10 Non-PG Moments In The WWE PG Era

On July 22nd, 2008, the wrestling world changed when WWE switched from TV-14 to TV-PG. The days of bloody canvases, gratuitous weapon shots and bikini contests were gone and the company has been producing family-friendly content ever since.

Despite this, some non-PG moments have still occurred on WWE TV on very rare occasions. These are 10 Non-PG Moments in the PG Era. 

10. Brock Lesnar Vs. John Cena at Extreme Rules 2012

When Brock Lesnar made his WWE return after spending years in UFC, many fans wondered how he would settle into the new PG environment. As it turns out, Lesnar was not beholden to the same restrictions as other WWE talents which he quickly proved in his return match against John Cena in the main event of Extreme Rules 2012. 

Lesnar battered Cena from pillar to post with several brutal elbow and knee strikes, resulting in two separate stoppages for blood. Lesnar also ended up being busted open following a steel chain to the face. This was a side of Cena that fans hadn’t seen in a very long time and it was a welcome change from his usual goody two-shoes persona. 

Lesnar vs. Cena was one of the most brutal fights WWE had put on in many years and a far cry from some of the other matches on offer that night like Brodus Clay vs. Dolph Ziggler and Layla vs. Nikki Bella. 

9. Daniel Bryan Chokes Justin Roberts

If this moment had never happened, there is every chance that Daniel Bryan would have never shocked the world with his WWE Championship victory at WrestleMania XXX. 

The Nexus, a stable made up of all the contestants from the first season of the game show version of NXT, had an all-timer of a debut on the June 7, 2010 edition of Raw. The eight so-called ‘rookies’ laid waste to the ring and the surrounding area, taking out everyone in sight, including ring announcer Justin Roberts.

Daniel Bryan went after the ‘Dapper Yapper’ and did a number on him, memorably choking him out with his own tie to create one of the most unintentionally hilarious wrestling visuals of all time. Sadly, not everyone found this funny. 

The American Dragon was deemed to have gone too far in this segment and was fired as a result. What followed was a summer outside of WWE as Bryan Danielson wrestled the likes of Eddie Kingston, Roderick Strong, Bobby Fish, Adam Pearce, and Shingo Takagi before returning as part of Team WWE against the Nexus at SummerSlam 2010.

Instead of being lost in the Nexus shuffle, one of the best wrestlers of his generation was allowed to flourish on his own and, beyond an 18-second loss to Sheamus at WrestleMania 28, he did just that, establishing a legendary career for himself both inside and outside of WWE.

8. Liv Morgan's Bath Promos

Following the dissolution of the Riott Squad, Liv Morgan needed a new character direction which led to a number of bath vignettes in late 2019 that showed Liv talking about how she wanted to shed her old image and become the woman she was always meant to be.

The steamy imagery reminded viewers of the bawdy days of the Ruthless Aggression era, where women like Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson were put in similarly compromising situations for no reason except to spike viewership. Raw’s numbers were in the toilet at the time, which might explain why they reverted back to this tried and tested tactic.

The segments ultimately led to Morgan’s big return in January 2020 during Lana and Bobby Lashley’s wedding where she revealed that she and Lana were former lovers. This, of course, was booked by Paul Heyman. 

Fortunately, the angle was soon forgotten about and Morgan has established herself as one of the top stars in WWE.

7. Alexa Bliss's Dressing Room

On the January 24, 2019 edition of Raw, an intern entered Alexa Bliss’s locker room to deliver her a coffee. To his and everyone else’s surprise, the multi-time world champion was in a state of undress and she was forced to suddenly cover herself with her shirt and tell the guy to get lost. 

Did this have anything to do with what was happening on the show? No. Did it go anywhere? Not at all. Did people lap it up? Of course they did. The clip was a massive hit on YouTube, racking up well over one million views in just 24 hours. It outdrew every other segment on the show, including Finn Balor winning a Fatal 4-Way to face Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble.

Reports claimed following the segment that it was Bliss’s idea as an attempt to pay tribute to Trish Stratus but Bliss denied this at the time. Dave Meltzer, meanwhile, reported that it was a deliberate effort by WWE to “make things sexy” again. 

