The Attitude Era Fans Vs. The PG Fans

[Heavens Vibe]

I watched them both, enjoyed parts of both, disliked parts of both.

I guess I would say im more PG Era because I was atleast old enough to understand everything that went on whereas in PG Era I was a bit to young to understand some stuff. This isnt an argument we should be having though tbh..

 

[WunNightStan619]

I think its weird that the "PG Era" gets so much flack and for completely the wrong reasons. It was the IWC who dubbed it the "PG Era" not the wwe..And on top of that, its being looked at as something that is gonna go away. Just because the rating changed doesnt mean the show changed. Lets be honest, the WWE has been on a downward slope from what it used to be since about 2000. Thats not saying these years werent great, but it has been in steady decline IMO. I dont think the "PG Era" has anything to do with it. I think its more of a lack of good writers and talent, thats it..Attitude Era has everything that WWE today is missing. Blaming it on PG to me is a load of BS

 

[bloewaters]

Where will you be when the Muppets come to RAW on Holloween bloewaters?

where will i be? ill be on my couch at 9pm watching wrestling. like i have all my life. and like i will continue to do. just like you. and everyone here on these boards.
you see, i dont care who the guest host(s) are. you know why? they are on for ten, fifteen minutes total out of the whole show. its not that big of a goddamn deal. and yeah, im developing an angry side. because im tired of seeing posts about the attitude era. seriously. that era had some reallly stupid shit in it too. i mean, Mark henry and the hand, katie vick, ect. it had its terrible angles. the alliance, jerry lawler v. brian christopher, a big fat man giving people stink faces, like, im not going to sit here and go on and on. but honestly look back at the attitude era WITHOUT the nostalgia and i promise you, you'll see what im talking about.

honestly, lets look back on the pillman gun angle shall we? what if thta happened now? we would respond like we did to vinces limo explosion or hhh fighting orton in his house. you know why it was so cool? because we where 13-17 lol seriously the attitude era wasnt that amazing.

 

[RicoLen]

If your between the ages of 23-35, then you remember and were apart of the epic attitude era in the WWF/E. We were in high school and some of us were in college around this time. But now were older and have children of are own who watches the WWE in the now PG era of the company. While the product has been watered down for the targeted audience of the WWE universe. What will that leave for us WWE fans from the attitude era?

It almost sounds like you're talking to me. Except I didn't like the attitude era when it was airing on TV, those no name wannabes had nothing on Hogan, Savage, Bossman, Perfect, Ted DiBiase, Ric Flair, Razor Ramone, & Diesel. Everyone I grew up knowing and loving was in WCW.

I grew up with PG. Sgt Slaughter was one of my very favorite guys when I was little, except when he was a heel, but even still I loved him simply because of G.I. Joe and the Arise Serpentor Arise 5 episode 'movie'. Sgt. Slaughter f**king ruled, and then I got to see him hosting the show, and see him on WWE Superstars & Prime Time Wrestling.

So when it comes to my kids, I want them to have those kind of tie-ins because they'll make for fond childhood memories. Whenever I find out a wrestler is going to be making some kind of appearance outside of WWE-TV I show it to the kids, like when The Miz & John Cena were on the kids choice awards a month or 3 ago. As a result my kids are total marks for guys like Big Show, & The Miz.

What does it leave for me? The fact that I AM an adult and a parent, watching my kids mark out is great. The wrestling can wow me at times, but usually even the best matches only get a couple of reactions out of me. It's the stories and the great characters that I enjoy. So for me and my 8 year old daughter and my 6 year old son, The Miz & R-Truth are the whole reason to watch the show.

I enjoy the show as a whole, but not really too much in particular. What WOULD get me more interested? I think the single biggest thing to get my enjoyment level up would be to get a new face play by play commentator that could play a credible physical and verbal foil to Micheal Cole. I would LOVE to see some guy, kinda like HHH doing play by play and have Cole try his typical crap and then have HHH verbally abuse Cole and make him look stupid.

If I could get that, I don't care what else is going on on the show, I'll tune in just to see Micheal Cole get his.

WWE chairman Vince McMahon may be targeting the viewers from the ages of 7-16. But Vince McMahon knows in his great wisdom that it is the older fans who pays the money to see a WWE live event, as well as for his WWE merchandise, pay per views, ECT. Are the kids paying any of this? No! Unless a kid is saving his or her milk money or something?

Remember the RAW "Old School" show from last November? That show was for the older fans of the WWE from back from the WWF days. Thus missing the targeted PG fans of the WWE universe. With the returns of the Rock, Trish Stratus, and Stone Cold Steve Austin this year.

Should Vince McMahon take a real look at his targeted audience in stock?

The 18-35 crowd is an important crowd. But parents are typically OK with how things were in the PG era, because they're watching WWE with their kids (at least on Friday Nights -Smackdown and during the summers) Raw really could afford to go more TV-14, as long as they cut out the sex. Those never get over in any lasting way anyways. Blood & violence, and cursing in particular isn't anything different from what they get at school.

