Sixteen-time WWE champion John Cena admits that he understands the cry from professional wrestling fans these days clamoring for the days of the Attitude Era. He also knows we won't be seeing a return anytime soon.
Cena, 40, who spoke with the British site The Independent this week to promote his voice acting role in the animated film "Ferdinand," broke down the reasoning why WWE will remain a PG product.
"If you tell me right now you miss the Attitude Era, I can't tell you you don't," Cena said. "What I can tell you is that we're a PG program, and if you look at the Attitude Era, it was TV-14 or TV-MA. We're a PG program, there's nothing else I can tell you.
"There will be no cussing, there will be no blood, there will be no head shots, there will be no inappropriate clothing. Those aren't our laws, those are the laws of the rating system. So to operate under a PG platform, which has totally globally expanded the WWE and created more fans -- albeit geeky or not geeky -- around the world, and allowed all of these performers including myself to go to new and wonderful places."
Even though Cena, who made his WWE debut in 2002, seems to have a corporate response ready for every question, he did admit his preference for more salacious storylines and presentation. The part-time Hollywood actor also openly credited the Attitude Era of the late 1990s with drawing him back into wrestling "because that's what I wanted to watch" when he was 21.
"I totally understand as a 40-year-old man -- and if you've seen me in [the 2015 comedy film] 'Trainwreck' I have a pretty adult sense of humor -- someone saying, 'I miss mature content in sports entertainment,'" Cena said. "We are not the place for that. We are not. And that's our business model. And until it changes, I am merely a carpenter building with the tools that are given to me.
"Is a promo easier when you can cuss? Sure, because you're talking trash and trash talk is filled with cusses. But as a professional, you can't speculate and be like, 'Ahh, I wish I could just say this,' because you can't, those are the rules, and every once in a while we can walk the line and push into gray, but at the end of the day the program is PG and has to be treated as such because that's the business model of the folks who own the place."
Cena compared WWE's evolution to a garage band with a passionate fan base that moves on to play stadiums, leaving behind "a group of people that hate them for that." Nothing how impossible it is to please everyone, Cena credited the product with transcending culture, language, race and religion.
"My WWE mission statement isn't to be a 17-time champion or whatever, it's to get as many eyeballs on the ring as I possibly can because I love the WWE so much, I think we have the best gig in town, so I want everybody to watch it," Cena said.
"I want to do stadiums every show; I don't want to just do it for WrestleMania. [I want to] do stadiums every show and have a show on the moon and a show on Mars. That's how dedicated I am to expanding the audience. … But until we get the go ahead to make TV-MA stuff, it's going to be PG.
"I don't feel slighted at all because that fact that you watch and complain at least means you're watching."
Posting Komentar