Overrated or Underrated: The Attitude Era?

[DynamiteKid518]

Everyone crowns it as the best time in wrestling and the more I re-watch it and think about it... It was terrible from an entertainment perspective and especially bad from the perspective of in ring content. I can't think of more than 3 matches that were produced during that era that would crack anyone's top 20 matches of all time list. It was fun because of the buzz in the air but here are some highlights from the so called "best era ever"...

Mark Henry/ Mae Young love affair complete with the birth of a hand.
VKM being revealed as the "higher power" and killing the whole ministry storyline.
Boss Man dragging Big Shows father's casket around by his truck.
Chris Jericho feuding and losing to Chyna.
Gillberg and the JOB Squad.
Jeff Jarrett feuding and losing to Chyna.
Patterson and Brisco "hulking up" every week.
The Godfather and his "hos".
Rikishi running down Austin.
Mankind becoming "funny".
Kane doing crotch chops.
PMS and Meat (Sean Stasiak).
Al Snow, Big Boss Man and the dog "pepper".
Linda McMahon talking.
Beaver Cleavage.
Steve Blackman talking.
Making Owen Hart the Blue Blazer again.

These are just some of the unbearable and unwatchable moments in the Attitude era.
I considered the era over when WcW was purchased in 2001. So tell me, what was so great/memorable from the Attitude era that makes it the best? Great matches? Other than Rock/Austin, and Taker/Mankind not really any great ones. Great storylines? I can't think of any outside of DX invading WCW and the Corporation storyline.

I just think it's amazing that everyone craves the content from that era when in reality, it want very good. Boobs and blood don't equal entertainment on a wrestling show. Now I will admit, they cared more about being successful back then and they have become lazy in terms of writing. In my opinion, The Attitude Era was not the gem that people make it out to be. I would say I'm an old school guy and yea, my favorite era was the WWF from 1990-1992 which some would call the "golden era", and some would say there were tons of bad characters and storylines but it doesn't seem to be the Era people crown as the best. It seems most crave the Attitude Era again, and I wanna know why that is. The tables an chairs and blood? The naked chicks?

So what are your thoughts... Overrated or Underrated?

 

[Good Golly It's Ollie]

Neither under- or over-rated. Yes, I may have grown up with the AE and may be a total mark but honestly, a good deal of the roster was people who were good at spinning really awful gimmicks into something interesting, and little more.

There were several ridiculous storylines, as you've already mentioned, but there were also some gems among them. I personally loved McMahon-Helmsley era, and I wasn't a even a hater of Invasion or Rikishi's heel run, largely because I suppose I was still young enough to see them from the perspective of sheer and utter markdom (mostly for Kane and Taker).

Example: The Godfather and Val Venis were fucking awesome and incredibly over, despite neither one getting any further than the Intercontinental title. This only served to make their heel turns (Val's nice run with Trish first) and joining of Right To Censor even more poignant, because they were some of the most outlandish and explicit characters. The only way RTC could have been more effective was to have them all be ex-DX members.

I feel in many ways the Attitude Era - wait for it - is not that different from what we see today (despite, y'know, the whole PG thing). What I mean by this is: A chunk of the midcard and also many brief main eventers were either character guys or ring technicians, and that holds true today - you don't often get people who are perfect combinations of both. And generally, feuds are structured the same way too. So a lot of people longing for "the good old days" are really just not paying hard enough attention to what the product consists of now.

 

[DynamiteKid518]

Well said. You hit it on the head. I really don't dispise today's product and the PG thing doesn't bother me at all. What i would love is if they didn't push every single guy into the main event. Like you said, Val and Godfather stayed mid card for life and that's awesome. We need that in today's wrestling.

 

[poppycock]

I disagree..the Attitude Era was brilliant as far as entertainment goes (for me anyway). the Attitude Era was great and like many others it happens to be my most fond period since I got into watching wrestling but it was just that..an "Era". A period that summed up and fed off of what was happening at that point in time both in and out of Pro Wrestling. It was edgy and it pushed boundries..sometimes too far and sometimes to the point of ridicule, but for what it was I fucking loved it. I do not think we need to go through it again though seeing as we have 'been there done that' and going back in time usually means you are running low on ideas. Blood, sex, and general wreckless shock provoking entertainment is not what the WWE has been missing all this time in my opinion but rather unpredictability is what was lacking. Now things are changing and I am being entertained once again and all without the overuse of swearing, bleeding every other match and borderline porn.

