If you were younger, would you enjoy today's product as much as you did back then?

[Tyler44]

Think back to when we were younger. It seems when we were a lot younger, we loved WWE so much. We always think back to WWE as being so good when we were kids. We look back and remember greats such as Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Bret Hart, Stone Cold, and The Rock. We wish for the Attitude Era back where story lines and great matches were being tested daily each week. We remember this time as when tag teams were great, the world championship titles actually matters, and feuds were pretty much awesome. We look back and wish we could go back and relive those moments. But now, we stay in the present time and realize what we are watching on WWE programming is not anything like how it used to be. The WWE is not longer aimed directly at middle aged males, but it seems like RAW is 98% aimed at young children. Now WWE has always been aimed at children, but it seems Vince has made it JUST for children.

Now this brings me to the actual question. Do you think that if you were a young kid from the ages of anywhere between 6-11 at this moment today, do you think you would enjoy WWE programming like we all did when we were in our young stages of our lives?

For me personally, I did not grow up watching the Attitude Era unfortunately. I started watching on a daily basis in 2002 and continued on from there. When I look back, I remembered just waiting for RAW to come on because when in 03 and 04, I was younger and loved everything I saw on RAW. I remember every week I wanted the main event to come so bad, but besides that I enjoyed every bit of WWE television weekly. I watched Velocity, Sunday Night Heat, RAW, Smack Down! on Thursdays, and EVERY ppv. But as a child watching today's WWE, I think I would probably still love it. I think Cena would be my role model and I would not be sick of Orton vs. Triple H. DX would be like the Rock to me and I would most likely hate Orton. Overall for me, I feel I would probably love WWE if I was a young kid today.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

This is an excellent question. I honestly try to put myself into a mindset of having a product that kids can find enjoyable, as well ... which is why I am a huge proponent of kids/families having a show, and older teens and adults having a show.

I began watching wrestling when I was 13, and there is no way in Hell I would have found Hornswoggle entertaining even at that age. If I started any younger, I still don't think I would have found him amusing at all, and would be almost as disgusted with him as I am today. He just does not appeal to me, regardless of what age I would be.

DX, again, thinking back to when I was younger, I don't think I would have enjoyed them as much either if I was smaller, but they would be more tolerable than Hornswoggle. I just don't find their humor funny. And if I don't today, chances are I wouldn't find the same humor as funny back when I was 13, either. I don't think my tastes have really changed all that much.

Characters I enjoyed during the Hogan Era were:


The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase (greatest Heel of all time, imo)
Ric Flair
Macho King Randy Savage
Hulk Hogan (although I was for the Heels, I enjoyed Hogan immensely)
The Honky Tonk Man
Ravishing Rick Rude
Sgt. Slaughter
Rowdy Roddy Piper
Mr. Perfect
Jake The Snake Roberts
Demolition
Hart Foundation


and I loved the managers:

Bobby Heenan
Jimmy Hart
Slick
Mr. Fuji
Sensational Sherri
Paul Bearer


And I would still enjoy that product today, far more than what is on my screen today, if brought back. No doubt about it.

It isn't so much the PG stuff that is the bigger issue. It's the poorly written comedy that The Audience of One finds enjoyable, and the overall toned down Creative Direction that Audience of One took the company in .... since he knows what we like better than we do, evidently.

 

[Y-2-Jay]

That is a very good question. Its hard to put yourself in that sort of mind it would be easy if grew up watching the hogan era because in a way this PG era and the hogan era are similar. But being a person who grew up watching during the attitude era it is harder i think probally because when your younger you mostly dont care about the matches themself but the storys and the characters that are in wrestling which was my situation.

At first because of people like austin and rocky. Also the humor is for younger people so it would make me enjoy it more so i think its more down to the characters than the wrestling itself in my opinion.

 

[Sean Valjean]

A very good question, one I've asked my self several times (usually when watching Raw) I've been watching wrestling off and on since I was like 5 but started watching regularly when I was 9 or 10.

I grew up watching the attitude era and fell in love with it because it was so edgy and all the characters were so cool. I'd probably still not like the product much if I was younger because I was against "kiddy" stuff a lot back then. I watched a lot of mature stuff as a kid, especially comedy, so the comedy the WWE does now still wouldn't cut it with me then. In fact, if today's product was like this when I was a kid, I probably would've stopped watching all together.

Then again, kids today seem alot more "kiddy" than when we were kids. Kiddy things seem more toned down than kiddy things from back in the day. They're easier to please, hence Hornswoggle's popularity with them. Maybe that's why I wouldn't the PG era as a kid.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

That is a very good question. Its hard to put yourself in that sort of mind it would be easy if grew up watching the hogan era because in a way this PG era and the hogan era are similar. But being a person who grew up watching during the attitude era it is harder i think probally because when your younger you mostly dont care about the matches themself but the storys and the characters that are in wrestling which was my situation.

