How to introduce ATTITUDE!!!!!!!!

[Honkey_Kong]

Now, Ill speak in pure fantasy mode, as that is all this thread really is. Deciding to use blood again would not create a B-list Attitude Era. Nor would trying to bring back more familiar faces. I'd say the best shot they would have, is after giving the product some blood and sex, hiring an entire staff of younger people, maybe some book authors, please no Hollywood writers, would be to hope TNA picks up their game. Competition was what made the Attitude Era, and no the purpose of the era was NOT to eliminate the competition, it was the opposite. It thrived BECAUSE of the competition. WWE wouldnt be hurt if it threw TNA a bone. With Dixie Carter as the promoter, TNA will never overtake WWE, so they could benefit themselves by screwing with them a bit, like DX and WCW. Keep Nexus around, because a raging stable is a must for a thriving wrestling federation. Turn Cena heel. Tell Randy to stop overacting. I like his Viper gimmick, I like that he is a tweener, but man he needs some work on it, hes corny. His twitching, his awkward body movements, his over excitement, the guy isnt Stone Cold. He isnt a reptile either, so moving like one is weird. I know its brand new on him, but he really needs some work on it because he makes me feel uncomfortable sometimes. And he still has a monotone issue in the mic. In fact, Ive been saying for years the WWE should offer ALL of its wrestlers acting classes. I mean seriously, how would that not be a good idea? Maybe have other wrestlers teach it, or maybe get some really amazing veteran actors, but it is better than expecting them to break through to the top on their own when less than a handful are even close. As an actor and a wrestler, I can tell you the two mesh very well. WWE will need a cargo ship to drop off a huge load of charisma and fresh ideas to get a new AE, and then they will need to send a truckload to TNA, because it will never happen without more competition.

Yes, it should also be noted, the attitude era happened as a reaction to the WWF getting it's ass kicked by WCW. Competition is what made the Attitude Era, but in reality, wwe management would be ******ed if they help build the competition. Truth is WWE doesn't give a shit if their product is good or bad they only care about dominating the market and turning a profit. The only reason why WWE might be more profitable now than before is that they cut salaries down (probably also brought "efficiency experts in at titan towers) and they have basically two touring brands instead of one. So they can generate twice the draw in ticket sales and concessions. I agree Austin merchandise probably outsold the entire current WWE merchandise line by itself too.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

The PG Era has been the most profitable Era in history. Why the fuck would it go back to Attitude?

Do you have the numbers to back this up?

Because last I checked the Attitude era broke all merchandising record because of Stone Cold alone, put in The Rock's merchandising and the number is even bigger.

Wrestling was on its zenith in terms of popularity because of WWF and WCW, and even house shows tickets were selling like hotcakes.

I think the OP is asking for a script that would usher in something like a psedo-attitude era with new stars. And putting him down 'coza his age is like saying I can't enjoy Led Zeppelin because I was born 7 years after their break-up.

And to the OP, as much as I loved the Attitude Era, the PG is much safer for the wrestlers without the weekly blade jobs. Lesser soma comas.

 

[Prestige]

Yes, it should also be noted, the attitude era happened as a reaction to the WWF getting it's ass kicked by WCW. Competition is what made the Attitude Era, but in reality, wwe management would be ******ed if they help build the competition. Truth is WWE doesn't give a shit if their product is good or bad they only care about dominating the market and turning a profit. The only reason why WWE might be more profitable now than before is that they cut salaries down (probably also brought "efficiency experts in at titan towers) and they have basically two touring brands instead of one. So they can generate twice the draw in ticket sales and concessions. I agree Austin merchandise probably outsold the entire current WWE merchandise line by itself too.

I agree that to actually DO what I wrote about TNA would by idiotic, but something along those lines would have to be done in order to reproduce something similar to the Attitude Era, unless TNA could manage it themselves. It was a randomly broad fanatasy topic, and my answer was just as fantastic in that regard.