I adored the Attitide Era and a WWE Era that takes things from that and adds other aspects would be something I would no doubt enjoy but I really think not being predictable is most important.

 

[RavensEdge]

I'll agree with neither over rated nor under rated. It was necessary for the time. Every "era" has had really high spots and and very, unintentionally, laughable spots. The Attitude Era was not different and neither will the reality era or whatever this period ends up being. Not everything can be gold so you're gonna wind up with things like The Corporate Ministry or PMS or Jericho jobbing to Chyna. But you also had Hell in a Cell, Jericho's debut, Jericho/Rock promos, etc. which were not so absurd moments.

 

[jokernaut]

The Attitude Era to me was really awesome because it had everything. Yeah the in ring stuff is better now but I can think of a lot of great matches. The Rock & Austin matches were awesome, especially their WM 17 match. Kurt Angle's matches with Benoit etc. Yeah the drama was more of the hype than matches but it was just a great era because rivalries could be very personal with the tv-14 rating and that's the problem today with the pg era. It holds back on making things very personal. CM Punk obviously took it past pg but that isn't enough. What makes the WWE great is controversy and the Attitude Era was the king of that.

 

[The Suplexer Perfecter]

Overrated simply because the fans keep having orgasms over it.

"OMG blood, cursing and half naked divas! Greatest wrestling EVERRRRR!!!" is what I basically see all the time. Though I'm paraphrasing.

Ric Flair and Roddy Piper didn't need to curse to have a great promo, just an FYI.

People seem to forget 80s and early 90s WWF was in no way TV-14, and most of it was good.

Bret Hart/Owen Hart didn't need a blood bath to have a good cage match as well.

You also had angles and characters that would be insulted and torn apart on this forum if they started today.

Remember how people complain today about short title reigns and therefore they don't mean anything? Well look at the times Rock and Mankind traded the title.

Val Venis and Godfather were over because the audience was all late teenage and early 20s men who loved South Park and dirty humor.

People complaining about the lack of TV-14 should also realize that from 2002-2008 it was TV-14, and people complained during that time too.

 

[angeluriel]

The fact that we're still taking about the Attitude Era means that it is underrated. You remember it and remember it and then when things start sucking you wonder back to those days.

 

[Rampage Bentley]

It's very overrated.

That's not to say it wasn't good, it most certainly was. But people remember it being just a little bit better than what it was. For every Austin/Rock epic battle there's Mae Young giving birth to a hand. It had it's highs and lows.

The Attitude Era did do one thing extremely right, I always finished RAW wanting more. Up until about two months ago that didn't exist in the current product.

 

[Rip]

While you have a nice a little list there of the Attitude Era's weaknesses, you can do the same list for this era, the Hogan era, ECW, WCW, TNA... and make any of them sound horrible. I mean today you have stuff like:

VKM "dies"
VKM vs God
VKM's son is Hornswoggle
Hornswoggle
Fucking ECW's corpse
Great Khali and his title reign
blah blah blah

Fact is, it was the time that the most money was made the ratings were 2-3 times higher than any other era. Going by that, I'd say it's rated just right.

 

[rickfoxoclock]

i can't help but say that the attitude era is overrated. i came to wrestling right after Hogan left for WCW so i didn't get to see the Golden Age of wrestling but i've always considered the era between Hogan and Austin as the best age in wrestling. granted production values weren't on the scale they are now but the content was far and away better and the in ring content will give any era of wrestling a run for it's money. i'll always be fond of the attitude era but it's not the greatest thing wrestling has ever seen.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think it's kind of a multi layered question in some ways.

The Attitude Era portrayed pro wrestling in a way that the vast majority of wrestling fans had never experienced. Because of that, it was able to reach out beyond its boundaries and bring in people to watch for several years that may never have watched wrestling before. People that thought it was one thing were shown that it could, in fact, be something completely different.

At the same time though, the Attitude Era was a fad. Like all big fads, it faded after a couple of years. Right now, Jersey Shore is about the hottest thing going and that's all well and good. But, let's see where the show is or even if it's still on the air a few years from now.

