To be honest they can call it whatever they want but for them right now to be successful and it be the best era in WWE history they're going to need a new creative direction, new ideas in presentation, coherent writing, 1 or 2 new megastars with 3-4 more at that main event level and clear change in the currently over bureaucratic culture behind the scenes.
If I'm not mistaken, I think it was actually internet jargon that came up with the "Reality Era" moniker and the few times I've heard Triple H actually say it on television, it was said in that mockingly condescending tone.
As far as a new creative direction goes, there's only so far that pro wrestling can go. You're not going to see WWE trying to go in a direction similar to the Attitude Era in terms of edgier storylines and controversial angles. Look at the backlash over Swagger & Colter when they started out, Punk & Heyman "mocking" Jerry Lawler's heart attack and Punk & Heyman "disrespecting" Paul Bearer's memory. To be perfectly honest, I'm surprised that people haven't gone off the rails on WWE due to some of Bray Wyatt's comments in which he refers to himself as "a god." WWE definitely couldn't get away with having wrestlers moon the audience/encouraging hot chicks in attendance to flash them, portraying some sort of fictional "satanic ritual" like we saw with the Ministry of Darkness, or holding a gun to someone's head and threatening to pull the trigger that results in Vince pissing his pants like we saw with Austin back in the day. With all the various shooting rampages over the past few years especially and the renewed debates over gun control, everyone from media to politicians would be so far up Vince McMahon's ass that you wouldn't be able to tell where he ended and they began.
Sometimes, there's a definite lack of coherency in what we see and, while I can't say this for 100% certainty, I think a lot of that has to do with Vince McMahon. Reports over the years have stated that Vince sometimes changes his mind on things right in the middle of an angle. It's reportedly caused a good deal of friction the past few years with talent because some wrestlers will get their instructions on what's going on from Triple H only for Vince to come along a few hours or few days later and tell them something completely different without Triple H knowing about it. Again, these are just reports from the dirtsheets so there's no way to know exactly how much of it's true and how much is crap. One thing you see in NXT is a lot more consistency in terms of keeping everything in line with what's been going on in previous weeks. It's a difference in Triple H and Vince as Trips doesn't change his mind half a dozen times over.
I also agree that WWE needs to tone down on the bureaucratic stuff backstage. This morning, the WON reported that WWE has reinstated fining wrestlers if they violate the dress code and fines if they're even one minute late in arriving at the venue when final call comes, which is generally around 2or 3 p.m. In all honesty, I get the feeling these fines have to do with attempts at budget cuts as the company wants to cut $20 million this year.
Some really big changes needed for WWE to even come close to what they had in Golden Era & the Attitude Era. Could most likely see more of HHH's vision of his WWE once Vince retires. You can see some of it in NXT, which is good but i hope HHH has more than just gimmick characters returning (fandango, adam rose, tyler breeze etc). I do applaud HHH for wanting more different types of characters such as Wyatts but whats now needed is a really good creative team.
I kinda have to disagree in some ways because the so called Golden Era & Attitude Era both had their own drawbacks. When I was wrestling on TV, whether it be Mid-Atlantic/WCW or WWF, compared with today, I thought a lot of the wrestling content sucked. Most of the televised matches, not all but most, would consist of the stars paired up in some 5 minute squash match against an unknown jobber.
There were also angles that went on back then that are very much in line with some stuff we've seen in WWE. Back in 1987, Ric Flair had a feud over the NWA WHC with "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin. They had some memorable matches and one in particular, set in a steel cage, had the stipulation that if Flair won, then Jimmy's valet Precious had to spend the night with him. Flair won and they had this segment filmed in Ric Flair's hotel room with J.J. Dillon in which Flair was setting things up for his big night. He was in a robe, flowers, candles lit, champagne, etc. J.J. asked if he could hide in the closet to watch, which Flair had no problem agreeing to it. Soon after, a blonde woman came into Flair's room and kept her face turned from the camera, behaving shyly and obviously reluctant to be there. Flair came up behind her and started rubbing her shoulders and asked for a kiss. What happened was the woman, who went by the name of Miss Atlanta Lively, nailed Ric Flair with a devastating right cross, knocking him out while he was in his Fruit of the Looms. This was actually Ron Garvin in drag. There was a lot of silliness and joking in the segment, I loved it as a kid. It's considered a classic skit today, but if WWE did the exact same thing today, dirtsheet writers and smarks would crap all over it.
There was also a lot of crap that went on during the Attitude Era as well. For every moment of Austin or Rock greatness, you had guys like Kai En Tai running around, Val Venis, Steve Blackman, Al Show with "Head", Harvey Whippleman dressing in drag as "Harvina" Whippleman winning the Women's Championship, Kai En Tai tying up Val Venis and "cutting off" his penis with a katana, Katie Vick, Kane's "girlfriend" Tori saying that X-Pac "raped", the Godfather and his "Hos", etc.
I know people look back with nostalgia on the 80s & 90s but, in the vast majority of cases, I think they remember things being a whole lot better overall than they really were.
