Does anyone else love the 'PG Era'???

[rge2010]

I have to say I am really enjoying the WWE product at the moment. I have been a fan for nearly 30 years and seen all the eras and I simply do not understand 'a lot' of the analysing and snobbery that we see on the internet aimed at the current product.

While I enjoyed the Attitude Era, I do not long for it to return. There was some pretty horrendous story lines and the sex, blood and language was inappropriate for the most part. The Attitude Era was only good because of Austin, Rock, Foley, HBK etc. It wasn't down to the writing IMO.

My 7 year old loves WWE and his favourites are Enzo & Cass, John Cena and Roman Reigns. It seems these superstars are universally despised amongst large proportions of the IWC!!! But when it comes to these superstars and the WWE - 'I get it'. I get why they push them and I get why they persist in them. They need to cater for the kids!!!

Something else I do not understand is the snobbery. Why do folk want a card stacked with indie spot monkeys or Chris Benoits? I love the fact that there are different styles on display every week and larger than life characters like Braun Strowman, who by my own admittance will never have a 5 star match!

As for the current product, in order to enjoy the show more I stay off the dirt sheets, I don't want it to be spoiled and more importantly I stay away from the comments section. They are a den of negativity! I very seldom come on here but it seems the forums are far more objective.

As for Raw - Owens and Jericho are TV gold, Strowman terrifies my 7 year old, Reigns seems to be getting edgier/heelish in his promos, love the Cruiserweight division, Charlotte is great to promote to Womens division and these are all supported by Rollins, Zayn, a returning Balor and now Samoa Joe. We prefer Raw to Smackdown, but that show is also in a great place and that is down to AJ Styles. He is carrying that show.

Wrestlemania 33 is around the corner. Goldberg is there, Taker will be there, Rock has said he will appear, Angle is being inducted and recently WWE seem to have lifted their ban on Hogan so knows - maybe he could appear. I am really looking forward to 33!!!!

It seems this post will be lost on most and positivity is pretty much alien on these forums! But is anyone with me and enjoying WWE right now?

 

[Xemmy]

We remember the good of the Attitude Era out of the excitement from the massive competition. Seeing who might go to which company, you never knew who would show up where. So it definitely had it's highlights. But we remember the past with nostalgia. The Attitude era was objectively garbage if you ignore the main event of WWF and the first 2 years of the NWO storyline. We wouldn't watch most of that crap today. We're getting better wrestling than we've ever gotten. And if you have a particular taste, it's easier than ever to find something that fits it. I'm fairly happy with this era on ring work. Scripted promos still ruin a lot for certain wrestlers. And that's where the star power comes in.

There is one thing that makes the product worse in the PG era. The commentary was better on pretty much every show- from WCW, to WWF, to ECW. If we're ever to enjoy Monday Night Raw ever again, Byron Saxton must be killed.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

I have to say I am really enjoying the WWE product at the moment. I have been a fan for nearly 30 years and seen all the eras and I simply do not understand 'a lot' of the analysing and snobbery that we see on the internet aimed at the current product.

While I enjoyed the Attitude Era, I do not long for it to return. There was some pretty horrendous story lines and the sex, blood and language was inappropriate for the most part. The Attitude Era was only good because of Austin, Rock, Foley, HBK etc. It wasn't down to the writing IMO.

My 7 year old loves WWE and his favourites are Enzo & Cass, John Cena and Roman Reigns. It seems these superstars are universally despised amongst large proportions of the IWC!!! But when it comes to these superstars and the WWE - 'I get it'. I get why they push them and I get why they persist in them. They need to cater for the kids!!!

Something else I do not understand is the snobbery. Why do folk want a card stacked with indie spot monkeys or Chris Benoits? I love the fact that there are different styles on display every week and larger than life characters like Braun Strowman, who by my own admittance will never have a 5 star match!

As for the current product, in order to enjoy the show more I stay off the dirt sheets, I don't want it to be spoiled and more importantly I stay away from the comments section. They are a den of negativity! I very seldom come on here but it seems the forums are far more objective.

As for Raw - Owens and Jericho are TV gold, Strowman terrifies my 7 year old, Reigns seems to be getting edgier/heelish in his promos, love the Cruiserweight division, Charlotte is great to promote to Womens division and these are all supported by Rollins, Zayn, a returning Balor and now Samoa Joe. We prefer Raw to Smackdown, but that show is also in a great place and that is down to AJ Styles. He is carrying that show.