I still dont think the lowered salaries puts the kind of dent in the WWE's profit margin as a few people on here have said. We're talking about the difference in a total of a few tens of millions of dollars in the combined rosters, and when the difference is so slim (in comparison to hundreds of millions), that stands to show the drastic difference in the overall revenue of the product. Im sure it makes a huge difference to them now, and Im sure theyre making costs efficient all around the board, but the net from those cuts dont compare to the powerhouse money machine from the late 90s.

As far as the dual brands go, I only see a few possibilities as to where that truly creates more money. Im comparing this to when Smackdown debuted I suppose, as the existence of a second show creates more money than one. The shows were going to be performed, as well as the live events, whether or not it was a different roster on each. Though I suppose if both brands were to do an overseas tour at the same time that would generate more money than it would with one roster, being in two places at one time and such. But that isnt common, and its not as if having seperate brands creates twice the revenue as it would normally, as long as Smackdown still existed it wouldnt matter if it were one roster or two. In fact, unifying the brands would probably turn even more profit at this point, as more fans would be turned on by the chance to see all the superstars, rather than maybe disliking the lack of star power on Smackdown. And still, it may generate more money for them now than it would without two seperate tours, but in comparison to the Attitude Era the numbers are nowhere near each other in any individual category, and as a whole, theres no conversation.

 

[I_got_bant_for_idiocy]

"purpose" of the PG era and returning the Attitude Era would only damage the merchandise profit because the parents will start to pull away the children from watching the WWE. And without children...this equals less merchandise profit.

Yea. No. Attitude isn't coming back. No matter how badly you or anyone else wants it to...

ur 16 either thats ur age or u made it up??, but lets say ur 16 soo u were probably 4 5 during the attitude era..your talking merchandise sales everybody in the crowd either had an AUSTIN 3:16 shirt, A rock shirt or a DX shirt and on wcw nitro everybody had NWO shirt. so dont act like the attitude era didnt make profit.. rating were higher, stock prices were at all time high, ppv buy rates were even higher, and house shows were getting sold out. i went to a house show during the attitude era 18,000 ppl first time ever a wwe show was sold out in my city, now when smackdown comes to town you got 8000ppl and the top bleachers are covered up soo its not shown on tv how weak the crowd is... its not the most profitable time in wwe history..

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The Attitude Era in and of itself was like catching lightning in a bottle, just as the Monday Night Wars. Recreating the Attitude Era and making it feel as fresh and innovative as it was before is going to be next to impossible. The Attitude Era depicted pro wrestling in a different way, a way that the vast majority of wrestling fans and even people that've never watched wrestling before had ever seen or heard of. The problem is that the Attitude Era was generally a fad and fads fade away.

The Attitude Era brought in huge ratings but, as I said, it was a fad and fads simply do not last. When WCW went belly up and the Monday Night Wars came to an end, interest already started to fade. Long before the WWE went PG, before the middle of this decade in fact, the numbers Raw was pulling on a regular basis dipped in the 3s like it almost always is now. The WWE was still doing everything it was doing at the height of the Attitude Era, only there was no WCW. They had wrestlers swearing during promos, they had the occassional match in which a wrestler got cut open, they had the Divas acting like porn stars and strippers, chairshots to the head, etc. but people just weren't interested in it anymore and moved on to the next fad.

Even if the WWE did decide to attempt to revive the Attitude Era, I don't think it will have the same feel to it. Pulling controversial stunts or storylines just for the sake of popping a rating, which happened a LOT during the Attitude Era, doesn't mean it's going to be quality or that people are generally going to like it. TNA Wrestling is proof of that as they attempted to do the same thing earlier this year with terrible results both in terms of ratings and product quality.

