Why does 80's and 90's wrestlers more charisma then PG wrestlers today?

[boywithbluehanger]

Bray is nowhere nearly as charismatic as Undertaker, Reigns is no Nash and while I like Ambrose, he isn't Austin. Ambrose is a interesting to watch but Bray and Reigns are jokes.

Hence why I clearly stated: "If you're legitimately asking about my opinion"

The very fact that you disagree, just proves the point I was making in that my initial reply. Charisma is an adjective determined by personal preference so the ONLY way to reasonably discuss who is charismatic is by the overwhelming crowd response. This is like discussing who is/isn't funny. However the person I was responding to, offered nothing more than immature barbs against my opinions. Just because you think someone is charismatic, doesn't make him so.

So common sense dictates that the only true discussion we're having here is about the response of the live audience. In which case, I've explained why I believe the audience's generational differences have far more to do with why a lot of the wrestlers today don't receive the raucous responses that many did in the past.

 

[OYDK]

One reason that hasn't seem to be brought up yet: scripted promos

The wrestlers of the 80's and 90's had much more freedom, period. They were able to have input on their gimmick, their name, and the way they were portrayed to the crowd, as well as having the freedom to cut a promo relatively on their own. The winners were separated from the losers because everybody stood on their own two feet. Nowadays, most promos are scripted and the wrestlers are all cookie-cutter as a result of it. It's not that they don't have charisma... it's that the charisma is being stifled by WWE Creative.

Also, yes cocaine. I went back and watched some early 90's WWE and, my god was Macho Man intense at times. Too intense to be considered normal.

 

[rmp0012002]

Bray is nowhere nearly as charismatic as Undertaker, Reigns is no Nash and while I like Ambrose, he isn't Austin. Ambrose is a interesting to watch but Bray and Reigns are jokes. Can anyone explain why Bray walks to the ring with an LED lantern that is "smoking" from dry ice and he then blows it out? Even with a real lantern, there would be no smoke or at least not as white and visible as what he has. That is the problem with a lot of these guys - they are undermined by stupidity. Imagine if that was for Taker - the druids walk out with flashlights instead of torches. You would laugh your ass of but with Wyatt, he is so charismatic and evil. It's all part of the package. There are guys who are charismatic today but there are so many more who are not. Look at your midcard - most show no personality. I don't think that is the wrestlers fault, I think that is more with wwe creative as you keep hearing of the guys coming up with ideas that get shot down. Justin Gabriel just quit over it.

Why would they have an LED lantern that smokes and as an adult comes across as unrealistic and stupid? For the same reason they have wrestling bunnies and midgets beating 300+ lb guys. Because their target audience is kids and they know kids don't know any better so they exploit it.

 

[Vintage]

Those guys were playing exaggerated versions of themselves. Unscripted. These guys nowadays are assigned names and unless they are getting a push are all playing the same character and have the same voice. it's like they intentionally are trying not to take attention off the stars

 

[chicagokmc]

in my opinion charisma was a thing of the 80's that bled some into the 90's. wrestlers of that era more commonly looked like Ric Flair and Harley Race than they did like Hulk Hogan. Being magnetic and able to sell yourself was necessary. today's wrestling is about the look. wrestlers commonly look like ass kickers. even the smaller guys like ziggler and a Zach ryder are physical specimens. their physical appearances do as much to sell if not more than what they say ever will. lesnar and reigns are examples of that.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

It's impossible to say one era is more charismatic than another cos it simply isn't true... WWE has just as many charismatic guys today as it had in Hogan's era or the Attitude era but there is a difference in what WWE does with that charisma now than it did then.

I've read a lot of answers here and no one has come up with the reality. Wrestling in the earlier eras, even WWE was a LIVE EVENT business. It was about "bums on seats love" and TV and PPV was a vehicle to drive that. Guys got time to practice talking cos they had to do endless pretapes for each town to sell the live shows...guys would spend whole days literally doing the same 2 or 3 promos with different town names in there. So it was impossible not to get better at talking over time, some would then be able to zing it off the top of their head or have 9 or 10 promos. Even the top guys rotated them out...