The Attitude Era resulted in huge amounts of money and that does count. Wrestling is a business after all and the AE resulted in WWF doing record levels of business. That can't be looked at as a "bad thing" no matter how you slice it.

Like a lot of programming during that time, however, the Attitude Era relied more on shock value and crash tv than it did on usually quality storylines and wrestling matches. In the late 90s and early 2000s, television in general was experiencing a change in which programming was becoming more controversial. Nothing wrong with that as long as you don't go overboard. The problem is that the WWF sometimes let controversy get in the way of good television. Just because something is controversial doesn't mean that it's good. I remember back in the early 2000s, there was a show on UPN set during the Civil War that portrayed Lincoln as gay and his butler was a slave and comedy was woven around slavery and general homosexual stereotypes. It was so controversial that it was almost cancelled before the first episode aired.

In terms of what the Attitude Era meant in terms of where wrestling could go and what it could be, I think it's rated accurately. It showed that the WWF could do whatever it needed to do in order to not only survive but grow in a sometimes changing televsion environment.

When it comes to quality during the Attitude Era, I think it's definitely overrated. To listen to some of the posts, you'd think that every promo that took place was some sort of shining example of greatness on the same level as The Rock. Some posts would have you think that every angle had the intensity and general interest of Austin vs. McMahon. Some would have you think that every match was a five star effort. A lot of internet fans have romanticized the Attitude Era to such a degree that every promo was gold, every feud was dynamite and every match was a classic. It simply was not like that. For every example of someone like The Rock & Stone Cold Steve Austin greatness, there was the blandness the likes of Steve Blackman & Ken Shamrock. Sometimes, it was pure 100% shit. You could grow tomatoes the size of Traci Brooks' breasts with some of the fertilizer spread around during the Attitude Era. We saw Mae Young give birth to a hand. We saw Kaientai chop off a guy's dick with a katana, we saw a man walking around with a mannequin head that talked to him. That's not to say that the PG Era hasn't had its share of crap too. Remember when Hornswoggle sued DX and took them to a leprechaun court? Crap is crap whether it's rated TV 14 or PG.

 

[Tully]

I think it's under-rated. I think millions (and millions!) of people got exposed to wrestling for the first time due primarily to the Attitude Era (and the NWO via Monday Night Nitro).

Had the Attitude Era really sucked, I'd guess even more of those fans would've ultimately stopped watching wrestling than already have done so. The Attitude Era gave these folks a glimpse of what wrestling-entertainment could be at its best moments. Many are probably still tuning in, hoping to catch a glimpse of that every now and then.

Special thanks to CM Punk for trying to help a brother out here.

 

[S.J. Maximus]

I watch attitude era streams on websites all the time and I don't see what you're talking about. I lived it and loved it, now that I go back to watch them they're even better! In-ring content sucked!? Are you high? Not one match in the last 2 years looked as real as the matches jobbers put on in the attitude era. Although the TV-14 (and use of blood) helped add to the reality and freedom of storylines, the basic technical matches still looked real and grueling.

The Attitude is glorified as the best period in wrestling because that's exactly what it is and you naming the low points and calling them highlights doesn't help your argument. Almost every star during that time got huge pops and loud crowd reactions (from Brian Lawler to Stone Cold) and a lot of them were recognizable to the mainstream media. I don't care what you say there is no one in the WWE today that is recognizable to mainstream media besides John Cena (and the remaining attitude guys). As much as I love Orton and Punk, as much as I respect what Miz has done, none of these guys are even nearly as popular/over as the 2000-esque Hardy Boyz or New Age Outlaws.

I get that people sometimes say it was greater than it actually was but it's better to do that for the Attitude Era than any other one because the Attitude Era was the greatest. 1997-2001 was when it had the most casual fans, the most mainstream media attention, the highest ratings, and sold the most merchandise so how can it not be the best time in the history of wrestling? Is this a serious thread?

 

[laddclan]

I'm going to go with a combination of both.

The Attitude Era was great, because it was a great time to be a wrestling fan. Monday Nitro and Monday Night Raw.

Didn't like a match on one, switch the channel.