I do believe that the WWE will attempt to move closer to an Attitude Era type of programming sometime in the future but, generally speaking, PG has always been the bedrock of long term success in wrestling and history has proved that time and time again.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

well i do think that one day "the attitude era" as you guys like calling it will come back and i think itll come back the day the poster child of the pg era ie john cena turns heel

but honestly i dont think that the attitude era will result in a revival of fortunes with the wwe.the attitude era imo was just a moniker.what made it memorable were guys like austin and rock.the biggest babyfaces of all time.period

personally i think there are only two or three superstars in the current wwe who would have meant something in the attitude era.one of them is the guy the iwc loves to hate:john cena.but this guy can talk or should i say rap.we must not forget that his raps were considered extreme even in 2005 when the company was not pg.the other guy is cm punk.the straight edge messiah would have just found more stuff to look down upon had he been in the attitude era.would have had awesome feuds with austin and rock

so basically you need a babyface as big as cena is to turn him.now a lot of people are looking at orton but if you look past that finisher of his he isnt really that exciting.mtches that feature mutiple variations of chinlocks and stomps arent exactly five star material imo.also he has had some good promos but the majority of them are pretty insipid.so basically there have been 563 badass babyfaces since scsa but they havent ever even been 1/563 times as entertaining as him

also i dont exactly get this shtick about parents actually allowing kids to watch wrestling.i dont know bout the situation in the us but here in india parents are worried that their kid might actually do himself or some other kid harm by trying to copy what he sees on tv.now it doesnt matter if the rating is pg or g or tv 14 or tv boobs the kid is still gonna try to imitate his favorite superstar coz he feels its the cool thing to do.also i know this question has been asked earlier but how can any fighting be pg????how can turning a guy upside down and dropping him on his head be a pg thing?????

 

[The Idiot]

I started watching wrestling during the rockin' wrestling era in the 80's. It was perfect for that time period. Then as we went into the 90's Vince decided that the "New Generation" of superstars were now sports entertainers, not wrestlers. Then as we came into the late nineties the attitude was unleashed...only because they had the right superstars at the time and it was something new. We have come full circle. The PG era now is almost like the new version of the rockin' wrestling in the 80's...with Cena being the comic book super hero.

Each era had it's pros and cons. If I've said it once I've said it a million times...it doesn't matter, as long as the storylines are great with awesome wrestling to back it up. That's all this business has been about. There's some great performers right now, but they are all stuck in bad storylines that are so repetitive it make us lose interest fast. The first thing they need to fix is their writing...and naturally everything will get better after that. The matches will have more meaning, and the action in the ring will mean alot more.

 

[Ultra Awesome]

I will say I think your opinion is illogical and has no common sense. To say the Attitude Era would not be brought back because the PG era is the most profitable to the WWE is truly illogical

Not really. If the WWE is making a descent amount of money with the PG Era, then I see no need to actually bring back the Attitude Era.

Youre comparing the higher salaries of the wrestlers back then as a true monetary difference in the revenue of the WWE? The reason they were paid so much more in the Attitude Era, is because the WWE was making uncountable amounts of money, not the other way around. I do not understand how three times as many viewers, dozens times over the amount of sponsors, a never ending streak of sold out shows, and buyrates that would drown todays, does not equate to more profit to you.

To be fair, the viewership WWE makes has nothing to do with its financial outcome. Also, as time went on, so did the expansion of the WWE into mainstream. So what does that mean? The world is experienced to WWE more than ever before. Thus comes in more of a chance to make profit; specifically – merchandise. Now you speak of sponsors? I find that point rather moot as WWE has the same, if not more sponsors than ever before considering the fact of how much of a “main-stream” popularity it has gained over the last few years. The WWE has proven time and time again that it has accomplished so much more with PG than it has with the Attitude Era when it comes to seeing the bigger picture. All I can give you credit for is pointing out the PPV buyrates are bombing. But then again, I already addressed that.

