The Attitude Era: Good or Bad for the WWE?

[Adalam]

The WWE or as it was known during this era, the WWF, went through an era where they didn't care what obscene things were said or done, they just went with the flow. It got them the wins in the Monday Night Wars and made stars out of Chris Jericho, Goldberg, The Rock, and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and made Vince McMahon take more of a centralized figure in the WWF as well as introducing us to Mick Foley's insanity and the hilarity that was D-Generation X while pushing Triple H and making Shawn Michael's prime years the best of his career (Though some might disagree.) What I'm trying to get to is, was the Attitude era really good for the WWE/WWF? Or did it put WWE/WWF in an image that they shouldn't have gone for?

 

[codebreaker212p]

This answer is so obvious.. and that answer is "yes."

WCW like it or not.. was the top company over WWF for the past 4-5 years.. before WWF got the advantage. And at the time.. before WWF began taking charge of the war.. They were in deep.. Vince was trying desperatly to get something going for his company. Now whether all the soccer moms or people like the PG rating agree with me or not.. The attitude era saved WWF. I dont care if you disagree it did. WWF was dying a slow painful death between 95-96' and its funny because WWE right now reminds me of 95-96.' Things were incredibally stale and their were no good rising stars... Sure WWF did have HBK and Bret Hart, Razor Ramon.. But they were not succedding in putting WWF over.. While Hogan, Hall and Nash were making names for themselves with NWO. Even though NWO played a role in WCW's death. Right when WWF put the attitude era together they immediatly killed WCW... They pulled ahead and never loked back. Without the A.E. WWE wouldnt be here today. Bishoff would be the sole owner of WCW ad Vince would be working for him as wierd as that may sound. WWF was established.. but even that wasnt helping them. Now were their complaints that WWF was too "violent and innapropriate"? Yes.. But those complaints merely came from parents who didnt even watch the product and just tried to interfere with thew way Vince did business, which sadly today he has given into them. But back then he didnt give a damn. He loved wrestling it was his passion.. Unlike today it is just a business to him. But I have yet to find a single person who watched all of the A.E. to say he or she absolutly hated it. Not just didnt care for it, but hated it.

The A.E. did create controversy from the media and parents.. But ultimatly it saved WWF. It was a way for Vince to make money and get viewers and it worked to perfection... Anyone who thinks the A.E. hurt WWF is talking from the perspective as a parent and not a wrestling fan. To quote HHH: "It was that DAMN good"

 

[Y-2-Jay]

The attitude era was good good and more good of course it is if the 94-96 stuff went through for a few more years then wwe will be probally dead. With the way WCW was doing with their tatitics like going against them on mondays and telling the results before raw. Also because WCW compared to WWE at the time was fresh and new to the audience.Then when WWE did the attitude era it brought old and new fans to thier company sure the attitude era did cause some problems to parents and the wwe's kid/family friendly image which is now these days being restored.In my view sometimes in buisness you have to take big risks. So to conclude the question yes the attitude era was good for the WWE.

 

[klunderbunker]

The answer is obviously yes for one reason: it worked. Without Austin and the Attitude Era that he led, it's unlikely that the WWF would have survived. Now was it possible for them to survive by going a different route? Of course. However, they went with the Attitude and they were successful. Their backs were against the wall and they did what they had to do to survive. From their perspective, it was certainly the way to go.

To the fans of old school, pure wrestling, it wasn't. Fans such as myself weren't huge on the Attitude Era, but it did its job. It made wrestling, the sport that we had always loved, the cool thing to watch again. While I don't like the methods by which it accomplished the goals it was looking for, I can't deny that it worked. In total, yes it worked because it kept the company alive and made it very successful, which is the goal of any company right/

 

[RockFan89]

The attitude era was kind of like steroids. It gave an immediate boost to the company that helped it beat WCW, but in the long term it lost a lot of respect from the main stream. In my opinion, the attitude era alienated wrestling from other forms of entertainment.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Why is this even a serious question? Without a doubt it was one of if not the most successful time for the WWF. Every single show had me sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see what they'd do next.

I'd go as far as to question whether or not you're even a real fan of wrestling if you didn't like the Attitude Era. It was that good. Record breaking ratings, crowds, etc. The Attitude Era really lasted from about 1998-2002 (before the roster split) but the WWE STILL feels the affects today.

The sad thing is, if you watch the shows back then they feel so much more fresh and original than the garbage the WWE puts on right now.

 

[Blue Chipper]

It was good for the WWE, for the short term. They were in an intense competetion with WCW and needed to pull everything out of the bag to defeat them in ratings, even if it meant advancing the vulgarity and crudness of the product, and potentially loose some hardcore wrestling fans. And, good move, becasue it completely worked; they recieved terrific revenue from higher ratings, HS attendance, merch., etc. They eventually won the battle, and done all they could with the tastelessness. Fans were grown tired. Thus, they had to slighlty tweak the product, and did so slowly to where it is today. That's why it couldn't have worked in the long term, but did in the short.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

The 'tude era brought in higher ratings and more money than any other "era" in the history of wrestling. Stone Cold became a pop-culture icon and sold more T-shirts (probably) than anyone in history.

