With the WWE Network video library parking itself over on Peacock, fans on social media have started to notice select edits of famed past events on the streaming service.
Deadline reports that NBCUniversal has been trimming some of the matches, including some of their questionable and offensive racial content and profanity.
WWE and NBCUniversal announced a $1 billion multi-year agreement in late January. The WWE Network app would remain accessible in the U.S. until April 6th and then its content would shift to Peacock.
However, unlike many of the other streamers, all content on Peacock is rated and subject to an American broadcast TV network’s much more strict standards and practices. As a result, the service is reviewing all 17,000 hours of WWE content to ensure it aligns with those – which is why only a fraction of the library is currently available.
Family-friendly WWE events showcased in more recent years will likely be unaffected, but some of the older and more raw matches are seeing trims. Two key edits have already been spotted.
One is 1990’s WrestleMania 6 where the late Roddy Piper took on Bad News Brown – Piper painting his body half-black for his match. The whole match and interview have since been scrubbed.
Another incident from 2005’s “Survivor Series 19” saw WWE Chairman Vince McMahon in character using a racial slur towards John Cena – that backstage scene has been taken out from the Peacock version.
Fans are now wondering what other moments – especially from the Attitude Era of the late 90s/early 00s – might be excised be it more basic stuff like unprotected chair shots to the head and the gratuitous ‘bra and panties’ matches, to some of the more outright bizarre moments like Mae Young’s hand-birthing scene.
On the WWE Network, these shows were all available in their original form without any cuts or censorship. Fans have suggested Peacock should do what Disney+ and HBO Max has done and place a disclaimer before programming that’s particularly objectionable.
So far there’s no indication of them doing that, but the WWE is being made aware of any changes and edits. Peacock has said it aims to have the whole vault on its service by late August.
The standalone WWE Network service will shut down in the United States after next weekend, but will remain operational internationally.
