Define the Era's...

[Craig-O-Mac]

I hear the word Era being used alot on the forums. What defines an era in your book?

I know of the New Generation, The Attitude Era, and The Current PG Era. I've also heard smatterings about the Ruthless Aggression Era (and lately The Anarchy ERA WTF!?) . Can you give a quick rundown, in your opinion, of the various Era's. When they were, What they were etc....

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

I always felt like Hogan pretty much owned his own era which was more or less 85-93. 94-97 was the era when some stuff happened. 97-01 is attitude for me. 01-08 is another era of stuff. 08-present is the era of various things. I hope this helped.

 

[Y-2-Jay]

I used to think 02-05 was the "Brand Extenstion" Era but it didn't end in 05 so it can't be a era so i guess 02-05 is that "Ruthless Aggression" Era and after 05 wasn't said much so i guess 05-08 was the Cena-Batista Era where both RULED their brand (Some people forget how f'n popular Tista was easily more than Cena until he got injured) I end that at 2008 because it was very diffrent Batista was traded too RAW then Back to Smackdown where he turned heel. Now we are in the PG Era 2008-Current and that won't end until a BIG change happens (Change of rating/Big superstar era/New name gets refrenced alot) Some people also like to call it WWE Universe Era which is kind of true its said alot these days.

 

[ShawnDiscipleSmith]

Era -
1) a long or distinct period of history with a particular feature or characteristic.
Example - the era of glasnost
2) A major division of time that is a subdivision of an eon and which is itself subdivided into periods.
Example - the Mesozoic Era.

 

[Shadowmancer]

Late - 19th to 1906 : Pioneer Era
1906-1948: pre-NWA World Heavyweight Champion
1948 - 1959: NWA - Pre-AWA
1959 - 1963: Pre-WWWF
1963 - 1984: Territory System
1983 - 1992: Rock N Wrestling
1992 - 1995: Cartoon Era
1995 - 2002: Monday Night Wars/Attitude Era
2002 - 2005: Attitude Era Hangover
2005 - current: Cena-mania

 

[Shocky]

Since someone brought Geological time into this, I'll play along.

Start at the top with Eon.

Late 19th Century to Current Day would be the Modern Eon. Pretty much, it's an era where there is some sort of recognized championship and more importantly, some sort of record keeping and recorded documents are present.

To Break it up even further. The Era.

Era is thrown around an awful lot, but in my opinion, there are 3 Era's of the Modern Epoch.

The Pioneer Era
Late 18th Century to Post World War 2.

Guys like Shadow and Gelgarin are far more knowledgeable then I am with this older stuff. You have an era here that establishes some sort of World Champion recognition, and ultimately a transition from Shoot to Kayfabe. I wouldn't know how to further break this era down myself.

The Early Television Era
Late 1940's to Mid 1980's.
Here you have a distinct change from the previous era. Television begins to take off and the establishment of several things occurs. 1. The Territory System. This system takes off, forcing the establishment of the NWA to recognize championships. 2. The NWA championship becomes the undisputed crown jewel in the business.

As I said before, guys like Shadow and Gelgarin could really break this down further.

The Cable Television Era/McMahon Era
Mid 1980's to Current Day.

Vince McMahon essentially changed the business, and I don't think this Era will truly end until McMahon either steps down and away from the WWE, or dies. You can break this Era into Periods, which I think that there are three distinct periods of the Cable Television Era. I'm using the WWF/E to write history. Why? they won the wars with their competition, and the big dog gets to write history. Within Each Period I'll make Epoch's.

The Early Federation Period
1984 - 1994.

Rock N Wrestling
1984 - 1989

I don't really have a name for this Epoch
1989 - 1994

The Monday Night Wars 1994 - 2002

The New Generation 1994 - 1997
The Attitude Era 1997 - 2000
The InVasion 2001 - 2002

Brand Extension 2002 - Current
Ruthless Aggression 2002 - 2005
???? 2005 - 2007
PG Era 2007 - Current

I'll elaborate more on my dates if anyone wants me to.

 

[Craig-O-Mac]

Since you offered to elaborate Shocky I'll just ask. The Ruthless Agression Era, what exactly is this? I've heard of it but not as much as I've heard of ,say the New Generation or Attitude Era.

My guess is that it was a step away from character based performers and focused more on in-ring stuff? Paul E. Heyman's SmackDown Six I think was a part of this (Angle, Edge, Eddie, Chavo, Benoit and Rey). I think Lesnar at the top of the card and Cena coming thru was also a feature of this period.

 

[Shocky]

The Smackdown six were a big part of it. During that time Vince McKahon would routinely use the terms Ruthless Aggression. Not so much to be a name, but to describe what type of show the WWE was going to be.

You saw the OVW guys (Lesnar, Orton, Cena, Batista) debut in the company, the show become more mat based, and an escape from Kayfabe. Shows like confidential came out and started to reveal the men behind the curtain. The WWE got away from focusing on one guy to really pushing the brand of the WWE (most likely due to Austin fucking the company over).