Attitude made money. Therefore...good.

 

[yoshi_doce2006]

If you really think about it the question is a valid one. I mean the WWE Attitude Era wasn't as good in my opinion as the 80's and the Horsemen, Von Erich's, Rock 'N' Wrestling, and all that but it was a hell of a time.

However while it shot wrestling to a new standard it also in a way hurt the WWE. It won them the Monday Night Wars which was pivital but it spoiled younger wrestling fans of the time since nothing could develop from it. Many things came from the 80's; Stables, main stream attention, entrance music, champions who defended their titles all over the world. What did the attitude era leave us that will be long lasting? DX? Mr. McMahon? Most wrestlers from that time are retired or not with the WWE, no new concepts were born, it really did nothing but give the WWE the immediate ammunition it needed to defeat WCW and then it faded away leaving fans wanting something that may never return.

In the long run the Attitude Era only turned wrestling into a monopoly for the most part which I believe is bad. So in that respect I will say no, the Attitude Era no matter how much it was loved was probably bad for the wrestling business as a whole because it made everyone working in the creative department for the main company up north complacent and made them care less about putting out the type of product the attitude era gave because they didn't have to. They were the only ones left. That hurt the business and that is why as great as that era was it was probably bad for the business.

 

[Upgrayedd]

The '80s/early '90s WWF was great but I'll take the Attitude Era over pretty much anything along with WCW/nWo and ECW from the '90s/early '00s.

Also, IMO, no one got tired of it, it's that the writing just sucks now compared to back then and they have no idea how to put on a product like that anymore. For all the criticism Vince Russo gets people don't realize how much he helped the WWF during the Attitude Era. After he left they still kept it going for a little while by even throwing in Paul Heyman to book/write some shows. But overall the only reason an Attitude Era product isn't going on right now is because the writing sucks.

Also, when did everyone get so offended by wrestling? I read the word "tasteless" on here like it was some horrible era. The WWF Attitude Era blows away the current product and it's not even close.

 

[loretta]

I loved the attitude era but ultimately it hurt the buisness in the long run because they did everything imaginely possible and now anything less is not accepted by the fans. I mean we seen wrestlers sacrificed, married, divorced, wrestlers crashing their own funerals,birth to a hand, infernos on and on. Now since they did evrything they can't go any further and they simply can't go back to the cartoon days of Hogan so they are stuck in the middle. Even going back to try to do things that were successful in the attitude era isn't working (ex: dX reunion and tna copying wcw). Also the attitude era did away with kayfabe and opened the buisness up so much that its hard for fans in my opinion to take some of the wrestlers they are trying to bring up seriously. I feel like Ive seen it all after the attitude era and anything now is just predictable

 

[Adalam]

Why is this even a serious question? Without a doubt it was one of if not the most successful time for the WWF. Every single show had me sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see what they'd do next.

I'd go as far as to question whether or not you're even a real fan of wrestling if you didn't like the Attitude Era. It was that good. Record breaking ratings, crowds, etc. The Attitude Era really lasted from about 1998-2002 (before the roster split) but the WWE STILL feels the affects today.

The sad thing is, if you watch the shows back then they feel so much more fresh and original than the garbage the WWE puts on right now.

I never once said I hated the Attitude Era. I was asking to see what other people thought of it.

 

[RH23]

The Attitude Era was without question good for the WWF. It saved them from going out of business and put their rivals, WCW and ECW out of business. So yes it was good for them, the only problem now is the fans want to see the Attitude Era come back because it was such an amazing time for wrestling.

 

[Wrath]

We can't judge Attitude era as good or bad in today's standarts.In that time WCW was ruling the wrestling world and if WWF didn't change it's style maybe there would be no WWE right now.Vince had to do whatever it takes to climb back to number 1 spot.People were bored from cartoonish and colorful characters like Adam Bomb,Doink The Clown,Rocky Maivia...So Attitude era was in that day's standarts was best choice to do and let's see by Attitude era what wrestling business has gained.Stone Cold Steve Austin without his swearings,flippings,beer drinking and rebel to everyone could he be the megastar he is right now.No.The Rock if he stayed as Rocky Maivia did not to cut promos like The Rock is gonna stick smt in your candy ass could he be one of the biggest stars of wrestling that he is right now.No.Mick Foley without his sick hardcore spots could he be accepted as one of the biggest superstars in WWE history.No.Without DX could Triple H get over?No.Look at the ratings WWF got by Attitude era and if there weren't WCW I think those ratings could even go further up to 9's and 10's.So if someone tries to say Attitude era ruined wrestling he just judges it in today's standarts.If today WWE returned back to Attitude era like they did in late 90's it would be a stupid idea in every way(For kids,sponsors...) and I don't think they can make those high ratings again.Attitude era was a fad.Now just look at what is the negative and positive effects of that era:

Positives:
-Stars like Austin,Rock,Foley,Kane,Triple H have borned.
-Made huge ratings WWE can never do right now.
-We started to see much more PPV quality matches on Tv and less squash matches.
-Cartoonish characters that people are bored of at that time were gone.
-Most importantly put WWF in number 1 spot again.

