The attitude era ruined wrestling

[Mighty NorCal]

For a time. A horrible skid mark on the underwear of our great sport, that we are just now managing to get washed off a little.


When I was a youth, I used to love wrestling, and was able to watch it with my grandfather, which happened to be the only male bonding I was able to receive as a young man, being from a broken home. Well, once women starting running around naked, people started cursing, and loads of crude, lewd things started taking place, Grandfather no longer wanted to watch the program.

Thank you very fucking much attitude era.

So was the way for many. true, it brought loads of new fans, but you are talking about a different type of fan, not one who is interested in wrestling, but ones who are interested in shock TV. I contend these are the folks who now give reality TV its numbers now. People wanted to see trash TV, not wrestling, and their interest eventuall wained.


yes, becuase of the attitude era, WWE won the war. But at what cost ?? costing them life long fans, children who were no longer allowed to watch?? Causing people to loose memories they couldve forged with the elders of their families, becuase of the content??? Cost them great wrestlers who WOULD have become that, and were discouraged by not wanting to be part of what seemed so Sleazy?? The interest of the shock TV crowd wained, and they went away, but the children and families who were there first, were ALSO now gone, and thats why we see the ratings we do today.

People will point to the short term success the WWE gained from it. I ask at what cost did this despicable, fucked up time in our beautiful sport take place. the truth is, the WWE sighned a deal with the devil, to stay afloat in the war with WCW. and it makes me fucking sick.

If the WWE couldve done it another way, would you rather have them done it?? And do you think the short term success of the attitude era has ultimately had a huge negative effect on on the buisness??

 

[Richard]

I wouldn't go as far as to say that it ruined wrestling in general but I do see where you're coming from Norcal. I visited my Aunty last year and I rented the 15th anniversary of RAW DVDs and she watched some of Disc 2 with me which had a lot of Attitude Era content and I remember her saying later on something like "What happened to wrestling?" because she was a fan when she was young and stopped watching.

What I would say it ruined though is some fans perception of current, newer wrestlers and now they are constantly comparing newer wrestlers to older wrestlers and saying that "____ is the next _____" which I don't think is entirely fair because how is Mr. Kennedy at the moment supposed to live up to the fans who are comparing him to Stone Cold? He can't.

I don't think the WWE had any choice but to do it the way they did, it was the way they had to do business to defeat WCW so I wouldn't have done anything differently because if it was my company, I would have wanted to stay running.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

Surely your anger should be directed towards Bischoff and Billionaire Ted rather than Vinnie Mac and co? You blame the attitude era, yet that was only the result of Turner turning to Eric and encouraging him to do everything possible to compete and surpass Vince Mcmahon, wasn't it? They started with live videos of guys beating each other up in the street, and cheerleaders flaunting themselves between matches.

Suddenly these became things that no decent wrestling show could do without. Fans would have felt gipped if they didn't get these things.

ECW is to blame as well. Their entire mentality was to break away from the very style of wrestling that came before the Attitude Era. The goofy, lame gimmicks with the violence and objectification not being blatantly obvious.

For the record, i preferred the Attitude Era to what we have today, and i despise Reality TV. I refuse to give it the time of day.

Yes the lifelong fans have gone, but loads more fans have left since the Attitude Era ended as well. Evolution and development of any popular media is going to alienate a lot of long term fans each time it happens. Remember how many Metallica fans bitched and moaned when they cut their hair and released Load? And then even more were outraged at how St Anger turned out?

Anyway, my main point, is the Vince's Attitude Era isn't solely to blame imo

 

[Gelgarin]

It might just be me, but I can't help but feeling that most of the complaints you level at the attitude era could equally well be applied to Hogan and the national television era.

Seriously, just substitute the words 'attitude', 'trash' and 'sleazy' for 'television', 'Hulk Hogan' and 'stupid'; and you've got yourself a whole new post. One that I would be more likely to agree with, and that would probably be condemned by most of the other people here.

Ever since wrestling first started to appear on TV, the business has been travelling further and further away from its roots. Back in the days of ye olde schoole, the business was entirely built around wrestling. Then Vince Sr came along, and decided that people wanted to watch characters instead of wrestling. So the wrestling got shoved aside to make room for over the top guys with limited wrestling talent. (Sammartino and Rogers for those who are interested)

Naturally, a large portion of long term fans thought this change in production values fucking sucked, and left the product in huge numbers, but pro wrestling was able to garner enough mainstream attention to accumulate a new base of fans.

