Does WWE have to replicate the attitude era to ever be HUGE again???

[Why Always Me]

Or could the WWE start to get 5's and 6's for Raw and Smackdown every week in it's current state?

I watched a raw recently with a fatal 4 way tag main event of The Rock/D'Lo Brown v The Outlaws v Mankind & Kane v Austin & Taker. It had all the major champions in the match and was amazing, the crowd was so into it (there are so many matches I could of used as an example, this was just the most recent one from my trip down memory lane).

If you don't believe that the WWE as it is will ever reach the heights of the late 90's/early 00's, then what would need to be changed? The PG rating? Scraping the roster split? Unifying the titles?

Discuss.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

There is no way in Hell that Raw would ever draw a 5.0 or a 6.0 in its current state. Typically, the way to tell when a wrestling boom is going to occur is almost a couple weeks after they change the program content ... which is what happened when the Attitude Era began. It created a ton of buzz, and a boom occurred ... especially while competing with WCW.

This PG format has been in place for a little over 2 years now, and ratings have decreased, overall across Raw, Smackdown, and ECW. The public certainly isn't thrilled with it, as if they were, ratings wouldn't be decreasing. It's more so that the public as a whole is simply tolerating it. The Guest GM concept, however, has at least helped Raw pull up from the low 3's to the mid to sometimes upper 3's. I don't think it is a great long-term solution, but I give them credit for trying, as it seems to be helping, at least for the time being.

However, there is no way in Hell the PG Era will consistently draw in the 4's or even get up to the 5's or 6's like you said.

If WWE wants those types of ratings, it certainly isn't going to be with a program reflecting the content you see today.

 

[Black318]

they're going to have to something because there was a time that you couldn't pay me to miss raw but now on monday nights i either watch anime on scifi or something else all together. the same people in the main event, the same people holding the titles, the evaporation of the tag division, characters being under used or just held back, and storylines that sometimes make no sence is the reasons i stopped watching as much. Until someone in wwe hq gets the nuts to call vince out on some of the bullshit thats out now this is pretty much it. people talk shit about tna but if they really get their shit together they will bite vince in the ass like wcw did laugh now but remember i told you so

 

[WrestlingMark84]

the reason wwe is in it's slump right now is because they have a problem creating new stars so only rehasing old gimmicks and storylines add to the problem,The time is now to find this breakout star and build them up slow..the attitude era was great in it's time but that time has passed...some of us as viewers are also to blame we can't let this era go this is the reason why you have so many wrestlers compared to Austin ie Kennedy,Cena Ie the Rock it's ridiculous and until creative can have faith in their wrestlers abilities they will continue to not have new home grown stars..

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The Attitude Era was the first time when a lot of the lines in wrestling were blurred. The straight forward bad guy/good guy dynamic was thrown out. Who was good and who was bad wasn't really so clear anymore, the black and white aspect of good and evil was done away with. This attracted a lot of people that liked what they saw, but the Attitude Era was a fad, it lasted for a few years and then those people that were attracted to the fad went away.

Raw isn't doing horrible ratings this year, not by a stretch. Raw is doing ratings this year comparable to what the company was doing before the explosion of the Attitude Era in 1998. Prior to that, the WWE averaged mid and upper 3s with the occassional 4. That's exactly what Raw is doing now.

By Nielsen standards, a full point is equal to 1,145,000 households. Since the Donald Trump commercial free episode of Raw, the show has been averaging a 3.8. During the same time period as last year, Raw was averaging about a 3.3. That means that somewhere in the vacinity of about 570,000 more households is watching Raw than there were at this time last year. Might not sound dramatic, but it's pretty good for a show on cable.

Now while it's obviously too soon for anything final, Raw seems to be on track of doing better this year than last year. In 2008, Raw's yearly average was about 3.25. They had several episodes last year that only pulled in 2's in the ratings. As of right now, the average Raw rating for the year is 3.67. So, if Raw continues to draw consistently what it's been doing the past few months for the rest of the year, then it will have somewhere in the vacinity of 400,000-450,000 more viewers this year than it had last year. So, I don't know what sort of slump WrestlingMark84 is referring to. Raw had a bad year last year and it seems to be rebounding pretty well.

