Long time WWF fan here retruning after a long hiatus. I watched backlash a few hours ago (not quite live).
And I have also been watching the Attitude Era, currently in January 1999.
My wrestling watching was sporadic between 1997-1999, one of the last things I remember was the WCW fingerpoke of doom and I missed all of the ruthless aggression era.
For me Backlash knocked it out of the park. I enjoyed every match, the right person I felt won, and overall I have enjoyed the WWE main events this year, Backlash may have been the best one.
WWE has found their guy for a new era as well. Obvious thing is obvious AJ Styles Mr TNA. The Roman Reigns experiment is over and I expect a few retirements in the next year or 2 (Cena, Undertaker, Big Show, Kane).
I have only seen a grand total of 1 John Cena match so I had a neutral opinion on him much like Reigns as I have not had both of them shoved down my throat as I have only started watching wrestling again in July. Every now and then you see a match you might remember for the rest of your life and I thing Cena and AJ pulled that off at Summerslam. A few other matches I have remembered to this day.
Hogan vs Ultimate Warrior WM VI.
Taker vs Taker (more for the gimmick)
HBK vs Razor Ramon ladder match WM X
Stone Cold vs Bret Hart (passes out)
Bret Hart vs HBK 1 hour+match (boring).
Anyway my opinion of Cena went up, he put over Styles and that was a great match.
Another interesting thing was my memories of Kanes debut and currently watching 1999 AE vs Kane 2016. Kane is probably one of my favourite wrestlers of all time, I kind of like the Big Red Machine. Him and Undertaker in a double retirement match WM 33 or 34 would be a nice finish for the Brothers of Destruction IMHO.
Womens wrestling. Actually enjoying this more than the AE womens wrestling, did not like sable back in the day still do not like her. In several events they have stolen the show almost perhaps earning match of the night or close to it. The women can actually wrestle and its almost like an entire stable of The Rockers since they generally do not do the big power moves.
In ring the talent now is better than the AE IMHO (overall). The main problem I see is they do not have a Rock/Stone Cold/Hogan type figure or even a HBK/Bret/Kane/Undertaker/Mankind type figure except for AJ and Dean seems to be getting up there as well. Debut to champ in 9 months is very fast by WWE standards although Ric Flair did it faster.
Maybe with triple H and NXT doing well by most accounts has influenced VInce in the look he gives his champions- Ambrose, Styles, Kevin Owens as champs. The Miz is also great as a heel and I expect him to break the record for length of time on the IC title. The IC title is also very similar to the one from the 80's as worn by the Ultimate Warrior. The new belts generally look like ass I am partial to the Big Gold Belt from the NWA/WCW days in terms of what a belt should look like along with the 80's and 90's WWF titles.
Actually optimistic about wrestling now and enjoying the modern stuff and AE era. Not sure I want to watch month old RAW and Smackdown though as I am watching the main events.
Ironically this is also the 1st time I have managed to follow the wrestling feuds in their entirety thanks to the WWE network. Back in the day WWF was not always on or you would miss some of the smaller PPV's as one could often only get the big 4 events and the occasional in your house events with no chronology to follow.
And I have also been watching the Attitude Era, currently in January 1999.
My wrestling watching was sporadic between 1997-1999, one of the last things I remember was the WCW fingerpoke of doom and I missed all of the ruthless aggression era.
For me Backlash knocked it out of the park. I enjoyed every match, the right person I felt won, and overall I have enjoyed the WWE main events this year, Backlash may have been the best one.
WWE has found their guy for a new era as well. Obvious thing is obvious AJ Styles Mr TNA. The Roman Reigns experiment is over and I expect a few retirements in the next year or 2 (Cena, Undertaker, Big Show, Kane).
I have only seen a grand total of 1 John Cena match so I had a neutral opinion on him much like Reigns as I have not had both of them shoved down my throat as I have only started watching wrestling again in July. Every now and then you see a match you might remember for the rest of your life and I thing Cena and AJ pulled that off at Summerslam. A few other matches I have remembered to this day.
Hogan vs Ultimate Warrior WM VI.
Taker vs Taker (more for the gimmick)
HBK vs Razor Ramon ladder match WM X
Stone Cold vs Bret Hart (passes out)
Bret Hart vs HBK 1 hour+match (boring).
Anyway my opinion of Cena went up, he put over Styles and that was a great match.
Another interesting thing was my memories of Kanes debut and currently watching 1999 AE vs Kane 2016. Kane is probably one of my favourite wrestlers of all time, I kind of like the Big Red Machine. Him and Undertaker in a double retirement match WM 33 or 34 would be a nice finish for the Brothers of Destruction IMHO.
Womens wrestling. Actually enjoying this more than the AE womens wrestling, did not like sable back in the day still do not like her. In several events they have stolen the show almost perhaps earning match of the night or close to it. The women can actually wrestle and its almost like an entire stable of The Rockers since they generally do not do the big power moves.
In ring the talent now is better than the AE IMHO (overall). The main problem I see is they do not have a Rock/Stone Cold/Hogan type figure or even a HBK/Bret/Kane/Undertaker/Mankind type figure except for AJ and Dean seems to be getting up there as well. Debut to champ in 9 months is very fast by WWE standards although Ric Flair did it faster.
Maybe with triple H and NXT doing well by most accounts has influenced VInce in the look he gives his champions- Ambrose, Styles, Kevin Owens as champs. The Miz is also great as a heel and I expect him to break the record for length of time on the IC title. The IC title is also very similar to the one from the 80's as worn by the Ultimate Warrior. The new belts generally look like ass I am partial to the Big Gold Belt from the NWA/WCW days in terms of what a belt should look like along with the 80's and 90's WWF titles.
Actually optimistic about wrestling now and enjoying the modern stuff and AE era. Not sure I want to watch month old RAW and Smackdown though as I am watching the main events.
Ironically this is also the 1st time I have managed to follow the wrestling feuds in their entirety thanks to the WWE network. Back in the day WWF was not always on or you would miss some of the smaller PPV's as one could often only get the big 4 events and the occasional in your house events with no chronology to follow.
