If you let it die...

[Atrue1onewo1f]

I am a 28 year old guy who has no girlfriend, no real social life,no family, no kids. The only real family that I have is 1000+ Wrestling VHS/DVDs. A lot of brands, A lot of moments, A lot of Eras, But if you ask anyone The one thing that stands out... The one thing that everyone remembers is.... The Attitude Era! Now sure, many can't move on from that era. To be honest, I can see why because it's apart of the "Boom Period" Known as the 90's.

The point of this post is that I have noticed that WWE 2k16's "Superstar Showcase" will be centered around Stone Cold Steve Austin. That's cool but correct me if I am wrong, But wasn't he an intricate part of the "Attitude Era Mode" in WWE '13? I am not understanding why WWE feels the need to rely on "Attitude" to sell to a "PG" audience.

Example: D-Generation X Was Huge from 1997 to 2000, Then DX started to lose steam after being overexposed with multiple reunions. (2006 Should have been their only reunion.) By time they did the Raw 1000 I doubt people really cared for that reunion as they did the 2006 reunion.

I just wondered why put Austin on the Cover and make him the focal point. When 3/4 of the WWE Universe have never witnessed The Attitude Era. I mean The closest they get to Attitude is 3rd grade potty humor from John Cena. Its not like you can use the excuse "Its to educate our younger fans..." That was what they said WWE '13 would do in the Attitude Era Mode.

I guess old school sales.... But truth be told... Didn't WCW think that old school sold... And where are they now?

The point I am trying to make is, it's been well over 14 years since that era died. Let it die. Better yet... Think of it this way:

If you constantly dig up a grave and take a bone every time. What will be left of that legacy if you have stripped it of everything?

 

[ShinobiMusashi]

I never understood younger fans bitterness over people and their nostalgia for older wrestling. It's no different than a favorite movie or a favorite music CD, if you love it, you will always love it. I love Terminator 2 and And Justice For All so chances are I'm going to watch/listen to them every once in a while, same goes for the Attitude Era. I'm not just going to throw all of that shit away and forget about it. Sorry about your luck.

 

[Messiah]

The era has been dead for year's, that doesn't mean people can't reminisce about the past. The problem i have is when stupid fans continue to say WWE should bring back the attitude era, first of all, they can't bring back an era, even if they changed the rating to 14+, it still wouldn't be the Attitude Era. Just enjoy watching those moments if you feel like and quit saying WWE should go back to that era, because they shouldn't and they won't.

 

[TheLittleOne]

sorry to stir up rumors but i believe STONECOLD STEVE AUSTIN will play an intricate part in wm32 and the months leading up to it.. he deserves a true final curtain moment in the ring.. i refuse to look at wm19 as that, i could be wrong but i hope i'm not.
i dont see Austin vs another legend like brock or rock or HHH.. i imagine it would be someone young and that can go to do most of the work like owens, ambrose, rollins, many could do it..
and if i am wrong, then i suppose since wwe2k16 is shipping with 120 characters, and cena being on last years cover.. its cool to give the cover to the most popular superstar of all time..

my dream cover for 2k16.. maybe it will come true for another game
cover wise i would have preferred the traditional attitude era roster pic in top left corner of KANE, TAKER, HHH, AUSTIN, ROCK, FOLEY... with today's roster pic in top right corner of CENA, ORTON, ROLLINS, REINS, SHEAMUS, AMBROSE then the 80s boom roster in bottom center of HOGAN, SAVAGE, WARRIOR, ANDRE, DIBIASE, JAKE
then the WWE CHAMPIONSHIP in the center with BROCK LESNAR looking ready to devour any and all comers!!..
come on bro...awesome!

what say you?

 

[ShinobiMusashi]

The era has been dead for year's, that doesn't mean people can't reminisce about the past. The problem i have is when stupid fans continue to say WWE should bring back the attitude era, first of all, they can't bring back an era, even if they changed the rating to 14+, it still wouldn't be the Attitude Era. Just enjoy watching those moments if you feel like and quit saying WWE should go back to that era, because they shouldn't and they won't.

There are a lot of elements of the Attitude Era that they could never recreate now matter how hard they tried, but I don't see why they couldn't pull off a product that a couple of 30 year old blue collar class guys can gather around and drink a few cold ones and enjoy without being embarrassed about it. The landscape of television has changed a lot. They seem to have figured out how to incorporate violence into the show on a sustainable level(see every Brock Lesnar match over the past few years), I don't see why they couldn't incorporate some of the other elements and create a more mature product that isn't geared towards 12 year old girls that parent's won't let watch R rated movies. There was a lot more to the Attitude Era than just chairshots to the head.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Why do people remember the Attitude Era? Because it was the best era in pro wrestling history.