Wrestling and society in general has changed a lot since the late 90s and very early 2000s. Shows that are controversial, pushed the boundaries and even changed conceptions were all the rage back then. Now, shows like that are really nowhere to be found. Viewers on the whole are more conservative now, hence a lot of television programming is geared back towards that. Also, the Monday Night Wars helped fuel the Attitude Era but the WWE has no competition right now. The WWE slayed the dragon that was WCW and there are currently no more dragons to slay. Do I think PG content will draw 5s and 6s consistently? Nah, not a chance. But now, an Attitude Era resurrection probably isn't going to either. I think the WWE is going to just have to bide its time until the television audience at large decides a change has to be made and then follow suit just as they did with the PG era. They're not drawing as big in ratings as they once were and I don't really think there's anything they can do that can reclaim those 6's they were drawing 10 years ago, at least not right now.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

Did WWE have to replicate the Golden Era in order to be HUGE again? No. They were innovative with Attitude Era programming. Thus, they will be innovative again, the public will get on board, and ratings will be high.

There's also a recession going on...and it's the summer. Once the fall rolls around, the ratings should hopefully see an increase.

 

[Slam Master]

There's no reason to do that again. They don't have serious competition, it would kill sponsors, and parents would prevent their kids from watching(the young ones are the target). They went "attitude" because they were desperate to stay alive and beat the competition. They went extreme and pushed the envelope with shock TV to get attention and it worked. Now they are a monopoly and an entity.

There's no need to do anything crazy or extreme anymore. As long as they get ratings in the mid 3s or 4 for RAW its good for them. Smackdown! isn't available in all areas and either is Superstars ( I don't get WGN). ECW is just for development and is more wrestling-based. Vince wants to attract a younger audience so he can eventually make the program a tad more risque, but it will never be what it once was. I honestly didn't care too much for that era anyways.

 

[Spaceman Spif]

They can't replicate the attitude era, no way, no how, it was era and that era has long passed. Yes ratings are down for the WWE, but for most other programming on tv, they are still really high, so they are doing fine. Yeah it would be nice and cool for the WWE to score 5's and 6's again, but they don't need to, so they really won't even try.

Besides as has already been said of this thread and been said by me, it's really not the WWE's fault, as a whole it's our fault as fans, because we are unwilling to let go of the attitude era and accept the fact that we need to change and adapt to a new era. Give it time, yeah it's been a slow start to the PG era, but that's because of the fan resistance it has met, however once more and more fans start to accept it, the ratings will climb back up.

Also the attitude era was the last big wrestling boom period because they was such great competition between to behemouth wrestling orginations who were willing to pull out all the stops to pull a head in the ratings. There is no competition now, as much as some would like to think, TNA is no threat to the WWE, ROH is not threat, there are no threats to the WWE, so they only have themselves to compete against. The boom period is over with, the competition period is over with, the attitude era is over with.

The WWE would love 5's and 6's, but they will settle for 2's and 3's.

 

[AllHailJericho]

I think that their is a few keys for to WWE to become HUGE again. I think in about 2-5 years WWE will change back to their old ways (TV14).

Also, this might sound weird but, I think TNA could play a role in this. If TNA ever averages 2.0 or higher in 5 years WWE will feel threatened and start using new and different ideas. That's what happened with WCW. As soon as WCW got really popular, the Attitude Era began. So as soon as TNA becames popular, if ever, WWE will change for the better.

