PG Era

The PG Era, also known as the Universe Era, is an era of professional wrestling within World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE), which began on July 22, 2008, after its programming was labeled as TV-PG rating under the TV Parental Guidelines. WWE instituted a number of changes as they began marketing to a younger audience, such as heavily scripting on-screen promos and toning down excessive violence, profanity and sexual content. The earlier parts of the era were defined by superhero-esque fan favorites and one-dimensional villains. In many ways, the company returned to a familiar format it previously utilized in the pre-Attitude days of the mid-1990s and earlier. While WWE considers the era to have ended in either 2013 or 2014 in favor of a more reality-based era, some describe the PG Era as continuing longer since the 2008 changes remained in effect. The PG Era has received much criticism from fans due to its watered-down violence and family-friendly programming and characters, but it has also been praised as a good business decision as it made the promotion more appealing to a wider audience and corporate sponsors.