WWE isn't relying on the Attitude Era to sell to a PG audience. The "PG audience" will buy it because it has John Cena in it.

I agree DX should have only had the 2006 reunion and not the 2009 reunion, but one-time reunions like Raw 1000 was fine.

If you honestly think WWE has even a 1% chance of dying because they put Stone Cold in a video game, then you need to go to a doctor because there's something wrong with you.

The Attitude Era will never truly die. WWE might be PG, but people still talk about it and relive it, which you can do on the WWE Network for just $9.99!

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

sorry to stir up rumors but i believe STONECOLD STEVE AUSTIN will play an intricate part in wm32 and the months leading up to it.. he deserves a true final curtain moment in the ring.. i refuse to look at wm19 as that, i could be wrong but i hope i'm not.
i dont see Austin vs another legend like brock or rock or HHH.. i imagine it would be someone young and that can go to do most of the work like owens, ambrose, rollins, many could do it..
and if i am wrong, then i suppose since wwe2k16 is shipping with 120 characters, and cena being on last years cover.. its cool to give the cover to the most popular superstar of all time..

my dream cover for 2k16.. maybe it will come true for another game
cover wise i would have preferred the traditional attitude era roster pic in top left corner of KANE, TAKER, HHH, AUSTIN, ROCK, FOLEY... with today's roster pic in top right corner of CENA, ORTON, ROLLINS, REINS, SHEAMUS, AMBROSE then the 80s boom roster in bottom center of HOGAN, SAVAGE, WARRIOR, ANDRE, DIBIASE, JAKE
then the WWE CHAMPIONSHIP in the center with BROCK LESNAR looking ready to devour any and all comers!!..
come on bro...awesome!

what say you?

That would be a pretty awesome video game cover, but I do not want to see Stone Cold wrestling ever again. Doesn't he have problems with his neck? Even if he doesn't, he probably couldn't still go. I'm a huge fan of Stone Cold. He's my favorite wrestler of all time, but there's no reason for him to come back and wrestle again.

 

[Prince Vee]

I actually thought it's going to be Seth Rollins or Brock Lesnar. I never expected Stone Cold Steve Austin to be the cover of 2K(316. Because this past one year, if you count he number of stars who've achieved great success, its Seth Rollins and Brock Lensar. And with the recent misunderstandings between Vince and Stone Cold over the Stone Cold podcast on the WWE network, I never even thought about this name even once.

But yes, I understand why WWE uses Stone Cold Steve Austin. WWE needed someone's storyline to create the Story mode, apparently none of the stars in the active Roster has yet achieved the status that Stone Cold has received. You can bring up the name of John Cena, but he's still active in the roster and it would be a shame for all legends if they put over John Cena before all of them. Its a good choice nevertheless.

Cheers!!

 

[LionheartY2J]

IMHO, what truly made the Attitude Era/Monday Night Wars era great was because it had to be. It was all about competition. Essentially, the same show was going on at the same time, and with a captive audience. They couldn't afford to allow filler take up valuable space, as it would cost them viewers.

But now that WWE is the only show in town, they don't have to try quite as hard. They don't have to keep their viewers or their superstars satisfied, because where else are they going to go? TNA? Clearly not.

 

[SJ5522]

IMHO, what truly made the Attitude Era/Monday Night Wars era great was because it had to be.

Basically. Although I don't agree absolutely 100%.

Two ingredients made the attitude era:
- ECW already carving out their smutty, weapon filled, sweary niche before-hand. This was the green light for them.
- Monday Night Wars caused WWF to rethink their business model. Basically they were getting their arses kicked every week by WCW and thought "what sells? sex sex sex! and probably swearing and shit too!", basically it was a desperation move that while being the backdrop for plenty of good things, probably hurt some aspects of wrestling nearly beyond repair. I'd be far more embarrassed if a non-fan saw me watching an episode of Attitude era than if a non-fan caught me watching today's Raw.

"PG" took some good things out you could say, but what do we really miss?;

I thought it was odd at first that they would ban blading, but really, who's bleeding out of their foreheads? It's probably for the best blood just happens when it actually happens.
Certain moves taken away can be disheartening, especially when someone like a KENTA has joined WWE, but it's all in the interest of safety and I wouldn't wish for any worker not to be safe when working, whether they're taking weapon shots, or a piledriver or are working a TLC match or a Hell in a Cell. Unfortunately, all these safety measures were needed to make sure we do everything we can to avoid another Benoit.
The sex? Well, of course, they can't bring themselves to fully get rid of that. Now they use more suggestive language than the brashness of attitude promos, but it's still basically the same old shit. I hate most of this stuff, whether it's Ziggler and Lana from this week, near unforgivable RAPE angles in Attitude, or shitty demeaning catfights on ECW - the sooner wrestling fans get a significant attitude change in regards to women, the better.
The "divas" aren't going to do better stuff in the ring if the only thing you bother to point out about them is that you like how their arse looks and sure enough that's one thing that's hardly changed a bit from then to now.
Swearing? I'll give you that, it feels natural that tough wrestlers would swear without care. But you know, people are gonna fuck and then they're gonna squeeze out a child, and then they're gonna plonk said child infront of TV and then they're gonna complain about what they let child view. I don't like that the reason so many promos feel awkward and silly is because of kids. Don't get me wrong, kids liking the product is fantastic, I'm sure we all became fans that way, but it shouldn't come at the expense of lifelong fans' enjoyment. Oh well, the Careless Parent Society wins this round

