Overrated or Underrated: The Attitude Era?

[KNPKH2ster]

I started watching wrestling in 2000, so it was near the end of the Attitude Era and the end of the Monday Night Wars. I don't think that the Attitude Era was the greatest era in professional wrestling. The reason why it was successful because the television landscape was changing at the time, and also it was the Monday Night Wars so there was fierce competition. I'm guessing the reason why fans have become jaded with the current product is probably due to no competition. I can understand since without competition the product can become a little stale.


In short, do I want the Attitude Era again? Nope. The Attitude Era is dead and gone and yes it is Overrated. It's time to move on people.

 

[Mercer the Ruthless]

I'm going to go with neither, primarily because I hate the word overrated and underrated, mainly the word "overrated". All it is a conduit for people to attempt to place their opinion on a higher level in comparison to someone else'; simply calling something overrated to me is trying to say "so many people like this for what? I don't see whats good about it." So on that note I won't say.

I will say however, that the "Attitude Era" was what it was an Era of gasp, awe, marvel, disgust, raunchiness, whatever you can think of; that was the point. It created a new stage for new talent to shine, at the time people didn't need the attitude era but they enjoyed it. You can't just force something like that, you have to ease it in. That's why people adore it so much. That's why it is so memorable, not because it's "overrated" but because it was outrageous sometimes for the better other times not so much.

 

[Zanman720]

This is not exactly answering your question, but i will simply list why I personally liked the Attitude Era best.

In today's wrestling business (WWE-wise) it seems they have really dropped the ball on Divisions. Tag Team and Divas divisions have really just started fading. Divas matches seem to be 5 minutes or Less...whether they are on Raw, Smackdown, or even a Pay Per View. The last good one i saw was The Divas Table Match. And the Tag Team Division, we all know about the fade of the tag teams...

The Attitude Era had a balance of entertainment for all of the divisions. Divas matches were even addicting to watch back then with Jazz, Trish Stratus, Lita...all of them. They weren't just "Pretty Faces" but actually put on good 10-15 minute matches. There were even some days where that was the highlight of the night. And the tag team division. They didn't just have random teams thrown together to take on the champs...they had team after team lined up ready to get their shot at the title. And promos played a big part, they had storylines....rather then just random matches...(2010-2011...no storylines really when it came to the tag division).

And the Cruiserweight Division... DONT GET ME STARTED!!!

 

[OneTooManyPunts]

On the whole, I think the Attitude Era was largely overrated. Yes, it did bring about a very different product, with the introduction of more blood, profanity, an risque story lines, but the Attitude Era was never the second Golden Age that some bill it as.

Where the Attitude Era should be given it's due credit is in the stars born during it's run. Stone Cold, Rock, and Triple H all became the legends they are, and had their most memorable feuds during the era. The Attitude Era did also help to foster and sustain the Undertaker, through his American Badass and Ministry reincarnations.

However, the Attitude Era is also the era that saw the full on embrace of backstage segments, and the full on 'soap opera' narrative that pro wrestling is often labeled with. The Attitude Era produced many memorable matches, but sadly this the period when PPV's and Raw began to see less in ring action with each outing.

As much as the PG Era is hated by a large portion of the IWC, there is no denying that at least at the moment, it's seeing quite the stride in terms of in ring quality. The Christian/Orton and Cena/Punk feuds have been some of the best in ring product WWE has consistently offered in quite some time.

I know it's all a bit of a ramble, but I'd still have to say the Attitude Era isn't quite the epic era some have made it out to be.

 

[SickJames]

You cant say something is overrated because it took the bar and broke it to the point of no return and now nothing can compare unless it's Attitude. That goes back to my point that when something gets over really big suddenly ppl wanna claim its overrated after they loved every second of it all those years ago you say now that because we wont SETTLE for less, because we actually want the BEST product we can get that it's overrated, it isnt. Wanting the best isnt bad.

Attitude coming about was the best part of the MNW as WWE fired back and the ratings of the entire MNW even before The Attitude Era came was overall, the whole thing the best time to be a wrestling fan because you had two companies giving you the best they had in the greatest competition on TV and a smaller company great in its own way getting raped of talent in the middle

Ratings dont lie, the competition and interest doesnt lie, this was wrestling's biggest peak, this was wrestling at its coolest point in history

DX, Rock, Austin

nWo, Goldberg, Sting

The two shows had your attention whether you watched one and hated the other or watched both on two TVs or flicked back and forth

the Attitude Era was a retal and reaction of WWE getting bested in the MNW which was the greatest time in wrestling and thus this era cant be overrated, it was everything we praise it as.

And it's not a bad thing to compare shit when you get shit to the epicness that was Attitude


it's almost as if ppl are really wanting everyone to be stupid, as if I ate Dunkin Donuts, then I get a taste of Krispy Kreme but you want me to go back to liking regular donuts again after I tasted the unbelievable goodness that is K2 (both of them, why not)

 

[Greg4WWE]

I loved the AE.. that said.. i love todays product to.. Things will always change, in a few years it will evolve into something else. They have already implemented a bit of swearing back into the product now.

As far as blood goes.. well.. blood was around LONG before the AE era, so I don't think it's fair to really mention blood in that era. As a matter of fact, DX vs the McMahons with the Big Show in the Hell In A Cell was 2006, well after the AE and it was full of blood and hard violence.