 

[Wrath]

No. After Attitude era finished WWE still continued it's edgy programming until 2007 but the ratings were started to drop slowly and right now ratings started to slowly rise again. The problem with Attitude era was the viewers that WWE gained from Attitude era were non wrestling fans.They watched the product because of sex,violence and blood. You want proof ? Look at the highest rated segment in that era. A comedy segment which has nothing to do with wrestling. They did not care wrestling they wanted to watch Austin's flipping,DX's sexual jokes,Rock and Mankind's hilarious promos etc. When the era has finished they all gone. If they were real fans they would've continued watching but instead they all left. Why to fuck wrestling business again for fans that watched WWE for not wrestling. It only damages the business. Look how WWE still tries to make Cena cheered and Orton booed. Attitude era was something that should've been done to beat WCW in ratings again but it damaged WWE in long term. Attitude era was just a fad if WWE turns it's program like in Attitude era it won't gain any viewers. Because what made that era good was being unpredictable but right now we've seen everything we can see from edgy programming there is no shock factor anymore.

What should WWE do in order to do ratings like back in the Attitude era days. First of all RAW's ratings are still great and don't forget the effects of internet and increasing amount of channels. Even series that only has 3 episodes has it's fanbase. So how fair it is to compare the ratings of today and 10 years ago ?For me the only thing WWE should do is turning non wrestling fans to wrestling fans by giving a wrestling product like right now(I don't mean a solid wrestling product like ROH) PG era is a good way to start to create a new fanbase. Just think about a 6-year-old WWE fan he would at least watch WWE for 10 years so it's more profitable to target kids instead of us.That's why WWE shouldn't return back to Attitude era ratings are increasing slowly. Just have patience.

 

[BOSS Productions]

Actually the Attitude Era ended but WWE was still huge in 2002-2004 so all WWE needs to do is push there talent because you can not honestly say that bringing back insane story lines and girls dancing with there tops of made WWE huge.It was the huge push Steve Austin, The Rock, Kurt Angle and Triple H received in this Era was what made WWE so entertaining.See right now there is no competition to WWE so they can push there superstars as slow as they want to but it had nothing to with the Era I mean we can still have all the Attitude Era superstars right now and it still would not make a difference because we will see the same guys in the main event so all WWE needs to do is push there talent and more people will watch.

 

[The Decrypter]

Actually the Attitude Era ended but WWE was still huge in 2002-2004 so all WWE needs to do is push there talent because you can not honestly say that bringing back insane story lines and girls dancing with there tops of made WWE huge.

I agree with this, also because of things like Brock Lesnar coming post-attitude era, and WWE during that time was still fun to watch. Brock Lesnar was never great on the mic, but come on. He's the best in nearly anything he does.

 

[Kanye South]

Like Jack-Hammer said, the audiences were different back then. Remember shows like South Park and Family Guy? Remember how they were the shit, especially South Park? Now fast foward to today, The Simpsons and Family Guy are on FOX (a major channel), while South Park is on Comedy Central. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but FOX is a whole lot bigger than Comedy Central. The reason why one is on a larger stage than the other is because Family Guy and Simpsons are very tame compared to South Park.

So what I'm trying to say is that the audience of the overall media has changed from 10 years ago. The WWE is doing fine. They may not be making the smartest choices in our eyes, but we aren't the ones running a multi-million dollar company.

 

[showstoppermike87]

Ok what i am about to say may shock you but the attitude era was TV PG for a little while before it turned TV14 or some shows were PG others tv14 in the attitude era.. thats right so the wwe today isnt just known as the PG era it is just known as the sucky era because in the attitude era it didnt matter what the rating of the show was there was plenty of unbelieveable talent amazing storylines and everything made sense and kept you on the edge of your seat.. dont beleive me that the attitude era was TVPG for a little while? check out the begining of this RAW from August 1998 2 weeks before summerslam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w75Z2GGY3cg wait a few seconds and you'll see the TVPG rating in the corner.. so isnt that shocking the attitude era was PG !!! its just that the attitude era is 1 million percent better than todays current shitty product with wrestlers that have 0 passion 0 drive 0 charisma 0 personality 0 in ring ability and just wanna be in the wwe to get rich, laid and famous on tv its pretty pathetic glad to have been a fan back when wrestling was actually fun and exciting to watch and the shows actually meant something not just some awful shit thrown together with jeremy piven, cena, the miz, hornswoggle, a few divas and more..

