What the PG era is missing!!!

[mrbooker]

Maybe its just me but I think the PG era is missing that sinister/dark wrestler that actually scares or puts those little kidies in shock. Personally i remember being a young kid still in the single digit age and Papa Shango scaring and shocking the living shit out of me at times, same with the undertaker at times, hell even at a young 13 goldust still freaked me out and I would hope for a top face to take him out. (I understand goldust was more pre attitude/attitude era jsut stating him as an example)


So my question to everyone is do you think WWE is missing that heel that actually scares or shocks you with their behavior? Rather then the guy you just hate because he is feuding with a face?

Lets face it guys like Sheamus, Nexus, Jericho, Edge are good heels, but at the same time how far can their actions and mic skills really get you to hate them. Maybe its just me but if this is really the PG era and that WWE is playing to kids shouldn't they have that one huge villian that actually creates fear????

 

[theViper]

I do agree with you. However, I don't think that it needs to be a heel.

The same thing could be said about "The Brood" when it was ran by Gangrel [ spelling? ] and the like. Also, the Boogy Man was "scary" and very shock worthy. I loved how he was so freaky and disgusting. He added a ton of shock factor. The only bad thing is that he wasn't that great in the ring.

I would love to see something like this, but it's kind've like looking at Korn for an example. Remember back when Korn first came out with their debut album? People were like "These guys are fucked in the head." Now, they're just like the rest. They'd really have to think of something special to really pop-shock the crowd these days.

 

[hunterXhunter21]

The thing with Papa Shango is he used magic and voodoo. I don't think that would go over very well today. Back then there were a lot of those cartoon-y characters. Today everyone is more or less a person who could exist in real life. You don't have crazy goofy guys repossessing things, over the top Indian, a cop, a mountie or anything like that. Sure a few years ago we had a pirate but not anymore.

It just wouldn't work in today's wrestling world.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

They could pull off a crazy, scary character and keep it within the realm of possibility - but to keep it within the realm of possibility AND PG....that's kind of difficult. It could still potentially be done, but it's tough.

First, the monster thing is played out too much. Having a big guy come in, beat a bunch of jobbers, and eventually midcarders...that's not going to "scare" anyone. Frankly, idk how people even find that entertaining anymore. What they would need to do is pull something they haven't really done in a while: the legitimate psycho route.

Remember when Mankind came in and he wasn't an attractive guy in tights with rock music and pyro and whatnot? He was a lunatic who squealed like a pig and attacked people for really no reason and continued to hold on the Mandible Claw after the matches were over. I think they should do something like this. Debut a new guy who is disturbing. Not the "psycho who laughs when he talks about hurting people" like Kane and Abyss. That's nothing refreshing. Someone that doesn't even do interviews. The guy looks creepy (but not like they TRIED to make him creepy) and he comes out, acts like he's got something seriously wrong with him, attacks people with no reason and with savage brutality, etc. One of the big tricks is to not allow him to fall into the same pitfalls. Don't team him up with someone in a tag match and have the match end with Guy 1 interrupting the count, Guy 2 throwing him outside the ring, Guy 3 throwing him out, and Guy 4 pins Guy 3. Don't have him as a heel that walks away from fights and says "Not right now, on my time!" and runs like a coward while you try to claim he's a badass (like Sheamus). Have the guy not even bother with championships. The guy would need to be the equivalent of letting someone like Charlie Manson or John Wayne Gacy loose. No "masked assailant" angle. No "evil cult". No STORYLINE. You know too much if you start giving him a background of being in a mental hospital or being abused or whatever. Mystique = interest. Keep everyone in the dark. This guy is just a fucking violent sociopath.

Now THAT I'd like to see - and I'd like to see them not rush him into a world title in a handful of months (Sheamus) or have him turn into some stupid dancing idiot face (every monster in WWE history).