Wrestlemania 33 is around the corner. Goldberg is there, Taker will be there, Rock has said he will appear, Angle is being inducted and recently WWE seem to have lifted their ban on Hogan so knows - maybe he could appear. I am really looking forward to 33!!!!

It seems this post will be lost on most and positivity is pretty much alien on these forums! But is anyone with me and enjoying WWE right now?

I actually agree with you on this, I love the pg era mostly because it reminds me of the hogan era when I was a kid and how superhuman those wrestlers looked to me back then, that's why I always try to bring that perspective when I write a comment about anything negative that some peoples write on this board.

Personally, I couldn't care less about moves and 5 stars matches, that not what interest me as a wwe fan, for me, it's all about the characters and storytelling, that's why I'm a fan of guys like roman reigns, john cena, aj styles, kevin owens and braun strowman just to name a few, because they are great characters and you don't feel like they are acting. Same goes for charlotte, becky lynch and bayley. You can believe they are those characters and that great

My only thing I could say that I'm not a big fan of it's the commentary. Personally I would love to see a 2 man booth come back, have tom phillips get team up with corey graves on smackdown and have mauro and lawler or jbl on raw. What made the hogan era great was the chemistry between the play by play guy and the color analyst. Just go back and listen to some of the show vince mcmahon and jesse ventura called together or even better gorilla monsoon and bobby heenan or for those that remember more the attitude era, jm ross and jerry lawler. Those guys had chemistry with each others and could sell you anything while you we're watching the show. That's what I think phillips and graves have together right now. I think those 2 are probably the best broadcast team the wwe had right now and I think it's a waste to not have those 2 together on one show instead of wasting them on different shows.

Outside of that, I really like the current product, not a big fan of how the fan reactions have change over the years but it's not going to ruin my experience so that o.k. if some fans would rather be negative and think they could do better then actually enjoy the product

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I thought the PG Era was over. I thought we were in the Network/9.99/Indy/HHH Transition/Overconsumption Era.

The PG Era I think of was pretty bad. 2007 to 2011 (maybe through 2013) would be my guess. Cena's time on top. Constant Cena/Orton. Divas at their worst. Smackdown being the ugly stepchild. Ridiculously priced PPV. WWECW.

Regardless, there are a ton of great and good things about today's product. The problem is that there is so much content and so much bad that those are the things that get the most focus on the internet.

But yes, if you made highlight packages of each era and looked at them side by side, this would be the most enjoyable time period.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

The PG Era I think of was pretty bad. 2007 to 2011 (maybe through 2013) would be my guess. Cena's time on top. Constant Cena/Orton. Divas at their worst. Smackdown being the ugly stepchild. Ridiculously priced PPV. WWECW.

As I recall 2011 onwards WWE was a bit more lenient with what you could or could not do especially since The Rock returned.

But if you want to talk about the 2007 to 2011 timeline yes it was pretty bad but not because of the "PG" stuff. God knows when WWE tried to push the envelope post attitude era the results were pretty bad as well (Necrophilla, Incest, Tim White Suicide, among others).

2007 to 2011 was pretty bad because it felt like a black hole when it came to their talent roster.

Also most of their new guys were developed in the WWE system. A lot of guys were too similar (promos, in ring style, and look) so there was a lack of variety.

What resulted is a combination of the young talent really not being that great and WWE giving up on them too soon. I mean who could forget the "Future World Champion" Drew McIntyre?

Say want you want about the product now at least the roster has been pretty stable. I think it has a lot of has to do at how varied these guys are you have Roman Reigns to AJ Styles, Seth Rollins to Samoa Joe, Nia Jax to Bayley.
Also because a lot of these guys worked in the indi scene and outside the WWE they were more seasoned as performers.

Say what you want about CM Punk and Daniel Bryan WWE careers ending too soon but I think their popularity opened the door for the WWE to be more open in bringing guys with experience outside the WWE and to make them stars.

 

[ilapierre]

It really should still be the PG era. WWE is still PG isn't it? And things still horribly suck, don't they? Of course, you wouldn't think things sucked if all you have to go by is the official PG era and now. Today's wrestling product is a little more watchable than it was after Shawn retired.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

It's not the PG Era anymore. More like what I would call the WWE Universe Era or the WWE Network Era. Eras are mostly shaped due to real life events that change the core of the WWE.

1993 - Steroid scandal
1997 - Montreal Screwjob
2001 - WCW goes under
2007 - Death of Benoit
2014 - The combination of Punk leaving, NXT going viral, the D-Bry effect and the WWE Network

Gotta say that it's nice that for the first time ever WWE made a change without losing face. It was a smooth and nice change.

