John Cena says WWE’s move to PG programming paid off over time.
On What Now? with Trevor Noah, Cena discussed the change, which WWE made in 2008.
“It rebranded itself. And when you rebrand, it takes 10, 15 years to get over. We got over, and I was happy to be involved in a lot of that rebranding process,” Cena said.
He explained how WWE’s audience shifted over the decades.
“The ’80s Hulk Hogan was nationalist, virtuous, say your prayers, eat your vitamins, do good. And then Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Raw era, was drink beer, flip off your boss. We are programming to an 18-year-old male. And then more families start to show up around the time that I started. So we switched to, literally, we changed the rating of the program to PG, which means some of the stuff we can’t do. Blood is no longer a thing.”
Cena said social media helped the product grow.
“Our audience is super engaging. You can’t ignore the math. You can’t ignore the data. It also became okay to be in the crowd for a wrestling match. It used to be a thing of, ‘I’ve seen it, but I don’t watch that stuff.’ And now it’s like, ‘I’m going.'”