 

[JohnOldSnake4]

I might not be getting you properly here and if I'm not then i apologise, but isn't Kane already that guy? In recent months we've had Kane render his own brother vegetative, run around choking the life out of everyone and anyone for months accusing them of perpetrating it, produce caskets, that weird red spotlight thing and the eerie music during his promos, cash in and rob the favoured under-dog Rey of his belt and now we see him playing with the Undertaker in ever-more twisted ways each week. He's massive, has a wacky eye and for a kid I imagine this could be damn frightening.

 

[hatehabsforever]

The PG era is missing one thing and one thing only: people to stop talking about what's wrong with the PG era.

Let's face it, the Attitude Era is over, and has been for some time now. It's the dawn of a new day in the world of WWE, and that world involves the PG era that we've been seeing for quite some time now.

The PG era is mising nothing in my opinion. The blood, the T&A, the language, the controversy, that was all well and good and was enjoyable at the time. But you may as well accept the fact that those days are gone and they're not coming back to the WWE.

I think the WWE is doing great right now. Do I like every single wrestler? Of course not, has there ever been a time that a wrestling fan did? Do I enjoy every storyline? Again, no, see above. But there's far more right with the WWE these days than there is wrong. Young talent is getting over, while established veterans are still effective. The divas have trumped the knockouts in terms of female professional wrestling. Storylines are typically better, the in-ring work is cleaner. If you have any doubts about the quality of WWE programming these days, just cross the line for a Thursday evening on Spike TV and you'll quickly gain a fresh perspective. Even when WWE does something less than stellar, I say, just look at the alternative, and suddenly, everything looks much more impressive.

Enough about the PG era already!

 

[sTyLnK]

There is nothing wrong with the PG rating. Wrestling was very family oriented back in the 80's and for most of the 90's. Suddenly the Attitude Era hit and now everyone thinks that's how wrestling should be. It's not. It was just a phase and we are now back to how wrestling used to be.

 

[RD_21]

There is nothing wrong with the PG rating. Wrestling was very family oriented back in the 80's and for most of the 90's. Suddenly the Attitude Era hit and now everyone thinks that's how wrestling should be. It's not. It was just a phase and we are now back to how wrestling used to be.

Euuuuuh Papa Shango and Undertaker where in the family era the guy never spoke about the Attitude era he just said that when he was a kid they had spooky character and I agree as a kid Taker was scary so it's doable in PG and I too miss those kind of character but then everyone was laughing at the Boogeyman which was very similar to the Undertaker so maybe it's not doable in this age after all.

 

[Karaoke Superstar]

Kane still does a good job of that right now, even though he has the title he is still a unpredictable psychopath. The thing is with the wrestling world nowadays it's hard to put those crazy characters with those crazy gimmicks, they gotta have a somewhat believable backstory.

Still, I wouldn't mind seeing another one. The look I would give them is kinda like a Hannibal Lecter look with the mouthpiece and all, I think that would look badass on a wrestler, and with a handler to make him look more dangerous. The problem is how would you explain someone like that being allowed to work for your company.

 

[wushady]

I personally don't have a problem with the PG era. I think Kane is doing a good job playing the creepy psycho role. I was young as well during the Papa Shango days,and found him more cartoonish than evil and creepy. Undertaker was kinda of cartoonish until than attitude era as well.

 

[cmillsa1]

well first off the pg era is okay, i dont care about the attitude era anymore(even though the only one to mention it was the guy complaining about the other guy not mentioning it, i dunno).
Yeah kane is doing it, and i love kane one of my favs ever. But not alot of people take him seriously. Ive got it, if everyone wants family friendly lets bring back.........THE SHOCKMASTER!!!!

 

[ronalddeo]

I think wwe needs to create a few gimmicky characters like Doink the clown, Million dollar man etc. That way the audience knows who's good and bad and create believeable characters. Not throw in a guy to be a heel and take him off tv after 3 months or change to be a face

 

[bloewaters]

This industry moves in cycles and once people start realizing that, the will be a lot happier.