That's my opinion at least.

 

[The Heartfix Kid]

First, I want to say I hate making this discussion an "Us Vs. Them" kind of thing. My little cousins gets a kick out of guys like Cena and Miz and I don't want to diminish that at all.

With that being said, I came of age during the Attitude Era and it will forever remain one of the single most exciting times in WWF/WWE history for me. And those not fans of the Era or choose to downplay its significance and chalk my or anyone else' reverence up as nostalgia can do so as they please. Not my place to change your mind or opinion. I know for me, its more than nostalgia. It was a huge part of my life at the time.

While I won't say I don't completely dislike the current era of WWE, I certainly don't love it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I understand that time goes on, that your favorite wrestlers just don't last forever for whatever reasons. For me, its much more the commitment on putting out a quality product all around that troubles me. Just from the outside looking in, it doesn't look like there is much effort. At least for someone as long time a sports entertainment fan as I am. And I don't mean to say that, again, in diminishing the younger folks enjoyment of the current product. As I said, I get a kick out of seeing my 8 year old cousin going nuts when Cena runs out to "save the day." Its also cool that alot of guys and gals who came of age during the Attitude Era are sharing those same excitements with their children.

At the same time, I feel like I as life long fan of wrestling, is no longer valued. Don't get me wrong, I don't need there to be blood and sex on a weekly basis. I also grew up watching WWF during the late 80's/early 90's. So I enjoyed the more "campier" side of the product as well.

Maybe my expectations are just too high and don't really match what Vince's are and I can't really fault or hold anything against him for that. Its his product and his baby.

 

[Marv95]

and thats a pretty dumb statement. If ur a fan of the Attitude Era ur not a wrestling fan.

No, I said "if you're an Attitude Era fan" vs "a fan of the AE". There's a huge difference between the 2. The former meaning they were part of the fad and stopped watching after 2002 or a couple of years after, the latter meaning they knew wrestling existed before 1997. BTW, part of the Attitude Era was TV-PG. Look it up on YT. Whoever names the current era the PG era is just an bitter anti-Cena mark who falls into the "Attitude Era fan" category.

I'm a fan of the AE. I'm not a huge fan of today's product. But not because it's PG(I was also a fan of WCW and started watching WWF in 92 when I was 8, which were both PG). The current product sucks because it's stale, childish, one-dimensional, the writing staff knows nothing about pro wrestling, the roster is at its absolute worst since I started watching, and the actual talent they do have that I can get into gets treated like an absolute joke(Danielson, Morrison, Kofi) and sometimes released(MVP, Carlito, Angle). They've improved somewhat with Henry and this conspiracy angle, but they've proven time after time they can screw it all up, from the InVasion to the NWO to the Nexus. It has nothing to do with at TV rating. Can they learn from their mistakes this time around?

My only beef is they confused TV-PG with TV-G at times, but since last year they backed off on that. But having the Muppets as guest hosts on the road to arguably one of the most hyped up PPVs in years is a terrible idea.

 

[RicoLen]

No, I said "if you're an Attitude Era fan" vs "a fan of the AE". There's a huge difference between the 2. The former meaning they were part of the fad and stopped watching after 2002 or a couple of years after, the latter meaning they knew wrestling existed before 1997. BTW, part of the Attitude Era was TV-PG. Look it up on YT. Whoever names the current era the PG era is just an bitter anti-Cena mark who falls into the "Attitude Era fan" category.

I'm a fan of the AE. I'm not a huge fan of today's product. But not because it's PG(I was also a fan of WCW and started watching WWF in 92 when I was 8, which were both PG). The current product sucks because it's stale, childish, one-dimensional, the writing staff knows nothing about pro wrestling, the roster is at its absolute worst since I started watching, and the actual talent they do have that I can get into gets treated like an absolute joke(Danielson, Morrison, Kofi) and sometimes released(MVP, Carlito, Angle). They've improved somewhat with Henry and this conspiracy angle, but they've proven time after time they can screw it all up, from the InVasion to the NWO to the Nexus. It has nothing to do with at TV rating. Can they learn from their mistakes this time around?

My only beef is they confused TV-PG with TV-G at times, but since last year they backed off on that. But having the Muppets as guest hosts on the road to arguably one of the most hyped up PPVs in years is a terrible idea.

With all due respect, this sounds more like a case of nostalgia vs what it really was. Now don't get me wrong. IMO 1992 was the best year the WWF/E has ever had. Everything was close to perfect that year, and if it wasn't, Bobby The Brain Heenan & Gorilla Monsoon made you not care because they could make anything entertaining all by themselves. But from that point on things slowly slid into terrible garbage peaking right around Jan 1996, before it made a marked upturn.

I too was a WCW fan, and I went there partly because of nostalgia, but I think at that point it was more like what the attitude era fanboys are going through today. They don't see any credibility in this PG-era crew and think the attitude era guys could wipe the floor with them. Well that EXACTLY how I felt about the golden age guys vs the attitude era guys.

