slimmshady
Pre-Show Stalwart
Hey guys. Last night I was watching some old matches from the attitude era and started to wonder why was that particular era more successful than the current PG era, if you like. You hear news on vince, telling how futrated he has become in realizing that he isn't producing huge stars. With the exception of john cena, mysterio and to a certain extent, batista, wwe has struggled to produce main eventers and more importantly, money makers. Now I understand that some of you guys will critisize me in saying that what about morrison, koffi etc, but the fact is they really aren't huge stars yet. I know that they have the talent to go big in the future, but without the right momentum, they will go nowhere.
Now the reason why I have decided to call this thread, "influence of an attitude", is because I truley feel that the attitude era wasn't just a physical influence upon the wwe or wwf at that time. If you really think about it, you will see that it also affected the mental side of the business and more importantly, the wrestlers. This so called "attitude" allowed a different method of approach to be used to compete against wwf's major rivals - wcw.
I know we shouldn't, but if you compare the wrestling that you see today with the wrestling during the attiude era, you will a major contrast between the style and approach. This is why the wwf created a group of huge stars during that time.
Firstly, lets kicks things off things by talking about the rock. When dwayne johnson entered the wwf ring for the first time, a few years before the attitude era, he was called Rocky Maivia. At the time, everyone in the wwf knew that dwayne had huge in-ring potential, all he needed was the right feuds and a big push. Finally dwayne got the push that he needed after only three months in the business and won his first Intercontinental title from Hunter Hearst Helmsley on Raw on February 13, 1997. But because of his goody two-shoes, one-sided gimmick, the fans grew sick of him. After returning from injury, the rock developed an "attitude" and was born as a heel. The wwf universe was shown that dwayne had major promo talent as he literally, ripped the fans week in week out. And thats what made the rock, the most electrifying man in sports entertainment till this day.
Next we have Hunter Hearst Helmsley aka. the game triple H. The same thing happened to hunter except that he was heel even from his early days of working for wcw. His major push into DX led the game developing an "attitude" to form triple H.
Then we have the undertaker. For taker, it was a different story. The undertaker was already established in the wwf as the dead man himself so basically he was a huge star from his early days of working for vince. However, as undertaker had a true understanding of what the attitude era was going to be about, combined with his talented wrestling brain, he realized that his dead man gimmick was becoming stale and really wasn't working in favour of the wwf taking a more realistic approach. So on judgement day 2000, the undertaker returned but this time with the amercian badass persona. And I'm sure that everyone here knows what this gimmick was all about. Once again, just as the others, he developed an "attitude".
Next we have shawn michaels. During his early days, michaels worked mainly as a huge face for the company. He was known as Mr Wrestlemania for his spectacular moments of the matches he competed in. Then we the development of an "attitude" when he joined DX.
And finally, we have the toughest son of a bitch that has ever walked into the wwf/e. Thats right, the texas rattlesnake himself, stone cold steve austin. Some say that he revolutionized the attitude era and that he was the one that kick started it. Austin started off as a face in wcw and eventually ended up in the wwf as both a huge heel and face. However, no one will ever forget his 3:16 promo in 1996 at king of the ring. From there onwards, austin dumped his blonde hair and went with the full clean shave look. He did things to vince that everyone else wished that they could do to their own bosses. Once again, he developed an "attitude" that led to him becoming the star that he is today.
Now with the exception of kane, everyone else that worked for the wwf during and prior to the attitude era, developed an "attitude" that somehow established their own reputation. Guys like the hardy boys. They started off as two punk kids that would job to the bigger guys and yet the evolution as the high-flying risk takers made them what they are today. The same can be said about edge and christian, the dudleys and the list goes on.
All this happened because of the influence of an attitude change and thats what kick started the glory days, knicknamed the attidude era.
Now in this current day, the wwe has struggled to adapt the image of their wrestlers into the PG era that they have created. Even the older guys like kane, undertaker etc are struggling to adapt their image to the PG rating. For example, I don't think we will ever see an inferno match, casket match, buried alive match and chain match just because they don't fit with the current PG rating. With the exception of john cena and rey mysterio, the rest of the locker room has really struggled to keep up with times.
Now the reason why I have decided to call this thread, "influence of an attitude", is because I truley feel that the attitude era wasn't just a physical influence upon the wwe or wwf at that time. If you really think about it, you will see that it also affected the mental side of the business and more importantly, the wrestlers. This so called "attitude" allowed a different method of approach to be used to compete against wwf's major rivals - wcw.
I know we shouldn't, but if you compare the wrestling that you see today with the wrestling during the attiude era, you will a major contrast between the style and approach. This is why the wwf created a group of huge stars during that time.
Firstly, lets kicks things off things by talking about the rock. When dwayne johnson entered the wwf ring for the first time, a few years before the attitude era, he was called Rocky Maivia. At the time, everyone in the wwf knew that dwayne had huge in-ring potential, all he needed was the right feuds and a big push. Finally dwayne got the push that he needed after only three months in the business and won his first Intercontinental title from Hunter Hearst Helmsley on Raw on February 13, 1997. But because of his goody two-shoes, one-sided gimmick, the fans grew sick of him. After returning from injury, the rock developed an "attitude" and was born as a heel. The wwf universe was shown that dwayne had major promo talent as he literally, ripped the fans week in week out. And thats what made the rock, the most electrifying man in sports entertainment till this day.
Next we have Hunter Hearst Helmsley aka. the game triple H. The same thing happened to hunter except that he was heel even from his early days of working for wcw. His major push into DX led the game developing an "attitude" to form triple H.
Then we have the undertaker. For taker, it was a different story. The undertaker was already established in the wwf as the dead man himself so basically he was a huge star from his early days of working for vince. However, as undertaker had a true understanding of what the attitude era was going to be about, combined with his talented wrestling brain, he realized that his dead man gimmick was becoming stale and really wasn't working in favour of the wwf taking a more realistic approach. So on judgement day 2000, the undertaker returned but this time with the amercian badass persona. And I'm sure that everyone here knows what this gimmick was all about. Once again, just as the others, he developed an "attitude".
Next we have shawn michaels. During his early days, michaels worked mainly as a huge face for the company. He was known as Mr Wrestlemania for his spectacular moments of the matches he competed in. Then we the development of an "attitude" when he joined DX.
And finally, we have the toughest son of a bitch that has ever walked into the wwf/e. Thats right, the texas rattlesnake himself, stone cold steve austin. Some say that he revolutionized the attitude era and that he was the one that kick started it. Austin started off as a face in wcw and eventually ended up in the wwf as both a huge heel and face. However, no one will ever forget his 3:16 promo in 1996 at king of the ring. From there onwards, austin dumped his blonde hair and went with the full clean shave look. He did things to vince that everyone else wished that they could do to their own bosses. Once again, he developed an "attitude" that led to him becoming the star that he is today.
Now with the exception of kane, everyone else that worked for the wwf during and prior to the attitude era, developed an "attitude" that somehow established their own reputation. Guys like the hardy boys. They started off as two punk kids that would job to the bigger guys and yet the evolution as the high-flying risk takers made them what they are today. The same can be said about edge and christian, the dudleys and the list goes on.
All this happened because of the influence of an attitude change and thats what kick started the glory days, knicknamed the attidude era.
Now in this current day, the wwe has struggled to adapt the image of their wrestlers into the PG era that they have created. Even the older guys like kane, undertaker etc are struggling to adapt their image to the PG rating. For example, I don't think we will ever see an inferno match, casket match, buried alive match and chain match just because they don't fit with the current PG rating. With the exception of john cena and rey mysterio, the rest of the locker room has really struggled to keep up with times.