PG Era forces more creativity?

[Dwayne_Jason]

Now, this one's for all the PG Haters. I'm not a PG hater but I've come to notice many times the justification of PG is that one needs more creative storyline due to the strict nature as opposed to the attitude era where one could just use sex and violence to advance a storyline. Is that really the case? I mean you heard Vinny say so himself that this is a soap opera. Hell, he says "Inside Pro Wrestling" that "we make movies" and these "soap operas" are not really PG, but still gets good ratings and creative story lines. Now I do understand it's because they're actors and it's not wrestling but the fact is they follow the same format. And recently I've noticed PG becoming quite lazy in thier storylines and just drop the ball on many angles. Example:

Big Show v CM Punk: Destroy the whole SES by himself? Nah, he shoulda tagged with someone for that. Plus, Big Show is this gentle Giant and his promos were really funny but now just gets old and Punk and Big Show look like kids. Punk being grumpy and Big Show being happy.


Nexus v Cena: I think they got this idea from the invasion as well as comic books. It was great until SS where they dropped the ball and let Cena win, they shoulda let Wade win at NOC and let them fight it off at Survivor Series.

Thoughts?

 

[VinnieSunshine]

I like the direction that WWE is going with most of their storylines.

Big Show/CM Punk I could really care less though because...well look at who is in it. Of course Show is going to destroy the SES, they shoulda had someone smaller that CM Punk wanted to convert and THAT person overcomes the odds and takes out the group one by one.

Nexus. Yeah at SS having SuperCena come out and beat Barrett kinda put Nexus down a step, but the storyline is still good. Barrett DOES NOT need the title for Nexus to continue the momentum, however if they do not reveal soon who is really leading them then this story will get boring.

I dont know how you can say the PG Era has become lazy with the storyline involving Kane and Undertaker. I dont even watch Smackdown but I am trying to keep up with this feud.

I think at the time being, if anything they are buring some superstars in order for storylines to continue. I am a HUGE fan of Evan Bourne, but did we need to see him get burned by Edge just to see Mark Henry come out? Why not punish Edge by just putting him in the match with Henry in the first place!

The one story I will agree with you that they are getting lazy with is the mystery GM. I am bored with it. Its one of those things, along with the Nexus angle, that I dont even think WWE has an idea who both will be. The GM is teased almost every week, but I think its time to reveal who is behind both and to a final match at Survivor Series between the GMs team and Nexus, winner take all.

 

[billm75]

PG storylines have to be more creative in order to be interesting. Attitude era they could just make dick jokes all day long and it was good enough to get by.

Now the storylines we have now might be getting stretched out, I agree, but that's not really a bad thing. I was getting tired of the 3 week fueds culiminating at a PPV and then moving on to a new one. There's nothing wrong with making these things last a few months, even up to a year.

The mystery GM still has life left in it. This past monday's Raw proved that. Both Jericho and Edge are ready to seek him out, which takes it in a new direction. Nexus, honestly, I never cared for personally, but they're still working it. We have less Nexus-centric shows, but they're still a force and can still add to the shows from time to time.

Nexus losing at SS was necessary to me. Now that the Nexus has lost they have even more reason and dedication to decimating Cena. He embarrassed them at the event they should have won. Beat them at their own game, if you will. This storyline isn't close to finished yet.

 

[AndyUK]

To be honest, I think the storylines are a bit more creative now than they were before. Despite the target audience being younger, they're more intelligent for me too, by wrestling standards anyway. The Attitude Era storylines were very entertaining but the majority of them weren't exactly as complex as Jericho/HBK, HBK/Taker, Punk/Hardy and the Nexus angle, which are probably the best storylines we've had since the ''PG Era'' started.

 

[The Raven's Epitaph]

The quality of the PG Era is absolutely fine, I fail to see anything wrong with it whatsoever. I bet you didn't know that the Attitude Era was substandardly created in the PG scene did you? No, because you're too busy being engulfed in the past and not realising that the Wrestling we have now, is incredible.

