Pick Your Poison: The 80's Era or The Attitude Era

[justinsayne]

Basically like all the others, just which era of wretling you prefer, the 80's era or the Attitude Era

For me it would have to be the Attitude Era, I just like the fact that it had more interesting storylines, matches and wrestlers, kit was also when I really started to watch wrestling, now before anyone says anything I have seen plenty of matches and shit from the 80's era, and their was some good stuff in there too, but I just found the AE far more entertaining

So what Era do you prefer?

 

[IrishCanadian25]

I can't choose among the two, because it leaves out the mid-90's. That's my golden era. It was the transitional time. The mid-90's made the move from the 80's to the Attitude Era possible.

If the 80's and Attitude Era are my only choices, I pick the Attitude Era. This time started with the Monday Night Wars in full swing. Wrestling was cool again. Even when it was popular in the 80's, it was still dorky. Being a wrestling fan in the AE was liberating, because a) everyone admitted it was fake, so there was no guilt, and b) it was bad ass. Girls flashed dX in the crowd and Austin drank beer and flipped out.

Also, in the AE, wrestling was accessible ANYWHERE. Monday Night? Raw. Wednesday? Thunder. Thursday? Smackdown. Friday? ECW. Tuesdays sucked because it was the only wrestling free weekday. Plus, in the AE, wrestlers put great matches out on TV every week. In the 80's shows like Wrestling Challenge were 4 stars taking out jobber and 1 fair star vs star match. The major stars like Hogan or Savage didn't show up at a lot of TV shows, whereas in the AE, Austin, Rock, HHH, etc. were always around and kept the connection strong.

If we add the pre-AE 90's to this list, that's my #1, followed by the AE, and then the 80's.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Neither. I'm a mid 90's man. Smaller, more athletic wrestlers. Clean finishes. The gulf between the mid card and main event scene wasn't as big.

But out of 80's or Attitude I'd go 80's. Purley because that's what I grew up watching. The mid carders of the 80's were far more memorable that the Attitude era ones. 80's gimmicks were intresting. 90's were more ''real''. But I'd still rather see a nam with a snake, or a man dressed as Elvis etc. That a stable of ******s, or a pinmp as a face.

Wrestling wise both were pretty similar. It was the undercard that was more intresting. As for main events. Hogan had bigger matches. Austin had better more intresting. But considering I couldn't give a shit about main events in general that's a mute point.

 

[mtg712]

Plus, in the AE, wrestlers put great matches out on TV every week. In the 80's shows like Wrestling Challenge were 4 stars taking out jobber and 1 fair star vs star match. The major stars like Hogan or Savage didn't show up at a lot of TV shows, whereas in the AE, Austin, Rock, HHH, etc. were always around and kept the connection strong.

in the 80's when it came to watching wrestling on tv they had a strong mid card for people would tune in for. you had arn and ole anderson the russians buddy landel manny fernandez and more. they could carry a tv program. if you've seen a MACW tv show they usually had either Magnum TA or Ric flair wrestling with the one not wrestling cutting promos so there was the nights as the star power. in the AE it wasn't just promos they used to continue a story line they wrestled matches on tv involving members of the feud. now im not saying that the AE didn't had a strong mid card its just people shifted from needing a mid card heavy show like it was in the 80s to upper card in the AE.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I prefer the 80's style of TV. The way TV is now is the reason nobody gives a shit about the majority of PPV undercard matches. They're nothing new or special. You might have C.M. Punk vs. Chavo Guerrero as a PPV match for example. But by the time the PPV match happens you've seen them wrestle each other in tag matches and whatever plenty of times.

What's wrong with just having a jobber vs. a big star for the majority (obviously not all) TV matches?