And as far as merchandise goes, just because it is the PG era does not mean there are any more kids watching today than there were,

Right. Because all the little kiddies you see in the live audience is exactly the same as it was back in the Attitude Era. Not many parents let their children watch the WWE as it went through its Attitude Era. In fact, I didn’t start watching WWE until 2003. However, that doesn’t discredit me from knowing at least 85% of what the Attitude Era was like as I found alternative methods to “go back in time”.

and in no way shape or form does any of it mean there is more merchandise sales. I would wager that Steve Austin had more merchandise sales in 1998 or 1999 alone than the WWE has as a whole these years. I admittedly have not looked at the revenue figures of the WWE in years,

In all honesty, neither have I - looked at the revenue the WWE has made lately. But c’mon, that is an exhajuration to say WWE made more money off of Stone Cold’s shirt compared to all the profit WWE as made recently. Cena’s shirt alone beats Stone Cold’s shirt .

but it is a stretch the size of my d*ck to say the WWE is even in the same ballpark of profit that it had in the Attitude Era (which if you know me means its a massive neverending stretch! )

Absurd. The only credible argument you have is the PPV buy rates. Everything else is either moot or been proven false by yours truly. (Besides, your penis is probably too small to even see it with a magnifying glass. Haha. Just kidding...)

]Do you have the numbers to back this up? Because last I checked the Attitude era broke all merchandising record because of Stone Cold alone, put in The Rock's merchandising and the number is even bigger.

You’re asking me for proof? Where is YOUR proof? I don’t have much proof other than my logic and common sense. I COULD look for the revenue numbers, but I’m not going to, seems rather of a waste of time. I’d much rather do homework.

Wrestling was on its zenith in terms of popularity because of WWF and WCW, and even house shows tickets were selling like hotcakes.

Read everything I said while debating Prestige, if you still have something to argue, quote me on that. I don’t feel like typing the same thing over and over again (even if it is in different words).

I think the OP is asking for a script that would usher in something like a psedo-attitude era with new stars. And putting him down 'coza his age is like saying I can't enjoy Led Zeppelin because I was born 7 years after their break-up.

Don’t use “ 'coza”, it only makes you look unprofessional. It’s not that hard to type “because of”…it’s only a few more letters Also, , if you paid any attention to the little debate me and Breezy-whatever were having, you would see that HE was the one saying I was a forty year old in front of a computer with nothing better to do. I was only stating that I’m one year older than him (16).

ur 16 either thats ur age or u made it up??, but lets say ur 16

Ummm…ok?

soo u were probably 4 5 during the attitude era..your talking merchandise sales everybody in the crowd either had an AUSTIN 3:16 shirt, A rock shirt or a DX shirt and on wcw nitro everybody had NWO shirt. so dont act like the attitude era didnt make profit.. rating were higher, stock prices were at all time high, ppv buy rates were even higher, and house shows were getting sold out.

Did you just read Prestige’s post and decide to do the same thing he did? Because that is basically what he said…only stupider. Like I told the guy before you---read the above.

i went to a house show during the attitude era 18,000 ppl first time ever a wwe show was sold out in my city, now when smackdown comes to town you got 8000ppl and the top bleachers are covered up soo its not shown on tv how weak the crowd is... its not the most profitable time in wwe history..

First of all, let me just ask…Do I look or sound like I care what you saw?

Yes, the live shows don’t have the same number of people in them like they used to. In fact, WWE’s number of fans it has now is smaller compared to what it had during the Attitude Era. However, the mainstream exposure WWE has garnered over the years makes up for all its financial downfalls.

Look, I am not discrediting the Attitude Era for anything it has done. AE accomplished a lot. But that’s a bit of an under-statement as we all know how BIG it actually was. However I will go as far as to say: the ATTITUDE ERA will NOT come back so long as the PG Era is making profit.