Fact is, both groups were very good, and this group we've got now is really good.

Here is the problem I think most fans have to deal with.

We all know wrestling has it's high points and it's low points. If you stop watching during a low point, it becomes very difficult to get invested int he product again, because you sit there remembering how it was the last time it was good and then you look at how it is now and it's completely different and the guys you couldn't stand then are now carrying the show (usually the opinion is that they're doing it badly too) however, if you can manage to get invested in the storylines, find characters you like, and I don't mean wrestlers I mean CHARACTERS, people who's personality you like because they're entertaining and engaging to you, then it becomes easier and easier to enjoy the show again.

For me, I got invested in The Miz when he got his big push during 2010, and then earlier this year when R-Truth turned heel I found another character I could enjoy watching. R-Truth is one of those guys that fans of the new generation era like you and I should be able to enjoy, because he's a total throwback character. Every promo he did before he started working with The Miz absolutely killed me. It can be anyone though, a lot of people got re-invested in this new show when Punk did his "Shoot heard round the world." You get a few, time goes on, you get a few more, and pretty soon you like a ton of the guys on the roster and finally you end up thinking "this show is pretty good!"

IMO WWE needs to do something to make it easy for people to catch up on the character development of their superstars. Give them a profile online, give them a timeline of important events that have happened in their career and let us watch video of promo's and highlights of matches to see what's so good about such and such a superstar. If they turned heel, put it on the timeline and let us watch it, if they cut a promo that really got over with the crowd let us watch that, if they got a new important catchphrase that they use all the time and the crowd loves to "sing-along" with, put the first one on there so we can see how it got started, give us a way to get invested in some character we've not gotten interested in but others seem to like.

 

[Jackal960]

I will quote good ol' JR saying "a bad booking is a bad booking no matter which rating you have on TV"

I think, and this is only my opinion, WWE being lazy on bookings, boring storylines and lack of creating new stars, comes at the same time that WWE turned PG. They are not necessarily related, but sometimes I believe IWC mixed up the two. It has been more enjoyable for some time, maybe since the beginning of this year, not because it's TV-14 now, but because we see different stars who are fun to watch. I might pick Punk, you might pick Miz, as long as it is something other than Cena and Orton, it shows that WWE is on the right track in creating new stars.

I do believe being edgy helps a wrestler to have a character. Even if you want to become a babyface who is enjoyable to watch, you need to do more than "eating vitamins, doing prayers" or "hustle, loyalty, respect" because otherwise you will start becoming stale. Eventually, you will need to turn on your friends and become "the cool heel" or acknowledge the fans chanting you can't wrestle by doing more serious promos, showing some other colors of yourself. If it is TV-14 this becomes easier because you will have more tools to use. You can go against anyone anyway you like. Being TV-14 is an advantage but not necessarily mean success. If you don't know how to create SCSA from Ringmaster, even if your TV rating is 18+ it won't help one bit.

If WWE wants to target older fans too, cutting crap storylines and building new exciting talent will help, not necessarily the TV rating.

 

[wushady]

Like Jack-Hammer said the target audience is and has always been adults. Adults are the ones that buy the merchandise, tickets to live shows, and buy PPV's. Sure the cater to children in a lot of ways particularly with Cena. Many of the current fans were fans during the attitude and long before that. A great deal of the people that watched during the attitude era were nothing more than fly by night fans. Once the raunchiness and more extreme violence was over they stopped watching.

It all has to do with the times during the attitude era pop culture was obsessed with sex and violence. Violent movies and TV shows like The Sopranos were huge hits Jerry. Springer was as raunchy as u get with fist fights on every show and his ratings were through the roof. After it toned down fans lost interest and the ratings dropped. Just like the WWE's did.

Now a days there's not as much of that on TV and pop culture in general. Look at TNA they're trying to somewhat recreate the Attitude era and it isn't working out very wellfor them. The WWE has always changed with times and has become a major publicly traded company with sponsors they have to answer to. As a father I'm glad the WWE went PG. So now I can watch it with my child as I did with my dad growing up. During the Attitude area I was in my late teens early twenties and I felt very uncomfortable at times watching it with him.

It truly amazes me how many people just can't let go of the Attitude era. Sure there were some epic feuds and matches. But there was a lot of BS that didn't belong on a wrestling show. Did we really need to see Mark Henry make out with a transvestite or May Young give birth to a hand?
The PG era isn't perfect either, but WWE and wrestling fans in general will always find something to bitch about.

 

[Why Always Me]

I have watched wrestling since 1998, just as the Attitude Era was starting. The next few years were awesome to me. Seeing Austin rise to the top, then seeing The Rock join him was brilliant. Seeing Triple H evolve from being the popular leader of DX to being the main foil for Austin, Rock and Foley was brilliant. There was a decent tag team division, a hardcore division, the Euro and IC titles for mid-carders, it was brilliant.