At first because of people like austin and rocky. Also the humor is for younger people so it would make me enjoy it more so i think its more down to the characters than the wrestling itself in my opinion.

That is one of the biggest misconceptions wrestling fans have. The PG Era and the Hogan Era were absolutely not alike in many ways at all.

There actually was no TV program rating back then, as that was done before TV content ratings were in existence. They were not formed until January 1997 in the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_Parental_Guidelines


So with what we saw back in the Hogan Era, many things were actually more risque than what we actually see on TV today in the PG Era.

Also, characters and gimmicks existed back then, where as WWE has gone the more bland, watered-down "Personality" route today in the PG Era.

The Hogan Era was "Larger than Life" wrestling. Today, it's all about realism and real people.

I would also argue that The Hogan Era was a better product suited for everyone than what we see today, which is even more Kids Oriented than the Hogan Era was.

But this is one of the biggest distortions made between The Hogan Era and The PG Era. Not only was the Creative direction and tone of the product drastically different back then and things were more colorful, but we also had:

4-5 PPV's a year
Managers at ringside
Face/Heel Broadcast teams
More jobber matches on TV to preserve the importance of the PPV's
Greater concentration on House Show business
A very strong Tag Team Division
Outstanding focus on the Midcard


The two products are drastically different. And I would take the Hogan Era in this day and age, any day over what is on TV right now because of all the reasons listed above.

So no, I would not enjoy this Era as much as if I were a kid because everything is entirely too dulled-down to really interest me. Plus, the humor is so much of a turnoff today, that I wouldn't even find it funny if I were a kid.

 

[MizMark]

I grew up during the attitude era so this is a really good questions. Being born in 1989 I started watching around 1997/98, and then more regularly 99-onwards. I loved the likes of the Rock and Stone Cold, loved the concept of hardcore title changing hands anywhere, 24/7 and loved the gimmick type matches such as the Hardy's vs. The Dudleys tables match (at the rumble I think). That for me was awesome, and I ate it up. I wasn't a violent kid or anything and grew up into a really good family, but that's the sort of thing me and my mates loved. I liked the Gangrel character too, maybe finding the whole blood drinking thing fascinating, and the fact that he rose up from under the stage.

I can understand the appeal for kids towards the DX/Hornswoggle stuff but I think that not every kid likes that or is into it, and the old they get the more they want to see people go through tables, get hit with chairs etc.

And alot of the time when blood was drawn it was like a "aww cool" moment, rather than a shocking moment that kids can't see.

I personally wouldn't be too much into all of this campy comedy that we see on Raw, some of it would connect with me, but anyone over the age of 7 or 8 will realise, or start to realise that DX didn't actually go under the ring to the LPC before the show.

I like the idea of one show(which was Smackdown) being aimed towards kids, and I don't see why WWE can't do that, other than that at PPV's you will have all 3 brands, so you'd get a cross over of PG and TV-14(or whatever it's called, forgive me, we don't use that in the UK). Although you could solve that problem by going back to having brand PPV's, and just the big 4 with all 3 on, but i'd imagine buy rates would be down.

I'd love Raw to be an edgier show, and Smackdown to cater for the kids, and ECW a show to showcase new talent mixing with one or two veterans. I don't know if there's a topic on that, I'll search later, if not I'll start one when I get a minute and when I get to 10 posts!

 

[The Ultimate]

I was always aware of WWE as a kid, I knew about the popular guys, like Rock, Austin, Sting, Undertaker, HHH. But, I actually officially started watching it the following Smackdown after No Way Out 2008. And if I was watching WWE in this era i would definetely love it! i would probably go crazy whenever i would spot a botch, and start pointing it out to everyone, thinking I was all special. This may sound weird, but I rather WWE be scripted then real, because it is so much more exciting, and people still get their money's worth. UFC fights could end within 12 seconds and fans would have probably payed a lot of money to see them. But that is besides the point, I was always into plots and storylines so i know for a fact I would have enjoyed it!!

 

[FanSince99]

I honestly like this product very much. Unlike alot of other people I liked the DX/Little People Court stuff. I mean I don't doubt that this product now is compleley different from before but I find it slightly amusing becasue one second we have HBK acting a fool and running from midgets and the next he is tearing the house down with the Undertaker at Wrestlemania. Times have changed and it's what it is folks...Entertainment.

 

[Sharpdeathlock]

Hello.

I have been watching pro wrestling since i was around 8 years old(1989) even longer if itvs world of sport counts.

Let me start by saying although the current product is not very good IMO, i will keep on watching raw regardless.

