The Attitude Era

Recently I have been watching back the boom period of wwe of the late 90's known as the Attitude Era. This is sort of the time that I became aware of wrestling so for me it will always be the best period to watch wrestling. It was talked about at school and stickers, trading cards and the likes were collected and swapped.

But while it will hold a sentimental value to myself it got me thinking.

Rewatching some of the stuff now from back then some of it seemed a little too much, Blade jobs almost on every big show, people getting 'ran over', adult jokes, fake boobs and the such. No where near what it is today with the more child friendly approach and that of the 80's and early to mid 90's with the bright colourful ,sometimes cartoonish characters like Hogan, Savage and Warrior

So my questions are

How did the likes of you that grew up in a simpler time of Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior feel about these chaotic, mass of bodies, steel chair filled screwy finishes at the time? Did you want to go back to those times or were you happy with what was going down?

Do those that watch the more modern era want to go back to that era? Do you think anything from then would add to the current product?

And Last but not least

What Memories do you have from that period?

Well Hogan warrior were great when I was younger. The cartoon characters were larger than life and it didn't matter that they weren't technically great in the ring. It was usually simple story lines good vs bad but they usually had good build and good booking. With 5/6 ppvs a year you could to that.

I kinda turned off mid 90s wrestling was for kids and the same cheesey stuff didn't appeal. Then wrestling started to get more edgy with the Monday night wars /attitude era and started to get back into it. The whole dx v the nation, stone cold v Mr McMahon on wwe and nwo and later Goldberg on wcw.

I think that when I look back I tend to remember the good stuff. Usually the stuff that was highlighted alot. Also forget the blood and bad storylines.

I think having competition helped them produce a better product but it wasn't child friendly when compared to the 80s.

I think a balance is needed between. Dont need guys to bleed every week. It kinda loses meaning and shock value. Its like I quit matches and last man standing matches. They shouldn't just happen they should be the kind of match that is built and to end a feud.

Like someone said on the podcast might as well have a cage match instead of hell in a cell cause no blood, weapons etc are involved. The idea behind the hell in a cell was it was meant to be the most brutal match. Yet the make a ppv for it. Just seems wrong.

I would say some of the best moments during the attitude era didn't involve blood etc.
You only have to look at stone cold with the beer truck. Brilliant moment in a long term feud.
One of my favorite feuds was the rock v mankind. Some brilliant matches promos etc.
I would say WWE were willing to take more chances then. More willing to let people have more creative input. They dont seem to want to push people too much or invest in a character incase they leave or if they aren't over in a week drop them.

Back in the attitude era it was when I first started watch it wrestling too and it imo is by far the better product than the rubbish we see today but saying that my boy loves his wrestling and is 10 years old around the same time I started watching it so it has it arguments set for both sides.

I still watch WWE but its not the same and as long as its bringing in money it will stay that way, Cena is the cash cow for the WWE and will stay face for a very long time but back in the day when he first started out he was awesome and was the character that didn't give a monkeys on what he said or did which is what I want to return for the WWE from the attitude era.

As for the best memory's from the attitude era there are so many to chose from, Stone Cold going crazy and stunning every one from the wcw invasion in the middle of the ring or Hogan slamming the giant but the the best one that I recall is when Stone Cold drove the beer truck in the arena and just sprayed everyone in the ring just awesome stuff.

I've also been rewatching that period, as well as the WWE produced documentary and I've just got to around that period in Bret Hart's autobiography too.

It was very different to the wrestling I watched as a whippersnapper that's for sure.

Some of the characters seem outlandish but I don't think the early 90s stuff was pure either. There were ridiculous gimmicks, sloppy and patronisingly soppy storytelling and those that were there on the basis of being musclebound beasts. Deeper characters seemed to be worked in too, all across the card.

Ring standards certainly improved, I don't think there were as many poor workers with big arms carrying the top titles and stories anymore.

The really mad parts from then are, to me, still preferable to the overly hammy kids stuff now. I enjoyed it all, the women had more character even if they were objectified, the jokes were funny and immature but I was and still remain immature.