I do believe that the quality of the program is not what it used to be, I will sort of back that up in a moment. But I still watch and enjoy the WWE to this day. Yes, I wish the titles would be unified, the now pointless brand extension would end, the product would become a little edgier and stupid segments with people like Hornswoggle would end but I still enjoy it. CM Punk, Randy Orton and Christian are my favourites in this era, I have especially enjoyed Punks work over these last few months.

To sign off though - as I stated at the start of my previous paragraph I would give some sort of 'evidence' as to the Attitude Era being better than the current era. I have quite recently moved in with my girlfriend and she has watched a few shows since around about Summerslam. She says you can tell it's fake but she can see why I enjoy it. A friend of mine lent me The Rock dvd the other day and I was watching a bit of it when the better half came home. She sat down and watched it with me (c'mon, I bloody watch Glee with her) and she said the dvd was loads better. She described it as being 'faster, more crowd pleasing and they seem to hit each other harder'. She also thought the crowd were louder, this was after watching The Rock v Triple H from Backlash 2000 for the WWF Title, just after The Rock had won. She also noted how on The Rock's dvd, the wrestlers didn't 'do stupid poses' on the ramp, they more or less just walked to the ring and she thought that made it seem a little more realistic. So my g/f thinks the Attitude Era is better and trust me, what she says, goes

 

[Dagger Dias]

I am 25 years old. I remember being a fan during the Attitude Era. My middle school years were full of arguments over why WWF was better than WCW (although I did like both) amongst my classmates and myself. I still watch it today and am as big a fan of the product as ever, if not more. My apartment manager's two sons are around 10 or so and they both watch wrestling. They really enjoy the product and coming over to our apartment to watch Raw or Smackdown with me and the wifey. I showed them my Wrestlemania 24 poster and they thought it was the coolest thing they had ever seen.

Look, the point is that people whine about how the kids shouldn't be the target audience due to it bring the parents who pay everything. The kids really do enjoy the shows. They ARE the target audience. These same kids are the ones asking their parents to buy John Cena merchandise or to order PPV's for them. They deserve to have an era centered around entertaining them. We had it with the Attitude Era. Let the younger guys have theirs.

Vince is going about it the right way. These kids who enjoy today's product are like those of us who grew up watching Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, or even Hogan. They will be around when another change happens to start an era similar to the Attitude Era. Some of you people sit on here whining about how the Attitude Era is gone and that today's product sucks because the veterans hold back the younger talent. You're more or less doing the same thing by not letting the kids have a product where they get to be the target market. Stop hogging the spotlight and embrace the change.

 

[MasterHavik]

Growing up in the attitude era was godlike. It part of my childhood. I sued to think the shit was real for god's sakes. It was that epic. Now when we made into the PG Era when I was in grade school mind you. I started to watch it less and less. And I like John Cena mind you, but I like the rapper Cena and when he used to come out in Jerseys. CM Punk and Elijah Bruke. I can go on for hours how many guys and I like from the PG era. But it still wasn't enough to keep to my interest. I finally got back into WWE last year and with the knowledge of the IWC. It has been a lot of fun breaking this stuff down. But in the end, I miss the Attitude era so much. Rock, Y2J, Stone Cold( never like him much), HHH, Shawn Michaels( He is a sexy boy!), Chyna, Jaxx, Trish, Sable, Gail Kim and my god...so many good wrestlers during that time it was hard to keep count.

P.S.

I'm still a rookie to all this. So, if I made any errors with certain wrestlers being apart of a certain era. Don't be afraid to correct me.

 

[HorsemenNo4]

Vince is targeting the teens and kids to make sure he has a strong viewership in the future when he leaves. It's smart to target young people because they'll get hooked for life. However he's also overlooking the older crowd that grew up during the best era of Wrestling, Attitude Era.
Attitude Era had Gangs, Sex, Blood, Violence, Good stories, and comedy.
PG era has comedy and... terrible drama.

Sorry to say, but Attitude Era had more over a shorter time period. I still watch the PG era but thats cause Im a lifelong fan. I've turned it off when it gets really bad or I get angry at Cena winning AGAIN.

 

[MasterHavik]

Vince is targeting the teens and kids to make sure he has a strong viewership in the future when he leaves. It's smart to target young people because they'll get hooked for life. However he's also overlooking the older crowd that grew up during the best era of Wrestling, Attitude Era.
Attitude Era had Gangs, Sex, Blood, Violence, Good stories, and comedy.
PG era has comedy and... terrible drama.

Sorry to say, but Attitude Era had more over a shorter time period. I still watch the PG era but thats cause Im a lifelong fan. I've turned it off when it gets really bad or I get angry at Cena winning AGAIN.

So that's what he did when I was little?

