WWE PG, Attitude & All Other "Eras" Thread

[Cmpunkheel]

I totally agree with you, especially at PPV'S. After all it does say, 'this is post watershed' when you watch raw or a PPV it explains there may be a few things that are not suitable for children. The most entertaining matches are when people get busted wide open and are put through tables an take chair shots to the face.

 

[rob21bang-bang]

Wwf attitude era in my opinion was the best times in the history of the industry.u could sense the pure excitement in the crowd the superstars connected with the audience and got you emotionaly attached with the storylines unlike today current rooster. i dont like the pg era but dont think it deserves the amount of abuse it gets of people. the fact is thier dont have the talent of superstars like the rock stone cold mankind etc anymore who can connect to the audience and make everything so believable.times move on and love it or hate it we have to accept what wwe is today and not look back.

 

[BigRedMachine88]

OK, so we all heard a little while back that WWE was planning another huge summer angle, like last years "Summer of Punk", and the Nexus storyline the year before, to get people talking about the WWE again. And it turned out to be CM Punk turning heel, and the Rock coming back at Royal Rumble for a title match, which to be honest was pretty underwhelming in my opinion. Sure it's been good to watch, and I certainly enjoy seeing Punk as a heel more than a face (because lets face it that's why we all liked Punk in the first place) but it certainly doesn't excite me in the same way as the "summer of punk" angle or the Nexus angle did. But that's mainly because I saw Punk vs Cena as a straight Heel vs Face fued. But what if it's something more than that...

The majority of adult fans today (including myself) grew up watching the Attitude era (don't worry, this isn't another rant about how it was better), and most of us (if not all) want it back. Vince knows this. On the other hand the majority of kids who watch today cheer for a man who is the very embodiment of PG, John Cena. Vince knows this too. So you've got Attitude fans, and PG fans all watching the same show. The million dollar question is how do you capitalize on it? That's when it hit me, what if Punk vs Cena is actually Attitude vs PG. Let's look at some of the signs.

- WWE 13. When WWE is planning something major, it nearly always leaves liitle signs to forehsadow it. Take for example Brock Lesnar. In the year prior to his comback, he was added as an extra character in WWE 12, and a big deal was made of it in the ad's for the game. Then CM Punk mentioned his name during his "pipebomb" promo that kickstarted his rise to the top. Now in WWE 13, the ad's made a big deal of the Attitude era appearing in the game. The era's stars and it's storylines. Not only that, but who was on the cover, CM Punk, with an Attitude era logo placed right by him.
- DX. What about how the 1000th episode of Raw opened up. Now Vince could have had anybody open the show. The Rock, Lesnar, Cena. But he chose DX. Not only that, but they get the whole group back (well, minus chyna). When I think of DX, I think Attitude era. Again, it's another way of keeping it in our minds.
- Paul Heyman. When I think of the Attitude era, I think extreme. Extreme characters, storylines, langauage. And of course, extreme matches. One of the guys who really got the ball rolling for extreme wrestling was Paul Heyman. In many ways the Attitude era was a direct response to Paul's ECW. If ECW never happened, maybe the Attitude era wouldn't have either. Whenever Paul walks down the ramp and into the ring, the crowd (well the male half) chants "E-C-W, E-C-W". He came back for Lesnar, and now he's Punks manager.

I imagine some of you are thinking I'm looking too deep into it, but consider this. If WWE is a PG product, why keep fanning the flames of the Attitude era. Why keep continually putting the thought in our minds. What if this is all part of the "big angle". What if in the end this turns out to be a battle between Attitude and PG. A smart way of getting all fans invested in the product without truly changing the product at all. If it's not what they're doing it's probably what they should be doing.

What's your opinion on this?

 

[PRMETFAN]

...so why don't they? Many wrestling fans are divided between PG and the Attitude era. Many are unhappy with today's PG era and hope that it will end soon and that the Attitude era makes a return. Of course this will not happen until after Linda Mcmahon's campaign is over, hopefully in a defeat because if she were to win the fear is that the PG era will continue for years. However the PG era did end already and today we are living in the PC (Politically Correct) era.
In the PC era the Wwe is very careful not to be involved in any controversy that might hurt Linda's campaign. From the Wwe firing Aw once they though he crossed the line,to sacrificing Jericho and making him fall on the sword and suspending him once the scripted kick of the Brasilian flag in Brasil backfired. Jericho being a good company man and being that he was leaving anyway agreed to take on the blame and this took away the possibility of brasilians blaming Wwe for the incident and possibly hurting the company in that country. To even deleting and hiding more risque behavior on their website concerning the Attitude era that was being used by Linda's political enemy. To even the Wwe not being able to fire it's own talent like JTG once he spoke up against the company. They didn't fire him out of fear of creating more controversy. If the campaign was not going on he would had been so very gone. Considering all this i don't believe anyone can deny that Wwe is in its PC era.

