I have noticed in the past couple nights with Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman running SmackDown Live and Raw respectively, that the shows are having a bit more edgy feel to them, similar to the feel they incited back in the late 90s when Bischoff was at the helm for WCW and Heyman was running ECW. Both companies served as top competition for WWE. Let me elaborate on the edgy feel I’m referring to here.
Three examples:
- Corey Graves cussing on Raw, uttering a holy shit in reference to the Braun Strowman incident.
- Kofi Kingston giving Samoa Joe the middle finger, and the camera showed it.
- Bobby Lashley calling Braun Strowman a son of a bitch, which is language that WWE has steered further and further away from to attempt to appeal to its younger fan base, pushing top babyfaces and trying to place them in the John Cena role.
Superstars of the Attitude Era like Chris Jericho used to use this terminology all the time and it was a staple. This edgier feel has been sorely missed by fans such as me and it is extremely encouraging to see hints of it coming back with new management in place who are not afraid to use an old school perspective in order to increase ratings for the product.
Another encouraging sign from SmackDown Live in particular is the fact that a new star, Nikki Cross, may have been established, getting an opportunity to host A Moment of Bliss for Alexa Bliss, and a star we don’t see too often, Apollo Crews, received an opportunity to showcase his skills in the ring, which are incredible by the way, against Andrade.
The direction WWE is trending in is very encouraging, in some ways reverting to what worked in the past and combining it with modern day perspectives in order to please their vast and global fan base comprising a little bit of every demographic, age group and nationality.