While there were a lot of duds, Austin, Rock, Triple H, McMahon literally carried the era to heights not seen since the Rock & Wrestling connection of the mid-80s.

That's why we still love when Austin or the Rock comes back to visit; why it was cool to see Kevin Nash; why it will be cool to see Mick Foley. They represent the best parts of an era that is slowly returning to PG wrestling.

Minus the blood and the nekkid chicks... we're almost there. Punk is trying to be the next Austin... and Cena is hoping to take the Rock's place.

 

[DynamiteKid518]

Although the TV-14 (and use of blood) helped add to the reality and freedom of storylines, the basic technical matches still looked real and grueling.

Huh?

Listen, I lived through the attitude era just like everyone else and I have great great memories of watching DX invade wcw and seeing Y2J debut. All I'm saying is that there was a ton, and I mean a ton of garbage that filled the time in between Austin and The Rock being on air. Looking back and watching these shows i see a lot of Too Cool dancing, Mark Henry getting back rubs and Bra and Panties matches that are down right brutal. I think most fans on these boards are a contradiction to themselves. They worship and praise Punk and Bryan and AJ Styles ( with good reason ), they rip the WWE for being "too much entertainment" and not enough wrestling, yet they crown the attitude era the greatest ever. The Attitude Era offered next to nothing in terms of wrestling and was mostly all entertainment. I challenge those people to tell me what great WRESTLING came out of the attitude era. I get it, it made a lot of money and had all of us wondering what was gonna happen next, but as far as in ring content...the attitude era may actually be the worst. If anyone makes a list of the greatest matches in WWE history, I doubt you could come up with five from the AE

 

[willross]

I really don't think the Attitude Era was as great as people think. It just had to do with society changing as a whole and people being in the right place at the right time. We all enjoyed that time more than any other most likely BUT it gets WAYYYYYYYYYYY inflated by the IWC.

If the Attitude Era hadn't hot shotted every angle and not done "it all" in a matter of 2 years than I think we would be much less jaded and people would enjoy the product.

The A.E was a hit and miss era.....it was either the greatest idea ever or the absolute worst idea ever, there never seemed to be an in-between.

 

[SickJames]

It's not overrated, dumbasses who like to claim anything great overrated think it is, as soon as ANYONE or ANYTHING takes off and becomes incredibly over suddenly its overrated and anything not appreciated is suddenly underrated especially in the IWC mind. Just like some may think a certain star's being underrated when in reality WWE is waiting to do something special with them.


This thread's been done before, I do know that, but either way once again numbers dont lie and I say it any thread similar. This was the best period in wrestling, this was the climax of The Monday Night Wars as this is the tool WWE used to fire back harder and during this time the war got even better and more heated.

And anyone who really thinks the in-ring stuff was shit is truly an idiot. We had guys who could wrestle very well during the Attitude Era.

Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, what the FUCK are you ppl talking about?

And these are probably the same ppl who bash ECW for being hardcore crap, as if there was no great in-ring action. Yeah, dumbasses. Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Tazz, they all wrestled there and more.


The Attitude Era and ECW which inspired it, they both had great in-ring action, you mutherfuckers just degrade the product by focusing on the fact that the entertainment was put on a pedestal over the wrestling, which is how it is now, we just had better entertainment back then, any joke segment now gets no laugh reaction much and segments in general just arent what they use to be compared to then when you had great wrestling but BETTER entertainment... thats all it is, BETTER, the wrestling isnt not there, you are just being blind.

 

[Rip]

^^^My thoughts are similar. How does one really "rate" an era? The ONLY tangible measurement is the ratings and in that sense, the Attitude Era is second to none. You can cry about "crappy in-ring product" until your ass bleeds, but fact of the matter is that "in-ring product" is all opinion.

 

[willross]

The 5 Greatest Matches of All Time are (in no particular order):

Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels WM12
Bret Hart vs British Bulldog SS92
Bret Hart vs Owen Hart WM10
Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker WM25
Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat WM3

none took place in the Attitude Era. Just saying lmao....the best matches that came out of the Attitude Era were Angle vs Benoit and Jericho vs Benoit. Maybe, JUST MAYBE, HHH vs Mick Foley at RR2000, but those 5 above are HANDS DOWN the best matches.

(NOTE): Not a single weapon was SUCCESSFULLY used in any of those matches and I also don't believe a single drop of blood was used either.

