Remember the New Generation Era?

[TLDD]

I have been a wrestling fans since my days as a kid back in the late 80s. During that time frame you had your Golden Age of Wrestling with established WWF Superstars such as Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Paul Ondorff , Ultimate Warrior etc. Now as time passed some of these guys went in different directions while others stuck around into the early 90s.

Starting in about 1993 or so the WWF decided to start building younger stars to fill the gap of those who left for WCW and whose career where winding down. Vince started to build mid card stars such as Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Lex Luger, Razor Ramon, Diesel, Yokozuna, Owen Hart, The Undertaker who would eventually fill this main event void. This became known as the New Generation Era.

The New Generation Era produced feuds such as Diesel vs Razor Ramon, Shawn Micheals and the Undertaker.
Bret Hart vs Owen Hart and then Shawn Michaels
Lex Luger vs Yokozuna
The Undertaker vs Yokozuna along with many more.

In time we saw stars such as Diesel, Razor Ramon, Lex Luger, Bret Hart and others leave for the WCW which in return left a new main event gap to be filled.
Vince again looked at his roster and pushed mid carders such as HHH, Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Mankind etc. to fill this main event void. All of which became a pivotal part of the Attitude Era and established main eventers in the WWF.

Fast forward to 2015 where we have established main eventers such as John Cena, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar (when around) Big Show, Kane. Now granted the WWE doesn't have real competition for these guys to jump ship too but eventually their careers will wind down.

During this time we have seen Orton/Cena numerous time. Cena/Lesnar numerous times.

This current state of main event depth has left us fans with the same old match and the everlasting question....

Is it time for a new era in the WWE? If so which logical stars are the ones who can carry this company back to what it used to be in days past?

 

[Heath Slater's Trainer]

I think Rollins, Ambrose, Bryan, Ziggler, and Wyatt will all be WWE champions soon and will be in the main event for many years while guys like Kane and Show retire in grand fashion as they should, instead of receiving hate from fans. Meanwhile, Cena and Orton should wind down and wrestle less, like Aitch has been doing since 2010. Mizdow, Harper, Stardust and Cesaro could make a great mid card and fight guys like RVD, Jericho and Goldust in their last matches. Maybe some changes should be made to the belts. Have the WWE belt become the WHC and bring back Big Gold, change the Tag Belt Design, Keep the IC how it is, and replace the floundering US title with the European Championship and maybe a Cruiserweight title.

 

[wrestler36]

aren't we already seeing the start of a new Era? Cena was midcard in last WM, was brutalized at Summerslam and took a back seat to Zigger at SS. Now it looks like he'll be midcard again at WM. Ambrose/Rollins in the main event with Wyatt interfering. Reigns winning the Royal Rumble and DBry winning the big one last year. NXT guys are getting called up continually. I'd say we're in the midst of a new era

 

[BuriedByCena]

I hope so. But the main problem with WWE is they push one guy to the moon while the rest of the roster STAYS in the mid card for life. They can't do that anymore. Fans are really scared that WWE will push Roman Reigns too hard that no one else will be able to pass him.

They cannot push Roman to win every match for the next 10 years. I am not saying they should hot potato the title like back in the day. But have it revolve around multiple guys so they all get a chance in the spot light. Roman can win it, then Seth, then Bryan. Give them a few months each.

Just please don't let Roman hold the title for 6 months, lose it, win it back 3 weeks later and hold it for another 6 months. No more Superman/Cena booking. It is okay for your faces to lose clean once in a while.

 

[timothy26]

I think the talent is there, Reigns, Ambrose, Rollins, Wyatt, Ziggler, Harper, Bryan.

WWE just need to take risks with the booking and give these guys the time to shine and not have them stuck in the midcard too long. I think something like Ziggler / Rollins could be the Hart / Michaels of the future.

 

[FlairFan2003]

I have been a wrestling fans since my days as a kid back in the late 80s. During that time frame you had your Golden Age of Wrestling with established WWF Superstars such as Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Paul Ondorff , Ultimate Warrior etc. Now as time passed some of these guys went in different directions while others stuck around into the early 90s.

Starting in about 1993 or so the WWF decided to start building younger stars to fill the gap of those who left for WCW and whose career where winding down. Vince started to build mid card stars such as Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Lex Luger, Razor Ramon, Diesel, Yokozuna, Owen Hart, The Undertaker who would eventually fill this main event void. This became known as the New Generation Era.