I grew up around the time of the hogan era and i have to say that that product back then destroys wwe's current product.

I was a fan of the attitude era but to be honest i prefered WCW around that time until really daft stuff started happening like the fingerpoke of doom and such.

My all time favourite heel has to be either The million dollar man Ted Dibiase or Ric flair although i feel that shawn michaels, Hollywood Hogan and bret hart should get honorable mentions.

My favourite Face has to be either Sting or Bret Hart although i did like Hogan when i was a child a great deal more than i did as i got older.

If the PG era of today was when i was 8 years old i probably would have enjoyed it but after watching the Hogan era 20ish years ago and seeing todays wwe as a 28 year old especially last nights raw all i can say is that if bret hart wasn't coming back soon that last nights raw would have put me off wanting to watch raw at all anymore and that the hogan era was way more interesting than todays wwe.

Also where the hell are all the tagteams? years ago there was tons of them now that division is none existant.

WWE has never really had a succesful cruiserweight division yet WCW did i wonder why it never worked out in the wwe.

 

[The Five-Star Frog Splash]

Great question Tyler44!
I remember when I started watching wrestling back in the very late 90's-2000's, I olnly knew a handful of wrestlers like Austin, Rock, Triple H, Edge, the Hardy's, Undertaker, Kane, even Al Snow! And I enjoyed every second of it! I loved watching classic mid-card bouts, the Tag matches, the Main Events, everything! They were my Cenas, Ortons, and Batistas of my day. Granted I was only 5 & 6 when I started, they were still my heroes.

Now kids today LOVE Cena. They LOVE Orton. They LOVE Hornswoggle. So on and so forth, but now the question is would we like the product if we were kids today. Of course I would love it! When we were kids, we didn't think of pushes, backstage politics, mic skills, nothing like that. We kept tuning into RAW because it was cool! Older posters tuned in to Saturday Night Main Event because they thought it was cool! Cuz Hogan was cool!

The thing is though, I've actually talked to kids who watch Raw, and they aren't as stupid as we think. They've actually told me that they would've preferred someone else as the No. 1 contender. Some said they wanted DX, or Orton, but some said Henry, Swagger, MVP, and I was generally surprised. Of course when my brother told the 5th and 6th graders at school that Sheamus won at TLC, they were in shock. Although, they still think that Cena rocks and Orton sucks. But the point is that this PG rating is made for kids today because this product has the same basic ideas that it had in the Hogan era: things like a positive role model, a bad role model, special attractions (i.e Hornswoggle) etc. Even though 80's and 00's wrestling is COMPLETELY different, some of the same ideas and principles that made 80's wrestling popular are in play today.

Cena would be my hero, I'd hate Jericho, and guys like HBK or HHH I would consider legendary. I ranted a little up there though, so to answer the question, yes I think I would like today's product more if I were a kid because I would love to watch Cena be superman and never quit. I would be attracted greatly to his positive attitude and want to BE him. I think we all would've liked to be Hogan or Rock when we were kids right? Same thing applies here.

 

[MizMark]

Cena would be my hero, I'd hate Jericho, and guys like HBK or HHH I would consider legendary. I ranted a little up there though, so to answer the question, yes I think I would like today's product more if I were a kid because I would love to watch Cena be superman and never quit. I would be attracted greatly to his positive attitude and want to BE him. I think we all would've liked to be Hogan or Rock when we were kids right? Same thing applies here.

Great point. I like Cena, always have, always will, although I admit that he is abit generic at times and I understand totally why some people hate on him, although alot of the hate really is OTT. Cena is booked to be a hero, especially a kiddy hero, and if you take a look around arenas nearly all of the kids will be wearing some form of Cena merchandise.

People seem to forget that Hulk Hogan was booked as a superman just like Cena, and he appealed to all of the kids back then, just like Cena does now, although with kayfabe being alive back then Hogan appealed to far more people than maybe Cena does at the minute.

I hated DX during the attitude era, I loved Austin blowing up the DX express(or whatever it was called) and I loved Austin running stuff over in his monster truck. When you're little you buy into it that it's real, or atleast you buy into the characters, and hate the heels. I remember when Taker returned at Judgement Day in 2000 and saved the Rock from a beating from DX in that Iron Man match, only for HHH to win because the chokeslam/tombstone came 10 seconds before the end and the referee saw it, man I was gutted!

I would so buy into the fake finishes and screw jobs we've seen recently if I was little, but I wouldn't say that it would be anymore enjoyable to watch and the problem is because there isn't enough heel heat generated as there used to be IMO.