When I was a kid, I loved Hulk Hogan. I didn't know back then about what it meant to work a good match, or backstage politics. I knew that Hogan was larger then life, like a superhero and thats what made me love him. looking back I wish I paid more attention to the more talented wrestlers, but I didn't know any better.

I then grew into a teenager, and so did WWE. they were cursing, and drinking, making sexual jokes, and all the things I was doing and thought were cool, I mean, they even had half naked girls, Everything a teenager wants to see! and it was cool then.

Then I went to college, and the WWE didn't change too drastically during that time, but it toned down a bit, Just enough that I could watch it with my girlfriend and she didn't roll her eyes on how overly sexual or crude it was.

fast forward to now, I have a five year old son, who loves John Cena, HIS HULK HOGAN. and I love Jericho, Punk, Orton, Danielson, MY Steamboat, Flair, ect.

The point being, because WWE has gone back to being Family entertainment I can sit down with that girl (who is now my wife) and my little boy, (like my dad did with me) and enjoy a family show. I would never have been able to do that 15 years ago, and I am thankful for this change.

Yes I look back and smile when I think about the time HBK made the "swallow the leader joke" or when Austin made the 3:16 speech, or when The Rock told people to try his "strudel" but my honest to God favorite wrestling Moment? Going to MSG with my dad wearing my little Hulkamania T-shirt, and the sign i colored in the night before and sitting in the third row trying to get Hogan to see my sign I made for him.

That was until a few months ago, When I got to take My little boy to Raw.... and saw how excited he got when HE got to hold his Cena sign in the air with his little hat and shirt and how loud he screamed when that stupid bastard came out. This is why WWE is PG now. So they can make new fans. There is still enough for the old fan like myself to enjoy...
They already have a life long fan in me. Now they are building for him. And I'm sure when the time comes WWE will evolve again and grow up with my son, and he will be on these boards 10-15 years from now, saying how he can't believe Cena didn't job to the newest up in comer like I did when Hogan beat Orton.

The point being, all the hating on the PG era needs to stop. there is no reason for it. So what you don't get to see the Divas taking off each others clothes, or there is nobody giving people the finger anymore... or there is not blood in every match. If you miss this stuff so bad, watch TNA.

You are asking what the Pg era needs? It needs nothing. I like it just how it is for now. WWE is changing for the better. we are getting new stars, and fresh stories (for the most part) so stop crying for the days of the TV-14 rating. It didn't make the wrestling any better. It was just shock value.

I know there is people out there who agree. Just watch the show and enjoy.

I will say the Guest Host thing needs to go though.

 

[CripplerFrogSplash]

Even though I can watch the PG Era WWE without much problems there are things that I have noticed the product lacks:

1. Lack Of Intensity

Feuds are meant to have people hate each other, I've just seen that a lot of superstars just don't actually show much emotion when they cut promos on each other or confront each other, either in said promos or in the ring.

Some may disagree but I just see that compared to 2002 when I started the WWE's wrestlers just doesn't emotionally invest in feuds anymore. Sure the Nexus Storyline & Orton VS Triple H leading up to Wrestlemania 25 are quite intense & it gave off a lot of emotion but apart from that I haven't seen much else to convince me that in a storyline world that these guys wanna tear each other limb from limb every week or so.

2. Lack Of Difference Between TV Shows & PPV's

I watched the 2001 Royal Rumble before I watched Fatal-4-Way on my TV... I noticed that the older PPV felt a lot more different than the TV counterparts of RAW & Smackdown. The match quality was put up a level, there were a lot of matches on the card that were actually advertised beforehand (not just the big matches), the commentators upped their game big time & the majority of backstage promos were short & sweet.

Todays PPV's match quality ranges from quite good to poor (mostly due to how slow some of them are), they have IN RING PROMOS during the actual PPV which announced matches, some matches last a few minutes & the commentators just don't feel like it's different from what they normally do.