The weekly stuff seemed to hold more impact too. It was helped by having many I'd consider greats, and two of the best babyfaces in the history of wrestling in particular, even if The Rocks rise to prominence was late on. Even Mr McMahon would count as one of the best heels of all time. In ring storytelling seemed slightly better too, although I'd say today's wrestlers continue the trend of improving wrestling with every passing 'era'.

The writing was certainly better down the cards too.

I'd consider too whether some of characters of yesteryear would have remained so endearing with the TV schedules of the attitude era, or of today's era too.

I miss hardcore wrestling too. Blading can be very effective and I could think of a few matches that may have been enhanced in recent times by a spot of colour. Rare occasions though, it was certainly overused and I don't think anyone is desperate for blood to return, so its understandable being so very rare nowadays, if it even is blading.

Funnily enough, I look at the main event from Slammiversary and you see some things that the attitude era would maybe try, and it looked so badly out of place. In that sense, I think we may have all moved on from it even without realising to some extent.

Everyone moans at Vince Russo but a LOT of Attitude era moments that everyone loves were his creations.

Austin v Vince
Degeneration X
Kane
The Rock's rise
Mick Foley's push

All of these were due for the most part to Russo. His writing was the reasoning behind RAW overtaking Nitro. If anyone that should be owed credit to the success of the Attitude era it should be Russo.

Russo is supposedly good if you can get a filter on him.

I think the Attitude Era was also fortunate in that there was a flood of really top talents in quite a short space of time. You had Austin, Rock, Triple H, Foley, Jericho, Kane, Undertaker, Big Show all around the same few years, and then you also have the likes of Angle, and Mr. McMahon when it was fresh.

Never has there been such a flood of talented guys in such a short space of time, they weren't just good as entertainers, most were top wrestlers as well.

who do you guys see as attitude era guys and those that came just after it, also when do you think it started and ended?

for me it proberly started with Harts promo after the cage match with sid, was proberly the first time that the likes of the language used was used in WWE at the time and then I would say it went right up to the 2001 survivor series, i know this varies from person to person though with some saying it started later than that and ended earlier than that and vise versa.

As for attitude era guys I would go
Rock
Austin
Triple H (Only Just)
Angle (Again only just)
Foley
Undertaker
Kane

After
Jericho, I really Feel this is where he came into his own
Benoit (Boo Hiss)
Eddie
Big Show, Again came more to the fore nearer the end and into the new period

I feel like everyone really committed to the moment back in this era. For instance, you could have a European title match between say Dlo Brown and Val Venis which (the equivalent of) would barely draw an ounce of attention these days. Back then, there would be a back story to it, the crowd would be hot and the commentators would sell the carp out of the event, the performers and every move they made.

Everything seemed like a big deal

I loved the Attitude era! Recently started listening to the Attitude Era Podcast the other day that I recommend massively. I did a thread on it a couple of days ago

I started watching in late 91, think the first PPV i saw was Tuesday in Texas which was pretty attitudeish what with Jake slapping Elizabeth having had his cobra bite Randy just a week or 2 earlier. I was hooked from then on and it was never quite as un pg as that again (that i remember) untill much later in the decade. Got to agree that the characters and musclebound strongmen were the selling point back then, which for a 10 or 11 year old me was great.

Lost interest around 94, last PPV i saw i think was summerslam of that year with Bret v Owen in the cage and didn't see it again till it was on channel 4 with the attitude era in full swing! First thing i noticed was the sheer brutality (Cactus Jack v HHH) and the liberal flashing of the flesh, Kats boobs at the rumble 2000, Jerry Lawler was a lucky man!

If i had to choose i'd pick the days of Hogan, Warrior, Bret etc as my favourite era, purely because as a kid i thought wrestling was the best thing ever. It still has that nostalgic appeal now.

Have to say though, it's depressing to watch now. Especially knowing how good wrestling can be.

Also have to agree with what bonesaw said, everything was made to look important