 

[SickJames]

The 5 Greatest Matches of All Time are (in no particular order):

Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels WM12
Bret Hart vs British Bulldog SS92
Bret Hart vs Owen Hart WM10
Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker WM25
Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat WM3

none took place in the Attitude Era. Just saying lmao....the best matches that came out of the Attitude Era were Angle vs Benoit and Jericho vs Benoit. Maybe, JUST MAYBE, HHH vs Mick Foley at RR2000, but those 5 above are HANDS DOWN the best matches.

(NOTE): Not a single weapon was SUCCESSFULLY used in any of those matches and I also don't believe a single drop of blood was used either.

That's a nice list although I really couldnt choose off hand now, but what about Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels?

Chris Benoit vs Kurt Angle, other matches that we've seen on Raws and SD's that were stellar bouts? And those would be greatest pure wrestling matches of all time

I think that if we did an overall you'd have to include specialty bouts to be fair and they'd weight more heavily really, I love a straight match too, but TLC would be on the list or HIAC

but I get your list was meant to ring out the best pure wrestling bouts

The user before you mentioned some great matches from the era, save for the ones in 97, that was pre-Attitude Era

 

[UFOcalling]

I got to this party (thread) a little late), so I am just responding to the OP. I didn't read everyone's post here yet (I'm eager to start watching Raw), so I apologize if I'm repeating anyone's thoughts/opinions on this topic.

I agree with you, a lot of IWC members look back at the Attitude Era with such a fondness that is sometimes undeserved. A lot of people think of the Attitude Era as the "best time in wrestling", but I'm not sure that it was. I know that I enjoyed it, even though I was a bigger fan of WCW during the late 1990s.

I know you said that the in-ring competition wasn't very good during the Attitude Era, but I disagree. I think the in-ring competition was similar to how the WWE is now...a few stellar matches, a LOT of lack-luster ones, and the rest of the matches were just "okay".

I think that a really good example of a show from the "Attitude Era", is the WWF King of the Ring PPV from 1998. You should check it out, if you have a chance. I think that the card for this PPV is a good representation of that time period, and I'm pretty sure you'd be able to rent it from your local video store (I rented it on VHS, back in like '99 or 2000).

The KotR PPV's card in '98 had a total of nine matches:

This information was taken from wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_the_Ring_(1998)

1) Tag team match
The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) and Taka Michinoku defeated Kaientai (Funaki, Men's Teioh, and Dick Togo)

2) KOTR Semi-Final
Ken Shamrock defeated Jeff Jarrett (with Tennessee Lee)

3) KOTR Semi-Final
The Rock defeated Dan Severn

4) Tag team match (w/ Jerry Lawler as Special Guest Referee)
Too Much (Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor) defeated Al Snow and Head

5) Singles match
X-Pac (with Chyna) defeated Owen Hart

6) Tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship
The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) (c) (with Chyna) defeated The New Midnight Express (Bombastic Bob and Bodacious Bart)

7) KOTR Final
Ken Shamrock defeated The Rock

8) Hell in a Cell match
The Undertaker defeated Mankind

9) First Blood match for the WWF Championship
Kane (with Paul Bearer) defeated Steve Austin (c)

I haven't watched this PPV in a while (I have a copy of the DVD somewhere), but I feel that it's a good representation of what was going on in WWF at the time. There were mostly "ho-hum" type matches (match #1, #2, #3, #4, #5), a couple of really entertaining matches (match #6, #7, #8), and the main event was pretty lousy (if I remember correctly).

Now you'll notice that the "exciting" matches were put on the last half of the card, that's been the formula since Pro Wrestling started. Like I said before, I haven't watched this show in a while...it's possible that at least the first three matches were pretty exciting at the time. I imagine that the opening match would have had a lot of high "spots", since most of those guys wrestled in a "cruiserweight"/"x-division" style. Match #2 & #3 are definitely exciting for me to watch now, because I really like Ken Shamrock & The Rock. They were probably exciting then as well, because they were qualifying matches for the KOTR.