Every WWE show back then had promos interwoven... not in the ring for 20 minutes, but 1-2 minutes with Mean Gene or the like, live sometimes and others pretape... Last night for example, where was a Miz/Mizdow promo? You're telling me they couldn't cut Rock and Co down by 2 minutes to allow one? But WWE isn't looking for those now.

Think Randy Savage was a "great" off the top guy? No, he used the same "Don't bet against the Macho Man" at every Royal Rumble for example... like his costumes, he kept track of what he said and where so that his 10-15 promos never got trotted out in the same place twice or too often and that helped build his credibility. The Rumble would begin with nearly 30 promos of how they were going to win...some were awful and you'd see why you didn't hear them often... SNME used to have the same multiple promo opening... those promos were always about more asses in the arena to make more money... so it mattered.

Then it became a TV show first and live event business almost as a sundry.

Now it's about timing the show for TV first, popping a rating, getting social media share or schilling something... anything but selling the arena out. Those pre-tapes aren't there anymore, no 2-3 days with Pat Patterson etc overseeing and helping guys... now it's all done in the Performance Centre, sure you can go and cut a promo in a room as often as you want... but it's not the same, there isn't that pressure there... if you're not a "talker" now chances are you're there for some other reason anyway and it doesn't matter... Also the current trainers are not exactly known for "talking". Albert, Billy Gunn... not really... All Gunn ever really did was tell people to Suck it... Regal and Duthty...sure but they are not doing the day to day training, they are the "higher ups".... I am hoping Goldust soon makes that move down to NXT, cos that's what it needs...someone who is a A+ mic player hands on day-in and day out down there.

At the end of the day, back then you absolutely HAD to be able to do it all just to get hired into a territory, much less WWE. Now WWE will sign guys to a lower deal for a year with a "if it works, it works" approach.. for every Bray Wyatt who comes along there is at least 3 Braden Walker types... Territory promoters were not gonna "take a punt on a kid", cos there was too much at stake... thus WWE didn't either, arguably Nash was the first time they did and Trips the second... nearly everyone else signed until Rocky and Mark Henry in 1996 had some kind of pedigree in the business.

Remember as well WWE was helping its guys (or hindering) by ensuring everyone had not only a gimmick but everything from logos, to music to merch back then... Remember those old sticker books/toys that would have a logo for each guy on them? Like Mr Perfect's column type writing or Macho Man's "Madness" scrawl... Even down to the colour of the costumes WWE was controlling those aspects. Now they don't... they have gimmicks but Rusev doesn't come out in Volkoff style hat... he dresses like an Olympic athlete would... someone like Ambrose, simple jeans and vest, how many guys wear standard trunks now? most of the roster...

Guys got over back then because that package worked... Brutus had the bizzare holed tights with fishnet and bowtie/jacket, he looked goofy but it fit his character. Big Bossman had the "police uniform" that later became the SWAT uniform and then the Shield look... it's pretty generic for a lot of guys now to wear camo or combats. Rick fricking Rude.... custom tights made and paid for himself for every PPV or big match.... the tights didn't get him over, but it was the "final piece" of the package and played into his already big charisma factor.

Only a few, like Chris Jericho with his light Jacket or Finn Balor actually make any effort to wear anything but their latest merch or baby oil to the ring. Miz has made some effort over the years, so has Cody and Bray but in general very few guys get the "whole package" concept to the level even the 90's and 2000's guys did, much less the 80's... Reigns looks awful in that SWAT vest, and it hurts him... it's harder to take his charisma and promos seriously cos he's the kind of guy who should be ripped and no top of any kind... he's clearly not as defined as others and can't get that way...so he uses the vest as ironically a shield...

So there is a lot of that in play here... You can't say guys like a Titus or Slater are not charismatic, they are... but WWE just isn't interested in them for that...if they were around 25 years ago, both would be higher up the card for sure like Rick Martel and Bad News Brown were...