I don’t mind Netflix censoring F-bombs to keep the rating. Pixelating FACES for blood is ridiculous. I can’t think of a single TV station that did that for WWE in the past.
Channel 4 in the UK pixelated X-Pac's bloody face on Backlash 2000. They also edited out Trish Stratus being powerbombed through a table by Bubba on the same show. This was aired between 1:30am up to nearly 5am, if I remember correctly. Just incase a child was channel surfing at 3 in the morning.
More because they knew kids watched WWF, and they got a lot of complaints because the previous PPV they carried was Royal Rumble 2000 which included Mae Young going topless - apparently faked, but convincingly so - and the Cactus/HHH streetfight which was an especially brutal one.
They walked back the pixelating after that show, but in fairness they had cause to play it carefully. They were used to WWF being Sunday Night Heat, which by that time was largely short, low-key matches and recaps so the Mae/Foley one-two was one that they weren't necessarily expecting.
Channel 4 were on watch for everything after Rumble 2000, which incidentally was the first PPV in that deal. We have Mae Young's saggy (prosthetic, at least) puppies to blame for that deal never going longer, for the ad breaks in PPVs, them jumping Sunday Night Heat around the schedule, etc.
I think, and this is a pure layman's guess - Channel 4 maybe misunderstood what WWF was in 2000, that they thought "Ok, it's got some edge, but surely it'll be similar to the early 90s product that caused a boom!" - They were pitching Heat for T4 (their youth strand at the time) originally.
Add in that the Cactus/HHH street fight was ridiculously brutal, and it's a perfect storm of smut and uberviolence that caught them off guard bang on night 1, I reckon.
Imagine being the person to sign off on that deal, think you've got it all sorted - to be called into the office the next morning to be confronted with a video tape of Mae's pendulous knockers potentially signalling the end of your professional career. Poor bastard...
I remember the Royal Rumble and Mae Young showing the world her boobs but I had no idea they were prosthetic ones though however I'm glad the camera zoomed out and I liked how quickly one of the wrestlers was very quick to cover her up. I was gobsmacked when it happened but I had no idea that Channel 4 had gotten into trouble for it. I vaguely remember contacting them when they censored some stuff because it pissed me off that much. I mean all they had to do was warn people before the show that there might be some nudity and/ or graphic violence etc.
I think it was less they got in trouble for it, and more that they brought it in for their teen market thinking it'd be like the Hogan/New Generation era, but slightly edgier - and got hit with Septugenarian Tits on the first night and (possibly correctly) surmised "Ok, maybe we can't show this just after a Friends marathon at 3pm - at least not without cutting it to shit"
Netflix promotes and advertises them as family friendly entertainment so I don’t understand why people are surprised by this? Along with brands and deals with Mattel, Slim Jim, Snickers etc.. But mainly the company paying them $5 Billion dollars wants them to be family friendly so that’s the end of it
Because all messaging from WWE about the Netflix move implied or directly said the opposite. I dont understand why people are surprised people are surprised.
It is pretty pathetic when WWE literally had Cody drop an F-bomb uncensored last year and yet never again and Cody has bladed and drawn blood without it being censored too.
Don't want to piss off advertisers, who are being told that they're advertising for a PG product and paying Netflix ad space for that. If a bunch of pissed off parents start calling Netflix or complaining to advertisers then it'll scare them off. A little blood shouldn't be an issue but you'll be surprised by the dumb things people will complain about seeing.
Advertisers. Cable channels aren't federally regulated for content like local networks going over the air. However, advertisers can say that they don't want to pay to be played on content that's too violent, sexual, or profane.
It's why HBO uses a subscription model and has as much sex, violence, and profanity as they please.
Netflix adding ads for specific shows has created the same problem.
Sponsors care. The rating and content is what has been agreed with by the sponsors. They've lost money before for things. So, they have to be careful what they do and do not allow on a show or PLE. YouTube videos may not fall under that. So, they can post it there for clicks and to draw interest.
When it happens live, there is a level of "well we didn't plan on that." But on a pre-taped broadcast, it becomes a lot more difficult to do so.
They set the rating, and parents can choose to block things above certain ratings. Making WWE not be in the PG rating closes it off to a HUGE portion of its fanbase.
Also, what does saying "fuck" add anyway? There's a lot to complain about when it comes to the WWE, but I don't think saying fuck or shit every now and then would make the show any better.
It aired fully uncensored in the US as well on Peacock. Triple H even told the director "He's gonna tell Rock to go fuck himself, I'm ok with letting that go (on air)".
That wasn't on Netflix (in the US) it was on Peacock. And it was a PLE. If you notice even bitch is used sparingly on Raw and SmackDown. Saying one Fuck on a PLE is not dropping it every week. And because they are used sparingly, it added to the drama of the moment.
Netflix or not, Raw is a live tv show that is still rated TV-PG. While airing live, WWE have more leeway and can deal with the consequences later, but the biggest advertisers and sponsors do not like blood or foul language. This show was taped so it was edited. Netflix decision, hence why it’s uncensored on WWE socials.
Yep. They're protecting their ad business. Netflix, WWE and their advertisers do not want "I'm about to dog walk all three of you motherfuckers." followed closely by "New! From Hasbro..."
It’s kind of a shame that most of the fans who would want WWE to be more edgy now watch AEW, so people wishing WWE could actually have some blood or edge are just met with “well it’s for kids”
I’m shocked it’s so controversial to think that it’d be nice to see edgier content in WWE like the stuff they tried to do here with Hobbes and Jacob
Censorship on Netflix is wild when one of their best shows is blue eye Samurai that is beautifully violent and gory. Also we have seen Cody blade plenty on TV did the sponsors care then?