What good storylines actually evolved from the Attitude Era besides the arguable InVasion? Val Venis got his penis cut clean off backstage by a bunch of Samurai wannabes. Chester McCheesterton was apparently the main attraction at Wrestlemania 16. Crash Holly claimed to be over 400 pounds. Stone Cold made Vince McMahon wet himself in the middle of his own ring. Kane threatened to set himself on fire in 1998. The Undertaker hung the Big Boss Man from the Hell in a Cell. Mick Foley's tooth came out of his NOSE after being thrown off of a 20ft high structure. I could have sworn that the WWE were bigger than all of that. What is this, CZW? I'm no Attitude Era hater though. I enjoyed some bits of it. But please, for the sake of the future of Wrestling and for the sake of this forum, stop spamming it with Attitude Era threads and move on. Attitude Era has gone, it's changed, and it's for the better.

But honestly, another thread about how much people hate the PG era? There's absolutely nothing wrong with it. We've had better quality matches than we've ever had in WWE, and I'm talking since the 80s. The storylines, superstars and quality of matches have been completely immaculate and WWE has become such a phenomenon. Even bigger than what it was in the 90s. I fail to see how anything bad has come from the PG Era, whatsoever. You should really just give it a chance, if you don't like Wrestling at the moment, then I'm sure you could go watch TNA where people bleed profusely after being hit with a plank of wood that's got about a million nails sticking out of it. Because that's good quality of Wrestling, isn't it?

 

[CM11]

I agree with that 90s kid, its time to move on, the attitude era was great unbelivable at some points but wrestling as moved on, why do you think TNA gets little viewings and ratings because they are going back to the WCW/ ECW days, the PG era is great, you can watch it with young and old and everyone can enjoy it, the talent in the ring is great, although the promos could be better but noone will ever compare to rock and austin on that level, i am liking the new era of wrestling im enjoyin raw and smackdown (although smackdown needs some more talent or push MVP and christian) back on topic all soap operas including wrestling drag on storylines as they need to as its not easy to come up with top storylines that keep audiences interested however the ones they have certainly are kept me interested.

 

[ilapierre]

The wrestling we have now is incredible? hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha that's the funniest thing i've ever heard. Reality check: Wrestling is fake and the PG era has not been a creative one.

If any of you think the PG era forces more creativity then you are out to lunch. It's a complete contradiction. The PG rating means that wrestling entertainment is handcuffed and can only be about straight forward wrestling. No you can't use barb wire, no you can't cut anyone, no you can't hit anyone with a chair, no you can't come out and interfere in a match, no you can't say whatever you want to, no you have to follow a script, no women aren't allowed to do risque things anymore, no we can't offend and engage people anymore, no we can't have shocking things happen, no we can't have anything that might be too complicated for a person with the mind of a little kid to understand. There is no creativity when everything is aimed at pleasing children and child like adults with basic formulas that worked so well in the past. Creativity is all about pushing the envelope, doing new things and frankly creativity would be bad for business so WWE purposely doesn't put out a creative product. It's insulting to the intelligence, we should all be disgusted with WWE's lack of consideration for its fans. Wrestling is strictly business, its not about entertaining. WWE should call themselves World Wrestling Capitalists. The guy here who created this thread has a great point and everyone seems to be missing it with their own subjective biases. And just so you PG loving IWC know, the attitude era wasn't just sex and violence. It was an era where almost anything could be done, when things weren't robotic. When wrestling was most popular with casual fans. Now almost nothing goes but straight forward wrestling and it's lame. Wrestling isn't growing an audience by catering to die hard 'wrestling-only' enthusiasts, it's simply maintaining the crazies who could even get addicted to watching paint dry.