I don't really see the problem with extreme matches that require a little blood, but i do understand the PG rating so doubt it happens.

If you want AE, watch Impact.. it's pretty close!

 

[Jackal960]

I was watching an Attitude Era episode of Raw last week and it was mentioning how Raw rating was 4 times higher than the NBA game, I think the finals, playing on that night. Today we are just making up every single reason for the low ratings, saying there was a great football game on that night, an interesting episode on that night, some guy farted on the news on that night... Well, wake up mate! Noone cares about WWE anymore. Saying the most successful wrestling era is "overrated" makes me wonder what era was good then? If you are saying it was good but not "THAT GOOD" then which one is the "THAT GOOD" ? What was its ratings? Ratings do matter because it shows how many people "care" about it, how many people "enjoy" watching it.

Nobody watched that era because Mea Young was giving birth to a hand. Continue seeing same old dreams, until finally you wake up one day defending 1.5 rating...

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

This is simple. PG Era marks, or Cena marks, hate the Attitude Era. Why? More people watched the Attitude era, and that seemingly leaves a bad taste in the mouth of Cena marks. Attitude Era marks hate the PG era. Why? It's not as adult-oriented.

Was the AE overrated? Maybe, by some. I was a fan during the mid-to-late 90's. It was a soap opera, much more so than Cena's era has been. Personally, I liked that. PPV's were for great matches, TV was for drama. I enjoyed myself.

I don't hate the PG era, but I definitely prefer the mid-to-late 90's. Steve Austin is my favorite wrestler and, in my opinion, is light years ahead of John Cena in every way imaginable.

Basically, I loved me some wrestling in the mid-to-late 90's. Today's product is decent, but doesn't measure up to what it was 10-15 years ago. But, that's just one guys opinion....

 

[Cvaldezjr04]

These threads are getting old and annoying but whatever, guess that's why there is an Old School section. The attitude era was great in it's time. There is no way the attitude era is underrated especially when the majority of the iwc wants it to return. So in response to this thread NO its not underrated.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

The tude era is overrated by tude fans. If you go back and watch it, or if you were a fan for any decent period of time before it started, it wasn't that great. It was a wild jerry springer clusterfuck with some punch/kick matches thrown in, lots of blood, boobies, and beer. I would call the era "fun" but I wouldn't say it was this amazingly epic, do no wrong era.

The tude era is underrated by anyone who has a favorite "era". golden age fans hate the tude era for it's short title reigns but forget that in the golden era, 90% of matches were squashes.

In my opinion, having a favorite era and thinking it's actually better than any other is pretty stupid. Usually it's nostalgia-driven. Typically being whatever era you "grew up" with. So already there is a built in bias that skews your perception.

I think each era has its pros and cons. You could say that the PG era sucks, but also know that they MUST be PG because of things that have happened, so the guys have to be more creative because they can't just go out there and do what they want. I mean, if Rock had to stick with Rocky Maivia because someone just killed themself and their whole family so WWE had to stick with being PG, he's probably be coaching football somewhere right now because he wouldn't have gotten to express himself.

Everything is about context and every era served it's purpose and was good in it's own way in it's own context. Everything else is subjective to the viewers age, tastes, and when they came into wrestling.

 

[610kr3w]

Its been said a million times, this is a business. Short answer, Attitude Era was edgy enough and unpredictable enough to keep up with WCW, modern day has to meet the ever-growing prude demands of the public and compete with the yuppy shows on TV. You can argue pros and cons about both eras, but the bottom line is the product has to change with the times. Even the NFL is putting new rule changes in for safety, TD celebrations etc, but dont say you still domt watch your team and watch the Super Bowl. Half of you just like to complain, but shut your mouth for once and remember you dont own the company. If you dont like it, dont watch it. Its not gonna change overnight. If its THAT bad, skip Raw. DvR it. If initial ratings are down theyd have to change something, but dont watch Cena every week and expect to see the Brood to reunite and bloodbath him while the Godfather brings his hoetrain down to the ring. Woodstock gave way to Bieber Fever, now attitude gave way to Cenations and Cole Miners... The times, they are a changin. Deal with it. But for the record, id watch the brood over Cena any day.

 

[RD_21]

The most successful era in wrestling can't be overrated. They were scoring 6's in the ratings, now they can barely score 3.

But it's not underrated either, I think it's appreciate for what it is and was and we had a better product for it, but you just can't blame on the product, as there's also a lack of star power in today's product.

The fact that it's PG has nothing to do with the quality. We don't need blood and we don't need PUPPIES... PUPPIES (to quote Jerry Lawler), but we don't also need lazy booking.

In today's wrestling I can look at a storyline like a lot of people on these boards and say it would be cool if this or this happen, but in the end oh no Cena won or oh no the mystery guy wasn't really a mystery it was someone disapointing. It's like vince has his guy read the Internet to know what people are expecting the most (because it would be the coolest thing) and scrap that idea just so they can say they didn't see it coming.

The attitude era was surprising and you didn't know what to expect, but more than everything that era with wCw made wrestling something cool to watch for teenager at school. Now it's uncool for teenager because it's geared too much for their little brother. When I was in high school EVERY GUY knew or where talking about wrestling.

I don't think it's the same today, so no it can't be overrated.