I sometimes feel I am just watching an extended version of RAW, I can't see the difference & "epic scale" PPV's used to be from the shows anymore. Maybe it's just teh fact that the kids in the audience want something they're used to on TV, but it just needs to change

3. Michael Cole's Chemisty with King doesn't work

When Michael Cole was with Tazz on commentary I could hear he was excited & sucked you into the match. Mostly because Tazz sucked up to heels & made you laugh at a moments notice, plus covered the wrestling side whilst Cole played to storylines & so forth. JBL did the same whilst he was with Cole on Smackdown; this made entertaining television & showed why I preferred Smackdown over RAW for the first few years of watching.

However since he's been on RAW, Cole has become boring & incredibly reliant on the same lines over & over. In fact I can't feel that any excitement he has is actually real, which isn't very convincing of a scripted product if you ask me. King has the same problem, I can see why they're trying to turn Cole heel but King was better as a heel colour commentator & having 2 commentators with the same types of commentary style & the face alignment just doesn't make good viewing from my stand point.

Coming back to the dark/evil gimmick guy, it's very hard to pull off in a PG environment... because scaring a part of your audience & possibly making them not watch would not be good for WWE' Money-wise in the long run will it. Although it can be done I just don't feel it can be done now.

 

[Ferbian]

No, the WWE doesn't need a sinister scary thing implemented into their programming. Especially not when it's PG, and it really wouldn't change much either if it's a general way of "making it less PG". Because it would still be simply one act, that is slightly anti PG.

Besides, we already have two acts that pretty much could make it work. Hell you could even say there's a little bit of it going on already, but it's nothing that the kids are scared of or anything I could imagine, because it's two people we've grown to have respect for - Undertaker and Kane. They were pretty much the sinister beings of the 90's. Why bring something new in, when you already got the material of old? Which wouldn't need to be changed into anything, because if there's anything sinister needed, Undertaker's entrance is probably the closest we get to it.

But yeah, no need for anything sinister or anything like that. The PG era is just fine, and doesn't need a twist, a change or anything unless it's WWE planning on going away from the PG material, and I don't see that happening any time soon.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The best "sinister" character from the 1990's was Waylon Mercy believe it or not... Now I don't expect kids to have seen Cape Fear... but he was a great scary guy not cos he shouted but cos he'd walk into a ring, shake a guys hand then totally freak out on him... THEN shake the refs hand and thank him and the fans for the match... scary as hell... The gimmick was about 3 years before its time.... Had Dan Spivey kept fit, he could have been a player in the Attitude era with it...

The Undertaker was lightning in a bottle... a one-time deal, the Boogeyman was a good attempt but again 3-4 years too early...he'd be ideal now... Abyss has the Lecter thing, again kiddies don't watch Hannibal movies to get it... Little kids get scared that Cena or Rey is going to lose, turn on them or that a wrestler they hate is gonna get them... not of someone who could be from a horror movie they are too young to see...

I do think a heel Doink type would work well today, give the gimmick to someone down the card and have it that the guy takes pieces of each wrestler he beats and makes them his trophy's so he becomes kind of a frankenstein... Doink as a concept was originally intended to be a Main Event/World Champion level gimmick... and for a while Matt Borne was evil incarnate... Think back to that Mania moment when 2 Doinks walked down the aisle... creepy.

Jake as a heel worked cos he would freeze a child into their seat when he stared at them coupled with the "Trust Me" music... thats the kind of fear PG WWE would benefit from... Mankind worked not cos of the gimmick so much but the little touches Foley brought to it... like jabbing a damaged limb with a spike or the evil music on the way in and tranquil piano music after a win, as if the beast had been soothed...

In my efed I ran about 10 years ago, someone had the perfect gimmick for this... Giant Pink Bunny... a martial artist type who one day snapped and out of desperation began to wear a dirty bunny suit and attacking all and sundry... Take something kids know to be normal and comfortable with is the best way and turn it on its head... making Andre a monster not a friendly giant, Jake using a cobra on Savage, taking the image of a clown and perverting it to an evil trick artist... those are the ways WWE would instil that element of danger...