Look at the heels on Raw at the minute, the Miz just beat Santa and stamped the hell out of his sack. That generates heat from kids. What else though seriously generates heat that we saw every week? Hornswoggle getting beaten up maybe, DX/Cena getting destroyed, but it just doesn't happe often enough. Kids wanted Cena to beat Sheamus up after the contract signing, but they won't want Cena to beat him up as much if they just have a stare down. I'm not sure how well I put this point across, so I hope you can get the jist of it!

 

[HBK-aholic]

I enjoy todays product as much as I did back then for the most part, so I think if this is the show we got back then, I'd still like it the same amount as I did then, maybe even more - it's only aimed at kids now, yeah? Anyway, wrestling has always been a passion of mine, and, while you can see where the superior booking is over the years I've watched it, it's never made me love it any less. I'm not one of those fans who thinks you have to know everything about everything to be considered a huge fan, I view it simply as being entertained and loving the product every single week - which I do. I don't think I've ever thought an episode of Raw was horrible, either 10 years ago, or now, so I think I'd like the product just as much.

 

[Zeedeevel]

I'd probably enjoy the product a little more than i do right now, however i do actually like the product right now just not as much as i have in the past. I've been watching since about 1990 and i liked hogan for the first 2 years but since 1992 I have been a huge hbk fan and he still entertains me today. If i was younger I would have really gotten into sheamus winning the title and taking down cena. I used to view john morisson as the next hbk but now it looks like its the miz. I would have to find that cocky heel to cheer for when everyone else hated him. No matter how old tho hornswoggle needs to go its just turning more ppl away then its bringing in.

 

[The Roid Rage]

I was born in the year of our lord 1985, I got the best of the Hogan Era, New Generation, and Attitude Era, Monday Night Wars, all the way into the merger. Had I not seen that stuff I would probably be ok with the wrestling of today if it was what I was first introduced to because I wouldn't really know anything else.

The thing I like about what we get today is that it makes me laugh a lot, and then it can switch gears to being as serious as it gets. There is something for everyone in todays product I think, and so I could see myself as a kid liking it. I might not have been as into some of the talent as I was Hogan, Warrior, Mach, Taker, Razor, Diesel, Shawn, Bret and so on but it is a good enough product that I would probably still be into it.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Do you think that if you were a young kid from the ages of anywhere between 6-11 at this moment today, do you think you would enjoy WWE programming like we all did when we were in our young stages of our lives?

I would go as far as to say that I would enjoy it more than I do now. John Cena is my hero, Orton's cool, DX is funny, and I find the majority of the WWE product entertaining. I think that my younger self would feel exactly the same and feel stronger about it, except for possibly disliking Orton and most heels. Basically, other than liking heels more than I used to.... I feel the same now towards the product that I did when I was younger.... A younger version of me would enjoy today's product even more than I do because my views on the product haven't changed that much over the years.

 

["Cool Guy" Jensen]

Well, in my opinion, it's really when you get older that you really start to form an appreciation for the WWE. When you're younger, you watch the WWE just to watch it... that's exactly what I did during the first 1-2 years that I started watching WWE. As get older, you learn more about the business, how it works, and you either like it even more or you criticize it more. It doesn't necessarily mean you like the WWE any less.

Just like you, I began watching WWE after The Attitude Era was over. I started watching in 2003, when I was 9. At that time, all I did was buy the action figures, subscribe to WWE Magazine, and watch Smackdown every week. To this day, I have yet to miss a single episode of Smackdown, but back then, the only way I'd know what happened on Raw was by asking around.

When I was 13, I starting learning more about the history, I got my computer, I had been watching for 4 years, and everything was great. My taste in superstars changed as my age changed. As I first became a fan, I loved the faces like The Undertaker, Eddie Guerrero, John Cena, Goldberg, etc. And I hated the heels like Evolution, Kane, Brock Lesnar, Vince McMahon. Now, I have my own opinion on the superstars I like... heels or faces.

If I were younger, watching the PG era of the WWE... I'm not sure I'd like it more. I mean, when you really think about it, KIDS GROW UP WAY TOO FAST ANYWAY! When little kids watch TV, they like watching the more adult-themed stuff, they like the violent, edgy style of the WWE. So, while the PG stuff is more suited for the children, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll like it better. Making the WWE more kid-oriented won't make them more money... more of a variety of themed elements for a variety of ages will make them more money. Bank on that...

 

[Tastycles]

No. I didn't really like wrestling in the early nineties because even as a child, I thought it was quite ridiculous. Then, in about 97 I started to watch regularly because it seemed cool. I liked The Brood, the New Age Outlaws, ahem, X-pac, and a few others. These characters are really out of keeping with the product now, so I doubt I would have liked it. That being said, I'm not sure I'd like the product then if I saw it now. I imagine I'd have thought it was trying too hard. Who knows?