The very fact that Linda Mcmahon received the nomination of the Republican party, a party that builds itself as for promoting family values, when the Wwe promoted decadent behavior all through-out its Attitude era is proof that American politics is a complete joke. If she does lose the election the PC era will hopefully die and i believe it will become time for the Wwe to rethink things and reinvent themselves as this is necessary since they are losing money.

Once the PC era is over the Wwe will have the opportunity to have its cake and eat it too. They can do this by making both PG and Attitude era fans happy. I believe the two diffent programs of the Wwe should become just that..... different(since Raw and Smackdown today has nothing that makes them appear to be different or distinct). Monday night Raw should stay on cable start a little latter around 9pm or 10pm and be based around more adult attitude era-like wrestling with edgier story lines maybe even sprinkled with doses of Ecw hardcore. This will make the older Wwe fans happy and it will NOT be PG but should be aimed at over 18 yr fans and over.

Friday night Smackdown should stay PG with John Cena,Kofi Kingston and Rey Mysterio,and crew making small children happy. This should be aimed at kids and will make it safe for adult fans to take their small children to this version of wrestling matches. Many of us have seen the video of Goldberg interview where he saids that the reason he left the WWe was because the company was doing things that would not allow him to be able to bring his children to watch matches for moral reasons. Even "born again christian" Sting has said in the past that he would never work for Wwe because of their past promotion of immorality. I agree and, i believe that anyone who takes a child to a Wwe event during the Attitude era was a irresposible and bad parent,and even today taking a child to a Wwe event is risky because you never exactly know what you are going to get. It would be any good parents worst nightmare to take their 8 yr child to the Wwe event where John Cena finally turns heel and begins cursing out the fans with obsenities and flipping the middle finger.

I believe this would eliminate this problem with the sexual sounding Raw being aimed at 18+ fans and on cable while Smackdown stay on network tv aimed at the kids. As a big TNA fan i myself would fear that if the Wwe were to do this they would destroy TNA once and for all, but at least all wrestling fans would finally be happy and this would be better for all of wrestling in my opinion. Not the destruction of TNA of course but the improvement of Wwe content. I am surprised that Wwe hasn't done this already and will continue to place themseleves in a no win situation which causes them to cater to one section of their fans but lose in another which thus causes them to lose money. This way the Wwe can have the best of both worlds and they can have their cake and eat it too. What do you think?



Mods i didn't place this in the Wwe PG & era's section because it is not about those eras but about the current status of the Wwe and its future so please do not move it but if you do determine that it needs to be moved i apologize in advance.

 

[robbo316]

...so why don't they? Many wrestling fans are divided between PG and the Attitude era. Many are unhappy with today's PG era and hope that it will end soon and that the Attitude era makes a return. Of course this will not happen until after Linda Mcmahon's campaign is over, hopefully in a defeat because if she were to win the fear is that the PG era will continue for years. However the PG era did end already and today we are living in the PC (Politically Correct) era.
In the PC era the Wwe is very careful not to be involved in any controversy that might hurt Linda's campaign. From the Wwe firing Aw once they though he crossed the line,to sacrificing Jericho and making him fall on the sword and suspending him once the scripted kick of the Brasilian flag in Brasil backfired. Jericho being a good company man and being that he was leaving anyway agreed to take on the blame and this took away the possibility of brasilians blaming Wwe for the incident and possibly hurting the company in that country. To even deleting and hiding more risque behavior on their website concerning the Attitude era that was being used by Linda's political enemy. To even the Wwe not being able to fire it's own talent like JTG once he spoke up against the company. They didn't fire him out of fear of creating more controversy. If the campaign was not going on he would had been so very gone. Considering all this i don't believe anyone can deny that Wwe is in its PC era.

The very fact that Linda Mcmahon received the nomination of the Republican party, a party that builds itself as for promoting family values, when the Wwe promoted decadent behavior all through-out its Attitude era is proof that American politics is a complete joke. If she does lose the election the PC era will hopefully die and i believe it will become time for the Wwe to rethink things and reinvent themselves as this is necessary since they are losing money.