For now they have Kane and he fits the bill... I actually think his mic work is creepier than ever, particularly this past week with the "He's just a man" comments... long term they need a new Jake or Doink tho, cos at the moment there isn't any real evil in the WWE... just Nexus... PG works cos its good v evil...

 

[VinnieSunshine]

Besides, we already have two acts that pretty much could make it work. Hell you could even say there's a little bit of it going on already, but it's nothing that the kids are scared of or anything I could imagine, because it's two people we've grown to have respect for - Undertaker and Kane. They were pretty much the sinister beings of the 90's. Why bring something new in, when you already got the material of old? Which wouldn't need to be changed into anything, because if there's anything sinister needed, Undertaker's entrance is probably the closest we get to it.

I agree 100% but I have to say, Undertaker lost some "fear points" when he came back from the American Bad Ass. You cant go from sinister/scary act and calling yourself the deadman for several years, and then come back a totally different gimmick only to slowly make that transition back to deadman. Kane on the other hand has tried to stay the same character but after losing his mask and most of his costume, he is just not the same anymore.

I think its hard for kids to have the fear like we did when Undertaker came in because he is someone that everyone loves to cheer. They are trying to add a little fear in this feud without actually doing it. Give Undertaker the old vignettes like when he feuded with Austin back in the 90's.

But to get back to the original question...no WWE does not need a new sinister character or gimmicky characters. Kids are not as scared of horror as we fans were growing up. Besides, it may be PG but dont do cartoony characters. Guys like Orton work because hes the guy you love to hate. They tried cartoony gimmicks when WWECW first came to SyFy. Have we forgotten the likes of The Zombie? SyFy wanted WWE to add those types of characters because of the programming they had. Guess what...IT DIDN'T WORK!

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

ill tell you what the pg era lacks. a babyface that captures the imaination of all the fans women children adults :ALL OF THEM.lets face it wwe doesnt have that.they have great heels jericho and punk in their present gimmicks would have drawn more heat than hhh if they went up against austin or rocky.

as for faces who do we have cena????a tool who panders to stupid little kids and sells STUPID ORANGE CRAP.tell you what i know a fact about kids.they will cheer for whomsoever they first see as champ.IT DOESNT MATTER IF THEY ARE ACTUALLY TALENTED OR NOT.

i am not even that pumped up about orton.i dont think he is even comparable to stone cold in any department.not even in ring where dumb smarks like to bash austin the most.(come to think of it i dont think anyone apart from jericho punk and danielson are better than austin if we consider the present roster but that discussion is for another day.)

 

[Ferbian]

I agree 100% but I have to say, Undertaker lost some "fear points" when he came back from the American Bad Ass. You cant go from sinister/scary act and calling yourself the deadman for several years, and then come back a totally different gimmick only to slowly make that transition back to deadman. Kane on the other hand has tried to stay the same character but after losing his mask and most of his costume, he is just not the same anymore.

The American Bad Ass really transcended Undertaker into a position of respect, which is why people are so fucking high on him in general. And that is why, when the sinister character is available, there wouldn't be need for another one, but it would also mean that it wouldn't work for shit.

Besides, Undertaker is really the only sinister like character that have ever truly worked. We had nailz, Mideon, Viscera etc. Creepy bastards, but none of them got over like Undertaker. Kane is the only one to get close to being as over, but he weren't half as sinister like Undertaker was during his first 10 years within the WWE.

 

[mrbooker]

The PG era is missing one thing and one thing only: people to stop talking about what's wrong with the PG era.

Let's face it, the Attitude Era is over, and has been for some time now. It's the dawn of a new day in the world of WWE, and that world involves the PG era that we've been seeing for quite some time now.

The PG era is mising nothing in my opinion. The blood, the T&A, the language, the controversy, that was all well and good and was enjoyable at the time. But you may as well accept the fact that those days are gone and they're not coming back to the WWE.

