Original Artwork Jason Jimenez-Garrido
As we move past this year’s ‘WrestleMania,’ we now embark on a new era, dubbed the ‘Renaissance Era’ by the new Undisputed WWE Champion, Cody Rhodes.
During ‘Mania’ weekend, Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque promised that the event would be the start of the new era. “Buckle up because we’re about to take one hell of a ride together.” he stated at the ‘WrestleMania XL Kickoff.’
Since then, Levesque has wasted no time in reshaping the landscape of the WWE. The company has made big changes that define what we can expect from the WWE’s ‘Renaissance Era.’
A Shift in Content
Since Levesque took control of WWE, the shows have undergone significant changes.
In recent months, the WWE began experimenting with new camera angles, shots, and transitions, which was a foreign concept during the Vince McMahon regime.
McMahon and his longtime production partner Kevin Dunn had strict and outdated views of how to produce their shows. Therefore, for years, fans endured being bombarded with constant back and forth camera cuts in a single segment without any variety in camera angles.
In recent years, criticism towards their production became more constant, as fans had grown tired of WWE’s stale and nauseating production.
Much to viewers’ excitement, Dunn retired from the WWE after decades of serving as Executive Producer earlier this year. Since then, former ESPN executive Lee Fitting has taken over production for WWE and is responsible for most of the acclaimed changes.
During the ‘WrestleMania’ Night 1 press conference, Levesque called Fitting a ‘game-changer,’ crediting him for breathing new life into WWE’s weekly shows.
Levesque said, “From a production standpoint, – You see changes happening every week on TV, and there is going to be more of them – And I see people excited by them, just loving the changes that are made. But I’m telling you there is so much more to come.”
The company has also begun testing the limits of its PG rating. In recent weeks, blood and profanity has slowly become commonplace in WWE’s weekly shows.
The biggest sign of this was when Rhodes bled during the beating he received from The Rock on ‘RAW’ before ‘Mania.’ More recently, we saw Kevin Owens bloodied by Solo Sikoa and the newest member of the Bloodline, Tama Tonga, on the April 19 episode of ‘SmackDown.’
After years of gravitating toward family friendly content, it seems we are seeing the beginning of the end for the ‘PG Era.’ With the freedom the WWE will have once ‘Monday Night RAW’ moves to Netflix in January 2025, it makes perfect sense for the company to shift towards more mature content.
Revamped Championship Belt Designs
To truly kick off a new era, we must go out with the old, and in with the new.
For years, fans urged the company to redesign the tag-team championship belts, to no avail. The prayers have finally been answered, and the titles finally received a much needed redecoration, replacing the old designs that had been reused since 2010.
On the April 15 episode of ‘RAW,’ Levesque and General Manager (GM) Adam Pearce awarded Awesome Truth with the brand new ‘World Tag-Team’ championship belts. Greyson Waller and Austin Theory then received the new ‘WWE Tag-Team’ belts on the April 19 ‘SmackDown.’
The ‘World Tag’ belts have received mixed reviews so far, as it looks like the design was recycled from the men and women’s ‘World Heavyweight’ belts.
However, the reception for the ‘WWE Tag’ belts has been overwhelming, as the company drew inspiration from the classic belts used during the ‘Ruthless Aggression Era.’
With this throwback, fans are speculating that the WWE may also replace Rhodes’ championship with an updated ‘Winged Eagle’ belt, which he has teased the idea of bringing back in the past.
New ‘Stars’
In this year’s ‘RAW’ after ‘Mania,’ we saw the main roster debuts of current ‘NXT’ champions, Ilja Dragunov and Roxanne Perez. Dragunov defeated Shinsuke Nakamura, while Perez solved unfinished business with Indi Hartwell.
It was later announced that they will both be a part of the upcoming Draft that will take place on Friday, April 26 and Monday, April 29, 2024. This means that, if chosen by the GM of ‘RAW’ or ‘SmackDown,’ they will become permanent members of the main roster.
In addition to these possible call ups, we’ve already seen a new addition to the main roster with the debut of Tonga. In Tonga’s ‘SmackDown’ debut, he aligned himself with Solo Sikoa, who looks to have taken control of ‘The Bloodline’ now that Roman Reigns is out of the picture.
With the recent signing of Giulia and rumors of Jacob Fatu possible signing, It seems that the WWE will only continue to add new faces as we go further into this new era.
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