Once the PC era is over the Wwe will have the opportunity to have its cake and eat it too. They can do this by making both PG and Attitude era fans happy. I believe the two diffent programs of the Wwe should become just that..... different(since Raw and Smackdown today has nothing that makes them appear to be different or distinct). Monday night Raw should stay on cable start a little latter around 9pm or 10pm and be based around more adult attitude era-like wrestling with edgier story lines maybe even sprinkled with doses of Ecw hardcore. This will make the older Wwe fans happy and it will NOT be PG but should be aimed at over 18 yr fans and over.

Friday night Smackdown should stay PG with John Cena,Kofi Kingston and Rey Mysterio,and crew making small children happy. This should be aimed at kids and will make it safe for adult fans to take their small children to this version of wrestling matches. Many of us have seen the video of Goldberg interview where he saids that the reason he left the WWe was because the company was doing things that would not allow him to be able to bring his children to watch matches for moral reasons. Even "born again christian" Sting has said in the past that he would never work for Wwe because of their past promotion of immorality. I agree and, i believe that anyone who takes a child to a Wwe event during the Attitude era was a irresposible and bad parent,and even today taking a child to a Wwe event is risky because you never exactly know what you are going to get. It would be any good parents worst nightmare to take their 8 yr child to the Wwe event where John Cena finally turns heel and begins cursing out the fans with obsenities and flipping the middle finger.

I believe this would eliminate this problem with the sexual sounding Raw being aimed at 18+ fans and on cable while Smackdown stay on network tv aimed at the kids. As a big TNA fan i myself would fear that if the Wwe were to do this they would destroy TNA once and for all, but at least all wrestling fans would finally be happy and this would be better for all of wrestling in my opinion. Not the destruction of TNA of course but the improvement of Wwe content. I am surprised that Wwe hasn't done this already and will continue to place themseleves in a no win situation which causes them to cater to one section of their fans but lose in another which thus causes them to lose money. This way the Wwe can have the best of both worlds and they can have their cake and eat it too. What do you think?



Mods i didn't place this in the Wwe PG & era's section because it is not about those eras but about the current status of the Wwe and its future so please do not move it but if you do determine that it needs to be moved i apologize in advance.

From this, I can only assume that you haven't been watching wrestling for all that long. I started in the early 1980's, and lemme tell you right now, if you really think this is PG, you should have seen it back then. We had the superhero Hogan, who used to make guest appearances in the A-Team which was essentially a kid's show. They had bloody cartoons for christ sake! It strted getting a little more towards the older teens/adults by probably the early 1990s, with certain characters that could be considered a little scary to younger kids (think the Undertaker). Then it went completely batshit crazy, with the "attitude era", which was ridiculous. I have a similar sense of humor to McMahon, but even I thought some of it went not just over the line, but totally destroyed the line and then took dump in the endzone. As for the idea of PC, I don't know when you came back from your extended vacation on mars, but that is the way of the world. People are scared these days of even complaining if someone of a different racial group is incompetent at what they do, for fear of being called a racist. Think about some PC things that have been happening over the years:
1) A guy who lives in Fort Gay, W. Virginia, had his account suspended on xbox live because (according to MS), "gay" is ALWAYS offensive.
2) Manholes being renamed "Personnel Access Units" because the term was offensive to women.
You see PC isn't just because Linda is running for office, it is just the way of the world these days; I'm afraid it is something that we have to put up with. I have never really been terribly interested in storylines/angles. Over the years when I have recorded wrestling, I end up watching maybe 30 minutes of 2 hour show, because that is all the wrestling there is. Maybe thats why I try and catch as much Jap wrestling as I can, because they concentrate more on the in-ring rather than "he said, she said" palava. The way the WWE is won't be changing anytime soon, whether or not Linda wins (which she probably won't).
As for them losing money, how come their gross income has increased from $142.93m in 2007, to $177.16m in 2011? Their Net income has dropped from around $52m to $25m, yet they had a extraordinary expense of $42m. I would say they are MAKING more money rather than this loss of profit that you are suggesting.
Reference : http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/wwe/financials

 

[GameOver]

Just get over it, if you don't like the product don't watch, then if enough millions of people did the same they would be forced to change.