6. Eva Marie's Wardrobe Malfunction

The controversial Eva Marie was seen by many as the epitome of Vince McMahon’s WWE prioritising looks over in-ring skill. 

During her second stint on the WWE main roster on SmackDown Live, Marie used her reputation to her advantage by playing a character that kept finding new ways to get out of actually wrestling. One of these ways was certainly memorable as on the August 9, 2016, episode of SmackDown, Eva was set to face off against Becky Lynch when her bra exploded. To maintain her dignity, Eva was covered by a towel and the match was thrown out. 

This was one of many schemes Eva hatched to get out of her matches and the segments were enjoyed somewhat by those tuning into the blue brand, only for them to come to an end later in August when Marie was suspended for 30 days for violating WWE’s wellness policy. Marie stated that she tested positive for Adderall but she submitted her prescription paperwork to the company after the deadline. 

Marie never returned to WWE TV until her release in August 2017. She then returned to the company in 2021 and had a not-so-great run, during which she renamed Piper Niven ‘Doudrop’. 

5. Shayna Baszler Bites Becky Lynch

When Shayna Baszler made her main roster debut during the 2020 Women’s Royal Rumble, people were expecting big things. The former MMA fighter was dominant as NXT Women’s Champion during her time in developmental, holding the belt for 549 days across two reigns between April 2018 and December 2019. 

Baszler ultimately didn’t win the Rumble, being eliminated last by Charlotte Flair, but Shayna still advanced to WrestleMania courtesy of her win at Elimination Chamber when she eliminated every competitor in the match. 

Weeks before the Elimination Chamber, Baszler and Becky Lynch kicked off their WrestleMania-bound feud when Baszler bit Lynch on the back of the neck, covering the Raw Women’s Champion in her own blood on the February 10, 2020 episode of Raw. Grinning like a mad woman, Shayna just stood there as the crowd watched in confusion over what they’d just seen. 

While the moment was certainly violent, it wasn’t particularly well received. Baszler then lost to Becky Lynch during WrestleMania 36 in front of no crowd because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Lynch revealed in her memoir that she pushed to lose the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 36 but Vince McMahon rejected those wishes, reportedly because Vince wanted the title change to take place in front of a crowd. 

"I had recommended that she take the title from me at WrestleMania... I had been a babyface champion for so long and could feel the audience beginning to turn on me. I had gone from underdog to top dog and such a situation can't overstay its welcome," Lynch wrote.

"We needed to make more female contenders and what better way to do that than having them win the title on the grandest stage of them all? Everyone wins. Except me, whose request was denied. I wanted to lose, but I would actually win, so it was a loss... Sigh. Wrestling is confusing.”

Original plans following Mania called for Baszler to win the 2020 Money in the Bank and feud with Lynch through to SummerSlam, when she would have won the title. Those plans were scrapped, though, when Lynch announced she was pregnant. Baszler has yet to win a singles title on the main roster.

4. Chris Jericho Lands On Thumbtacks

Even during the Attitude Era when chair shots to the head were common, thumbtacks were used very rarely in WWE. Mick Foley would use them sporadically but they were mainly seen in ECW, FMW, and on the indies. 

Thumbtacks were firmly introduced to WWE in 2016, though, when Chris Jericho and Dean Ambrose went one-on-one in WWE’s first and so-far-only Asylum Match. In what was a Steel Cage Match with weapons strapped to the side of the cage, Jericho and Ambrose faced each other in a fairly mundane encounter until Jericho retrieved a brown burlap sack and filled the ring with thumbtacks. 

This instantly woke up the crowd and Jericho ended up crashing onto the tacks after Ambrose countered a Codebreaker. One Dirty Deeds on the tacks later and Ambrose won the match.

Originally, though, it was going to be Dean Ambrose who would have taken the bump on the thumbtacks but Vince McMahon changed his mind on the finish, which meant Jericho became the wrestler with their back full of pins (69 ended up being removed in the end). 