 

[AnthonyM4]

I don't know if this is relevant to say, but one thing I HATED about the attitude era was that it attracted a lot of annoying people that hated wrestling before it. These bandwagon jumpers started watching it because it was the "cool"thing to do. Now that it's kind of died down all these people went away and the ratings are down. Now they are back to insulting wrestling and how uncool it is. Say what you want about the adults who still watch wwe today, but they are true fans that are loyal as opposed to these assholes who used to watch it during the attitude era because "Stone Cold is so cool because he curses" and "Wow there are a lot of hot women in wrestling now". I was in high school when the attitude era happened and one idiot told a teacher that he should watch wwf because it's a cool sitcom.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

Well sure it's not kids paying for the tickets, but in the tude era it was a bunch of uneducated rednecks and white trash going to shows. Now you see more families. A family > one person.

You guys act like this is some huge disappointment that WWE has gone back to family-friendly programming. The reality is, for about 85% of their history, they've been family-friendly. They lost a TON of fans due to the tude era and never got people back because of the awful stigma that it was trash TV. Then benoit goes and kills himself and his family and it reinforces the stereotype.

What WWE is doing right now is rebuilding it's image. Stop being ******ed and look at things in perspective. Not only that, but who is the more talented entertainer? The one with no restrictions, or the one who has to entertain within PG guidlines? Ask the Rock which is harder.

 

[hjq0023]

Well sure it's not kids paying for the tickets, but in the tude era it was a bunch of uneducated rednecks and white trash going to shows. Now you see more families. A family > one person.

You guys act like this is some huge disappointment that WWE has gone back to family-friendly programming. The reality is, for about 85% of their history, they've been family-friendly. They lost a TON of fans due to the tude era and never got people back because of the awful stigma that it was trash TV. Then benoit goes and kills himself and his family and it reinforces the stereotype.

What WWE is doing right now is rebuilding it's image. Stop being ******ed and look at things in perspective. Not only that, but who is the more talented entertainer? The one with no restrictions, or the one who has to entertain within PG guidlines? Ask the Rock which is harder.

could not agree with you anymore. I have been watching WWE for the last 20 years. there were a lot of factors that made the attitude era 'cool' back then. attitude era had a lot of shock value on their programming. I don't think shock value would work now because the whole media/stuff on T.V. nowadays is like that. All you see on T.V. is shocking but people dont seem to care anymore because they are so used to it. Plus the TNA, tries to copy the Attitude Era/Monday night wars era but no one watches that garbage.

 

[Headman]

I take exception to the term "watered down" being used to describe the current WWE product. Actually it's still edgier than it was prior to the attitude era, but the over the top, borderline pornographic antics of the attitude era have been done away with. I keep hearing about this feeling where anything could happen during the attitude era, well this is true because they started booking on the fly so even they didn't know what was going to happen until they saw the first 30 minutes of nitro. Truth is this booking style was sloppy and did more harm to the product long term than good. The attitude era had elite talent which was wasted on a television program that was 80% backstage segments. The current product is far more wrestling oriented. And then there's the obvious. The attitude era was geared toward teenagers and young adults. There's no growth in that demographic, so when the attitude audience lost interest the WWE was faced with the reality that they had to get a younger audience or there would be no future. Vince knew this in the 80's when he took over and he simply went back to his roots. In the wrestling business the money is made in merch and most merch is purchased by or for children. And it's not like the WWE went back to being completely youth oriented. We still see a far more mature product than we did before the attitude era, but without the lude conduct that gave pro-wrestling a reputation for being trashy and the entertainment of choice for the lowbrow.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

I take exception to the term "watered down" being used to describe the current WWE product. Actually it's still edgier than it was prior to the attitude era, but the over the top, borderline pornographic antics of the attitude era have been done away with. I keep hearing about this feeling where anything could happen during the attitude era, well this is true because they started booking on the fly so even they didn't know what was going to happen until they saw the first 30 minutes of nitro. Truth is this booking style was sloppy and did more harm to the product long term than good. The attitude era had elite talent which was wasted on a television program that was 80% backstage segments. The current product is far more wrestling oriented. And then there's the obvious. The attitude era was geared toward teenagers and young adults. There's no growth in that demographic, so when the attitude audience lost interest the WWE was faced with the reality that they had to get a younger audience or there would be no future. Vince knew this in the 80's when he took over and he simply went back to his roots. In the wrestling business the money is made in merch and most merch is purchased by or for children. And it's not like the WWE went back to being completely youth oriented. We still see a far more mature product than we did before the attitude era, but without the lude conduct that gave pro-wrestling a reputation for being trashy and the entertainment of choice for the lowbrow.

But I was a 10 year old mark who thought that trashy stuff was cool and because their parents didn't want them to watch it, my friends thought it was cool. They've grown out of it, now I'm 22 and my friends have all grown out of it. I just want things to be like they were when I was 10 so I could feel good about being a wrestling fan and not ridiculed. Sure the Attitude Era is pretty much why I'm ridiculed today because most people still have the stereotype that it's trash, Jerry Spring style tv, but damnit I just want things to be when my life was good.

