Fans could reportedly be "disappointed" by WWE's rating change to TV-14

It was recently reported that starting next week Monday, WWE RAW will revert to a TV-14 rating on USA Network. New details about the rumors have emerged, which could disappoint many fans.

Andrew Zarian of The Mat Men Podcast first broke the news on Twitter and revealed that the PG-Era is coming to an end. In an update, he stated that there's some hesitation about whether the shift in content is the correct move.

He added that a memo was issued within USA Network on Thursday morning regarding the move on July 18. The memo was said to have been sent out prematurely, and the date was not finalized.

Andrew Zarian also shared that WWE RAW won’t be rated TV-14 starting next Monday, but it's still in consideration for a later date.

Fightful Select has now confirmed that there were conflicting internal messages at USA Network about the red brand changing to TV-14. Those who Fightful contacted at WWE said they hadn't heard about the move yet, but were looking into it.

The report mentions that fans expecting a major shift in content "might end up being disappointed." Television shows on cable are reportedly not required to meet specific standards to be TV-PG or shift to a TV-14 rating. For example, NXT 2.0 is still rated TV-PG, although it showcases edgier content.

Fightful noted that they haven't heard of a specific edict or direction change concerning WWE's programming and its operations.

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When did WWE programming transition to a TV-PG rating?

After the downfall of WCW and ECW, World Wrestling Entertainment became the largest wrestling company in the world.

In 2002, The Ruthless Aggression Era was introduced, and during that period, we saw the rise of stars such as John Cena, Batista and Randy Orton. Since July 22, 2008, however, the company shifted to more family-friendly programming, and it's been like that ever since.

It will be interesting to see when and how the current product changes per the reported TV-14 rating.