Then, and the buisness progressed firther, the decision was made that what the show really needed to focus around was stories. So once again, the original product was forced to bend and twist to accommodate stories about Hogan touching Randy Savages wife. Once again, there were quite a lot of people who didn't like the change in direction, and mourned for the days when you could watch a show without all the terribly acted out one dimensional storyline getting in the way.

Then the Monday night wars happened, and as you so aptly pointed out, the onus changed (or progressed) to 'shock TV', taking us yet further away from the wrestling base. As the aforementioned pattern suggests, there were quite a lot on older fans who thought that this new shift towards the lewd and crude was disgusting, and stopped watching.

Alas, once again more than enough mainstream attention was gathered to replace those people who stopped watching, and a new generation of wrestling fans was born. Many of those fans left when the wars ended and realist TV kicked in, but many of them didn't, and they are now the generation who proclaim loudly that the attitude era was the best time ever for wrestling. I'm sure we have more than enough of them here for you to recognise who I'm talking about.

The end the perambulation into history, the point I am laboriously trying to make is this. Professional wrestling has always reinvented its self. Ever since we hit TV, the business has been in a constant battle to remain fresh, and to appeal to the next generation of fans, against the next generation of competition.

Those who witness the change from the outside traditionally don't like it. I've yet to encounter a single fan from the pioneer era who likes the direction the product has taken today. I myself make no secret that I prefer old school wrestling to what we have today, and my interest in the modern product is more or less contained inside the ring.

That being said, I certainly wouldn't claim that television, Hulkamania, the monday night wars or the attitude era ruined wrestling. Each change simply marked an evolution in the industry. Hulk Hogan may have ruined wrestling for me. The attitude era might have ruined it for you. (although we're both still regulars on a wrestling forum, so perhaps we should both shut up ) But overall, change usually happens for a reason, and we just have to accept it.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

Looking back at where I was then and where I am now, obviously, there are some things I would be uncomfortable seeing:

-Undertaker crucifying SCSA
-Mae Young/The Kat bearing it all
-Val Venus' entire character

But on the other hand, the Attitude Era is my era. It's the era that brought me into wrestling. Somehow, I was able to emerge from the "trash TV" and see the profession of wrestling in a more eloquent light, but I would not be a member of these forums had it not been for the Attitude Era and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

All in all, no major change whatsoever because it has shaped me and my current love for wrestling.

 

[klunderbunker]

I think Norcal has a point here to an extent. After about 1995, Hogan and the old ways were being booed out of the building (watch the Doomsday Cage Match an Uncensored 96 for proof). Wrestling was still cool to the true fans like I was, but a lot of casual fans just got sick of it. The guy that got me into wrestling is a prime example. He just quit watching one day for about 2 years. That was back in 95. Then one day he was flipping through the channels and saw Austin flipping someone off on Raw. He didn't know what was going on so he watched it and he didn't miss a Raw for over 5 years. His views on wrestling have changed though. No longer is he as interested in wrestling and now if he misses it it's ok. That could be attributed to growing up, but he's said the passion isn't there anymore. The biggest problem with the Attitude Era was just what Norcal said: it was such a change from what had happened that a lot of the new fans simply weren't into wrestling. I will never forget being at a house show in 98 and mentioning the name Arn Anderson to a guy a little older than me and him saying that Anderson sucked. I was stunned and asked him why he thought that. He said that he was the old guy the NWO made fun of so he must suck. Even then I knew something was wrong with that idea. These fans knew nothing of the history of wrestling and they faded away. The huge ratings that wrestling saw in the 90s were flashes in the pan and now WWE believes that they earned those ratings through hard work, which means they feel they can do it again whenever they feel like it, meaning that most of the time, shows are weakly written. The few fans that hvae stayed from the AE have very low common denominator levels of entertainment, meaning almost anything will entertain them. that's insulting to me as a fan. So in conclusion, yes I would say it hurt wrestling, but I don't know about ruined it. It's still going strong today for the most part.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Also KB, you want to know when you can tell that fans from the attitude era are still around??