Discussing the spot with Inside The Ropes in 2019, Jericho said: 

“It’s kind of cool, something I’ve never done before, I could be hardcore. How bad could it be, right? So I called Bubba Dudley, I go ‘You ever take a tack bump?’ He said yeah. I go ‘What’s it like’, he goes ‘F*cking terrible.’ I call Tommy Dreamer, I go ‘You ever take a tack bump?’ ‘Yeah’ ‘What’s it like?’ “F*cking terrible.’ I call Mick Foley. ‘You ever take a tack bump?’ ‘Yeah’ ‘What’s it like?’ ‘I f*cking love it!’”

3. Pat McAfee's Bron Breakker moment

In the TV-14 days, WWE commentators were a bit more liberal with their language, but it was still uncommon to hear a full-on swear word coming from the likes of Jim Ross or Jerry Lawler.

Enter Pat McAfee in 2024. The former American football star was commentating on the July 8, 2024 episode of Raw, which featured a match between Bron Breakker and Ilja Dragunov. Clearly in awe of Breakker’s explosive power, McAfee uttered the immortal line, ‘There’s no other way to describe him other than a brick s***house!’

His commentary partner Michael Cole noted there must have been another way to describe Breakker, while simply laughing about the situation. Rules around cursing had been relaxed a little under the Triple H regime, but usually only on premium live events, where the company didn’t have to adhere to network TV regulations. Pat’s outburst was very much not in line with said regulations, but rather than chew him out for his transgression, Michael Cole just laughed about it. 

2. Randy Orton Plays With Jeff Hardy's Ear

Jeff Hardy had, for years, made it known that he wanted to have a match inside Hell in a Cell. In the 2018 namesake pay-per-view, he got his wish, squaring off with Randy Orton.

The two men had been feuding for months and Hardy had vowed to make his first foray into the Cell a memorable one, and this was certainly that thanks to the abuse Jeff allowed himself to suffer at the hands of Orton. 

There were plenty of brutal moments across the 25-minute duration, but one, in particular, was not for the faint of heart when Orton took a screwdriver, put it through Hardy’s pierced earlobe, and began to twist. Orton would go on to win the match after Hardy dropped from the top of the cell into an RKO. 

Hardy discussed the spot a few weeks after Hell in a Cell 2018, saying: 

“We did the first earlobe deal, you know, with just the fingers and… actually one of the up and coming commentators - I think he’s from 205 Live - he had mentioned it as far as I said, ‘You can twist it too!’, but then he was like, ‘What if you use a screwdriver?’ And then we kind of threw around ideas, and we both compromised on that certain screwdriver – to put it in, twist it, make it real tight and not rip it off! [Laughs] Yeah, watching that back with Randy’s face was… This is like, wow, they’re doing a good horror movie or something! And the fans knew it was coming, you know, because when they saw him trap my arms, they’d seen it before – and they knew it was coming again. So it was great. Overall, that match, I’m extremely proud of it.”

1. Brock Lesnar Elbows Randy Orton

By some miracle, Randy Orton vs. Brock Lesnar had only occurred once on WWE TV- and not in a high-profile setting - by 2016 when they were booked to face off in the main event of SummerSlam. Fans expected the match to be memorable and almost 10 years on, it remains so.

Like many of Lesnar’s matches, he dominated the action, rag-dolling his opponent around until they enjoyed a brief comeback, at which point Lesnar would kick out of a finisher and win the match.

The finish came when The Beast got Orton down on the mat, removed his gloves, and then started viciously striking Orton’s head with his elbow. You could hear the crack of bone on flesh as Lesnar continuously pummelled his opponent until blood began to pour from Randy’s forehead. 

The match was stopped with a TKO finish and Randy required 10 staples in his head after. It was rumoured that WWE booked the finish to coincide with Lesnar’s return to UFC at UFC 200 the previous month but it still led to an unsatisfying finish that drew “Goldberg” chants from the fans in attendance.

While always planned, some, including Chris Jericho, believed Lesnar had taken liberties with Orton in the ring and Jericho confronted Lesnar backstage, explaining about their confrontation years later: 

“No. The switch flipped and I was like, ‘F*ck it, I don’t care.’ I remember just looking at him and it’s like, ‘If he hits me, I’m gonna bite his nose off.’ And he would have killed me. Thankfully we didn’t get in a fight. But that was my… Couple of people tried to (break the fight) and we told them to f*ck off and finally, Vince made us stop. He was gonna fire us.”