate fighting attracting an older and rougher crowd, WWE is taking aim at kids and families to shore up its bottom line. While the occasional chair might still get thrown, the violence is “very Wile E. Coyote-ish,” according to Hunter Hearst Helmsley, better known to wrestling fans as Triple H.
“It’s less of ‘The Jerry Springer Show’ now,” added John Cena, arguably the WWE’s biggest star, who takes some of the credit for pushing McMahon to make the entertainment less edgy.
The wrestling attire for the ladies has become more conservative as well. Maria Kanellis, one of the WWE’s “diva” wrestlers, used to perform in lingerie but these days tries to dress “a little more sophisticated” for her matches.
“The guys miss it, but that’s how it goes,” she said.
Her costumes now consist of leggings, lots of “fringe outfits and things that are sparkly.” It’s not unusual, she said, for some of the girls to get reprimanded for “showing too much cleavage,” something that would’ve never happened a few years ago.
This new direction has generated a certain measure of controversy. YouTube is filled with videos from hard-core fans ripping the softer WWE, and there is no shortage of arguments about the subject in Internet chat rooms. “You can’t please everybody,” Cena said, adding, “Our business was down and the product was becoming old and stale.”
But the strategy has proven effective. After McMahon toned down the content, he went to his network partners and asked them to reconsider the ratings assigned to the show. WWE’s programming, scattered across cable networks USA and SyFy, superstation WGN and broadcast television’s MyNetworkTV, was usually given a TV-14 rating, the small-screen version of the MPAA’s R-rating and a surefire red flag to parents and advertisers.
The milder programming, which now usually garners a TV-PG rating from WWE’s TV partners, has cleared the way for more blue-chip advertisers to come aboard, including Pepsico, AT&T and Procter & Gamble.
The audience has grown too. In the second quarter, WWE’s television programs averaged 16 million viewers, a 10% improvement from the same period a year ago. Of that audience, 36% are women. WWE also has a strong Latino following that accounts for 23% of its audience.
The WWE’s next move is to launch a cable network, which McMahon hopes to get off the ground within two years.
Born Curious 
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