Yea dude, 100% agree with you. I feel like most people on here never watched wrestling before the tude era. Like they have no idea that the tude era is COMPLETELY different (not necessarily in a good way) than every other successful wrestling program in history. Today's product is closer to 1996-1998 Nitro than to pre Tude era Raw. The tude era, as you said, had a complete lack of wrestling. In fact, in 1999, when Harley Race started his indy promotion, the slogan was "shut up and wrestle" because he felt there was a market for wrestling fans who were sick of the bullshit and wanted in ring action in an environment they weren't afraid to bring their kids to.

Probably 90% of the people that the tude era was cool to aren't wrestling fans and never really were. they're those douchebags who wear affliction shirts and watch Jersey Shore or anything else that's popular because it's trashy.

The Tude era was like Jersey Shore. Nobody legitimately thought it was amazing except for white trash (same people who instead of laughing with Jersey shore, want to be like them).

I think that if you want WWE to ever reach the 'RATINGZ' of the tude era, get rid of the ring, hire a bunch of italian-american idiots, have them hump each other and fight, and rename it "Jersey Shore". Is that what you want? it's not what I want. I'll settle for consistently ranking in the top 3 year round in ratings and being huge in every media outlet AND be more and more accepted everyday due to a family-friendly nature than a product being successful because it's so trashy people can't help but watch.

 

[RudoReels]

If your between the ages of 23-35, then you remember and were apart of the epic attitude era in the WWF/E. We were in high school and some of us were in college around this time. But now were older and have children of are own who watches the WWE in the now PG era of the company. While the product has been watered down for the targeted audience of the WWE universe. What will that leave for us WWE fans from the attitude era?

WWE chairman Vince McMahon may be targeting the viewers from the ages of 7-16. But Vince McMahon knows in his great wisdom that it is the older fans who pays the money to see a WWE live event, as well as for his WWE merchandise, pay per views, ECT. Are the kids paying any of this? No! Unless a kid is saving his or her milk money or something?

Remember the RAW "Old School" show from last November? That show was for the older fans of the WWE from back from the WWF days. Thus missing the targeted PG fans of the WWE universe. With the returns of the Rock, Trish Stratus, and Stone Cold Steve Austin this year.

Should Vince McMahon take a real look at his targeted audience in stock?

24 yr old = 1 ticket
7 yr old = 2 tickets

Kids win, you lose. I say you rather than we because I don't want the attitude era back. Things aren't great now, but I really think the attitude era was overrated. Fans are too hung up on the 'PG vs 14' thing and 'MOAR BLOOD!!11' and the attitude era would just not work today. The talent is just not there. Without the overwhelming number of pure talent we had back then, it would have just been trash TV. What it WAS, however, was trash tv with pretty good wrestling mixed in. Different strokes for different folks though. I liked it as a kid, but I view it differently now.

Should he throw the older fans a bone? Of course.. But the older fans should stop dwelling on the past, to be honest. Try some puro or ROH or get into the bootleg scene and get the past seasons of Raw/SD/Nitro/Thunder.

I guarantee you, the kids today will be saying "I miss the old days" in about 10 years. Everything's better when it's your childhood.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[longlivetheBrood]

well, Kofi Kingston is the new JYD? wow I really don't see that one but I digress.

What I miss about the Attitude Era was the way that the older fans got into the product. With today's Superstars, John Cena gets a pop (some good, some bad), CM Punk gets a pop (much deserved for someone with great mic skills and a personality), any returning Superstar gets a pop to some extent.

With The Attitude Era, it seemed like EVERYONE got a pop. The heels were booed mercilessly (and not just cheap Vicki heat either--seriously, saying "excuse me" before anyone's interrupted you or if you're not interrupting someone is just frigging annoying), and the faces were cheered wildly. Going back on youtube and watching some of this was mesmerizing. People dancing, clapping and singing along to....The Oddities? Popping through the roof when Godfather's music would hit. Go back and watch the fan participation with Road Dogg would come out its crazy, people losing their minds. I just don't see that today and its kind of sad, its almost like we've lost a little something. R-Truth comes out and is rapping away and...crickets. At least Right To Censor was out-and-out booed.

While there are certainly some cringe-worthy moments from that time (Mae Young + Sexual Chocolate = a baby hand.....Katie Vick.....dog kennel match....microwaving Pepper), I want to scream and break things every time I hear "EXCUSE ME" or "Little Jimmy blah blah blah" or Michael Cole saying anything.

I like today's product, it just doesn't seem to hold my interest like the characters did back in the late 1990s, but then that might be because I'm older too, who knows.

 

[CM Steel]

24 yr old = 1 ticket
7 yr old = 2 tickets

Kids win, you lose. I say you rather than we because I don't want the attitude era back. Things aren't great now, but I really think the attitude era was overrated. Fans are too hung up on the 'PG vs 14' thing and 'MOAR BLOOD!!11' and the attitude era would just not work today. The talent is just not there. Without the overwhelming number of pure talent we had back then, it would have just been trash TV. What it WAS, however, was trash tv with pretty good wrestling mixed in. Different strokes for different folks though. I liked it as a kid, but I view it differently now.