Negatives:
-Blurred heel/face lines.So even today fans give mixed reactions to Cena,Edge,Orton.
-Gained lots of non-wrestling fans that has no interest in wrestling just watch for sex,blood and swears and after Attitude era has finished they have left.
-We had to see some stupid characters and storylines like Naked Mideon,Mr Ass,Godfather,Sexual Chocolate,Young giving birth...
-It was more like a shock tv show than a wrestling show so they've lost some of their long time fans.

What I'm trying to say is even if it had negatives WWE only did what they had to do to win the war.So it was good for the WWE to survive from the war but it had it's some negative effects WWE still tries to fix right now.

 

[SavageTaker]

The Attitude Era was good for the WWE when it happened. It re-created interest in pro-wrestling for a lot of fans and it made “cool” again. The Attitude Era made a lot of money for the WWE and it kept them afloat. Without it happening we might only be watching WCW programming, TNA, or ROH. We had many new stars born that without that era we might not have seen them or might not be seeing some of them right now. That era probably sold the most merchandise and got the highest ratings than any other era. But I think theirs is a reason the other eras didn’t but it doesn’t change the fact that it sold lots of merchandise and got high ratings. So, yes at the time it was good for the WWE and it was necessary for them to have it. It was a very successful era for the WWE and it was good at the time of it happening.

Now, it was only good at the time it happened. It did cause a lot of harm to pro-wrestling long-term. There are things that Vince is trying to fix because of the Attitude Era. For example, back then it was mostly shock TV. We did get some pretty good and memorable matches, but for the most part it was shock TV. I think that that’s one thing Vince is trying to fix: For fans to not get accustomed to having Shock TV all the time and instead give them quality wrestling matches, which is something we have seen more in this current era. Also, it killed kayfabe. Some people say it was long dead before the Attitude Era, but I think it really died during that era. Before that era happened, fans would strictly boo the heels and cheer the faces. But once it started, people would cheer someone who did heel things. For example, Stone Cold gave everyone stunners and he got cheered for it, before that time he would have been booed for giving everyone a stunner or flipping everyone off. Now we are seeing the effects with this, we now have people who will cheer the heels and boo the babyfaces. So these are just two things it did harm to, but there are other things it did long-term harm to.

 

[X]

I for one don't quite understand all of this obsession on here lately about how the Attitude Era has hurt wrestling so much (thanks Sly). What's wrong with having Crash TV all the time, and trying to shock the audience? It's entertaining. Don't tell me about the purity and sanctity of pro fucking wrestling, it's an entertainment business, correct? And what era entertained the crowds the most? The Attitude Era. You can say it attracted the "wrong" kind of fans or that the in-ring product was shit (which admittedly alot of it was, atleast in the midcard and below) but who really cares? No one in 1999 did. We loved every god damn minute of Raw and every PPV, everyone in my entire school would be talking about the latest WWF PPV or what Stone Cold did on the RAW the night before. Go to any school in America and try to find that conversation happening right now about guys like John Cena, it's not happening. Wrestling is once again seen as a completely nerdy and loser-ish thing to like. The Attitude era made something that by it's very nature is cartoonish and childish, and made it cool. How could that POSSIBLY harm the wrestling industry?

You realize how many fans were won over by that era? A whole generation of people that are now in their 20s and 30s are still sticking to the product soley because of that era. Say what you want about the in-ring product, the storylines and feuds were among the very best the industry has ever seen.

How could drawing fans and making obscene amounts of money possibly hurt the WWE? Guess what people, without the Attitude Era in all likelihood, there IS NO WWE! They were bleeding money and losing more and more viewers every day before that era began.

The Attitude Era was not only good for the WWE, it was the best thing that had happened to it since Terry Bollea put on some yellow trunks and escaped the Camel Clutch.

 

[WinterWolf]

The Attitude Era was only just as good for casual fans who didn't give a damn about pro wrestling. Those fans just wanted the silly non-sense plots and over the top gimmicks.

For one thing, I'm glad today crap is gone just like garbage taken out and it's no good anymore. The fact is that I think WWE can do much better without that hassle of a mess it was.

