Here's an article I wrote up in my spare time a while ago, enjoy:
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Era's come and go in proffesional wrestling. Something exciting one day, may not be as such the next. It's an ongoing process that wrestling promotions have to adapt to if they consider to be successful. But there's no denying that one era in this sport has stood out from the rest, this was a big break from tradition, this was one man's vision to change the future of sports entertainment, lo and behold came the Attitude era. With this arguably being the greatest era in sports entertainment I will take privelege in highlighting its greatest moments, and will write down, imo, what I believe made the WWE so successful during its glory days...
3:16 is born.
With WWE trying so desperately to change their product around they signed Steve Austin, who was becoming increasingly popular from his 'shoot' promos in ECW. here was a guy who was frustrated with the politics of WCW, he had a dream to make it to the top and nobody was going to stop him. Then came King of the Ring, KOTR was the whole Steve Austin story. Austin told the writers, that after winning his match against Jake ROberts he would do his own promo, they were allright with it, addressed as history. For those of you who are unsure of the official birth of '3:16', it was right here when Austin said the infamous/yet controversial to some phrase: 'you read your bible, quite frankly, it didn't get you anywhere, you read your psalms 3:16, well Austin 3:16 said I just whooped your ass!' (something along those lines). The very next night fans brought in 'Austin 3:16' signs to the WWE Raw show. From that, there was no denying he would become a major star in years to come. In fact, that was true, as he held the World Heavyweight championship on multiple occasions.
Austin was seen as a guy EVERYONE could relate to, we all have teachers/or bosses that we just want to kick the crap out of, Austin did this did to his boss (Mr. McMahon, owner of WWE), and becuase of that reason he got one of the loudest pops in wrestling history. In fact, the Austin vs. McMahon feud could be a whole seperate column to talk about...
Vince McMahon
With a rebel must come an authority figure, Mr. McMahon was the man. Vince was hated by fans because of the effects of the 'Montreal Screwjob' but nonetheless, the creative genius would use this to his advantage and further shove it down the fans throats taking up air time, making rules, etc. Vince is probably the greatest heels in the history of this sport, and his geniuosity and understanding of the sport have led him to make himself, as well as his business, exceed to unbelievble heights.
A bunch of degenarates.
In early days of the attitude the WWE was ready to form a group, as Bret Hart would call them, of 'degenerates'. A cocky young group that would screw rules and follow tradition. The group was dubbed 'Degeneration X' and originally consisted of Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Chyna. Over the weeks they would mock wrestlers, bully Michael Cole and basically just wreeck havoc.
One of my favourites, and most memorable moments of the faction is when they came out on an episode of Raw to mock 'the nation'. They did a promo where each member of DX was dressed up as a member from the Nation of Domination.
Many say that DX was an answer to the nWo, although Vince denies this, but there's no denying that DX became a popular faction in the WWE, the faction was as popular to the WWE as nWo was popular to WCW.
The Rock on the mic
When it comes to mic skills The Rock is a pure genius. He knows how to work a crowd better than any wrestlers, and in years to come, he will still be remembered as one of the, if not THE greatest all rounder of all time. The Rock was officially born when he broke out from the Nation of Domination cutting a promo against the leader at the time, Farooq. Here he started calling himself 'The Rock' as opposed to 'I' or 'me'. It wasn't him saying it, it was The Rock saying it. From then Rock came up with phrases that are engraved in our memory.
Then Rock would go onto major feuds and with his pure geniuosity on the mic he could turn a jobber match into a main event. I remember a time, when feuding with Triple H, he had a 60 minute Iron Man match at the next PPV. I personally wasn't too excited, but the way Rock would get it over just made me want to watch it. Rock went onto many major feuds but his most memorable would probably be against Steve Austin. Having 2 of the greatest entertainers in one feud was just gold at the time. This feud was phenomenal and far surpassed the Hogan/Sting feud happenning in WCW at the same time.
Hard shots, cheap pops.
Mick Foley was another wrestler who helped the WWE. He never exactly had the best body, but had one hell of an imagination. and would sacrifice his LIFE just in aid of this business. Foley made the whole 'Mankind' gimmick believable. People surprisingly comment saying 'Foley's just another guy who was a bit hardcore, no different to Funk, Sandman or New Jacl', but imo they are stupid for thinking such a thing. The reason those wrestlers couldn't be as successful as Foley, is becuase of that very reason, they just weren't as intelligent. Foley in a genius on the mic and in the ring, only a true fan can see that.
Foley helped the attitude era with his whole Mankind gimmick of being an unpredictable crazy lunatic and put on some great matches, most memorable, in my eyes, being the Hell in a Cell against Undertaker. Later in 2000 Foley won the World Heavyweight championship, this was yet another defining moment in the evolution of this sport. In fact, that night perhaps changed the corse of the Monday Night Wars, we all know what happened, the rest, addressed as history.
Ok, there's not really much there, Austin becoming 3:16, Vince McMahon, DX, Rock with the mic, and Foley taking hard shots, and i'm sure the embellishment of Undertaker's character can be thrown into the mix but imo, those are the things that really stood out for the WWE. Without those being injected to the product maybe we wouldn't be seeing the company right now. However, it would be stupid to state those things were the only saviour to the WWE, you have to credit the tiny angles that took place, the dedication of the workers, the wrestlers, the writers, and of course the fans. Some say the attitude era is overrated, in some aspects, I agree, but that doesn't stop it from being the greatest era our sport has ever witnessed.
Hope you enjoyed.