One last thing: I don't know when this started but when did wrestling become all about the wrestling in the ring?? Today's fans are so obsessed with the story told in the ring by the wrestler through the highlight moves made on another wrestler. When did wrestling become all about the wrestling? I never watched wrestling to watch two guys in tights roll around with each other for an hour. All throughout the 20th century, wrestling was about entertaining the audience not just with fancy wrestling (which was actually pretty barbaric and simple). It was about getting the crowd engaged, riling them up with something entertaining. Like Ric Flair is still doing today. The 60s and 70s had characters with personality at the top of the card. These faces and heels engaged and enraged audiences and they were all usually not very good wrestlers. When wrestling went mainstream in the 80s it was mainly gimmicks and the wrestling was never front and center. It was about entertaining audiences with charismatic faces and ruthless heels, it wasn't all about who could do the sickest move off the top rope like it is today. The 90s had a great balance of wrestling and entertainment, and became directed toward older audiences who grew up with the wrestling explosion in the 80s. Instead of insulting the audiences' intelligence, wrestling grew up with its fans and gave them a great balance of what they needed. Throughout all these years, wrestling entertainment was more than just the wrestling. WWE has given up on that audience it captured in the 80s and has created this cult like IWC that is obsessed only with the quality of match inside the ring. Nobody anymore seems to care that most wrestlers now have little to no charisma. Nobody seems to care that the matches and titles mean nothing. Nobody seems to care that the formulas aren't creative. Nobody seems to mind that wrestling has primarily become all about highlight reel moves that never seem to lead to an obvious pin. Nobody seems to get that wrestling has become stagnant catering to children and idiots with age old creativity-lacking formulas.

 

[eezy1]

The storylines last all of 5 minutes. Everything is rushed these dayz. U really think PG is the only thing that seperates the Att and this era? The storylines, characters and the wrestling is what seperates the two. E sucks ass compared to yester`year.

 

[mrbooker]

The storylines last all of 5 minutes. Everything is rushed these dayz. U really think PG is the only thing that seperates the Att and this era? The storylines, characters and the wrestling is what seperates the two. E sucks ass compared to yester`year.

I agree with you the storylines, characters and the wrestling is what seperates the two, wrestling is about engulfing the viewers dont get me wrong WWE has done it with HBK/Taker, and at the beginning of the Nexus angle. The matches have their moments from time to time, Kidd and Jericho in the steel cage the other night was not bad, cena vs randy was ok.

I have been when to knock the PG era and its not because everything sucks, the quality is decent and captivating from time to time, its because they need something to engulf the viewer thats whats missing, thats what seperates the the product from yester-year, and when i say yester year thats not just the Attitude Era. The Attitude ended at Wrestlemania 17 plenty of great things happened after that......

Invasion angle was good for many months its still looked at as dropping the ball because till this day we could have had more wrestling if the angle was played off correctly.... Brand split and The WWE draft, rise of brock lesnar, Brock Lesnar/kurt angle, brock/taker, a steady tag team division, Goldberg to the WWE, Evolution, the rise of randy and batista, HBK made his comeback, Eddie and Beniot finally won their respective WHC, Rock/Hogan

lots of great moments that engulfed the viewer whether it was match quality like lesnar/angle, characters like rock/hogan, wrestling and characters like beniot and eddie who had long road to the title, or all of the above with storylines the 3 stages of hell with HBK/HHH, or even teh introdction to the Elimination chamber.

So this isnt a PG era vs Attitude Era thing this is a change in production type thing, people that argue well they have no competition all the story lines i stated where after WWE was the only major player, so why is the product so different now? I would say that its because everything is so rushed, rivalries can't be built without characters crossing paths in match it seems like. The aura of how meaningful matches are don't seem as important as a viewer to me 3 stages of hell was advertised as closure to the HBK/HHH rivalry Hogan/Rock was to see who is better man between the historic wrestlers. Even stables that were built so big like evolution for months and months had payoffs, and made Randy winning the title and being kicked out a big deal, it resulted in a huge pay off of Batista/HHH and mania.