You can hearthem boo Cena. They chant "ECW". They chant "you fucked up" after a botch. They go out of their way to fuck up a show for everyone else, becuase they have "attitude" which is yet another holdover negative effect from the Attitude Era. What small portion of Attitude era fans are still around, are for the most part, absolute morons who clutch to it, and still stain the sport in every arena it travels to.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

Ok, you sit here and bash Attitude marks like all of them start drooling at the sight of a tables match and/or middle fingers and/or T and A (not Test and Albert). But the fact is, when you throw around accusations like that, you offend the Attitude mark that respects the wrestling industry and sees value in each "era" so to speak.

I don't love the Attitude era because of the T and A and the shock TV. I love the Attitude era because I find it to be overly captivating television. This was mostly due to the vast amount of larger than life characters that were existent at the time, as well as the intriguing storylines that were being developed before our very eyes.

How did Austin driving out in a zamboni ruin wrestling? How did the anti-authority angles bore an audience? The whole notion of professional wrestling, whether it is old-school or "sports-entertainment," is to entertain the audience. Were you not entertained? If not, others were, including myself. And I would venture to guess that your butt was in the seat, as well.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Possibly Austin had to cuss people out and drive zambonis becuase the in ring talent, booking, and matches themselves were severely lacking quality in the attitude era??? See, things like this are what makes these arguments so easy. Lets see here...

Hulk Hogan does five moves, they book like, two storylines, and everything is in ring based for the most part. People go nuts.

OR

we are driving zambonis, doing satanic rituals, cursing on prime time television, degrading and objectifying women, and doing crude disgusting dick and fart humor.

Yes it ruined wrestling, becuase it made it NOT wrestling anymore, and into a trash tv side show. And the typical attitude era mark DOESNT drool at the site of a tables match and all that anymore, becuase they are off drooling over blood and guts MMA, Girls Gone Wild Videos, and reality TV. Your anything but the average attitude era mark. Ricky, and for someone like YOU to stand up for the group is positively absurd

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

I'm not standing up for the group. I realize most of them are off NOT watching wrestling because it was a fad at the time. I'm merely standing up for the era that brought me into wrestling.

To use the Hogan argument is absolutely ridiculous. It's this kind of booking that made the Attitude Era necessary. People were booing Hogan. It was horrible. People were falling asleep. So, they had to spice it up. If you want to blame people...blame the people that were booing Hogan for besmirching your precious Hogan era of wrestling.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Bullshit Ricky. then why is it they dont book that way NOW??? The "zomg Hogan was getting booed" argument is incredibly worn out. Needed to "spice it up" ?? Ok, fine, but dont pour the entire fucking bottle of hot sauce in!!! Talk about killing a squirrel with a hand grenade. Its fine to get new stars, and do somewhat updated, different directions, but the fact that wrestling is going back toward a more traditional child oriented fashion is more than proof that it was nothng more than the shock TV fad taking over. That, and the fact the WWE gets half the ratings it used to, proves these fans of this era werent interested in pro wrestling. Its fine to stand up for an era, but accept it for what it is. Shit. Garbage.

 

[PlayTheGame]

Ok, you sit here and bash Attitude marks like all of them start drooling at the sight of a tables match and/or middle fingers and/or T and A (not Test and Albert). But the fact is, when you throw around accusations like that, you offend the Attitude mark that respects the wrestling industry and sees value in each "era" so to speak.

I don't love the Attitude era because of the T and A and the shock TV. I love the Attitude era because I find it to be overly captivating television. This was mostly due to the vast amount of larger than life characters that were existent at the time, as well as the intriguing storylines that were being developed before our very eyes.

How did Austin driving out in a zamboni ruin wrestling? How did the anti-authority angles bore an audience? The whole notion of professional wrestling, whether it is old-school or "sports-entertainment," is to entertain the audience. Were you not entertained? If not, others were, including myself. And I would venture to guess that your butt was in the seat, as well.

I think Ricky brings up a good point. WWE's, also known as sports entertainment, main goal is to bring just that- entertainment. And, as Ricky aptly states, the WWE did just that during the A.E., and very well at that. So what of the caliber of wrestling fans back then? They loved the A.E. for what it represented, for its unpredictable superstars, and for its craziness, just as fans from the Hogan age liked their era for its larger-than-life wrestlers, for its mystique, and for its originalness. Who's to say which group of fans (which, IMO, overlap alot more than most people are giving credit for) are truly better, or truly appreciate wrestling more? We're all fans, and we've all fallen in love with wrestling, albeit for different reasons and cirumstances, but thats because the business has had to (and always will have to) change and adapt as time goes on. Thats just simple evolution, the WWE has to adapt to the ever-changing world, and thus, they bring in different fans over the years.