 

[Kanye South]

Ok what i am about to say may shock you but the attitude era was TV PG for a little while before it turned TV14 or some shows were PG others tv14 in the attitude era.. thats right so the wwe today isnt just known as the PG era it is just known as the sucky era because in the attitude era it didnt matter what the rating of the show was there was plenty of unbelieveable talent amazing storylines and everything made sense and kept you on the edge of your seat.. dont beleive me that the attitude era was TVPG for a little while? check out the begining of this RAW from August 1998 2 weeks before summerslam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w75Z2GGY3cg wait a few seconds and you'll see the TVPG rating in the corner.. so isnt that shocking the attitude era was PG !!! its just that the attitude era is 1 million percent better than todays current shitty product with wrestlers that have 0 passion 0 drive 0 charisma 0 personality 0 in ring ability and just wanna be in the wwe to get rich, laid and famous on tv its pretty pathetic glad to have been a fan back when wrestling was actually fun and exciting to watch and the shows actually meant something not just some awful shit thrown together with jeremy piven, cena, the miz, hornswoggle, a few divas and more..

Please, tell me how the WWE is shitty. It is in no fucking way shitty. I'm sorry, but not every face can beat up the McMahons and get over. Cena did it and he didn't get over that way, he got over differently. Honestly, the WWE is very innovative today. When's the last time we saw a face McMahon? When's the last time we saw a superstar with Orton's intensity? Fuck, when was the last time Jeff Hardy was a real champion? Right now, the WWE is very exciting. On Raw, we have the return of DX, a potentially awesome continuation of Cena and Orton's 2007 feud, which had all the intensity of an Attitude Era feud. We have an exciting midcard: Jack Swagger, Carlito, Kofi Kingston, MVP, Chris Masters, The Miz, etc. We also have the suspense factor of who's going to host Raw. On Smackdown, we have the question of whether Matt Hardy is going to go heel or face. We have John Morrison trying to break into the main event. We have CM Punk cutting some of the best promo work I have seen in a long time. Not to mention the emphasis on pushing the tag team division, along with the midcard and the impending return of The Undertaker. On ECW, we have an overall awesome show with Abraham Washington, Christian, Ezekiel Jackson, William Regal, etc. We also have a very fresh main event scene plus THE FUCKING HURRICANE!

Xfear put it best when he said that he'd rather be one of those stupid posters that get excited over everything the WWE does, rather than those elitists that shit on everything they do. Just because Maryse and Mickie James aren't walking to the ring with only 2 Ritz crackers and a shoestring, and John Cena isn't calling Josh Matthews a jabroni, that doesn't mean that the WWE automatically sucks. The intelligence level of your response makes me wonder if you were the lovechild of that human who fucked a monkey and created AIDS.

 

[JohnnyTheAlphaMale]

Lets be honest. RAW sucks big time. It really does. The DX reunion(s) are terrible. Cena/Orton could be OK but it all feals like old hat. Guest hosts are hit or miss with only Shaq and Debiase being any good.

The best show is Smackdown which has a fresh feel to it. Stars with talent are being made (Morrison and Ziggler) and Jeff and Punk are true main eventers now along with Rey who is being booked rather well for once.I assume Matt Hardy is to get his shot soon also along with a deserving veern in Kane. It feals new and exciting but isnt treated as the "A" show. If it was then WWE's ratings would be a whole lot better. If you notice there are less ego's on Smackdown making it much more entertaining for the fans. Unlike Raw, which houses HHH etc. I am not a hater, but he's so stale on that show. If he still has to be the King let him preside over ECW.

Anyway, I digress, Raw bad and feels like WCW in 1999/2000 (and we know that was messy), Smackdown good (feels like WWE 1999/2000 minus the sexual content and blood)

 

[Crush1]

Of course not. People who claim that the WWE isn't huge needs to open their eyes. They provide entertainment around the world. In fact the WWE is bigger now than that it was in the AE in terms of profit. I think your talking about the quality of the product. Sure I also complained about Raw but that doesn't mean Smackdown or ECW is bad. The WWE is great at what they are doing right now. The only brand that I personaly think lacks quality is Raw. But things change. This doesn't mean that Raw will stay this bad. When people return and stars get created Raw will become better. The WWE cant bring back the AE like we evolve so does the WWE.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

