Thought of the Day: THIS Is What You People Miss?
Here’s a preview from the Wrestlemania 15 redo which sums up the Attitude Era:
We recap HHH vs. Kane. Chyna had turned on DX and joined the Corporation I believe late last year. A few weeks before this she was holding HHH for a fireball shot from Kane, only to take it herself. HHH standing up for the honor of his friend who isn’t his friend anymore because she turned on him. As an act of friendship, HHH painted himself gold and wore a flowery robe while imitating a crossdresser and launched a flamethrower at Kane, burning him again. Later in the show, Chyna would turn on Kane and reunite with HHH, only to have BOTH of them turn HALF AN HOUR LATER to join the Corporation.
This of course is REAL entertainment, unlike what we got on Monday night right? Oh wait Cena sometimes makes jokes aimed at ten year olds so he isn’t entertaining right? Clearly it’s time to turn him heel, like everyone else in the Attitude Era did, sometimes more than once an hour!
One major factor was the WWE and WCW were constantly trying to outdo each other every week. It was one-upmanship. The fans were clearly ready and willing to see things taken to the extreme. It had to happen, things had to be pushed as far as possible. The fans demanded it. And the WWE crowd WAS different back then. Now it’s parents and kids, then it was much more late teens and 20somethings. It was people who’d grown up with the Superhero Era and ‘matured’ into Grunge and Gangsta Rap influenced young adults. Vince was like the ultra cool uncle who actually brought you something relevant and cool for Christmas. He understood what you wanted.
Now we’ve seen where it went, we can say ‘no, I prefer things more sedate’. But at least you can say that, at least you know. And Vince knows. He’s in cruise-control at the moment. No reason to push any boundaries. Save the dramatic stuff for when you really need it. Besides, we’re still only 6 years removed from Benoit and the aftershock is still present. Best to keep things PG.
If you’re going to attempt to take things ‘2 the Xtreme’ or whatever, then you need to actually be as extreme and controversial as possible. There’s no point in doing it half-hearted. The whole point of it is to be as extreme as possible. WCW tried it, succeeded, but were eventually outdone and beaten at their own game. Vince one-upped them again and again. Once the gauntlet had been laid down by WCW, the only way Vince could possibly respond was to pick it back up and bring it like his life depended on it and screw the consequences. Deal with them when your company is safe again.
For a show top to bottom today’s wrestling is much better, its not as geared towards shock value and a little more traditional in a sense. John Cena turning heel would just be a waste and there is no reason for it.
At the end of the day though I like the Attitude era more than today’s era, it kept you on the edge of your seat to where you had to tune in every week to see what would happen next. I think going back to the Attitude Era is counter productive but I also feel the WWE today can learn a lot from the attitude era. Not in the “shocking” sense or “crash TV” sense but today’s show isn’t a show you NEED to watch every episode of RAW. For instance I was looking forward to Cena vs. Punk last week so I watched but its very rare I’m dying to see what will happen next.
You may have a better mid card today but as always the main eventers is what really carries the show in terms of interest and profitability. For example, does Rock vs. Cena II really give you that “must see TV” feeling? Does Del Rio vs. Swagger? Does ANYTHING in WWE give you that feeling? At the very least the Attitude Era did give you that feeling, WWE today doesn’t.
That was Late 1999-2000 and probably when the Attitude Era was at its best. 2000 without a doubt is probably the Best overall Year of the AE bar none.
While the Overall Era was great and saved WWE (F) from going under in the MNW it still had some crap in it as well. How about Brawl For All? Way too many Storylines involving Sex or Toilet Humor,constant Title changes (the IC & Tag Titles alone changed hands way too many times especially in 1999),Matches ending in DQs,Countouts,or No Contests all the time,etc.
There was a lot of good matches, angles, superstars and promos to come from the Attitude Era (and very little, if none of that good came out of 1999), but it’s definately overrated.
I’m inclined to agree with Bret Hart in that historically wrestling has always been family entertainment, and that’s probably the way it should be. If you watch an Attitude Era event, you’ll notice that the crowd are DEAD for 90% of matches. It’s always struck me that a lot of these people weren’t wrestling fans. They were douchebags.
But of course, if the AE hadn’t happened, it’s very possible there wouldn’t be any American pro-wrestling with an international platform anymore. It was definately for the long term good, but best left in hazy nostalgia.
I think WWE has improved leaps and bounds over the last year or two, but a lot of people just do not want to admit this.
So are todays crowd douchebags? They don’t react to 95% of the matches. And that is BULLSHIT. Divas were getting huge pops, mid carders got Cena level pops. Austin/Rock/Foley just got unreal pops.
The divas weren’t getting the pops, their boobs were. Mid-carders were not getting Cena level pops. The crowds reaction are the same as they have always been, low for the mid-carders and high for the main events.
So you’re saying.
Rikishi
Jericho
New age outlaws
Godfather
Too cool
APA
Hardys
Got low level pops. Lol wut. You need to look on YouTube and see how wrong you are.
I was saying the low level pops thing more in reply to the crowd being more dead back then vs now. The crowd would pop huge for the main event guys and lower for the mid-card. Some mid-card guys (both back then and today) get good pops but the main eventers usually get the huge ones.
But back then, none of the guys you listed got Cena level pops. Except for maybe Gotch Gracie.
Except for Steve Austin, Rock, Undertaker, the Hardys, Edge and Christian, Chris jericho, Kurt angle and Mankind. Aside from those guys your right, they never got the cena level pop.
I don’t think the Hardys/E&C got Cena level pops every week. Jericho got them during the AE but it took him awhile to get sustainable big ones (except for a few instances, I still don’t think Jericho had Cena level pops every week). I was just talking about his list not the AE in general.
Yeah 1999 was awful. It’s one of the worst year ever for the WWE.
When the hell did Hornswoggle main event Raw?
2009/10 With DX look it up. Main focus includes “Lawsuit” and “Little peoples court”
Main focus is not the same as main event
How the hell is this even fair? Okay then is this fair
RAW has had so many shows with Hornswoggle as their main focus/main eventing.
Why would anyone call this entertainment when you could have Stone Cold have epic moments with Mcmahon but oh wait there was stupid moments so lets all act cool and hate on the product.
I would have any RAW episode in 2000 over 2013 any day of the week.
Austin
Rock
HHH
Kane
Undertaker
Jericho
Benoit
Angle
Guerrero
NAO
E+C
Hardys
Dudleys
APA
Vs.
Cena
Punk
Orton
ADR
Swagger
Ryback
Sheamus
Hell No
Miz
Cesaro
Is this even close at all?
I agree with this whole heartily. For some reason they just can’t accept that Cena is not the man to lead the wwe. Until then there will just be excuses as to why someone new can’t be tried and numbers continue to go down.
The whole reason, there isn’t anyone new is because no one can match Cena. And where the heck is this stuff about “numbers going down” coming from?
No one can match Cena? Has anyone else been tried? No one has been given the chance. I get it Cena is the current “guy”. I’m just saying time to hitch the wagon onto someone new. It’s not like Cena is irreplaceable.
The numbers are not as high as they used to be, Vince was a billionaire once now he isn’t.
Well, to be fair, the Attitude Era was geared for adults. And not 3 hours long. But I do see the point. Russo era TNA sounds less convoluted than that.