FromTheSouth
You don't want it with me.
Partially inspired by NorCal....
OK, flame away, but here we go.
The Attitude Era was an amazing time in professional wrestling. Competition was at it's peak. Mainstream society was there. Wrestling had something for everyone. I will never say that The Attitude Era was a bad time in wrestling. I will, however, claim that it is not the gigantic swinging dick that everyone make it out to be. I will examine the wrestling, the angles, and the personalities and show how, while exciting, wrestling is capable of doing better without going so far.
The wrestling in the Attitude era was not any better than anything today. First of all the cruisers were exciting, but this is not gymnastics, this is wrestling. The cruiserweight division was fun to watch. However, the matches had no psychology whatsoever. The predominance of moves in a typical cruiser match worked on the core of the opponent. The back and chest were worked on for the entire match through blunt force trauma. It was fun to watch, but in the end, shouldn't that alter the wrestler's offense. Of course it should, however, whenever someone was making their comeback, the flips and spins should have slowed down. I know that in this post... The Suspension of disbelief..., I said that I don't watch to analyze the match and claimed that wrestling does not exist in this world. I do make an exception here. The announcers tell us that these moves are having an effect, yet, we see no effect. A guy gets kicked in the leg and limps to the top rope, where he finds the power to do a backflip halfway across the ring. I know wrestling does not exist in this world, but it surely exists in a world where physics exist.
Secondly, the other divisions had four moves - punches, kicks, restholds and finishers. If I want to watch MMA, I will watch MMA. Frankly, these matches at least told a story, but the story they told was that two guys are going to punch each other until one misses a move and gets hit with a finisher. In the 80's, guys worked a body part specific to their finisher, and then once their finisher hit, the match was over. In Attitude, the Undertaker would punch someone in the face for fifteen minutes, and then use a finisher that would hurt a guy's back. What happened to wearing a guy down?
Secondly, the angles went to a place we cannot come back from. From Road Warrior Hawk's suicide angle to Katie Vick to the nWo, the angles presented went too far for TV to be able to continue. Attitude took the limits of television right to the edge, and now, standards and practices for any network cannot allow anything to go further. We face a point where the product stagnate or the product has to regress in the areas of sex, violence, and blue language just so there is somewhere to go. Basically, for those of you who hate PG, blame Attitude.
What everyone loved about the Attitude Era was the escalation of angles. Two girls in wrestling match didn't work, well, they can mud wrestle. OK, that's not enough, we'll have them strip and spank each other. What would be next would be some kind of Ultimate Surrender, and frankly, even in the days of Silk Stockings, USA is not going to show that.
Furthermore, women were degraded, abused, and embarrassed from everyone like Jericho and The Rock to Vince himself. What is next? Forced prostitution and rape? Sorry, beyond HHH raping a dead body, that couldn't happen. We are stuck at a point where nothing new could happen because the next steps are live sex (not covered by a blanket), rampant nudity, and F-Bombs. Sorry, but Spike TV draws the line at Manswers.
Finally, the personalities in the Attitude Era were the end of gimmicks. Quick, name WWE wrestlers with an actual gimmick. Golddust, comedy. Undertaker, relic of The Hogan Era. CM Punk, just an exaggeration of his real life. What is left? Wrestlers now are just badasses who separate face/heel lines only by how badass they are. This is from the Attitude Era. The lines have been so blurred that short of John Cena, no turn is an exciting surprise anymore. No feud is outside of the box thinking. Nothing can be fresh and new from characters because Attitude ran the entire gamut. Reality and kayfabe were blurred. People know that wrestlers are real people now, and trying to debut the world's toughest barber, even if he has immense ring skill and a through the roof personality, just cannot get over.
Look, I do not hate the Attitude Era. Not at all. It gave me some of my favorite moments, some of my favorite wrestlers, some of my favorite memories. I do not view it as the best wrestling has to offer. The matches were often lackluster, the angles were sometimes ridiculous, and the personalities were often confusing.