I think the WWE is doing great right now. Do I like every single wrestler? Of course not, has there ever been a time that a wrestling fan did? Do I enjoy every storyline? Again, no, see above. But there's far more right with the WWE these days than there is wrong. Young talent is getting over, while established veterans are still effective. The divas have trumped the knockouts in terms of female professional wrestling. Storylines are typically better, the in-ring work is cleaner. If you have any doubts about the quality of WWE programming these days, just cross the line for a Thursday evening on Spike TV and you'll quickly gain a fresh perspective. Even when WWE does something less than stellar, I say, just look at the alternative, and suddenly, everything looks much more impressive.

Enough about the PG era already!

I dont understand people feeling the need to jump at the defense of the PG era like you are their public relations agent calm down! This thread has nothing to do with knocking the PG rating, or talking about the attitude era it is what it is, you are correct if its that bad then go watch TNA.

However your off topic opinions are backed with straight nonsense, especially divas who have the most sloppy matches and mic skills i have ever seen or heard over knockouts, and in-ring work is clean in wwe but its also very dull, and conventional, the only decent in ring match I have seen as of late was Cena vs Miz sadly enough and neither are what you would call a technical wrestler, I personally watch both WWE for storyline purpose(starting to watch it less), and TNA for some good creative in ring action.

Back to the topic at hand, its strictly about your thoughts on if you think a sinister character could fit, obviously WWE doesn't NEED anything, they can pretty much do as they please, until another person feels its worth spending large amounts of money on a wrestling company. After reading some of the post I agree with the majority that it would be tough to actually bring a character like that on screen that would be able to stay within the PG parameters WWE has.

 

[hatehabsforever]

I dont understand people feeling the need to jump at the defense of the PG era like you are their public relations agent calm down! This thread has nothing to do with knocking the PG rating, or talking about the attitude era it is what it is, you are correct if its that bad then go watch TNA.

However your off topic opinions are backed with straight nonsense, especially divas who have the most sloppy matches and mic skills i have ever seen or heard over knockouts, and in-ring work is clean in wwe but its also very dull, and conventional, the only decent in ring match I have seen as of late was Cena vs Miz sadly enough and neither are what you would call a technical wrestler, I personally watch both WWE for storyline purpose(starting to watch it less), and TNA for some good creative in ring action.

Back to the topic at hand, its strictly about your thoughts on if you think a sinister character could fit, obviously WWE doesn't NEED anything, they can pretty much do as they please, until another person feels its worth spending large amounts of money on a wrestling company. After reading some of the post I agree with the majority that it would be tough to actually bring a character like that on screen that would be able to stay within the PG parameters WWE has.

It's obvious that you are new to these forums, having only joined in July of this year with 37 posts to your credit. I don't say this negatively in any way, shape, or form, just stating the facts. Stick around for a while and what you'll see is this: at least one thread almost every week and usually multiple, criticizing the PG era and lamenting the loss of the beloved Attitude Era. Wishing that the WWE could do something to add to the PG era to make it better, and all I'm simply saying is, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's not a question of being defensive about anything, or feeling a need to be like a public relations expert for WWE. Trust me, hopefully you'll stick around and you'll soon see what I mean: thread after thread after thread about the PG era sucking. Go look in the Cage, I think there's a thread there about redundant threads and I'm pretty sure the PG era is mentioned in there too.

My off topic comments are certianly not non sense , they are merely statements of obvious fact. In terms of the topic at hand, no, I don't think there's a need for any more sinister characters in the WWE. Kane and Taker have these bases pretty much covered. Other guys who have been brought in to try to pull off similar things have historically failed. I'm not sure a debuting Taker character would even work today as well as it did when he debuted years ago, and I don't think the Kane character would work without Taker. This is all true because of the fact that the era of professional wrestling is different today. It's not a question of straying off topic, it's exactly the point.