Of course not. People who claim that the WWE isn't huge needs to open their eyes. They are currently the biggest profit making company in the United States. Not to mention that they provide entertainment around the world. In fact the WWE is bigger now than that it was in the AE. I think your talking about the quality of the product. Sure I also complained about Raw but that doesn't mean Smackdown or ECW is bad. The WWE is great at what they are doing right now. The only brand that I personaly think lacks quality is Raw. But things change. This doesn't mean that Raw will stay this bad. When people return and stars get created Raw will become better. So your question is kind of ignorant. Since the WWE is larger than they were they dont have to do anything.

Congratulations, you just broke the Bullshit Meter. Can you please support that outrageous claim with a link? Much obliged.

Being a fan of the company and its product is one thing. Being an absolute mark for it that you feel the need to actually deceive the public with outright lies is something else.

Furthermore, how do you specifically define "bigger" now, compared to the AE?

Larger profits? Yes. Vince has found ways over the years to cut expenses and raise revenues from less people.

Bigger fanbase? Absolutely not. Not even close.

You can claim that his question was "ignorant". However, your ludicrous claims absolutely reek of ignorance.

 

[Super Crazy]

The WWE does not need to replicate the Attitude Era. Right now wrestling isn't as popular as it once was because of the whole PG rating. Right now Vince thinks that appealing to the kids is the right way to go. In a way, I kind of see his point in appealing to them. Right now, the fans are young, they don't want to see blood and all that other gruesome stuff. But as the fans begin to age, so the product will change. As the fanbase of children gets older, they will do one of two things, they will either grow out of wrestling all together, or they will want to see more violence and blood. The second thing hopefully is what occurs. Now, Vince will realize that his audience is getting older. Everything the fans want to see will happen, we will go back to seeing bloody and brutal matches. You will hear swearing again during a live broadcast. See once the kiddies get older, there's nothing to worry about, because all the older fans who had already seen this before the PG era will be happy as hell because it will be like it used to be. Vince doesn't need to, and cannot recreate the attitude era. He just needs to get out of the PG rating.

Once the PG rating is gone, the ratings on TV will skyrocket again. Once we see edgier Tv and bigger promos again wrestling will start to boom. Hopefully by the time this boom period occurs, TNA will be huge enough to be serious competition to the WWE. I would love to see a war again. I know that's something the attitude era has, but I think the WWE would thrive off of competition. Once TNA steps up their game and is either in, close to, or on the rise to being the same level as WWE, Vince will get scared. Once there is real competition between the brands the ratings will soar.

Hopefully Vince doesn't try to make his stars into what the wrestlers during the attitude era were though. I mean we don't need another Stone Cold, The Rock, DX, the list goes on. All the wrestlers will just have to be edgier versions of themselves. Maybe we could finally see this Rated R nickname of Edge's truly truly shine as there would be no PG era.

See, everyone makes Vince out to be an idiotic lunatic for wanting to please the kiddies. But as I said, it's smart business. You please the kids, when they become teens/adults they will want to see a more violent, edgy product and Vince will deliver and wrestling will boom again, hopefully for another good 6 or 6 , hell maybe even 10 years.

WWE is getting slightly edgier with each show, hopefully they continue on this path and get the ratings going again. I would love to see the WWE pull in 4's, 5's, and 6's like they used it, but it's not going to happen now. Let the WWE run through this era, and just wait it out. Great things will come, just be patient with the company and it's product.

 

[FromTheSouth]

The WWE doesn't need to replicate the Attitude era. They can't. There isn't that kind of star on the horizon. There is no Rock or Austin. Cena and Orton are good, but what they need is a story a feud which changes everything. What the WWE needs to do is exactly what they're doing, content wise. The product needs to grow with the company.