Fact.. ok yes Linda McMahon is (pointlessly) running for senate and has no chance in hell, so that sways what is included in online material

Fact.. Vince wanted WWE to go public traded in 1997 but WCW got a head of steam and started draining WWE's profits and raiding talent so they had to fight back. Public traded means a company is under set guidelines on spending and censorship/content (in the case of WWE) they have to answer to stockholders, advertisers and networks they want to attract that are "family friendly" subsequently they probably pay less tax and get more revenue from those advertisers etc, that wouldn't haven't touched them otherwise

Fact... They have a good image now compared to what they had just 8+years ago. and Cena is well above Hogan level as far as charity appearances/respect in the media goes.

Fact... many of us don't like all the current content but we are not the majority viewership, kids and there parents are.

WWE has always in the past gone with what society is dictating. During Hogan era it was all about being patriotic and standing up for the little man and then in the second half it was about fighting terrorists and invading forces.

during Bret Hart/HBK era it was about showmanship

During Attitude it was about fighting back against the boss and not taking shit and being anti-social and they went way too far most of the time and are paying for it now, but so did WCW.

During Cena it is a nanny state and back to being all about families and mass expansion and now fighting bullying ergo terrorists and abovce all embracing social media.

all those "era's" are pretty much was society as a whole is doing at the time, lastly i do want so much to believe that something Vince said years ago at a Shareholders meeting, that ofcourse they could be more edgy and eventually will but during the Attitude era they went so far to the extreme that there was nowhere to go but down (not to mention starts lives were at risk moreso then ever b4) so they dialed it backwards so eventually they can move forward again. and the last couple of years they have gone forward somewhat, it's not as "PG" as it was just a few years earlier when Cena was the only thing on the marquee. Which is also the case when Hogan first lost the title and Macho took over, he wasn't squeeky clean and there was more gang warfare, then when Hogan regained the title he wasn't as squeeky clean as he was b4 and eventually come WrestleMania 6 he was resorting to underhanded tactics.

 

[scomvp316]

There are alot of errors in your post. Going public doesn't affect your content only by shareholders. WCW went public first and remained TV-14 also WWE officially went PG in early 2007. Linda's campaign affects all digital content seeing WWE doesn't know how to balance day to day business operations and politics. Most of Cena's charity work is from Cena himself on his off days and not directed by WWE in any way. If Cena's charity work is greater than Hogan's WWE's bottom line would have at least $100 mill more than what it does now. The majority of the audience is still 18-49 males. That is listed on WWE's website. Merchandise sales are driven by the kids and their parents for talent like Cena and Mysterio. I do believe the product of today is what VKM always wanted. He was forced to be more aggressive during "Attitude".

 

[PRMETFAN]

From this, I can only assume that you haven't been watching wrestling for all that long. I started in the early 1980's, and lemme tell you right now, if you really think this is PG, you should have seen it back then. We had the superhero Hogan, who used to make guest appearances in the A-Team which was essentially a kid's show. They had bloody cartoons for christ sake! It strted getting a little more towards the older teens/adults by probably the early 1990s, with certain characters that could be considered a little scary to younger kids (think the Undertaker). Then it went completely batshit crazy, with the "attitude era", which was ridiculous. I have a similar sense of humor to McMahon, but even I thought some of it went not just over the line, but totally destroyed the line and then took dump in the endzone. As for the idea of PC, I don't know when you came back from your extended vacation on mars, but that is the way of the world. People are scared these days of even complaining if someone of a different racial group is incompetent at what they do, for fear of being called a racist. Think about some PC things that have been happening over the years:
1) A guy who lives in Fort Gay, W. Virginia, had his account suspended on xbox live because (according to MS), "gay" is ALWAYS offensive.
2) Manholes being renamed "Personnel Access Units" because the term was offensive to women.
You see PC isn't just because Linda is running for office, it is just the way of the world these days; I'm afraid it is something that we have to put up with. I have never really been terribly interested in storylines/angles. Over the years when I have recorded wrestling, I end up watching maybe 30 minutes of 2 hour show, because that is all the wrestling there is. Maybe thats why I try and catch as much Jap wrestling as I can, because they concentrate more on the in-ring rather than "he said, she said" palava. The way the WWE is won't be changing anytime soon, whether or not Linda wins (which she probably won't).
As for them losing money, how come their gross income has increased from $142.93m in 2007, to $177.16m in 2011? Their Net income has dropped from around $52m to $25m, yet they had a extraordinary expense of $42m. I would say they are MAKING more money rather than this loss of profit that you are suggesting.
Reference : http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/wwe/financials