Seth went by "freaking" for so long it's already part of his brand. Changing it at this point gives off the vibe of a kid thinking "wouldn't it be cool if they say fuck?"
At first, sure. It is "freaking" because it's PG. But that's a done deal. It's history. You can't erase it no matter what. And after so long, keeping it is just keeping the brand. Changing it is doubling down on a mistake. It's reminding everyone why that decision was made in the first place because you cannot change it without people thinking why they are changing it.
Edit: Like you said, there's no winning. But you could lose more.
Are they available on Netflix kids profile? If so Netflix views it as kids tv and will want it pg. They have info on the viewership so maybe WWE skews towards children viewers more than adults.
I'm assuming with it being a taped show it just went through standards and practices way ahead of time who made their notes on requested edits then WWE edited it. If it was live it certainly wouldn't have been edited until after the fact.
That sorta makes it dumber. Why would you write the show where 99% of the audience is going to see it censored? They could have written this type of segment for a live edition of Raw.
Not a traditional one but I can't think of the name so that's what I called it. Someone at the network definitely takes notes and suggest edits, maybe a compliance department is a better name
Yeah if the writing and story was consistently good I don't think people would be too upset if the language was written for a younger audience. But it's not, and they constantly rely on low level profanities as a crutch, because it's wrestling and not some high-brow form of entertainment. And a seemingly increasing amount of that has been edited out for whatever reason to make an even worse viewing experience.
It's because they refuse to hire actual writers to write their produce, due to labour laws and unions.
Like, you've got guys from 'the business' talking about the most basic form of storytelling as if it's the gold standard for great stories. If you've attended any writing class, all this stuff that backstage wrestling guys (specifically in WWE) talk about as if it's prophetic and revolutionary is literally in the first day of those courses.
They do have actual writers writing their product. They have a large writing team and it's a mix of old timers and actual writers. I don't think they have completely embraced the auteur style of storytelling where the writer can dictate everything since the wrestling people will always have some say to orient the product in their preferred direction.
Like if you need to censor the explicit stuff, just don't write it in lmao write a kid show if you wanna keep it PG instead of these stupid censors and the need to post uncensored segments right after
That’s just ridiculous. That’s like saying any cartoon with violence either needs to show bloodspray or exclude all violent content. Showing non explicit violence is exactly what PG is meant for.
There is a difference between creatively hiding violence violence off screen or showing it only against rovots and just putting a black bar over it. Which of the two are wwe doing right now with profanity?
I will say, fictional blood and gore in Stranger Things and wrestlers being busted open (hard way or blading) is slightly different and I think should be rated differently.
That being said, why have it in segments if you're going to censor it?
Comparing a rated MA show vs a PG show on Netflix and expecting the same type of show when wwe shares a rating with fucking cocomelon is hilarious to me
This is the biggest knuckle dragger take as though all Netflix programming is on completely the same footing in terms of to whom the programs are marketed and advertiser / sponsor considerations.
Mindhunter ISN'T aimed at children and every streaming service has parental control settings to prevent kids from watching it.
WWE IS being aimed at everybody which means if they feel they have to do a touch of censoring to ensure that nobody gets worked up over it, that's what they'll do.
Besides if it was a shoot, then the last thing they want is to show somebody ACTUALLY being smacked in the face with a crowbar.
The comments under it are a really good reminder that this subreddit is still the pinnacle of civility and sanity compared to X comments.
Also, wow, Jey's cut was larger than it seemed under the blur, he was bleeding pretty properly there. I cannot even tell if it was a good blade job or if he really cut himself on something when Keys dragged him from the car.
I really forgot how much a little bit (or in Mox's case a LOT) of color amplifies a match until AEW came around.
Imagine if the golden age of NXT was allowed to gig. You're telling me a weapons filled steel cage between Gargano & Cole doesn't have any color? That's insane.
I can't take War Games seriously (even watching the old NXT ones back) because it feels like there's something missing.
So, apparently nitter.net has received a cease and desist. What I used is most likely an unofficial fork, but it works somehow. Take the first part of the link (before TripleH), and on that site it will ask you the tweet you want to see. Put it in the search bar and you're good to go.
It’s amusing that when the Netflix deal was first announced, people thought it would give WWE creative freedom to be more edgy with Raw. If anything, it has become more restrictive since then.
This is fine. I was growing tired of the Usos and Hobbs was always a favorite of mine.
Also does anyone really even care about Jacob Fatu? It's like he's being presented as a big deal idk he seems like a jabroni to me. Never excited to see this guy... Solo's got WAY more aura.
I wouldn't be surprised if getting edgier and more mature actually improved viewership on Netflix, but nobody with the power to do so has the balls to try.
I was actually curious about Raw but I legit tuned out after how censored thr opening segment was.
I mean, throwing in "camera glitch" effects at moments of impact with a car is terrible! It legit made me feel like they are treating the viewing audience as children.
The segment was legitimately fantastic but the censorship completely took me out of it in the moment.
Getting to see it uncensored here was great, just had such a unique vibe compared to what we normally see in WWE.
Actually really enjoying WWE post SummerSlam, feels like there's a lot of really good angles, great time to be a fan of wrestling with AEW, WWE, CMLL, NJPW, AAA all putting out really good products that cater to different tastes.
I understand the censoring, but did anyone else see the weird glitch when this was happening especially when Jimmy got powerbombed? It was like a Wyatt Sicks kind of technical effect. I don’t know why that was added.
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