 

[DMan23]

Without a doubt the 80s era over the Attitude Era. Yes the AE made wrestling cool and there were good storylines but there were also a lot of stupid angles and things that just turned me off, like Mae Young giving birth to a hand or I believe it was Shawn Stasiak taking Viagra and wrestling with a boner. Come on. The 80s had tremendous talent, good storylines, and funny characters. Saturday Night's Main event was special, not like now where it's basically another RAW and means nothing. The Pay Per Views were bigger because there were only four a year. There were also better undercard feuds back then. There were rivalries that lasted months that didn't revolve around a title belt. The tag team division was a hundred times better. You had teams like the Hart Foundation, Demolition, Killer Bees, Powers of Pain, Rougeou Brothers, etc. that made tag wrestling exciting. Eighties wrestling paved the way for the AE and the AE provided a ton of great matches and stars but there was a lot of forgettable garbage put on tv during that time. If I had a kid I never would have taken him/her to a live event or allowed them to watch wrestling during the Attitude Era, which is a big difference maker for me.

 

[jmt225]

Great, great question.

I wasn’t a big fan of WWF's Attitude Era, but I loved the hell out of the company from the late eighties until about Wrestlemania 14. Once Shawn left, I really hated the WWF until Jericho made his debut. I always had a soft spot for The Rock though, but my distain for Austin always left a bitter taste in my mouth. It was nothing personal; I just hated the fact that he went so dominantly over two of my all time favorite wrestlers, Bret Hart and HBK.

At the same time though, Rob Van Dam and Raven are my two favorite wrestlers of all time period, with Sting coming in third, who with the Ultimate Warrior was the reason why I became such a big fan of pro wrestling in the first place back in the late eighties. Both Raven and RVD came along during the mid to late nineties, which was of coarse was during the WWF's Attitude Era.

So overall, I have to say the Attitude Era is my favorite, even though I hate calling it that since "Attitude" represents the WWF, while it's because of Raven, Rob Van Dam, and the Crow Sting why I feel this way, not because of the WWF.

However, the late eighties and early nineties still hold a special place in my heart. I really wish the Ultimate Warrior wasn't such a douche in real life. He played such a huge role in my childhood. And then you have guys like Jake the Snake and the Macho Man thrown into the mix, it was just awesome to be able to experience performers such as those.

 

[The Dungeon]

How do I choose...

I mean, the 80's was part of my childhood, it began the national explosion of the WWF, and pretty much everyone and anyone, was somewhat of a big name, merely b/c the worked for the WWF. Some say, it was cartoonish, and whatnot, as a lot of smartmark dirtsheet writers kind of crap all over it, but if you ask me, now in my mid 20's, looking back and watching a lot of the footage on DVD, and on 24/7 at my friends place, a lot still holds up. Sure, there was some hokeyness there, but that's what made it so fun to watch. And the main events had some great raw emotion, one of my all time favourite feuds is Hogan/Savage, it was just amazing how they did it and built it up for so long, also the business wasn't so in demand, it wasn't go go go go go, like it is today, but mind you I think that has to do with the times these days, as well as the fact, that with a PPV every month, it just makes some fans hungry for more....which brings me too..

The Attitude Era....while the Hogan era was my childhood...the Attitude Era was truly my youth! For me the Attitude Era truly kicked off with Hart & Austin's feud!! And it's sad that Hart, wasn't there to be part of, what he helped create. And same goes for Shawn, D-X was also something fresh and out of the ordinary for wrestling. This was all about times changing, people changing and society changing, entertainment had chaged, and wrestling is a form of entertainment, so of course, it's only fitting that it changed as well. The feuds of the Attitude Era were easy for people to relate too. People lived through Austin every Monday night, as he stood up too his boss on a weekly basis. The characters seemed less cartoonish, and somewhat more realistic, and relating better to that present days audience. Also, the feuds in my opinion were based around pure hatred, and I think we have Bret & Shawn to thank for that as well...and there was a red hot main event almost every week on Raw.

So too me...it's all about the times...it's a different time and hard to compare what was better!

But for me personally...I gotta go with the Attitude Era. Right up until 2001.