In short, I feel the attitude era nostalgia is way WAY overblown, probably just due to both the strength of the roster then and the strength of wrestling in general at that time.
I wish there were still 3 big US promotions and that a lot of those wrestlers still wrestled on TV regularly. I definitely DON'T wish it was still Attitude era.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

The thing that made the "Attitude Era" work wasn't sex. It wasn't raunch.

It was competition.

We didn't watch back then because we wanted to see Sables boobs. They were just a bonus. We watched because these guys were going all out, digging as deep into their creative well as they could reach to keep topping the competition. There was no auto pilot. There weren't nights off. Every Monday was the Stanley Cup finals, and those guys on the screen were going to make damn sure they didn't disappoint you and give you a reason to the other channel.

You want to recreate that? Then pray for some real, legitimate competition for the WWE. Competition that can and will beat them. Pray for a real scare that their business will fail.

If you can get that.... you'll see a new Attitude Era.

But in the meantime, the guy that said to stop trotting out the old Attitude Era stars is bang on the fucking money. Everyone knows who the WWE is. Even the casuals know now that it's not the WWF, it's WWE. The casuals know wrestlers too... but do they know current ones?

Whenever you hear WWE pop up on some type of non wrestling media (radio show, newscast, sitcom, ect), what wrestlers get talked about? Do you hear about the Miz? Wade Barrett? Cesaro? Kevin Owens? Sami Zayn?

No. You'll hear about John Cena, and after him, it's the Rock, Stone Cold, Hogan, and virtually any character you can think of from the 80's and 90's. I'd be willing to bet that Koko B Ware is more recognizable among the casuals than Seth Rollins, and that's just wrong.

The WWE does a horrible job of dealing with this too. They'll constantly trot out long retired stars and treat them like a big deal. Have them either beat their current guys, or at best look on par with them, and I don't care about the whole 'it's fake anyways so who cares argument'. You see a young guy getting his ass handed to him by an old guy, and it gets really hard to take that young guy seriously anymore. In 2015, I don't want to see Stone Cold open a can of whoop ass anymore. If I even see him, I want to see him get his ass whooped, and whooped bad, and Austin would likely agree with me. I want to know these new guys are guys I should take seriously, and not a bunch of guys who still can't hang with middle aged men with dad bods and senior citizens. Why would I want to watch the new guys if every time a middle aged wrestler shows up they get beat up?

 

[FromGlasgow]

I can't see anything wrong with using Austin for the cover, Probably want the game to appeal to both the old school and new school fans rather than having someone like Roman Reigns on the cover, At the end of the day I think using someone like Austin's name on cover would be a better selling point than using someone like Reigns name.
Steve Austin, The Rock, Hulk Hogan are all household names and are names that will sell, Mention guys like Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose to average households and see how many they will have heard of.
If you dislike the stars of the past and if this upsets you so much I can only recomend not to buy the game.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I'm a little surprised to see Austin on the cover of the game, but as he is a huge part of it's content- the Showcase mode, I can see why he was selected. He still has huge name recognition to the casual, lapsed or occasional fan- far more than the majority of the current roster (Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Kevin Owens etc).

I am quite surprised however, that they didnt use Brock Lesnar for the cover star this year, given that he has been pretty much unstoppable and is marketed as the "conquerer of the Streak" etc, and has alot of name value to the general public. I'd liked to have seen a "face off" between Lesnar and Austin with both of them holding onto "their era's" WWE Title, which blend together in the middle. I think that would have been pretty cool.

 

[Wald]

As a guy who still watches the product I'd have liked to have seen Brock Lesnar on the cover and I think it would have made financial sense too. That said, there were times during the Monday Night Wars that wrestling, that is Nitro & Raw combined, were drawing in 10% of everyone watching TV in the United States on a Monday night.

That's a huge market to tap for some nostalgia. If they could create a strategy/action hybrid game whereby you could start as either Bischoff or Vince in 1995 and play through the Wars as a booker I genuinely think they'd make a lot of money.