Also, you really cant say that the Hogan era is THE era to compare things to... Look at it this way, there are fans of wrestling (albeit, much older fans) that were with the sport before all of the glammerous megastars (the Hogans, the Savages, etc.) came into the business- I'm talking about the pre-television era in which wrestling was just that- wrestling. Scripted, yes, but just a heel and a face going at it, with hardly any storyline around them, besides the fact that they both wanted the title. This simple (yet important) pioneer era set up what we know and love today as professional wrestling. I'm sure that anyone of this era that didn't like to see their sport become dominated by the glitzy Hogans, Grahams, etc. disliked the new Hogan era when it came upon them. So, why should their argument be any lesser of value than those that defend the Hogan era from the A.E., or those that defend the A.E. from the current, pro-kid era? In the end, we're all just wrestling fans who love one thing: professional wrestling.

 

[TheGreatSPAMbino]

Alright, im pretty sure fans like most of the people of this forum are a skidmark on our great form of ENTERTAINMENT. Guess what dipshit, trash tv sells. It saved the entire wrestling industry and was the most popular period therefore it was the best period. End of fucking story. Quite frankly i think you are egotistical and self centered because you treat the casual audience and attitude fans like they are beneath you. I called you a skidmark but that doesnt eman ur neccesarily beneath me.

Dont be mad because wrestling evolved with the times and you didnt. The WWF did what was neccesary and produced great television. People like you take wrestling far to seriously and go so far as to call it a sport. You need to lighten up.

Also, dont try and play the family card. Im real sorry about your childhood but dont take it out on the WWF. and dont proceed to give me shit like it ruined families and stuff because really thats not important or relivant, its ONE TV SHOW. Its not as important to the majority of the world as you think. Ya younger kids couldnt watch but they made up for that with teens and adults watching, they picked a demographic and geared towards it. The reason the ratings are so low today isnt because children and families were steered away, im pretty sure most of the current fans are kiddies now. The reaosn the ratings are so low is because they lost their attitude.

 

[Queers and Steers]

i also agerre, well somewhat i like wrestling when its family oriented. they had little cartoon gimmicky characters such as Doink the clown, the repo man IRS and things of tat nature thas what i watched when i first got into wrestling. don't get me wrong i love the attitude era, but i also think that it is overrated and it brought in different type of wrestling fans who don't love wrestling so in a sense it was kind of bad for wrestling. i think now has a good balance because it is family friendly again, but yet its characters and storylines are more realistic. everyone should be happy with it this way. ive been watching since 91 xand this is the most satisfied i have been with wrestling. back when i was younger i watched because my dad watched it and thats the only male bonding i had. i use to watch wrestling just for HBK and Taker, trhan the attitude era came iand i still watched i loved it, but looking back on it i miss the family friendly era. thats why i like the WWE now more than ever because the characters have that realisticness of the attitude era but the storylines are more family friendly like the golden and shit eras

 

[Mighty NorCal]

It saved the entire wrestling industry

Did it though?? So you dont think The indurstry wouldve been fine with the Rock, Triple H, and SCSA leading it without the other dump truck full of shit the attitude era packed with it had??? Produced great TV?? are you for real?? I guess you feel Jerry Springer is "great TV" then.


The indurstry wouldve been ABSOLUTELY fine with SCSA the anti hero, The Rock being, well, The Rock, and Triple H ascending. There was ZERO fucking need for old women given birth to hands, sleazy angles that degraded women, and people leading satanic cults. Im not so much on about Austin, as I think the character was great, and wouldve possibly been even MORE popular if it wasnt for the WWE "austinizing" the entire program. Do you remember why SCSA caught fire in the first place??? Becuase there was no one else like him. I am fine with Austin. Its all the other mounds of crap that comprised 80% of the attitude era that I have a serious problem with.

 

[Stormwind]

Please note that this is merely my opinion.

For me, the nWo angle in WCW was the beginning of the end of pro wrestling. WCW pre-nWo was more wrestling and less showmanship. It's one reason why I tended to tune into WCW programming rather then WWF. However WWF at the time was still respectable, especially with Bret Hart being topcard he brought a legitimacy to the WWF at the time.