 

[DeadmanInc.]

I wasn't alive in the 80's so the obvious choice for me is the Attitude Era. The storylines were better and there was a lot of controversial storylines. It made wrestling cool again because the era was so badass.

Though my favourite Era is the 90's transitional period. The matches were awesome in this era. Clean finishes, real athletes as opposed to the bulky guys from the 80's, and meaningful title reigns. There was no "main star" in this era, unlike Hogan and Austin from the 80's and Attitude Era.

 

[Agrex]

I would have to go with the Attitude Era. I grew up watching that stuff. The story lines were great, the matches were btter, and the gimmicks were more interesting. The 80's chnaged the wrestling business for ever; the start of WrestleMania, the start of Hulkamania, more televison exposion for the wrestlers, and publicity. The 80's produced many stars (i.e Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, Sgt.Slaughter...). The Attitude Era also produced many stars (i.e The Rock, Stone Cold, Kurt Angle...). Both era's have done alot for the business, but in the end I gotta go with the Attitude Era!

 

[Davi323]

Definitely the 80s. The variety of different wresting organizations does it for me...

Obviously, we had the WWF with Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Andre the Giant, etc, but we also had the NWA (pre WCW) with Ric Flair, the Horsemen, Nikita Koloff, Magnum TA, etc, then we had WCCW with the Von Erichs and the Freebirds, the AWA had Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig, Jerry Lawler, Scott Hall (yes, he was a wrestler before he was Razor Ramon) a pre-WWF Shawn Michaels, the Road Warriors in their absolute prime...

the 80s also gave us the absolute best when it came to managers. Where are the Bobby the Brain Heenans for today? The Mr. Fujis? The Captain Lou Albanos? Wrestling has gone away from managers, and its a shame.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the Attitude era, I love Stone Cold, the Rock, HHH, Undertaker, etc. But, the 1980s was the golden age. It really is a shame that the vast majority of people who will be voting on this question weren't alive back then, and never got to see what us old fogeys are talking about.

 

[Shocky]

Out of the two choices, easily the 80's era. The Attitude era was nothing but garbage wrestling at it's finest with raunchy shit storylines and terrible skits. It depends though on what the Attitude Era is defined as, whcih I define it as KOTR96 to WM17. The Attitude Era had some okay times, I enjoyed 1997 tremendously, but thought match quality went to hell in a hand basket from 98 - 99 while Austin was in charge. He's entertaining, much like the Rock, but those two couldn't have a good match to save their ass.

I'm partial to the Hogan Era because I was a kid and Hogan was larger then life and it wasn't to be taken too seriously. Guys like Robert, Rude, Warrior, Savage, Hennig and all of the really colorful characters and gimmicks made it interesting to watch.

But as some said, I actually prefer the "buffer" eras to the famous eras. Outside of crap like Duke Drose and Damien Demento, the mid 90's between Hogan and Austin saw guys like Hart, Michaels, Owen Hart, Bulldog and others have very damn good in ring matches.

It happened again after the Attitude Era and the mind numbling dull Invasion. Guys like Benoit, Angle, Lesnar and Guerrero became the focus on Smackdown, while the same old shit was the norm on Raw. I enjoy these buffer era's much more then the more popular Era's liek Hogan, Austin and now Cena.

 

[klunderbunker]

When I started reading this thread it was attitude era, but now i'm not sure. The Attitude era had national tv, storylines that were based in entertainment, and can't miss tv. But the ae also had lost any sense of realism that wrestling had, which i thought was a major loss. In the 80s, the feuds were simple, it was good vs evil, nothing more, nothing less. In the AE, sometimes the lines were blurred. Looking back, I still love both eras, but I have to go with the 80s i think, as with what we have now, I'd give just about anything for a match as simple as Hogan Dibiase.