Dude you shouldn't make assumptions and then precede to give me a lesson of the 80's, i grew up at that time and from what you wrote you obviously didn't know what was going on. In the first place the A-team was not a kids show at it appears to have been now. It was a very popular show aimed at everyone and whether or not people will like to admit it or not at the time mostly everyone adults,kids and older folks loved it and it was one of the top 10 shows on for the first 3 years. More adults were watching it than kids. Did you never watch American hero,wonder woman,fantasy island,etc? Just because no one ever bleed in it doesnt mean it was for kids thats just how tv was back then,more innocent

And i have not come back from an extended vacation how you implied but despite the fact that i tried to lay it on the table complete with examples you still didnt "get it". Yes the world is more PC but you dont get the point that because of Linda's campaign the Wwe is on extreme Pc mode right now because everything is carefully examined as to whether or not it can hurt her campaign.Because they believe the campaign is the most important thing right now more important than even the business itself.

As far as your last point denying that the Wwe is losing money i can tell that basic common sense is a concept foreign to you.You can play with the numbers all you want but you cannot deny the obvious when Wwe stock came out it was worth $17 a share today its worth $8 a share.

And thank you for responding yet not placing any opinion whatsoever on the heart of my post which was that Wwe should be divided today into a PG smackdown and a R-rated for adults Raw.....smh.

 

[Slick21]

I personally wouldn't have a problem with this current PG era if they would be edgy more often with the story lines. I think they can have good PG programming if they wanted to, but the fact that creative has to work within the PG rules, they don't. It limits the whole product. Even though most of you think it can be appealing while it's PG, it's only at rare times, maybe once a year. Examples I can refer back to is Orton punting Vince and going on a rampage with the McMahons/HHH, the Nexus invasion, followed by Punk's promo shoot. The wrestling particular in general I don't mind, depending on the superstar that's wrestling. I enjoy Superstars and NXT much more than their weekly television shows, because they put on top quality matches.

The tedious part about the whole thing is that ever since they've been growing mainstream attraction, they've been recruiting kiddy pop artists for live PPV performances, using them as theme songs and have nothing but mainstream related talk 24 fucking 7 during TV airtime. It feels like the wrestling is fading away and that's going to turn into another SNL comedy like sketch show. I didn't think the media appeal would go their heads, but thanks to Vince's ****e banning the Attitude Era videos, it's like they decided to show their true colors when it comes to corporate media sellouts. Then they have the nerve to force us to pay for Hulu to watch their other weekly shows rather than giving it to us for free.

 

[Sh0wst0pper]

Ok, this idea may have been ran through here before so I apologize if this is a re-run. There are those who will always say that the WWE product was better as an MA-14 product while others are adamant that they prefer the PG format. One will undoubtedly never convince the other that their stance is the correct one.

So here's my question: Could the WWE satisfy more fans and bolster sagging ratings by allowing RAW to become a MA-14 rated show while having SmackDown! keep the PG rating??

Obviously this would require many tweaks in terms of advertising, character development, etc (and HEAVEN FORBID this would have a negative effect on Linda McMahon's political ambitions!!) but would it really be any more difficult than the measure the WWE has already taken by creating a Saturday morning show that caters pretty much exclusively to children??

Just curious to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

 

[scomvp316]

PG can be edgy its just that WWE doesn't know how to balance its business operations from politics. They actually think if todays product is softer political groups won't condemn their choregraphed violent content?lol Take a look at JCP in the 80's they were PG but at times were somewhat edgy for those times and then their PPV's were more TV-14. I think VKM never wanted TV-14 and has always been inclined to be competitive with the likes of Disney. I think once RR rolls around and Linda if she lost another election WWE will be slighly more aggressive but will never go back to TV-14 no matter what!

 

[info62]

Ok, this idea may have been ran through here before so I apologize if this is a re-run. There are those who will always say that the WWE product was better as an MA-14 product while others are adamant that they prefer the PG format. One will undoubtedly never convince the other that their stance is the correct one.

So here's my question: Could the WWE satisfy more fans and bolster sagging ratings by allowing RAW to become a MA-14 rated show while having SmackDown! keep the PG rating??

Obviously this would require many tweaks in terms of advertising, character development, etc (and HEAVEN FORBID this would have a negative effect on Linda McMahon's political ambitions!!) but would it really be any more difficult than the measure the WWE has already taken by creating a Saturday morning show that caters pretty much exclusively to children??

