YMMV / WWE PG Era

• Audience-Alienating Era: Oh boy. To say this era is not controversial is an understatement. To kickstart, the sudden shift to Lighter and Softer was seen as an obvious attempt to aid Linda McMahon's senate bid after the Chris Benoit scandal. Midway through, Raw is getting several guest hosts, feuds are dragged for too long, the women are gradually Demoted to Extra, and the overall predictability of everything.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • John Cena slipped into this category, to the point where he was acknowledging it in interviews. In its basic components, he was disliked by smarks and older males - but popular with kids and females. It became a Running Gag for there to be duelling chants of "Let's go Cena" and "Cena sucks!"
  • Michelle McCool for the women's division. She became the first Divas' Champion over Natalya, and later the first to have held that and the Women's Championship - which she won back a second time weeks after losing it. This got accusations of her being overpushed - especially when it got out that she was married to The Undertaker. While agreed to be a good wrestler, she had detractors for her Dull Surprise on the microphone (though some of these went away when she went Denser and Wackier in her LayCool gimmick). Others felt Michelle was a great asset to the division - producing some stellar matches with Melina in particular (one of which even got them a reprimand for being too good).
• Broken Base: The shift to Lighter and Softer programming is a controversial subject among fans to this day. Its detractors blame it for stiffing both the wrestlers' in-ring and mic performances. Its defenders (or at least sympathizers), on the other hand, argue that the change is necessary for the wrestlers' well-being, especially coming-off from the Chris Benoit fiasco.
• Creator's Pet:
  • Sheamus was the most notable one, with fans complaining that he was put over far too soon as a top guy - getting to win the title when he'd only been in the WWE for six months. While his reign was short (and the win itself was an underdog style win in a Tables match), he ended up getting to wrestle Triple H at WrestleMania and was champion again a few months later. It was felt that he was being pushed largely because he was friends with Triple H, and it took until a Heel–Face Turn in 2011 to shake some of this off...only for it to return full force when he defeated Daniel Bryan in a Squash Match at WrestleMania.
  • Drew McIntyre was another one - who was disliked for monotonous promos, being quite average in the ring and getting a huge push very early (albeit just for the Intercontinental Championship). The creative team seemed aware of this, and even incorporated Drew getting Vince McMahon to Retcon his losses so he could maintain his undefeated streak. Unlike Sheamus, he'd drop down on the card and be considered a Jobber by the next year - getting released in 2014. Thankfully, his return in 2017 provided a full on Career Resurrection.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Layla of all people. While she had her niche of Diva fans, she transformed from Jobber to Beta Bitch to the top heel to the final Women's Champion! She was always a favourite in LayCool, and transformed into a good wrestler as a result of the push. She then got put over as the one to retire Michelle McCool - a huge deal, considering Michelle's status as the top woman for the past three years.
  • Zack Ryder ended up attracting an insane fan base from his web series Z: True Long Island Story. By 2011, crowds were clamoring for him to be pushed. WWE sadly buried him in 2012 and he never fully regained those heights again.
• Evil Is Cool: Randy Orton's antics throughout the era are what solidified him as one of the greatest Heels in the business. Want specifics? Beating John Cena's father in the audience; beating CM Punk before his match to cost him the World Heavyweight Championship; beating the entire McMahon family and kissing an unconscious Stephanie McMahon; humiliating Kofi Kingston ("STUPID! STUPID!")...
• Fetish Retardant: A lot of the attempts at having Fanservice segments fell pretty flat, considering the PG rating limited how far they could go. Thus we had swimsuit matches where the Divas wore one-pieces, a pyjama pillow fight that wasn't anything but degrading, and a baffling battle royal in evening gowns.
• Tough Act to Follow: The era followed the acclaimed Ruthless Aggression Era, a time known where wrestling performance and storytelling are integrated really well (most of the time). It doesn't help that this is the era where the controversial shift to Lighter and Softer products and repetitive matches happened.