The fans of the 80's were mystified by all the territorial stars matching up that never got to face each other before. The company just nationalized and new matchups were a draw. New tag teams were a draw. The children of the 70's grew up with amazing stars in their home area, and then, when another territory would send a star, or tour, everyone's imaginations would flare up, and then all fans would talk about would be the hypothetical match up between Hogan and Andre. Fast forwarding a couple of years, national syndication, an eventual deal with the USA network, and a combination of new stars and new rivalries and a fierce belief in what can be achieved with a little imagination and some really bright lights.

Those kids of the seventies became working adults in the 80's. They had money to buy all the cross promoted merchandise, the new phenomenon of PPV, and more importantly, the bought into the idea that wrestling best served as a touring company with national appeal as opposed to a local operation with limited possibilities. Americans like the best, and combining the best from all over truly brought about a "golden" age for the business.

Those children of the 70's had the children of the 80's. These kids were born at and fans at the right time. Hulkamania was huge. Their parents bought the PPV's because they finally got their dream matchups. The kids got exposed to the best the business had to offer. The problem is that the best started to age, and so did the young fans. As the young fans aged, media matured as well. No longer were the Cleaver's the American family. Now, TV was edgier and the wrestling was still a cartoon. Then Hulk Hogan turned and everyone's innocence was shattered. Then Vince exposed the business.

These young fans needed something edgier and DX, the nWo, Stone Cold Steve Austin, "Mr." McMahon fit that bill. The programming blew up, on two fronts, and ratings and buyrates followed suit.

Two generations of fans who grew up with an idea of what they wanted, and then when they matured to a point, the trigger was pulled. What the WWE needs to do to get those magical sevens and eights again is isolate a desire of these PG fans and pull the trigger when the median age is at a point when it can be handled. I am pretty sure I have lost touch with the interests of the elementary school crowd, but I have a theory that the next wave after fantasy in the 80's and reality in the 90's, will be overly dramatic story focused shows. Whereas attitude was based on reality, i.e. hating your boss, rebelling against authority, we will be seeing love stories, murder mysteries, and a lot of music. Look at the stupid emo kids at the mall. Watch some TV. Everyone wants to escape their lives and not enter a fantasy world, but a more interesting version of their own lives. So, her come the WW O.C., and since we already have an emo fighting a straight edge for the belt, I would argue that this era is already upon us.

We just need a name. We had the golden age, Attitude, and now......The Emotude Age? The Black Nailpolish Era? I think I'm going to stick with the WW O.C.

 

[Why Always Me]

Of course not. People who claim that the WWE isn't huge needs to open their eyes. They are currently the biggest profit making company in the United States. Not to mention that they provide entertainment around the world. In fact the WWE is bigger now than that it was in the AE. I think your talking about the quality of the product. Sure I also complained about Raw but that doesn't mean Smackdown or ECW is bad. The WWE is great at what they are doing right now. The only brand that I personaly think lacks quality is Raw. But things change. This doesn't mean that Raw will stay this bad. When people return and stars get created Raw will become better. So your question is kind of ignorant. Since the WWE is larger than they were they dont have to do anything.

Congratulations, you just broke the Bullshit Meter. Can you please support that outrageous claim with a link? Much obliged.

Being a fan of the company and its product is one thing. Being an absolute mark for it that you feel the need to actually deceive the public with outright lies is something else.

Furthermore, how do you specifically define "bigger" now, compared to the AE?

Larger profits? Yes. Vince has found ways over the years to cut expenses and raise revenues from less people.

Bigger fanbase? Absolutely not. Not even close.

You can claim that his question was "ignorant". However, your ludicrous claims absolutely reek of ignorance.

Lord Sidious, thank you for your response to Holy Crush The Hidden World Down Dragon.

The WWE is nowhere near as popular as it was 10 years ago. 10 years ago ratings were in the 5's and 6's, every Raw, Smackdown and PPV was a legit sellout, crowds were rowdy and it was damn entertaining.

One thing that adds more weight to this argument is speaking to friends who know I am still a wrestling fan. My friends were the people who would watch it occasionly but were never fans. They all say that back in the day so to speak, they would happily watch the show, but on the odd occasion when they watch Raw or Smackdown now, they all say it isn't the same as it used to be.