Just curious to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

The one PG show would work IF it is done the same way it used to be - where RAW was TV-14 and SD was PG but somehow didn't even feel like it. I think a lot of people look over the fact that SmackDown was PG before the PG era even began. It had less of the crude crap that RAW did (less penis jokes, basically) but it still wasn't catering to little kids.

If one brand goes full out mature while the other is still less mature than most kid's cartoons are these days, it won't solve anything imo. The day a little kid sees their favorite PG wrestler get drafted to the mature show that they aren't allowed to watch, they are not gonna be happy. Either that or they watch the show anyway and their parents throw a fit.

Same thing when a wrestler on the mature show gets drafted to the PG one. The older audience is gonna throw a fit.

Now of course they could just eliminate the draft and keep wrestlers exclusive to one show forever, but then they are under-utilizing their rivalry potentials and storylines are gonna get stale a lot faster.

It's more efficient to cater to one audience, and imo aiming for just kids is a BAD move. The kids who started watching when the PG era was beginning have already grown out of it. They aren't going to come back. The problem with targeting a child audience is that the show is treated like Nick JR. show - the kids grow out of it before middle school and want to watch adult shows.

On the other hand, to cater to just TV-14 means they are going to have to regain their audience from scratch. In my opinion the best option would be to go back to the PG SmackDown that was opposite TV14 RAW. A mature show catering to adults and older teens that isn't over the top with sex jokes just for the sake of it. If they still wanna go full blown TV14 after that, then they would by then have an audience that could handle the switch.

It's an interesting question but imo one kiddie show and one mature show owned by the same company just would not work.

 

[anvilx8]

I know everyone is bitching about the PG era. Myself included. Theres no blood, there's a lack of characters, its not as fun to watch (etc, I could go on). But I'm starting to think it's actually a SMART move.

Because, if they keep this going on for the next few years, it could pay off BIG when they do eventually bring back some attitude, and blood etc. Everyone wil be craving it and missing it sooo much that it just may draw in some huge ratings, and attract fans that haven't watched for years!

Everyones heard the saying "too much of a good thing is bad for you" ...or something like that. Well its sort of true. Some ppl got sick of the hardcore matches and blood and all that fun stuff, so they slowly stopped watching and ratings fell. Now everyone wants it back... if WWE holds off long enough this could lead to another "boom period" in the industry.

Hell I know as much as I prefer the "attitude" era over this PG stuff, I'd take the PG crap for a few years in hopes that the wrasslin biz benefits in the long run.

..Or maybe I'm just an idiot, but anyone else agree?

 

[wallybackpack]

I thought the invasion era was really cool. I just wish WWE did it right by having the WCW be a threat with guys like Goldberg, Sting, Flair, Big Poppa Pump, NWO, ect and not use DDP as a sick stalker.

 

[ShowStopper '97]

1997 was the most entertaining year in wrestling, in my opinion. It was the transition from the "New Generation" era to the "Attitude Era." There were so many different things going on that kept you tuned in. Both WWF and WCW had entertaining storylines in 1997 that were more realistic than what both companies had been doing in the years previous.

 

[Lockard23]

"Just watch and enjoy."

Sure, I will if it's entertaining. But I won't sit there and watch if it sucks and so much of it does now. Punk is the only great thing in WWE right now. There are a few good things here and there, but Punk is really the only thing that keeps me watching. If he retires and nothing else good comes along, I will probably tune out like I did 2006-2009 before Punk got really good.

Well, he was always good but he got even better in '09.

 

[Mebzone]

If we combine these two era where would our current day superstars be. Would Cena still be a mega star... would punk still be best in the world...where would sheamus be...what about daniel bryan

 

[akathelaw]

I wanted to make a thread that focuses on some comments made by Sheamus over Twitter, since they deal with a concept that's often talked about on this message board. We've seen the Attitude Era, the Ruthless Aggression Era, and some call the current product part of the PG Era. Every fan who closely follows wrestling is eager to watch the newest "era" of pro wrestling come in and change the creative direction of the shows. WWE main eventer Sheamus, a known close friend of WWE top exec Triple H, had this to say:

- Sheamus says that a new era is coming in WWE - the World Warrior Era. He tweeted on Tuesday:
"Celtic fighting style of ferocious & brutally intensive brawls, irregardless of outcome, will lead to a new Era in #WWE... The Warrior Era."