Though once the nWo crap began it went downhill from there. I don't blame the attitude era really, no matter how much I hated it. It was done to compete with the more gritty and edgy nWo infected WCW. The attitude era though did take the shock to extremes that would make Howard Stern wince. But if there is someone to blame for this, it's the fans more then anyone else. They pay money to see this sort of thing, And both WCW and WWF were buisinesses, they'll do what will bring in money. the Stone Cold Steve Austin gimmick was the final nail in the coffin for me. Pro Wrestling mutated so much that it lost all connection to it's past. Once Steve Austin and the Mr.Macmahon gimmick came about (The Kiss my ass club? ugh), it was over.

When I was young I couldn't get enough of wrestling, Stampede Wrestling, NWA (predcessor to WCW), WWF during the days of Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, King Kong Bundy, etc. The gimmicks were cheezy but it was still entertaining, like a comic book come to life. Stampede and NWA were more wrestling oriented and was really believeable. Seeing what wrestling is now, I really miss the wrestling of the past.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

I agree with the most part about not needing Mark Henry and Mae Young's hand. But you can't say that the WWF could have maintained with SCSA, The Rock, Trips, and others without having attitude. How many times did the Rock degrade women? How many times did the other great superstars of the era degrade women? DX, Jericho, VINCE. Take that away, and you take away a great portion of the era. I hated the degrading of women, but it was Austin and the other intriguing angles that sold me on it.

Surprisingly, I would NOT go back and wish away the Ministry of Darkness. It may have been sacrilegious, but it was still extremely compelling and made for an absolutely perfect heel group.

 

[jmt225]

I enjoyed the Attitude Era up until Shawn Michaels left. After the original DX broke up, The Rock was the only good thing about the WWF at the time, in my opinion. Austin was entertaining at times and had some great matches, but to me personally he got tiresome. It wasn't until Chris Jericho came along to where I started to become a big fan of Raw again, but even then it took a few months for that to work out because WWE tried their fucking hardest to bury the guy at first, but Jericho was too damn talented and entertaining to get lost in the shuffle.

Anyway, looking at Norcal's perspective, it's completely understandable how the Attitude Era ruined pro wrestling FOR HIM at the time it was going on, but overall did it kill the business? Of course not. Did it help it? For the short term, yes, but for the long term? Eh... that's debatable.

 

[JerryvonKramer]

I don't agree with the OP here. The period 1985-93 marked wrestling first global boom which brought tons and tons of new fans (including me and most wrestling fans of my age). Then the fad was over and lots of people stopped watching roughly between 1994 to 1996. Then a combination of The Monday Night Wars and The Attitude Era brought a lot of the old fans (like me) back to wrestling as well as bringing in a ton of new fans. I don't see how that has damaged the industry. Wrestling would have stagnated and become boring if it didn't update its image and do something new. For that, at least, I think we should be thankful for what Bischoff did in WCW and for the Austin vs. McMahon storyline.

What ruined wrestling? The death/ purchase of , the horrible, botched Invasion angle, the brand split, when WWF was forced to become WWE, John Cena and his toy belt. Because of all these things, wrestling has been crap since 2002 in my view -- and I know I'm not the only wrestling fan who thinks that. I just re-watch stuff from the old days now, I'm not interested in the current product AT ALL.

 

[Miko]

It was just a phase in wrestling, one that the WWF needed to go through to survive. In all honesty I think that they could've made it the 2 hour Austin and Rock show and they would've survived. As Gelgarin said though, the old fans generally hate the new era that wrestling goes through, some people think that Hulkamania was the curse of wrestling. Of course I assume you consider those people idiots as well.

The attitude era was what really got me into wrestling, as soon as I saw The Rock mocking HHH and Austin I was a fan, couldnt of cared less if he was a face or a heel. As a result The Rock is now my favourite superstar ever, without the attitude era we may well have been stuck with Rocky Miavia and The Ringmaster, just as if wrestling had stayed as it was during the pioneer days we may well have been stuck with Terry Bollea. It was a phase, a popular phase but now wrestling is doing the right thing and moving on.

 

[Afro-Ameri-Spawn]

Also KB, you want to know when you can tell that fans from the attitude era are still around??

You can hearthem boo Cena. They chant "ECW". They chant "you fucked up" after a botch. They go out of their way to fuck up a show for everyone else, becuase they have "attitude" which is yet another holdover negative effect from the Attitude Era. What small portion of Attitude era fans are still around, are for the most part, absolute morons who clutch to it, and still stain the sport in every arena it travels to.