But, hey, at least it wasn't PG, right?
OK, flame away, but here we go.
The Attitude Era was an amazing time in professional wrestling. Competition was at it's peak. Mainstream society was there. Wrestling had something for everyone. I will never say that The Attitude Era was a bad time in wrestling. I will, however, claim that it is not the gigantic swinging dick that everyone make it out to be. I will examine the wrestling, the angles, and the personalities and show how, while exciting, wrestling is capable of doing better without going so far.
The wrestling in the Attitude era was not any better than anything today. First of all the cruisers were exciting, but this is not gymnastics, this is wrestling. The cruiserweight division was fun to watch. However, the matches had no psychology whatsoever. The predominance of moves in a typical cruiser match worked on the core of the opponent. The back and chest were worked on for the entire match through blunt force trauma. It was fun to watch, but in the end, shouldn't that alter the wrestler's offense. Of course it should, however, whenever someone was making their comeback, the flips and spins should have slowed down. I know that in this post... The Suspension of disbelief..., I said that I don't watch to analyze the match and claimed that wrestling does not exist in this world. I do make an exception here. The announcers tell us that these moves are having an effect, yet, we see no effect. A guy gets kicked in the leg and limps to the top rope, where he finds the power to do a backflip halfway across the ring. I know wrestling does not exist in this world, but it surely exists in a world where physics exist.
Secondly, the other divisions had four moves - punches, kicks, restholds and finishers. If I want to watch MMA, I will watch MMA. Frankly, these matches at least told a story, but the story they told was that two guys are going to punch each other until one misses a move and gets hit with a finisher. In the 80's, guys worked a body part specific to their finisher, and then once their finisher hit, the match was over. In Attitude, the Undertaker would punch someone in the face for fifteen minutes, and then use a finisher that would hurt a guy's back. What happened to wearing a guy down?
Secondly, the angles went to a place we cannot come back from. From Road Warrior Hawk's suicide angle to Katie Vick to the nWo, the angles presented went too far for TV to be able to continue. Attitude took the limits of television right to the edge, and now, standards and practices for any network cannot allow anything to go further. We face a point where the product stagnate or the product has to regress in the areas of sex, violence, and blue language just so there is somewhere to go. Basically, for those of you who hate PG, blame Attitude.
What everyone loved about the Attitude Era was the escalation of angles. Two girls in wrestling match didn't work, well, they can mud wrestle. OK, that's not enough, we'll have them strip and spank each other. What would be next would be some kind of Ultimate Surrender, and frankly, even in the days of Silk Stockings, USA is not going to show that.
Furthermore, women were degraded, abused, and embarrassed from everyone like Jericho and The Rock to Vince himself. What is next? Forced prostitution and rape? Sorry, beyond HHH raping a dead body, that couldn't happen. We are stuck at a point where nothing new could happen because the next steps are live sex (not covered by a blanket), rampant nudity, and F-Bombs. Sorry, but Spike TV draws the line at Manswers.
Finally, the personalities in the Attitude Era were the end of gimmicks. Quick, name WWE wrestlers with an actual gimmick. Golddust, comedy. Undertaker, relic of The Hogan Era. CM Punk, just an exaggeration of his real life. What is left? Wrestlers now are just badasses who separate face/heel lines only by how badass they are. This is from the Attitude Era. The lines have been so blurred that short of John Cena, no turn is an exciting surprise anymore. No feud is outside of the box thinking. Nothing can be fresh and new from characters because Attitude ran the entire gamut. Reality and kayfabe were blurred. People know that wrestlers are real people now, and trying to debut the world's toughest barber, even if he has immense ring skill and a through the roof personality, just cannot get over.
Look, I do not hate the Attitude Era. Not at all. It gave me some of my favorite moments, some of my favorite wrestlers, some of my favorite memories. I do not view it as the best wrestling has to offer. The matches were often lackluster, the angles were sometimes ridiculous, and the personalities were often confusing.
But, hey, at least it wasn't PG, right?