Should he throw the older fans a bone? Of course.. But the older fans should stop dwelling on the past, to be honest. Try some puro or ROH or get into the bootleg scene and get the past seasons of Raw/SD/Nitro/Thunder.

I guarantee you, the kids today will be saying "I miss the old days" in about 10 years. Everything's better when it's your childhood.

Just my 2 cents.

Today's WWE is kinda like today's Hip-Hop music. It got candy-coated and watered down for the kids. And it lacks meaning and insight like it use to have in the Old School Hip-Hop era. But like I already said. We already had an PG era back in the days of Hulk Hogan, Macho Man, and the Ultimate Warrior. So why are you so happy to relive your childhood all over again throught superstars like John Cena, Kofi Kingston, and Rey Mysterio?

I'm not saying that I love the blood and all-out violence. I just miss WWE wrestling the way it is suppose to be today, a 10 rate. But if your into a WWE era where Hornswoggle was the mascot for D Generation-X? That's on you.


Just my final thought of the day.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

Today's WWE is kinda like today's Hip-Hop music. It got candy-coated and watered down for the kids. And it lacks meaning and insight like it use to have in the Old School Hip-Hop era. But like I already said. We already had an PG era back in the days of Hulk Hogan, Macho Man, and the Ultimate Warrior. So why are you so happy to relive your childhood all over again throught superstars like John Cena, Kofi Kingston, and Rey Mysterio?

I'm not saying that I love the blood and all-out violence. I just miss WWE wrestling the way it is suppose to be today, a 10 rate. But if your into a WWE era where Hornswoggle was the mascot for D Generation-X? That's on you.


Just my final thought of the day.

Yea, and the tude era was like Kid Rock. Trashy as fuck, sells a lot, but pretty much only to rednecks and white trash. I have no idea what the fuck you mean when you say "lacks insight and meaning" unless that was purely in the context of old school rap vs modern. The tude era had NO insight and certainly no meaning.

What do you mean "the way it's supposed to be"? WCW until russo, WWF/E every year except the tude era, Jim Crocket Promotions, WCCW, etc were pretty much ALL closer to the product today. Ever wonder why so many old timers HATED the attitude era? They wanted it to be more family friendly. It's a HUGE reason why Bret Hart and Sammartino had such a falling out with Vince. Even Hogan says that wrestling should be family oriented. What you mean when you say "supposed to be" you mean "how I remember it" but if you actually do research, most successful pro wrestling shows and companies were more family friendly. In the old days they may have had more blood (sold realism) but it wasn't trash TV.

This PG era is not like the Hogan era, that shit was REAL cartoony. It's not even like 1993-1995. I swear to god most of you guys have never actually watched shows from older times, just a few manias and what you've heard.

The modern era is actually a LOT more like 1996-1997 Nitro. It's PG, and there are some kid-friendly characters, but there is an adult and modern context to a lot of it. Vince pointing out the similarity of the protest with the Wallstreet protests. Punk holding out of his contract like the NFL and NBA CBAs. Guys feeling like they don't have a safe work environment, etc.

Today's WWE is trying to be Toy Story 3, the Attitude Era was trying to be Jerry Springer.

The guy who said "they didn't get cheap heat like today" is full of shit too. That's ALL they fucking got back then. Do you have any idea how easy it is to keep people's attention with titties, blood, and cussing? That's about as cheap as it gets. Today's wrestlers have it harder. Ask The Rock whether it's easier to get over under PG constrictions or with none where you can cuss and say outrageous things.

That's what I don't think most of you realize. You think that "modern guys just aren't as talented" and that's bullshit. How interesting was Godfather as papa shango or Kafa or whatever the fuck it was? Not very. He only became interesting when he had "hoes" and acted like a pimp (again, Kid Rock). Val Venis? Talented in the ring, confident on the mic, but when you're making dick jokes and talking about being a pornstar (Kid Rock) that's pretty fuckin easy to to.

Guys back then weren't more talented, they just had it easier. South Park, Jerry Springer, etc were all coming out, it was cool to cuss and be vulgar. South park is actually somewhat intellectual (and is the only one left really in the same style).

It's like this, if I say "paint a sunrise" that's easy to do when you can chose whatever colors you want, but if I say "only use black, white, yellow, and blue because Chris Benoit murdered the other colors" then it gets a lot harder.

I'm not trying to say one era is better than another, just pointing out how ridiculous some of the tude era marks are. It's apples and oranges, both are good at what their goal is.

 

[Headman]

Yea, and the tude era was like Kid Rock. Trashy as fuck, sells a lot, but pretty much only to rednecks and white trash. I have no idea what the fuck you mean when you say "lacks insight and meaning" unless that was purely in the context of old school rap vs modern. The tude era had NO insight and certainly no meaning.