"The cometh of the new #WorldWarriorEra reminds me to be in awe of @wwethebigshow for standing tall after THAT chair beating #respect


The original news story is here:
http://www.WrestlingInc.com/wi/news/2012/1121/558141/sheamus/#ixzz2D4CGOPRw

So according to Sheamus, the new World Warrior Era would feature a more aggressive and vicious fight style than what fans are currently used to. I think that's fair, considering how matches can sometimes look a little too choreographed and "floaty" to be believable. Some talents are more comfortable getting roughed up and bruised a little in the ring, and it makes for a better product without getting into the extremes of chair shots and weapons.

When I think of what this World Warrior Era could become, I try to imagine a Main Event picture that would produce the kind of fights Sheamus is talking about. Looking at existing gimmicks and talent, this is who I would predict management would utilize for the 2 World championships:

Faces:
Sheamus - I feel he's already the poster boy of this movement. Sheamus embodies this kind of fight style. He loves fighting, and isn't worried as much about the outcome as he is inflicting punishment.

Mark Henry - Henry should only be face by alignment, meaning he still acts like a monster heel, but is on the side of the faces. Aggressive and hellbent on inflicting pain, Henry dislikes the new main event upstarts and wants to hurt them.

Randy Orton - Much like Henry, Orton behaves much like a villain, but is aligned as a face because he respects guys like Sheamus and Cena. He is always willing to fight other faces, making him somewhat of a tweener face.

John Cena - The big change with Cena here should be humility. He's the same face he's always been, but a LOT less jokey and cocky. The WWE is a much more fierce environment now, so Cena is more serious. No more 5-Knuckle Shuffle.

The Miz - The cocky, smartass face who often speaks what's on the crowd's mind. His motivation is to be the best, so he has the option to wrestle other faces as a tweener if necessary.

Ryback - The wrecking machine of WWE, this guy needs to be Cena's biggest fear. Make it seem as though Cena is afraid to piss off Ryback, this will make his mystique go off the charts.

Heels:
Wade Barrett - English brawler, dirty fighter. Barrett also embodies this movement as he is today.

The Big Show - The more aggressive, unfriendly Big Show is also ready to go in this new era.

Antonio Cesaro - Faces like Mark Henry and the Miz could elevate Cesaro into the main event. Cesaro would need to show more aggression and fierceness.

Alberto Del Rio - In order to stay viable in the main event, Del Rio needs to ditch Ricardo and up the aggression. No more driving cars to the ring either.

Dolph Ziggler - I think he is capable of playing the "Heartbreak Kid" role that Shawn used to solidify his main event spot. Ziggler's already demonstrated that he can fight anyone in the WWE.

CM Punk - Perhaps the only tweener heel, but Punk always works better as a bad guy. I say tweener because I still cheer for him, but his character should be a heel for sure.

What are your thoughts on a new era that focuses on "World Warriors" with huge physiques and loads of aggression? Do you think the WWE will go in yet another different direction? Who would you like to see comprising the "World Warrior Era" Main event? More importantly, who would become the face of the Era?

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

LOL...I think you are looking too much into this. I think Sheamus is just hyping his World Heavyweight Championship match nothing more.

 

[Wolf Pac]

I wouldn't read too much into this, I'm pretty sure this is just to hype up Sheamus for his Chairs match with Big Show at TLC. Something to get Big Show intimidated and make Sheamus look more bigger, meaner & ferocious on his quest to getting the World Title back.

World Warrior Era - Sounds like something out of Street Fighter.

 

[DannyDirtz]

Hi all .

ive just got a question and hope i can get some logical answers here.

Ive just seen that a new blu ray has come out called "WWE The Attitude Era" and its filled with all the best moments and history of the AE.

You can see info about it here
http://www.wwedvdnews.com/match-listing-wwe-the-attitude-era-dvd/29902/

Id like to know peoples opinions on why the WWE is focusing so heavily on the Attitude Era now?

Everything over the last year or so has been about the AE. From bringing out old legends (Heath Slater angle) to it being the core selling point of their latest video game (WWE'13) and now this dvd/blu ray?

Why so much focus on it?

IMO i think its great for long time fans BUT i would have thought it does more harm then good for the following 2 reasons.

1) The game shows the kids of today what they was missing and ultimately makes them realize what all the hoopla is over the AE from us long term fans.

2) Us long term fans watch the old AE footage and remember just how entertaining it was and then realize how poor todays product is. How can we go from hearing good old JR screaming "Oh my God hes broken in half!!" to Michael Cole yapping on about Twitter and other nonsense.