-3:16-
__________________________________________________________
Era's come and go in proffesional wrestling. Something exciting one day, may not be as such the next. It's an ongoing process that wrestling promotions have to adapt to if they consider to be successful. But there's no denying that one era in this sport has stood out from the rest, this was a big break from tradition, this was one man's vision to change the future of sports entertainment, lo and behold came the Attitude era. With this arguably being the greatest era in sports entertainment I will take privelege in highlighting its greatest moments, and will write down, imo, what I believe made the WWE so successful during its glory days...
3:16 is born.
With WWE trying so desperately to change their product around they signed Steve Austin, who was becoming increasingly popular from his 'shoot' promos in ECW. here was a guy who was frustrated with the politics of WCW, he had a dream to make it to the top and nobody was going to stop him. Then came King of the Ring, KOTR was the whole Steve Austin story. Austin told the writers, that after winning his match against Jake ROberts he would do his own promo, they were allright with it, addressed as history. For those of you who are unsure of the official birth of '3:16', it was right here when Austin said the infamous/yet controversial to some phrase: 'you read your bible, quite frankly, it didn't get you anywhere, you read your psalms 3:16, well Austin 3:16 said I just whooped your ass!' (something along those lines). The very next night fans brought in 'Austin 3:16' signs to the WWE Raw show. From that, there was no denying he would become a major star in years to come. In fact, that was true, as he held the World Heavyweight championship on multiple occasions.
Austin was seen as a guy EVERYONE could relate to, we all have teachers/or bosses that we just want to kick the crap out of, Austin did this did to his boss (Mr. McMahon, owner of WWE), and becuase of that reason he got one of the loudest pops in wrestling history. In fact, the Austin vs. McMahon feud could be a whole seperate column to talk about...
Vince McMahon
With a rebel must come an authority figure, Mr. McMahon was the man. Vince was hated by fans because of the effects of the 'Montreal Screwjob' but nonetheless, the creative genius would use this to his advantage and further shove it down the fans throats taking up air time, making rules, etc. Vince is probably the greatest heels in the history of this sport, and his geniuosity and understanding of the sport have led him to make himself, as well as his business, exceed to unbelievble heights.
A bunch of degenarates.
In early days of the attitude the WWE was ready to form a group, as Bret Hart would call them, of 'degenerates'. A cocky young group that would screw rules and follow tradition. The group was dubbed 'Degeneration X' and originally consisted of Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Chyna. Over the weeks they would mock wrestlers, bully Michael Cole and basically just wreeck havoc.
One of my favourites, and most memorable moments of the faction is when they came out on an episode of Raw to mock 'the nation'. They did a promo where each member of DX was dressed up as a member from the Nation of Domination.
Many say that DX was an answer to the nWo, although Vince denies this, but there's no denying that DX became a popular faction in the WWE, the faction was as popular to the WWE as nWo was popular to WCW.
The Rock on the mic
When it comes to mic skills The Rock is a pure genius. He knows how to work a crowd better than any wrestlers, and in years to come, he will still be remembered as one of the, if not THE greatest all rounder of all time. The Rock was officially born when he broke out from the Nation of Domination cutting a promo against the leader at the time, Farooq. Here he started calling himself 'The Rock' as opposed to 'I' or 'me'. It wasn't him saying it, it was The Rock saying it. From then Rock came up with phrases that are engraved in our memory.
Then Rock would go onto major feuds and with his pure geniuosity on the mic he could turn a jobber match into a main event. I remember a time, when feuding with Triple H, he had a 60 minute Iron Man match at the next PPV. I personally wasn't too excited, but the way Rock would get it over just made me want to watch it. Rock went onto many major feuds but his most memorable would probably be against Steve Austin. Having 2 of the greatest entertainers in one feud was just gold at the time. This feud was phenomenal and far surpassed the Hogan/Sting feud happenning in WCW at the same time.
Hard shots, cheap pops.
Mick Foley was another wrestler who helped the WWE. He never exactly had the best body, but had one hell of an imagination. and would sacrifice his LIFE just in aid of this business. Foley made the whole 'Mankind' gimmick believable. People surprisingly comment saying 'Foley's just another guy who was a bit hardcore, no different to Funk, Sandman or New Jacl', but imo they are stupid for thinking such a thing. The reason those wrestlers couldn't be as successful as Foley, is becuase of that very reason, they just weren't as intelligent. Foley in a genius on the mic and in the ring, only a true fan can see that.
Foley helped the attitude era with his whole Mankind gimmick of being an unpredictable crazy lunatic and put on some great matches, most memorable, in my eyes, being the Hell in a Cell against Undertaker. Later in 2000 Foley won the World Heavyweight championship, this was yet another defining moment in the evolution of this sport. In fact, that night perhaps changed the corse of the Monday Night Wars, we all know what happened, the rest, addressed as history.
Ok, there's not really much there, Austin becoming 3:16, Vince McMahon, DX, Rock with the mic, and Foley taking hard shots, and i'm sure the embellishment of Undertaker's character can be thrown into the mix but imo, those are the things that really stood out for the WWE. Without those being injected to the product maybe we wouldn't be seeing the company right now. However, it would be stupid to state those things were the only saviour to the WWE, you have to credit the tiny angles that took place, the dedication of the workers, the wrestlers, the writers, and of course the fans. Some say the attitude era is overrated, in some aspects, I agree, but that doesn't stop it from being the greatest era our sport has ever witnessed.
Hope you enjoyed.
-3:16-