What do you mean "the way it's supposed to be"? WCW until russo, WWF/E every year except the tude era, Jim Crocket Promotions, WCCW, etc were pretty much ALL closer to the product today. Ever wonder why so many old timers HATED the attitude era? They wanted it to be more family friendly. It's a HUGE reason why Bret Hart and Sammartino had such a falling out with Vince. Even Hogan says that wrestling should be family oriented. What you mean when you say "supposed to be" you mean "how I remember it" but if you actually do research, most successful pro wrestling shows and companies were more family friendly. In the old days they may have had more blood (sold realism) but it wasn't trash TV.

This PG era is not like the Hogan era, that shit was REAL cartoony. It's not even like 1993-1995. I swear to god most of you guys have never actually watched shows from older times, just a few manias and what you've heard.

The modern era is actually a LOT more like 1996-1997 Nitro. It's PG, and there are some kid-friendly characters, but there is an adult and modern context to a lot of it. Vince pointing out the similarity of the protest with the Wallstreet protests. Punk holding out of his contract like the NFL and NBA CBAs. Guys feeling like they don't have a safe work environment, etc.

Today's WWE is trying to be Toy Story 3, the Attitude Era was trying to be Jerry Springer.

The guy who said "they didn't get cheap heat like today" is full of shit too. That's ALL they fucking got back then. Do you have any idea how easy it is to keep people's attention with titties, blood, and cussing? That's about as cheap as it gets. Today's wrestlers have it harder. Ask The Rock whether it's easier to get over under PG constrictions or with none where you can cuss and say outrageous things.

That's what I don't think most of you realize. You think that "modern guys just aren't as talented" and that's bullshit. How interesting was Godfather as papa shango or Kafa or whatever the fuck it was? Not very. He only became interesting when he had "hoes" and acted like a pimp (again, Kid Rock). Val Venis? Talented in the ring, confident on the mic, but when you're making dick jokes and talking about being a pornstar (Kid Rock) that's pretty fuckin easy to to.

Guys back then weren't more talented, they just had it easier. South Park, Jerry Springer, etc were all coming out, it was cool to cuss and be vulgar. South park is actually somewhat intellectual (and is the only one left really in the same style).

It's like this, if I say "paint a sunrise" that's easy to do when you can chose whatever colors you want, but if I say "only use black, white, yellow, and blue because Chris Benoit murdered the other colors" then it gets a lot harder.

I'm not trying to say one era is better than another, just pointing out how ridiculous some of the tude era marks are. It's apples and oranges, both are good at what their goal is.

It's like someone discovered the fountain of logic and named it TWJC lol! Seriously though... we're talking about an era where Billy Gunn was dare I say... popular? People are going to say I'm naming one guy and forgetting about all the great talent, but for every Stone Cold Steve Austin there was a Just Joe and for every Rock there was a Naked Mideon. The WWF at this time was the trashiest thing on television. Some of my best childhood memories were of my dad taking me to see wrestling events. I saw Ric Flair wrestle at Aloha Stadium. I saw Roddy Piper fight the Macho Man at the Capital Center in Maryland. These things meant the world to me as a kid, but in the late 90's I couldn't even take my little cousins to a WCW Nitro because their parents watched 10 minutes of Monday night RAW and concluded that pro-wrestling in general was horrible for children. I have my own son now and I'm thrilled that times have changed enough for me to take him to a WWE event when he's old enough without having to worry about an arena full of drunken idiots going nuts over a 70 year old woman taking her top off. The current product isn't perfect, but atleast they appear to put some thought into it. It's not just a bunch of random ass jokes thrown together to fill in the gaps between all the squash matches or the main event that you knew would end in a run in.

 

[poppycock]

The Attitude Era was brilliant. I disagree with the "It's only good because of nostalgia, It was not as good as you think blah blah" comments. It was a great Era and produced some really entertaining moments, great storylines and great characters. Just like most things it had it's negatives but was very entertaining and not just because I was at the age to be hooked in by all the edgy and boundry pushing antics. I still watch a lot of WWF from that time and still enjoy it just as much. I watched WWF before the Attitude Era and again I loved it...and again it was not perfect, it had downsides but was overall very entertaining. As much as I loved the Era's of the past I am looking for something new in todays product. Something just as entertaining but not recycled. I think the John Cena Vs Del Rio Last Man Standing match proved you can have a decent brawl, hardcore, unconventional match without any blood and still make it very watchable. I am enjoying the direction the WWE is going in and enjoying seeing it develop. Not so long ago it did take a dip and I was not excited by or seduced by the shows or the PPV's. That is bound to happen from time to time but the WWE always bounce back and I think right now the company has more potential than it has had for a very long time.

I don't care if it's reality, PG or whatever Era as long as it makes me want to watch and is entertaining...which right now it is or at least becoming.