Attitude Era Overglorified?

[xtremebadass]

I saw this on another forum. Some people think the Attitude Era was overglorified compared to modern day wrestling (02-present). If you look at it, from 2002-2005 saw alot of great things...

-Return of Hogan, Hall, and Nash
-Return of HBK
-Brock Lesnar
-Brand Split
-Goldberg
-Hollywood's favorite heel, the Rock
-Elimination Chamber
-Eric Bischoff as GM
-Both Undertaker Persona's

Need I go on?

If you look past Austin and the Rock, what did the Attitude Era have? Bad gimmick matches and bad gimmick superstars.

Now, don't bash me, I got this from another forum, and I thought about this, what do you think?

 

[Vandy316]

bad gimmick matches? the Attitude Era brought us the HIAC, TLC, multiple types of hardcore matches (Last Man Standing, First Blood, I Quit, etc), and it brought the Chain link fence for Cage Matches instead of the bars.

Also the Attitude Era brought the 3 faces of Foley, Kane, DX, Y2J, Dudleys Hardyz, E+C, a lot of the big name superstars. So I really dont think that the Attitude Era is overglorified.

 

[Headfirst For Hardcore]

I wasn't a huge wrestling fan back in those days, but in the Attitude Era, you had more competition, so WWE was coming out aggressive. There were way more fans watching the WWF shows in the 1997-2001 era, even with both shows. Outside of The Rock and Austin, there were tons more, I'll just list some that were there, but I'll just say what was in there for WWF.
-The Birth of the Mr. McMahon character
-TLC/Great Tag Team Wrestling
-Mandkind's run, and him winning
-DX and the Nation of Domination

but the thing with the WWF in the Attitude Era was that it was new, and something that mainstream wrestling never had. 15-20 years ago, you wouldn't see someone with the attitude or gimmick of someone like Austin, McMahon, and even Goldust. And the gimmick matches were new too, even something like a triple threat match was rare I think. The extreme, and controversial stuff started in that era, and I think more fans were happy with what they saw.

I would say the 2002ish era was good, but not as good in real life as it is on paper.

 

[xtremebadass]

By bad gimmicks I mean...

- porn star
- pimp
- vampire
- evil cult abducting the boss' daughter
- a militant black group


Not to mention the notorious Kennel from Hell match. Plus, in the peak of the Attitude Era, WrestleMania XV was pretty bad.

 

[MikeRaw]

Not really IMO. I think by some peopel it is, who refuse to accept wrestling now, and sayign we can never repeat the "godly" attitude era. We cant, but we can still have good shows, like we are now.
I dont think its over rated though, because it was great, but I think SOME people think it was better than it was. Because in reality, other than Austin and Rock, who was a man eventer?

Foley, Taker, HHH in the last stages. So it didnt have that many superstars and main eventers, compared to today. Austin and Rock went against eachother at 3 out of 6 wrestlemania;s in that era.
But people didnt care or put down the wwe for showing us the same feuds again and again back then, so they got away with it.
But anyways, its overrated by some, but theres no doubt its the best era.

 

[Montana]

No, i don't think the attitude era is over gloried, or over rated. Personally 2003-2005 were very boring years for wwe in my opinion. I was busy with college, and followed wrestling, i just wasn't into it as much.

-Return of Hogan, Hall, and Nash
That was cool, but that was at the end of the attitude era.

-Return of HBK
Historic return, although he was kinda over shadowed and didnt make a HUGE impact upoin returning.

-Brock Lesnar

I hated the guy

-Brand Split

I liked this, however i didnt like the concept of a "A" show and "B" Show

-Goldberg

I hated goldberg, and still do

-Hollywood's favorite heel, the Rock

Again, Attitude era. I still think 2002 was in the attitude era.

-Elimination Chamber

cool match

-Eric Bischoff as GM

Ehhh, cool for a minute, then wore off

-Both Undertaker Persona's

Again, it was cool when it first happened, then just got real old and stale.


======================================================

You left out some "major" happenings too

- Radicalz pushed to the moon

Besides Eddie, none of these guys had a once of charisma


- HHH ran through the roster

- JBL's Zero buildup 1 year championship reign.


The wrestling was good on that period, but character and storylines were not there. To me, a lot of the guys they pushed weren't entertaining. Which is why they started over with a guy like John Cena.