That being said, I think that the current era is much better than both the PG Era (2007-2014 I'd place that) and the Ruthless Agression Era (2001-2007). Why? Simply because there's better talent, the stories have gotten a more serious note and the blood masks that notoriously shaped the RA era are missing. Plus many other things have taken a big turn for the better, in comparison with the two previous eras.

If I were to judge the Eras, I'd say that the curent one is good and gets better every year, at least when comparing the years 2014-2015-2016. 2016 was an awesome year. You don't really realize it then, but when you look back, so many great things happened. So many big moments.

The only problem is that the current era has yet to make an impact.

 

[vampxx24]

as gsb said, the pg era is pretty much over... their moving back toward tv-14. if you noticed the product is getting edgier. While it will never be what it was in the attitude era, they want to recapture the 18-34 demo.the pg thing doesnt work with some guys and i think they finally saw that.it also doesnt help that some talent ( legends ect) want nothing to do with it either. on the raw side, i think their alittle more discreet( kinda like shrek,with shrek having ALOT of hidden adult humor) with it but you can clearly see the difference with sd and nxt.

i can see why they did it, and the fall back was hogan era... the problem is, alot of things changed since the late 80's. society is much different, you now have the comparison of what it was in the attitude era vs pg era which is detracting older fans, not to mention the legit rise of mma again taking fans away, and also other feds who will push boundries.

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

The thing I've never understood when discussion about comparing eras comes up is why everyone assumes the Attitude Era is the standard for which all others should be measured against? I was like 13-17 during the Attitude Era, so I do have fond memories of parts of it, but a lot of is cringeworthy and always was.

I enjoy the current product for the most part, what I don't enjoy is the extreme overabundance of content, coupled with a roster split, which often results in stale matches and angles. I do like the improved quality of the women's division, and the addition of cruiserweights (though I think they should also work matches outside of their own division). Like any era, there are pros and cons, but I can't say WWE has ever been unwatchable to me, I've always found enough in the product to keep me watching, even during the not so great times.

 

[kadroan]

I like it. I think people overrate the Attitude Era quite a bit. It was pretty entertaining but I'd say PG era has produced better matches.

 

[ISkye]

Regardless, there are a ton of great and good things about today's product. The problem is that there is so much content and so much bad that those are the things that get the most focus on the internet.

But yes, if you made highlight packages of each era and looked at them side by side, this would be the most enjoyable time period.

Looking at the highlights on the road to Wrestlemania 30 until right now I can honestly say I wouldn't trade the current content they put out for any realistic interpretation of a past era. It keeps me happy most of the time, and I've actually been able to watch entire Smackdown Live episodes and full segments from RAW.

The amount of bad in comparison to the Okay, Good, or even Great is easy to dismiss as a viewer unless you're ridiculously hypercritical about Pro-Wrestling. Literally the only time in my entire life where WWE has made me want to follow weekly and even put aside NJPW, Classic WWF, PWG, etc.

Shinsuke Nakamura in WWE: NXT, helped get my parents to watch WWE for the 1st time in decades. They actually enjoyed it to the extent, of wanting to go to a live show. WWE in this current Era has made me see more interest in NJPW, ROH, and Indys more than ever as well in every day life. It's doing right in more ways than we probably realize.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

The PG Era has been over for a few years now. It started to end around the time CM Punk had his infamous" pipebomb" promo. Then we had his 500-day title reign, the debut of the Shield and Wyatts, and Daniel's Bryan rise to the main event scene. We're firmly in the Reality/Network Era.

Although the PG Era had its moments, it was a pretty bad era. Cena's reign became stale, and his endless feud with Orton was even more stale. None of the young talent from this era really worked out - Swagger, Rhodes, DiBiase, Bourne, the Nexus, MVP, and many others. Sure they had their moments and some won world titles, but they never hit that next level. There was no reason to watch Smackdown. The divas couldn't wrestle. This may seem fairly minor, but Michael Cole was at his worst. This was during his heel announcer run, and sometimes he was just unwatchable.

I know I complain a lot, but this era will probably be one of the best eras WWE ever had. The talent level is ridiculous - Owens, the Shield, the Wyatts, Zayn, Cesaro, Nakamura, and Balor. Of course there's also Cena, Orton, and the part-timers. The storylines aren't great, but the wrestling is awesome.