 

[Grandmaster Sexy]

Ah, the Attitude Era. This was back when my brother was in to wrestling, thus exposing me to wrestling. I, for one, enjoyed the Attitude Era, even if I don't remember it all too well. Good times, man. I think it was good for the WWE.

 

[Billie Jean]

Of course it was good for the WWF. I think it was either sink or swim. Vince took a huge gamble with the attitute area and it paid off. It was good because it made both money and brought in the best ratings in WWE history.

 

[Steve001]

The WWF's 'Attitude' era as it's known died the very day that it's heart and soul left...namely...Vince Russo.

Obviously, certain elements were still in place after his departure in late September '99, and the WWF just rode the wave so to speak that Russo left for them.

As someone else stated earlier here, The 'Attitude' era did in fact make Pro Wrestling "cool"...back in '98/'99 I was in High School, and so many people would discuss the 'Rattlesnakes' antics the next day after Raw! It was a tremendously popular time for the business in general...I genuinely pity fans who jumped on the bandwagon in recent years as they will never experience another time in the business like 'Attitude' again. It was an unpredictable time, you absolutely just had to tune in to Raw (and later Smackdown!) to see what the fuck was gonna happen next! I cannot possibly overstate just how damn entertaining the WWF product at the time was as a whole! Anyone here who was watching back then knows what I'm talking about! And anyone who knows only of the 'Attitude' era via forum posts and YouTube videos really missed out...

Gone are the days of an unpredictable, entertaining, progressive and edgy Wrestling show...they disappeared with the demise of 'Attitude'...

Overall, Vince Russo's vision of 'Attitude' in Professional Wrestling was a huge success and major boon for the Industry...However, because the business 'got smarter' during that time, The fans that have stuck around since have become jaded and demanding fans that are unimpressed with with a lot of what happens today because they've seen just how damn good a Wrestling show can be!

 

[K3NK0NG888]

I don't know... WWE kinda overdid themselves. We were spoiled. They can't even match up to the Attitude Era now. They haven't gotten such great ratings.

 

[Goldlust]

I think undoubtably, at the time, the Attitude Era was the saviour of the WWF/E. As others have pointed out, it made wrestling so cool and everybody loved it once again. I remember going in to school and constantly conversing with my friends about wrestling, something which I doubt happens to anywhere the same degree nowadays.

It was must watch TV and something big always happend on every show. That being said though, some of the match quality was a tad questionable. I mean, who wants to order a PPV that features William Regal vs Naked Mideon or Pat Patterson vs Gerald Brisco in an Evening Gown match.

 

[scott_keystone]

anyone who argues against the attitude era misunderstands the question or is completely ******ed cause it obviously saved the WWF from going under. For those who think it wasn't good for wrestling, your'e correct. Attitude era, bad for wrestling but good for "sports entertainment".

 

[666_The_Game_666]

Easily the Attitude Era saved the WWF from falling to the then all powerful WCW and made some of the biggest stars Rock and Austin also creating some of the biggest moments in wwe The Austin Mcmahon rivalry Rock and Austin and The Mcmahon Helmsly Era. The only thing that was bad about this is that we still want it to be going on were we can watch Raw to see the Divas show boob or see Superstars raise hell and cuss like Austin.

 

[rajkaregakhalsa]

the attitude era was good for wrestling. many believe that vince was the one that initiated the attitude era in wrestling= wrong. attitude era was ushered in by eric bishoff in the wcw. it took vince over 2 yrs to figure out why wcw was smashing them in the ratings. vince finally realized after over 2 yrs that he had to react and hence the attitude era in the wwf. true, vince did push the envelope and dx shud be credited w/ that. however, it wasn't so much that vince beat wcw, it was more to do w/ the fact that wcw disintegrated from w/in= Time Warner interest in phasing out wcw... it makes me sick when hbk is credited w/ helping turn the tide against wcw and ushering in the attitude era= WRONG. vince has even said that the 2 events that started the attitude era are: 1) bret pushing vince on his keester 2) bret vs austin wm13 double switch. bret made austin. it shud also be noted that although shawn was better suited for the attitude era then bret, shawn had hardly anything at all to do w/ ushering in the attitude era. shawn never was a draw- infact ratings hit rock bottom when he wore the wwf title in '96 and shawn was injured when wwf and dx took over wcw. in '97 there was no better draw than the hart foundation and the anti-american angle. although vince won the mon nite wars, he errored in wanting to push bret out. shawn was injured 5 mo's after screwjob and thus vince lost both shawn and bret. although vince did profit eventually it wasn't due to screwing bret. if anything, vince lost out on enormous revenue by pushing out bret. imagine bret vs austin at wm14= $. imagine the continuation of the bret vs shawn feud= $$$$. although bret had moral and ethical issues w/ the attitude era, it was bret that ushered the attitude era into the wwf.