Matches #4 I would probably skip, if I were to watch the DVD again soon. Maybe it was exciting at the time, I don't remember that far back. I don't remember that "2 Cool" was ever called "Too Much", man...it has been a while since I watched that DVD. I imagine the fans didn't care too much about match #5 either, although watching Owen wrestle was always cool. I also don't remember how "over" either one of those guys (X-Pac & Owen) were at the time.

Matches #6 & #7 were exciting, because both of them had something "on the line". Match #6 was for the Tag Team Championship, and match #7 decided the winner of the 1998 KOTR tournament.

Obviously the icing here was the Hell in a Cell match, I don't even have to explain how exciting that match is to watch. I own the DVD of KOTR '98 specifically for that match.

Match #9 was lack-luster, if I remember correctly. Kane came out with every inch of his skin covered, and it was a "first blood" match. I remember also that Kane said if he didn't win the WWF Championship at KOTR that year, that he would "set himself on fire". I think everyone knew that Kane would win the match. I don't remember specifically what happened (like I said, it's been a while), but I think the Undertaker came out and helped Kane somehow (I think Undertaker hit Austin with a chair or something, and busted him open). Whatever happened, Kane won the title when Austin started bleeding.

Like I said earlier in this post, I feel that this PPV is a pretty good representation of the WWF during the Attitude Era. Mostly "ho-hum" type matches, a few stellar ones, and a couple of HORRIBLE matches (in this case, one bad match - Austin vs. Kane).

I feel that the WWE is similar now, where the matches are mostly "ho-hum". Some of them are great, and some are really bad. I think a lot of the IWC holds the Attitude Era in such high regard because they first really liked wrestling during this time period. I know the late 1990s is when I started watching wrestling again, even though I watched more of WCW (like I said earlier). The Attitude Era also had more blood, more hardcore matches, swearing, sex appeal, all of that.

As Paul Heyman once said, the WWF pretty much just copied ECW's format. Paul also said it was a "smart thing to do" (something like that), and it was. The WWF needed an edge, to help them in the ratings. WCW could have put them out of business; I think a lot of people (even in the IWC) forget about that fact. The Attitude Era only lasted a couple of years, and it wasn't necessary at all after the WCW buy-out. It was a desperation-move, to help them beat WCW...and boy, did it work.

 

[sTyLnK]

Much of the AE was boring and down right silly at times. Yeah it had some unbelievable spots and moments, but people are forgetting just how bad it was at times.

Many "fans" grew up during the AE, and IMO they're NOT true wrestling fans. All they want is the for the WWE to go back to those years. Those years were only to compete with WCW and nothing more.

The WWE now is how wrestling should be. I've watched the WWE since the late 80's/early 90's and it was pretty much exactly the same as it is now.

The only difference between then and now is the amount of star power those years had. That's the reason why people hate the "PG" rating.

 

[#hamler]

I would say overrated. Simply because evrything the WWE does cannot be good enough for most of the Attitude Era fans. If the WWE isn't using fowl language, showing an accidental nip slip, or blood, all the fan boys hate and will have a dislike for the product. Did I enjoy it? Sure did. I was 10 or so, I really can't say if I would enjoy the same now as my taste for wrestling doesn't involve sex, cursing and blood. So many people love the Attitude Era and often overrate how great it was. Star power, entertainment wise - hell yeah it was great. But when fans start to bitch about how everything isn't exactly the same or repeated from the Attitude Era is when it gets very overrated.

 

[H33LTurn]

Underrated. Wrestling fans these days just need to find a reason to hate on something, no matter how amazing it is. If you point out all the negatives in something of course its going to sound horrible. Every time someone wants to make an argument against the attitude era the first thing they mention is the giving birth to a hand, the bad storylines, the lack of in ring ability. How about Austin? Rock? Montreal Screwjob? HBK? DX? Taker's Ministry? The rise of the Mr. McMahon charcter? So you're just going to shit on all of that because the wrestling wasnt like it is today and they had a couple of bad storylines?

As far as the in ring goes I like the wrestling from the attitude era. It looked like actual fighting. As far as the storylines, they were edgy enough for the adults and cartoony enough for the kids. There was something for everybody.

Theres a reason why people werent embarrassed to admit that they're wrestling fans like they are now. Theres a reason why wrestling was such a big thing and ratings werent horrible. Theres a reason why people werent switching to MMA or giving up on the WWE/WWF.