The New Generation Era produced feuds such as Diesel vs Razor Ramon, Shawn Micheals and the Undertaker.
Bret Hart vs Owen Hart and then Shawn Michaels
Lex Luger vs Yokozuna
The Undertaker vs Yokozuna along with many more.

In time we saw stars such as Diesel, Razor Ramon, Lex Luger, Bret Hart and others leave for the WCW which in return left a new main event gap to be filled.
Vince again looked at his roster and pushed mid carders such as HHH, Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Mankind etc. to fill this main event void. All of which became a pivotal part of the Attitude Era and established main eventers in the WWF.

Fast forward to 2015 where we have established main eventers such as John Cena, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar (when around) Big Show, Kane. Now granted the WWE doesn't have real competition for these guys to jump ship too but eventually their careers will wind down.

During this time we have seen Orton/Cena numerous time. Cena/Lesnar numerous times.

This current state of main event depth has left us fans with the same old match and the everlasting question....

Is it time for a new era in the WWE? If so which logical stars are the ones who can carry this company back to what it used to be in days past?

First, Lex Luger was hardly a mid carder....he had already main evented for several years and had a year long as World Champ before he joined WWE.

Second, the business is cyclical, new guys always take the place of older guys at some point and opening are always available due to injury.

Third, while the New Generation Era is largely looked at as a black hole in WWE, a period of stagnation and lost audience which opened the door for WCW to surge in 94-95, there is a key element in your list of stars here that is missing today....any other viable wrestling promotion.

Scott Hall certainly didn't start his career in WWE in 1992. He was World Tag Team Champion and featured prominently (as Curt Henning's tag team partner) in the AWA in the mid 80s. His Razor Ramoan gimmick wasn't even a WWE creation, it was a slight tweak on his Diamond Stud persona in WCW in 1990-91.

Luger was an established top tier talent before he ever stepped foot in WWE.

Shawn Michaels had also been in the business for several years and was wining titles in the AWA before ever stepping foot in WWE.

Taker also had been in the business prior to WWE and was prominently featured in WCW in 1989-90.

Kevin Nash had also made two runs in WCW before joining WWE.

Without any viable competition for stars to learn their craft its much harder for WWE to find new stars. Vince has had some success (and a lot of failures) trying to find unique gimmicks for stars but most of his biggest stars learned most of their craft (and often developed their trademark promo and ring styles) elsewhere. Creating the Taker gimmick was a stroke of genius but Vince didn't create Hulk Hogan (AWA), Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat, or Greg Valentine (NWA), Randy Savage (Independent Promotions in FLA and Mid South Area), Ultimate Warrior (UWF), Steve Austin largey created the Stone Cold Gimmick on his own as a harder edged version of his Stunning Steve persona in WCW, HHH much like Scott Hall was basically given the same character in WWE as he had in WCW with only minor tweaks, the list goes on.

There are a handful of guys in TNA who could be helpful, it mystifies me why WWE wont let Bubba Dudley come in and play a character like Bully Ray, he was great in that role, Bobby Roode is another TNA player who WWE should have been recruiting. Maybe Vince & WWE think they can create their own stars with their minor league system, but for the most part it isnt working.

Also, not just in the NG Era but pretty much standard in wrestling through the mid 2000s wrestlers were given some freedom to create their own promos to match their personas, today with everything so tightly scripted everyone sounds like everyone else and their is no originality, there are no patented catch phrases or trademark moments for most guys when they speak. If a wrestler cant catch the audience with his interviews then he will draw no interest in his matches. Matches make the money but matches don't draw money unless the promos create interest. Honestly watching RAW is boring, even worse than the New Generation era which was pretty bad, because so few talents are allowed to do anything creative, typically the best promo every week is either HHH or Cena (ironically two guys who don't have to adhere to the scripted promo rule).

As for today we are already entering a new era, WWE is pushing Reigns, Ambrose, Bryan, etc as the "new" stars, part of the problem (and this was the case during the NG Era) is other than Cena there are not enough older stars the audience is invested in to keep fans attention. It's also why HHH-Sting will likely be the most interesting and best drawing match on WrestleMania, the "new" stars haven't enough time and enough storyline working with "older" stars to really capture the audience attention.