 

[SCSA31693]

Id have to go with the attitude era, its how i grew up, it was all i thought about and i was a stone cold fanatic. In the attitude era there were 2 guys in austin and rocky who basically took the buisness on thier backs and carried it, i mean these two guys had some great matches, cut the best promos and are sure HOFers some day. The 80s had guys like hogan and savage and piper who were great as well but didnt have the talent behind then that the guys like austin and rocky did, they had DX, undertaker kane(who was big at the time), mick foley and those guys were doing some big things themselves and some of the best storylines didnt even include austin or rocky i.e hhh and mick foley 99-00. the ministry of darkness and the corperation were awesome heel groups idk what more you could want from the crowd during this time either, the pops were incredible. like when mick foley won the wwf title from the rock @ raw is war and stone cold came out, one of the biggest pops ive ever heard. hands down the AE has to beat out the 80's

 

[AnthonyM4]

Even though I started watching wrestling in 1991, I want to go with the 80s era. I've seen a lot of footage of the wwf in the 1980s and it was great! I wish I started watching wwf in the 80s. Actually I did watch it a little bit in the late 80s, but my parents told me how bad wrestling was so I stopped watching it until 1991.

What I like about the 80s over the attitude era was that in the 80s the wwf wasn't a soap opera. The empahsis was more on in-ring action than what went on outside the ring! Also in the 80s, Vince McMahon was just an announcer. The attitude era is when he started hogging up air time and started actually wrestling which is ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, I liked the attitude era as it was a hot period for pro wrestling in general, but I prefer the 80s. The 80s(especially mid 80s) was an even hotter period for wrestling than the late 90s.

 

[blkscrpn5]

Why is it that whenever they say eighties ppl only refer to wwf, nwa was spectacular during the eighties, watch a ric flair vs steamboat or terry funk, or check out the tag teams, they were much better than the stuff that was on in the late 90's....hell watch wcw during the mid nineties before the "monday night wars" you will see better matches then what wwe put on during attitude era, wwe wanted more storylines and less wrestling....check out chris benoit vs kevin sullivan or ddp or raven, or any of eddie guerero's matches...now thet are some classics

 

[mulvey187]

some story lines in the AE were shit but way bettr than the cartoon/steroid days of 86-92 then from 92-98 in the wwe u saw diesel bret hart shawn micheal undertaker vader and ric flair having great matches diesel vs bret or shawn is great but kevin nash vs hogan would hav been uter shit so the 92-98 was da best

 

[bioshock]

80s were so much better for so many reasons, for one back then everyone watched wrestling shows on NBC would get millions of viewers, PPV's would get 5-10x more viewers then today. And it all seemed more real, and it wasn't treated as some joke, sure fake is fake but then it was treated like a real sport. Plus it was far more family friendly, It wasn't all about sex.

You had some cool gimmicks that got over far greater then any of the attitude era, 80s you get the Million Dollar Man with his body guard Virgil, in the attitude era you get Marc Mero with Jacquelyn I MEAN CMON!! Hmm wonder which Id rather watch. And the tag teams!!!! 80s had the greatest tag teams ever! You get teams like Demolition, Hart Foundation, Rockers, British Bulldogs, Brain Busters, Twin Towers and so on, while the attitude era you get boring teams like The Headbangers, the Godwinns, Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon, the New Diesel & New Razor Ramon, sure theres the new Age Outlaws, Bulldog & Owen, a much older LOD, but the 80s was light years better there.

Only thing I think attitude era was better at is having more WWF title contenders, but thats just went along with time (80s only had 3-5 guys at most for title contenders).

 

[Enigmania]

I grew up on the Attitude Era and for the last few years I've saw some of the 80's product. But the Attitude Era will always be number one for me. It produced great characters - The Hardyz, Val Venis, Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H etc. Sure it had some strange storylines like Beaver Cleavage and Mae Young but it kept you hooked even though the situation was out of this world - not in a good way sometimes. The Attitude Era also had Sunny, Sable and Ryan Shamrock. Okay so some of them couldn't compare to Ms Elizabeth. All was good back then.