In conclusion theres only so far they can push the AE into todays product and with the release of this DVD i think they have just reached the end.

I mean from when you need the AE to sell your current product........somethings wrong.

Its seems like TV-14 is on everyones lips now that the product has truly become stale. All i can picture is Vince McMahon doing this ----> because he must know unless he lifts the restriction of a PG rating or hires a new creative team then the viewer ratings are going to get poorer and poorer and poorer.

Which kind of brings me to another question. The Attitude Era was brought in for the Monday Night Wars with WCW.... so now the WWE is losing views itself why wouldnt they do something along the same lines to get the views back up again?

We are in an age of "push the bar" tv.

Your thoughts and opinions please?

 

[TheBadGuy92]

(Im losing my Thread Post virginity here with this being my first post so bear with me IWC.) Most of us started watching WWE/F around the beginning or mid Attitude-Era, and as we all know thats when wrestling was at its best. We loved it tuned in every week and was always kept on the edge of our seats. But look at the WWE now, nothing compared to what it was, garbage compared to what it used to be, so why do we still watch it? Hoping it will go back to what it once was (All knowing that it wont)? Hoping this next week will be the week it goes back? Or our we literally addicted to it where we cant tune away? Our we holding on to our childhood? Holding onto a better time?? Or just flat out addicted? Most people dont even watch wrestling anymore, just read spoilers online...Just cant let the addiction go...

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Its entirely subjective that "wrestling" was at its best at the beginning or pre-Attitude Era. The AE actually exhibited some of the lousiest wrestling to date, because it depended so much on gimmicks and characters driven by angles, the actual wrestling was overlooked on more than a handful of occasions. Ruthless Aggression era exhibited much better wrestling and well-scripted television series, as opposed to thrash writing.

I'm not waiting for the AE era to come back or anything like it, you seem to forget people move on, companies move on, television moves on. WWE is in the PG era and it will always be the same story - if you don't like it, stop watching. If you're addicted to wrestling then you're probably a very weak person, I highly doubt you mean addicted in its typical context. I watch Breaking Bad, I'm hardly addicted to the show to the point where if I don't see it I'll hang myself.

I watch wrestling because I still get enjoyment out of it. What I don't get from watching Raw and Smackdown, six times out of ten I'll get watching Impact Wrestling. What I don't get out of either of them I'll get out of Ring of Honor. Wrestling is just something I like because it relaxes me, I don't want there to be another Attitude Era nor do I want trailer thrash writing, I'm perfectly content with the wrestling landscape of today, as I know are many others.

 

[Revenant87]

I cared far more about Wrestling during the AE than I ever have before or since. That said, I dont think bringing it back is the awnser in 2012. Times are very different now and I dont think it would translate.

If you switched on Raw in 98 or 99 it was barely a wrestling show. It was more like Jerry Springer with a wrestling ring. Hardly any of the matches seemed to last more than a few minutes and at least half of them seemed to end in a DQ due to interference or with something crazy happening. Not many clean finishes at all and very little in the way of technical wrestling or matches that were given time to develop (this doesnt apply so much to the ppvs though)

Dont get me wrong, I thought it was incredibly entertaining, wild and unpredictable, but it wasnt for everyone. I'm all for making the product a little more mature but more to the Ruthless Agression level, If you tried to exactly replicate the AE now and turn the "attitude" up to that extent it would be lame beyond belief and would probably lose viewers rather than gain them.

The toilet humour, the constant insider terms to acknowledge the smarks, the hardcore ECW style presentation, the backstage brawls etc were all cutting edge and cool as fuck at the time, now they are horribly outdated.

 

[mojmass]

When younger people watch an old wreslting match like attitude era matches and big historic matches they say for example "wow the rock vs stone cold for the wwf title at wrestlmania !!!!" or "Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar that is huge and awesome and can't be better!!!!" and so many other things.
But the feeling that these young people have is most of the time greater than the feeling of those old people who watched the match live and in its time cause these wrestler at that time (of course not in the examples that I provided) weren't as famous as they are now and because the younger think of them as legends and have these feelings.
So my questions: In the current era what matches have the potential to become like I described above in the future ?
Personally I think the Match for WWE title at survivor series 2012 (CM Punk (c) vs Ryback Vs John Cena) and wrestlmania 28 main event (John Cena vs The Rock) have these potentials so What are your picks ?