As far as now, i think the overall wwe product has improved slightly from 2003. Plus now you have more a little competition with TNA/ROH out there more so now. If TNA has a good month, its better than a old month of WCW. The problem is TNA can't seem to stay on a good run. I'd say ROH in 2006 was a better year than any other organization in history. I still think ROH is much better than what ECW was and i loved ECW at the time. So really now, wrestling fans are spoiled in my opinion.

 

[Slyfox696]

The Attitude Era is completely overrated. The only good things from the Attitude Era came from Rock and Austin, and things that had their influence. If it didn't in some way connect with Rock or Austin, generally it was less entertaining than what we have now. Of course, that's not to say that the quality wasn't on par with today, but it certainly wasn't any better, and many times, was far far worse.

 

[Airfixx]

I often get frustrated with the 'nothing touches the attitude era p.o.v., but to say all the ME had was Austin and/or Rock is way off IMO.... 2 words:

HHH/Foley

 

[Slyfox696]

I often get frustrated with the 'nothing touches the attitude era p.o.v., but to say all the ME had was Austin and/or Rock is way off IMO.... 2 words:

HHH/Foley

One word: overrated.

HHH vs. Foley feud/match was no better than what you would see today. Hell, the match wasn't as good as Cena vs. Umaga from last year's Royal Rumble. And the build between HBK and Flair to this year's WM was better.

It was overrated, and everything aside from Austin and Rock was about on par with what WWF/E has been since about 1992.

 

[Airfixx]

Well I'd argue otherwise. HHH & Steph firing Foley, the whole locker room coming out in support... Him 'coming back' as Cactus Jack... RR'00 & (my preference) the retirement match @ NWO'00 were both great IMO.

I thought HHH during '00 was shit hot in general... Big up the often forgotten Iron Man match with Rock at JDay'00...


Also...

Attitude gave us TLC; E&C/Hardy/Dudley fued.

And let's not forget the revolution in the way they presented TV... Don't tell me you actually prefer the superstars squashing jobbers week in week out?

Don't get me wrong, I'm an 80's WWF man at hart (Pun intended. ;o] ), but c'mon, credit is due.

 

[Slyfox696]

Well I'd argue otherwise. HHH & Steph firing Foley, the whole locker room coming out in support... Him 'coming back' as Cactus Jack... RR'00 & (my preference) the retirement match @ NWO'00 were both great IMO.

I thought HHH during '00 was shit hot in general... Big up the often forgotten Iron Man match with Rock at JDay'00...

Who was the man that led the locker room to get Jack back?

The Rock.

Who was in the match at JD with HHH? The Rock.

Also...

Attitude gave us TLC; E&C/Hardy/Dudley fued.

Which was no more interesting than the majority of feuds we have now.

And let's not forget the revolution in the way they presented TV... Don't tell me you actually prefer the superstars squashing jobbers week in week out?

Don't get me wrong, I'm an 80's WWF man at hart (Pun intended. ;o] ), but c'mon, credit is due.

The revolution in the way to present TV came from WCW in the mid 90s, not from the Attitude Era of the WWF. The WWF just took WCW's concept and did it with Austin and Rock, while WCW buried itself in the ground.

 

[Axis]

I didn't watch wrestling during the attitude era, however I have downloaded every PPV from 1996 to 2003 (which is when I began watching full-time). I say that to underscore that I did not get hooked into the storylines like everybody else may have. I never got to see Austin and Rocky go at it every Monday night. I didn't get to see the Undertaker and Vince McMahon joined forces to dominate the entire company. I never got the full experience.

So, from what I say, it's only from the PPVs. With that said, I really disliked it. I found all of the matches either slow, awkward, or just all around poor. Again though, I never really got into any feuds. I just sat at my computer and watched Billy Gunn vs the Rock, Steve Austin vs Scott Hall, Triple H vs Chyna, and other matches of the sort.

 

[TheAnswer]

For people arguing that The Rock and Steve Austin are in every mainevent during the attitude era.

Well now we have John Cena and Batista in every main event. And many other undeserving wrestlers getting pushed.

I believe WWF peaked in 2000 in terms of quality. But overall the attitude era just killed every other era in terms of making money and getting ratings.

 

[NinoBrown]

I believe WWF peaked in 2000 in terms of quality. But overall the attitude era just killed every other era in terms of making money and getting ratings.

Not too mention all original storylines and storylines were better before the Invastion. When the Invasion happen the writers were forced to make up storylines for 30 more guys, who later left or got released.