WWE has stars now as they have stopped with the Orton/HHH/Cena hand around, a QUANTITY of stars its time for them to choose who is going to deliver on the Title scene, Mainevent scene, And the upper midcard who is going captivate the audience week in and week out. You remeber when the mid-card would be just as entertaining at the main event scene dont you?(ex. eddie/rey mysterio) With storylines that will be an adventure two or 3 months down the line, makes PPV like Summerslam, Mania, Survivor Series, and The Royal Rumble mean something by getting closure to major storylines their rather than some gimmick PPV like MITB.

 

[Dwayne_Jason]

The quality of the PG Era is absolutely fine, I fail to see anything wrong with it whatsoever. I bet you didn't know that the Attitude Era was substandardly created in the PG scene did you? No, because you're too busy being engulfed in the past and not realising that the Wrestling we have now, is incredible.

What good storylines actually evolved from the Attitude Era besides the arguable InVasion? Val Venis got his penis cut clean off backstage by a bunch of Samurai wannabes. Chester McCheesterton was apparently the main attraction at Wrestlemania 16. Crash Holly claimed to be over 400 pounds. Stone Cold made Vince McMahon wet himself in the middle of his own ring. Kane threatened to set himself on fire in 1998. The Undertaker hung the Big Boss Man from the Hell in a Cell. Mick Foley's tooth came out of his NOSE after being thrown off of a 20ft high structure. I could have sworn that the WWE were bigger than all of that. What is this, CZW? I'm no Attitude Era hater though. I enjoyed some bits of it. But please, for the sake of the future of Wrestling and for the sake of this forum, stop spamming it with Attitude Era threads and move on. Attitude Era has gone, it's changed, and it's for the better.

But honestly, another thread about how much people hate the PG era? There's absolutely nothing wrong with it. We've had better quality matches than we've ever had in WWE, and I'm talking since the 80s. The storylines, superstars and quality of matches have been completely immaculate and WWE has become such a phenomenon. Even bigger than what it was in the 90s. I fail to see how anything bad has come from the PG Era, whatsoever. You should really just give it a chance, if you don't like Wrestling at the moment, then I'm sure you could go watch TNA where people bleed profusely after being hit with a plank of wood that's got about a million nails sticking out of it. Because that's good quality of Wrestling, isn't it?

What part of I am not a PG hater did you not understand? This isn't about Attitude Era this is weather PG is a good thing in the future because the same merch sales can be going to adults and the same bland Cena could be a whole lot different and WWE could get creative storylines either way. MMA is huge and PG will not last for ever but when WWE turns back time, it'll have a harder time in attracting adult viewrs because of the lost fans. That is why PG is not a good investment. Read the thread friend.

 

[The Pagan]

Nexus v Cena: I think they got this idea from the invasion as well as comic books. It was great until SS where they dropped the ball and let Cena win, they shoulda let Wade win at NOC and let them fight it off at Survivor Series.

I think they did drop the ball at SS, but not in the same way you mean. They should of had Miz screw Cena over and had DBD overcome the odds to beat Nexus. This would of been the best possible outcome IMO. Cena really didn't need the win. Hopefully Nexus can recruit a few NXT2 guys to beef up the stable a bit.

Smackdown totally dropped the ball with the entire SES angle. It was great for a while then it seemed to turn to shit as soon as the Big Slow was introduced into it.

I think they really hurry the matches. I don't see why a 5 minute match is the norm now-a-days. I just get into a match and it's over. And what's up with all the BS finishes lately...DQ and countouts GALORE!!! I mean come on.

The lack of competition is really ruining the business. I'm not saying WWE doesn't do anything right. They do some stuff right, but it seems that they purposely ruin good things. They move ppl from Smackdown to Raw and then do nothing with them and Smackdown suffers. They do too much backstage instead of in the ring. TNA is just so out of whack right now, I'm not sure they can ever recover.