WRONG. The only ones sitting out there pulling that shit are the little internet smarks who sit at home bitching about everything that is wrong with wrestling instead of actually pointing out everything that is right. They are the same jackasses who read possible spoilers as to who might win a match and then go to the shows and point it out to the fans sitting around them to get attention. Don't blame the attitude era for THESE jackholes. They are the only ones to blame.

As far as the Attitude Era ruining wrestling goes, you are far from right on that one as well. If anything, the Attitude Era changed the face of wrestling for the better to where reality was skewed and wrestling didn't seem to fucking far over the top with the lame comic book style. It's called EVOLUTION, not a black mark.

I mean think about it dude. When you look back at wrestling, there are eras beyond eras. The Road Warrior days where you had bad asses that caused juicing all over the place and gimmick matches galore needed to be in order to help wrestling evolve from the circus tent Gorgeous George days. The Rock N Wrestling Era needed to come along in order to help wrestling evolve from that. And the Attitude Era needed to be in order to evolve wrestling from being all about comic book characters and other child friendly bullshit. I mean are you seriously telling that you would rather constantly see characters like Doink The Clown, Arachnaman, and The Juicer as opposed to what we see now? Are you seriously telling me that you would rather see Hunter Hurst Helmsley as opposed to Triple H? You would rather see the old purple and gray wearing Undertaker than seeing The Dead Man?

I'm sorry, but I'm not you. I don't think that I could have stomached seeing The Rock have to be characterized as being yet another glorified Samoan wrestler who walks around bear footed, and you can't tell me that he would not eventually have been. I'm glad the Attitude Era came along. It made wrestling more reality based and interesting. I didn't feel like I was going to a circus rather than seeing a sporting event. And without that era, the current era would not include ROH or TNA, or a host of others.

So before you blame the Attitude Era for any dislike you currently have or the fact that not as many kids watch the current product as they used to, just remember, wrestling actually had to evolve in order to have gotten to that point. And just like now, there were those then who were saying that The Rock N Wrestling Era was going to be the ruination of wrestling. And it didn't quite go down that way did it?

 

[smalltownfan]

To me, the Attitude Era was the best thing that ever happened to pro wrestling, especially in WWE where it needed a wake-up call. I was really into the Era and especially the "gang warfare" between all the factions. And, let's don't forget, if there was no Attitude Era, there would have been no Stone Cold, no Rock, no DX, no Ministry, no Corporation, and the list goes on.

 

[latinoheat8979]

The attitude era by far, for me anyway was the very best of my time and I've been watching the sport since I was a kid as far back as WCCW and the NWA. I also remember watching wrestling with my grandparents as a kid and I miss those days as well. However in life times change and that's what happened in wrestling. It's become a little more entertainment than wrestling but I love the product so much I adapt to the change. Vince and WWE had to do what they had to do WCW was trying to put them out of business. During the attitude era wrestling went mainstream as I remember 2 times there were 4 different covers on TV Guide, wrestlers were on talk shows, merchandise was being sold at local stores, etc. The attitude era/Monday Night War also brought in millions of fans to watch the product I remember number of 6.0 and 7.2. I can also remember channel flipping back and forth from Raw to Nitro and that was so much fun for me as a fan. If anything us fans were the real winners as both companies worked harder and tried to put the best product to compete against each other. If anything the Attitude era will always be the one that's most rememeber and talked about.

 

[Scott Free]

I agree with the concept that the Attitude Era changed wrestling, I don't think it ruined it, but the change was less than positive. If you look at the biggest change for that era, it wasn't the trash or cursing or half naked women (which I didn't find all that offensive. BTW). The biggest change was the time of a show being filled with talk and skits, with actual ring wrestling playing back fiddle. It was a change from matches with a few promos thrown in to a back-to-back promothon with a few matches thrown in. They still do it today, and if you are a wrestling fan, I mean actual, in ring wrestling, you can't be all that happy about it. The WWE had to fill their show with such material because WCW had drained their talent pool at the time, but now, there is no excuse, except that talk is cheaper than action.

 

[DC24]

I kinda agree with NorCal I grew on 80's wrestling; I can't complain alot about the attiutde I enjoyed Stone Cold and The Rock; but by 2001 it was utterly boring I stop watching for 5 years. I won't lie its not same now but I have always had a love for wrestling so I deal with alot of bad but sometimes there are good thats why I buy the Anathologies to re live the memories.