The favourites back then were The Rock, Undertaker, Austin, Kane, Triple H and DX. My friends say todays big stars such as Cena, Orton, CM Punk and Jeff Hardy aren't in the same league.

Eeryone though seems to think its stupid splitting the rosters and titles, just this morning at work people were saying how silly it is to have 3 World Champions in one company.

 

[Freddy4190]

I know so many people pray and wish that the WWE would go back to it's badass attitude era type of wrestling/entertainment, but it's not gonna happen. That was the past, it's over with, it was a great time, but it's history now. Besides, I don't think you could replicate that if you tried, the whole feel, the energy, the greatness about it, it's not to be duplicated, I think that was one of the few things in wrestling that can't be redone or copied or anything. The WWE is doing good now, they're bland in some aspects, but for the most part their product is still pretty decent, they're very slowly building new stars, and the main event guys are very very slowly moving out of the limelight and the title fight. I say leave the WWE the way it is.

Edit: The WWE is huge now. They always have been, always will be, NOTHING is gonna change that.

 

[YoYoYumba]

The attitude era was the greatest time to be a fan of the WWF/E and I doubt we'll witness a more entertaining and edge of your seat type of product again. However I completely agree that a change is seriously needed in order to make the product far more entertaining again. At the moment the product is extremely stale and alot of the blame is on the PG rating because of how restricted the wrestlers are with what they can say and do. The feuds you see at the moment are no-where near as good because what can the wrestler's do to really make the crowd react or care? Being able to cut great promo's is a way to get the crowd to react but in order to do that you have to give the wrestler's something to work with and by that I mean material that you know will actually have an effect on the fans. What got the wrestlers over with the fans previously was alot to do with how less restricted they were with what they could say on the mic and be able to really beat the hell out of their opponents...make them bleed, swearing at them etc. This is what made for great feuds and the feuds make the fans care about what happens in the ring more. Even someone like Cena, who is completely G rated or C for Children rated.. character wise that is, was able to get over with the fans with his heel rapper gimmick when he was able to actually talk trash on the mic...in another words alot less restricted in what he could say and have an attitude. Take a look at The Rock's mic skills, look at some of the things he was able to say. He got over the fans in a huge way with his mic skills and the content he was able to use. How bout Stone Cold using the middle finger and talking so much trash, it was F***ing awesome. If the WWE is ever to become huge in terms of ratings, they need to create something more edgy...scraping the pg rating would be a start and invest more time into creative feuding. Overall these things will actually make the fans tune in and care alot more about the wrestlers and the matches.

 

[Honkey_Kong]

I always looked at the Attitude Era as a cheap knockoff of the real ECW. I mean we all loved the attitude era, but I wouldn't have ever stayed up until 3am on a thursday night to watch Raw is War. I did do that every week to watch ECW (that's what time it was on in the Los Angeles area).

One thing I noticed from the 80's generation to the new generation in the early 90's was the in-ring matches became a lot more exciting. Even at this time though, there was still a lot of bland matches, but the jump to the Attitude Era was when they went from real uneventful matches where the biggest spot in the match was a clothesline or a DDT to matches where the matches started with DDTs and incorporated sledges and jumping off the top of the building. Then after the Attitude Era, I noticed that the matches have slipped back in to the boring old new generation and even 80's style.

I know the WWE doesn't give a fuck what the IWC likes, but they can get that overall appeal with the PG rating if they promoted it as a sport rather than some soap opera only an 8 year old can appreciate. The average kid doesn't give a fuck about the storyline, they want the action. And you know what adult audiences want action too.

They need to get rid of the shit workers and bring in top notch workers. Morrison and Punk are the best on their current roster (seeing Hardy is leaving).

 

[The Gribbler]

Wrestling comes in cycles. The 80's had their boom period, then a down patch for a while, then the Monday Night Wars rolled around and there was another boom period. As long as the WWE are not struggling in the down patch then there isn't a problem. They can simply wait it out until that next great superstar or Era comes along and they can do what they have done every time that has come around.

Make an absolute bucketload of money and entertain the hell out of us.