 

[Jackal960]

For anyone who thinks merchandise sales is a bigger factor than attendance+ratings here is an OFFICIAL statement from WWE. Thats not someone's commonsense or someone else's thoughts these are the FACTS! After this PLEASE stop making non-sense:

Net Revenues June 2010 June 2009


Live and Televised Entertainment $77.4 $109.2
Consumer Products $23.3 $20.9
Digital Media $5.4 $7.9
WWE Studios $0.7 $0.8
Total $106.8 $138.8

Two things:
1) Profit is going DOWNNNNNN
2) Your TOO important merchandise sales are only 1/3 - 1/5 of the ratings+attendance

So who cares how much Cena shirts are being sold (if your attendance is half of the arena comparing to sold-out arenas each week). Who cares how many kids purchase Mysterio's mask (if the ratings are half or even one-third of the ratings in the Attitude Era).

It's simple it's not more profitable. There are some other reasons for the PG era which are discussed in length on other threads.

As many people told before me: This thread is not made to ask you guys if WWE needs to go back to Attitude, it's asking if that was the scenario how would that happen.

 

[I_got_bant_for_idiocy]

Did you just read Prestige’s post and decide to do the same thing he did? Because that is basically what he said…only stupider. Like I told the guy before you---read the above.


However, the mainstream exposure WWE has garnered over the years makes up for all its financial downfalls.

Look, I am not discrediting the Attitude Era for anything it has done. AE accomplished a lot. But that’s a bit of an under-statement as we all know how BIG it actually was. However I will go as far as to say: the ATTITUDE ERA will NOT come back so long as the PG Era is making profit.

noo i dont read all the post.. soo im asking do you think PG is more profitable than AE??? what mainstream exposure is wwe getting, the stupid guest host the C list actors from hollywood, the str8 to dvd wwe movies feating cena ??? the last time wwe really got exposure was at wrestlemania 24 with floyd mayweather and maybe donald trump i dont even think that was pg cuz floyd busted big shows nose open, the only other mainstream exposure it got has bin bad publicity.. If were talking numbers AE was more profitable he just switched cuz a wrestler killed his family, wrestlers started dying at 40 and 50 and his wife is running for office .. and pg is making a profit there stock price has dropped 5 dollars from there 52 week high of 18 dollars to 13.69

 

[LigerBomb]

… I'd rather you not post anything

Hmm, I could say the same. Anyway, these "what if …" threads are usually terrible, and this seems to the rule rather than the exception. At 15 yo, and as someone who admittedly didn't watch the Attitude era, I must ask: "Why do you even care?" Is it a case of "grass is always greener…"? Or perhaps you feel as though you and yours are getting gypped outta boobs, bad words and blood right at a time where you have the HD TV and TiVo fired up and finally knew enough to have enjoyed it? Ah well, speculation to be sure.

Back on point: Maybe Vince would do what he did the first time and start slowly upping the ante as far as televised content and eventually just make an on air announcement about the product's shift:
Seems like that would be as good as any other method. Though seeing as how TNA is making out with their own "attitude wcw ev2 era", why bother?

 

[KnowYoRole]

More than half the people in here never actually read the OP. Maybe it was because of the lack of proper punctuation, but the guy never asked if the AE was coming back, he asked, hypothetically if it DID come back, how would they reintroduce that level of mature programming?

 

[Miss Flawless]

The best way to bring back the AE would be a simple introduction, just like the one back in 98? or 97? I don't remember, but that video put up is a good example. Of course, this would be logical if the AE came back. Probably will, since my theory is that WWE is a cycle. Although, I think the product will still have the Wellness Policy, with just more, "adult humor"...I guess.. (To be fair, I wasn't really a fan of the sex and drugs of the AE.)

WWE was not making as much money in the 90's: New Generation just because of WCW. Then they introduced the Attitude Era, Vince got billions of bucks, and he BOUGHT WCW. I'm not sure if Vince is making MORE money in the AE than now, or vice versa.

I know Vince is smart, so since there is no WCW, WWE can be more safe by starting the PG era. Not because of the kids, but because it's more safe for wrestlers. Vince happened to still make a lot of money with the PG era too, since it also profits a lot.

 

[manstis1804]

Cole's heel turn is coinciding with a new WWE era, in my opinion. It doesn't have a name yet, but WWE is definitely changing and I really enjoy it.